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Posts Tagged ‘Prayer’

Divine Conversations

Posted in God, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Prayer, The Father, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on May 17, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Always be ready.

I was not raised evangelical.  In fact the denomination I was raised in, Episcopal, was referred to as the “Frozen Chosen” by evangelist Billy Sunday.  Talking about faith, particularly speaking from the heart, speaking with passion, was NOT something I witnessed growing up.  That is not a value statement or a condemnation.  In fact I knew many Episcopalians who practiced the faith in very real, very devout ways.  It was just not a normal experience for people in the church I grew up in to speak about the faith… unless they were paid clergy.  And even then it was primarily a cerebral exercise more than a discussion that engaged the emotions.

So when I came to faith at age 23… in an Episcopal retreat called Cursillo, I was on fire for God, overwhelmed by a love and passion for Jesus and others, yet without a natural outlet to tell my story.  I can distinctly remember my Dad laughing good-naturedly and telling me, “Yeah, some people think that new Christians need to be locked up for a few months right after conversion so they don’t scare everybody to death.”  I believe I took that in the right way… that I needed to be sensitive to where others were and approach them in the right manner.  I also realized that was a very “Episcopal” thing to say.

Thirty two years later I’ve made plenty of mistakes both being too bold and being too timid in sharing my faith.  But along the way I’ve learned a few things that I think the Father would have me share with you.  As always we cannot go wrong with looking at Jesus, modeling what He did, and seeking to follow the Holy Spirit in speaking and doing as He leads.

  1. Beginning our day in intimacy with the Father sets the stage for our engagement with others.  When we start with time alone speaking with God, reading the Word, and allowing His Spirit to brood over us and work within us, we are spiritually prepared for the meetings with others we will have through the day.
  2. Keeping an open heart to the Holy Spirit will make us sensitive to the needs of others.  Today I was in a trade show for the consulting firm I work for.  I gave a presentation this morning (which for all intents and purposes was my main reason for being here) and then I manned the booth to meet potential customers as they walked through the exhibits.  On multiple occasions today as I stood at my booth awaiting someone to walk up the Holy Spirit impressed upon me to pray for divine conversations.  I did and sure enough, they happened.  (That is the real reason I was here!)
  3. Divine conversations have a two critical components – a listener who is receptive and a story-teller who is sensitive to the Lord’s leading.  I talked business about 85 – 90% of the day, but the 10 – 15% where the Holy Spirit opened the door were amazing.  This is an area where I have often erred either being too strong or too soft in my delivery, but today it consistently flowed.
  4. Our job is not to convert people.  Our role is to be obedient to the Lord’s leading and faithfully share from the Word in us and the life experiences He has brought us through.  It is the Holy Spirit’s job to bring people to conversion.  Yes, there will be times when we are there at the point someone makes a decision to give their life to Christ.  This is a glorious experience and true blessing to be a part of, however we do not need to take too much responsibility.  Our responsibility is simply to be obedient to the Holy Spirit’s prompting.
  5. This life is a prelude to something greater, something more real.  It is the door through which we pass to get to our ultimate home.  This life is not inconsequential, but it is also not our ultimate destiny.  The relationships we have here are the one thing that appears to have a link on through to eternity.  That belief helps me to hold onto the things of this life lightly, the relationships in this life more firmly, and the faith in Jesus most tightly.

It was a God-day and a great day.  I was able to hear other people’s stories, engage them where they were, and in a number of instances share God’s love through telling God-stories.  I sit here with a light and joyful spirit thinking of how good God is to allow us to participate with Him in His work to reach people wherever they are and draw them closer to Himself.  He is soooo good!

I pray you have a day full of divine conversations.  Be blessed and be a blessing!

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Sometimes, What’s Fair Won’t Accomplish the Purpose of God

Posted in God, God Stories, Prayer, Prayers, Responsibility, Spiritual Growth, The Father, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on March 15, 2016| Leave a Comment »

I just stepped outside into a beautiful, crisp late winter morning in the South.  The birds are singing a joyful chorus as a red hued ribbon on the eastern horizon foretells a bright sunrise in the next half hour or so.  A few wisps of fog in the low spots provides a reminder of the rain yesterday.  I am able to linger a few minutes to soak it in and praise our heavenly Father for His great goodness towards us.  As I do so I realize again what a blessing it is that we have a good, good Father.  A loving Father who has a plan for us that He will bring to fruition, even if the path to blessing means we won’t always get what’s fair.

A little over 14 months ago I was fired from my leadership role in a fairly large manufacturing plant.  It wasn’t fair.  It took several days before the anger dissipated.  I knew the right thing to do – to trust the Lord, pray for those who spitefully use you, look to the future and not back, etc.  In fact I had encouraged others who had gone through similar situations with these words, but I hadn’t personally experienced anything quite this intense before.  The issue was not in believing that God was eventually going to bring good out of the situation.  The problem was the unbidden thoughts of all the time, effort and sacrifice I had put in to build a successfully performing team only to have it taken away without even an opportunity to state my case.  Before I knew it in the courtroom of my mind I had witnesses lined up, my case presented, and a clear verdict against the ones who had fired me because – IT WASN’T FAIR!

The funny thing is, every time that my mind would go through one of those cycles, the Holy Spirit would whisper to me.  “Are you going to trust Me?”  Fourteen months later, I am soooo thankful the Lord stuck with me and continued to encourage me to trust Him.  Because I did.  And each time I did it was a little longer before I would have another pity-party and the pity-party would be a little less intense and a little shorter.  Within a month or two it had become a habit that as soon as a thought along those lines would come, I would squash it with.  “I trust you, Lord!”  and I would often have a scripture come to mind to go with it.  “I thank you Lord that you are for me and not against me.”  “I thank you Lord that the plans you have for me are to prosper me and not to harm me.”  “Thank you Lord that you are my God who takes hold of my right hand and says to me, ‘Do not fear: I will help you”.

Let me add parenthetically, that I know, I was buoyed by the prayers of God’s people.  It is a wonderful mystery to me that I fully recognize to be true, God allows us to partner with Him through prayer to change things.  There were a lot of people praying for me.  Several of the folks that I had worked with kept in touch and let me know they were praying.  My family is filled with believers and they upheld me in prayer.  And God, in His marvelous, omniscient timing, had prompted me to start the process to getting much more involved in the Care Ministry at our church just before all this happened.  So that when I was fired, I was immersed in a group of loving, caring, praying people.

Today, I can honestly say, I am in such a better place.  First and foremost, my walk with the Lord and the time with my wife is so much better.  The mountain of stress that I lived under (and that was killing me – literally.  See my blog about my heart issues.) was removed.  While I assumed in that transition time that I would see a little bit of a drop in my income before I started making a comparable salary, I was mistaken.  I didn’t come close to making a similar income.  But even so the stress never returned.  Amazingly, the stress of living on substantially less has never arisen.  It is another mystery, because we eliminated some expenses, but it really doesn’t add up to our lost income, but we still are having all our needs met.  God has consistently provided exactly what was needed.

Another very interesting point occurred about 3 months in.  The day I was fired, I called a friend who owns a consulting business doing what I do.  I had a sense I was supposed to work for his company.  And over time, we have developed a great working relationship and I am now getting fairly regular work consulting.  But the process of bringing me on took several months.  I went most of last year without paying work.  So I went through the process to get unemployment.

