Many of my posts to this journal have focused on the hurting and the needy. Sometimes focusing on my neighbor next door. Sometimes focusing on my neighbor half a world away. It is of the latter that my heart is turned at this entry. I've been pondering my involvement with the organizations I support and asking myself is it enough. It will never be enough, but has my heart become content with my efforts. I fear in recent months it has as we have turned our focus inward toward our own adoption challenges.
Through this introspective reflection, I have been poignantly made aware of the vicious and demonic presence still at large in the lands that I support works of relief and hope. This week I learned of a seven year old child that was murdered by a family member who then committed suicide. No good reasoning was given. This little boy was dear to the workers at the carepoint who regularly fed and cared for him, even becoming one of their "favorite" children. The entire carepoint is devastated. The other children all knew him, played with him. A beautiful smile, a beautiful life, extinguished. Even half a world away I struggle to understand why. I desire to help.
God dropped this into my spirit as I reflected on these events. Supposing, I in all of my American affluence did help. I, having more privilege, more freedom, and more material blessing than most people on this earth will ever know in their natural lives, pooled my resources and I was able to put forth a relief effort of some magnitude. Sounds good doesn't it? Doesn't sound unrealistic - one of the ministries I support is doing just that, sending a team in a matter of weeks to Swaziland. Now suppose that rather than go myself, I send my son. For this illustration's sake, he is grown. Now I can honestly tell you that I have never seen a boy with a bigger heart for others than my son. I am astounded at his compassion and love for others and he is only nine years of age. My pride in him swells my heart and my love for him moves me very nearly to tears. He is truly the apple of my eye and I am honored to be his father, honored to have a part in his upbringing, and I know I will be proud of the man he will become.
Now my son, endowed with the good will and the considerable resources our culture and fund raising efforts, heads to these far off lands to minister. He brings clothing, he brings supplies, he brings desperately needed food, he brings equipment for building water purification wells - something desperately needed throughout east/central Africa. He brings coloring books and crayons for the kids, backpacks, shoes and schools supplies. He brings funds to put kids in school, which is for most their only way out of poverty and death. My son brings life, he brings hope, he brings a future. It would stand to reason that my son would be well received, wouldn't? It would make sense that every place his feet touched down, life and freedom would follow.
What if instead, when he arrived, he was brutally murdered - his body left in the bush for the animals to devour. The resources and goods brought with him stolen and scattered with only a fraction of the intended recipients actually benefitting from our months of hard work stateside. How would his mother and I cope with the loss, the devastation? Would I be justified to never consider those barbaric people again, to harbor them ill will for the rest of my natural days? To never send another cent in support of the people that did this to my child - my first born son? What if this were your child? How would your world unravel?
Consider that God sent his Son, the very apple of His eye, from royalty and unimaginable glory, to an impoverished and dying earth, to a people in deperation. He sent him to bring life, hope, and a future, and they killed him. Their sin killed him, my sin killed him, your sin killed him, we all killed him. This is why we are admonished in the Word to "judge not". There is not one of us who has the slightest minuscule right to look down our noses and judge another person, judge their heart, or their motives. Only God knows the heart. Certainly we will know people by the fruit of their lives, but love is to be the over riding motivation in everything we do. We have no recourse to judge, for when we start down this path, we are on shaky ground, we who like the one we are judging, put our savior on the cross with our own sin.
The good news is, we are not undeserving wretches, cowering before an angry God still enraged that his Son was nailed to a cross for our sakes. Because of this willful sacrifice of ultimate love, we are now all of us adopted sons and daughters, joint heirs with our risen Savior if we'll have him as Lord in our lives. We are no longer the undeserving, we are the favored children of the King. As children, we are emulate his character and foremost in his character is love, grace, and mercy towards the undeserving.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Your Heart Determines Your Reality
“For as he (a man) thinks in his heart, so he is…” Proverbs 23:7 AMP
The Hebrew here literally means as a man reasons and calculates, those things that he spends time pondering and thinking about, meditating and even worrying about – it is those things that will consume him, it is those things that will overtake and devour his life – become the reality of his existence. This has both positive and negative potential application and we need to be cognizant of both sides of this spiritual law in our lives because we are the ones in control of whether we will walk in God’s blessings or destroy ourselves through unbelief and disobedience.
I am right now in a spiritual conflict in which, I will admit, the enemy has been putting me on my back repeatedly. Attitudes, turmoil, and strife - all of these have been surfacing regularly and I can’t seem to get the upper hand no matter how hard I try. I’ve been feeling the old axiom “one step forward two steps back” for some time now and it hasn’t been the “I’m a little off today” kind of conflict. It’s affecting my relationships, my family, my walk with my Father, my demeanor. Others are noticing and people are commenting. Frankly, I’m embarrassed. I’m supposed to be “Christian-guy” ; “On-fire-for-the-Lord-Fella” ; “Model-Husband” ; “Good-Father” ; “Man-with-God’s-vision-for-his-life”. Right now that vision is murky, I’ve been everything but model for some time, and most days I don’t even want to be around other people.
What happened? Did I “burn out”? Admittedly, there have been amazing changes in our lives in the past 8 months. You don’t initiate the adoption of a “special needs” four-year old with a history of severe abuse and neglect and not have it alter your life in some way. Yes, my job has intensified in pressure and demands fairly significantly in recent months. Yes the economy is going down the toilet and costs are rising affecting our home budget. Oddly (of course) family interactions have been resurfacing in hurtful ways as well. But these are all exterior things. Was my walk with my Lord so shaky that I faltered so quickly? “For as a man thinks in his heart, so he is…”
My problem has never been that of a lack of effort. I have been putting out more effort in more directions than I’ve ever considered possible by myself or most humans, and now, I sit here some months later an exhausted shell, numb and desiring to withdraw. No, my problem is a lack of focus, a lack of wisdom – of putting first things first.
When we fill our hearts/minds with the problems of our lives and this becomes the sum total of what we are acting on, then we’ve already lost the game called life. And the enemy will insure that there is more than enough to fill and even overflow our minds to the point of creating a dizzying array of issues that keep us leaping from one fire to the next trying to play “catch-up” as we endeavor to control all of the issues in our lives. When we enter this arena – we are lost because this is his territory, his chaos, his game and he masterfully manipulates the outcome to his advantage and victory every time because it is our limited flesh and intellect against his timeless spirit and knowledge of the ages.
However, when we do as the Lord tells us further down in this same chapter – the game changes to a whole new venue with a whole new set of rules.
Verse 12 “Commit yourself to instruction, listen carefully to words of knowledge”
Verse 17 “Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord all the day long.”
Consider also Psalm 119:11
“I have hidden your word in my heart so that I might not sin against you.”
