thoughts by John Fischer Archives - Daily Thoughts about God

Published October 10, 2023

On Parade

Did you know that one of the most significant aspects of our mission in the world is simply being there?

Paul talks about this in 2 Corinthians 2:14-16:

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.”

Part of our mission is consciously telling people about Christ. Another part of it is unconsciously telling people about Christ. This is the unconscious part Paul is talking about here. This is the part of our mission that goes on all the time, and it is one of the reasons God wants us out in the world and not isolated or only associating with believers.

God has us on parade.

That’s what is meant by this “triumphal procession.” The Corinthian believers would have had an immediate picture in their minds of Roman soldiers marching through the streets of Corinth returning from a military engagement somewhere in the empire. It was a public display, and Paul says we are always being lead in one of these things.

Now some of you are already saying, “Wait a minute – I’m not returning from battle, I don’t think I’ve been very victorious lately, and what’s more, I don’t like parades, much less being in one!”

Well hold your horses because this is not that kind of parade. This is not you marching through your office leading the worship band. This is a thing between you and God, with Christ being the source. It’s Christ in you carrying on a relationship with God through your life and affecting everyone around you as a result. It’s you and I living our lives of faith out in the world where it will have an effect on those who come into contact with us. This is not putting on airs: this is being who we are as people of faith.

Did you know that living your life out in the world, loving God and following Christ as best as you can is a very powerful thing? It is. That’s why you can have a sense of mission about what you do in the world. You are not just getting by. You are, at whatever stage of faith that you find yourself, putting Christ on display, and people will react to you based on what they see of Him.

So whatever you’re about to do today, be conscious about your relationship with God, and you will unconsciously leave a mark on others.

By John Fischer
Used by Permission

Mercy for Judgement

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” Matthew 5:7

Mercy is probably the most useful tool in our Gospel of Welcome toolbox, but perhaps the hardest to find. Believe me, we’re going to be pulling this one out every day. The reason for this is: we are all naturally judgmental. Passing judgment comes much more easily to us than showing mercy. It’s the natural reaction to pass judgment on your fellow human beings; it’s supernatural to be merciful.

The opposite of mercy is judgment. Mercy is not easy for me. My whole character leans toward judgment. When you grow up learning to be a Pharisee in the company of Pharisees, it’s hard to shake the tendency to judge others first, ask questions later.

Marti, Chandler and I were doing some back-to-school shopping for Chandler when we noticed a large group of women taking a yoga class on the lawn in the middle of the outdoor mall. I mentioned something to Marti about how silly they looked, fully expecting her to share a little laugh with me over it. Instead, she rebuked me by pointing out that: 1) they were not all women – there were some men in the group – and 2) if I think they look silly, I should try it, and show us all how silly I would look trying to do the same thing. Ouch!

This is the ultimate embodiment of Christian hypocrisy: to sit on the sidelines and judge everyone who is participating.

Being judgmental takes no effort. Everybody’s already guilty, so help yourself – there’s plenty more sin and stupidity where that came from; in fact, we’ll never run out of stuff to judge.

Since everybody’s already guilty because of sin, to be judgmental is like taking an unnecessary step. The truth judges us. Our deeds judge us as they reveal our sinful nature. And on top of all this, we are all judged already on the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus says in the gospel of John that when we accept the gift of salvation He offers, we are judged already. This whole process is already over and done with.

This is why I think Jesus purposely put this backwards in this beatitude. He knew we would eventually find this out. We find out what mercy is all about when we find out what it takes to love and forgive us, jerks that we are. You don’t go muster up a bunch of mercy so God will be merciful to you. You become merciful when you realize what it took for God to be merciful to a scoundrel like you.

You can’t be merciful without God being merciful to you, and God’s mercy to you means nothing until you realize how badly you need it. This is where we learn mercy. We learn it from God. The gentleman I wrote about in yesterday’s Catch who didn’t point out my flaws without also mentioning his own, was being merciful to me. He was handing me something he had received through his own process of walking with God.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” Does that mean that if you aren’t merciful you won’t get any mercy? No. It means that if you aren’t merciful, you wouldn’t know mercy if you saw it.

By John Fischer
Used by Permission

What is that in Your Hand?

