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Arguing with God

Posted in God, Prayer, Spiritual Growth, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on January 9, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Job 21-23. It was freeing for me when I realized I didn’t need to act pious before God. As I grew in our relationship, recognizing that His love and forgiveness were way bigger than my sin and assorted stumbles in life, I became able to stop trying to be righteous. It made any perceived distance between us shrink and I began to understand what it meant to “walk with God”. And instead of striving and trying to act right against the current of the world, my fleshly desires, and the temptations of Satan, my heart and my mind became more desirous of pleasing my faithful Lord. Doing what brings joy to Him became my desire. Because I knew He loved me unconditionally AND knew all that I thought, it became totally fine to talk it out when I was unhappy, confused, angry or any other emotion that I had attempted to stuff when I was trying to act righteous.

I recognize this in Job today. He is ready to argue with God. We know He doesn’t have the whole picture and some of Job’s assumptions are not correct, but I am encouraged because He never loses faith in God. He may be ready to challenge God that He has made a mistake in punishing him, but He does not lose faith that God is there or that He will listen to Him. While very limited in the New Testament, lamentations are a common theme in the Old Testament. As many as 60 of the Psalms are considered lamentations and there is even one whole book that is a collection of distressed heart cries to God called Lamentations. Being honest with God, even if it is an argument we are going to lose, is the path to greater intimacy with the Lover of our soul.

Father, thank you, that we can be real with you. We do not need to hide how we feel. Beyond the fact that there is nothing we can hide, there is truly more mercy, grace, and love readily available to us, that we can only receive when we let down our guard and let you in. That you gently, lovingly, pursue us, encouraging us to open up, is truly a great gift. Even when we don’t fully understand what’s going on, we put our trust in you. You are faithful and true. Blessed be the Name of the LORD, our God! Amen!

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Why I Now Like Job – Understanding Suffering and God’s Sovereignty

Posted in Bible Study, Bible Study, God, Spiritual Growth, Trials, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 5, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Perhaps a better description of my attitude toward the book of Job is that I appreciate it now. It is still a pretty dark situation. I mean Job is a really good guy and he loses everything… except his wife who tells him he should curse God and die. At least he has that going for him. (Okay, sarcasm is a little harder to pull off in print, especially when you have as wonderful a wife as I do and I by no means am throwing off on wives, because mine is the BEST!)

Context is really important and I suspect that this idea of setting the context correctly will be something I repeatedly touch on this year. The setting for Job was some 400 years after the flood and still sometime before the LORD would call forth a specific person, Abram, and begin to reveal His plan of redemption through his family line. In this time there was an awareness of God or gods, but His progressive revelation of Himself was in an early stage.

As we saw in Noah’s interaction with God, i.e. following His instructions to build an Ark and then offering sacrifices upon leaving the Ark, there is a sense of a moral code that comes from God and some process of appeasing God in case we have broken that moral code. There was even a clear understanding that you could go far enough in breaking the moral code that God would wipe you out. Echoes of the flood remained these 400 years later. (Interesting side note, there are several global flood accounts from other ancient civilizations independent of the one captured in the Hebrew scriptures and our Bible.)

When we look at Noah, we see a man and his family rescued by God from a cataclysmic flood based upon Noah’s righteousness and faithfulness to God. And we also see punishment of wickedness to everyone else because they had devolved to a state of constant sin. With this memory of the flood and the reasons behind it still resident, it is not too much of a stretch to see how Job and his friends had a fairly black and white view of the world and God’s system of justice.

Through the story of Job, God reveals a more nuanced understanding of sin, loss, justice, God’s sovereignty, and His involvement in the lives of humanity. It is a major step in God’s self-revelation of who He is and sets the stage for His plan of redemption. I mentioned that I appreciate Job now, and I think the reason is because reading the stories in the Bible in chronological order as I am this year, it makes more sense how God was deliberate in rolling out His plan over the millennia.

Spoiler alert, we’re going to get to the end of Job and we are not going to be told why God allowed all these bad things to happen to Job. At least Job is not going to be told even though God speaks to him for several of the later chapters. However, the fact that his story is captured in the Sacred Scriptures is the reason. There are many lessons that can be gleaned from Job’s story which in itself is the reason Job had to suffer. A righteous man suffering for the benefit of others for the rest of time, that almost feels like a foreshadow of someone…

A few major takeaways from Job that I struggled to see when I just focused upon his grievous losses to begin the story. Today, they come through clearly.

