I began thinking about this last week in church as I was listening to one of the most powerful sermons I've ever heard. I was moved beyond words. Why? Because I saw myself so much in it....too much. From start of the drama with the girl trying to fight off every temptation thrown at her, to the end when she surrrenders it all to God. That was me...beginning to end. If you were there, you may have seen yourself in it too.
It got me thinking...
What if every person in this church...this city...this country, actually believed this? What if every one saw themselves in that skit? Do we understand the power that could come from all these people being saved?
The reason I ask these questions is because lately as I look around church, I see people I know, friends even. They call themselves Christians. They say they believe in God. They go to church every Sunday. But they aren't exactly Christ-like outside the church walls. I won't go in to specifics...you can probably guess the kind of behaviors I'm referring to. Obviously they have a desire to go to church, otherwise they wouldn't be there. Isn't this desire from God Himself? So what is holding them back from experiencing all that He promises? Why do they continue to engage in a lifestyle that is taking life away from them?
I know what was holding me back and I'm sure I'm not alone - FEAR. Isn't it fear that prevents any one from moving forward? Fear of what your friends might think. Fear of what you might have to give up. Fear of being called to do some thing that doesn't quite fit in to the plans you have made.
People are only afraid of things they do not know, understand, or trust. Fortunately, we have the Bible, God's Word that is nothing but TRUTH. And the truth will set you free. Are you expectant of God's blessings but not willing to be obedient to Him in every area of your life? What is holding you back?
This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. 1 John 1:6
Deep listening is miraculous for both listener and speaker. When someone receives us with open-hearted, non-judging, intensely interested listening, our spirits expand.
-Sue Patton
So I have this planner, this Franklin Covey planner that was given to me as a gift from the company when I first started my job.
Not only did it make me feel appreciated and organized, it also was a great test of my decision-making skills because I got to choose the theme of my pages.
I ended up choosing themed pages based on the book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
I have never read this book, so I cannot voice an opinion one way or the other, but the combination of nature scenes as well as quotes on the top of each daily page…..
tripped my trigger.
The above quote was from the top of page April 5th.
I made that up, I truly do not know the exact date so if you have the same themed pages please do not stress yourself.
Anyway, I LOVED this quote, and I don’t even know who Sue Patton is (not on Wikipedia, trust me, I checked), but regardless of her lack of Wiki-famousity, I thought this was super insightful.
People love to talk but LOVE to be heard….
There is a difference.
You can totally tell when someone is really listening to you. Not judging, intensely interested, not thinking about the next thing on their list of things to do, truly heart felt listening….. to YOU.
You know what I’m talking about, you can tell. Remember that time when you were trying to explain something to someone and they “heard” you but didn’t really “hear” you. And how did that make you feel?
Devalued
Unappreciated
Unimportant
Good listening is so valuable but so hard to find.
When someone stops what they are doing, looks you in the eyes, sincerely nods along, doesn’t interject with the ever popular “Oh, that happened to me once” “I remember when “I” “I” “I” “I” “MY””MY””MY””MY””ME””MINE””MY TIME, MY THOUGHTS, MY ATTENTION, MINE, MINE, MINE, MINE, MINE!!!!”
Not only is it a miraculous thing for the person being listened to… but it is also a miraculous thing for the person doing the listening.
And what Christ promotes!
How did that verse go again? You should be QUICK to what???? What should we be fast to do?? Oh, ya.
Try it for yourself, check your motives when listening to a friend, spouse, family member, etc.
See for yourself.
I often wonder what we could get accomplished if we practiced healthy listening skills.
I had a difficult night Saturday night preceded by my sitting alone for many hours watching Love Actually, The Holiday and Pride and Prejudice back to back. It was a 6 hour and 40 minute British love-story-palooza and yes, I cried and yes I’m a sap and yes I’m a girl and yes I’m single. Probably wasn’t the smartest way to spend a Saturday night.
Many years ago a Newsweek article spoke words of doom over single women when they pronounced the chances of marrying a man after the age of 40 were slimmer than the chances of being killed in a terrorist attack. A collective cry of horror arose which if you listen closely can still be heard in lonely city streets, seedy hotel rooms and bars late at night. A horror the equal of Munch’s Scream.