“What do you have there in your hand?” (Exodus 4:2)

Anyone familiar with the calling of Moses by God to be the one to free his people from Egypt knows that calling took place amidst a long litany of excuses and objections on Moses’ part. It is such a human story full of excuses, insecurity and fear.

“But who am I to appear before Pharaoh?” (Exodus 3:11)
“How do you expect me to lead the Israelites out of Egypt?” (3:11)
“They won’t believe me.” (3:13; 4:1)
“O Lord… I’m clumsy with my words.” (4:10)
“Lord, please! Send someone else.” (4:13)

Any of these sound familiar? It’s hard to believe that with this feeble beginning, God turned Moses into one of his greatest leaders. It just goes to show that serving God doesn’t depend on great things from us; it depends on our availability to a great God.

This has been God’s strategy from the beginning – to pick ordinary, fallible people like you and me, and do great things through them by faith. I don’t know how we miss this so often, but we do. The Old Testament is riddled with people like this. We often think that we could never be like other people God is using mightily, when, if truth were known, they probably feel just as insecure as we do. Greatness, in God’s book, is not a measure of our natural abilities as much as it is a measure of our courage to believe God is with us in our weakness.

Still, God will use what we offer of ourselves, but only after we give it over to Him. I believe that is what the shepherd’s staff Moses carried around represented – something Moses had been leaning on all his life. God asked him to throw it on the ground and when he did, it immediately turned into a serpent. Then He told him to pick it up again (that would have been the hardest part!) and it turned back into a staff. (This little trick would later come in very handy when Moses was tested by Pharaoh and his magicians.)

When we give up what we have in our hand – the few things we do have that we have come to trust – then God can turn even these things into something He can use for His purposes. He can start the miracle.

What’s in your hand? What have you been leaning on all these years? Is it a natural ability? Is it a drug? Is it something you’re good at? Is it your reputation (or lack of one)? Is it your excuse or excuses (I’ve got lots of those)? Throw it down. Whatever it is, throw it down. It will most likely turn into something scary that God will ask you to pick back up, but that’s where the miracle begins.

by John Fischer
Used by Permission

Different Parts, Different Hearts

Why do we all have different passions?

So everything that’s supposed to get done will get done.

Sometimes we get overwhelmed because we are constantly exposed to people with various passions for service, and when they represent their cause, they are so committed to that which has captured them that we feel guilty for not sharing their zeal. We seem indifferent in comparison.

When I was in college, we had chapel every day and almost every day we heard a message from someone who had a passion for some particular ministry. They were usually in some ways recruiting us for service, whether it was in missions, or in the church, or in society, or among the poor. It was overwhelming, and often frustrating, because everyone made every concern sound like the only thing any caring person would support.

The same thing happens in our churches. Sometimes we feel guilt because we don’t have the same passion as the last person who talked about missions, or abortion, or the homeless, or marriage, or singleness, or men’s ministry, or AIDS prevention, or prisons, or evangelism, or the military. What we forget is that there are so many needs because there are so many of us to meet them. We aren’t supposed to get our bell rung by every appeal that comes by. We are a body made up of different parts and different hearts; we don’t have to all be moved by the same issues and needs.

This is where the concept and the practical nature of spiritual gifts come in. There are a variety of gifts and there are a variety of ministries, but the same Lord working in all and through all. No one has to do everything; no one can. It is up to us to find out where we fit and what God put us here to do. Soon you will be just as passionate about something because it’s your thing. This is the way it’s supposed to be. We only get frustrated when we forget this and try and take on everything, or get so overwhelmed that we take on nothing at all.

All of this should just make us marvel at the wisdom of God even more. He’s designed us all with different abilities and different interests so that we are not only good at what we do, we do not have to be frustrated or depressed over what we aren’t good at. When we all do our part in the body of Christ, everyone gets a job, everyone gets honored and everyone’s important. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.

Question: What has God given you a passion for, and how can you honor God through serving Him in exercising your passion?

By John Fischer
Used by Permission

To Love Like God

Does God only love Christians?

Does this question even need to be asked? Unfortunately, yes, because there is an impression out there that that He does. I encounter it in innuendo and assumption. I used to encounter it in myself and the attitudes caught from a strongly Pharisaical upbringing, and I have found it to be an attitude that is hard to get rid of.