In this arena, the enemy is defeated. In this arena, regardless of exterior circumstance and external attack, we draw upon a wellspring of strength that is mightier than everything Hell has in its combined arsenal. But this arena begins by what is pondered and meditated upon in the mind and heart. For we know that what ever is dominant in the heart is that which will come forth from the mouth and it is with the mouth that we speak the Word of Faith. Our tongues are always speaking faith – it is constantly rolling from our lips in one of two forms; that which produces life, or that which destroys it. This is why James goes to great lengths to warn us of the tongue’s potential for destruction in James 3.
Where I fail to focus, to meditate, on what God’s Word says about my circumstance instead of what the enemy has convinced me about it, this is when I lose power, lose victory over the circumstance, disengage the power of God to work supernaturally in my circumstance to bless me and make a show of the enemy. You can’t sow doubt, discouragement, and unbelief into the circumstances of your life and expect to harvest a victory. This doesn’t mean you deny the existence of your circumstance. But we DO deny our circumstances’ right to rule and proclaim the Word over them.
For me, and for all of us, it’s a heart condition – the Word has to be in my heart. The Word has to be active and alive in my heart, discerning the thoughts and intents as stated in Hebrews 4:12. For my heart, not my exterior circumstances, determine my quality of life, my relationships, my capacity to love like God loves and fulfill his plans and will for my life. My heart determines my reality.
The Hebrew here literally means as a man reasons and calculates, those things that he spends time pondering and thinking about, meditating and even worrying about – it is those things that will consume him, it is those things that will overtake and devour his life – become the reality of his existence. This has both positive and negative potential application and we need to be cognizant of both sides of this spiritual law in our lives because we are the ones in control of whether we will walk in God’s blessings or destroy ourselves through unbelief and disobedience.
I am right now in a spiritual conflict in which, I will admit, the enemy has been putting me on my back repeatedly. Attitudes, turmoil, and strife - all of these have been surfacing regularly and I can’t seem to get the upper hand no matter how hard I try. I’ve been feeling the old axiom “one step forward two steps back” for some time now and it hasn’t been the “I’m a little off today” kind of conflict. It’s affecting my relationships, my family, my walk with my Father, my demeanor. Others are noticing and people are commenting. Frankly, I’m embarrassed. I’m supposed to be “Christian-guy” ; “On-fire-for-the-Lord-Fella” ; “Model-Husband” ; “Good-Father” ; “Man-with-God’s-vision-for-his-life”. Right now that vision is murky, I’ve been everything but model for some time, and most days I don’t even want to be around other people.
What happened? Did I “burn out”? Admittedly, there have been amazing changes in our lives in the past 8 months. You don’t initiate the adoption of a “special needs” four-year old with a history of severe abuse and neglect and not have it alter your life in some way. Yes, my job has intensified in pressure and demands fairly significantly in recent months. Yes the economy is going down the toilet and costs are rising affecting our home budget. Oddly (of course) family interactions have been resurfacing in hurtful ways as well. But these are all exterior things. Was my walk with my Lord so shaky that I faltered so quickly? “For as a man thinks in his heart, so he is…”
My problem has never been that of a lack of effort. I have been putting out more effort in more directions than I’ve ever considered possible by myself or most humans, and now, I sit here some months later an exhausted shell, numb and desiring to withdraw. No, my problem is a lack of focus, a lack of wisdom – of putting first things first.
When we fill our hearts/minds with the problems of our lives and this becomes the sum total of what we are acting on, then we’ve already lost the game called life. And the enemy will insure that there is more than enough to fill and even overflow our minds to the point of creating a dizzying array of issues that keep us leaping from one fire to the next trying to play “catch-up” as we endeavor to control all of the issues in our lives. When we enter this arena – we are lost because this is his territory, his chaos, his game and he masterfully manipulates the outcome to his advantage and victory every time because it is our limited flesh and intellect against his timeless spirit and knowledge of the ages.
However, when we do as the Lord tells us further down in this same chapter – the game changes to a whole new venue with a whole new set of rules.
Verse 12 “Commit yourself to instruction, listen carefully to words of knowledge”
Verse 17 “Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord all the day long.”
Consider also Psalm 119:11
“I have hidden your word in my heart so that I might not sin against you.”
In this arena, the enemy is defeated. In this arena, regardless of exterior circumstance and external attack, we draw upon a wellspring of strength that is mightier than everything Hell has in its combined arsenal. But this arena begins by what is pondered and meditated upon in the mind and heart. For we know that what ever is dominant in the heart is that which will come forth from the mouth and it is with the mouth that we speak the Word of Faith. Our tongues are always speaking faith – it is constantly rolling from our lips in one of two forms; that which produces life, or that which destroys it. This is why James goes to great lengths to warn us of the tongue’s potential for destruction in James 3.
Where I fail to focus, to meditate, on what God’s Word says about my circumstance instead of what the enemy has convinced me about it, this is when I lose power, lose victory over the circumstance, disengage the power of God to work supernaturally in my circumstance to bless me and make a show of the enemy. You can’t sow doubt, discouragement, and unbelief into the circumstances of your life and expect to harvest a victory. This doesn’t mean you deny the existence of your circumstance. But we DO deny our circumstances’ right to rule and proclaim the Word over them.
For me, and for all of us, it’s a heart condition – the Word has to be in my heart. The Word has to be active and alive in my heart, discerning the thoughts and intents as stated in Hebrews 4:12. For my heart, not my exterior circumstances, determine my quality of life, my relationships, my capacity to love like God loves and fulfill his plans and will for my life. My heart determines my reality.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Performing to the Extreme
Just a quick entry, but something that was a blessing to me. Was reading in Philippians today, the first chapter and hit verse six which says:
"And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ, right up to the time of His return, developing that good work and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you." (Phil 1:6 AMP)
These are familiar words to me and probably to most that regularly read the Word or have heard many sermons, but as I'm prone to do, I was pulling the words apart in my concordance when one word stopped me...the word "until". Now this scripture is one that many, including me, rely on regularly to remind ourselves that we are works in progress. We will never see the end product of what God is doing with us while we walk this mortal terrestrial soil as it currently resides in its sin-laden state. We'll never see the end result of God's plan unfolded while we walk in this physical unregenerate flesh. It's a fact. As a matter-of-fact, this flesh and this sin-laden world are the only tools the enemy has left to try to pull us out of God's destiny for us, his only remaining options to trip us up - and they are truly weak options when we really grasp hold of the power of the Word and Victory achieved at the Cross.
Like I stated, I tend to look to this scripture, among others, to remind that regardless of the guilt that inevitably floods forth with my failings, I cannot mess up God's designs or plans for me to the point of being unuseful in the manner He planned. But where the word "until" strikes is in its true and full meaning from translation. The Greek word is "achri" and is derivative of another word "akron" which means "to the furthest point, to the highest extreme of a.) heaven and b.) earth ". It is also related to another word "akmēn" which means "extremity, climax, highest degree".