Now I get that many of you reading this are no where near close to 40 and probably weren’t even born when that article came out and maybe you never even heard about it (lucky you). I dare say, if you’re single and a woman and a Christian, you know the angst, the ticking clock, the always a bridesmaid, the ‘should I put on makeup before I run out for the paper’ conundrum that defines your days and stalks your often lonely nights.
I turned off the movies and walked the dog for the last time that night and sad to say, no meet-cute. Not in the city streets, not in the elevator, not in the hall outside my loft. My life isn’t like
It is hard for me to write something today. I won’t try to hide it. Today I am sad and my spirit is torn. Today I cannot offer anything deep or insightful. Today I am on my knees begging to hear from God. I know He is speaking to me; I just cannot hear Him or probably I just don’t want to hear what He is saying. I suppose we all feel this way at times, but so often we cover it up. Honestly, I didn’t want to admit today either. I wanted to put on a fake smile and say life is peachy. Today that doesn’t seem to work. Today I need to know God is holding me close. I need to feel His presence.
Earlier this week I read these verses:
Isaiah 40:10-11, “Yes, the Sovereign Lord is coming in power. He will rule with a powerful arm. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes. He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart.”
Throughout scripture, we are reminded of God’s awesome power and authority. Nothing seems to symbolize His mightiness and justice like that of His arms. Reading these verses a I get the picture of a king holding his scepter or a battle-proven warrior holding his sword. I see the mental picture of a strong, muscular arm being flexed showing incredible strength.
Today I need to believe the second part of those verses. I need to believe the powerful arms of God...the same arms and hands that created this ever-expanding universe...are the same gentle, loving arms that are holding me close to His heart. I need to believe all the power of God is being funneled through His arms as He holds me.
God – today I pray and ask you to hold me close. Today I need to feel the warmth of your chest and the strength of your arms. I want to hear your heartbeat...the heart that loves me so much you were willing to give everything that I might live. May I rest in your arms today knowing you are holding me close. I know there are others who need to feel your presence today as well. I ask you to hold them close to your heart. May they hear your heart beating with love for them like never before.
Can you feel the strength in His loving arms?
Can you feel the warmth of His chest?
Can you feel His heartbeat?
I pray that you do.
So I'll stand... if everyone else does...
0 responses Posted by Anonymous Transmission Timesamp: 8:46 AMThe popular stance on worshiping God with song is that we should sing the songs for an audience of one. The ideal is that our hearts are so focused on God that we’re almost completely oblivious to what is happening around us. We are so caught up in praising God for his love that we can’t help but sing along to the music and shake whatever moneymaker he may or may not have blessed us with. :)
But, when we’re completely honest, that’s rarely the case - myself included. It’s nearly impossible to close our eyes, throw our hands in the air to God, and completely forget about the six complete strangers in close proximity. Granted, some of us are incredibly shameless with our worship (and my hat’s off to you), but for most of us, it’s a struggle. It’s as if we’re more concerned about someone around us having an awkward impression or thought of us than we are with telling our creator that we’re grateful for him. Sound silly? Well, it should. It is!
But, have you noticed that seeing the people around you engaged deeply and honestly in worship seems to relieve the fear you have of cutting loose and praising Jesus? Sure, it’s easy enough to just say, “Yea, it’s easier for you to not look like a fool if everyone around you is doing it too!” And that’s a fair point if all you’re concerned with is what everyone around you thinks.
I believe there’s more to it - there has to be. If our own ability to worship hinges on the behavior of those around us, I hate to say it, but we’re going to leave worship services very empty, very often. I don’t aim to make any conclusive point here, but more to just think out loud and provoke some thought or good discussion.
Is it possible that there’s something unseen that happens when someone fully engages in worship? Does it affect the people nearby?
Personally, I’d say yes with 100% certainty. If there’s one thing that will happen consistently, it’s that when I leave a service feeling as though I experienced God in a more powerful way than I had in a long time, a handful of other people will approach me and say the same thing. I believe there’s a synergism that comes when even one person is fully engaged in worship around other people.
It’s difficult to explain. Some people are comfortable with just referring to this concept as the Holy Spirit’s presence, but some want to explore it more and explain what happens. Both are ok!
So, what do the rest of you think? I’m curious to hear people’s thoughts on praising God with song and what things are happening between our reaching hands and beating hearts.