The way this usually works out is that God doesn’t love anyone I don’t love, and the human inclination is to not love anyone who is not like me. That makes God’s love an extension of myself, instead of the way it should be, with me as an extension of God and His love. I have much to learn about God’s love. God is love; I am not. I am the one who needs to change. I am the one who needs to learn to love like God.

“God is love” (1 John 4:16), says John. God is synonymous with love. How could God not love His entire creation? It is His nature to love.

“God so loved the world that He gave...” (John 3:16).

The tragedy of God’s love is that it is not universally received. “He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11). What a tragedy. Do you think God feels that tragedy? Personally, I think that is why the prophet Isaiah called Him a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. That is why Jesus wept over Jerusalem because He wanted to gather everyone up and bring them to Himself, but they would not all come.

How is it that God being God would create a world where His love was limited by the free will of those He created, making Him appear helpless to do anything about those who would reject Him? I honestly do not know how this works, but I do know God feels these feelings because He has expressed them in the inspired scriptures handed down to us.

My point today is not to enter into a theological debate over this, because that is where these discussions often lead, but to capture some of the nature of God in His love for us and suggest that we should at least share in these same attitudes and emotions, primarily that we should be governed more by the tragedy of those who reject God’s love than in their judgment or their wrong doing.

Do we weep or do we condemn? If you ever catch yourself shaking your head in judgment and condemnation, stop. Stop judging and weep instead. That’s what God did, and He even has the right to judge (and will someday). The cross has put that judgment aside so that He can love. Can we do any less?

So if you love like God, you will love and hurt at the same time.

by John Fischer
Used by Permission

Adopted

“His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.” Ephesians 1:5

I know something about this feeling. We have an adopted son and the pleasure he has brought us has been unequaled. And I thought I was doing him a favor.

We have two of our own who are now adults and pretty much out of the house. This new little guy could be our grandson. I often tell people having a child at this stage in life is like being a grandfather without having to give the child up. I know grandparents are supposed to like the fact that they can return their grandchildren to sender, but in this case we are doubly blessed because that would be very hard to do, as attached as we are.

What’s really going on here is something I’m not quite sure I can explain, it’s just that I haven’t loved anyone in quite the way that I love my adopted son. There is no question that he is mine. It’s not like he’s in second position or anything less than my own. In some strange way he is more mine than my own, and I know that I can’t explain that. The fact that he doesn’t belong to me by birth means nothing because he belongs to me anyway. I’ve always loved him. He has my name. I have his papers.

I grew up in a family that did not look very favourably on adoption. I had a cousin who, according to the adults in the family was always causing trouble. And I always heard she was trouble because she was adopted. Bad blood. Should have stuck to our own. Never know what you let in otherwise. If someone even hints of this kind of thinking in regards to my adopted son now, they will meet with my wrath and it will not be a pretty sight.

By the way, I haven’t been in touch with my cousin very much but when I do talk to her I realize how wrong we all were about her. I don’t know of anyone with more love and compassion than this person. And she will do anything for you at the drop of a hat. She has so many legitimate reasons to be resentful, but she is not.

Now here’s the point. How I feel about my son is just a small picture of how God feels about you and me. We have all been adopted into the same family. No one can degrade us or take us away from where we belong. And there’s a whole bunch of us who, as brothers and sisters, share this incredible privilege together. And here’s the catch: God did this so we could bring Him much pleasure. I understand this now.

By John Fischer
Used by Permission

Only One You

There is only one you. But this information is much more important than to just be boosting your self-esteem. It is to help you better serve others by being more confident about your God-given role in life.

No one else fits your shape. No one else has your blend of gifts, talents and natural abilities making you very important in the whole scheme of things. ‘God made our bodies with many parts,’ wrote Paul, ‘and He has put each part just where He wants it’ (1 Corinthians 12:18). And as it is with the human body, so it is with the Body of Christ, the corporate collection of all who believe.

But this uniqueness goes beyond giftedness; it reaches as well into the depth of each of our experiences in life. No one else has your life. No one else has your pain, your hardship, your joys and sorrows. Everything in life shapes us and we are shaped by everything for a reason: so that we can touch others in a unique way based upon who we are and what we’ve been through. God doesn’t waste anything in our lives.

Every piece of our lives and experiences can be used of Christ to touch someone else. We were made for each other; we live for each other; we even die for each other. We die with hope so that others who live might see the reality of Christ in even the darkest of hours. God uses everything.

