Good God!

Psalm 73: 1       TPT

No one can deny it—God is really good to Israel and to all those with pure hearts. But I nearly missed seeing it for myself.

I have just returned from an Impact Ministry conference with Dr. Jim Richards. It was a special weekend with a special acknowledgement of Jim’s sister, Pat Richards. I am sure as time goes on, more and more will filter through my mind about what I learned. The takeaway that I loved most, though, was this statement from Dr. Richards, “God is good, and only good.” That is the point of this scripture, that God is good. And let’s get this part right – who is Israel? Well, that would be you. You have been made a royal heir according to your ingrafting into the family of God. However, some of us have nearly missed understanding about God’s goodness.

I’ve been teaching on the goodness of God for a long time, but the way Jim phrased that really resonated with me. We often hear, “God is good all the time” but it seems people don’t believe that. Perhaps we’ve heard it so many times that we have ceased to actually hear it with our brains. It amazes me how often Christians talk about the bad things God has given them. They will even praise God for it and tell you how it made them stronger. That comes from a misunderstanding of God but more particularly of Romans 8: 28 which teaches us that although bad things happen, God will take them and turn them for good. I call it the “Lemonade Scripture” because it basically says that God will take lemons and make lemonade. Because good comes out of a situation, does not mean, though, that God created the situation. That is very poor logic and just wrong. God is a good and benevolent God. He is good ALL the time and He is only good. He is never bad.

John 10: 10 reads, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Of course, these words were spoken by Jesus. If you understand, and even memorize, this verse, you will understand a great deal of the Bible and you will have a solid personal theology. First, you have to understand who the thief is. Jesus spent most of this chapter explaining the difference between a good shepherd and a bad one. He identifies himself and the Heavenly Father as good. They care for the sheep. The bad shepherd is, of course, the devil. We need to get this settled in our hearts and minds. You can imagine how funny the devil finds it when he sends bad into the world and our benevolent, good and gracious Father gets the blame for it.

Settle this once and for all in your heart and you will understand much about life and the world. When you see good, that is your Father because He is good and only good. Heaven doesn’t have any bad for Him to give you. There is no cancer in heaven. There is no hunger. There is only good in heaven. Our Father is only good, therefore always good. Don’t let this be a point of confusion for you any longer. Satan doesn’t bless you, he only curses. Goodness is of the Father. He is the source of all goodness in the earth. Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy. Therefore, if you see theft, death or destruction, you should be able to identify the author. The devil is a corrupter of good. He twists and perverts. He steals whatever is good and turns it inside out. There is no goodness in him.

Your Father knows how to give good gifts to His children, and He knows how to care for the sheep. He is the good shepherd for He is good and only good.

Peaceful Mediations

Joshua 1: 8

This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.

Let us talk about meditation a little today. Yesterday we looked at Psalm 62:5 and Psalm 46: 10 which teach us to be still and quiet in the presence of God so that we may know Him as God. In the still, quiet peace of our souls is where we most easily connect with God. However, it is quite one thing to agree that you need to be still or that you need to meditate and another to actually do it. At least that was my experience. 

I decided one year that I was going to pray for an hour a day and I actually did it for quite a while. Now, you would expect my life to have exhibited a dynamic metamorphosis after praying for an hour a day. There is, however, an element of prayer that is necessary for it to have any power at all. That would be God. My prayer was an endless stream of syllables but I believe it lacked substance. It probably was noise in the ears of our Lord. I never bothered to connect with Him or the Holy Spirit so it was a soliloquy rather than a dialogue and prayer is not meant to be one-sided. Prayer is communication with God through the three persons of the trinity. My spirit, soul and mind were rarely quiet, still or silent. So, I would try with all my strength to be still and quiet. I would try to meditate. How many of you know that when you try that hard and apply power that you just create more noise. There is no effort in stillness. Remember, Psalm 46: 10 says to cease striving. So striving to hear the voice of God or striving to meditate is just not going to work. I was in violation of the principles of prayer and the kingdom of God. God teaches us that we connect and have deep fellowship through peace and ease. David commanded his soul to silence so that he could hear what the Father would say. David knew in whom his hope rested because he had many times experienced that saving grace of the Lord. 

It is exceedingly unfair for teachers to constantly intone about meditation and never teach us how to meditate. For some of you I understand this comes easily. I cannot even fathom. Others of you may have struggled with me. How then do we enter that rest that we often hear about? 

My revelation was not my own. A dear friend and mentor led me, this year, to two ministries which in conjunction have opened the prison doors and set me free. The first of those ministries is Communion with God Ministries whose founder is Dr. Mark Virkler. How appropriate. Now, do you think a ministry with that name may be able to help you find God and assist you in communing with him? Absolutely! And it was certainly true for me. Dr. Virkler’s foundational program is 4 Keys to Hearing God’s Voice. If you want to hear God’s voice speaking directly to you, then this program will make it happen for you. Dr. Virkler very subtlety teaches us left brained people to stimulate the right side of our brains bringing us into greater balance and causing us to experience the other half of the world (maybe more than ½). His website is a great beginning place and it is loaded with tons of free content. Free is good. I learned how to use the 4 keys just from his website and had an immediate breakthrough. The website is www.cwgministries.org

The other ministry that has radically altered my life this year is Impact Ministries with Dr. James Richards. Dr. Richards has many areas of expertise which can impact your life but the Heart Physics program is what has taught me how to be still. It was amazingly easy too. I was absolutely astounded at how quickly I began having significant breakthroughs. In fact, during the first week I had several major ideas just “come to me.” That which Dr. Richards teaches can alter every area of life. And while it takes a few minutes to go through the heart exercises, that time and more is added back in productivity and creativity. He also teaches you how to have more energy. You will be amazed at the peace you gain through heart physics and I guarantee you will learn how to calm yourself down and to meditate. It is a very fruitful program. Find all of Dr. Richards’ resources at www.impactministries.com or www.heartphysics.com.

We can all have peace. We can all find God in the stillness of our hearts. These two ministries can help you find that place of calm serenity where Jesus is waiting for you. Be still and know your God and savior. Find peace and truth in meditation.