"For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."
I hobbled across campus to Student Health where I received at least 40 stitches. I now had a giant red and purple "S" shape down my leg...not pretty. The cut was so deep, almost to the muscle, and I was told if I wanted it to heal properly, I needed to restrain from any physical activity for the next 4 weeks. Not good news considering I was on the women’s tennis team and we were leaving for the annual spring break meet in a week. I had been anticipating that trip for months. Meltdown ensued. I thought my life was over (at 18 years old, I clearly had a lot to learn!) I was so angry, replaying the incident over and over in my mind and trying to answer the question “Why me???”
Now eleven years later, the scar is barely visible. Definitely not a quick healing, but a process that occured over time as a result of taking care of it properly. Yet it was hard to trust those who knew best--those who said that it would eventually be invisible. Those who said the dark, ugly scar was simply a part of the healing process.
What about our scars inside that nobody can see? The scars that developed as a result of someone hurting us. The scars that arose from the pain of another failed relationship...the end of a life long friendship...rejection…failure to meet our own expectations or the expectations of others. How are we caring for those wounds? Do we even acknowledge they are present? Or do we just go on about our lives, pretending as if everything is great and we've never been hurt? Packing our days so full of busyness that we never have time alone with ourselves and God to admit that our hearts, the very wellspring of life (Proverbs 4:23), are in need of some serious healing? I think often times it's easy to avoid. After all, no one is probably going to ask you (although they may be thinking it), "what happened to your Heart???" like they did my leg.
But a friend did ask me a few months ago "how is your heart these days?" Truthfully, I had never given it much thought, probably because the answer would've exposed a side of me I never wanted any one to see. If I cared so much about healing a scar on my leg, why was I not as concerned about healing my heart? It does, after all, determine the course of my life.
The scars on my leg and in my heart weren’t straight paths, but crooked ones. Isn't that how God gets us to where He wants us? The long, crooked, and sometimes ugly path? But He gets us there, without a doubt.
Organization… being organized…. Everything has a place and everything in its place. This is a life lesson that has taken me YEARS to learn and I’m still learning. When I was little I was the complete opposite of a “neat freak” my idea of cleaning my room was to shove all my toys under my bed. My thought process was “out of sight, out of mind” ….. right?!?! I mean if nobody else can see it, then does it truly exist? And to be honest I thought I was completely fine with this logic…. until the time came when my mom would say to me “Hey, Jodi – where is (FILL IN THE BLANK)? I would get this sick to my stomach feeling because I knew that I had to “come clean” (as corny of a line as it is). I remember just mountains upon mountain of toys pulled from under my bed. To me it was overwhelming… I didn’t want to start dealing with the problem because I didn’t even know where to start. I needed help. I needed someone who was blessed with the gift or organization to help me. I couldn’t do it on my own. And so I went to the person who I knew was the expert, my sister. She would put me to work and tell me where things should go and come along side me and help me figure out this overwhelming task. And when we were done, there was this peace that came over me. A weight was lifted. I didn’t have anything to hide. I was free.
I do this with my heart too. My feelings get shoved away, to deal with them at another juncture. If I push them away, they’re gone… right? I mean out of mind out of heart? And a lot of the time I am completely fine with this logic… until the time comes when God asks me “Hey Jodi, where is (FILL IN THE BLANK)? Ahhh, what? Not now God, I don’t want to deal with this… stop trying to refine me for goodness sakes, I’m tired of it. I can deal with this problem on my own, in my own time. I don’t need you. And then the pile gets bigger and harder to hide. When it’s finally pulled out, it’s overwhelming and I don’t know where to start. So I go to the expert, my Savior. And He stays along side of me, helping me figure things out and deal with them. He takes my problems and lifts them off of my shoulders, showing love in its truest form. A weight is lifted. I don’t have anything to hide. I am free.
Rasta Dog (name changed to protect the not-so-innocent) flushed up a wounded bird on our walk today. Cities are hard on birds. Not because of why you might think- the obvious lack of trees and green space. I think they do just fine with building nests in the nooks and crannies of tall buildings. It’s because those same buildings which give them shelter can spell their doom if they fly into a window six stories up. I have seen three dead and one wounded bird in the last few weeks. It makes me feel sad.