Are you just getting by, or are you living for a reason? Think about your unique gifts and ask yourself how those gifts are benefiting others. What specific way is God using you to touch others in the Body of Christ?

Do you seem to have an extra measure of wisdom, or mercy, or discernment, or knowledge, or administration, or desire to serve? These will help determine how you can look for opportunities to help others.

And then think about the things you have gone through so far in your life, especially the difficult or challenging things where God has met you with His presence and power. That information is not just for you, it’s for you to empathize with and encourage others who have encountered similar struggles.

God isn’t messing around here. There are no accidents with our lives. Whatever we have received and experienced has shaped who we are, and because of that, we are qualified servants. There is truly no one else like you – for a reason.

Question: How has God crafted you uniquely, to make you uniquely you?

by John Fischer
Used by Permission

Time and Attention

God doesn’t desire more of our time sometimes; He desires more of our attention all the time.

Ever feel frustrated because you hear messages about getting closer to God and you definitely desire this for yourself, but you are inundated with so much to do already that this only makes you feel guilty because you are too busy for God? I think we all feel this at one time or another, but carving more time out of your busy schedule to be with God isn’t necessarily the only answer to this question. Look at the following scriptures:

“I have set the Lord always before me.” (Psalm 16:8 NIV)

“My eyes are ever on the Lord.” (Psalms 25:15 NIV)

“I will extol the Lord at all times; His praise will always be on my lips.” (Psalm 34:1 NIV)

Reading these words makes you wonder if these are the words of a monk who had nothing else to do but devote himself to God. Actually, they are the words of David, King of Israel, a great ruler and warrior. How did he manage to run a nation at war, and keep his eyes on the Lord at all times? The only conclusion is that he did this while he did everything else. It’s a continual awareness of God that we are talking about here, not necessarily more time devoted to spiritual pursuits.

I once saw a sign that read: “Your God is what you pay attention to.” You see, I believe you can pay attention to God while you are doing everything else. It’s all about doing everything for God and seeing God in everything we do. It’s about bringing God into the boardroom, the exercise room, the living room, the bedroom. Now of course He’s already in all these places but we’re talking about being aware of His being there at all times. That’s what it means to set the Lord always before us.

Worship is a frame of mind that always has God in the picture. We don’t need church, or Bible study, or devotions to remind us about the Lord if we’re already aware of Him all the time. These opportunities then become more precious to us because we can devote all our attention to that which we have been doing all along.

by John Fischer
Used by Permission

Jesus Way

Love your enemies
Pray for those who persecute you
If someone forces you to go one mile, go two
If someone takes your shirt, give him your coat, too
If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also
Give to those who ask
Don’t turn away from those who want to borrow
Return good for evil
Do not judge others
Forgive those who sin against you
Get rid of the log in your own eye so you can help with the speck in another’s
Treat people the way you want to be treated
Don’t make any vows you can’t keep
Don’t worry about tomorrow
Show mercy if you want your heavenly Father to be merciful to you.
(Read Matthew 5)

You may be thinking, “What kind of poppycock is this?” This, my friend, is Jesus’ way. This is true Christianity. If you must measure yourself, measure yourself by these things.

I would dare to say these are the most ignored words by Christians in all of scripture, yet they are the basis for everything Jesus stands for. I have grown up in the church all my life and heard these things seriously talked about maybe a handful of times. Why is that? Because they run contrary to us all. Because no one can hold to these things unless they are born of God. Heck … no one can even want them unless they are born of God.

These are not suggestions. This is not Jesus trying to shock people so He can get their attention. (Jesus doesn’t really mean these things. Oh yes He does.)

Not only does He mean these things; this is rudimentary. This is the real thing. This is true Christianity. This is Following Jesus 101.

Instead, I’m used to: “What’s the Sermon on the Mount? That’s that weird part in the beginning of Matthew that no one seems to understand or pay much attention to.” Or if they do, they explain half of it away.

This is how you know if you are a true Christian.
This is how you know if the Holy Spirit has been born in you.
This is how you can check yourself – by these attitudes and actions.

If these attitudes are not yours, but you want them, keep following and asking the Lord to change you by His Holy Spirit.

If these attitudes are yours, and they are increasing, be glad!

If these attitudes are not the way you want to live, then it’s probably time to get off this train.

Notice how most, if not all, of these things are against human nature? That’s because you have to be born again to have them. You have to be born of God.

