Rejoice! Rejoice!

God is not human, that He should lie, not a human being, that He should change his mind.  Does He speak and then not act?  Does He promise and not fulfill? - Numbers 23:19

I find that verse from God comforting and encouraging.  How often we somehow reason that our God is incapable or unwilling!  We dare to appoint human characteristics to Him.  Our God does not change His mind, what He has said will stand forever, He acts upon His Word and He fulfills His promises.  How encouraging and uplifting this thought should be to us.  God is not man and He will not disappoint us.  We can depend upon Him in all things and we can trust in Him where we can't in man.

The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves.  He will take great delight in you; in His love He will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.- Zephaniah 3:17

That same God who acts upon His Word has said that He is a Mighty Warrior who saves.  He saves us from our sin and works actively in us towards His character within us.  How do I imagine that the Creator of the universe and lover of my soul takes great delight in me?  It is so hard to grasp this concept when I most often do not even like myself, yet He takes great delight in me!  So much so that He rejoices over me with singing?  It seems so hard to accept.  But Jesus also commented on it in Luke 15:7 indicating that there is "rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents."  And the following story in Luke 15 of the Prodigal Son teaches us how the Father rejoices at our homecoming.

Our God acts upon His Word and fulfills His promises.  He takes great delight in us and rejoices over us with singing.  Our God.  The God who loves us with an unending and ever-bountiful love.  His love pours over us and He walks with us, around us, and within us.  How great a God and Savior we have!  

Rejoice!  Rejoice!  Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Blessed

“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” (Luke 19:40 NIV)

Blessed. Sometimes you just need to take a moment and thank God for all the tremendous blessings of this life. Today I'm thankful for the incredible blessings of friends and family. Not just in general, but specifically for God placing me in a situation wherein I've been taught to recognize His activity in this life.  I'm thankful for Him giving me parents who above all else love Him and taught me the great benefits of a life devoted to God. I'm thankful for God placing a woman in my life that has enough love and grace just to put up with me. I'm thankful for two awesome kids who have placed their trust in Him and who have been blessed with a heavenly dose of joy that makes them incredibly fun just to hang out with. I'm also thankful that they have divine wisdom to make good choices including friends that are also fun to include in our family.  I'm thankful for the beauty of His creation that is a clear testimony to his constant presence and ongoing creation. Finally I'm thankful to be blessedly  with some time away from work and the resources to enjoy a little man-made fun and inventiveness. Disney may be the happiest place on earth, but it's not for the reasons they think. Thankful for the people God has given me to enjoy it with. Now, off to Space Mountain!

Enduring Hardship

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as His children.  ...  No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.  Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. - Hebrews 12:7,11

I was teary-eyed yesterday listening to a radio broadcast by Focus on the Family of parents who have had incredible hardships through their children's physical health or even death.  One mother was testifying how she had come to know God through that hardship and even with the pain of the loss of her daughter, she felt so very blessed that she had been in her life and that the experience had led her to the saving knowledge of Jesus.  I found her story compelling and telling of how to live out this concept.  The broadcast link is HERE.

"Endure hardship as discipline."  I find this easy to grasp sometimes, but extremely difficult at others.  I have to consider Jesus' answer to the disciples in John 9:2-3, "His disciples asked him, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?  'Neither this man nor his parents sinned,' said Jesus, 'but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.'"  Discipline by definition is a "practice of training people to a code of behavior" and "a branch of knowledge".  It is plausible then to consider that discipline is a training inside of us for a behavior and knowledge.  Applying what we know from a previous blog entry (see More Than Conquerors) that the good that is being worked inside of us is the revelation and perfection of God's character in us, then we can see how we might can endure hardship, or any other event in our life, as discipline (behavior training and knowledge of God).

This discipline produces "a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it".  Obviously, we have the option to not be trained and to just hope we survive.  But, as a parent this is the absolute worst option I would ever want for my kids, to endure a discipline and receive absolutely no benefit.  It is a wasted event and one that will likely have to be repeated.  The faster they pick up the purpose to the discipline the faster I react to their learning.  Although, sometimes I wonder if God allows things to happen in our life so that learned character will show or shine for others to see Him in us.  Even so, there is always more work in us that can be done.  We are always able to get "closer still" to Him.

