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Posts Tagged ‘Transformation’

Bible In One Year 2017

Posted in Bible Study, Church, tagged , , , , , on December 29, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Start your day with the Bible in One Year, a Bible reading app with commentary by Nicky and Pippa Gumbel. Nicky Gumbel is the Vicar of HTB in London and pioneer of Alpha. ‘My favourite way to start the day.’ – Bear Grylls, Adventurer

Source: Bible In One Year 2017

Hi Friends,

I intend on reading through the bible this year and I am going to use this devotional from You Version to help me stay on track.  I’d love for you to join me.  I am getting a little head start because I know there will be times I miss a day.  This will give me a little cushion for those days.

Be blessed today and be a blessing.

Dan

 

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Spiritual Gifts – Understanding Spiritual Gifts and learning to use the gifts God has given us for His Purpose and Glory.

Posted in Church, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Spiritual Growth, The Father, Vision, tagged , , , , , , , , , on November 23, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Before launching into this study, I want to put it into context.  Sadly, the spiritual gifts can be a controversial topic within the Church.  There are two extremes we can take which, if we hold too tightly to, can cause us to miss the ultimate purpose of the spiritual gifts, which is to build up the Body of Christ and to draw unbelievers.  (See 1 Corinthians 14)

On one hand, we can de-spiritualize the gifts of the Spirit to the point that they are simply natural human traits and capabilities maximized.  In this view we take something that is manifestly a supernatural empowerment of the Holy Spirit and turn it into an ability that we train and build up purely through regular exercise.

On the other hand, we can over-spiritualize the gifts of the Spirit to the extent that every manifestation of the gifts must be connected to an ecstatic event.  We work ourselves up into such a spiritually-heightened state that we are finally ready for the Holy Spirit to fall on us and the mighty works of God can begin.

These extremes are not so much false as they are simply much too narrow to capture God’s purpose in giving the Gifts of the Spirit.  Additionally, these extremes fail to adequately capture the experience within the breadth of the Body today.  The Church and it’s 2 billion adherents experience God’s grace sufficient for life in a broad range of environments and circumstances.  God is continuing His work around the world drawing people to Himself out of every nation, tribe, and people group.  And He does this through His people being obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and responding to the Holy Spirit.  The work is a collaborative effort between the Spirit of God and the people of God yielded to the Holy Spirit.  Our yielded-ness leads to the Holy Spirit moving in us to accomplish great and mighty things.  Many times that manifests itself in the spiritual gifts.  That is what this study is about.

 

This blog is from the notes I pulled together for our home group study.  I used a few on-line resources (which I will note at different points in the paper) and copious hours reading and praying over the scriptures.  I have been overjoyed to find new insights in the Word as the Lord expanded my understanding of spiritual gifts, particularly with respect to the source and foundation of why He gives them.

For the study, I usually began with general questions to draw us into topic, followed by more directed questions related to the text we were studying.  It is my intent to leave this to aid others who might want to expand upon this for their own study.

A final disclaimer.  Many years ago I entered a bit of a longer fast seeking God’s direction in my life.  I was ready and willing to go into ministry if that’s what the Lord wanted.  At the end of those three days, the Lord spoke very clearly to me.  He said, “Son, I’ve not called you to be a preacher.  I’ve not called you to be a teacher.  I’ve called you to be a man of prayer.  You will preach and you will teach, but first and foremost, you are to be a man of prayer.”

That was around 25 years ago.  I have seen those words played out perfectly in the meantime.  As I share this with you, I do so with a sincere sense that the Lord has made this one of the times when I have been called upon to teach.  Recognizing that teaching is one of the gifts I scored a middle-of-the-pack score on (Spiritual Gifts survey which I will identify later in the study), I can rightly assume that whatever good comes from this is due to the Holy Spirit enlivening it in me and in the reader.  Fortunately, these are spiritual gifts and as such God is able to do abundantly, amazingly, above all we can ask or imagine.  I sit here confident and overflowing with thankfulness that this is true.

 

Key Chapters Discussing Spiritual Gifts

Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4

 

List of Spiritual Gift Possibilities in Key Bible Passages (italics indicates a gift repeated in other places in scripture)

Romans 12

exhortation, giving, leadership, mercy, prophecy, service, teaching

1 Corinthians 12

administration, apostle, discernment, faith, healings, helps – service, knowledge, miracles, prophecy, teaching, tongues, interpretation of tongues. wisdom

Ephesians 4

apostle, evangelism, pastor, prophecy, teaching  

Misc. Passages  (the following are implied as gifts in other scriptures)

celibacy, hospitality, martyrdom, missionary, voluntary poverty

 

OTHER GIFTS FROM THE LORD

Salvation, Church, Family, The conveniences He provides.