This is what you want to build into your life – these attitudes and these actions.
This is what you put on your refrigerator.
This is what you stick to your mirror.
This is what you ask God for.
And in case you missed it the first time, here it is again:

Love your enemies
Pray for those who persecute you
If someone forces you to go one mile, go two
If someone takes your shirt, give him your coat, too
If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also
Give to those who ask
Don’t turn away from those who want to borrow
Return good for evil
Do not judge others
Forgive those who sin against you
Get rid of the log in your own eye so you can help with the speck in another’s
Treat people the way you want to be treated
Don’t make any vows you can’t keep
Don’t worry about tomorrow
Show mercy if you want your heavenly Father to be merciful to you

By John Fischer
Used by Permission

Grace Turned Outward

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

Grace is the free and unmerited favor of God.

It is the knowledge that you are pleasing to God right now regardless of what you have or haven’t done.

Grace is the realization that you have already earned a place in the kingdom of God, but you didn’t do anything to get it.

Grace is knowing that the law has already been fulfilled. There isn’t anything more you can do or anything you can add on to make it any better.

Grace is knowing you’re forgiven.

Grace is receiving the gift of being everything you wanted to be.

Grace is looking in the mirror and liking what you see, only because you know that’s what God does.

Grace is a starting point. It’s starting at a point at which you never thought you could be, even if you spent your whole life working for it.

Grace is the absence of judgment.

Grace is utterly and completely received. There is nothing you can do to get it.

Believe it or not, we don’t like this. Grace, as wonderful as it seems, gets turned down every moment of every day. We don’t like it because we have nothing to do with it, and that doesn’t set well with us. We don’t like receiving free gifts; we get very nervous around that. We feel much better being in control of something. We were made this way – made to earn our way. We want to get somewhere by following the rules or sit around and complain about how we can’t. But to start out where we are already pleasing to God … what is that? That doesn’t compute using the math we learned in school. It just doesn’t add up, and that makes us nervous, because if this is true for us, it’s true for everyone. And if this is true for everyone, then it changes dramatically how I see and treat other people.

Or as a friend of mine just taught me: “How dare I judge anyone that Christ gave His life to forgive.”

How dare I lay on other people burdens that Christ has not laid on me.

How dare I have one set of rules for me and another set for everyone else.

How dare I make a big deal about anyone else’s sin except my own.

These last few observations are all about grace turned outward. Once I realize and accept God’s grace for myself, I must of necessity apply it to everyone around me, or I am merely showing that I have, in fact, not received it for myself. You can’t turn grace outward without fully taking it in.

Surrender. Receive. Jesus paid it all; there’s nothing more you can do but accept it. And once you’ve accepted it, you won’t look at anyone the same way again.

By John Fischer
Used by Permission

Thinking Like a Servant

One of the prerequisites for being a servant of God is to think like a servant. This would be fine if it wasn’t so impossible. We are all naturally wired to think only of ourselves.

Learning to give preference to others is one of the true marks of a Christian because it is so contrary to human nature. That’s why desiring it comes from God, and doing it comes through the Holy Spirit.

Paul said of Timothy: “I have no one else like Timothy, who genuinely cares for your welfare. All the others care only for themselves and not for what matters to Jesus Christ” Philippians 2:20-21 (NLT).

Hidden in these verses is the secret to making an attitude of servanthood become a part of your thinking. It starts with Jesus. When you fall in love with Jesus, you focus on Him and worship Him. As you do this, you find out about Him—you get to know Him as you would a friend—and soon you come to know what matters to Him, until finally, you start to realize that what matters to Him, matters to you. This is not just a factor of familiarity, either. There is a supernatural element at work here as well. What matters to Jesus connects with the Holy Spirit in you, and the Spirit answers from deep inside you to the call of truth.

Other people mattered deeply to Jesus.

He could read their hurt and pain. Scripture says He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Well where did that grief and sorrow come from if it didn’t come from the suffering of people around Him? In other words, He was carrying their grief. He was empathizing with their sorrow. Once a woman touched him in a desperate need to be healed, and He could feel the compassionate power go from Him even though He didn’t see who touched Him in the press of the crowd. He was that sensitive to the needs of those around Him.