God is sovereign. Satan, the Accuser, wanted to attack and hurt the righteous man, Job. God did not prevent it, but He could have. He did set limitations upon what Satan could do.

Satan, the Accuser, is malevolent and wants to hurt the righteous. He is a source of a lot of pain and loss in the world. He is restrained, but he still looks for ways to inflict suffering.

Suffering can come from multiple sources. We’ve already mentioned an active enemy, Satan. We also live in a fallen world where the brokenness of this world (think cancer) and the sin of others (think drunk driver taking the life of a loved one) can bring suffering upon us. And, as Job’s friends repeatedly accused Job of, we can bring pain upon ourselves with our bad choices and our sin.

God is relational. It is interesting that God provides quite the discourse at the end of the book. While God speaks to Job, the gathered friends benefit from God’s chastisement of Job as well.

God corrects those He loves. As I read the later chapters of Job, I can picture his head dropping further and further as he realizes how he has put the living God in a box based upon his own very limited understanding. My head droops a little too as I recognize that I am prone to do the same.

God can, and will, bring good out of bad. He does this for Job. He does this through Job to the generations of persons who have read and discerned God’s message through Job’s life. The apostle Paul may have even thought of Job when he penned the words in his letter to the Romans…‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. ‘ Romans 8:28

My practical application of Job is pretty simple. When bad things happen in my life, I pause and take inventory, asking the LORD to reveal if there is any sin in me or any bad decision I have made that is bringing this about. This applies in many ways, not just big things. If my beloved and I have a disagreement, this self-reflection is key. And I often find that I do have some degree of ownership of the issue. I repent, i.e. change my mind. I own my part of the problem. And I engage from a place of humility.

After I have taken these steps, I then evaluate whether there is more I need to do. Prayer is key. In some cases, there is an aspect of spiritual warfare taking place and being aligned with the Holy Spirit is essential. In a few cases there is someone who is acting counter to God’s best. If I am to address, then I do so through much prayer and in humility. If I am not to be the person to address it, then I intercede for the person who is.

The bottom line in all of this is that I trust in God’s many promises and I stick as close to Him as I know how. In John 15 Jesus tells His disciples to “abide” in Him 11 times over those first 17 verses. Abiding is essential when loss hits us. There is comfort in abiding even when answers are not immediate. There is alignment in abiding when we are not sure of the direction we are to face. There is healing in abiding because we are with the great physician.

Job is still one of the less enjoyable books of the Bible, but it is so important in giving a balanced view of God and the world we live in. I appreciate Job’s life today and I am thankful for the lessons he can teach me about living in right relationship with my Heavenly Father.

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What’s in Your Diet

Posted in exercise, Priorities, Vision, worldview, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 1, 2026| Leave a Comment »

It’s New Years Day and like many people my mind has been on things I would like to do differently in 2026. Turning the page on a new year always seems like the right time to turn the page to a new and better me. As I woke this morning my mind flitted back and forth between what do I want to exclude and what to include in my diet in 2026. Too many sweets, too large portions, too many snacks were all a challenge in 2025 that I aim to rectify. But as I pondered and prayed (and it is not a bad thing for these to blend together) I sensed the Holy Spirit broadening me to consider ALL that I take in and / or exclude from my life in 2026. His gentle guidance is to continually orient ALL of me toward the Lord and His “kingdom purposes” for me. By definition that must include reorienting myself away from the lesser things that draw me away from Him and from walking in kingdom living.

A friend of mine just sent me this text which fits for flipping the page. It also happens to be the founding verse for our church – NewSpring Church. ‘“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.’ Isaiah 43:18-19

So, I begin with setting the foundation for what we are created for. That is to know God and to make Him known.  To enjoy Him and to share that enjoyment with others naturally flows as we grow closer to Him. His love gradually saturates us and becomes the engine that drives our witness to who He is and what He has done in our life. It really is not about a formula or methodology. It is about living life the way He designed it to be lived and allowing the fruit of that life to grow and be shared with others.