 

 

Lesson One

(Select two or three of these questions for ice-breakers to lead into today’s discussion)

What is your favorite gift-giving event?  What makes it your favorite?

What is one gift you have received that you value above all others?

What is a particularly memorable gift you have received?  What made it so memorable?

Any stories of gift-giving gone wrong?

What is the purpose behind giving and receiving gifts?

How about with spiritual gifts?

Have you given a gift and had it received poorly?  How did you feel? 

Have you ever received a gift poorly?

 

What are gifts? 

Transfer of an item from one who has or possesses the means to have something to one who does not currently have.

Transfer of ownership of something.

Freely released into the ownership of the other.

To be a true gift, there needs to be a recognition that the thing received is desirous and good.

For a gift to be good it must be “unwrapped”, appreciated, and used.

Gifts most often come from ones who care for us and want us to experience good things and to be happy.

Some gifts are given to us to help us be more functional and to accomplish specific tasks.

 

Is there timing associated with gifts?

Times of gift giving – Birthdays, Christmas, Easter, Anniversaries, Graduations, Baby Showers, Weddings

Some gifts have an “expiration”, i.e. like a bouquet of cut flowers, a new car.  Some gifts have a lifetime legacy – a deed of land, a wedding ring, a poem written in honor of another.

Some gift-givers are extremely generous and continue to give and give and give.

 

 

Some gift receivers are very appreciative.  Some gift receivers are never satisfied.

Receiving with thankfulness and true appreciation engenders greater goodwill between the giver and receiver.

Receiving gifts with dissatisfaction or grumbling or without thankfulness damages the relationship between the giver and the receiver.

 

Romans 12

To be read in context of the whole chapter.

What is the first gift offered in chapter 12?  Verse 1 – our bodies as living sacrifices.

How is this sacrifice received?  We don’t determine this, but Paul tells us when we set ourselves apart unto God it is “holy and pleasing to God”.  He also affirms that this giving of ourselves is our true and proper worship.

What are the “personal” reciprocal gifts that we receive if we continue to give ourselves to the Lord? (verse 2)

Transformation, a renewed mind, clarity in knowing God’s will.

What are the “communal” gifts that we receive if we continue to give ourselves to the Lord? (verses 6-8)

Part of the body of Christ, prophesy, serving, teaching, encouragement, generosity, leadership, mercy / care-giving.

Are there any pre-requisites to receiving these communal gifts?  (verse 3)

Humility (do not think more highly of yourself than you ought), sober judgment, faith

Take time to make the distinction of the supernatural element of these gifts if they flow from sacrificial living leading to transformed people with renewed minds, living together in humble faith while exercising sober judgment about themselves.

 

What is the outcome of this gift giving, particularly when it entails all members of the body of Christ exercising their communal gifts? (verses 9-21)

Sincere love one to another.

A true rejection of what is evil with an active passion to fight against it.

A passionate embrace of what is good.

Devotion one to another… hugs and warm affection manifested, expressing genuine love.  Lives intertwined and supportive.

Honoring one another – accomplishments celebrated, faithfulness recognized, high-fives all around.

The zeal of the Lord present and richly manifested in lives devoted to Him, to one another, and to whatever work He has called us to at that time.

Joy even when circumstances are not exactly what we would want because hope is so rich and tangible.

Patience even when we are in the midst of affliction.  (I picture the body, particularly those with the gift of care-giving, rallying around the one suffering the greatest.)

Faithful intercession and prayer that moves mountains, breaks chains, heals wounds, and accomplishes God’s purpose, in God’s way, in God’s perfect timing.

Greed is gone as the body supports and shares with one another freely, especially those with the gift of generosity.  A point here – those with this gift also often have the uncanny ability to make money.  I think this may be either an aspect of the gift of generosity or simply a manifestation of the law of reciprocity where Jesus said, “Give and it will be given to you.”

Kindness, a supernatural love for and active reaching out to those who do not share our belief or faith.  In fact, it is a love for those who actively work against us.

Empathy manifested in every life situation.

Unity and harmony that is genuine and from the heart.  This absolutely transcends social status, education, age, race – and any other potential source of division.