One thing I learned, is if anyone thinks it is easy to get unemployment, think again.  The process is pretty rigorous and includes a number of checks along the way to prevent milking the system.  I can see how dishonest people could still cheat, but it isn’t a cakewalk.  I had spent several hours getting set up and then, as I was ready to apply, the Lord whispered to me again, “Are you going to trust Me?”  I have learned that when the Holy Spirit gives us a check in our spirit about something, we should listen.  I had been pursuing the unemployment compensation because it was my right.  As several friends pointed out, it wasn’t really just a government handout, but something that I had been paying into for years so it was appropriate for me to get it.  But I realized the Lord was telling me “No” to getting the unemployment.  So I walked away from it and never drew unemployment.  It was just after that that I got my first week of consulting work.  Over the next few months I got about a week a month.  The last quarter I got 6 weeks of work.  As of this writing, I am looking at about 3 – 4 weeks per month for the next few months.

Now I have spent a lot of time talking about the financial side.  I was raised in a time and environment that emphasized my primary role was as provider to my family.  While there are a number of areas where losing your job hits you, the biggest for many will be the perceived failure as provider.  Losing my job took me to a place where the Lord was able to show me that I was not the ultimate provider for my family.  I have said this was true in the past and, in individual situations where circumstances dictated that I could not control of the outcome, I had submitted to God’s role as provider.  In this year long trial though, we have experienced His consistent supply of all our needs and even a majority of our wants.  It has been liberating in a way I had never really anticipated.

My life, and that of my wife and family, has been amazingly impacted for the good through my getting fired.  While it may not have been fair, it was definitely for the best.  It has strengthened my faith in ways that I could not imagine.  God, who I already knew and acknowledged as my Lord and Provider, has been able to demonstrate the absolute reality of His love and provision in tangible, practical ways for months now.  And He has clarified for me what our role is as His children.  We are to trust and obey.  Even if it means we don’t always get our way.  Even if it isn’t always fair.  When we put our whole faith and trust in the Lord, we will sometimes miss out on what’s fair to get what’s best.  And that my friend, is a pretty good deal.

Be blessed today and be a blessing to the people God puts in your life today.

 

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Prayer-peration

Posted in Church, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Prayer, Responsibility, Service, Spiritual Growth, The Father, Worship, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on March 11, 2016| Leave a Comment »

God is calling us ever upward.  Every moment of every day is an opportunity to grow closer in intimacy with the Lover of our souls.  God is Omni-present and He will condescend to meet us wherever we are when we cry out to Him, but His intention is not to leave us in the muck and mire that life can become.  Rather His desire is to restore us into right relationship with Himself and within His creation.  He wants to bring us closer to His heart and our eventual home.  That is His desire for each one of us.

As we grow in Him, we have the amazing privilege of being His partner in bringing about this growth in others.  That same love which he lavished upon us to bring us to repentance and faith, becomes resident in us as we grow closer to our Father in faith and obedience.  That love is the motivating force behind our faith response toward others.  God wants us to be His hands, His feet, and His mouthpiece to a lost, hurting, and dying world.  As caregivers of God’s love, there are a few “next steps” which align us with His working and will enable us to be His hands, His feet, and be faithful in speaking His Word.

Intimacy with the Father only comes as we dedicate time to be alone with Him.  I went to church regularly all my life prior to a conversion at age 23.  While this established a basic worldview that included God in it, it did not establish the intimate relationship with Him that came later when I made it my #1 purpose to know Him and to follow Him.  I encourage you to set aside specific time every day to seek God in prayer.  And when you pray, with a bible open, listen to what He says to you, where He takes you in His Word, and what He whispers into your soul.

A solid knowledge of the Word of God is paramount to accurately discerning God’s voice and His instructions.  The Holy Spirit will never guide us contrary to His Word.  It would be nice if once we came to faith we always sought out God’s will and did it immediately.  However, while our debt is paid in full and we are justified through God’s amazing grace, the sanctification process of our lives becomes a life-long endeavor.  We are still in a battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil.  Sanctification is our co-labor with God to bring every aspect of our being into consistent obedience to Him.  As we grow and we read the Word of God it becomes a living reservoir of truth within us.  That truth, when acted upon in faith, becomes a rock-solid wall of defense against the enemy and a stairway in taking our next steps closer to God.

The final next step is a broad one.  It is putting into practice all that God shows us in our intimacy with Him and through reading the Word.  Obviously plugging into a vibrant church is essential.  We are a part of Christ’s body, the Church.  God gave His Son to die for the Church.  The Church is the bride of Christ and as such it is most precious to God.  Giving of our time, talents, and resources to the Church is an act of faith and good stewardship.

In the book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the Lion, Aslan, is representative of Christ.  He is good, kind, wise, and in the climactic moment He purchases the redemption of all through His willing self-sacrifice.  However before this happens there is a conversation that is telling between Mr. and Mrs. Beaver and Lucy.  The children are new to Narnia, drawn into this magical land of perpetual winter and talking animals through a mysterious wardrobe.  The children have heard of this great Lion-King Aslan, but they have not yet met him.

Mrs. Beaver said, “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”

“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver, “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you?  Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe.  But he’s good.  He’s the King, I tell you.”

As we grow in Him, the Lord will call us out of our comfort zone, out of where we feel safe, and into deeper faith.  He is alive and His desire is for His life to be made manifest more fully in His people.

The following are some practical steps to being effective care-givers.

  1. Pray in the days leading up to the care-giving opportunity.
  2. During the service, pray for the response.  For me the worship at the beginning of the service is a wonderful time and place to offer up prayers for the message, the messenger, and those the Lord desires to reach with the message.
  3. If you are in the atrium as the service ends and no one directly approaches you, ask the Lord to show you if there is someone who needs care and prayer, but is hesitant to ask for it.
  4. Approach anyone you feel the Holy Spirit nudging you toward and simply ask if you can help.  There are several different ways to phrase it,  “Hi, my name is ____.  Can I help you?”  “Would you like to speak with someone?”  “Would you like to talk to someone about today’s message?” “That message really spoke to me.  What did you get out of the message?”
  5. Listen in anticipation of God providing specific direction as you move into a care-giving situation.
  6. When you are with a person who is sharing their need listen to them intently, while also being open to the Holy Spirit to give you insight.
  7. If you are the second in a conversation, be in prayer for both the guest and the primary.  Be specific in your prayer asking the Lord to give clarity of the need and wisdom in the care response to the need.
  8. The care and how it is given will vary dependent upon every situation.  It should always be delivered in love and usually with abundant gentleness.
  9. One of the requests we make in prayer is for clarity on recommended next steps.  While confession, repentance, and encouragement are all important activities that take place in the Care Room, pointing the person(s) toward their next step is crucial.
  10. Weigh what you believe you are to share with someone against the Word of God.
  11. Share what you have been given to share.  Be concise.  Do not belabor the recommendations, but speak as clearly as possible.
  12. Request help if you are in a conversation that gets too deep for you.  Stay in the conversation, but if it is a subject that you do not feel equipped to address then give another caregiver the lead and you become the second, praying as described above.
  13. Pray with the guest as the Lord leads.
  14. Fill out the card and re-emphasize the next step captured on the card.
  15. Follow up.  This includes contacting them and praying for them.  For many you will only have a week or two of follow-up contact, but be open to the Lord leading you into a bit longer of a season of care.  I had two extended seasons of Care last year and they were absolutely amazing.
  16. If you are in the Care room and you do not get a conversation, understand that your role this day may be to give prayer support to those who are in conversations.  Look around the room and listen / look for the Holy Spirit to prompt you to pray for a particular person or a particular care conversation.

