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Posts Tagged ‘faith’

Promises, Promises.

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on April 13, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Promises, promises, are you a promise maker?
Promises, promises, don’t be a promise breaker.

I have learned that the only way to not be a promise breaker is to never make promises. I would like to say that extenuating circumstances are the reason promises get broken, but at the best that would only be half-true. Whether we intend to or not, when we make promises we put our reputation on the line and make ourselves vulnerable for failing the trust of others. Yet making promises is a part of our lives. I suspect that most persons make between 1 – 10 promises everyday. Some are small… “Come straight in and do you homework.” “I will Mom.” while others are life altering… “Do you Dan take Lisa to be your lawful wedded wife… to cherish… til death do you part?” “I do”. Every time we sign a credit card slip we are promising we are going to pay the credit card company back (plus interest if we don’t pay back immediately.)

To say that our society functions on a foundation of trust comprised of thousands upon thousands of promises is not a stretch. So how are we doing? A building is only as good as its foundation, so how are we doing? An honest assessment has to say we are not doing very well. With divorce at over 50% of marriages, personal and business bankruptcies skyrocketing, and 40% of all children raised with no Dad in the picture we are not doing very well keeping our promises. So if promises are essential and commonplace, but keeping promises is apparently becoming harder – what are we to do?  What are the consequences? Should we be worried? What can be done about it?

My first comment about never making promises was obviously a bit tongue in check. Promises are essential. Every agreement includes within it a promise usually more than one promise. Lawyers exist to “help” interpret promises and see that promises are adhered to. I was raised in the day when a person’s word was his bond. I still live by this belief and I find many people who would like to, but they have been burned by others to whom a promise is superficial chatter and not a binding agreement. Even though I believe a promise is sacred, honesty demands that I admit I have said things that I fully intended to fulfill which have not come to pass. I want to hike around Mt Ranier with my youngest son and I have told him we would, but time is getting on and we have not made the trip. While technically not a promise broken since there is still time, it is definitely not a promise fulfilled.

I saw a political commercial last night which showed a candidate making many promises in the last election and then it showed him breaking those very promises.  It was obvious that the person made promises that they did not keep. If the most powerful people in the world struggle to keep their promises, then what shape are we really in? Well if our hope, trust, and faith are in them, then we are in pretty dismal shape.

Fortunately there is a higher authority that we can and should look to. And His track record on promises is perfect. He never fails to keep His promises. The bible says that it is impossible for God to lie. A broken promise is at its heart a lie. Since God cannot lie, He cannot break a promise. I have found this to be true as have millions of others throughout history. God is a promise maker AND a promise keeper.

God’s first promise to me was “Dan, I will never leave you or forsake you.” And that has been true. God has always shown up. In the most difficult times of my life He has been tangibly present. Sometimes it is through the extended arms of His children. At others it is through a perfectly timed verse. Sometimes it is a gentle peace within my spirit. The point is for 28 years God has kept His promise and I know He always will.  While this promise was whispered to me when He brought me to Himself, this is a promise He offers to each and every one of us if we but put our trust in Him.

Now it is important to mention something God does not promise.  He does not promise a life free from pain, difficulties, challenges.  No, these are a part of life that we will from time to time have to walk through.  But what we can hold on to are specific promises God has given for us at these times.  From Isaiah 43 we see God promising that when floods threaten to overwhelm His people He will be with them.  When fire is upon them, He will cause them to walk through and not be burned.  It does not say we won’t have times that threaten us and cause us pain, but it does say He will carry us through.

Now I have to say I have learned that “carrying through” includes two important considerations.  First, is a relationship with Him.  God will respect our decision to keep Him at arm’s length, but that makes His help less tangible.  It’s not His decision, but ours that makes this so.  (And people often blame Him for this?)  Second, some of His promises have a complete fulfillment in the eternal perspective.  I have a friend whose son was diagnosed with leukemia.  He fought it bravely and experienced a couple of years of remission.  The disease returned and an auto-marrow transplant was determined to be his best option so this is the path they took.  During the window of time immediately after the transplant the patient is extremely susceptible to any illness.  My friend’s son caught something and went downhill until he finally went into a coma.  For 40 days we prayed for Chase.  Our focus was upon Chase getting better and coming out of the coma.  For 30 days I prayed for this, but as time and prayer continued with little change in Chase, I began to realize that God was speaking something different into my spirit than what I was praying.  I began to see God revealing a bigger perspective – an eternal perspective to my prayer for Chase and his family.  The last days of Chase’s life here were more peaceful for Chase and his family because they recognized that God was walking with them in the working out of His will.  Chase’s life and death led to others being reconciled to God and being inspired to live a life of faith.

We are called to let Christ reign in our lives.  As His Holy Spirit resides in us and we cooperate with His transforming work, we become more and more like Him.  We become promise makers.  I started off by saying that the only way I have found not to break a promise is to not make a promise.  A more accurate statement would be to become so surrendered to God that we only make promises He prompts us to make, and become even more surrendered to Him to allow Him to help us keep them.

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He’s ALIVE!!!

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on April 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »

An hour and a half before sunrise the women found the spices and death dressings they had made for the Body and quietly slipped outside. As they gathered few words were used although silent embraces spoke of the pain and grief each one felt.  The past few days were a blur of confusion.  Just days before He had entered town to such fanfare and adoration – “Hosanna!  Blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord.  Hosanna in the highest.”  They had thought that perhaps this was the time He would be proclaimed as king.  The miracles that they had seen with their own eyes… even unto to some of them, was surely a testament to God’s great power that was with Him.  And yet today they were going to dress His body for the final time and His tomb would be sealed… forever.