The rejection of evil to the point that we do not respond in kind, but rather we are motivated by love and our response is what life within the body of Christ would approve of and support.

Peaceful living, with the full recognition that those not in the body might not live in peace nor want to allow us to do so.  Yet we seek peace.

Our response to evil’s attack is to seek to do good while trusting in God to be our shield, our shelter, and our defender.

 

Prior to this study I have always tended to read the bible with a strong awareness of the textual divisions that editors have inserted.  Romans 12 includes three different divisions… verses 1-2 are under the heading “A Living Sacrifice”, verses 3-8 are “Humble Service in the Body of Christ”, and verses 9-21 are “Love in Action”.  While these textual divisions are often helpful, they can also cause us to overlook some important connections the author may have had in mind.  Reading this chapter without those divisions leads us to see a flow that I believe Paul meant for the reader to grasp.

Before we focus on chapter 12, let’s take one step back and place this chapter into context of the entire letter to the Romans.  Romans is written to a part of the church Paul has not yet personally visited.  In this letter Paul provides a succinct explanation of the love and grace of God manifested through the sacrificial life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  Through these early chapters we can trace God’s plan of salvation as Paul describes the ultimate gift of God giving His Son… of Jesus giving His life for us.  Paul paints with words God giving over and above anything we could deserve or even imagine comes through.

When we hit chapter 8 we see this new “life in the Spirit” which is available to all who are followers of Jesus.  This too is a magnanimous gift from a gracious and loving Father.  By the time we reach chapter 12 we have had the point driven home again and again – God has given us such a stunning abundance of grace and goodness.  This is the first “giving”.

In chapter 12 we then see giving taking place in three rapid bursts.  The first is in verses 1-2 where we give ourselves to God.  This is a call to total abandonment.  Paul has used old testament imagery throughout the previous chapters so when he speaks of a living sacrifice here, he is tying it to the old testament understanding of sacrifice being a complete giving over.  The only difference is as “living” sacrifices we get the honor of repeatedly deciding to completely give ourselves over to God.

The second giving is God giving spiritual gifts for the edification and building up of the Body.  I will speak about it more later, but I want to clearly state it here – the primary purpose of the spiritual gifts is the building up of the Body of Christ, but building up of the individual believer happens at the same time.  God is the ultimate multi-tasker.  In dispersing His gifts, He accomplishes many things as the Body, and the individual, receives and responds.

Then comes the third giving which is the one I had always missed.  That is the Body of Christ becoming a radiant, shining example of God’s goodness, grace, and love to the world that does not yet know Him.  We become God’s gift to the lost and unbelieving.  Through this, people are drawn to look to Him, to consider the claims of the Church, and to come to faith.

 

In conclusion to this week’s lesson, we see that God initiates the giving through giving Jesus as our savior.  We respond by giving ourselves to Him as our Lord.  He then continues giving by working transformation in us and by giving spiritual gifts to the Church.  The final giving is the Church being given to the world as a manifestly beautiful and attractive “Bride of Christ”.  This final giving includes an invitation to all who have not yet accepted Christ to join the fellowship of believers by receiving God’s initial gift of His Son – Jesus.

In our next lesson, we will investigate the ultimate source of God’s gift giving – His amazing love.

 

Until next time, may the God of all good gifts pour His Spirit out upon you, filling you with His wisdom, His truth, and His love.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.

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Deficit of Humility

Posted in God, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Responsibility, Salvation, Spiritual Growth, The Father, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on September 16, 2016| 3 Comments »

God is almost never limited by our lack.

We can lack money and yet God can provide the means for whatever He calls us to do.  My thoughts run to a little boy with two fish and five loaves on a remote hillside with Jesus and a crowd of thousands, hungry after a day of teaching and healing.

We can lack strength and yet Paul passes on what Jesus said to Him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” (2Cor 12:9)

We can lack intellect, but God can still use us.  I have been in a number of situations where I did not know “the answer” and yet the answer has always come.

But I realized the other day that there is one definite lack on our part that can constrain God… the lack of humility!  The lack of humility is powerful, ugly, and spiritually deadly.

There is value in specifically saying “lack of humility” and not simply calling it pride.  Being proud of your children, your country, your church can all stray into an unhealthy region, but for the most part these do not capture the attitude that the bible means when it says in a number of places, “God opposes the proud” (James 4:6).  The lack of humility is that kind of proud.  It is a cancer that sucks the life out of relationships, beginning with our relationship with the Father.