I love growing and working with plants. Retirement, when it finally comes, will include plenty of time spent with dirty hands amongst green growing things. I have learned that healthy, nutrient rich soil is vital to strong, vibrant, beautiful plants. The plants take these nutrients up through their roots and this feeds the whole of the plant. There are only a few plants that can grow in poor soil and the vast majority of these are weeds, plants that do not add beauty, delight, or in the case of fruit and vegetables, anything worth eating. This truth carries over to our lives. What is the “soil” we are planted in? Where are your roots? Are you getting the nutrients you need to produce good fruit, godly fruit?

Because we are created as more complex beings than the flowers and tomato plants in our yard, lets zero in on the areas of our diet we will consider in 2026. Our complexity can be grouped into our physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual needs. I’m sure there are sub-divisions to these and for sure some overlap such as emotional and social, but my feeble brain can work with these divisions, so please bear with me.

The huge number of gym memberships and diet plans started in January of each year testify to the awareness we have of our physical needs. We are overweight and / or out of shape and we want to do something about it. By the end of January something around 2/3 of the diets and workout routines have been abandoned. One of the causes is that a wholistic approach is not considered. Our physical being must align with the other facets of who we are. Improvement in one area alone will not be sustainable.

So, when I consider my diet, I will look at the food and much more. It will include the exercise I will intentionally undertake. It will guide what I do to expand my knowledge of the world I live in. I will be aware of and practice activities that meet my true emotional needs while discerning and addressing the lies that would lead me to bad decisions and emotional harm. I will look for healthy social interactions and ways to make a positive impact in the areas where the Lord leads me. And the true foundation for a believer is how do we nurture our relationship with the Lord of life in such a way that we grow closer to Him and better able to follow His leading in all things.

Here are a few things I am going to do or do differently in 2026. Most are extensions of things I have either done in the past or I am doing now, but need reinforcement. This is my list and should not necessarily be your list. However, these may stir something in you that you want to take to the LORD for consideration. That is truly my hope that the LORD would encourage you in some way that helps you to grow closer to Him in 2026.

I will read the Word every day and capture at least one key thought to share with others. I will share this through a GroupMe group.

I will read through the entire Bible chronologically this year.

I will reestablish a prayer discipline that has waned some in the recent past.

I will read at least 10 pages of non-fiction (other than the Bible) every day.

With the Holy Spirit’s help, I will engage in at least one new ministry this year.

I will revisit the Spiritual Disciplines I am currently using and, with the Holy Spirit’s help, refresh and start anew.

I will drastically reduce the amount of sugar and sweeteners I consume.

I will limit portion size on my meals. It is okay not to clean my plate. At the first sign of fullness, I will stop eating.

I will engage in intentional exercise of 45 minutes duration at least 3 times per week.

I will engage in some form of exercise for at least 20 minutes per day resulting in at least 7000 steps per day.

I will limit my social media viewing to 30 minutes max per day.

I will have a date night at least once per week. Lisa deserves my undivided attention and I am blessed by hers.

I will make at least one new acquaintance each week. This can be while traveling for work, on the golf course with our son, Sam, during one of our “adventure trips”, or through church.

I will complete the story I began writing in 2025 (Titus’s Travels) and share it with at least 10 friends.

I will post at least four longer blogs to areliablefaith.com each month. This is the first one and it is going out on January 1 so I am making a good start.

I will actively support the ministries we have partnered with… NewSpring, More 320 Haven, YWAM-Matthew, CRU-Emily & Forrest, SOW- Coleman, SOW- Lifespring School, Kenya, Hounds of Heaven – South Anderson

Visit, call, or text Mom at least once per day.

Visit, call, or text each of my children at least three times per week.

Visit at least one new National Park.

Visit at least one new Country and learn three things about their culture I did not know.

Write at least two papers / articles / blog posts for work this year.

Speak at a work conference this year.

Have at least one touch base with every Consultant each week.

Participate in Wednesday Men’s Bible Study every Wednesday that I am in town.

Follow up on the possibility of buying property for our retirement home.

I am going to pause for now. I surprised myself with the amount of pent up things to do, things to change, that I had. I can see how these would provide some helpful guardrails that have either not existed or have become ignored over time. Because I am an engineer at heart, there just might be a spreadsheet to track my progress. Again, I don’t know that this is for everyone, but I find it helpful to hold myself accountable.

I encourage anyone who reads this to let me know at least one thing you have taken away from this post.

I wish you all a blessed start to your new year of 2026.