As we step out in faith, whether it is to stand during an invitation time, or to reach out to someone we sense is hurting, God is present with us to accomplish His work.  While it isn’t always safe and we may misinterpret God’s leading in a few instances, being willing to be obedient is how we take our next steps.  And God knows and honors that obedience with spiritual growth.

May God bless you richly today and as you seek to grow in His love and grace.

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Early Will I Seek You

Posted in Church, Prayer, Responsibility, Spiritual Growth, tagged , , , , , on January 20, 2016| Leave a Comment »

As I have shared before, I am an engineer.  So much so that my wife struggles not to roll her eyes as she says it.  My natural inclination is to observe, analyze, and critique.  This mindset helps me solve problems and improve processes.  However by themselves they are not conducive to building strong, vibrant, loving relationships.  Through the years though I have changed.  I still have these attributes, but they have been tempered.  And I am a better person for it.

I am very thankful for my parents.  They strove to raise my siblings and I right.  They taught us manners, respect for all people, putting other’s needs ahead of my own, and the importance of family.  They took us to church and established a pattern of faithful attendance.  They disciplined me when I strayed, but at the end of the discipline was always a hug and words of affirmation.  My parents established an excellent foundation for the transformation.

As I have recounted in an earlier post, I strayed significantly through my college years, trying new and formerly forbidden things.  I was a person swimming further and further from shore.  But God did an amazing thing.  He brought me to a place where I could clearly see the two choices I had.  I could continue my life of swimming in deep water and being my own master or I could chose to follow Him completely.  It’s funny because He did not threaten me with bad stuff if I chose not to follow Him.  He just indicated that life “All In” with Him would mean He would never leave me or forsake me.

I accepted His offer and a change took place immediately.  God put His Spirit within me and I knew it.  I look at that weekend and that afternoon visit to the chapel at Camp Hartner in Louisiana as my second birthday.  I mention all of this as background though.  While God entered my life in a real and tangible way at that time, a lot of my ingrained habits and thought patterns were still influenced by the worldly patterns I had become comfortable with.  The Holy Spirit had been active in wooing and encouraging me to take the step of faith before my conversion.  When I accepted Jesus as my Lord, the Holy Spirit began the work in me that has led to much positive change such as the transformation of a fairly rigid engineer into a relatively relational person who happens to have some engineering skills.

The Holy Spirit will guide you as you seek to know and follow the Father better.  Here are some of the practical steps that I was led to which have proved crucial to my transformation.  In fact they fit under the admonition Paul gives in Romans 12:1-2.  “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship.  Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Read the Word and Seek the Lord Early Every Day.  Start the day in prayer and quiet reflection on Who God is.  Talk to Him and let Him speak to you through the bible.  Select a good, short devotional to supplement your prayer time.  My wife and I have been blessed time and again with the short devotionals found in the devotional Jesus Calling by Sarah Young.  I have experimented with doing this at other times of the day, but I have found that dedicating my first hour or so to the Lord has the greatest impact and seems to flavor the rest of the day with a sweet sense of His nearness.

Develop Close Faith Friendships and Encourage One Another.  While this needs to be within your family too, it actually must include a few close friends.  I’ve dived into this topic at length in a previous post, but it is vital that we have people we trust who can be Christ’s hands, feet, and heart to us in times of need.  And we in turn will have times when the Lord uses us for others.  God did not intend for us to do life alone.  When He looked at Adam in the garden He said it was not good for him to be alone.  That is true of believers.  God knows we need faithful fellowship.  Ask Him and He will lead you to those people who will become your faith friends.

Join the Church and Plug In.  Jesus died for the Church, so the Church is very important to Him.  Find a Church that is vibrant.  One that consistently points to Jesus and what He is doing.  Look for signs of Jesus actively working within the Church.  Signs such as growth in numbers, bondages broken, lives being transformed, consistently maturing fellowship, regular outreach beyond the walls of the Church, and joy in following Jesus.  Once you find this Church then get involved.  Consider your gifts, talents, and passion and see where you can put them to work in the Church.

Bloom Where You Are Planted.  God has put you in a place to be His ambassador.  The life you live is a reflection of where you are in your walk.  Jesus desires to use each one of us in the redemption of this world.  If you are in a hard place, a difficult place, the light and love of Jesus will stand-out more than ever.  Every believer is called to minister in Jesus’ Name.  Some of that ministry may be within the Church, but my experience indicates that the greatest need and most frequent opportunities are outside the walls of the Church.  Make this a topic in your quiet time with the Lord, asking Him to guide you to the person(s) you are to speak to that day.

Remember, it’s All About the Relationships.  Jesus left His place in heaven and entered mortal life so He could relate to us, so He could establish a relationship with us.  He loves us so much that He took our place when sin, our sin, was judged and executed on the cross.  And because of that we can live in intimate relationship with Him.  And He wants us to value the relationships that we have with others.  Because they matter to Him, they should matter to us as well.  As we grow closer to Jesus, we will begin to see others as Jesus sees them.  And we will love more and more like Jesus loves.

Have a blessed day today as you grow in your life with Jesus.

 

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Wildlife Bonanza

Posted in Beautiful Places, God, God Stories, Photography, Worship, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on July 23, 2015| Leave a Comment »

IMG_5222One of the thrills of my Mount Rainier trip was all the wildlife that I got to see and capture in my pics.  I shared a few stories already on Facebook, but now I have the pics that go with those stories.

I had never seen a Marmot before, but my experience this weekend would lead me to believe they are pretty common.  I think I saw six different ones and got pictures of several.  The most intriguing thing was that for two of them, I slipped up on them unaware and I got pictures of them gazing out over the beautiful view from their mountain top perches.  The first was on Saturday morning shown below.

Coming down the mountain I happened upon this Marmot taking in the scenery. I happened upon a similar scene in Sunrise the next day.

Coming down the mountain I happened upon this Marmot taking in the scenery. I happened upon a similar scene in Sunrise the next day.

Even the Marmots appreciate the wonder of God's creation. This fellow was on a rock outcropping on the side of Pinnacle Peak gazing out toward Mount Rainier.

Even the Marmots appreciate the wonder of God’s creation. This fellow was on a rock outcropping on the side of Pinnacle Peak gazing out toward Mount Rainier.

 

As I moved down the trail this fellow slipped down into the brush on the side of the mountain and began picking fruit off the plants.

One of several Marmots I got pictures of while hiking. Early mornings are the best time to view the wildlife.

One of several Marmots I got pictures of while hiking. Early mornings are the best time to view the wildlife.

After taking this picture I looked around to see if I could identify what he was eating.  I saw what appeared to be blueberries and in my enthusiasm I quickly picked one and popped it in my mouth.  As it entered my mouth I realized I really didn’t know what it was I was about to ingest, so I quickly spit it out.  Visions of me writhing in the middle of a mountain trail because I had eaten a poisonous berry freaked me out just a little.

