Monthly Archives: May 2014

Keys to enduring the journey

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Sometimes, life is tough. Real struggles make our journey difficult and painful. Imaginary ones confound our life experience. The old hymn, “Trust and Obey,” sums up our hope but how do we bear up in practical ways day by day, moment by moment? One way is to remind ourselves that we have ONE life to live, and it is a life that goes on forever. Living a forever Kingdom Life instead of one just focused on circumstances elevates us beyond our fears and anxieties. 1 Peter 5:6-10 offers practical guidance.

V. 6-7. “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

There is a fight under way to remove the phrase “under God” from the pledge of allegiance. But key to enduring our journey amidst pain and sorrow, fear and anxiety, is to humble ourselves under God. Submission to His will frees us from the imprisonment of our own efforts and our own fears. Our faith promises He cares for us and will lift us up, so shouldn’t we live today as if we believe it?

V. 8-9. “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”

Wake up. There is a real enemy. We cannot fight him in our own strength, but only through humbling ourselves before God and standing in our faith, protected with spiritual armor of faith, truth, peace, the Holy Spirit, and the assurance of salvation. You are not alone in your suffering. God sees you where you are and gives you other believers to share your load.

V. 10.  “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”

Steadfast means to remain resolute, committed,loyal, true to the faith God has given you, fully persuaded, trusting Him.

Life is tough. But this life on earth isn’t forever. As Francis Chan illustrates: Imagine a long rope that goes on forever. Now imagine the end of the rope that you hold, that last couple inches, representing your entire life on earth, 70,80, maybe 90 years. Most of our worries and fears and efforts are focused on this tiny piece of the rope’s beginning. But how much of our thought and ambition is focused on the part of the rope (our life) that goes on forever? Chan says, “I can endure anything for a mere 90 years!”

90 years of MY pain and suffering? Humble yourself before your God, receive His sufficient grace and power, and experience His persevering Spirit alive in you. Even as you take each sip of cool water to refresh your body, invite God’s Spirit to refresh your soul and experience the power to endure the difficult journey.

The Praise Effect

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God has spoken quite a bit about anxiety and fear during my illness. Sometimes it seems I have given up my entire life, health, finances, and even much of my identity. But anxiety, which is basically a lack of trusting God, still creeps in. Sound familiar? We get anxious about relationships, finances, jobs, future direction, and so much more. I have learned much of what I need…I just need to apply it consistently in my life. If I worry or become anxious about things, I am doubting that God’s promises are true, or thinking that I can do better. I hate to admit this, but if I am honest with myself (Psalm 139:23-24), it comes to this:

Either I trust myself, or I trust my sovereign God.

Yesterday, we looked at the well-known passage of Philippians 4:6-7 which in summary says, don’t be anxious; always present your requests to God in prayer with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving when we are anxious? How does that make sense? Let’s have God answer that in His own Word:
“The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me.” Psalm 50:23
“Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of His works with songs of joy.” Ps. 107:22
“God inhabits the praise of His people.” Ps. 22:3
“You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.” Isaiah 26:3

What is so significant about God inhabiting our praise? We know that God is Holy and sin cannot exist in His presence. Worry and anxiety, IF we let it control us, is sin; it is telling God, “I don’t fully trust you.” When we praise God and thank Him for who He is and all He has done, we cannot also worry at the same time. If I could apply an image from my sanctified imagination, praise and thanksgiving are like a ‘force field’ against the things that war against our relationship with God. The ‘cure’ to anxious thoughts is praising and thanking God.

I find that one thing that really helps keep this in check and increases my daily trust, is to list everything for which I am thankful and tell them to God. Every day, at least ten specific things. And let every anxious thought be countered by thoughts of praise and thanks. It may be our greatest problem is not rebelliousness but thanklessness. God desires a sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise. And anxious thoughts find it nearly impossible to dwell in the company of these.

What are you thankful for today? Let it replace your fear and anxiety!