Someone broke the silent contemplation with a very practical question.  “Who will roll away the stone?”  They had been there as Joseph and Nicodemus hastily prepared His body on the eve of the Sabbath.  The large stone weighing 2 tons or more was rolled down over the opening just before they left.  “Perhaps the guards will help us.” another said.  Word had gotten to His followers that a Roman guard had been posted at the tomb.  There would be four soldiers when they arrived.  They all remembered the centurion who was stationed at the cross when He had died.  He knew He was not a common criminal, but a righteous man.  He showed kindness toward the family.  “Perhaps…”

As they neared the tomb, the ground shook violently for a few moments.  On top of the grief, now they had a new terror seize them.  But as quickly as it came, it subsided.  They picked themselves up and now hurried to the tomb.  When they arrived the guards – seasoned, battle-hardened warriors, were on the ground looking as though they had seen a ghost.  The women’s attention did not remain on the guards, but rather jumped to the tomb.  The stone was gone and the tomb was OPEN.  What has happened?  When they looked inside they could see the clothes and spices used to wrap the Body, but the BODY WAS GONE.

“Do not be afraid.”  They looked and a man dressed in a white robe was sitting inside the tomb.  “You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified.  He has risen!  He is not here.  See the place where they laid Him.  Go tell His disciples and Peter.  He is alive…”

Jesus suffered death, but death did not… could not hold Him.  Death was introduced into the world when Adam and Eve first sinned.  And since then life’s end was always death.  But with sinless Jesus and His selfless, loving sacrifice the whole order of things was turned on its head.  Death suddenly gave way to life.  Jesus made a new way.  Jesus is the new way.

Mary Magdalene did not put all these thoughts together at that time, but she knew that hope was rekindled in her heart.  It still fought with the fear and confusion of the strange things she was seeing and hearing, but hope had begun again.  Why Jesus picked Mary as the first to see Him is a mystery.  She was a woman who had suffered much, but who had been touched by the Master’s hand and delivered by His word.  It may have been because she pushed herself past her grief to do what had to be done and she was in a place to see Him.  It probably had to do with the hope that was attempting to rise up in her heart and convince her mind that He really was alive.  I am certain at least part of the reason was because Jesus knew her need and stepped in.  But Mary was the first to see the risen Lord.

As I watch the sky brighten in the east this morning signalling a new day about to begin, I think back to that new day.  Everything changed that day.  Death is no longer the end for those who know Jesus.  The power of sin can is broken as we surrender to the One who died to break sin’s hold over us.  God is real.  God is love.  God cares for us.  And God is a person who can and does relate directly with us if we but take the time to seek Him.

Alleluia, He is risen.  The Lord is risen indeed.  Alleluia!

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Approaching Holy Week

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on March 28, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Only a small percentage of us approach the end of our earthly life with the clear-sighted focus that Jesus did.  Jesus came to this earth on purpose and with a purpose.  The culmination of that purpose was found in Holy Week.  Holy week is the pivotal week in human history and Easter morning is the crux of it all.  Sadly to many are not aware of the wonder of this glorious day or they are so distracted that they fail to prepare for it and miss the precious gift that it offers.  Today I offer a few tips to make the most of Holy Week.

First, if you are not aware, Jesus stands alone as unique among all persons who have ever lived.  Jesus was killed by the ancient Roman custom of crucifixion.  He was confirmed dead and put into the tomb owned by a Jewish leader, Joseph of Arimathea.  Jesus did not stay in the tomb though.  God raised Him up to life after three days.  This really happened.  It was foretold ahead of time by prophets.  Jesus said it would happen.  And literally hundreds of witnesses saw Jesus alive after His resurrection.  Jesus is the only person who has ever lived, died, and lived again in their earthly body.

There are points that critics bring up to try to dispute the fact of Jesus resurrection.  They all need a conspiracy of some sort to show why Jesus body has never been found.  Every single theory falls flat though when the evidence is analyzed.  In his book, Born Again, Chuck Colson who was a member of President Richard Nixon’s inner team explains how he was convinced that Jesus was resurrected.  President Nixon resigned in disgrace when it was learned that he knew about efforts to coverup involvement in certain illegal political activities.  Chuck Colson was in the small group who knew about this.  Chuck was among those that served prison time for their role in the coverup.  The fact that a small group of people faithfully committed to one of the most powerful persons in the world at that time couldn’t keep a secret was very telling.  Colson then draws a parallel to the 12 apostles, Jesus’ inner circle.  These men who were supposed conspirators in foisting the Jesus is Alive story all the while knowing they had stolen His body.  The fact that these 12 men went throughout the world spreading the story of Jesus resurrection.  The final end of 11 of the 12 was martyrdom.  They were executed for their faith and the message they proclaimed.  This is very telling.  A person may, and I emphasize may, die for something they strongly believe to be true.  But to die for something you know to be a lie, it doesn’t happen.  And for all of them to die for a lie takes immeasurably more faith than to believe the wealth of evidence that says Jesus truly is alive.