As I headed down the mountain I got into the forest and I came upon a couple stopped by the trail eating something.  The woman about my age asked me if I had eaten my share of blueberries.  THEY WERE BLUEBERRIES!

A juicy, sweet mid-morning snack along the trail.

A juicy, sweet mid-morning snack along the trail.

It was an absolute delight finding the blueberries ripe and within reach all along the lower part of the trail.

It was an absolute delight finding the blueberries ripe and within reach all along the lower part of the trail.

Finding the blueberries almost put me into sensory overload.  All five of my physical senses had been saturated.

The sights were phenomenal as I have tried to capture with these pictures.

The smell of the forest of fir and spruce brought on nostalgic thoughts of Christmas.

From the howling of the coyotes to the crunch of rocks underfoot to the bird song all along the trail my ears were filled with the sounds of nature.  What was missing was the man-made noise of cars and machines that so often fill our lives.  The deep stretches of quiet were also a welcome respite to my sense of hearing which had become numb from the ever-present sounds of civilization.

The chill morning air that caused my hands to seek my pockets or rub together was the first of many times my sense of touch was stirred.  Sitting on the mountain top a gentle breeze caressed my sweating brow.  As the day wore on and the miles hiked mounted, even the sore muscles reminded me I was doing something special.

So the blueberries were just icing on the cake.  The term ‘bursting with flavor’ literally came true as I snagged a second and then a third handful of plump berries and popped them in my mouth.

 

 

While I saw other marmots and lots of chipmunks through the day on Saturday, nothing prepared me for the 30 minute window early Sunday morning.  I took the trail from Sunrise up to the Sourdough Ridge and Wonderland Trail.  I started a little before 6 am.

The visitor center and parking lot at Sunrise on the northeast side of Mount Rainier.

The visitor center and parking lot at Sunrise on the northeast side of Mount Rainier.

I had my eyes peeled looking for wildlife.  I had come upon a nice herd of elk in the dark as I was driving up the mountain so I was already primed.  I scanned the beautiful valleys on either side of the trail as I headed toward Burroughs Mountain.

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I kept expecting to see a herd of elk or deer stroll across one of the meadows below me.

I kept expecting to see a herd of elk or deer stroll across one of the meadows below me.

I did not see them, but at about the same time of the morning that coyotes were howling on the trail in front of me on Saturday, one or two raised a cry somewhere down close to the lake in this picture.  I waited for a few minutes to see if they might break into the open, but they never did.

Coyotes began howling down around that lake a mile or so away.

Coyotes began howling down around that lake a mile or so away.

After this I was on high alert.  My head was on a swivel looking for wildlife.  In fact I switched to my “big” lens to reach out and capture close up pics if possible.  Shortly after the coyotes howled, as I approached the end of the Sourdough trail I saw movement ahead that appeared to be about the size of a dog.  I snapped pics thinking that a coyote had crossed in front of me but the exposure was all wrong as the fleeting shape was lost in the shadow while my camera adjusted exposure to the light beyond.

Balancing rock above the trail. I saw movement sink across the trail ahead of me just after taking this pic.

Balancing rock above the trail. I saw movement slink across the trail ahead of me just after taking this pic.

I cautiously moved through the area where the “coyote” had slipped across the trail.  I thought that I should be able to see him since the area opened up into the wide open, tundra-like topography of Burroughs Mountain.

Oddly enough I bumped into the Manager of the plant where I am working out on the trail just a few minutes after this.

My friend trail running early in the morning at Sunrise.

My friend trail running early in the morning at Sunrise.

We chatted a bit and then I turned to point back where I had just come from and the direction he was heading to tell him to keep his eyes open for a coyote.  And this is what we saw.

We at first thought this was a coyote that for some reason was following me.

We at first thought this was a coyote that for some reason was following me.

We walked toward him to make him decide whether he wanted to take on both of us.  Instead he decided since we weren’t going to get out of his way on the trail, he would just go around us.

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I believe he had caught a chipmunk just before I noticed him.  I had come upon him quick enough that he slipped into cover in the few trees there so I passed by.  But he had a home down the trail and we were simply in his way.  I was surprised at his total lack of fear of us.

With the big lens on I continued up the path.  I stopped at one point a few minutes later to change lenses to my smaller lens to take landscapes, but I felt a prompting to leave on the big lens.

Now let me interject briefly.  I do not think I am special above anyone else.  I am just a guy who loves the Lord and in my imperfect way, I try to follow and obey Him as best I can.  However I do believe that God loves His children and enjoys our taking delight in Him and His creation.  I personally believe God loves to hear His children laugh.  So when I, in joyful exuberance, asked the Lord for some good pics of wildlife, I had faith I would get those shots.  Now that was about 5 minutes before the encounter with the fox.  So when I got the nudge to leave on the big lens, I did.  As I tightened the big lens on my camera I looked up at the ridge overhead and this is what I saw.

Mountain goats above me on Burroughs Mountain #1.

Mountain goats above me on Burroughs Mountain #1.

At this point I am thanking the Father for the simple and fun blessings He has given me.  But He was not through yet.  About 5 minutes later I looked down the slope and there is a family of mountain goats.

Family of Mountain Goats on the side of Burroughs 1

Family of Mountain Goats on the side of Burroughs 1

IMG_5183 IMG_5181

At this point I was just plain thrilled.  I remember telling the Lord, I was satisfied, that He had provided more than I had hoped for.  But the surprises weren’t through quite yet.  As I finally neared the top of Burroughs 1 I happened to look up.  And there on an outcropping overlooking the broad valley below was a Marmot enjoying the view.

My first thought was, I guess humans aren’t the only ones who can appreciate a beautiful view.

IMG_5193 IMG_5194 IMG_5195 IMG_5199

Here is the view he was gazing at.

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It was funny to me.  The Marmot reminded me of Mr Beaver in the CS Lewis book, “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe”.  In the land of Narnia the animals talk.  As the shutter on my camera snapped, the Marmot turned to look at me as if to say, “Why are you disturbing my morning meditation?”  To which I apologized and quietly moved on.

Psalm 104 perfectly fit this day.

Verse 1 “Praise the LORD, my soul.

LORD my God, you are very great;

you are clothed with splendor and majesty.”

Verse 18 says “The high mountains belong to the wild goats;

the crags are a refuge for the hyrax.”

Verse 24 “How many are your works, LORD!

In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.”

The final verses sum it up.

27 All creatures look to you

to give them their food at the proper time.
28 When you give it to them,
they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
they are satisfied with good things.
29 When you hide your face,
they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
they die and return to the dust.
30 When you send your Spirit,
they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works—
32 He who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
who touches the mountains, and they smoke.
33 I will sing to the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
as I rejoice in the Lord.
35 But may sinners vanish from the earth
and the wicked be no more.
Praise the Lord, my soul.
Praise the Lord.
If you like the pics stay tuned for at least one more installment of Mount Rainer pics.  Sunrise over Sunrise was absolutely magnificent.  Pictures can’t fully capture it, but they do a pretty good job.  Until next time, look to the LORD and enjoy His gracious mercy and love.

