Jeff Dowdy's Blog

When are we as believers in Christ going to strongly believe in the power of Christ? We often go through life with a spirit of fear and trembling. We do not seem to trust in God the way we should. We pray for things to happen in our life but never really believe they will. We say that everything is in God's hand and is subject to his sovereignty but do we really believe that?

In Acts chapter 12, King Herod begins to persecute the church in a more fervent way. He has James killed and imprisons Peter so that he might kill him as well. In verse 5 we see that prayer was being made for Peter in a fervent way. The people must have been praying for his release. Later in this story we see that an angel appears and leads Peter out of the prison. He goes directly to Mary's house, the mother of John Mark. When he appears at the door, the people don't believe it is him when a little girl reports that Peter is there. It is not until they see it for themselves that they realize it is him. How powerful that moment must have been? They were shocked that the very thing they had been praying for came to pass.

Are we shocked whenever God moves in our midst? Do we pray knowing that God can answer a prayer any way he wants? Do we recognize the move of God?

Not all of our prayers are answered the way we desire. Trust in the Lord and see him work things through in his way. Don't be shocked whenever God moves in unusual ways.

This morning I had a wonderful run. I woke up around 5:30 am, washed my face, put in my contacts, grabbed my water bottles, put on my watch and heart rate monitor, and finally strapped on my ipod that tracks my distance and pace. Usually I check my pace and heart rate rather often but this morning I just wanted to run for the fun of it. It was in the 50's so it was nice and cool. It doesn't get light here til close to 7 am so I was going to run in the dark. I knew the path well even when it got dark as I run it often. Along the run I made several observations that the Lord gave me insight to about this dark world.

In the book of John and I John, the disciple John speaks about the light and dark contrast that is found in this world and the light of Christ. He says that this world is dark and that Christ is light. Jesus said that as Christians we were to be the light of the world, a city set on a hill. Paul said in Ephesians 6 that this world is a dark place full of spiritual forces. I know that many non-Christians are in the dark but don't even know it and many Christians live in the light but fail to share it.

As I ran along this morning I tripped over a couple of branches that were over the road. These reminded me that often those in the dark often trip over things that if they lived in the light they would not have any trouble avoiding. These items are clear whenever you work with addicts or those who simply went too far in a particular sin.

The most amazing thing happened when I had started the run back to my house. I was in an area that was especially dark. The headlights on cars would nearly blind me as I ran. Even on the sidewalk I could not see. All of a sudden about 2 feet in front of me an older gentleman sneezed. I did not even see him. I jumped to the side and avoided him. If he had not sneezed I would have plowed right over him. This reminded me of when we as Christians simply try to quickly shine our light somewhere as we drive by instead of stopping and sharing the light as we should. Needless to say it was a scary moment for me and I feel like those who are in the dark might be a bit scared when we as Christians do this same thing.

It was an eventful 10 miles that gave me a whole new perspective on what it means to be in the dark, and how desperate we need to be as Christians to share the light.

Many events in our lives mark us for either good or bad. Oftentimes, whenever God does something amazing in our lives we want to remember it and cherish it. The problem comes in when it is misused by us. When God brings an event into your life let it be what it was intended to be but don't make an idol out of the memory. Some people don't ever want to move on from the memory to the new challenges God has for us. For example, when I was a teenager God did some miraculous things in my life at Zephyr Baptist Encampment near Corpus Christi, Texas. For a long time, I believed that God could only move at that encampment in amazing ways. I didn't want to be anywhere else but that encampment. I didn't think God could move in my life in the way he moved in my life at Camp while at home. I made an idol out that place somewhat unintentionally. Finally God delivered me from that feeling to where I knew God was active everywhere and not just at Zephyr.

In II Kings 18:4 we see that Hezekiah has become king of Israel and sets about to reform the country from its evil ways of seeking gods and not seeking the Lord. He goes about destroying the shrines and figures that the people had worshiped instead of worshiping God. He ultimately destroys the bronze snake that Moses had made for the people of Israel to look at to overcome the plague of snakes in the wilderness that God had sent. This story in Numbers 21:4-9 describes a scene where the Israelites had turned their back on God and he sent a plague of snakes to reprimand and discipline them. They were instructed to look up to the bronze snake that Moses had made to be healed. That was an event in time where the people experienced the punishment of God for worshiping idols and yet they made an idol out the item he used to deliver them.

We make idols in our lives of events and things that really add up to our disobedience of a Holy God. Is there an idol in your life such as a person, a relationship, an event that may at the time have been God sent but now has distracted you from Him. If so, then do what Hezekiah did and destroy it.

It has been quite a while since I last blogged. I guess I needed a break from it, but I hope to be back at it for awhile. I love to get inspiration from the scriptures and that is what has happened to prompt this post.

In II Kings 17:41 the nation of Israel has been destroyed. The nation of Assyria came in and annihilated the nation. In the place of the void of the nation of Israel, Assyria replanted some people that they had conquered in another part of the world into the homes of the Israelites. In this transfer of populations the new population of Israel was attacked by lions. They appealed to the Assyrians because they wanted to find out why the god of the area had sent lions on them. The Assyrians obliged them by sending a priest of Israel to teach them the ways of the Israelite people. God actually received their worship. The awkward thing was that they never gave up their former gods.

In verse 41, the writer states that they feared the Lord but served their idols.

I wonder how often in our Christian lives that God has welcomed us in through the blood of Christ and even though we fear him we still serve our idols. Today, make it a point to turn over your idols and truly serve the Lord of the land!

Have you ever watched a boxing match where someone was totally over matched? I remember watching a Mike Tyson fight one time where all my friends had gotten together and purchased the Pay Per View event and we were all ready to watch Mike Tyson fight. I have no idea who he fought. We all gathered and casually watched the under card fights as we snacked on food. Finally, the title match was being announced. Tyson walked into the ring with his opponent. You could see the fear all over Tyson's opponent. The bell rang and in less then a couple of minutes Tyson had bloodied the guy and knocked him out. Tyson was the victor once again having over matched the other fighter.

In Matthew 22 starting in verse 41 you see a scene much like the Tyson fight scene except with words. The Pharisees felt like they were smarter then their brethren the Sadducees who had just been taken back but asking Jesus a question and him out smarting them. The question was posed as to what the greatest commandment was. Jesus replied with "Love the Lord Your God and Love Your Neighbor." After this Jesus asked them a question as to which lineage the Christ would come from. They replied "from David's line." Jesus then asked how then did David who was the elder in his lineage call the Christ his Master. Jesus stumped them completely. Then the last statement shows the complete overmatching of Jesus in the last of verse 46 "they quit asking questions for good." Jesus completely thwarted their attempts to trip him up intellectually.

I see a lot of people in today's culture who claim to be so brilliant. They claim to have knowledge that is superior to all others. These people claim there is no God and that they are smarter than to fall for that myth. Jesus was simply a mythological character just like in ancient Rome according to these individuals. They believe they are smarter than God because there is no god according to them. In the end, they will be confronted with the reality of Christ and their intellect will be over matched by the reality of Christ. They will all kneel and call Him Master!