THOUGHTS FOR CONSIDERATION:
Greetings
again my Brethren. As we behold His glory more and more we are
changed into whatsoever we behold and as we are changed we then are able to come
into the unity with the Father and the Brethren. Today in the Church I hear a
great desire from many Christians to come into a great unity, thus bringing a
great revival to America. Many well known Christian
leaders today are holding special meetings to establish themselves as uniters. Well
it is not great unity that will bring a great revival to America, oh no my
friend, revival comes by way of great obedience to God and the word He has spoken,
it is birthed out of humbleness and a brokenness before God and man. It is birthed out of much prayer not for our
self, but for others. It is birthed out of genuine service to the least of the
Brethren among you. When I was pastoring in Germany we
had a German lady who was crazy, literally crazy, but she was the least among
us and if I was going to be the “chiefests”
(Mark 10:43-44) then I must be a servant (or slave in the Greek) to her. When I heard of these meetings I thought to
my self do they really know what they are asking for? Do they really want unity like the Son had
with the Father? We may say we want many
things from God (I include myself), but when He begins to work in our lives,
when He begins to enlarge our heart and understanding, when He really begins to
show us our heart, motives, and desires, we suddenly have a change of
heart. We have this change of heart
because we are unwilling to endure the Lord’s chastening and correction in our
lives. It is much easier to go to church
and act godly then to become godly. It
is much easier doing all of the religious activities and pleasing men, but it
is very difficult to become something in God.
Paul knew this all too well, when he said, “For do I now persuade men or God?
Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be a servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10) Often God will show us
His promises and then what we have to do to receive His precious promises. We
look at the promises first desiring to posses them, but then God makes us aware
of the conditions we must meet to receive them. Oddly, it is God’s very own words
within us that begins to kill our self-life weakening
us the more where our hands hang at our side and our knees begin to shake. The
strongholds; all of the things we lean on for strength, the things we are built
on, that are not of Him, begin to teeter and crumble. We realize then and only then we will never
be able to receive His precious promises unless He strengthens us in the inward
man by His power and strength. His
requirements to us look overwhelming as a mountain to overcome, but the weaker
we become the smaller the requirements seem to grow. When Jesus was drawing the
Rich Young Ruler (Mark 10:17-22) He told him what it would cost to receive His promise or inherit
eternal life in his case, “go your way
sell whatever you have and give to the poor.” (verse
21) Sadly the Rich Young Ruler was too
strong within him self to totally sell out. It is when we are weak, God can be strong in our lives. God’s supernatural abilities
moving in our lives comes out of our weakness not our ability to do supernatural
and spiritual things for God. Real
weakness, which is real power in God, does not have a lot of people running
after it. Real weakness does not need to gather great sums of money to do God’s
will. Real weakness is not flamboyant,
flashy, and well dressed, remember it is not what we do for God, but how we do
it. If what we do for God is not done in
humbleness and with the right motives what we do for God will be added to us as
loss. It is the how we do things God is concerned about. How does God work in
our lives? He takes the initiative. He
begins to draw us by His Spirit. He then will touch us in a special way, often
in a supernatural way. This touch is designed to draw us even closer towards Him; to
open our heart to Him and then yield to Him and His desires for our lives.
In John 17:11 and
22 (the real Lord’s prayer), Jesus prayed, “that they may be one just as We are.” In verse 22 Jesus adds the word “one” which means unity, it was Jesus’
great desire for us to be in unity with the Father as He was in unity “one” with the Father. We think today we
can pray Jesus’ desire into existence, doing good works, or even doing
spiritual things, but my friend these things will never bring us into unity
with the Father. For us to come into the
unity with the Father as Jesus was, we too must endure the things Jesus
endured. We too must humble our self daily take up our cross, even unto the
death of our self-life and religious self-seeking, as Jesus did. We too must
die to our fleshly desires so that whatsoever God has planted in us will be
able to grow to fruitfulness. Unity in
God has nothing to do with the colour of our skin, our social status, or how
much education we have. Unity with the Father comes by way of the dealings and
judgements our loving Father is allowed to bring into our lives. See we control how much unity we desire to be
with the Father and the Brethren. And, for us to come into the “unity of the faith,” for us all to come into
unity, we all must be dealt with by God at the same measure and this my friend
will never happen, because we all are not willing to pay the price. Oddly Jesus
knew the cost, but still desired we pay the price. More
next month on this and other topics.