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Desire to be a Doorkeeper

Posted in Church, God, Jesus Christ, Prayer, Worship, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 31, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Psalms 82-82 Romans 2. I like the image that comes to mind when I read Psalm 84:10. ‘Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.’ The picture is one of joyful exuberance as I swing the door wide to welcome people – young and old, excited and exhausted, some that look like me and many who look nothing like me, multi-colored, varieties of dress, just lots of people who are drawn to be near the Lord God Almighty.

I can clearly see the smile on my face and the joy in my eyes as I know Who awaits them inside. Many streaming in already know Him and have an abiding relationship with the Lover of their soul. Some do not, but they have hope and so they come. God, who is Love, has brought them to the doors of faith and He is ready to meet them where they are and draw them to Himself.

There is historical context to this Psalm that is helpful to know. The Jewish people had three high feast days when it was expected that they would travel to Jerusalem to worship as God’s gathered people. For a time, God placed a unique manifestation of His presence in the Temple. While God is omnipresent, i.e. present in all places at all times, He can and does chose to manifest His presence in a more tangible way in discrete places for periods of time. He can do this in human form like He did in Babylon in the fire with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abenego, He can do it like He did with the Ark of the Covenant, or He can do it like He did in the Temple in Jerusalem as a cloud. The point is God is both always present and, at times, manifestly present. To come to the Temple is to say, I want to be as close to the Lord as I possibly can. And that is a good thing.

One final thought. Standing at the door we get to experience God’s presence while at the same time extending His invitation to others who have not experienced Him. Being in His presence and soaking up His lovingkindness does wonders for us, but it is also meant to motivate us to share it with others. God’s love in contagious in the most wonderful way. We work in concert with the Holy Spirit as we do life with others, taking the opportunities presented to point to Him, to speak of Him, to live in a manner that represents Him well. As we do, we are swinging the door wide and offering the invitation, “Come inside, the LORD invites you to join Him. He is so glad you came!”

LORD, you are Holy. That you invite us to join you is wonderful, amazing, and a bit surprising. But through your Son, Jesus, you made a way that we can enter in. You offered cleansing from sin by His precious blood spilled on our behalf. So, with gratitude and in great humility we bend the knee and say, “thank you”. While we rightfully should remain in this posture, you reach down and lift us up, saying, “Arise my child, your sins are forgiven. Come join the celebration!” And we do. Glory, honor, and praise be ever to our King, our Lord, the one true God. Amen and AMEN!

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Dichotomy

Posted in Bible Study, God, Jesus Christ, Romans, Salvation, Spiritual Growth, The Father, worldview, tagged , , , , , , , , , on July 30, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Psalm 79-81, Romans 1. Paul’s letter to the Romans is a beautiful treatise on the difference between life without God versus the transformed life in union with God. This first chapter provides a 30,000-foot view of this dichotomy where Paul is setting the table for what is to come.

Life can be parsed into three phases – transgression, transaction, and transformation. Transgression is the first phase and sadly, many people never leave this phase. Romans 1:18-32 describe life in the transgression phase – broken, sinful, and separated from God.

The transaction phase is when we hear and receive the Gospel – the good news of Jesus Christ. Romans 1:1-5 touches on the heart of this transaction which Paul will elaborate on over the coming pages. In this phase God exchanges our sins for Jesus’ righteousness in an act of ultimate mercy and grace. He changes our heart, our direction, and our ultimate destination.

Then there is the transformation phase where our lives become aligned with God’s will over time. I can’t help but jump ahead to Romans 12:1-2 as I think about this. It follows the transaction where we lay down our old lives and say yes to Jesus as Savior and Lord. This transformation is our lives becoming increasingly aligned with Jesus. In one place it is called putting on the “mind of Christ”. It is where our habits are changed from being dictated by self and the world’s ways to becoming directed by the Word of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit. It is a time of partnership with the deep working of the Holy Spirit in us to bring about a total transformation of how we think, speak, and act.

The Gospels give us a clear picture of Jesus – who He is, what He did while in the flesh, and what the life He calls us to looks like. Acts describes this glorious giving of the Holy Spirit who indwells us as redeemed children of God. We see how the Holy Spirit works within the gathered body of Christ as a group as well as in individuals who are in the transformation process.  In this letter to the Romans Paul connects the dots between these three phases, reaching back to the beginning of the story in Genesis through the Gospels, into the time of the book of Acts, and, under the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, all the way to us as we read his words today.