Will You Get In?

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! - Philippians 4:4

Why do we let stresses get us or tear us down?  Is it the responsibility of it all?  Do these responsibilities of wanting to raise our children right and make the best decisions for them, wanting to do a good job and produce a quality product and reputation, wanting to be a good son or daughter and take care of our parents weigh us down?

What if it was your responsibility to live a perfect life among spiritually retarded people in a cess pool of physicality?  Jesus came down from heaven to live within a physical body with the spiritually minded idiots and morons.  Then He has to find a way to communicate with these people, equivalent to us trying to talk in a way a protozoa would understand, and to do it well enough for them to be able to communicate His message to others.  I find that this is quite a responsibility He undertook.  But I do not see where it interrupted His joy.

When we stay in communion with God, we have a joy within us.  We are secure in where we are, wherever that may be.  We are confident that He will never leave us; that He is with us; and that no matter what happens He has it covered. 

I read this story recently: "Let’s imagine you’re near the beautiful but dangerous Niagara Falls.  A circus performer has strung a rope across the falls with the intention of pushing a wheelbarrow from one side to the other.  Just before stepping on the rope, he asks you, 'Do you think I can accomplish this feat?'

"His reputation has preceded him, so you reply that you believe he can walk the tightrope.  In other words, you have faith that he will succeed.  Then he says, 'If you really believe I can do it, how about getting in the wheelbarrow and crossing with me?'  Accepting his invitation would be an example of remarkable trust.

"It isn’t difficult for some people to believe that God is capable of performing mighty deeds.  After all, He created the entire universe.  Trust, however, requires that we depend on Him to keep His promises to us even when there is no proof that He will.  It’s not so easy to get into that wheelbarrow and put our lives in His care. Yet it’s a step we must take if we are to 'be anxious for nothing' in all of life’s circumstances."

When we "get into the wheelbarrow" and trust God completely we can then be joyful in all things and at all times.  Jesus knew that God was there, with Him in all ways.  We must be sure that we know the same.

More than Conquerors

The Spirit helps us in our weakness. - Romans 8:26

(Forgive us our trespasses ... Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.) God's Spirit, His presence, is with us.  We are always weak in ourselves but in Him we are strong.  Only He is our strength.

We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. - Romans 8:28

(Your will be done ...)  God is our strength and He doesn't sit idly by waiting on our call.  He "works" for those who love Him, and not just any work, but work for our "good".  Since there is only One who is good (Mark 10:18, Luke 18:19), He works for Him in us.  His will is to destroy sin in us (the work of Satan).

What, then, shall we say in response to these things?  If God is for us, who can be against us? - Romans 8:31

What is my response to God's work in me?  If He is working in me, if He is my strength overcoming my sin weakness, what sin in the world or in any spirit or man can overpower the living God? 

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? - Romans 8:35

Is there anything in Creation that can overpower the living God who works in me according to His will of destroying sin for my "good" or His work in me?  Is there anything more powerful than God's love for me?  Can I ever believe I am left to myself?

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8:37-39

"We are more than conquerors" of the sin in our lives because Jesus conquered sin.  "We are more than conquerors" of death because Jesus conquered death.  What exactly is "more than conquerors" anyway?  How can you be more than a conqueror?  Either you win or lose right?  You are conquered or you have conquered.  How can you be more than a conqueror?  ...  "We are more than conquerors" because it has already happened.  Sin and death have been defeated.  We do not strive to conquer it now.  We, as children of the Most High God, are inheritors.  We are the princes and princesses to the King.  He has conquered for us.  We are why conquering of sin and death happened.  We, the church of believers, are His prize, His bride.  "We are more than conquerors" because of the immense value He has placed upon us.  "We are more than conquerors" because He has conquered and He works His work in us and nothing will ever overpower Him.