ARTICLE REVIEW:
Success at
Any Cost
Success, at any cost, is a drive that fills man’s
heart and dreams, but not so in God.
From childhood most are taught success or failure is measured by what we
can get for ourselves. Those with the most toys win, but not so in God. Allow no one to stand in your way, the way up
is by climbing over people even your friends, be self-reliant, be independent,
without you all will fall apart and be lost! Sadly this worldly thinking has
crept into the church. But success in God comes when we do what God has called
us to, in obedience to His word, through the means and ways God has established
it to be done. We cannot do things
outside of God’s patterns and arrangements and be successful. We may have a big church, travel around the
world, and preach to 1000s, but my friend this is not success in God, this is
service. True success in God comes when
we allow God to change our mind and heart to think and love like Him. True success comes when we allow God to
change us by whatever we are doing for God.
If there is not a change, to become more like Him, in us from what we
are doing for God my friend we have not succeeded we have failed. Success in God is not measured in things and
ministry, but what we lose of our self, how much of our selfish, self-life can
we allow God to kill in our lives through His dealings and judgments. As the way up is down, so too God measures
our gain in Him by how much we can lose.
One of the greatest treasures of success in God and in ministry is
Godly relationships. Remember, true Godly ministry comes out of Godly
relationships. Size of buildings, numbers of people in attendance, cash flow
all are not the measure of a successful Godly ministry. God’s idea of a successful ministry is how
much the ministry reflects the pattern, example, and life of Jesus Christ and
how much of a change is manifested in the lives of the people. Every life Jesus
encountered change followed the meeting, an inward change of their minds and
hearts.
Karen was reading the morning paper when she came across an article
titled, “Charlotte Pastor Leaves His Huge Church Behind” and began to read it
to me. I kind of ignored it, but the
gist of it was about this senior Pastor who was caught plagiarizing some parts
of his radio sermon. I thought to myself, why did he resign, after all he has
been with the church for more than 8 years? Can’t the people forgive him? Karen continued to read, “On a number of
occasions when I felt literally empty and devoid of any creative ability” and
“a downward spiral, emotionally and mentally, which left me very tired and
discouraged and fighting a losing battle with depression.” I now knew why the Pastor resigned,
the people could not forgive him because the Pastor and the people had no
relationship. He was brought in from Denver to “energize a church dealing with paying the bills
and filling the three-tiered sanctuary” and now he cannot fulfill his
obligation, he now must go. Forgiveness
is not an option, sadly their relationship was built
on the business of Calvary Church and not the business of God. Forgiveness can only happen between two
people who have some type of relationship. This too is why Godly relationships
are so important to God. Brethren when
will we learn? Sadly the article ends by
the Pastor saying, “I tried to resign two years ago, but the Church Elders
wouldn’t accept it. Instead, they gave
me time to rest.” Oh no they had money
invested in their Pastor and they wanted him to do the job they contracted for
him to do. We brought you in to energize
the church, but wait a minute is it not God’s job though the Holy Spirit to
energize the Church? Brethren when will
we learn, “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that builds
it; Except the Lord keep the city the watchman waketh but in vain.” (Psalms 127:1) I do not blame the Pastor
for resigning, nor do I believe God would either, for the people failed the
Pastor. Brethren when are we going to
learn, we cannot build something of God, it must be born of and become more and
more a work of the Spirit of God. We try
so hard to build it, to make it work; special music, special programs, special
conferences and speakers, but unless these things happen in God’s arrangements
and through Godly relationships, “they labor in vain who builds it and
“waketh in vain.” Sadly this Pastor and Church is yet another casualty of a
man centered emotionally focused religion that tries to build a work of God on
a man’s ambition, talent, ability, and charisma.
When I was last in Kenya one night I shared this critical truth and very
valuable lesson with my host Pastor.