God loves us and He wants us to live in intimacy with Him.  The level of intimacy God desires is predicated upon mutual love, trust, and honesty.  Coming clean about every aspect of our life – from acts done or not done, words uttered or not uttered, even thoughts we’ve harbored requires a humility and honesty that does not come easily to us.  In fact it often requires a degree of divine support to achieve.  But He is near to us to lend us this help if we but bend our hearts toward Him in humility.

As I consider what this humility looks like several pictures come to mind.  A child listening in rapt attention and a teachable spirit… a parent returning from deployment falling on their knees and embracing their family… a “terminally” ill patient who is given a new lease on life.  God is the giver of all good gifts.  As He gives what He desires (which is always better than what we deserve) we should recognize the opportunity to give thanks and receive with humility all that the Lord wants for us.  Often, it is in these moments that He will speak wisdom into our lives that we can’t hear otherwise.

This morning I awoke with a very clear picture of what the lack of humility looks like.  It is one of the formational stories of the nation of Israel and it is found in the 2nd book of the bible, Exodus.  What had begun as a flight to sanctuary at the end of the Genesis had become servitude and slavery 400 years later.  The Pharaoh’s government had become a hard task-master and the people of Israel were crying out for deliverance.  God raised up Moses to serve as His human voice.  The message to Pharaoh was simple, “Let my people go.”  But Pharaoh, who was considered a god in that culture, refused.  Time and again God sent signs of His power and authority to convince Pharaoh and give Him the opportunity to bend His will to the Lord Almighty.  But Pharaoh would not.  The bible says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart.

Friends, this is a vital spiritual truth.  The longer and harder we resist the Lord, the more difficult it becomes to respond to Him.  It is not that God’s love is not there nor is it that He won’t accept us.  The issue is that until we are humble enough to acknowledge that He is God and we are not, we can’t bend our knee to Him and submit to the foundational truth of faith that God is the great “I AM”, the wholly, Holy Other.  While I am thrilled that my heavenly Father loves me and desires to fellowship with me, it never changes the fact that He is the LORD God Almighty, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

The lack of humility can keep a person from accepting Christ, God’s provision to reconcile fallen humans with Himself.  But it can also rear it’s ugly head after conversion and stifle the spiritual growth the Lord intends for His children.  When I consider my faith walk, I can see how the lack of humility was a key factor in many of the lulls.

The message of today’s post is simple.  Take a moment to examine your life.  Do you have a deficit of humility that is limiting your relationship with God and others?  Are you thankful for the small gifts of grace you receive or are you disappointed because you feel slighted in some way?  Is God actively speaking to you and using you for positive change or is it quiet when you call out to Him?  If any of these answers make you realize that you have a deficit of humility, congratulations! Recognizing this is the hardest step.  Turn to God with your whole heart, acknowledge your sin (if you haven’t already figured it out, the lack of humility is a sin), accept His Lordship over you, and begin to walk in fresh fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

The limits of our intellect do not in any way limit God’s ability to use us.  The limits of our humility constrain how, and how much God can work in and through us.  Choose humility and throw off those constraints.  Reach for the Father’s hand and talk a walk with the One Who loves you to the uttermost.  You will be so happy that you did.

Be blessed my friend and be a blessing to those the Lord puts in your life today.

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Gauntlet 2016

Posted in Church, God Stories, Holy Spirit, Photography, Salvation, Service, Spiritual Growth, Worship, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 3, 2016| Leave a Comment »

I had the privilege of serving as a room leader at Gauntlet 2016.  In my young adult life I was a youth leader at two different churches and I even lead a diocese-wide youth event in Louisiana.  Other life demands took priority as I entered my mid 30’s so my youth leadership became focused upon coaching and a four year stint as a scoutmaster.  Gauntlet is our church’s youth camp, but it is youth camp to the extreme.  There were over 5300 youth at the Gauntlet with another 1700+ room leaders and support staff.  We descended upon Daytona Beach in 129 buses and filled 9 beach-front hotels.  And for the first time we filled the entire Ocean Center auditorium.

I intend on posting several pics and a few highlights from the week in this blog over the next few weeks.  The Gauntlet is an environment where youth and leader alike hear clear teaching on how to become a Christian and what it means to live the life God has created us for.  It provides ample opportunity to speak with caring leaders and fellow sojourners about life’s trials, challenges, failures, and triumphs in a safe place.  Within this context each person is given multiple opportunities to identify and take their next step in the faith journey of life.