This should really impact the knowledge of the lengths and depths of our redemption and the ongoing work that God is doing within us. Have you ever thought of yourself as a work in progress "to the extreme of heaven AND earth"? Have you ever considered yourself something the Creator of all that exists was continually perfecting to the "highest degree"?
So you swore today. Repent, put it under the blood, walk the opposite way and don't do it again. You hurt someone. Go make it right, put it under the blood together, and don't do it again. You fell into the old sin habit - find a brother/sister to confide in that you know you can trust to pray/agree with you and put it under the blood and WALK AWAY FROM IT! Sin no longer has victory - Jesus took it, forcibly, at the Cross. Overpaid for everyone's once for all time. Stop buying the lie of the enemy that you are somehow still subjugate to it.
Does this nullify the consequences of wrong and sinful choices? NO! Should this trivialize sin to permit increased frequency? NO! It is still the snaking, coiling, deadly tool of the enemy that nailed my Savior to an instrument of criminal execution. It is still deadly to an entire world that has rejected that Savior. It has still and is still sending millions to an eternity filled with Godless anguish and torment. But to a truly repentant heart, sin holds no power. To those who call upon and know their position in Christ, sin is something to be stepped on and stepped over. And when we find ourselves entangled and tripped we have this peace outlined in Philippians 1:6. God is working and will continue to work in us to bring about the absolute best product, to perform to the highest extreme in heaven and earth.
"And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ, right up to the time of His return, developing that good work and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you." (Phil 1:6 AMP)
These are familiar words to me and probably to most that regularly read the Word or have heard many sermons, but as I'm prone to do, I was pulling the words apart in my concordance when one word stopped me...the word "until". Now this scripture is one that many, including me, rely on regularly to remind ourselves that we are works in progress. We will never see the end product of what God is doing with us while we walk this mortal terrestrial soil as it currently resides in its sin-laden state. We'll never see the end result of God's plan unfolded while we walk in this physical unregenerate flesh. It's a fact. As a matter-of-fact, this flesh and this sin-laden world are the only tools the enemy has left to try to pull us out of God's destiny for us, his only remaining options to trip us up - and they are truly weak options when we really grasp hold of the power of the Word and Victory achieved at the Cross.
Like I stated, I tend to look to this scripture, among others, to remind that regardless of the guilt that inevitably floods forth with my failings, I cannot mess up God's designs or plans for me to the point of being unuseful in the manner He planned. But where the word "until" strikes is in its true and full meaning from translation. The Greek word is "achri" and is derivative of another word "akron" which means "to the furthest point, to the highest extreme of a.) heaven and b.) earth ". It is also related to another word "akmēn" which means "extremity, climax, highest degree".
This should really impact the knowledge of the lengths and depths of our redemption and the ongoing work that God is doing within us. Have you ever thought of yourself as a work in progress "to the extreme of heaven AND earth"? Have you ever considered yourself something the Creator of all that exists was continually perfecting to the "highest degree"?
So you swore today. Repent, put it under the blood, walk the opposite way and don't do it again. You hurt someone. Go make it right, put it under the blood together, and don't do it again. You fell into the old sin habit - find a brother/sister to confide in that you know you can trust to pray/agree with you and put it under the blood and WALK AWAY FROM IT! Sin no longer has victory - Jesus took it, forcibly, at the Cross. Overpaid for everyone's once for all time. Stop buying the lie of the enemy that you are somehow still subjugate to it.
Does this nullify the consequences of wrong and sinful choices? NO! Should this trivialize sin to permit increased frequency? NO! It is still the snaking, coiling, deadly tool of the enemy that nailed my Savior to an instrument of criminal execution. It is still deadly to an entire world that has rejected that Savior. It has still and is still sending millions to an eternity filled with Godless anguish and torment. But to a truly repentant heart, sin holds no power. To those who call upon and know their position in Christ, sin is something to be stepped on and stepped over. And when we find ourselves entangled and tripped we have this peace outlined in Philippians 1:6. God is working and will continue to work in us to bring about the absolute best product, to perform to the highest extreme in heaven and earth.
Friday, December 3, 2010
The Hurting and Discarded
It has been far too long since I engaged in the rhythmic cadence of placing thought to word through my keyboard. Many, many things have transpired in the past four months, some good, some not. Through it all, regardless of highs, lows, exhilaration, or crisis one powerful truth remains. God is so good, so loving, and so merciful and so constant.
Why wait so long before taking up the pen (or keyboard)? I can only describe my walk and my journey these past months as one who has enjoyed the warm sunlight and surface of the shallows of a crystal blue paradise and then through circumstance, response, and self-action has dove inward into murky grey depths where little light and little warmth penetrates. Though at times I have not walked where I should or followed what I know to be the path God has for me, like a safety line that a diver of great depths relies on for orientation and their very life, He has always been one glance away, one uttered prayer near, constant, anchored, unmoving and pointing to His higher purpose for my life, His protection from the storms that have assailed us.
What is truly marvelous in all of our lives is that we cannot run from this God, this loving Father. As David said in Psalms, where can we go? If we go to the mountain top He is there. If we go to the valley, He is there. The sky proclaims His majesty, the ocean depths His mystery. Even if we walk through hell - He is there. Jesus' redemptive work at the cross was THAT powerful. So powerful, the only escaping His presence is His ultimate sacrifice of love - our will. Even still, as long as we draw breath, He will wait as a gentleman, one prayer away, one "help me" from intervention.
What is also amazing is that to Him, we are not mistakes He has to clean up after. We are not souls roaming His creation that He continually has to enact plan B, plan C, on out to infinity because we keep messing up His intent. In Jeremiah 29:11 He states that He knows the plans He has for our lives, the very purpose for our treading this soil at this time in the history of this sphere. We cannot transgress so badly that He can't redeem our lives and utilize us to His planned purpose, and these are plans that He laid out before the first plant grew or the first animal drew breath.
Look at what Galatians 4 says:
“But when the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent his Son, born among us of a woman, born under the conditions of the law so that he might redeem those of us who have been kidnapped by the law. Thus we have been set free to experience our rightful heritage. You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, "Papa! Father!" Doesn't that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you're also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance.” Galatians 4:4-7 (MSG)
I love the statement in this translation "you are not a slave, but a child". Further, in Romans 8 we read:
“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For the Spirit which you have now received is not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption, the Spirit producing sonship, in the bliss of which we cry, Abba (Father)! Father! The Spirit Himself thus testifies together with our own spirit, assuring us that we are children of God. And if we are His children, then we are His heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, sharing His inheritance with Him; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory.” Romans 8:14-17 (AMP)
How many of us hang our heads in shame, acting out the lie the enemy has sold us that we are dogs deserving to be kicked; that we should somehow have to make restitution for our lives mistakes before we can know the fullness of sonship? Look at what Ephesians says:
“How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. What pleasure he took in planning this! He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.” Ephesians 1:3-6 (MSG)
We see here scripture referencing our adoption as His children, and God doesn't engage in "foster parenting". We are sons and daughters of the King of Kings, Most Holy Lord of Lords, the very one immeasurably exalted above all heaven and earth and everything that was created, which includes every angel, every demon, every problem, every concern you might carry. He adopted us, and He planned to do so from the very start. And unlike so many adoptive homes where the adoptee is at a slightly lesser status than the birth children within the home, He has named us "joint-heirs" with His only Son.