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Responding to the Nudge

Posted in God Stories, Holy Spirit, Prayer, Spiritual Growth, tagged , , , , , , on June 23, 2015| Leave a Comment »

I’ve heard it said that the first ability we need to cultivate in our relationship with God is availability.  Being ready and available to do what He says in His word and what the Holy Spirit nudges us to do is foundational to growing and thriving as a Jesus follower.  Last night I was reminded of that in a very powerful way.  I had a conversation with a gentleman I worked with briefly 15 or so years ago.  After not seeing Al since that time we met again here in Washington where we happen to be working on a project together.  Over dinner he shared a bit of his faith story and it surprised me that I likely played an unknown role in his spiritual awakening.

Our faith conversation started when I mentioned that I had been in church all my life, but it wasn’t until I was 23 that I realized that God was interested in a real, living relationship and not just some dry, ritualistic participation in church.  He mentioned that his story was similar and his awakening to that fact began during his one of his visits to my plant in Calhoun, Tennessee around 2000 – 2001.  He said he was sitting in a meeting and he noticed Proverbs 3:5-6 written up in the corner of a blackboard in the conference room.

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

He said he was at a point in his life that he was very successful.  He didn’t have any needs being unmet.  He described a life that many people long for – a happy marriage of almost 30 years, two great daughters, good health, a great job he enjoyed, financially sound – in short, a life that he was satisfied with.  But something about that verse on the blackboard just poked at him.  I call it a Holy Nudge.  And it began a search.  From that moment he began to seek out what it meant to trust in the Lord with all your heart and to submit to Him.  Well what happened to him is what God promises to everyone who will seek Him with all their heart – He found that living, vibrant relationship with God that has molded and shaped his life since then.  He responded to God’s nudge in that small conference room and his life has been changed from a good life to a great life in union with His Heavenly Father.

My heart swelled because I remembered my days at that plant.  I worked there for 17 years.  One of the lessons I learned while there was the vital importance of responding to Gods’ holy nudges. I can vividly remember two holy nudges early in my time at Calhoun that shaped my faith walk and put me into a position to be used in my friend’s life… whether I knew it or not.  One was a failure on my part that God has redeemed.  The second is part of that redemption and directly impacted my friend, Al.

I had only been at the mill a couple months when I was asked to attend a four-day communication workshop being held at a nearby hotel.  The leader’s name was Sid.  Sid was a large, jovial guy who liked to ask probing questions.  He began the week by telling us that he had recently had a serious health scare as the doctors had told him that he had the big C – Cancer.  But just a week or so earlier he had gotten the all clear from the doctors – no more cancer,  he was fine.  Later that first day Sid had us perform an exercise of sharing our “lifeline” with the class.  We took 10 minutes to draw a chart that represented our life to the current date.  We were to identify 2 or 3 defining moments and share them in a succinct manner.  He shared his lifeline first and mentioned the low point of thinking he might die of cancer and then his line turned up when he was told he was cancer-free and that life was going great.  As I drew my life line it had a major positive step change when I met the Lord at age 23 and I spoke briefly about that.  I remember that Sid challenged me pretty strongly about my step change.  Thinking back I remember I felt intimidated by the force of his challenges and felt even a bit like I was being attacked for my faith.

I was probably a bit more demur the next two days of the workshop.  On Wednesday afternoon, Sid said he was shutting down the workshop 30 minutes early and he was opening up a bar tab for us so we could stay and chat.  It was at this point that I got a very clear Holy Nudge to stay and speak with Sid.  I remember it vividly because I argued with God a bit about it.  I rationalized that since I wasn’t a drinker, I would feel out of place.  I was working on a piece of furniture for the house and I reasoned that I could use the extra time to make good progress on my project.  Even though God was nudging, I was coming up with reasons NOT to do what He was asking.  I even remember telling myself that as hostile as Sid was, he probably was only going to belittle my faith some more.  To my chagrin, I have to tell you that I walked out and went home to my project.  I can tell you now that I felt bad about it as I wiped stain on the entertainment center.  I even paused more than once to pray for Sid.  But I felt the conviction of the Lord as I was substituting a “religious act” instead of following God’s Holy Nudge.

The next day was the last day of the workshop.  I think I may have even told the Lord that I would stay and speak with Sid after the class or something like that.  The day started fine, but just before lunch Sid told us that he wasn’t feeling very well and that he was going to end the class early.  He mentioned that he had experienced angina a few years before associated with a heart attack and that he was feeling angina this morning.  He was going to head over to the emergency room to get it checked out.  I remember I volunteered to drive him, but he had already made arrangements.  I headed home and I can honestly say I was really praying for Sid now.  But I also expected that everything would be fine since he was heading straight to the hospital.

At work the next day, Ben, the assistant plant manager swung by my office to see if I was okay.  I relayed to him that I had enjoyed the class, but that I was concerned about Sid since he had headed to the hospital.  Ben realized then that I had not heard the news.  Sid had a massive heart attack at the hospital that evening and did not survive.  I realized that I had been in a position to offer Sid God’s Words of Grace the evening before he died, but I had rationalized and walked away.  I was ashamed and saddened to my core.  I had grieved the Holy Spirit and I missed an opportunity to obey the One Who gave His all for me.

Thankfully, God’s grace and forgiveness extends to us even when we fail Him.  Over time His forgiveness brought restoration to my broken soul.  I knew I had sinned greatly.  I knew I directly disobeyed the prompting of the Holy Spirit.  But the same Holy Spirit reached out to me, lifted me up out of my sorrow and self-pity, and spoke life to me again.

It was probably a little less than a year later when I was asked to supervise a large team of maintenance personnel on a multi-day paper machine outage.  I was a 30 year old engineer who had never really worked on tools like a craftsman, and yet I was supposed to direct, coach, and support the efforts of about 2o maintenance technicians performing a dozen or more jobs.  The work was going over the weekend of Palm Sunday.  The first day was Saturday and honestly, that day is pretty much lost to my memory.  I vaguely remember feeling overwhelmed more than once with the large amount of demands that I struggled to keep up with.  As I drove in to the plant on Sunday morning I remember clearly speaking out my frustrations to the Lord.  I even said, “Lord, here it is Palm Sunday and I am heading to work and I won’t be able to make it to church.  That’s just not right.  I won’t even be able to have a real time of prayer since I’ll be so busy.”

The Lord spoke to my heart, “Pray with your Team.”

“What Lord?”

“Pray with your Team.”

Rationalizations rose up in my mind… “I barely  know these guys… Am I allowed to do something like this? … What will they think?”

But then I remembered Sid.  I remembered what disobedience felt like.  And I remembered that I had committed to the Lord after ignoring the Holy Nudge with Sid, that I would obey when He clearly asked me to do something in the future, no matter how crazy it might sound.  Well His voice was crystal clear this time.  So I gave the results to Him and I obeyed.

I didn’t have much time to think about it, I just did it.  I handled the normal safety topic and explanation of jobs the same as I had the day before, but as I ended I then shared briefly that my preference on a Sunday morning was to be in church rather than working in the mill.  Also since I believed God was present with His followers everywhere, including when they had to work at the mill on a Sunday we could take the time to acknowledge Him while at work.  I then let the men know that I would like to start our work day with a word of prayer and that it was fine if anyone didn’t share my belief.  They could stay while I prayed or head on out to the job.  Noone moved.  Then we prayed.  I felt the Spirit of the Lord take it from there.  I’m not sure exactly what I prayed, but I know I was being obedient and that God was pleased.