Play To Win

 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?  Run in such a way as to get the prize.  Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.  Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.  No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. - 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

"Play to win" we might would say today.  We all know, either from playing or from watching, that it takes lots and lots and lots and lots of training to become good at something.  And if you want to win, you either need to have more talent than the other team or you need to train harder than the other team.  Here we are told that we have a purpose, it is not worthless.  We do not discipline ourselves and sacrifice for no cause.  There is a cause and it has a purpose.

We are to train, to discipline, to strive towards, to condition, to focus ourselves towards His calling.  Too often this road is tough, it requires strength, stamina, dedication, belief, faith, and love.  Tony Dungy comments that the "word for race is agon, from which we get our word agony.  It signifies a match or a race in which endurance and determination must overcome those moments of difficulty that come in any race."  (Every time I hear the word agony in relation to sports I think of the ABC Sports video of the ski-jumper crashing at the bottom of the ramp while they said "and the agony of defeat".) 

So often we want to quit or back away from our faith whenever the going gets tough.  We must be careful to never settle for straddling the fence.  We should not say we like that Jesus message and believe in Him enough to have our fire insurance, but we aren't going to get much closer because that road is really hard to walk.  The Bible promises persecution.  A race promises to be difficult, arduous, and may require us to push ourselves past what we believe we can accomplish.  Our faith development must also be such.  However, just as when you exercise and train rigorously and come to love it, even though it is difficult, so we will come to love the training of our faith, knowing that it produces character and we will look forward to those things that can make us stronger. 

On my home-gym wall it says "Without self-discipline it is impossible to succeed".  Yoda said, "Do.  Or do not.  There is no try."  It's time to recognize what we're doing, and "Just Do It".  (I think I just broke the record for phrases in a blog post.)

May 9

Luke 5: ¹⁵ Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. ¹⁶ But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. (NIV)

Overwhelmed.  I just can't seem to get it all done.  I spend my workdays in endless meetings; each one important, but each a different topic, all needing direction, decisions, and sometimes just to gripe.  Then as everyone leaves to go home, I tackle numerous emails and phone calls, again each one needing a decision, approval, recommendations, review and comment.  Ugh!  enough already!
Then as I drove home after 8pm last night, I noticed I had missed a text from someone desperately needing assistance.  When am I supposed to meet her needs?  I'm convinced that Satan is overwhelming me with work to keep me out of God's kingdom business.  As I prayerfully considered what to blog about today, I felt empty, spent, poured out, yet not nearly enough to satiate all the needs. 
I'm glad I serve a savior who has experienced my weariness.  Numerous times scripture says He withdrew to a "lonely place" and PRAYED.  That's it!  I'm never going to be enough to satisfy anyone including myself.  Why am I worn out?  Because I'm not relying on God to meet people's needs, I'm doing all I can.  I'm not enough.  In fact, I'm nothing.  People don't need me.  They need what I have - a relationship with a savior who can genuinely make a real difference in their lives.  As I start this day, I pray that God will fill me with His spirit and He will meet those needs that most need to be met.  Most importantly, I pray that he meets the needs of a lonely lady who has reached out for help.  If not me, I pray God will meet her through someone who can share Him in such a way that she is led to life eternal.

He Created

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. - John 1:1-3

These verses are hard to handle for many people.  "In the beginning Jesus was with God and was God?  In the beginning?  Wasn't He born millennia later?  In Him all things were created?"  I can certainly understand that confusion provided someone doesn't or hasn't yet conceived the totality of who Christ is.  Jesus is God as much as God is God. 

He came and dwelled among man, something I find absolutely stunning.  As much as we teach and preach on the ascension of Jesus it is His descending that I find to be the real miracle.  I find that when I go to the homeless and poor to help or even teach I am uncomfortable and I have trouble discerning why.  I can only assume it is because I have an error in how I perceive them, looking upon the outside and not upon their humanness.  Or it is because I am intently aware that they are perceiving me as not equal to themselves and that makes me uncomfortable.  Maybe a combination of both.  But for Jesus to come to us who are spiritually bankrupt and the poorest of all poor being lost in sin and having no concept of God's realities demonstrates the greatness and power of His love for us.