So point one as we approach Holy Week is that Jesus is Alive.  This brings on the question – So what?  What does Jesus’ death and resurrection mean to me?  I mentioned before that Holy Week is the pivotal point in all of human history.  That is a huge statement, but I believe it to be true from both a sociological point of view and from a personal point of view.  I shared in one of my early posts about my conversion.  This speaks to how my life has been changed by Jesus.  My oldest daughter has recently found new life in Christ and she is writing about it in her blog growingthroughchrist.wordpress.com.  Since Jesus was raised from the dead, everything He said suddenly changes from good advice from a wise man, to words from God.  He is different from prophets.  Prophets occasionally spoke words from God.  They were still fully human and for that reason we can find prophets who make mistakes.  Jesus didn’t make mistakes.

Jesus was the sinless Son of God who came to earth with a very specific purpose.  He lived long enough to prove His deity.  He touched lives mainly within the Jewish people of that day.  But His primary purpose was culminated in Holy Week when He willingly offered Himself up as a sacrifice in our place.  Sin cannot go unpunished.  Sin separates us from God and if not atoned for, will keep us forever separate from God.  Jesus took our sin, my sin, upon Himself when He died on the cross.  Unless you have put your faith in Jesus, that sin is not atoned for.  I know that God works in our lives even before we come to faith.  Faith itself is a gift from God.  Faith is what happens when we trust God.

One last thing before I close for the day.  I have discussed Jesus with a number of people.  The one thing I have found is that no one has ever been able to refute the historical and logical conclusions of the evidence surrounding Jesus life and death.  I am an engineer.  I am wired to think in a logical way.  (Which at times drives my family to distraction.)  When based purely upon well researched evidence, a jury would have to say Jesus was resurrected from the dead.  (For excellent research on this topic read Josh McDowell’s Evidence that Demands a Verdict.) In many cases where I have had this discussion, the person I was speaking with chose to ignore the facts in deference to their own world view.  In most cases they held a belief that contrasted squarely with biblical teaching on moral law that they were not willing to give up.  In other words they chose to build a world view that allowed them to do what they wanted and not try to find truth and then go where truth led them.  I have seen this enough to understand the powerful persuasiveness of sin.  But I also know the incredible freedom and joy that I now have through my relationship with God.

This is my encouragement to you.  As you approach Holy Week meditate upon the resurrection.  See if God is speaking to you about a life decision.  Ask Him to give you faith to believe for your next step in a relationship with Him.  If you do not have a church home, check out NewSpring.cc on the internet.  I pray this will be the most amazing Easter you have ever experienced.  God bless you today.

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Thankful Heart

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on March 27, 2012| 1 Comment »

A thankful heart is a shield, an antidote, and a bridge. Psalm 138 begins, “I give You thanks O God with my whole heart.” It is our right response.  God is the giver of all good gifts and He is worthy of all praise and thanksgiving.  And within this dynamic world He has made, thanksgiving freely offered releases God’s power in marvelous ways.

A thankful heart is a shield.  Bad things happen in life.  Some we can see coming while others we cannot.  Our response to difficulties shapes us more than anything if we let it.  During difficulty it is easy to lose sight of the things most helpful… that God loves us, that He is with us, that God truly cares for us.  These truths, and they are fundamental truths that remain even when all hell breaks loose against us, are a bulwark against fear, doubt, despair, and the host of other negatives that accompany pain and loss.  When we focus our eyes upon Jesus and give Him thanks for what He has provided, a wall against the secondary effects of difficulties is set in place to protect our heart.  Pain, suffering, and grief are not removed.  They are natural and right responses which will eventually diminish.  However despair, hatred, revenge and other attitudes are not God’s best for us.  Thanksgiving sets a barrier against the intentional acts of the enemy to keep us down.

A thankful heart is an antidote.  Giving thanks to God, not only in the midst of a bad thing, but for the bad thing, requires an act of faith.  When we do our faith is enlarged and the load we carry becomes a bit lighter.  But thankfulness should also spring forth when things are going fine.  Complacency is one of the most subtle and effective of satan’s tactics.  When we are complacent and satisfied we are prone to believe that we are fine and we have everything under control.  Thankfulness at this point is essential to propel us toward the vibrant faith and action to which God has called us.  Perhaps the most obvious area where thankfulness serves as an antidote is when things are going great.  At the point of receiving good news it is right to open our hearts and mouth in immediate thanksgiving and praise to God.  Pride is a real challenge for the persons who have much.  True thanksgiving springs from a humble heart.  It is based upon the recognition that there is One greater who has provided the gift and verbalizes this reality.

A thankful heart is a bridge.  One of the most powerful acts a person can give is forgiveness.  Jesus exhorts us to forgive one another as the Father has forgiven us.  Our natural tendency is to hold on to our anger until we achieve justice (or more precisely justice as we see it).  The Lord knows that grudges only do damage.  And they generally do much more damage to the person holding the grudge than to the one who is the focal point of the grudge.  How do you find forgiveness when you have a legitimate complaint against another?  I have found that when I consider God’s legitimate complaint against me for ignoring His standard for living, for breaking His law, for treating His overwhelming love and grace with low regard and yet He died on a cross for me, I am thankful.  And from that place of thankfulness I can extend forgiveness toward another.  In this way a thankful heart begins building the bridge.

We have so much to be thankful for – we can begin with the things of beauty God has placed in our lives.  I saw a beautiful sunset last night that was worthy of a “thank You, Lord”.  The people who God has placed in our lives.  My son-in-law called last night and we had a great chat.  “Thanks for calling Jeff, and thank You Lord for another son in my later years.”  My wife who makes me laugh… a lot.  “Thank you Lisa for the sparkle and spice you bring to my life, and thank You Lord for the blessing of a soul mate whom I love and who loves me.”  Now I am giving examples from the last hour or so of my evening and I could name many more.  Yet just that little bit has me so encouraged and thankful to our Father that I am ready for the day.  That makes me think of one more benefit of a thankful heart – it is a motivator.