I have been a Christian long enough to know that wrestles of the intellect end in one place- with a bowing of my knee. My brain is just not capable of grasping in entirety God’s power and might and sovereignty nor understanding His purposes, reasoning, will or plans. At the end of the day, after playing with my doubts the way my tongue plays with a rough new filling, I bow to His majesty and give up the need to understand and mysteriously the doubt turns to, “Of course You know all the sparrows that fall. Why wouldn’t You … You’re God!”
Rasta Dog didn’t hurt that fallen bird pathetic in its attempts to hop/fly away. I had mercy on the wounded bird and played God for a minute and used the fact that I have many pounds on Dog to pull her away and today, I may not have done much, but today I saved a bird. The bird fell and I saw it and I cared. Why shouldn’t I believe that God knows and cares about all the birds that fall and knows and cares about all of us even more?
Have you ever been told a lie? Have you ever looked someone in the eye and asked for the truth only to get a flat out lie in response when you know it is a lie? It can hurt deeply. Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why does it hurt to be told a lie? Why does it frustrate us when we have been told a lie? Lies certainly hurt but even worse...they destroy trust. Why is it that it can take years to build trust and earn a good reputation, but one little lie can throw that all out the door?
I think the answer to all these questions are found deep down within our very own souls. I believe everyone was created with certain cravings within their soul. For example, at the very core of who we are, we all desire intimacy, to be loved, and to love. Also, we all desire to have meaning, purpose and significance. Just like these, I believe we all have a craving for truth. Think about it. We all want to know the truth. In life, every day we are subconsciously determining if things we are being told are true or not...do we believe it or not...can we trust the source or not. Where does this desire for truth come from? Why do we search for truth all day, every day, in all that we do, and in all we are told?
What are we craving when we seek truth? OR...is the question really who are we craving? Is our instinctive quest for truth really an instinctive quest for the source of all truth...God? Think through this with me. What is it about knowing the truth that comforts us and gives us peace and rest within our spirits? Why is it that when we do not know the truth we yearn for it and search for it and are not satisfied until we know the truth? I think this characteristic at the very core of who we are as human beings cannot be explained any other way than it was created within us by the source of all truth. Did God place within our souls the desire to seek truth so we would ultimately seek the source of all truth...God himself?
Reading my morning devotional earlier this week, I was reminded of this truth: God cannot tell a lie. The devotional discussed how this is not a weakness in God but a display of complete power. What is impossible for God? Nothing is impossible for Him due to lack of power; only what is contrary to His nature is impossible. God cannot limit His fullness and cannot change His nature. He is who He is and this does not show a weakness, but rather the absence of weakness shows His complete power.
Hebrews 6:18-19, “So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.”
God cannot tell a lie. This reminder was so comforting to me this week. Why? Because I know I can trust my God. I can believe everything He has ever told me. I can believe all His promises to be true such as: He loves me, He is with me, He is never changing, He is faithful, He is in control, and He is working all things for the good of those who love Him...just to name a few! I don’t know about you, but I know my soul craves truth...my soul craves the source of all truth...my soul craves God. There is so much comfort and peace in knowing the truth, even more in knowing the source of truth, and words cannot express the comfort and peace in knowing God. What does your soul crave? Are you searching for truth? Do you know God?
Salvation in 30 minutes or less, or it's free!
0 responses Posted by Anonymous Transmission Timesamp: 7:07 AMLast week on www.bedeviant.com J-wise posted a pretty sweet quote from a guy named Rhett Smith. In this quote, Smith suggests that we have strayed away from the style of teaching that Jesus used with his disciples, and that our doing so is preventing people from actually taking time to read, study, and extract meaning from scripture, which would lead to a much greater understanding and more durable faith as a result.
It’s as if the road that leads us to an end isn’t important anymore, which is a silly notion to say the least. Imagine if we were to engineer a type of pill that could provide us with all of the nourishment we would ever need in a day. This pill could contain every vitamin, mineral, and calorie a person could ever use from morning to night. As long as we’re talking crazy, let’s say it contains the necessary hormones to stave off any sort of hunger we would ever feel as well.