Great and Powerful

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It is hard to imagine the fear that “the great and powerful Oz” struck in the minds of movie goers in this 1939 film. At first glance it seemed that Oz was indeed great and powerful what with the blazes of fire and clashes of thunder. But our mind easily conforms to movie trickery, and in the end, it was just a little man behind the curtain, wasn’t it? Nothing to fear in reality.

Our fears and anxieties are like that. They prey on our ability to imagine things that aren’t real. As a kid, I was able to imagine all sorts of ‘bogey men.’ As adults, it seems our imaginary monsters have been replaced with grown-up worries, still imaginary, yet frightful. Some are based on very real circumstances: a pile of bills and a small checking account, pain and sorrow that continue without abatement, soured relationships, failing health. But for the follower of Jesus, the question remains: “Whom do I trust?” If we say He is Lord and master of our life, then our problems come under His jurisdiction too. They don’t own us. If they did, THEY would be Lord, right? And we know we cannot serve two masters.

Unlike Dorothy in Oz, we don’t have to fight a wicked witch solely in our own power. And as important as a group of close friends is in our perilous journey, even they are not enough to defeat our foe. But there is within us, the Holy Spirit, all the power we need. The full authority of God the Father, His power and might, His holiness, His glory, His greatness, His unending love and amazing grace all rest within us. If we trust Him with our eternity, cannot we trust Him with our current life? And if we truly trust Him for all things, whom then shall we fear?

Our God is not a little man behind the curtain. He uses no trickery…He is who He says. If we can trust our Great and Powerful God with our eternal life, can we not trust Him today with every situation, real or imagined, that causes us fear and anxiety? It is a choice we make many times daily.

Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7
Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you. Psalm 55:22

Fretting is good…for repairing guitars

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If you repair guitars it could be helpful to know something about fretting. It is useful for producing quality tones on the instrument. But the kind of fretting the rest of us tend to do is not helpful for anything except creating ulcers and resentment. It’s called worry.

The Lord Almighty who created all the universe with His spoken command, the One who created everything out of nothing, the One who chose you before the foundations of the earth were laid…this same gracious, loving, holy, powerful, just, all-knowing, wise, sovereign and glorious ‘El Roi’ God sees you where you are. The question is do we trust a sovereign God? Or do we feel more comfortable trusting ourself?

If we trust God, we have nothing to worry about, do we? After all, He knows best and has the best interest of His children at heart. If he chooses suffering and hardship to bring us into that better plan it will be for our good. If we choose our own hardship, He promises to bring us through it if we turn to Him. We earthly parents do the same, however imperfectly. He promises He will never abandon us and that our pain, sorrow, and suffering will one day end and produce glory. If we really believe it, what is there to be anxious about?

But we still worry, don’t we? We don’t need to beat ourself up because a worrying thought comes across our mind. The question is, what do we do with it? Do we dismiss it and turn it quickly over to God or do we dwell on it? Do we determine its fate or does it determine ours? Take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5) I like the mental image of handcuffing that wrong thought and marching it into God’s courtroom. Let Him deal with it.

I admit, I have lots of questions. When will my leukemia be cured? What might cause it to take a turn for the worse? Will we get to carry on with plans to minister in South America? Will my finances hold out? How do I fulfill God’s will when I am so weak? I’m guessing you have lots of questions about your life too. Questions are great. They bring us to God.

But when questions turn and churn into worry, fear grows and interferes with trusting God. We start to think His way is too hard or start thinking OUR way is better than His. (Talk about irrational thinking!)

Jesus said repeatedly, don’t worry. Maybe we should just take Him at His Word. And when we start fretting about something, reaffirm our trust in the One who is sovereign, who has our best interest at heart. “I believe, Lord. Help me in my unbelief.”