I love the book of Romans because it articulates the path I have been walking on for 40+ years. When I read it it’s like looking at the map to check my location, my destination, and to correct where I may be a little off. It is a gift from the Lord to lead us home and to help us finish strong!

Lord, thank you for all the saints who have gone before us. Today as we launch into the letter you inspired Paul to write, we thank you for the wise words that help us on our journey in faith. Your plan for us is good and we desire to walk it out with constancy and purpose. Take what we read, the circumstances of our lives, and the needs within us and bring about your perfect will. We want to become more like Jesus today. We want to shed whatever vestige of our old self that might rise up so that the new creation in You might be revealed. We want to please you in word, in deed, and even in our thoughts. Lord God, you are our God, you are our hope, you are our All in All. Blessed be your Holy Name!

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Psalm 76-78, Acts 28:17-31. God’s Past Provision Contains the Promise of His Future Faithfulness.

Posted in God, Prayer, Spiritual Growth, tagged , , , , , , , on July 29, 2025| Leave a Comment »

We are inheritors of God’s promises given repeatedly since the beginning of time. From Genesis 3:15 on, God has promised He would send a rescuer, a deliverer from the enemy who accuses us and the sin that binds us. In Abraham, God chose a family line to bring forth this redeemer. Throughout the Jewish Law and Prophets, God’s provision and these promises are repeated. Sadly, despite this the people repeatedly failed to live according to God’s direction and they forfeited their place in these promises.

I was the oldest of four children. Lisa and I raised four ourselves. One thing I have noticed is that the youngest children have a great advantage should they choose it. They can learn from the oldest children’s mistakes. My younger siblings benefited greatly from the discipline that I rightly earned. I won’t necessarily say they were perfect, but they at least knew where the lines were that they should not cross. But even better, they knew the things that created peace, happiness, and harmony in the home.

Psalm 72 gives this look back over Israel’s past, highlighting God’s faithful provision even in times of trial and difficulty. It was a call to the Jews in that day, but it is also appropriate for us today to see where God has been and what He has done on our behalf. We are not orphans abandoned to ourselves. We are His children.

There will be times when He draws us close and holds us tight. There will also be times when He calls us to stand firm in the face of adversity, knowing that He is with us. He is raising us up and training us to be people who faithfully follow even when we don’t feel it, when the view of His hand is obscured. We are learning to be people who trust His heart even when we can’t see His hand.

Having passed through more than one hard place and dark time, His presence on the other side seems a little more real. The delight in His eyes and the smile on His face seems a little richer. And for sure, the joy in my heart lifts me a little higher. And when the next challenge comes, I have His past provision to hold onto because I know it contains the promise of His forever faithfulness.

Lord, thank you that you are always there, even in those times when we don’t feel you. Help us to look at your past provision and faithfulness to the people of God in the Bible as well as in the lives of our believing friends to buoy our faith. When the going gets tough, bring to mind the times you have provided for us, the times you have nurtured us in sweetness. Lord, we surrender our need to have a specific solution, and we accept your presence and your provision as we put our whole trust in you. For you are our provider, our healer, our redeemer, and our Lord. To you be all glory, honor, and praise, now and forever!

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Psalm 73-75, Acts 28:1-16. Tunnel Vision.

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on July 28, 2025| Leave a Comment »

It is easy to lose sight of the big picture. Sometimes we never even consider the big picture. A common feature in the lament psalms is this seeming fixation on the wicked and those who oppose the psalmist – whether it is David, Asaph, or an anonymous writer. A “woe is me” and “why aren’t you doing something God” attitude is actually captured throughout these psalms. It used to bother me, but now I’m glad they did. They were real and they show the starting point for realization and return. When they realize they are focused on the wrong thing, the temporary thing, and they return their focus on God, the entire picture shifts.

Hidden in our hearts is this echo of Eden. God created a place for us to dwell with Him in perfection. Everything was good. Anything that was needed was provided. Intimacy with Love Himself was the center point of this idyllic existence. There was only one thing that was forbidden – the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Yet, with a little prompting from the serpent, Eve and Adam became enamored of the forbidden. Love for God and intimacy with Him fell to second place as desire for this forbidden thing became their primary desire.