This hits hard because it is the very reality my family is currently facing. My bride and I are in process of seeking adoption of a specific "special-needs" child. This little four year old boy has grabbed our hearts and what makes him "special" is the cognitive, emotional, and motor-skill delays imposed by severe neglect and abuse - a hurting heart and the resultant impact of a lack of love. I am learning so much through this process and have been continually astounded at the physical impact the absence of loving parents has had on this child. Through the process of engaging in foster licensing, court appointees, case reviews, and social workers, institutions I once considered a scourge and a necessary evil are now, to me, understood to be a necessary good in the face of evil in the absence of a work the body of Christ should have been doing all along.
In the early chapters of Acts, we read that orphan care and the care of widows was the province of the Church, not the state. Regardless of current politics and policies, the failure of the Church through the centuries has created the necessity of government interventions. Christ's love is not expressed in the administrative case review I just sat through. An explanation of God's love and grace is not given to the single mom as she picks up her welfare check. The government cannot duplicate or legislate the holy love that we as light bringers and salt on this earth are to be carrying out one to another.
This journey has already been marked by heartache and sacrifice, even though it feels as if we've barely scratched the surface. Family and friends have questioned our motives. People we assumed would be happy for us have, in some ways, acted like this is a funeral, a death of our known family as they were used to it. Deep emotional insecurities have surfaced in others as they have progressed from "oh that's a nice thing for people to do" to "What do you mean you are adopting?". We've had family tell us "You can barely take care of the kids you have".
This last statement cut deepest and we began to realize that adoption is God's answer to the hurting and discarded, because He never discards people. We also began to realize there is a very real enemy working against us in this and against this child in whichever ways are most effective, and so far those ways have been lies, misinformation, and directed statements of fellow believers - many people closest to us. This enemy seeks to devour and destroy lives. The more innocent the better. Where Jesus said "whoever harms one of these little ones" Satan seeks to do just that through he hands and mouths of people. Death and disease are effective, yes, but how much more devastating the effect of a child abused. With this, the enemy has snared one and statistically speaking, probably two people or more at once. In our case, division and strife now exist between family and our home. Something has been lost as we endeavor to obey in what we know God to be leading us toward - the rescue of one small soul.
Thanksgiving was difficult. No blood family attended our home. No stories were swapped recounting shared youthful experiences. No one freely loosened their belt to increase comfort during the football game or to squeeze in that last piece of pie. But God used the day and us to be a blessing. We were so blessed to have in our home several who might not have otherwise had a holiday experience. We were blessed to share a feast with those who did not regularly participate in this gathering that I have always taken for granted as a happy occasion of grouped family. My eyes were opened to the fact that this is not the case in many homes, and when one 15 year old told my son "this was the best Thanksgiving I've ever had" I was simultaneously pleased and saddened. This boy is an adoptee himself, living in a single parent home in which ties are strained with extended family. Further, mom and son are not the same "race" and even in our enlightened metropolitan culture, it is evident this has further created tensions.
As we enjoyed the food I recall looking around our large table, thankful to have been a part of blessing someone, bringing a smile and hopefully a good memory. But I was also humbled. I was humbled by the inadequacy of my life's efforts to reach those in need. Not everyone at that table was in need. But each of us were scarred in some manner. Each of us were there because we did not have the security of a stable and safe birth family environment to relax in that day.
I have too often overlooked my hurting brother and sister - and these are simply the people I know and interact with regularly. Yet here many of them were, banded together in our own "family", laughing, enjoying a meal, and sharing souls. God was in my home in a special way that day and this is His desire for us - for us to know his love of adoption, of reaching out to others and inviting them into our circle, of building others up when the devastation of words and actions is the norm for them. Adoption is not limited to bringing a child into your home. As adopted sons and daughters in Him, we also have a multitude of adopted brothers and sisters - all of them family in God's Kingdom. Through this journey I've discovered people of character and hearts of gold that do model God's selfless love and have been there to support us unconditionally. These people have been family when family has failed and I have been enlarged for the process.
The boy we are adopting has also taught me a thing or two about love, compassion, and grace. His hunger for love already has him calling me "daddy" and though he has behavioral challenges at times as a result of the tremendous upheaval he is experiencing, upheaval few of us will ever know, I see in his brown eyes hope for love, hope for protection, hope for a life of joy and security. I have vowed to provide that as his father, as best I can. I am so far removed from being that perfect parent and I am certain I have many challenges and "opportunities for growth" ahead. But I now know love towards one not of my bloodline and in my eyes, he is simply a son we did not birth, but a full son of my house none-the-less.
Finally, we need to remember this: regardless of the trials faced, those who have claimed Christ are all moving towards a feast of our own. At this feast will be a gathering beyond count. The Father will look over the banquet with infinite pleasure because His children are finally home, where He meant for them to be all along.
“We know that the whole creation of irrational creatures has been moaning together in the pains of labor until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves too, who have and enjoy the first fruits of the Holy Spirit, a foretaste of the blissful things to come, groan inwardly as we wait for the redemption of our bodies from sensuality and the grave, which will reveal our adoption, our manifestation as God's sons.” Romans 8:22-23 (AMP)
Why wait so long before taking up the pen (or keyboard)? I can only describe my walk and my journey these past months as one who has enjoyed the warm sunlight and surface of the shallows of a crystal blue paradise and then through circumstance, response, and self-action has dove inward into murky grey depths where little light and little warmth penetrates. Though at times I have not walked where I should or followed what I know to be the path God has for me, like a safety line that a diver of great depths relies on for orientation and their very life, He has always been one glance away, one uttered prayer near, constant, anchored, unmoving and pointing to His higher purpose for my life, His protection from the storms that have assailed us.
What is truly marvelous in all of our lives is that we cannot run from this God, this loving Father. As David said in Psalms, where can we go? If we go to the mountain top He is there. If we go to the valley, He is there. The sky proclaims His majesty, the ocean depths His mystery. Even if we walk through hell - He is there. Jesus' redemptive work at the cross was THAT powerful. So powerful, the only escaping His presence is His ultimate sacrifice of love - our will. Even still, as long as we draw breath, He will wait as a gentleman, one prayer away, one "help me" from intervention.