Knowing how amazing food is, could you do it? Could you sacrifice the enjoyment of sinking your teeth into an ooey-gooey, warm-and-toasty, extra sloppy-melty piece of pizza? Could you forego twirling and slurping each tomato and parmesan-drenched spaghetti noodle as you glance around the table trying to see who’s going to steal the last breadstick? Could you go the rest of your life without carving your way through a delightful blend of ice cream and whatever candy your little heart happened to be pining for as you stepped up to the counter?
I mean, as long as we are getting what we ultimately need from food, there’s no point in the process, right? Why bother with all the ceremony when we could provide ourselves with everything food provides in the blink of an eye by swallowing a pill?
Obviously I’m being facetious to demonstrate the absurdity of the example and questions I’ve posed. But, why do we approach a relationship with Jesus this way?
As Christians, we meander about talking about the most satisfying, fulfilling relationship anyone could ever know. We swear up and down that the ways of the world are repulsive and are to be avoided at all costs, yet it seems that we can get caught up in approaching our loving savior in the same way that we approach a flame-broiled Whopper. I want it my way, and I want it now!
At what point did we decide that hearing from God was work? And when exactly did we lose any and all appreciation for the journey of reading, studying, and meditation on God’s living word? And most dishearteningly of all, have we really been led to believe that if we simply manage to glean all of the “lessons” from the Bible that we’ll finally “get it”? We’ve been offered eternal salvation, and a promise from an everlasting God that He will walk hand-in-hand with us through every joy and trial in our lives. And instead of walking by his side, we’re trying to drag God by the hand and hurry him along as if we have somewhere else we’d rather be.
Of course our culture isn’t going to change anytime soon. It’s on us to put our approach to our relationships with Jesus in perspective. We’re faced with a myriad of decisions everyday, and by making a choice to endure and enjoy the journey instead of instantly rewarding ourselves, we can slowly teach our hearts to have a greater faith in God’s timing.
So, the next time your pastor doesn’t answer every question you had about a topic, maybe you can do the research yourself and let God show you the answers instead of just sending an email to your pastor and taking the easy way out. Or maybe the next time you’re facing a difficult trial, you can pray for the faith and wisdom to endure the suffering rather than for a swift conclusion. Even if you’re thumbing through the pages of God’s word and you end up confused by what you just read, try thanking God for the opportunity to explore the depths of his love because, deep down, you know that working through it will be much more gratifying and worthwhile than swallowing a pill.
Free Will...this tiny little gift that each and every one of us has been given. The freedom to choose what we want to do, which path to take...pretty much the ability to make any decision related to our life completely on our own. Sounds pretty amazing, don't you think? After all, it is OUR life, let's do what we want with it!
I find it ironic that "free will" is actually called such because in reality it gives us anything but freedom, especially when it leads us to behaviors that shape us in to something so far off from what God had made us to be. In the beginning, the choices we make apart from God may not seem like a big deal; they may not seem all that detrimental to our character. But before you know it, all of these small choices that are made day in and day out have developed into this huge burden to bear and we are left feeling lonely and confused, asking ourselves "Who have I become and how did I get here??" Yep, I've been there.
Lucky for us, God will only allow us to screw things up so badly before He hits us with circumstances that make us realize we can do nothing without Him. Lucky for us, He is all about second chances. Lucky for us, God will never stop loving us. These are amazing promises that I did not fully understand until I started surrounding myself with people who know who they are simply because of their relationship with Christ.
As I look back on the past year, I am blown away at how God's grace has changed my life. He has broken a vicious cycle I fought for so long and over a few months time has transformed feelings of hopelessness and guilt into a sense of peace and contentment. Isn't it amazing that He has the power to do that...to take away burdens I thought I would have to deal with everyday for the rest of my life...to rid me of the behaviors and relationships that were not honoring to Him...to change my heart that much?
When we can finally humble ourselves to the fact that we've really messed things up, acknowledge that we need God, and truly make Him the center, THINGS WILL CHANGE. His amazing plan for each of us is so much easier to see when all the old junk is finally gone...circumstances begin to change, you can see where God is working in your life, and there is so much hope in that. The only question I'm left asking now is, why'd I wait so long?