The Psalmist, probably correctly, observes those who flaunt God and His commands, and He is incensed. But with this observation comes a desire not unlike Adam and Eve in the garden. The current prosperity of the wicked and the seeming lack of response from God stirs up envy that is every bit as damning as the arrogance of the wicked. Allowed to continue, this tunnel vision would have brought about the downfall of one called to be faithful in all circumstances.

Thanks be to God, He is near at hand. He allows the wicked to prosper for a little while that they might realize their need for Him and turn. He allows us to see this, not to tempt us, but to encourage us to turn our eyes, our hearts to Him in trust, to look at the bigger picture. God’s past faithfulness is just one piece of the big picture we can look to as reminders that God is good and He will make all things right. The Temple itself was a magnificent reminder of God’s promises fulfilled and His presence among His people.

Today I look at the big picture and I see God’s hand at work in every direction. For the child struggling mightily right now – Father draw her near and let her see the big picture. For the long career nearing an end – let the finish be strong and honoring to you. For the brother’s and sister’s I worship and pray and do life with – Lord continue to mold us and shape us. You are so good, so faithful, so present – help us to see with eyes of faith so that we grow deeper and stronger in You. Accomplish your good and perfect will in us and through us this day. Jesus, it is in your wonderful Name that we pray.

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Incredible

Posted in God, God Stories, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Prayer, Prayers, Spiritual Growth, The Father, Trials, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 1, 2023| Leave a Comment »

It is a day and a half since the surgery.  The nerve block they gave me has worked well, but it is finally wearing off and I am beginning to feel the fact that a portion of my ear is missing.  Not too much pain, but a reminder of something lost.  But this is nothing compared to what I have gained through this.  I can truly say this has been one of the most blessed experiences of my life.  The LORD’s presence has been so real and tangible that I have experienced a peace that has truly buoyed me and a joy that has stirred my soul.

The word that comes to mind as I ponder this is “Incredible”.  Something that is credible is believable.  With the prefix added in-credible means something that stretches belief.  I already had a strong belief in God and a vibrant relationship with the Lord through Jesus, but that belief has been strengthened and stretched in the most blessed of ways. 

One of the things I’ve found interesting is how I have been led to pray.  My prayers for myself have been that the Lord would be glorified.  I have not been led to pray to be healed.  The Holy Spirit told me to share my journey, hence you are reading this post.  From that I know others have been praying for me, many praying for my healing, but I have not. 

There was one night a week or so after we learned I was dealing with melanoma that Lisa and I watched a series where one of the lead characters had cystic fibrosis.  In the final episode she passed away.  Her passing as portrayed in the show played out over a 2-year period.  For both Lisa and I the reality that I could be on the front end of a similar journey really weighed on us as we went to bed.  In the middle of the night I awoke restless and I hesitantly prayed, “Lord Jesus, please heal me”.  Well, the Holy Spirit clearly spoke, “It is not yet the time”. 

I have not prayed specifically for my healing since.  I am fine with others praying for it and I do hope the Lord heals me, but that has not been my focus.  I simply want to walk faithfully through this knowing the LORD said, “Trust Me” at the outset. 

The returns on this approach have been amazing.  I have known a peace through this that has lifted me.  As I already mentioned, I can feel such love and affirmation, that I am truly thankful for this experience.  I have even walked in periods of great joy.  And to imagine this is amid losing part of my body and still not knowing if cancer has spread to other parts of my body.  (Since I am being transparent, not all of my body is still working like I would like for it to, but I attribute that to things done at an earlier age that are now catching up to me 😊)

Friends, I can see how the LORD was preparing me for this journey even as late as this summer.  A theme that played out over several weeks in my studies and meditation was that we are “eternal, spiritual beings living in a temporary, physical body”.  Our time on this earth is truly limited.  These bodies all have an expiration date.  But the part of us that lives on is what we should be nourishing and growing.  Our spirit is where we commune with our Creator.  It is the part of us that needs to know who we are and why we are here. 

We are created to be God’s children and our purpose is to know and love Him even as we are fully known and loved.  While this is the answer, it is only the merest surface of the reality.  The depths of it are only realized when it goes from our head to our hearts and fills our spirit with His Holy Spirit.  We are given one lifetime for this to happen.  I guess my situation has simply given me, and those who have joined me for this journey, an opportunity to consider that my expiration date, and each of theirs, might be closer than we realize.  I believe the Lord’s response to each of us is the same as what He spoke to my heart shortly after I learned I had cancer… “Trust Me!”