Now truly, thinking like a servant doesn’t automatically make you one, but it goes a long way toward getting you there. If you are thinking like a servant, you are noticing others; and the more you are aware of others, the more the Holy Spirit can use you in reaching out to them. All this increases the opportunity for the gospel. People are simply not used to being served.

Take it from me, a guy who is not by any stretch servant material, it’s actually a relief to get off my most popular subject—me—and on to someone else. Ask God to help you think like a servant today, and I’m certain you’ll get a chance to be one.

Question: Where are there opportunities in your life (at home, work, church, or elsewhere) to “think like a servant”?

By John Fischer
Used by Permission

Winning and Losing

Life is all about ups and downs.

“Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12

It’s been statistically proven that out of the 162 Major League baseball games that make up a full season of play, every team will win at least 60 games and lose at least 60 games. In other words, the worst team will still manage to win 60 games, and the best team will still manage to lose 60. It’s what happens with the other 42 that makes or breaks a season. It’s an interesting way to think about a baseball season and another reason why I think baseball is a lot like life.

Winning teams experience a lot of losses. Losing teams experience a significant amount of wins. For 120 games out of 162, everybody looks the same. That’s almost 75% of the season. It’s what happens with the remaining 25% that makes the difference between a champion and a cellar-dweller.

Life is all about ups and downs. We’re all going to have good days and bad days. Winners don’t win all the time; losers don’t lose all the time. In fact, most of the time, it’s hard to tell the difference. You can’t make one’s experience the judge of everything. Pretty much all of sports tells us that winning is only a slight edge.

So what’s the point of this for us? Experience isn’t everything. If you’re having a hard day, be patient, things are about to change. If you are cruising on top of things, enjoy it, because things are about to change. Change is the one constant for all of us, and those who are best prepared for it will have the best experience. If you expect things to always go well and get upset when they don’t, you’re in for making tough times tougher. If you are simply grateful for what each day brings, you will fare much better in the long run.

Paul revealed the secret for making it through his “season” of life. “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:12-13).

It is a way to live that evens out the wins and the losses. It even leaves the wins and losses up to God. Don’t you remember that coach who taught you as a kid that it’s not all about winning or losing, but how you play the game that counts?

Question: How do you measure the “wins” and “loses” in your life?

By John Fischer
Used by Permission

Come Alongside

Come alongside. This is really the crux of it all. Just walk alongside people and enter into their lives. Listen. Talk. Laugh. Cry.

I am normally not a fan of ten steps to do this or five ways to do that, but I recently came up with these six things to remember about being a marketplace Christian. Think of them not as steps to get somewhere, but as ways to think which might be different than what’s gone before.

1. Assume everyone is searching for God. Why? Because everyone is. We were created this way. God has purposely frustrated humanity by creating us with eternity in our hearts, yet with an inability to fathom what that is or what it means (Ecclesiastes 3:10-11). He has done this so that we might reach out for him and find him though He is not far from any of us for in Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:27-28).

2. Come alongside. This is really the crux of it all. Just walk alongside people and enter into their lives. Listen. Talk. Laugh. Cry. Find out where you can contribute and what you can learn. There’s something to give and something to receive in every relationship.

3. Point. You don’t tell someone what the truth is; you point to it. “There it is over there,” or “Here it is in my life.” This is why we need to learn to identify truth in the context of the world around us. Truth isn’t religious. You don’t have to get into a certain posture to see it. It’s not something that hasn’t been there all along.

4. Find out what people already know before you set out to tell them anything. Don’t ever think you have to clear the table and start over. This is why it’s so important to listen first. Find out what’s already on the table that you can use.

5. You don’t have to tell everything you know. Just the next thing.

6. You don’t have to correct everything someone says that is wrong. You are not the protector and defender of truth. You don’t have to decide where to draw the line. You don’t even have to be concerned if someone may be walking away with the wrong idea. You are not that smart anyway because you don’t know what’s in someone’s head. As long as they have something to think about, that’s a good thing.

And now here’s the one final thing that makes all this possible. It is the most important of all. (This is the one thing that makes all six of these make sense.) We don’t save anybody, convince anybody, “win” anybody to Christ or close the deal. All that is God’s business. The Holy Spirit is doing this all on His own terms and timetable. We are not salesmen, marketing reps, counselors or prosecutors. We are just friends who come alongside. And that’s a big deal.

By John Fischer
Used by Permission

God with Us

This is the advent – the coming of the Lord. God invading history.