This was my second time to serve.  And I almost didn’t go.  My experience the first time was enough of a challenge that I questioned whether the Lord wanted me there.  I left the date open on my calendar and I continued to ask the Lord to make it clear if I was to attend.  About 4 weeks prior the Lord gave me the nudge that I was to go and He provided two very clear instructions.  “Don’t have expectations on how your students are to respond”  and “Trust Me.”  So I signed up.  I am so glad that I did.

That I had chosen the right path was confirmed for me on the bus ride down.  Everyone traveled down in “pods” of three or four buses.  We were the first pod of buses from our campus which also happens to be the furthest from Daytona Beach.  Just outside Jacksonville the bus in front of ours broke down.  The failure on the bus disabled their air conditioning, so our bus leader asked us to make room for the folks from the other bus.  Our boys immediately moved to the back of the bus tripling up in seats or standing in the aisle.  We spent the next 3+ hours waiting on one of the other buses to complete the trip down to Daytona and then return to pick up the passengers from the disabled bus so our pod could continue.

The AC in our bus was stretched to the max with the extra body heat and the lack of air movement over the AC coils, so it was not very comfortable in the back where the boys were all scrunched together.  But during that entire time there was no whining or complaining.  The boys chatted.  I got to know several of the young men like Hawk, CJ, Bernard, Nick, Sean (or maybe Shawn), Drey, Marcelous, Dillon, and others.  For three hours we sweated together, watching bus after bus pass us as we sat on the side of the road with the Florida sun beaming in the windows… and the mood never turned sour with self pity.  I’m chuckling to myself right now because I was, and still am, pumped at how mature the boys handled the situation.

Although I didn’t meet and begin getting to know them until we arrived in Daytona Beach, my two roommates and new friends, Dylan and Greg were among those on the bus who handled the situation so well.  And they proved to be just as mature and good-natured as my initial impression of the other young men on bus 5.  It was truly a blessing to spend the week with these two guys, to get to know them, and to talk about what our next steps in growing closer to Jesus are.

That’s enough of a story for today’s post. So without further ado I share the first of my Gauntlet 2016 pics.

Gauntlet 2016-6Gauntlet 2016-6-2.jpgGauntlet 2016-74.jpgGauntlet 2016-52-2.jpgGauntlet 2016-5-2.jpg

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Looking at Life Through the Pane

Posted in Church, Responsibility, Salvation, Vision, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on February 22, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Getting ready for Home Group I noticed the kitchen window needed cleaning.  It was the last task I got to, but I still had plenty of time.  It was probably good that I didn’t rush through it or I may have missed the simple message I share today.

I began by cleaning the inside.  As I cleaned I easily saw the dirt specs on the outside.  I almost convinced myself to stop working on the inside because it seemed like all the specs were on the outside.  I didn’t stop, although I was probably not as meticulous in “finishing” the inside before moving to the outside.  Oddly, my rag was pretty dirty from cleaning the inside even though I perceived all the dirt to be outside.

So I attacked the cleaning outside.  Once I was outside though, the dirt specs were suddenly not so obvious.  Oh, there was still grime to remove which I did.  Interestingly the more I cleaned the outside, the more obvious the remaining specs on the inside became.  After one final cleaning on the inside I was satisfied the windows were clean enough.  As I looked through I was surprised at how much clearer the view was.  While I was focused upon removing individual little specs, I had not realized how much cleaner the whole window had become.

That I could always see the dirt and grime on the opposite side of the glass better than what was on my side struck me as important.  Life is like that.  It is so easy to see someone else’s faults, but often we are blind to our own warped motivations and short-comings.  Jesus spoke on this in Matthew 7:1-5.  “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.  Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

When I cleaned the inside of the window, I didn’t realize how dirty it was.  However, after the first cleaning I was in a much better position to see and clean the outside.  And carrying the metaphor a little farther, when I put myself on the outside, akin to putting myself in another person’s shoes, I could see that there was still more cleaning necessary on the inside.

Jesus begins with an admonition about judging others.  Yet He ends by describing how we position ourselves to help others remove the stuff that hinders their vision.  These things that hinder are what the bible calls sin – ways we fall short of God’s plan for His children.  So there is a progression here.  We have sin in our lives.  We must deal with our sin first.  Then we are in a position to help our brother’s (that would mean other believers) deal with sin in their life.  And we are to do this without judgement.