That started a pattern that has remained a part of my life.  I have had a number of leadership roles.  Not every meeting results in a Holy Nudge to pray with the group… but a surprising number have.  The Lord led me to start and lead a number of prayer groups and bible studies during lunch periods and before work as well.  As Al was telling me his story last night, I was moved to tears.  One of the other habits I got into was using the blackboards and dry erase boards during our lunch time bible studies and prayer times.  And sometimes I would get a Holy Nudge to leave a verse behind… just in case.

You almost never know how your obedience impacts someone else’s life.  Thank you Lord for giving me a glimpse of this one.

Obey immediately when He gives you a holy nudge and rejoice in being a partner in the Father’s work.

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Scars Aren’t All Bad

Posted in God, God Stories, Holy Spirit, Marriage, Prayer, Vision, tagged , , , , , , , on May 8, 2015| Leave a Comment »

This morning as my wife and I finished our devotion we moved into prayer for friends and family who are going through serious challenges.  In particular we prayed for couples who are striving to reconcile their marriages after betrayal and hurt.

A picture that came to mind as we were praying is that of a deep wound that must heal from the inside out.  I spoke with a friend recently who has suffered a very serious injury losing the ends of three fingers.  The doctors are leaving one of the wounds open so that it will heal properly – from the inside out.  Coming back to the picture that came to mind as we were praying, I believe that this was a word the Lord gave of what has to happen in these couples we know although it is true of anyone who has suffered deep hurt.  The emotional wound has to have time to heal.  Words and superficial actions will not bring the healing that we truly need to be made whole.

In a marriage a demonstrated commitment is essential for this healing.  Practical steps in this are striving to know and understand our spouse better and better, seeking to understand and speak our spouse’s love language, putting our spouse and their needs before our own, and walking in the character trifecta of openness, honesty, and integrity.  These same truths apply to other relationships as well, but marriage is indeed a common relationship crucible for many of us.  Sadly, for many marriages the refining fire beneath the crucible doesn’t have to get too hot before the majority of what we have built our life upon becomes ash.  Yet through this God is able to build something truly valuable with the little that is left and adding His all-sufficiency.

You see I know this from personal experience.  My wife and I celebrated 30 years of marriage last month.  As I look back I can honestly say that over those 30 years we have had 29+ years of very good to amazingly great love and life together.  But there have been times…  A little over three years ago our relationship had become quite strained.  My job had me on the road 70% of the time.  Lisa was focusing more and more on her career and when I came home looking to be pampered a little bit (okay maybe I was looking for a lot of pampering) Lisa was about used up from all the extra she was having to do.  Our communication suffered and frankly the love was a rather dim ember at that time.  Even the close friendship that we have always shared was being severely tested.  At Christmas we had booked a condo in Orlando assuming Sammy’s soccer team would be playing soccer between Christmas and New Years as they had done for four years previously.  Surprise, they decided not to play in that tournament and yet I had the condo rented.  The short story is it was not the relaxing time to refresh and rejuvenate that I had hoped for.  In fact we now refer to it as the “vacation from hell.” That is not a direct reflection on Orlando necessarily, but more on our heart condition at the time.

Driving back from that vacation I was secretly looking forward to work and being be back out on the road.  I had scheduled to be gone for the first seven weeks of 2012.  Six days later we were racing to the emergency room with Lisa’s left leg just above the ankle sitting at a grotesque angle.  It was a compound, open fracture of both bones a little above the ankle.  A week in the hospital, three surgeries, 12 weeks with no weight on the ankle and multiple PT sessions later Lisa is able to walk and generally has regained most of her mobility.  In a previous post I have written about our walk through this time.  It’s a particularly moving read called “Broken Legs, Mended Hearts.”

I allude to this story today because one of the residuals from this is a serious scar around Lisa’s leg where the tissue was so seriously damaged.  Two things the doctor later told us that we look to as a testament of God’s grace.  First when he first saw Lisa’s leg he estimated he had a 50/50 chance of saving it.  Yet her healing progressed very well.  In fact he seemed very pleased and even a little surprised at how well she recovered.  Second at her one year check up he fully released her telling her to listen to her leg and let pain and discomfort tell her how much to do.  (Oh he did forbid her from swinging on rope swings too.)  But he also said, that a break as bad as hers 50 years earlier often proved fatal.  The bones were shattered into so many small pieces and the wound was a terrible thing.

As we finished our prayer time and I shared the picture that I had used in praying for our friends, Lisa thought of her leg and pointed to her scar.  And she said that deep wounds can leave bad scars.  She was mostly right, but I don’t see her scar as bad.  To some it may not be pretty, but to me it reminds me of Gods abundant grace.  Lisa lived.  Lisa kept her leg and she has most of her mobility.  Our marriage was healed because when Lisa broke her leg, God broke my heart.  Our oldest daughter who had been estranged from us for a time not only came rushing back to be with her mama, she gave her life to the living God.  She will live with God in His kingdom and the catalyst for her final step to this decision was Lisa’s broken leg.

One final thought.  I went for a run after we finished our devotion.  I love to run and I had stopped for a couple of months, so it was exhilarating to get back out there.  But I don’t run for the sake of running.  I run so I can talk with the Lord.  He did not disappoint.  I pick up small rocks as mementos of the places we’ve travelled.  (Lisa is wrapping up a business meetings here in Myrtle Beach as I write this post.)  You may agree with Lisa and think it’s a little weird, but I have found a few other persons who share this weirdness.  Anyway I am on the return leg of this long run and I have picked up a couple good rock candidates for my collection when I feel the Lord speak to me to stop and look for a rock.  Now I like fossil rocks or intricate design rocks or even pretty rocks – something that stands out.  So as I stand by this puddle I am thinking, “Are you going to show me a gold nugget or something Lord?”  And I started looking for something special.  But the Lord said, “Look in the muck and mire.  Look for the dirty and overlooked.  Get the rock that looks the least appealing.”  So I looked and sure enough there was a little, ugly black rock.  I picked it up and as I evaluated it I decided it is a possibly a small piece of shell encased in a little bit of asphalt.  I thought, “Wow, no gold nugget here.”  To which the Holy Spirit immediately replied, “Everything can be redeemed!”  My mind went to the description of the heavenly city described in Revelation of the streets of gold and I realized that streets of gold will have an underlayment that support them and keep them strong, flat, and beautiful.  An underlayment that can include little pieces of shell encrusted in small chunks of asphalt.

Friend, I do not believe you are reading this by accident.  I feel that the Lord has a message of hope for the world that He will get out through as many means as possible.  This message is meant for you and perhaps a loved one or friend.  God loves you, He can bring about the deep healing that is needed, scars aren’t always bad, and everything can be redeemed.  That about sums it up for this morning.

Have a blessed day.  And be a blessing to someone God puts in your path or on your heart today.