While we were living in Germany (and when starting up our Church) Connie and Josh
(who played on the same soccer team) one week-end played in the Base Youth
Soccer Tournament. If they won on Saturday they would have two games on Sunday,
one being the championship game which would start at 13:00, when our Sunday service begins. So if they win on
Saturday and Sunday morning, looks like I will have to choose between attending
Church or the championship game. Well, Connie and Josh even today are great
soccer players, they won their Saturday game no
problem. The first Sunday game started
at 09:00, it was a great game, even though they played a much
better team talent wise, they played as a team and prevailed 2 to 1. It was now 12:00 and time to choose.
I asked the Lord what should I do; go to Church or attend the
championship game? I thought I am the
senior Pastor I must be there to lead the people, who will do it if I do not?
He said nothing. I asked again and again God said,
nothing. I really got serious with God I
went to the bathroom. God often speaks to me in the bathroom, but nothing. Do
you know nothing is a life changing answer from God? Often it is the best
answer from God we can handle. God left it up to me to choose. What a wonderful
God who would let me have my way. Brethren, please be aware of what is going on
when we ask God for something and He says nothing, He is setting us up for an
eternal lesson to be learned. There is something God is trying to work in our
understanding. Well I chose to attend our service. I told Connie and Josh how proud of them I
was and how much I would love to watch them play in the championship game, but
I had to go to Church, here I lied. I
did not have to go to Church, I chose to go to Church, it
was my choice. The service went on and
it was a good service. I shared what God
placed on my heart, but all the while I caught myself trying to justify my
choice to God. As we were getting ready
to dismiss I looked up and seemingly out of nowhere Connie and Joshua both came
marching down the isle carrying a three foot tall trophy. They won the championship and received their
reward. I too received my reward for my
actions. When I saw the trophies being
held over their heads in triumph my heart sank in defeat. Most of my church was African and soccer is
really a big deal to most Africans, they went wild. They jumped up and started
dancing and singing “God is on my side” with all of their might. I did not feel like singing or dancing. I now
see I should have attended the championship game. I chose wrong, I failed as a father, and I
failed as a Pastor. I should have stayed and watched the championship game,
because family always comes ahead of ministry. There is a spiritual principle
here in operation and it never changes.
Relationship always comes ahead of ministry, we must not get this wrong
if we do we will, “labor in vain.” There will always be a Church service
to attend, but this game and time in my children’s lives will only come
once. How can I lead a Church in
Godliness and righteousness if I cannot make the correct choice with my family?
What a lesson from God. I must choose according to God’s arrangement for me and
my family and if correct I then can be trusted to speak for God. Do not get this wrong, if you do you will pay
a heavy price for your desires and your ways.
God’s truths and power does not operate in a void or vacuum, but always
operates in Godly relationships. Sadly
in many Churches today the cost of success, the price many Churches pay for
people, fame, and fortune often times is Godly relationships and always the
work of God in their lives. Just yesterday Karen said many ministers go after
treasures, fame, and ease on earth because they really do not think they will
get it on the other side. Brethren we
must see begin to see value in God’s ways and means of success. We must begin to see the cost that God’s
expects us to pay for success. Written by David Stahl
THOUGHTS FROM KAREN:
Karen will not be adding
something this month, but remember, the best is yet to come.
POETRY CORNER:
Whose
Desires
By Charles
Haun
O Heart, bound in its desires,
That move
apart from those Ours,
Why pull around your shrouds so thin
That keep
Him out and you within?
Your desires are walls of stone,
Building made by you alone,
Stones supplied by generations,
Worldly love and its traditions,
Shutting out Our love and light,
Keeping you in fearful plight,
Walls you built so skillfully,
Stone on stone, all willfully.
We will press upon your walls
Love and strength, to make it fall.
Your desires will crush and press,
Bring you into great distress.
And we wait in expectation
Your surrender in tribulation.
We want your ruins and your wreck;
We plan Our newness to erect.
Our desires will fill your heart,
Our character We will impart.
We will build a world anew,
And bring
to you Our riches true.
DEAR FRIENDS:
When we come to the Lord He finds us
in great lack and need full of our self and our self-strength. Sometimes I wonder why God takes
time for us. I guess He really must love us.
One of the biggest areas in our lives God must be able to work in us is an understanding to where we do not
need to always get our way. Now this
does not seem like a big spiritual area, but my friend it is at the heart of
our relationship with God.