Lord give us eyes to see Your hand at work in our lives today.  Then give us thankful hearts to express the gratitude that You most assuredly deserve. 

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When Wings Make Flight

Posted in Church, Holy Spirit, Prayer, tagged , , , on March 21, 2012| 4 Comments »

The most wonderous and perhaps the most hazardous period in a bird’s life is when it first learns to fly. Given wings by the Creator a bird is meant to fly. Yet in those first few days of flight a young bird is liable to find itself on the ground stranded and within reach of cats and other animals that are more likely to swallow it than help it back up into a tree.  New believers are a lot like those young birds.  Entering a life changing relationship with the Lord gives us wings and prompts us to desire flight.  But it is dangerous to believe we are ready for all the world, the flesh, and the devil are going to throw at us now that we are on God’s side opposing them.  We must realize that becoming a believer in Jesus Christ means we are at war.  The verse, “the devil prowls like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour” certainly applies and new believers are his particular target.  Knowing this to be true and having a daughter who is enthusiastically embracing her newfound faith, I thought it would be appropriate to share a few keys that I have learned about flying the flight God created us to fly.

As in many list of “To Do’s” the following will be categorized into what I understand are 1) Must Do, 2) Ought to Do, and 3) Nice to Do.  I encourage you to ask the Lord to highlight to you which of these you need to prioritize more or less.

MUST DO

1) Get an easy to understand bible and dive in.  I read several translations, but I recommend getting one that has a fair amount of scholarship behind it like the NIV or NASB.  While all the bible is “God-breathed” (See 2 Tim 3:16) the gospels are the best place to start.  Get to know Jesus, our Saviour and Lord.  After the Gospels I would move through the New Testament before tackling large portions of the Old Testament.  I have gone through Psalms and Proverbs a number of times reading small sections each day with longer readings from the New Testament. 

2) Since the bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit ask the Holy Spirit to give you understanding as you read.  It is His story and He wants you to understand and apply it to your life.  Take time to think about what the Word of God is saying.  This time of meditating upon the Word should be intentional.  A time to quietly talk to God and listen for Him to speak through His Word is a vital element in our life.

3) Talk with God.  When we are His, God says He will never leave us or forsake us.  Take time to begin to converse with Him.  This will begin with our talking… most of the time.  But be aware that He will impress truths from the bible upon your heart.  That is one of the ways He communes with us.  There are many types of prayer: adoration where we simply glory in Who God is, supplication where we lay our needs before Him, intercession where we lift up the needs of others, confession where we open our hearts to God and pour out the dirty laundry of our lives and ask His forgiveness.  All of these have their time.  But every day set aside time to just talk with the Lord.  And whenever you think of Him offer up a word of thanks.

4) Find a local body of believers and join them.  The Church was God’s idea.  He calls the Church His bride.  Therefore we should joyfully seek out a faithful, bible-believing, gospel-living church and join.  As in all our decisions after we become believers we should ask Him to guide us.  Sadly not all churches are faithful or bible-believing, or gospel-living.  Steer clear of those churches.  The Lord wants you to be plugged in and nurtured so He will guide your steps.

5) Give.  Jesus is our model… He GAVE His life for us.  God is our model… He GAVE His only begotten Son.  We are encouraged to give over and over.  I suggest reading about giving and tithing then praying for God’s guidance in this area.  Jesus talked about money more than prayer.  I think it is because money and how we handle it are a much clearer indicator of the condition of our heart than whether we pray or not.  Prayer comes easily and in a way it is usually doesn’t cost much.  Tithing always costs us, but the growth of our faith is assured when we tithe trusting in God to provide.

OUGHT TO DO

7) Get plugged into a small group.  This may happen through your association with a local church, but if not then seek out a group of believers who share your faith and a lot of your interests.  If there is a co-worker, a neighbor, or friend who exemplifies the faith you want to have, ask them if they know of any small groups that might accept a new person.  As in seeking a church to join, pray for the Lord to help you land in the right place. 

8) Seek ways to minister to others.  I am not talking about immediately getting a guitar and beginning street evangelism.  I am saying take an inventory of your giftedness (and God has given everyone at least one gift and usually more than one) and offer it up to God.  The list of ways to minister is just about limitless.  To minister is to simply find ways to reach out and help others in Jesus name. 

9) There are 3 types of individuals that everyone should have in their life – a Paul, a Barnabas, and a Timothy or in other words a Mentor, a Friend and Peer, and a young protegé. 

Paul in the bible was a leader in the early church and wrote many of the New Testament epistles.  One of the characteristics of Paul’s life was that He took a few individuals under His wing and acted as a mentor to these younger believers.  So a Paul is a mature believer who can mentor you. 

Barnabas was a peer with Paul.  Barnabas was known as an encourager.  He acted as an intermediary in a personality clash between believers and helped bring reconciliation.  So a Barnabas is a friend and peer in the faith.

Timothy was one of the young men that Paul mentored.  He was following in Paul’s footsteps although he seemed to lack a lot of Paul’s confidence early on.  Two of the epistles are actually letters from Paul to Timothy where Paul exhorts Timothy in the work of the church.  Timothy is a young believer that you can pour into from what God has given you.

A word of caution here as I felt the Holy Spirit prompt me – these should be persons of the same sex as you.  If you are male these persons should be male and if you are female then they should be female.