What is also amazing is that to Him, we are not mistakes He has to clean up after. We are not souls roaming His creation that He continually has to enact plan B, plan C, on out to infinity because we keep messing up His intent. In Jeremiah 29:11 He states that He knows the plans He has for our lives, the very purpose for our treading this soil at this time in the history of this sphere. We cannot transgress so badly that He can't redeem our lives and utilize us to His planned purpose, and these are plans that He laid out before the first plant grew or the first animal drew breath.
Look at what Galatians 4 says:
“But when the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent his Son, born among us of a woman, born under the conditions of the law so that he might redeem those of us who have been kidnapped by the law. Thus we have been set free to experience our rightful heritage. You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, "Papa! Father!" Doesn't that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you're also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance.” Galatians 4:4-7 (MSG)
I love the statement in this translation "you are not a slave, but a child". Further, in Romans 8 we read:
“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For the Spirit which you have now received is not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption, the Spirit producing sonship, in the bliss of which we cry, Abba (Father)! Father! The Spirit Himself thus testifies together with our own spirit, assuring us that we are children of God. And if we are His children, then we are His heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, sharing His inheritance with Him; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory.” Romans 8:14-17 (AMP)
How many of us hang our heads in shame, acting out the lie the enemy has sold us that we are dogs deserving to be kicked; that we should somehow have to make restitution for our lives mistakes before we can know the fullness of sonship? Look at what Ephesians says:
“How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. What pleasure he took in planning this! He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.” Ephesians 1:3-6 (MSG)
We see here scripture referencing our adoption as His children, and God doesn't engage in "foster parenting". We are sons and daughters of the King of Kings, Most Holy Lord of Lords, the very one immeasurably exalted above all heaven and earth and everything that was created, which includes every angel, every demon, every problem, every concern you might carry. He adopted us, and He planned to do so from the very start. And unlike so many adoptive homes where the adoptee is at a slightly lesser status than the birth children within the home, He has named us "joint-heirs" with His only Son.
This hits hard because it is the very reality my family is currently facing. My bride and I are in process of seeking adoption of a specific "special-needs" child. This little four year old boy has grabbed our hearts and what makes him "special" is the cognitive, emotional, and motor-skill delays imposed by severe neglect and abuse - a hurting heart and the resultant impact of a lack of love. I am learning so much through this process and have been continually astounded at the physical impact the absence of loving parents has had on this child. Through the process of engaging in foster licensing, court appointees, case reviews, and social workers, institutions I once considered a scourge and a necessary evil are now, to me, understood to be a necessary good in the face of evil in the absence of a work the body of Christ should have been doing all along.
In the early chapters of Acts, we read that orphan care and the care of widows was the province of the Church, not the state. Regardless of current politics and policies, the failure of the Church through the centuries has created the necessity of government interventions. Christ's love is not expressed in the administrative case review I just sat through. An explanation of God's love and grace is not given to the single mom as she picks up her welfare check. The government cannot duplicate or legislate the holy love that we as light bringers and salt on this earth are to be carrying out one to another.
This journey has already been marked by heartache and sacrifice, even though it feels as if we've barely scratched the surface. Family and friends have questioned our motives. People we assumed would be happy for us have, in some ways, acted like this is a funeral, a death of our known family as they were used to it. Deep emotional insecurities have surfaced in others as they have progressed from "oh that's a nice thing for people to do" to "What do you mean you are adopting?". We've had family tell us "You can barely take care of the kids you have".
This last statement cut deepest and we began to realize that adoption is God's answer to the hurting and discarded, because He never discards people. We also began to realize there is a very real enemy working against us in this and against this child in whichever ways are most effective, and so far those ways have been lies, misinformation, and directed statements of fellow believers - many people closest to us. This enemy seeks to devour and destroy lives. The more innocent the better. Where Jesus said "whoever harms one of these little ones" Satan seeks to do just that through he hands and mouths of people. Death and disease are effective, yes, but how much more devastating the effect of a child abused. With this, the enemy has snared one and statistically speaking, probably two people or more at once. In our case, division and strife now exist between family and our home. Something has been lost as we endeavor to obey in what we know God to be leading us toward - the rescue of one small soul.
Thanksgiving was difficult. No blood family attended our home. No stories were swapped recounting shared youthful experiences. No one freely loosened their belt to increase comfort during the football game or to squeeze in that last piece of pie. But God used the day and us to be a blessing. We were so blessed to have in our home several who might not have otherwise had a holiday experience. We were blessed to share a feast with those who did not regularly participate in this gathering that I have always taken for granted as a happy occasion of grouped family. My eyes were opened to the fact that this is not the case in many homes, and when one 15 year old told my son "this was the best Thanksgiving I've ever had" I was simultaneously pleased and saddened. This boy is an adoptee himself, living in a single parent home in which ties are strained with extended family. Further, mom and son are not the same "race" and even in our enlightened metropolitan culture, it is evident this has further created tensions.
As we enjoyed the food I recall looking around our large table, thankful to have been a part of blessing someone, bringing a smile and hopefully a good memory. But I was also humbled. I was humbled by the inadequacy of my life's efforts to reach those in need. Not everyone at that table was in need. But each of us were scarred in some manner. Each of us were there because we did not have the security of a stable and safe birth family environment to relax in that day.
I have too often overlooked my hurting brother and sister - and these are simply the people I know and interact with regularly. Yet here many of them were, banded together in our own "family", laughing, enjoying a meal, and sharing souls. God was in my home in a special way that day and this is His desire for us - for us to know his love of adoption, of reaching out to others and inviting them into our circle, of building others up when the devastation of words and actions is the norm for them. Adoption is not limited to bringing a child into your home. As adopted sons and daughters in Him, we also have a multitude of adopted brothers and sisters - all of them family in God's Kingdom. Through this journey I've discovered people of character and hearts of gold that do model God's selfless love and have been there to support us unconditionally. These people have been family when family has failed and I have been enlarged for the process.
The boy we are adopting has also taught me a thing or two about love, compassion, and grace. His hunger for love already has him calling me "daddy" and though he has behavioral challenges at times as a result of the tremendous upheaval he is experiencing, upheaval few of us will ever know, I see in his brown eyes hope for love, hope for protection, hope for a life of joy and security. I have vowed to provide that as his father, as best I can. I am so far removed from being that perfect parent and I am certain I have many challenges and "opportunities for growth" ahead. But I now know love towards one not of my bloodline and in my eyes, he is simply a son we did not birth, but a full son of my house none-the-less.
Finally, we need to remember this: regardless of the trials faced, those who have claimed Christ are all moving towards a feast of our own. At this feast will be a gathering beyond count. The Father will look over the banquet with infinite pleasure because His children are finally home, where He meant for them to be all along.