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Leaving and Forsaking

Posted in God, God Stories, Jesus Christ, Salvation, The Father, tagged , , , , on March 25, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Many of us live lives that are damaged, bruised, and broken.  Even those who seem to “have it all together” often have scars and reminders of the brokenness we all must deal with.  Relationships with those around us – spouse, family, friends, acquaintances are subject to the influences of mood, circumstances, miscommunication, egos, and sin in all its varied forms.  It’s no wonder that from time to time we experience pain in every facet of our being whether it be emotional, physical, mental, or spiritual.  But this is not our end state.  Nor do we have to remain trapped in the lonely, unhappy place this brokenness takes us.  In John’s gospel we read.   8:31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”   There has been one thought that has rumbled through my consciousness all week that is tremendously liberating.  God promises to those who are His that He will never leave us or forsake us.  This is a bedrock truth that fits tightly with the cornerstone of faith which is Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. 

This truth was what Jesus said the day I turned my life over to Him.  As I knelt in the chapel at Camp Hardtner in the piney woods of central Louisiana I knew I had an important decision before me.  At 23 years of age I had been a church-goer all my life and seemingly for the most part, a pretty good guy…  But in reality I was living mostly for myself and there were plenty of times when the choice to do what I knew was right was overwhelmed by the decision to do what I wanted to do in that moment.  I was in Camp Hardtner because the leader of the youth group where I was helping had suggested that I go to the Cursillo weekend.  Well, a day and a half of being loved on by people who knew and loved the Lord combined with simple, yet powerful talks by people whose lives were being touched by a very real, very personal God had me in the chapel pondering what it all meant for me.

You see, I entered the chapel to get alone for a few minutes to gather my thoughts and try to process what I was hearing, thinking, and feeling.  But in reality I was coming to a divine appointment with Jesus.  As I knelt there looking at the cross in the chapel I started talking to God knowing that He was real and that He could hear me.  As I poured out my questions I became aware that I was not alone.  I realized Jesus was right behind me, listening to my words and listening to my heart.  I stopped talking and I just listened.  Then Jesus spoke to me.  Even though it was over 31 years ago, I remember the details very vividly.  He first clarified the question.  “Dan, will you continue living as you have been living or will you follow me?”  He didn’t have to say that my “following Him when it was convenient” wasn’t really following Him.  That was what the day and a half at the camp had brought into crystal clarity.  I remember at this point holding my hands in front of me, palms up.  I saw that I was holding up everything that meant something to me in life…my family, my job, my car, my reputation, even my future hopes and dreams.  I guess I subconsciously knew I was making an offering of my life at that point, but Jesus made it even clearer with His next words.  At that moment he referred to my left hand and He said, “Dan, this is your life… your parents, your brothers, your sister, friends, job, reputation, your hopes and dreams… everything that you call your own.  Everything that makes up your life now.”  And then He switched the focus to my right hand which at this point was empty since everything that defined me was resting in a pile in my other hand.  And then He said, “This is the life I offer you.  I promise you only one thing, I will never leave you or forsake you.” 

I knew I had a decision… the most important decision of my life.  I had a lot in my left hand compared to what was visible in my right hand – a life given to Jesus with only the promise that He would never leave me or forsake me.  But God gave me the faith and courage to make the decision for Him.  In my mind I offered up everything in my left hand, one by one, to God for Him to have and do with as He saw fit.  My family was the hardest, but at 23, my hopes and dreams were a close second.  Funny thing is, in releasing those things, whatever control they had over me was gone.  I still loved my family, in fact I believe I have been able to love more deeply, but since they were the Lord’s I did not fret over them.  In my case, the majority of the things that I gave up, the Lord allowed to remain and become better because they were now all viewed as gifts from God.  The things I needed to give up and be done with were easy to walk from since I had truly “turned them over to God”.  I forsook and left those things that were of no lasting value and I gained a relationship with the One who promised never to leave or forsake me.  I am reminded of a quote by the martyred missionary Jim Elliot.  He said, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

The Lord’s peace gently came over me that afternoon which was greatly reassuring.  Our Father meets us in a manner that is perfect for us.  I have heard of others who are absolutely overwhelmed by God’s grace and power at the moment of salvation.  For me it was more like the tide turned and began to rise.  I knew immediately that God and I had entered into a life relationship and I experienced His peace, but over the rest of the weekend that peace and joy steadily grew.  By the time the weekend ended I had experienced a healing of my heart that I didn’t even realize I needed and my heart was truly full.

Today, some 31+ years later, I can honestly say God is faithful to His Word and to the specific word he spoke to me that day.  He has never left me or forsaken me.  That includes the times when I have stumbled in my walk.  It includes the few times when regretfully I grieved Him.  Even when I have gone through challenging and spiritually dry times, I could look back and see He was there with me through them all.  He has remained patient, loving, and present at all times.

As you read this, take heart because Jesus loves you and desires an intimate relationship with you.  If you are already His, take a moment to dwell on His promise repeated over and over in scripture (Jos 1:5, Psalm 37:28, Psalm 94:14, Hebrews 13:5, Isaiah 42:16, John 14 – 17) that He will never leave you or forsake you.  Rejoice in that truth.  If you are not His, I believe you are reading this as another time He is reaching out to you, calling you to Himself.  In fact, if you are willing it can be your moment of truth, your moment of decision just like I had in a little church camp many years ago.  I encourage you to take Him up on His offer.  While my life was already full of stuff, I didn’t realize there was still an emptiness until He offered me a life totally committed to Him.  I have learned that a Full Life in Him is way beyond a life full of stuff.  And while stuff fades, breaks, gets lost or stolen Jesus and His love will never leave us or forsake us… forever and ever, world without end.  Amen.

If you have made a decision for Christ today please let someone know.  And drop me a note as I would like to encourage you in your new life in Christ.

Have and unbelievably awesome day today.  Be blessed beyond all measure and be a blessing to someone else.

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An Opportunity So Huge…

Posted in Church, God, Prayer, Responsibility, tagged , , , , , , , on March 3, 2015| Leave a Comment »

The sales person pitching their wares will often tout their product with the line “An opportunity so huge you won’t want to miss it.”  If we listen just a little we are drawn in and before we realize it we are purchasing this must-have item that 30 minutes before had never seriously crossed our minds.  Such is the power of salesmanship.  There are amazing opportunities in life, but the majority of them arrive without the fanfare of a huckster working the crowd to drum up business.  In fact the greatest opportunities are often disguised as challenges, a difficulties, or a crisis.  Today the world faces a number of major challenges.  That means we are on the cusp of some amazing opportunities.  In times of trouble it is imperative that we fix our eyes on the Lord and follow His leading for the crisis to be transformed into the blessing that He can bring.  Let’s look at one of the opportunities today.

The rise of ISIS (and Iran) in the Middle East is a major crisis.    I have been perplexed by the lack of outcry from more moderate Muslims over the violent actions by ISIS.  We don’t know all the motivations, but I assume fear of being targeted by the extremists is part of it.  However my recent study of the subject reveals that the true nature of Islam is revealed in the rhetoric and actions of ISIS.  If we peal away the politically correct rhetoric and misrepresentations of the “religion of peace” and get to the heart of the teachings of Islam, we find a movement that is commanded to achieve world domination through whatever means necessary.  Lying and violence to achieve the spread of Islam is not just condoned, it is encouraged.  This is a sobering realization and one that is vitally important that we grasp.  What Hitler wanted to do in the name of the Aryan race, ISIS wants to do in the name of Allah.