Jesus specifically used the word brother meaning a person who shared the faith.  I believe this was intentional.  With the unbeliever, our focus should be upon introducing them to Jesus.  It is not to be about cleaning them up, getting sin out of their life.  It is pure and simple, to arrange for them to meet the One Who loves them more than us and Who can do exactly what they need.  With the believer though, we have a responsibility to encourage and strengthen one another in love.  Jesus helps in this, but He does so from within the believer.  We are simply to cooperate with Him in the work.  And it follows the progression mentioned above.

I hope this lesson I gleaned while I cleaned has given you a clearer view of God’s grace.

Lord, thank You for the work of Your Holy Spirit.  Thank You for salvation through Your Son – Jesus.  Thank You for the transformation that You are bringing about in us as we trust in You, as we read Your Word, as we obey Your commands, as we seek to know You better.  And thank You that we are joined together with other believers as Your Body, growing evermore into the people of God, fashioned for the good works You have prepared for us to walk in.  We love You Lord.  We pray in Jesus’ Name.

Be blessed and be a blessing today!

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When Common Courtesy is Not So Common

Posted in God, God Stories, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Responsibility, The Father, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 19, 2016| Leave a Comment »

2016-01-14 11.45.21

The sign on the window made me sad.  Not because of what it said, but that it had to be said at all.  And additionally because our federal government felt the need to create a law about it.  Oh, they got the sentiment right, but it is a sad commentary if, as a society, we are so broken about doing the right thing that the minutest details of our life have to be codified by the government.

CS Lewis was one of the most brilliant authors of the 20th century.  While raised in the church early in his life, he threw off the restraints of “religion” at a fairly young age.  His path led to an atheistic worldview for a while and then moderated to more of an agnostic perspective over time.  In his classic book, Mere Christianity, he identifies the existence of a moral code within every society as the reality that caused him to rethink his worldview.  The moral code – that framework of right and wrong, was intrinsic to every society.  Yes there were differences from place to place, but virtues such as loyalty, courage, and honesty within the tribe were consistent across every group.  Likewise the vices – betrayal, cowardice, lying within the tribe, were common threads across people groups.  The only logical explanation was that a universal law existed.  And if such a law existed, that demanded a Creator of that Law.  Hence Lewis followed the logic and expanded his godless worldview to include the reality that God existed.

Being the brilliant mind that he was, Lewis’ curiosity could not long rest with a riddle partially solved.  But neither was he going to be taken in by mere sentimentality or man-made religious dogma.  He was convinced that God existed, and therefore, the potential existed that He could be found.  His position on the staff at Oxford University gave him unfettered access to vast amounts of information collected from around the world and from history’s earliest recorded times.  Lewis was uniquely prepared and uniquely positioned to ferret out the truth.  I find it fascinating that JRR Tolkien was a fellow professor and confidant of Lewis.  In my mind’s eye I picture these two literary giants cloistered in the hallowed confines of Oxford, sharing a drink at their favorite pub, pondering the meaning of life, the potential existence of God, and how their latest book was shaping up.

His search led him back to Jesus.  Which brings me back to the writing on the window.  Right and wrong do exist.  And while I agree with Lewis that God is the authority of what is right and wrong, many people today resist or outright reject the reality of a Supreme Authority.  That vacuum is untenable.  Chaos, anarchy, and strife fill the void.  Society was not meant to exist without the structure that a framework of right and wrong provides.  So into that void government – whether it be a dictatorship in a third world country, elected leadership in a democracy, or simply the village chieftain, rises to define and enforce the law.

The problem with laws is the tendency latent in every person to break laws we don’t like or aren’t convenient for us.  In many cases we actually like the laws… so long as they apply to everyone else and I can be the exception when necessary.   The apostle Paul talks about this a lot.  The Law, in his writings meaning the Law given by God to the nation of Israel through Moses, served God’s ultimate purpose of pointing to our need of a savior and redeemer.  Jesus, was the only person who has ever lived who perfectly fulfilled the Law.  He was without sin.  And as such by His sacrificial death on the cross He was able to pay the price for every lawbreaker who has ever lived.  Those who accept His death on their behalf can receive forgiveness and reconciliation with God.