But here I am sitting at
home in August putting together BHG for September when I was to be in Khartoum,
Sudan ministering, but with the bombings in England and Egypt, and with the
riots in Khartoum and death of over 50 people, the Brethren have taken pause
for my safety. Have you lately tried to arrange finances for two children
heading to college? If you have you
quickly learn you do not get your way. A
month or so ago God provided a newer Ford Expedition. Well low and behold we found out, due to no
fault of ours, the deal fell through and for us to keep this newer vehicle we must
pay more a month and maybe get less of a warranty. I will be honest I did not handle this one
very well. I need to go back and
apologize to a financial manager. In
life and especially in God we do not always get our way and how we handle these
times speaks volumes to
how much God has worked in our lives. When we get upset and speak quickly we reveal
our selfish heart and the great desire in us to get our way. James gives us the
correct course of action and shares with us the qualities needed in trails. “So then, my beloved Brethren, let every man
be swift to hear and slow to speak, slow to wrath. For the wrath of man does
not produce the righteousness of God.”
(James 1:19-20) At the heart
of this selfish desire is lack of trust and confidence in God and His words and
abilities. When we do not get our way we
are saying we do not want what God is bringing into our lives. We do not want God’s way we want to go our
way, but our way just leads to more loss and in the end total destruction.
Brethren
we must allow God to so work in our lives to the point we desire what He
desires. His road is the road we must desire
to take even if ours is shorter. God
needs to be able to work in our lives, through His dealings and judgments, so
that situations and circumstance do not move us, in the mist of trials and problems
we are at rest in God’s words and abilities.
NEEDS NOT WANTS:
1. In
Silistra, Bulgaria Pastors Yanko and Niki and the church.
2. In Constanta, Romania Pastor Ritisan, the Lighthouse Church, and their Mission Bible School.
3. In Suceava, Romania Pastors Nicu and Marcel at St. Andrews Church, their Bible School, Christ for Romania, and for the $60,000 needed to complete the training
center and summer camp building.
4. Pastor
Joseph Mutua in Nairobi, Kenya
needs your prayer and financial support.
5. Pastor
Mike Olufemi in the north of Nigeria. He needs your
prayers and support to be a light in great darkness.
6. Pastor
S. J. Peter, Founder of DAWN Ministries and Pastor Wilson and his son Pastor
Julian both near Hyderabad, India.
7. Financial
support for the printing of: “Adventures with God.”
8.
Pastor Metin Mintaz and the members
of Uskudar Son Buyruk Kilisesi in Istanbul,
Turkey.
9. Pastor
Elieti Msangi in Dar Es Salaam and Pastor Isreal Mutaitina in Bukoba,
Tanzania.
10. Major Rob McIntosh, Chaplin, Gatwick
Airport,
Salvation Army, London,
England.
11. The Maternity and Children’s Clinic project
in Aviele, Nigeria.
FUTURE SCHEDULE:
September: Khartoum, Sudan (projected)
October: Dar Es
Salaam and Bukoba, Tanzania
with Jake Luffy, Pastor Joseph Mutua, and Scott Smith at the Great
Lakes Region Spiritual Leadership Conference
November: Local Ministry
I am still available to share what God has given me at
churches and/or home groups. Also, if
God moves on your heart to bless the ministries I visit and share God’s love I
would be honored to make it possible for God and you. God told Abram, “I will bless those who bless
you and curse those who curse you.” (Genesis 12:3) If you want a blessing, then bless someone Remember, God is to you what you are
to God.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Address:
David and Karen
Stahl
141 Coke Place
Jacksonville, NC 28546
Phone:
Home: (910) 346-1739
Mobile: (910) 273-5712
FAX: (910) 346-1739
Email:
dstahl@ec.rr.com
Website:
www.beholdinghisglory.com
If you know someone who would enjoy receiving this newsletter or if you
receive this newsletter and do not wish to please let me know.
Also if you would like to contribute to this ministry please feel free
to contact me with the above information. Costs ever increase.
PLEASE
look within your abilities to begin supporting or to increase your support to
cover these costs. The cost is great, but the cost for not supporting is even
greater. And remember, all donations are tax deductible