"He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions." Psalm 107:20
The fierce winds that blew so cold and strong this weekend had another effect besides breaking me out of the denial that winter is coming. I love Iowa and I love Iowans but this east coast born and bred really doesn’t like Iowa winter. Especially when the arctic front drops just below Des Moines making it feel more like Canada than the Midwest. And the infamous winter white-outs … what’s up with that? I neither heard nor experienced that in the east coast. Nor flesh-freezing weather; seriously, is that necessary? But I digress.
I live downtown which is usually, remarkably for a city, neat and clean. We have our dumpsters for our trash and neat little poop bag dispensers for dog owners like me to keep the sidewalks and small grassy strips clean. Most buildings have some kind of container out front for cigarette butts and we even have street people who regularly swing by and collect cans and bottles to redeem for the five cent deposit.
Every few weeks you see groups of people wearing matching Principal or Wells Fargo t-shirts, laughing and enjoying a “day off” from work as they volunteer to walk around the city and pick up trash. Des Moines is a great place to live, made even better by how clean it is. This past weekend, however, the winds they did blow. And they blew and howled and tore down allies and in the process helped themselves to whatever they could find in the dumpsters. Trash and lots of it was lifted and carried and deposited all over the streets and sidewalks and buildings. Isn’t it amazing how long it takes to clean and how fast a mess can be made? Des Moines was a mess.
I am Des Moines. I am a mess. I have a dumpster that I do my best to stash my trash in and I try really hard to keep the top down so no one can see or smell it. I think that only I know its contents and as long as I can keep it contained I look good to the rest of the world. My streets are clean. Problem is, now and again the winds come and lift the top and spread the contents around and low and behold, there is my stinky garbage visible and in plain sight and in all kinds of places it shouldn’t be. How humiliating. And I remember again the futility of trying to keep myself clean and how even my very best efforts are always in vain.
Thankfully I have a God who is neither too ashamed nor too proud to walk my streets and clean up my mess. God, the Creator of the universe, dons a t-shirt, takes up a garbage bag and one of those pointy sticks and stabs up my sins, cleans up my hurts, lifts up my offenses, sweeps away my pride, and sets me to rights again. This isn’t His day off; this is His daily work! And He does this with patience and grace and with so much love for me regardless my state. Jesus- my Savior, my King- and my ever humble and oh-so gentle garbage man … how incredibly amazing is that?
Can I trust God...even when it hurts?
2 responses Posted by Philip Kreis Transmission Timesamp: 11:38 AMI just started a new journal. Last week I put aside the one I was using for more than a year with the pages full of prayers and notes about daily life circumstances. As I put the old one down, I flipped through its pages and looked back on where I have been through the past year or so. The year was full of wonderful blessings and new friendships but it was also full of hard and confusing trials. It is always incredible to look back and see how God was working in my life each day and in all those life situations. My God was with me each step of the way and it is more amazing how he used all those life circumstance and trials to mold me into who I am today and to teach me lessons I hope to never forget. He taught me about patience, about forgiveness, and about love. He taught me so much about the depths of His heart and His love for me as I discovered the depths of my own heart and love for others. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” I could not see it at the time, but as I look back, I can see how God kept His promise to me. He did work all those things together for my good.
Yet, here I am today in the midst of another trial and I am so quick to forget that God is working in this situation as well. I know what the lesson is this time. God wants to teach me about trust. Like the other lessons I learned, this one will not be easy either. I learned patience cannot be learned in a hurry or right away...it just doesn’t work that way. I learned forgiveness does not mean to ignore the pain and forget what happened, but to choose to not hold hard feelings and to love anyways. I learned love is a more than fuzzy feelings but a choice that needs to be made in the good times and bad times, in the ups and the downs, in the highs and the lows. Now I am learning about trust...not just about trusting God when everything in life is wonderful but when life is not fun, things hurt, and life is confusing.
For most of my life I have been a Christian and it is always so easy to say “I trust God” without really putting much thought behind the words. Now I ask myself, “can I trust God...even when it hurts?” Is He really working in this situation for my good even though it may not be going the way I want it to go. I so badly want to take control the situation and want answers from God right away (there is that patience issue again). I want to do this my way and in my timing and in the way I think it should go. I am so quick to forget that I tried that before once and it didn’t turn out so hot. I am not very good at being God. He is much better at it. He knows what He is doing. I realize I need to trust in Him. I need to trust in Him knowing He is in complete control of the situation and is working “ALL things” for good in my life in His perfect timing. Even though I cannot see it today and most certainly cannot feel it today, I will choose to trust in God. Even as I write these words I am discovering that as I make the choice to trust God, my inner spirit is filled with joy and peace knowing I am in God’s hands and in the very midst of His will for my life. I am excited to see what this trial looks like on the other end and learn all that God wants to teach me through it. I am sure someday in the future I will look back on these pages of my new journal and once again see how God was with me the entire time working the situation for good in my life.