10) Practice spiritual introspection.  Those are fancy words that simply mean you ask God to reveal things in your life that need to change and then, with His help, you change them.  If you are doing the things mentioned above; reading the Word, Praying, having Godly fellowship then these will come up sooner rather than later.  I was intentional about this early in my walk and there were several things that I realized did not fit with the new person that I had become.  The bible says we are a “new creation”.  It is incongruous to be a new creation and walk in the same old sin.  You will not know lasting peace until you go through this.  In reality you will still have deep-rooted things to address later as you mature, so you might as well get started early.

11) Ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit.  This is closely related to the item above.  I would rather put this in the must do list, but…

I am a strong-willed person.  That can be positive and negative.  In the positive, when I commit to something I am going to fulfill my commitment.  In the negative, I can go good places that God did not intend for me to go.  I have realized that I must be submitted to God completely, even to the point of giving Him authority over my will.  When we are born again His Holy Spirit is placed within us.  However the Holy Spirit is a gentleman.  He does not dominate or dictate.  He moves and fills what we give over to Him.  I realized I wanted the Holy Spirit to fill all of me.  That is my continual prayer… God have your way in me completely.  Holy Spirit fill me completely.  He has transformed much of me and I anxiously await His continuing work in me.  I urge new believers to begin this transformation. 

NICE TO DO

12) Begin reading good literature.  CS Lewis is my favorite author.  There are outstanding thinkers and there are outstanding writers.  CS Lewis was one of the greatest of both.  There is a plethora of great things to read that edify the mind and spirit.  I encourage you to read deeply of the godly authors and classic literature.

13) Begin listening to uplifting music.  There is an area of our soul that music touches that talks, sermons, and writings can’t quite reach.  Music that glorifies God is a balm that soothes the spirit.  While my personal preference is contemporary christian music, there is much that does not specifically fall under that genre that can still be refreshing and uplifting.  For both of these two follow the admonition of Philippians 4:8, “Fix your thought on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable.  This about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”

14) Get fit.  The bible says our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.  We should treat that temple as something special.  Diet, exercise, and getting out of addictive and hurtful habits should become our goal.  While this may have the same end result physically as getting in shape for vanity reasons, it is radically different.  We don’t look good for others to admire.  We are fit because we are made in God’s image and we are special to Him.

15) Work diligently.  As Christians we reflect on our Lord.  If we are poor workers then we give people a bad impression of the Lord.  Paul admonishes us to “work as unto the Lord.”  We should be the top performers where we work because we have reasons to have a great attitude, we are empowered by God’s Holy Spirit, and we know that God’s got our back.

These are 15 areas that I have found as helpful in my walk with Christ.  Even as I wrap up I can think of other helpful steps, but for now these will do.  Please send comments with the steps that you found most needful when you first came to faith in Jesus.  I would love to hear from you.

Take care and God Bless.

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Blessings

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on March 18, 2012| Leave a Comment »

The Doxology is running through my head today.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow,

Praise Him all creatures here below,

Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts,

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

My family is in the middle of one of the richest seasons of blessing that we have ever walked in.  Some of them are truly huge like restoration with a child you have loved for years, but not quite had the relationship that you wanted.  Others are a bit more subtle like the change in me where the feeling of being “put upon” and overwhelmed by so many chores has been displaced by an attitude of peace and even joy at being able to serve.  Being a bit analytical I really want to understand why this has happened so it can become the norm if possible.  I would also like to share this with others because it appears that most people experience more cloudy days than sunshine and I would like to help them enjoy the sunshine.

First off, we are not people without trials.  We have a broken leg in the house and a Momma who is limited in what she can do.  She is steadily improving, but there are plenty of ways that she could be discouraged.  But she is not.  In fact a number of the blessings flow directly out of Lisa’s attitude and approach to her broken leg.  Even though she has been in a lot of pain, she has not shown it.  The past several days she has pushed herself to do as much normal life as possible.  The result is a growing sense of normalcy for the family, but what they don’t see is the leg swelling and pain at night.  Instead of letting this get her down Lisa is relying upon the Lord more than ever before.  Her words of encouragement from out of her affliction are uplifting.  God is honoring that growing faith in tangible ways.

The prophet Jeremiah was God’s spokesman to the nation of Israel at one of their darkest times – the captivity in Babylon.  In the midst of that captivity God had Jeremiah send a letter to the exiles in Babylon.  This is found in Jeremiah 29.  God dictated this letter not only for the Jewish people of that day, but for all of us who find ourselves is difficult and seemingly impossible situations.  Verses 11 – 13 are God speaking to every single person.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.  I will be found by you.”

We are experiencing this in our life right now.

So the reasons we are in the season of blessing are summed up in this scripture.  1) Call upon God, 2) Come to God, 3) Pray to God, 4) Seek God, 5) Seek God with all your heart.

As I look at this list I realize for the first time how the progression is exactly what happened to me at my conversion.  It is also the path I have followed since that time when I have begun to stray from the life God has called me to.  And it is what has happened to us through what we are calling “Momma’s broken leg season”.

Call upon God.  The beginning is to realize that there is a Someone greater than all others.  It can be in recognizing that all of creation with it’s infinite complexity and interconnectedness had to begin with an intelligent design.  It was not a cosmic accident.  To believe in no design is to ignore the obvious and takes infinitely more faith than to believe there is a design behind it all.  If there is an intelligent design then there must be a designer.  Call out to that designer.  He is God and He is patiently waiting for each one of His children to turn to Him.  Calling out to God can be an act of desperation since it often begins when we have run out of other options.  How much better if we do not wait until we are desperate.  A broken leg got us ALL calling out to God.