But it is the next step in the process that causes the sign on the bus window to stir me so.  When we submit to Jesus as Lord, we surrender our will to His.  He in turn puts His Holy Spirit within us.  The Holy Spirit will lead us step by step into closer intimacy with Jesus.  The Holy Spirit will gently transform our self-centeredness into other-centeredness.  It will become an internal desire of our heart to please God, to do what is right.  Read what Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-40.  Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and will all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

In place of obeying the writing upon the window out of duty, we will look for someone needy of our seat and we will leap at the chance to provide it.  For the widow and orphan, we will reach out in love to provide for them.  For the sad and discouraged, we will speak words of life and hope.  We will act with compassion and kindness.  We follow the Law, not because of some external pressure, but rather from a living, vibrant center within us where the Spirit of the Living Lord is working to transform us into the real us we were ultimately created to be.

God reached out and saves us because He loves us.  As His children He desires that we join Him in His work.  Letting our light shine by following the leading of His Holy Spirit is one of the ways God is proclaimed to a hurting, dying world.  The world doesn’t need more laws.  It simply needs more of Jesus.  Join me today in seeking to let Him live larger, more completely through us today.

I love you friend.  Be blessed today and be that blessing God intends in someone’s life today.

 

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Many Languages, One Voice

Posted in Church, God, God Stories, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Prayer, Responsibility, Spiritual Growth, The Father, tagged , , , , , on February 18, 2016| Leave a Comment »

It struck me as I chatted with the young man that he was in a good place to hear the Lord’s voice.  He had just finished the quarterly pest control treatment around the house and I simply asked his name.  A biblical name – Noah, and before I knew it we were talking about Jesus and His passion for people.  My new friend mentioned that he hadn’t been attending church, but that he was feeling like he should especially since he now had custody of his 10-yr old son… Responsibility, that can often make or break a person.  From our brief conversation I can tell my friend is embracing the responsibility and I am praying for him to grow as a Dad.

As I have prayed for him the Lord has impressed upon me that He loves him.  A vision of the Lord speaking to his heart like He has spoken to me through the years has been a consistent component of that prayer.  There is just one difference.  He speaks to Him in perfect Spanish.

There are times when the Lord’s love for someone overwhelms me.  That has happened with this young man.  Is this for the purpose of a blog post, is it for a season, is it for a unique purpose – I do not know?  But I am aware that I have a responsibility now to pray, and if the opportunity presents itself, to engage my friend again in conversation about the Lord and whatever He might bring up.

My Spanish is pretty lame.  Two years in high school and a few brief attempts since to gain some basic conversational skills has left me with a few phrases and a dozen or so words.  But I have a heart to tell people about the Lord’s love whoever and wherever they may be.  I think that matters.  Jesus died for ALL mankind.  Not just our family, our friends, those who look like us, think like us, vote like us.  He died for ALL.  Although it is hard to grasp, Jesus’ sacrifice was also for those we despise like ISIS and those who seek to deceive and manipulate us.

That is sometimes hard for me to swallow.  But as I quiet my soul and I consider where I was, what I have done, how I seek my own way at times, I recognize the Father’s voice calling to me.  At first it is a gentle whisper.  A whisper so quiet I could easily ignore or dismiss it.  But when I turn my ear to hear and my heart is open to receive, it becomes clear and distinct.  He loves me.  He cherishes me.  And He calls me to higher living.  He meets me where I am and He calls me to live a life with Him that manifests itself in a transformed mind and faith-filled life.

In this holy quiet I hear Him strike up another conversation.  He is reaching out to another one far from Christ.  He is telling him that He loves him, that He cherishes him, that He desires to live in him… only I can’t fully understand the words because I don’t speak the language.  But I do recognize the voice.

Lord, please take my life and the words I speak and write and use them for our good and for Your Glory.  Be present in a tangible way for my new friend and draw him to Yourself.  And help those who read this post to be encouraged to listen and respond to Your voice.  We love you.  Help us to grow evermore in Your love and grace.  In Jesus’ Name we pray.

Be blessed and be a blessing today my friend.

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Delight and Desire

Posted in God, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Prayer, The Father, Worship, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 12, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Psalm 37:4 says “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”  What a succinct capture of the Gospel and a rich promise for God’s children.

In my work, I consult with plants and help them improve their performance.  The formula is really very simple.  When you do the right things in the right way you will get excellent performance.  I have seen this truth play out dozens and dozens of times in my career.

When I look at this verse I see the spiritual corollary.  When God becomes our focus and we immerse ourselves in knowing Him we will experience a greater and greater intimacy in our relationship with Him.