In His love all things were created and are beautiful.  Today we have blue skies, green grass, colorful flowers, and mild weather.  It is very difficult to not notice the extensive beauty of His creation around us.  A week ago, in the flooding, it was much harder to see it for most people.  Likewise, when all is well in our relationships and successes it is difficult not to notice and be thankful and grateful, but in the storms it is much harder to see it.  Yet it is in that storm that we might see Him in ways we would have never seen before.  For many people, it is the only way they will ever see Him.  Jesus created all of it so that He might be seen by more better, so that we'd learn to start each day mindful that if we aren't relying upon Him then it is a lost day.

Look out today and see His beauty and know that all created things, including me, are beautiful.  God doesn't make junk.

May 8

James 2: ¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. ¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. ¹⁹ You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. ²⁰ You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?
Decisions.  So you've prayed, researched options, prayed over them, searched scripture, sought wise council, analyzed your circumstances, and have finally arrived at what you believe is a Godly decision.  Now what?  GO!  A good decision becomes terrible when not acted upon immediately.  I can't tell you how many people I see wrangle with decisions, then fail to follow up.  Sometimes we procrastinate.  Other times we set our priorities too low.  Let me give you an example:  I suffer from a chronic case of obesity.  I know I should eat better foods, eat less of it, and get more exercise these are all supported by scripture, prayer, and wise council.  I have this little thing, however, called a job that competes for my time and attention.  There is so much to be done at work, I often don't get home until 6:30 or 7pm.  This is not the time to be rummaging around in the frig or freezer to whip up a healthy, balanced meal.  Consequently, I reach for simple, filling things like starches and sugars that come out of a bag or a box, are quick to prepare, and fill me quickly.  Then I fall on the couch, or more likely as of late, go back to work.  Not a healthy lifestyle.  So what has happened?  I've let me job out-prioritize my health.  If I don't reverse this, someday I will not be able to work, at least not at my peak capacity and capability. 
Many people have recognized the symptoms and encouraged me to get exercise or eat differently.  These aren't the heart of the matter, however.  The heart of the matter is a matter of my heart - my priorities.  I'm allowing work to out prioritize my health.  No amount of advice, given in love of course, can fix my priorities.  I've got to decide that my health is important enough to make a lifestyle change to support my health.  I did this several years ago and lost weight and felt better.  Before you pile on with all kinds of advice, you've got problems like this too.  You've got areas in your life you know God wants to make changes, but your comfortable or don't want to risk what you know for what God promises. 
How about you?  You've wrestled with a tough decision.  You've got what you think is a Godly answer.  Is it important enough to you to get off the couch, out from behind the game console, or away from your social activities to follow in obedience?  Have you filled out your college applications?  Scholarship applications?  Unloaded the dishwasher?  Taken out the trash?  Why do you procrastinate?  Why does God or your parents have to practically beat you to take action you know you need to take.  It's easy for me to yell at you for not doing what I think is a simple thing - just get off your lazy rear end and do it!  Then God says, yeah Russ, just get off your lazy rear end and get healthy!  Ouch.  We've all sinned and fallen short and we need accountability help. 
Lord I know what I should do, but I find it so hard to just do it.  I need your help, not with my symptoms, but with my desire.  I know what is right, I just don't desire it enough to do it.  Oh God, help me with my lack of desire, my lack of discipline, and my lack of belief!

Come

Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. - Matthew 6:10

In heaven God's will is done.  Jesus taught His disciples that when they pray they should state (not ask) for God's will to be done here on earth.  "Your will be done" we are to say believing that our heavenly Father's will most definitely will be done.  "Your kingdom come."  Bring Your kingdom today Lord!  Who is to be a part of Your kingdom but isn't?  May they come today!  I pray that I would be of Your kingdom today and as a citizen I would come into this world today as such.  May I be mindful of the kingdom I am from and who the King is that rules!  "Your kingdom come" to me today.  "Your kingdom come" to others today.  May Your will that not "any should perish but that all should come to repentance" happen today. (2 Peter 3:9)  "On earth as it is in heaven."  I pray that I would walk today as a citizen of heaven on earth.  May there be no difference in me as I walk with my Lord today.  I pray that I'd have one foot in heaven and one on earth.  May my mind, heart, and spirit exist with my Lord in heaven today on earth.