Our next medical milestone is December 11 when we learn the results of the biopsy and the genetic testing to see if I am prone to more melanoma.

It has been my honor that you have joined me in this journey.  Hopefully the LORD has taken my posts and used them to encourage you in some way.  That is my desire and prayer. 

Be blessed my friend and be a blessing to someone today!

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Why “Trusting God” is NOT a Good Plan B

Posted in God, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Priorities, The Father, Vision, tagged , , , , , , , , on March 1, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Rather than taking a long time to get to the point let me state it up front.  Trusting God is not a good Plan B because if Trusting God is in position B then something else must be your Plan A.  There is nothing that rightfully supplants putting your hope first in God and His provision.  Now there are numerous situations where the Lord will work through others to accomplish His will in our life, but allowing God to be our source and then trusting Him to chose whatever means He determines to meet our need is always the right response.

God is fully equipped to be our confidant, our counselor, our healer, our deliverer, and our comforter.  In fact those are all specifically spelled out as roles God will fulfill in the believer’s life.  We also are given insight into what qualifies Him to fill those roles.  He is omniscient.  He is sovereign.  He is omnipresent.  He is all together good.  He is love.

So what does Trusting God as Plan A mean?  While I understand that many of you know God through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, I am prompted to cover the basics before we touch on deeper elements of Trusting God.

God is the Creator and Father of mankind.  Intimate fellowship with God was broken in the Garden when sin entered the world.  There is a price to be paid for sin.  God’s answer for sin which broke our intimacy with Him was to send His Son, Jesus into the world.  Jesus paid the debt for our sin so we could be reconciled to God.  So Trusting God begins with trusting Jesus as your Savior and Lord.  This is the way God has established for mankind to be put in right relationship with Him.  But making this decision is only the beginning of what it means to Trust God.

God has spent over a millennia creating a love story between mankind and himself.  This love story is captured in the bible or Word of God.  In this inspired book, God provides everything necessary for life.  Wisdom, guidance, encouragement, inspiration, comfort, challenge – all the essentials for living life in intimacy with God is in this book.  The bible makes the claim, backed up by the testimony of millions of us, that the truth contained in the bible is God-breathed and life changing.

Then there is the gift of the Holy Spirit that Jesus gives to His followers.  Every born again believer is sealed with the Holy Spirit who indwells us.  Jesus talked about the Holy Spirit being our comforter and counselor in His final extended discourse with the disciples.  (See John 14 and 15)  The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity.  He knows the plans of God and the heart of Jesus.  He will lead us in the right path, always, every time, without fail.  Our role is to train our hearts to listen, understand, and follow His leading.

I am pretty confident I know why we sometimes make Trusting God Plan B.  It gets back to the point of a few days ago.  We would rather be doing something than doing nothing.  And we often make the mistake of thinking that waiting upon the Lord is the same as doing nothing.  In the most minor of ways it may appear as if we are not actively doing, but to lay our cares upon the Lord and leave them there takes an exercise of faith that is one of the most important and challenging of spiritual exercises.  And like any exercise it takes practice over time to become proficient.

Let me wrap up for tonight.  Trusting in God as Plan A is altogether good.  Plan A is not sticking our head in the sand or ignoring the sound counsel of others, but it is trusting God to lead us in our decision-making.  In many cases we will use the natural gifts and talents of others around us.  When I broke my shoulder last year I was in a foreign country.  I had a few options.  But rather than simply lean on my own wisdom, I consulted others and I prayed.  God led me to fly back to the US to have the surgery to set my shoulder.  But within my Plan A was the possibility God could have said to have the procedure done there or something else.  I was totally seeking His guidance.  Flying home seemed like the right thing to do.  When I didn’t feel any check about it after praying, we flew home.  The miraculously minimal amount of pain I suffered over the  day of transatlantic travel and then waiting 5 days for my surgery was confirmation I was Trusting Him correctly.

‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.‘ Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV

Make knowing and growing in intimacy with God your priority.  Make Trusting the Lord your Plan A.  Allow the fruit of the Holy Spirit to bloom and grow in your life.  Seek the gifts of the Holy Spirit to operate in your life.  And God’s peace will overflow in a life well-lived and the richest of praise.