“We know that the whole creation of irrational creatures has been moaning together in the pains of labor until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves too, who have and enjoy the first fruits of the Holy Spirit, a foretaste of the blissful things to come, groan inwardly as we wait for the redemption of our bodies from sensuality and the grave, which will reveal our adoption, our manifestation as God's sons.” Romans 8:22-23 (AMP)
Monday, August 16, 2010
Thanksgiving and Praise - Keys to Your Life
I recently heard an amazing teaching by Pastor David Ellis that showed me that God's Word is so rich and so filled with life and so often we miss so many of the powerful truths and connections that are right before our eyes simply because we've been inundated with the same stories for years. We become so "fogged over" in our quests for searching out God in His Word that we walk right past the obvious. God isn't trying to hide himself from us in the ultimate cosmic game of "peek-a-boo". He isn't pondering how he can next challenge us in a spiritual treasure hunt in an effort to keep Himself from us. Jesus stated that his "yoke was easy and his burden was light". Easy. Light. God wants you to know him, intimately. Easily. Ever been in a relationship that was just easy? You didn't have to nervously re-acquaint or talk about the weather or family or employment or hobbies, it was just easy - you could just be yourself. This is what God wants.
His truths are easy too. Looking at a familiar passage in John 6:4-14 we see the account of Jesus feeding the 5,000. Remember the felt boards in Sunday School? The paper cutouts? Remember the coloring pages - 2 fish, 5 small loaves? Again, this is one of those readings for me where it is so easy to miss truth, where my eyes can almost glaze over as I "speed-read" the passage. Jesus sees a "great multitude" coming his direction. We read the passage as him feeding 5,000 but we also know this is a headcount of only the men. Conservative estimates put the crowd's total size of 10-12,000 with it possibly as large as 15-20,000. Picture it. Jesus and the twelve had just crossed the Sea of Galilee, taken a small hike up a dusty trail to a "mountain" top or to us a hillside, sit down to take a breather and they look out and here is a throng of 15,000 people headed their way.
Jesus says "Hey Philip, where can we get some food to feed these people?" (paraphrase) and right after this the Word says he asked Phillip this "to test him for He Himself knew what He would do." One translation says He asked Phillip this to "stretch his faith". Jesus wasn't perplexed by the scene unfolding in front of him. He wasn't frustrated by the fact that thousands of people were approaching and he didn't have food with him and then lean over to one of his twelve and say "How're we gon'na feed 'em all?" After Adam and Eve had sinned in the Garden, God wasn't playing hide-n-seek in asking "Adam - where are you?" God always knows exactly where we're at, where our faith is at. It is His desire to take us to the next level and His purpose in questioning us isn't to read us a Heavenly riot act but to draw us out - to get us to engage Him on His level so that He can start to move in our lives in the blessings He desires.
Look at Phillip's answer. "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them that every one of them may have a little." The New Living Translation puts it this way: "Even if we worked for months we wouldn't have enough money to feed them!" Phillip's answer: We don't have enough money!
I have to imagine Jesus cracking a grin here, because the Word says He already knew what he was going to do, but don't miss the lesson. Jesus didn't ask Phillip "Where can we get some cash together to run into town and get some food for this crowd?" "He didn't tap Judas, the group's purse-holder and say "How much do we have in the bag?" His question was "Where is the food coming from?"
It is then that Andrew produces the child with the two fish and five loaves. Do you think that Andrew was policing the crowd, saw a kid with food and grabbed him by the collar and said "Jesus! Got a kid with food here!"? I believe that this boy overheard the conversation and got it. We see Jesus telling us that we have to have child-like faith and I believe this boy, overhearing the conversation, came to Andrew with his food offered it. Why else would Andrew approach Jesus with an unknown "lad's" lunch?
We read in verse thirteen that that after everyone had been fed they had 12 baskets full of fragments/left-overs and these wouldn't have been lunch pails. They would have been large capacity baskets for carrying goods. So what was the difference between "we don't have enough money" to "everyone's full and we've got more leftovers than we know what to do with"? The pastor I heard speaking on this pointed something out that is so in line with what other brothers and sisters have echoed in recent months and something that I think God is trying to capture our attention on because it is critical to our success in this life.
The offering isn't what fed the crowd. How often have you offered up prayer, sacrifice, effort and seemed to hit silence in your petitions? Why? Because the offering was the seed. It needed a multiplier. What was that multiplier? It's in verse eleven: Thanksgiving - praise. Jesus was offering thanks over those fish and barley loaves the entire time He was distributing them. He didn't just say "Holy Father, thank you for this meal which we are about to receive..." and then everyone sat down and ate. Jesus was thanking over that bread and fish continually and a something happened - a cycle of provision took off. To feed that many people Jesus was busy for hours - he was breaking fish and bread for hours to people lined up from all over. He was handing off baskets of food to the twelve who were in turn running them to pockets of the crowd for a significant amount of time, giving thanks for it the whole time.
This is what He wanted Phillip to do - what He knew He would do from the start if given the seed to work with. God has a calling on each one of our lives and if we'll seek out his vision for our lives it will be far more grand, far larger than anything we could come up with on our own. This has a tendency to scare us. "But God, I don't have enough...." Is it money? Resources? Ability? Do you sound like Phillip? Your resources and talents never were the basis by which God is able to fulfill his plans through you - His are. But even the offering of faith must be met with something - thanksgiving and praise. It is the key.
If God has shown you the vision of what He wants to do in your life, no matter how impossible it looks to you right now or how far away, begin to thank him and praise him for it today! Don't focus on the obstacles or your lack or what you don't have or what stands between you and those dreams/visions. Look at the seed you do have and give thanks - this will cause multiplication. Countless are the scriptures where praise and thanksgiving are to continually be on our lips. Joy is strength and sometimes we have to will joy, just like we have to will strength to move. Psalm 35:27 says "Let them shout for joy and be glad". Don't have joy? Then shout FOR joy because later in that verse we read God has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant. Psalm 34:1 says "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth."
It isn't for God's ego that we praise. It is through praise that we are moved into the position of God being able to bless. God knows who He is - He's pretty secure in the knowledge of Himself. He's not in heaven insecure or not feeling well about himself and with holding blessing and prosperity if we don't give him some affection. Our praise is the key that unlocks because it activates our faith and takes our attention off of circumstance and ourselves and focuses it on God's ability and when we move into this arena, God has something to work with in our lives. He loves our praises because through our praises He can unleash the floods of blessings He has prepared for us.
This is why he repeatedly brings it to us to praise, to ever be praising, to enter his courts with thanksgiving and praise, to be thankful for all things. Thanksgiving and praise are the keys to your life - the abundant, overflowing, superior, extraordinary life that Jesus stated He came for you to have.