When people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. - 1 John 3:8

Jesus destroyed sin.  Sin is the work of the devil.  "Your will be done."  Jesus, come today and destroy the sin work of the devil.  Destroy that work in me!  May it not exist in me so that I, as a citizen of heaven, can be about our Father's will that none should perish.  Destroy that work in me!  May it not exist in me so that I can love others today and thereby show them who you are and whose I am.  "Your will be done" in those around me today.  Destroy the sin that works in them so they might become a citizen today!  Destroy that sin that works in them so they will be made full and alive today.

Lord come, have Your way, commune with me so that I, here am there, and You there, are here.

Follow Me.

As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth.“Follow Me,” He told him, and Matthew got up and followed Him. - Matthew 9:9

At this point in Jesus' ministry He had healed many, restored people from demon possession, calmed the storm, and taught many new things.  I don't know what kind of buzz was surrounding Him when He walked into Matthew's town, but I assume there were people beyond the disciples following Him. 

I have always been amazed that when He simply said these two words to the disciples they dropped everything they were doing and latched on.  Wow.  Today, this very moment, right now, if Jesus walked into the building then looked and me and said "Follow Me", would I drop everything and go?  Would I say to Him I need to go tell my wife goodbye first and hug the kids?  Would I say I need to pack some things?  If I did I know He would reply as He did in Matthew chapter 8:22 with "Let the dead bury their own dead."  "Follow Me" He said to that disciple but that disciple walked away.

Jesus is making a very clear statement regarding the scale of our perception of what following Him means.  There is no equivalence.  His imperative statement is a command and anything that impairs it is against Him.  Against Him!  How can I be against my savior?  Simply by not following first.  Don't think back, don't say your what-ifs, don't wonder about where you're going, don't consider who will care for whom, simply follow first.

"Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has.  It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods.  It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows Him." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Similarly, Kyle Idleman asks in his book Not a Fan, "When is the last time following Jesus cost you something?"  

"Follow Me" Jesus instructs.  When I seriously envision that command to me and analyze my heart, do I only think of following immediately or do I think of any other single thing?  I must know my heart's response or examine why it isn't an immediate "Yes" to follow with no consideration for anything else.  I must reexamine my response every morning when I wake up.  

Cinco de Mayo!

In all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:6 NIV)

Following Russ's lead on this verse and then tying it shamefully into the Cinco de Mayo celebration I have these thoughts.

"Cinco de May is the July 4th for Mexico" I said to Jack this morning.  Independence Day.  It was a pretty cool movie really, but then I like Will Smith as an actor.  ...  Sorry, random thoughts.  We all value our independence and of extreme importance to a nation, to a people, is the day they won their independence from their slavery to the commands of a king, as in America, or a master, as in the black slaves in America, or in the case of Mexico, their victory over French forces in the Battle of Puebla (according to Wikipedia).  So, what I told Jack this morning shows my ignorance.  Mexico's independence day is September 16.  This will not, however, disturb my thought process regarding independence day.  I will continue in my ignorance for the remainder of this blog entry.  ...  Sorry, those dang random thoughts keep jumping around ... kind of like Mexican jumping beans ... aaagghh, just can't get these things to settle down!

The important aspect or reminder to me as a Christian is to acknowledge my independence day.  As a Christian, our independence day was when Jesus resurrected.  Then death was defeated and a life everlasting with God could be had!  There can be no greater Independence Day!  As a person in Christ, my independence day was when I first believed in Jesus as the Son of God.  That is my independence day.  And that is the day that gave me life.  That is the day I was freed from the evil king of this world who works tirelessly to destroy me, cheat me, steal from me, and to confuse me.  My independence day is the day I met my Savior who conquers all and who will never stop loving me.

When I submitted to God in belief, I was to submit in all my ways acknowledging that He knows better.  Who better than God can know which way is better for me to go?  Do I consider that I do?  Do I consider that the world does?  Do I consider the evil king of the world would?  Of course not!  I am independent of the world, a citizen of heaven.  God alone knows what is best for me and where my path should be.  I am to "walk" with Him on His path for me.

Praise God for my independence!!  May I never take it for granted.