The picture that comes to mind is that of the young child running and leaping into His Daddy’s arms.  He is delighted to see His Daddy and to be held by him.  The child that delights in his Daddy will watch him closely.  They take note of what Daddy does, how he interacts with other people, the things he says, how he lives.  To a young child their parents are the focus of their life.  Oh – what a wonderful thrill and an awesome responsibility!

The Lord is our Heavenly Father.  Jesus came to earth and demonstrated the perfect Child to Father relationship.  He didn’t mince words, but faithfully demonstrated that God is the Perfect Father Who truly knows what is best.  As the climactic moment of Jesus’ life (and truly the climax of all history) approached, Jesus focused His whole being upon being faithful to the Father and loving those the Father had brought to Him.  That path lead to Calvary and a gruesome death on the cross.  How was Jesus able to do this?  And how does that relate to delighting in the Lord?

It was because of His complete and total faith in God the Father and His Father’s plan that enabled Him to do this.  And because His heart’s desire was to be obedient to the Father and please Him, He was able to experience His Peace even in the midst of the severest of trials.  He suffered grievous pain – yes, but He could take comfort knowing He was squarely in the middle of the Father’s will.

Jesus died and was buried, but in three days, the miracle around which all of history pivots occurred.  God raised Jesus from the dead.  And Jesus reigns at the right hand of the Father  God.  The desire of His heart – the redemption of God’s children, has been accomplished – halleluiah!!!

For us, it is stated simply, delight yourself… immerse yourself… focus your whole being upon the Lord and He will move on your behalf to enable the desires of your heart.

Now it is important to understand that in the immersion process we will take on more and more of the desires of the Father and less and less of the carnal, low desires of the flesh.  In fact as we live in the Spirit the dichotomy between desires of the flesh and desires of the Spirit become more pronounced.  God’s heart will fill us and we will truly desire things eternal.  Reconciliation, peace, comfort for the hurting, salvation for the lost, clarity for the confused, hope for the hopeless – these things will trump big bank accounts, accumulation of things, and recognition.  And God will move on our behalf to give us these good things.

I walk this path of seeking to delight myself in the Lord with you.  I’d like to say I am well along the path and I have succeeded in putting all fleshly desires aside, but I am a sojourner just like you.  I have experienced times of breakthrough and been blessed mightily.  But I have also had times of slipping back and turning my eyes and heart to lower things.  The gap between the “fun” of the lower things and the ecstatic joy of being in the Father’s presence grows ever greater.  Those times that I slide back become ever more distasteful.  They leave me with a hunger for God’s greater things.

Join me today in seeking to delight in the Lord.  Let us together experience the Joy of the Lord.  May His Holy Spirit fill us to overflowing and transform our heart’s desires to truly be His desire.

Father, we love you and we want to delight ourselves in you.  Too often we are distracted and enticed by lower things… desires less than what you have for us.  Help us to turn our eyes, our heart, our hope to you.  Put the delight of you as our first desire.  Make your home in us.  Pour your Holy Spirit into us and help us to be a people who are truly transformed and transformative in this world.  God be revealed in and through us.  We love you!  We give you all the glory this day. In the name of your Son, our Savior, Jesus!

Peace to you today.  May you know the all fulfilling Joy of the Lord as you delight yourself in Him.

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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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Too Much Love

Posted in God, Jesus Christ, Spiritual Growth, tagged , , , , on September 22, 2015| Leave a Comment »

As I finished my run this evening, I was struck by the thought of how good God is to us.  “He showers me with too much love,” I thought.

I don’t deserve the goodness that He pours out upon me, upon my family.

I don’t deserve the kindnesses I have experienced from total strangers in Jesus name.  They were moved to bless and it overwhelms me.

Too many times I have not done what I know He wants me to do and yet His Grace is still upon me and evident in my life.

I have had times when I was happy with my “successes” and pride was a very real issue.  I am still a man who thinks of himself way too much and others way too little.  But day-by-day He leads me to understand that it’s not about me in the end.  It is about Him.  It is about loving others with His love.

Even when I am moody and controlling, His love reaches out to me, to correct me, to lead me, to show me the way of peace and joy… which does not consist of getting my way.

Like Isaiah, I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell among a people of unclean lips.  But God called and sent out Isaiah and He calls and sends me out.

Like Paul at times I can only cry out, “what a wretched man I am!”

But Paul was right – “thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

He died so that I might live and know Him in spirit and in truth.  It is too much love for this man.

And that is exactly the right amount.

 

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