Be blessed my friend and be a blessing!

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Life-long Learning

Posted in Church, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Prayer, Responsibility, The Father, tagged , , , , , , on April 6, 2015| Leave a Comment »

John, the beloved disciple, concludes his gospel with an interesting sentence.  John 21:25 says “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”  While many of us have a few noteworthy accomplishments and amusing anecdotes from our life, Jesus’ life is the life above all lives to be studied.  Although He lived for a relatively brief period, He is the central figure of history.  The book that describes His life is the all time best-seller.  It is printed in more languages than any other book.  And despite repeated attempts to blot out His story and crush His people, the church continues to grow.  As believers in Jesus we have a responsibility to become followers of Him.  In Matthew 7:21 Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”  How do we do this?  In reality this is a simple, impossible task.  We simply read the book that tells us about Jesus and God’s work in the believers, the bible, and then we do what it says.  It is impossible for us to do this perfectly in our own strength.  That is why Jesus to sent the Holy Spirit to all who would follow Him.

As a young believer I heard someone explain the difference between being intelligence and wisdom.  Intelligence is the ability to grasp and understand large amounts of information.  Wisdom is the ability to apply the information one possesses in the right manner.  I witness this in my work with plant managers and leaders in manufacturing.  The truly special leader is one who possesses a good intelligence and exercises excellent wisdom.  Many are the leaders who are intelligent, but do not walk in the most wise fashion.  In Matthew 10 Jesus gave directions to His disciples as they were being sent out on a brief training mission.  In verse 16 we read  “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”  Jesus does not want us ignorant of His work.  He admonishes us to become as knowledgeable as practically possible, yet walk in humble innocence. 

Our church is a good example of what God can do through a group of committed believers who seek to follow Jesus every way we can.  We are a bunch of imperfect people seeking to know and serve a perfect God.  One of our Pastor’s tag lines is a simple phrase, “Read the Word.  Do what it says.”  By doing that we see people come to faith by the dozens and even hundreds.  We do not have a final count, but as of 9 am on Sunday morning we had already seen over 200 people come to faith in Jesus.  And at the 9:15 service at our campus I saw dozens more come forward and make a profession of faith.  This is a wonderful thing to see.

This is the first vital step into the abundant life Jesus calls His followers into.  Being the first step carries the certainty that there are many steps to follow, too many and too varied to be addressed in a short post.  However the Holy Spirit, who seals every believer at conversion, is able to lead and guide each believer into the life God calls them to.  The Holy Spirit knows what is needed, what is not, where we must go, what we must do.  In short, the Holy Spirit is God living in us to guide us into all that we need to know and do.  The caveat here is that the Holy Spirit is still subject to the will of the believer.  Jesus desires to work in concert with us.  Our willful obedience, not our coerced obedience, is God’s desire.

Today, I encourage you to do a few things that may be new.  First, ask the Lord to instill a fresh desire in you to know Him better.  Second, ask the Lord to show you anything inside of you that is hindering your taking your next step in faith.  Third, read the Word and ask the Lord to help you do what it says.  Fourth, listen and respond to the leading of the Holy Spirit.  He will always lead you in accordance with the Word of God.  In fact the bible and the Holy Spirit are always perfectly in synch.

The Holy Spirit inspired the writers of the bible to put down the words we read.  It is the Holy Spirit indwelling the believer who gives us the ability to read, understand, and follow what it says.  If you feel lead to do something that is contrary to the bible, then stop and seek the Lord’s clarification.  I have had the Lord prompt me to do things that I thought were odd, things that definitely took me out of my comfort zone, things that I normally wouldn’t have thought to do, but I have never had the Holy Spirit prompt me to do something that is against the scripture.  Let this be a safeguard for you.

In the post-resurrection days, the Church literally exploded into life.  People recognized that God had done the most amazing thing the world would ever know.  It remains the pivotal point in all of history.  And people were moved to live in a radically new way, following the teaching of the One who had conquered death and called them to this new life.  We have the opportunity to follow in their footsteps.  Jesus calls us to Himself and then into the unique life He has equipped us for.  Immerse yourself into learning about and following the One who loved you so much He went to the cross on your behalf.

Be blessed today my friend.  And be a Spirit led blessing to others.

 

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