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John 1:14

This is Christmas. This is Emmanuel: God with us. This is the advent – the coming of the Lord. God invading history. The one who invented it coming into it and submitting himself to all his own rules.

The teaching of the New Testament is that now, at this very moment, there is a Man in heaven appearing in the presence of God for us. He is as certainly a man as was Adam or Moses or Paul; he is a man glorified, but his glorification did not dehumanize him. Today he is a real man, of the race of mankind, bearing our lineaments and dimensions, a visible and audible man, whom any other man would recognize instantly as one of us. But more than this, he is the heir of all things, Lord of all lords, head of the church, firstborn of the new creation. He is the way to God, the life of the believer, the hope of Israel, and the high priest of every true worshiper. He holds the keys of death and hell, and stands as advocate and surety for everyone who believes on him in truth. Salvation comes not by accepting the finished work, or deciding for Christ; it comes by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, the whole, living, victorious Lord who, as God and man, fought our fight and won it, accepted our debt as his own and paid it, took our sins and died under them, and rose again to set us free. This is the true Christ; nothing less will do. (from the pen of A. W. Tozer)

by John Fischer
Used by Permission

Would you like to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? The following is a sample prayer.

Praying is simply talking to God. God knows your heart and is not so concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart. Here’s a suggested prayer:

Lord Jesus, I want to know You personally. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life to You and ask You to come in as my Saviour and Lord. Take control of my life. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Bring peace to my world this Christmas. Make me the kind of person You want me to be.

Links that may help you learn more:

How To Be Sure You Are a Christian

Reading the Bible – where to start?

How to Have a ‘Quiet Time’ with God

How to Chose a Local Church

How to Pray

How To Be Sure God Listens To Your Prayers

Share this on:

thoughts by John Fischer Thoughts by Men

The Christmas Test

Published December 17, 2021

The Christmas Test

“Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. This is the way to find out if they have the Spirit of God: If a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ became a human being, that person has the Spirit of God.” 1 John 4:1-2 (NLT)

God becoming human is the true message of Christmas. It is a cataclysmic event – a pivotal moment in the history of planet earth. It is without question the single most important event in human history apart from Creation. This is the reason for the star, the wise men and the angelic hosts – God’s way of celebrating and signalling what He was up to, while, at the same time, keeping it pretty much a secret except for a small crowd of lowly shepherds and a few kingly stargazers.

Paul the apostle wrote that if Christ was not raised from the dead, we who believe are of all people most miserable. It all rests on this. And for Him to be raised from the dead as a human being He had to be born as a human being. The birth was a miracle. The death was payment necessary for salvation. The resurrection was another miracle opening the pathway to heaven for the rest of us human beings.

And it all started in Bethlehem,

This is why we celebrate all this. This is why we wrestle from Jack Frost, roasting chestnuts, sleigh rides, reindeer and Santa, the real point of the season: God became a human being. It’s so important it becomes the litmus test of a false prophet.

God became a human being and entered the world He created through the womb of Mary, a young girl at the time, engaged to Joseph of the line of David. It all ties together in a brilliantly orchestrated plan. Just dust off the fake snow and you’ll find it. No one need spoil it for you. They are all trying to find it, though they may not understand the full portent of what they seek. Who can? Such a thing defies reason.

And prophets are determined by it.

I have seen the Son of Man
In the human caravan…
Rejoice!

by John Fischer
Used by Permission

Category: <span>thoughts by John Fischer</span>

Did you know that one of the most significant aspects of our mission in the world is simply being there?

Further Reading

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” Matthew 5:7

Further Reading

“What do you have there in your hand?” (Exodus 4:2)

Further Reading

Why do we all have different passions?

Further Reading

Does God only love Christians?

Further Reading

“His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.” Ephesians 1:5

Further Reading

Further Reading

God doesn’t desire more of our time sometimes; He desires more of our attention all the time.

Further Reading

Further Reading

Grace is the free and unmerited favor of God.

Further Reading

Other people mattered deeply to Jesus.

Further Reading

Life is all about ups and downs.

Further Reading

Come alongside. This is really the crux of it all. Just walk alongside people and enter into their lives. Listen. Talk. Laugh. Cry.

Further Reading

This is the advent – the coming of the Lord. God invading history.

And prophets are determined by it.

Further Reading