Leave fretting to the guitar repairers.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

What measure of faith

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I reflected on this during a recent meditation, especially on Romans 12:3 and Ephesians 4:7. The former says:
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

The Ephesians passage mentions according to the measure of grace bestowed upon us. I don’t know why one mentions grace and the other faith, except both are complementary gifts from God. And it seems to me that when our focus is increasingly on God’s amazing grace poured over us, like a cup that is filled to overflowing, we find our God-given faith growing even more. There is of course a faith that is an act of will and a faith that is from God. While they appear opposed to one another, I believe they too are complementary. Does not God-given faith give us the ability to exercise our will and say, “and yet I will still praise you!?”

I am encouraged, when I am tempted to think my measure of faith is too small, to remember Mark 9:23-25, where the father of the sick child said, “I do believe. Help me overcome my unbelief.” In other words, grow my faith!

So IF some are given a greater measure of faith than others, we all are gifted by the Holy Spirit who helps us in areas and times of unbelief, who grows our faith and conquers fears that are opposed to the dispensation of faith.

It seems we all wrestle with this issue of belief and unbelief. The tendency to reject or suspend our faith is a fearful and prideful reaction to our real and imagined circumstances. Praise God that He never leaves us alone in this struggle, but grows our faith each time we respond by exercising any measure of faith.

I hope you will be encouraged by the hope that your own faith bears. I don’t know how long the waiting is. I only know, by faith, that it is not forever.

Create in me a new heart

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Asking God to break our heart for what breaks His, brings us into a deeper sense of His presence. It transforms our focus away from our worldly experience to the way He sees us and our world.

God has always been interested in our heart. From early in the Bible teaching’s we are told to “love the Lord with all our heart.” Jeremiah tells us that God will give us a heart to love Him; that we will seek Him and find Him, when we seek Him with all our heart.

God tells us in the Psalms that what He desires is not a burnt offering or a monetary gift. He doesn’t need these things. What He desires is a sacrifice of praise, the offering of a clean heart.

King David says in Psalm 139:23-24 –
“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

In Psalm 51:10-12 he says –
“Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”

Trying to please God with a corrupt self-seeking heart is like trying to drive a car with a gas tank full of sludge. It just doesn’t work.

In Hillsong’s worship song, “Hosanna,” the words of praise are followed by this plea:
“Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you have loved me
Break my heart for what breaks yours
Everything I am for Your kingdom’s cause
As I walk from earth into eternity.”

It is clear that if we want our praise to reach God’s heart, we are best to approach Him with a clean heart, a right conscience. It should be our daily prayer and our moment by moment walk with Him. God won’t leave you with a broken heart. Rather He will be faithful to mend it and give you a clean heart that seeks and finds Him, if that is your true request.

Break my heart for what breaks yours

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Probably, you have at some point in your life experienced a ‘broken heart,’ that feeling of deep despair and loss, whether momentary or long-lasting.

But have you ever ASKED for a broken heart? “Why in the world would I want to do that?” you might ask. Good question. After all, if we truly believe God wants the very best for us, why would we ask for a broken heart? Shouldn’t we ask for blessing instead? Well, yes you should. But have you ever asked yourself how MUCH blessing do you want? And what are you willing to endure to get it? Sometimes, blessing comes through an experience that breaks us of our earthly desires. It comes through a broken heart.

Is your heart broken when your children disobey and choose a path that is harmful for them? Do you think God’s heart was broken for a lost world? Do you think the heart of Jesus was broken for you when He put Himself on the cross for your sin and mine? What should our response be to such a sacrifice on our behalf? The apostle Paul answers, “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:10-11) In other words, “Give me the heart of Jesus for this world.” God is so interested in the condition of our hearts.

If we regard someone as a friend but then stay away from them when they are going through a difficult trial, what does that say about our friendship? If we say we want to love God and draw close to Him, we are saying we want to experience His heart. Are you willing to have your heart broken for the things that break’s God’s heart? How else will we draw closer to Him? How else will we join Him where he is already at work?

Let’s ask God to break our heart for what breaks His, so we can grow closer to Him and see ourselves and others through His eyes.