Come to God.  Coming to God must be by faith and it must be based upon truth.  When we are totally honest we realize that we cannot in our own righteousness approach a holy God.  Now there are a lot of “religious” approaches that we can try in approaching God, but from everything I have observed and experienced, God is not impressed with religion.  In fact religion is often an expression of man trying to fit God into a box.  We do this so we can control God or so we don’t have to deal with the thing that prevents us from approaching God, our sin.  God is a spiritual being who wants to relate to us directly.  He made that possible by becoming a man – Jesus, and living among us.  And through Jesus, God dealt with the problem of sin that keeps us separate from a Holy God.  Through faith in Jesus, we can enter into a living, vital relationship with God.  When we recognise our sin and turn away from it and toward God we can be immediately brought close to Him.  For several of us walking through “momma’s broken leg season” we have been given pause to look at our lives and realize that we needed to come to God through repentance.

Pray to God.  Once we have established that relationship by coming to God through faith in His Son, Jesus, we begin the work of growing in that relationship.  Now no one can expect a relationship to grow without ongoing interaction.  This interaction is found in our conversation with God called prayer.  Fortunately for us, He has given us an absolutely trustworthy account of His will in the written word – the Bible.  Even though God already knows every detail of our life, He enjoys speaking with us about it.  As I have shared before I have experienced God speaking directly to my heart on a number of occasions.  Most of these were when I was speaking to Him and He chose to impress something upon my heart in a way that I knew it was Him.  On a few occasions it was more spontaneous, yet it was still coming from a prayerful life.  Never have I heard anything that contradicted scripture.  I have had some of my religious beliefs blown up, but the scripture has never been violated.  And in most cases what the Lord spoke was directly tied to His written Word.  For Lisa and I we have been reading a wonderful devotional titled “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young.  The Lord has used this devotional and the accompanying scriptures numerous times over the past two months to speak directly to our hearts.

Seek God.  If prayer is talking to God, then seeking God is diving into a deep conversation with Him.  Where prayer is telling God about your day and asking for His help with a few things, then seeking God is laying aside the more trivial aspects of living and beginning to search out God’s purpose for you in this life.  It will encompass a diligent and more personal search of the scripture.  Many people have studied scripture to learn what it says and gather information.  The Pharisees were accomplished at this.  But God wants us to study scripture to meet Him and get to know Him more and more intimately.  We must strive to KNOW Jesus, not know ABOUT Jesus.  One of the saddest things in life is to know the bible and miss the Word.

In this season we have seen our prayer blossom into times of earnestly seeking God.

Seek God with all your heart.  Finally there is the total immersion in loving God and being exactly who He has created us to be.  The best illustration of the difference in Seeking God and Seeking God with all your heart is the difference between courtship and marriage.  While Lisa and I were dating I was convinced she was the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.  We believed that we knew each other well enough to make that kind of commitment but we also knew we didn’t know everything.  In the courtship there was still the option to chose to go another direction.  When we said “I do” we sealed our commitment to each other, and to God, that our hearts were melded together from that point on.  There are no other options.  Lisa has my heart, it is hers.  And I have her heart.  The bible says the two become one flesh.  If we can set aside what man has done in his brokeness to minimize the beautiful covenant of marriage and get the picture of what God was doing when He established marriage, we can see it wonderfully reflects what God wants for us with Him… the melding of our heart with His in a forever relationship.

Back to why we are experiencing such a season of blessing, I believe that God is prompting us in this way so that we will truly seek Him with all our heart.  I believe that together we are closer than we have ever been.  We are not there yet.  We still have areas to be transformed.  And like in the courtship stage where we don’t know what we don’t know, I am sure there are still areas in each of our lives that the Father will bring to light that must be dealt with.  However He is gently, consistently leading us on to that point.  And right now I am just so thankful that He is lovingly at work in my family and me that the doxology keeps running through my head.

By the way Lisa wants me to know that there only needs to be one “Momma’s broken leg season”.  She is encouraged by all that has transpired and the blessings that have flowed forth.  But she said the next time we need this type of spiritual shake up she said it is my turn… Praise God from whom all blessings flow…

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Ebenezer

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on March 11, 2012| Leave a Comment »

We all need a few Ebenezer’s.

Samuel was the last of the old testament Judges. During Samuel’s day the Israelites and the Philistines were constant enemies. In 1 Samuel 7 we read a story about one of the clashes between these two groups. The Israelites had come to a point of contrition and through the leadership of Samuel they were engaged in a time of corporate repentance and rededication to the Lord at a place called Mizpah. The Philistines took note and decided this was a golden opportunity to attack hoping to wipeout their enemy while they were distracted with their religious activity.  The Israelites were not ready for battle and fear seized them as they realized the Philistines were soon to be upon them.  The Israelites cried out to God and He responded.  God thundered from the heavens throwing the Philistines into confusion.  Then the Israelites attacked and the ensuing battle was a rout with the Israelites defeating the Philistines all along the way back to their land.  After the victory Samuel instructed the people to set up a large stone in that place which he named Ebenezer which means “the stone of help”.

As I look back over my life I see several Ebenezers, several memorials of when God showed up in marvelous, miraculous, mighty ways.  These show up in the God-stories our family tells when we get together.  They are the touchstones I go back to when facing difficulties.  They are the faith strengthening memories that I rely on when the present is either dark and challenging or bland and boring.  (I don’t do bland and boring well.)