His truths are easy too. Looking at a familiar passage in John 6:4-14 we see the account of Jesus feeding the 5,000. Remember the felt boards in Sunday School? The paper cutouts? Remember the coloring pages - 2 fish, 5 small loaves? Again, this is one of those readings for me where it is so easy to miss truth, where my eyes can almost glaze over as I "speed-read" the passage. Jesus sees a "great multitude" coming his direction. We read the passage as him feeding 5,000 but we also know this is a headcount of only the men. Conservative estimates put the crowd's total size of 10-12,000 with it possibly as large as 15-20,000. Picture it. Jesus and the twelve had just crossed the Sea of Galilee, taken a small hike up a dusty trail to a "mountain" top or to us a hillside, sit down to take a breather and they look out and here is a throng of 15,000 people headed their way.
Jesus says "Hey Philip, where can we get some food to feed these people?" (paraphrase) and right after this the Word says he asked Phillip this "to test him for He Himself knew what He would do." One translation says He asked Phillip this to "stretch his faith". Jesus wasn't perplexed by the scene unfolding in front of him. He wasn't frustrated by the fact that thousands of people were approaching and he didn't have food with him and then lean over to one of his twelve and say "How're we gon'na feed 'em all?" After Adam and Eve had sinned in the Garden, God wasn't playing hide-n-seek in asking "Adam - where are you?" God always knows exactly where we're at, where our faith is at. It is His desire to take us to the next level and His purpose in questioning us isn't to read us a Heavenly riot act but to draw us out - to get us to engage Him on His level so that He can start to move in our lives in the blessings He desires.
Look at Phillip's answer. "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them that every one of them may have a little." The New Living Translation puts it this way: "Even if we worked for months we wouldn't have enough money to feed them!" Phillip's answer: We don't have enough money!
I have to imagine Jesus cracking a grin here, because the Word says He already knew what he was going to do, but don't miss the lesson. Jesus didn't ask Phillip "Where can we get some cash together to run into town and get some food for this crowd?" "He didn't tap Judas, the group's purse-holder and say "How much do we have in the bag?" His question was "Where is the food coming from?"
It is then that Andrew produces the child with the two fish and five loaves. Do you think that Andrew was policing the crowd, saw a kid with food and grabbed him by the collar and said "Jesus! Got a kid with food here!"? I believe that this boy overheard the conversation and got it. We see Jesus telling us that we have to have child-like faith and I believe this boy, overhearing the conversation, came to Andrew with his food offered it. Why else would Andrew approach Jesus with an unknown "lad's" lunch?
We read in verse thirteen that that after everyone had been fed they had 12 baskets full of fragments/left-overs and these wouldn't have been lunch pails. They would have been large capacity baskets for carrying goods. So what was the difference between "we don't have enough money" to "everyone's full and we've got more leftovers than we know what to do with"? The pastor I heard speaking on this pointed something out that is so in line with what other brothers and sisters have echoed in recent months and something that I think God is trying to capture our attention on because it is critical to our success in this life.
The offering isn't what fed the crowd. How often have you offered up prayer, sacrifice, effort and seemed to hit silence in your petitions? Why? Because the offering was the seed. It needed a multiplier. What was that multiplier? It's in verse eleven: Thanksgiving - praise. Jesus was offering thanks over those fish and barley loaves the entire time He was distributing them. He didn't just say "Holy Father, thank you for this meal which we are about to receive..." and then everyone sat down and ate. Jesus was thanking over that bread and fish continually and a something happened - a cycle of provision took off. To feed that many people Jesus was busy for hours - he was breaking fish and bread for hours to people lined up from all over. He was handing off baskets of food to the twelve who were in turn running them to pockets of the crowd for a significant amount of time, giving thanks for it the whole time.
This is what He wanted Phillip to do - what He knew He would do from the start if given the seed to work with. God has a calling on each one of our lives and if we'll seek out his vision for our lives it will be far more grand, far larger than anything we could come up with on our own. This has a tendency to scare us. "But God, I don't have enough...." Is it money? Resources? Ability? Do you sound like Phillip? Your resources and talents never were the basis by which God is able to fulfill his plans through you - His are. But even the offering of faith must be met with something - thanksgiving and praise. It is the key.
If God has shown you the vision of what He wants to do in your life, no matter how impossible it looks to you right now or how far away, begin to thank him and praise him for it today! Don't focus on the obstacles or your lack or what you don't have or what stands between you and those dreams/visions. Look at the seed you do have and give thanks - this will cause multiplication. Countless are the scriptures where praise and thanksgiving are to continually be on our lips. Joy is strength and sometimes we have to will joy, just like we have to will strength to move. Psalm 35:27 says "Let them shout for joy and be glad". Don't have joy? Then shout FOR joy because later in that verse we read God has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant. Psalm 34:1 says "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth."
It isn't for God's ego that we praise. It is through praise that we are moved into the position of God being able to bless. God knows who He is - He's pretty secure in the knowledge of Himself. He's not in heaven insecure or not feeling well about himself and with holding blessing and prosperity if we don't give him some affection. Our praise is the key that unlocks because it activates our faith and takes our attention off of circumstance and ourselves and focuses it on God's ability and when we move into this arena, God has something to work with in our lives. He loves our praises because through our praises He can unleash the floods of blessings He has prepared for us.
This is why he repeatedly brings it to us to praise, to ever be praising, to enter his courts with thanksgiving and praise, to be thankful for all things. Thanksgiving and praise are the keys to your life - the abundant, overflowing, superior, extraordinary life that Jesus stated He came for you to have.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Your Reward is Through Your Fear
"What you are most afraid of is where your greatest rewards are."
A friend sent me this quote recently and to be honest I was taken aback by it. At first I almost dismissed it as I don't view myself as one to walk around in nervous fear but God grabbed me with the remembrance of things in my own life that I am currently in fear over. Things that when confronted with I tend to sweep under the rug, ignore, refuse to face directly. What do you fear? Is financial uncertainty? Sickness? The future? Do you fear never realizing your potential or never seeing your dreams become realities? Do you fear addressing that broken relationship? What about that habit that keeps creeping into your life that you need help with? Maybe you fear standing up for what is right, whether it be for yourself or for others, based on the Word.
You see, each of these is a storm, a testing of our character and each of these has a tremendous reward on the other side of them - a new plateau of living. But each of these requires complete and total honesty with yourself and a bold determination to face the issue in front of you and not back down from it, not cower or close your eyes from it for its "uncomfortable" nature. It will be uncomfortable. Growth usually is. But the end result is increased capacity, increased ability, and increased strength. These "increases" are necessary for the "increased" blessings that God has in store for you.
Jesus stated that he came for us to have life and to have it abundantly. The Greek here means to have life that is superior, extraordinary, surpassing and beyond what is normal. Very often, the means to these levels of increase are through the very storms that we are tempted to fear. We have to recognize that this fear is nothing more than the enemy's attempts to keep us from the very growth we need to encounter the divine and miraculous provision and blessings of God in our lives. When we stand on "we are more than conquerors in Christ" and "greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world" and the countless other truths in this Word that are life and power then truly we find the "roaring lion" a defeated foe melting into the shadows.