Up to this point my prayer has been, “Lord please stop ISIS.”  “Lord, please protect our soldiers.”  “Lord, please give our leaders wisdom in dealing with ISIS.”  But yesterday I realized I was missing the opportunity that lies before us, an opportunity that I believe the Father wants us to participate in through our intercession.  That is the evangelization of the Muslim world.  You see, the Muslim faith exerts very strong restraining pressure to keep people from leaving the faith.  From the total loss of family and friends to loss of life, the negative societal implications for a Muslim to convert to another faith is practically overwhelming.  Yet today the stark, brutal nature of the religion and its moral bankruptcy when compared to the teachings of Jesus have never been more clear.  This presents an opportunity to reach moderate Muslims with the true Gospel of peace.

We support a dear family that has been ministering in Muslim lands in central Asia for 11 years.  They recently relocated to a country very close to Iraq.  Obviously I have been praying for their safety.  They answered God’s call to missions as a newlywed couple and now, four children later, they minister as a family of six dedicated souls.  The Lord has laid it upon their hearts to find people of peace.  These are Muslims who God has put the notion in their heart that there is something more, something greater, and they are willing to ask questions that Islam forbids.  In their last place of service the Lord brought a young Muslim family into their life because one member had a vivid dream of Jesus coming and speaking to them.

Our opportunity is to join with the Lord in praying these divine encounters into being.  There are many Muslims right now who are scared and searching.  While ISIS is making a big show of their brutality to westerners, they are that much and more brutal off-camera toward moderate Muslims.  This is a time when the door of opportunity to reach a very hard people group with the gospel exists.  Jesus specifically commanded His followers to pray for this in Matthew 9:38 and Luke 10:2.  From Luke, Jesus told them, “The harvest in plentiful, but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.”

Here are a few specifics that the Lord has put on my heart to pray for as well as suggestions our missionary friends have offered as prayer points.

1) Pray for the Lord to stir the hearts of Muslim people to seek Him.  This will include supernatural visitations of God’s power.

2) Pray for the Missionaries to make contacts with “people of peace” in other faiths who are open to talking about the gospel and truth.

3) Pray for protection, including invisibility from the enemy during the crucial formative stages of this movement.

4) Pray a hedge of protection for the missionaries, their families, and the new converts that God will bring into the body.

5) Pray for courage for Muslims to take their next steps and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

6) Pray for Muslim families to convert so that home churches can begin in their homes.

7) Pray for provision for this work to go forward.  Provision is first God’s hand directing and leading all these efforts.  Second it is the prayer covering that we are talking about right now.  Third, it is the meeting of the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs of those engaged in this work.

May the Lord bless you today with His mercy in abundance as you go forth to love and serve the Lord.

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Joy – So Much Greater than Happiness

Posted in God, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Prayer, The Father, tagged , , , , , on March 2, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Joy and happiness are not the same.  Happiness is the light-hearted feeling we get when something goes our way.  An unexpected gift, our sports team winning, loved ones gathering together are all events that can produce happiness.  However happiness is transient.  When the positive stimuli is removed happiness drains away like water from a tub when the stopper is removed.  Happiness is based upon circumstances.  Therefore it ebbs and flows as our circumstances change.  Happiness is nice, but joy is so much better.

Joy is the uplifted feeling we have based upon the knowledge of spiritual truth.  Joy is first cousin to Peace.  They both emanate from a relationship with the living Lord and are responses to His promises and activity in our life.  Let’s follow the progression.  In John 8:31-32 To the Jews who had believed in Him Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”  In John 20:19 – 22 Jesus returned to the disciples immediately after His resurrection. He twice blessed them with His Peace and then breathed upon them imparting the Holy Spirit to them.  They were prepared to experience the Joy of the Lord in an on-going manner.  We have only to look at what happened a few weeks later at Pentecost (Acts 2) to see how the Lord poured out His Holy Spirit in a mighty, joy-filled torrent that stirred the city of Jerusalem and brought thousands into the church with one inspired teaching.

One way Joy is distinctly different from happiness is that it is independent of our circumstances.  Corrie Ten Boom was a believer imprisoned by the Nazi’s for aiding Jews.  In the midst of the horrid conditions of a Nazi concentration camp Corrie experienced the Joy of the Lord.  I think of the Stephen in His defense of the faith in Acts chapter 7.  The Word describes his beautiful countenance just prior to being martyred and I believe the Joy of the Lord was upon him.

Scripture tells us numerous times that the Joy of the Lord is our strength.  In a war it is vitally important to fight from a position of strength.  In military parlance that means things like holding the high ground, possessing detailed information about the enemy and their strategy, building superior forces through weaponry, training, and numbers.  In the spiritual realm it is just as important to fight from a position of strength.  Lest anyone fail to recognize that as a believer we are in a war, I simply point out that the world, the flesh, and the devil are all active antagonists against the church and those who follow the Lord Jesus.  So one crucial element of our position of strength is the Joy the Lord.  The parallel with physical warfare is that Joy is spiritual high ground.

Sadly many who profess the name of Jesus as Lord fail to walk in the Joy of the Lord.  All of us will have times when we struggle with our relationships.  Our relationship with the Lord is the foundation from which the Joy wells up.  Let me be clear, we are not to seek joy for the sake of having a constant happy feeling.  We are to seek the Lord and one by-product of that intimacy is the Joy of the Lord.  If your life does not reflect an over-riding, exuberant Joy at times, let me encourage you not to give up believing that it exists and is available to you.  The Lord’s desire is that we walk in intimacy with Him and experience His Joy is abundance.  Here are some practical steps to that end.

  1. Enter into a relationship with the Jesus.  We do this by recognizing we are separated from Him due to sin.  He has made a way though.  We simply turn away from our sin, believing that He died in our place, ask Him to come into our life, and then confess the truth that Jesus is Lord to others.
  2. Seek to grow in that grace by constantly looking for and taking your next step of faith.  If you just came to faith then find a bible-believing church and be baptized.  Another next step is to get involved in serving others through a local church.
  3. Read the Word of God consistently and prayerfully and do what it says.  I suggest a focus upon the teachings of Jesus, but include some from the old testament and the other books of the new testament as well.  When you read ask the Lord to make it come alive.
  4. Pray often.  Prayer is a dialogue with God.  He wants to speak to us.  One important balance that I have found is that when the Lord speaks to me it is often through His Word.  The times it is not specifically words from the bible it is always aligned with what the bible teaches.
  5. Ask the Lord to fill you with His Holy Spirit that you may understand more and more of what He is calling you to do and how to live.  As I look back over my life I see that Joy was present when I was obedient to what the Lord asked me to do.  And conversely, a lack of Joy describes the times when I was not actively seeking to know and please the Lord.

Don’t settle for less than God’s best.  Don’t substitute the world’s happiness for God’s joy.  Jesus said in Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His (our heavenly Father’s) kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” As we pour ourselves into knowing, growing, and pleasing God, He will fill our cup with everything we need… including a joy that will run out and over the cup touching lives around us in dramatic, life-changing ways.

Have a most blessed day today my friend.  An don’t forget to let your light so shine before men that they see and recognize your Father in Heaven.

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