Take a few moments to ask God to remind you of the times when He showed up with the help you needed.  The bible says God is “an ever-present help in times of trouble.”  If you have walked with God then you have received His help, possibly more than you even realize.  After you have thought of a few times God showed up ask Him to help you create an Ebenezer to commemorate them.  It doesn’t have to be a rock on the side of the road, but I suggest it be something tangible.  For me it is family stories.  For you it might be a poem, a song, a verse, a picture… something that captures for you a reminder of God’s help when you really needed it.  Next I suggest that you put this in a place where you can periodically take it out and remember what God has done for you.  Let this remind you how much He loves you.

God truly is an ever-present help.  He desires to be involved in our lives, but He is also a gentleman.  He does not force Himself upon us.  Look to Him and ask Him to get involved with you right now in whatever you are dealing with.  Don’t wait for the big problems like when the Philistines (or their modern-day equivalent) are breathing down your neck.  Call upon Him for guidance and help on the daily issues of living more fully for Him today.  Then follow His lead.

Have a blessed day my friend.

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Hope Lifts

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on March 10, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Hope is one of the most precious of virtues.  Hope is the warm, gentle breeze in late winter that let’s us know spring is coming.  Hope is the bridge across fiery trials that gets us safely home.  Hope is an anchor when all around is chaos and tumult so that we are not blown away and crushed in despair.  Hope lifts us when anything, perhaps everything, tries to weigh us down.  Like several of the most crucial virtues of life, Hope is a gift from God and it is an attribute that is built and solidified as we walk with God.

The scriptures are full of hope.  Job is one of the oldest, if not the oldest recorded book in the bible.  Job’s story is one of great abundance lost.  In his misery Job has the dubious pleasure of three friends coming to comfort him.  They sit with Job for a week before their patience gets the best of them and they begin to explain to Job why all these bad things happened to him.  So in addition to his loss Job is now dealing with people he has considered friends giving rebukes and advice rather than comfort and hope.  Job does demonstrate a degree of pride and even anger, but he also expresses that virtue which helps carry him through, “Though He (God) slay me, yet will I hope in Him.” (Job 13:15)  No matter what happens Job is going to stake his future on God and His character.  And that is a very safe thing to do.

Pastor P has been preaching about the three Hebrew slaves in Babylon who refused to bow down to King Nebuchadnezzar’s gold idol and were thrown into a blazing furnace.  The king gave them one final chance to renounce their rebellion against his command and save themselves but this was their reply.  “O Nebuchadnezzar we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.  If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king.  But even if He does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Dan 3:16-18)  Theirs was a faith in God and a settled hope that God would deliver them either from the fire or through it.  And He did.

Hebrews 11 is often called the hall of faith as the writer catalogs a virtual hall of fame of faith.  The chapter begins with these words, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (Heb 11:1) Faith in God and the Hope that I am describing today are inextricably linked.  In many cases faith is the action we take and hope is the foundation from which that faith springs and the product that faith delivers.  But it is able to deliver because it is real, God really does show up.

In Romans 5:1-5 Paul places hope and faith into perspective.  “Therefore since we have been justified through faith we have peace with God through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.  And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.”

One of the greatest stories of hope in my life began in January of 2007.  After working in a paper mill for 17 years in various maintenance leadership roles I had taken a position as a corporate staff person.  I had been working in my new role for about 6 months when rumors began circulating that the group I was attached to was going to be either downsized or eliminated.  (Note: Rumors are torpedos purposed with scuttling faith and sinking hope!)  Just before Christmas I was shipped back to my old mill to give them help through a major outage.  While I did this willingly, this tended to reinforce the idea that my corporate staff job was disappearing.  If they could live without me for 2 months why was I necessary.  While I was away on assignment the rumors grew even stronger.

At the mill I was offered a position and part of the sales pitch the manager gave was “because it appears your job is going away”.  I was fairly satisfied with the new corporate role I was in and I definitely resist being bullied into things.  I put off the manager and completed the outage support without addressing his offer.  The day after the outage was over the announcement came that our company was merging with our biggest competitor.  Even at the time most of us considered this troubling news at best.  I then called the manager to discuss his job offer.  His reply was, “Things have changed and that offer is no longer on the table.”  My first thought after I hung up was “Oh boy, I might have screwed up”.  But I gave this up to God and put my trust in Him.  I don’t know about everyone else, but for me crisis, particularly ones that I know have the potential of negatively impacting the persons I love tend to force me to my knees in prayer.  And that is where I went.

In the few days I had before I reported back to my corporate job I had plenty of time to consider walking in to a pink slip and what would I do.  It’s funny because usually I am a big planner.  I try to anticipate difficulties and avoid them or at least prepare for them.  When I go camping or I travel I usually take too much stuff just for this reason.  Yet in this instance I remember specifically just going to the Lord in prayer.  I was walking into this knowing that I was trusting in God to somehow see me through.  It was a walk of faith… I am not saying it was an amazingly strong faith, just an acceptance that I could not control what was going to happen, but the God who I served was big enough to see us through no matter what happened.