So when you see the clouds darkening on the horizon and the waves picking up, you can rejoice because you know there is something magnificent on the other side of the storm and regardless of its intensity - you are never alone.
A friend sent me this quote recently and to be honest I was taken aback by it. At first I almost dismissed it as I don't view myself as one to walk around in nervous fear but God grabbed me with the remembrance of things in my own life that I am currently in fear over. Things that when confronted with I tend to sweep under the rug, ignore, refuse to face directly. What do you fear? Is financial uncertainty? Sickness? The future? Do you fear never realizing your potential or never seeing your dreams become realities? Do you fear addressing that broken relationship? What about that habit that keeps creeping into your life that you need help with? Maybe you fear standing up for what is right, whether it be for yourself or for others, based on the Word.
You see, each of these is a storm, a testing of our character and each of these has a tremendous reward on the other side of them - a new plateau of living. But each of these requires complete and total honesty with yourself and a bold determination to face the issue in front of you and not back down from it, not cower or close your eyes from it for its "uncomfortable" nature. It will be uncomfortable. Growth usually is. But the end result is increased capacity, increased ability, and increased strength. These "increases" are necessary for the "increased" blessings that God has in store for you.
Jesus stated that he came for us to have life and to have it abundantly. The Greek here means to have life that is superior, extraordinary, surpassing and beyond what is normal. Very often, the means to these levels of increase are through the very storms that we are tempted to fear. We have to recognize that this fear is nothing more than the enemy's attempts to keep us from the very growth we need to encounter the divine and miraculous provision and blessings of God in our lives. When we stand on "we are more than conquerors in Christ" and "greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world" and the countless other truths in this Word that are life and power then truly we find the "roaring lion" a defeated foe melting into the shadows.
So when you see the clouds darkening on the horizon and the waves picking up, you can rejoice because you know there is something magnificent on the other side of the storm and regardless of its intensity - you are never alone.
Monday, August 2, 2010
God Wants You to Know...Him
I received an email today, one of many that I often receive, that started with "On this day, God wants you to know...". Most of the time I dismiss these emails. At best I'll give them a cursory scan but rarely will I delve into them with any enthusiasm. Why? Because I've found that most of the people sending me these emails have placed me on an automatic circulation list because I've become to them a "God person". My regular scriptural quotes and biblical views have painted me in their minds as one who would appreciate their automatic electronic deposits. These individuals very often also circulate "This day in your horoscope" and "Today your palm says..." type emails. Since I'm a "bible thumper", I will obviously appreciate the "God wants you to know..." emails.
Further, I see these efforts as a true longing for truth that each of us has innately within us. Every one of us was created to seek God's face and yet so many of us choose to seek elsewhere. If you've subscribed to these types of lists hear me out before getting upset with me. I also subscribe to scriptural emails that deposit daily in my email account from various ministries. Sometimes I have time to read them, sometimes I do not. But I have always viewed these as supplementary reading and encouragement, not my daily dose of God's word. Very often I get the sense that my emailing friends are sending me what is to them, the only connection to God's Word they may have in a day/week and this saddens me.
Do I sound harsh, sarcastic, even judgmental? If anything these emails from the above anger me. Not at the individuals who send them - but at an adversary who has so blinded us. At a culture where we have made Christianity so comfortable that the lines are so blurred that one could pick and choose their spiritual enlightenment as if at a smorgasbord or a drive-thru. "Don't have time for real Word study so I'll get in this little nugget" or "I'll have a little Christianity and some cute horoscope/witchcraft with some tossed eastern philosophy and a side of zen - that should satisfy my craving!" The one who seeks to rend our souls and pull them into eternal torment with himself could not be more pleased with this and a Loving God who cries for us to simply open our eyes and who has given us everything we need to see and walk away from hell sadly shakes his head as we dabble in cute palm readings and "harmless" devils.
I'd like to send one of these emails back to all of my friends to whom I have concern, not as an accusing finger of judgment but as a clarion call. It would say "Today God DOES want you to know...HIM". Everything He has ever done has always revolved around relationship with Him. Creation: so that we would exist - with him. Eden: so that we could walk - with Him. The cross: so that we could be redeemed - back to Him. He's even coming back to get us - to take us, where? To be with Him! The whole Bible is about coming to know and walking with Him. I don't know if there is "extraterrestrial life" in this universe, but even if there is not, I have no trouble with the concept that I serve and love a God whose love for me is so immeasurably vast that he created all of this, just for our wonderment. Billions of stars burst into song, exploding into life and dying before Him. All creation testifies to the glory of His Name and His splendor. And he invites us, daily, to know Him, to walk with Him, to let Him show us the wonders of His love for us.
This isn't done by a daily emailing. Like any love affair, it only happens with time well spent together.
Further, I see these efforts as a true longing for truth that each of us has innately within us. Every one of us was created to seek God's face and yet so many of us choose to seek elsewhere. If you've subscribed to these types of lists hear me out before getting upset with me. I also subscribe to scriptural emails that deposit daily in my email account from various ministries. Sometimes I have time to read them, sometimes I do not. But I have always viewed these as supplementary reading and encouragement, not my daily dose of God's word. Very often I get the sense that my emailing friends are sending me what is to them, the only connection to God's Word they may have in a day/week and this saddens me.
Do I sound harsh, sarcastic, even judgmental? If anything these emails from the above anger me. Not at the individuals who send them - but at an adversary who has so blinded us. At a culture where we have made Christianity so comfortable that the lines are so blurred that one could pick and choose their spiritual enlightenment as if at a smorgasbord or a drive-thru. "Don't have time for real Word study so I'll get in this little nugget" or "I'll have a little Christianity and some cute horoscope/witchcraft with some tossed eastern philosophy and a side of zen - that should satisfy my craving!" The one who seeks to rend our souls and pull them into eternal torment with himself could not be more pleased with this and a Loving God who cries for us to simply open our eyes and who has given us everything we need to see and walk away from hell sadly shakes his head as we dabble in cute palm readings and "harmless" devils.
I'd like to send one of these emails back to all of my friends to whom I have concern, not as an accusing finger of judgment but as a clarion call. It would say "Today God DOES want you to know...HIM". Everything He has ever done has always revolved around relationship with Him. Creation: so that we would exist - with him. Eden: so that we could walk - with Him. The cross: so that we could be redeemed - back to Him. He's even coming back to get us - to take us, where? To be with Him! The whole Bible is about coming to know and walking with Him. I don't know if there is "extraterrestrial life" in this universe, but even if there is not, I have no trouble with the concept that I serve and love a God whose love for me is so immeasurably vast that he created all of this, just for our wonderment. Billions of stars burst into song, exploding into life and dying before Him. All creation testifies to the glory of His Name and His splendor. And he invites us, daily, to know Him, to walk with Him, to let Him show us the wonders of His love for us.
This isn't done by a daily emailing. Like any love affair, it only happens with time well spent together.
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