On Monday morning I got up early and had a good quiet time with the Lord.  As I finished my devotion I fixed my bowl of cereal and then bowed my head to say the blessing.  As soon as I bowed my head God spoke to my heart, “Dan, I love you.”  I picked my head up and I said, “Thank you Lord.”  I bowed my head a second time and the Holy Spirit spoke a second time and said, “Dan, I am with you.” I picked my head up again and repeated, “Thank you Lord.”  It was very encouraging to know that on this day that I was expecting to go in and be told my job was eliminated that God was affirming me.  I bowed my head a third time and the Lord spoke, “Isaiah 41:10”.  At that time I did not know that scripture although today I hold it as one of my life verses.  I slid the bible I had been reading over to me and I looked up Isaiah 41:10… “So do not fear for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

As I sit here a little over 5 years later I am almost overwhelmed with the goodness of God.  I did not know what was ahead, but God did.  And He knew that I would need to KNOW He was there as the tumult of the ensuing years came.  And He provided an anchor that morning that I could look back to as the coming weeks, months, and years unfolded and KNOW that God was walking it with me.

My job did not end that day, but changes began within a couple of weeks.  Surprisingly I got a promotion about 2 weeks later although not in the best of ways.  About 8 months after this I, and most of my coworkers were told our jobs had been eliminated.  However they needed us to stick around through the transition.  On many occasions during this time thoughts of the uncertainty I was walking through would try to discourage me, but I always went back to Isaiah 41:10.  It was SO COOL.  I had job offers to go to different locations within the company during this time, but praying through them I did not have a peace about taking them so I turned them down.  Finally about 5 months before my job was to officially end the new VP I was reporting to flew down to make me a job offer.  He said I could continue to do what I was doing, the only thing I had to do was relocate to another part of the state.  He also said this was absolutely the last chance for me to continue with the company, there would be no other offers coming.  And to sweeten the offer he said they would implement the home relocation for me.  Although I hadn’t mentioned it before, we were living in a small rental house and trying to sell our home back in Tennessee… had been for over a year.  So the offer seemed like a good one and logic said to take it.  But I asked for time to pray about the decision.

It seems kind of counter-intuitive, but one of the surest signs for me that I am doing the right thing is when logic is so clear to take one path, but an overwhelming peace descends when I consider an alternate path.  The decision was prayer soaked and the peace was in telling the VP “No” to the job offer.  In fact as I awoke the morning after he gave me the offer, in those first moments of wakefulness I thought about accepting the job and finally getting settled after about 2 years of family disruption.  The feeling I had was just blah!  I could not picture it and be happy.  So I turned my thoughts toward saying No to the job offer and losing my last hope for staying with the company I had been with for almost 20 years.  And that I would have to find a job somewhere.  And peace absolutely flooded my soul.  It was amazing and even a little bit funny.  I remember chuckling more than once about God’s way of breaking me from needing to be in control so much.  (Yes I admit this has been a challenge for me, but I am better than I used to be, and through God’s grace I am going to be better than I am today.)

Needless to say I turned down the offer.  At the time I knew at least a few persons were encouraged by my walk of faith.  I could see God’s hand in that.  But I still didn’t have a job or prospects.  The walk of faith had to continue.

About a month later the old VP that I had been working for, Larry, mentioned that he knew an opening existed in a corporate group for a Reliability Manager.  This actually fit my skill set better than the CMMS Manager role I was currently in.  I interviewed with 4 or 5 persons about the position.  The gentleman that was to be my manager seemed very positive so I left with a fairly high degree of confidence that I might still get to stay with the company.  About a month after this another management reorganization took place and that manager was no longer in mix.  I waited but I heard nothing about the job I hoped for.  Meanwhile the clock was ticking toward my end date.  I realized that logic was saying, “Dan, you better find a job”.  Yet I was not motivated to do so.  I cannot say whether this was laziness on my part or simply an assurance that God was directing my steps, but I did not have anything lined up for when my job ended.  Five days before my job was to end, I received a phone call from one of the other VP’s I had interviewed with for the corporate Reliability Manager position.  He asked if I was still interested in the position to which I replied that I had not found another job yet.  He said very good and then he hung up.  I have to chuckle because he didn’t tell me I had the job, but I had seen God move so much in my work life in the previous days, months, and years that I knew this was working out just as God had planned.  An HR person called the next day and we worked out the details.  And the job has been a great job… a great fit with my skill set and an exciting way to provide a real benefit to my company.

I do not know how I would have made it through that time though if God had not given me the specific word at the beginning of this chaotic time.  I went back to that time and again for encouragement.  There were many times during that process (and since as well) when God would provide just the right amount of encouragement to continue and the hope to lift me closer to Him.

While this is a rather long post, I believe that my story is meant to help others to know that God loves them and He is with them.  God’s love for me and the hope He has given me is real and tangible.  But it is not limited to me or to any group.  It is freely offered to anyone and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord.  If you are not a believer I encourage you to call out to God and ask Him to make Himself known to you.  God is and He will reveal Himself if you ask and seek Him.  Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek me and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart.”  And you will find as I have that God is the giver of Hope, a Hope that grows, a Hope that fills, a Hope that lifts.

If you are a believer then you already know that Jesus loves you and He wants the very best for you.  I encourage you to ask God to expand your faith and grow a deep hope within you.  This won’t be without trials, but I am learning that trials are the surest means of gowing and the greatest source of blessings there is.

Father this morning I ask that You lift my brother and my sister with Your Hope.  That You would bouy them above the challenges of the day and that You would affirm in them Your love, Your peace, and Your great goodness towards them.  Lord make yourself real in a tangible way like You did for me when I was facing the most severe and prolonged trial of my life thus far.  You are awesome and I ask that You meet them at the point of their need.  Thank You Lord that You hear our prayers and that You respond in Your perfect way.  To You be the glory, honor, power, and praise for ever and ever. Amen.

God bless you all today!

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