James 1:2-3, “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.”
So...can I trust God even when it hurts? Yes, absolutely...because God is completely sovereign, infinite in wisdom, and perfect in love. I am reading a great book called Trusting in God Even When Life Hurts by Jerry Bridges. Check it out...I can’t put it down.
Last night I was enjoying a steak burrito from Panchero’s with a little pico, hot sauce, and a handful of jalapeños. A buddy and I had decided to discuss some Immersion worship ideas, and out of nowhere, he hit me with some knowledge. It was one of those things that I had always felt and known deep down, but never heard someone put it to words in such a way that I saw it as a relevant truth.
I started coming to Immersion several years ago. Being a musician myself, I really dug the worship music, but I also really learned a lot from the messages. It was a time I looked forward to every week. But inevitably after I had been a regular for months on end, I started hearing overlap. I could sing half the songs with my eyes closed, and I could extract the point of a message long before the speaker ever got there. I felt as though I wasn’t learning anymore, or that the feeling I got from being convicted every week was gone for good. I was slowly losing my motivation to attend Immersion, and church in general.
Naturally, I think a lot of us get to this point sometime or another. The great thing about God’s word is that it’s consistent, and you can draw the same conclusion from tons of different verses. However, that also means that for us big-picture thinkers, we may not feel challenged consistently as these concepts become second nature. Or, regrettably, we may become bored and lose interest in a relationship with God as we feel it has become stagnant or that we’ve “learned everything.”
Now, obviously that’s not true, but we can’t deny that we all get that feeling sometimes. It goes without saying that we can all use good reminders of teachings, some more frequently than others, but when your entire relationship with God feels like nothing but a series of reminders, what do you do? Luckily for us, God sends along people like mi amigo en Panchero’s…
Get involved.
Seriously, just get up and do something! The knowledge that I digested along with my succulent Amerimexican cuisine was that serving a ministry, no matter how seemingly insignificant the role, changes your heart for it completely.
When you contribute your time and effort to a body of believers, you gain a new perspective. The instant you decide to show up a bit early and hand out bulletins, you’re no longer a bored spectator, but a herald of good news. With each piece of bread you break off and pass to your brothers and sisters during communion, you step closer and closer to furthering the ministry as a whole rather than idly watching it pass by. Even choosing to reach out to someone with something as small as a joyful greeting spreads Christ’s love like wildfire.
In short, you’re helping the ministry expand and prepare itself to serve people who were just like you, years ago, walking in for the first time. If you don’t believe me, try it and see for yourself!
It certainly doesn’t even have to be Immersion either!
Offer up some of your free time to help a ministry grow, and you’ll see how quickly God changes your heart for the ministry itself and the people involved. We’re commanded to serve one another in love, not because God needs us to make huge ministries or churches, but because God knows that serving one another in love is one of many things that He made us to do, and that it ushers in His presence and fills us up!
You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
Galatians 5:13-14
Who knew that burritos were such an enlightening entrée?
Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you’d have preferred to talk.
Some friends invited me to lunch at their house yesterday. There were a lot of people there I hadn't met before. A friend introduced me to this person, told me his name and we shook hands. I said "So nice to meet you 'so and so'." I say 'so and so' because I literally repeated his name back but was not listening at all. I was so wrapped up in everything going on around me, I could not remember what he had told me his name was just 20 seconds earlier!
About an hour later I left, was driving in my car on my way to the bookstore and talking to my mom on my cell phone. I asked her a question, she began to answer, and before she could even get the answer out I would interrupt with another question that was completely unrelated. This went on for about 5 minutes before she finally said “Can we get back to your first question?”
I am feeling especially convicted by my behavior yesterday. Aside from being rude, it got me thinking. If I listen this attentively to friends and family who are physically with me, how well do I listen to what God is trying to tell to me through His Holy Spirit? Am I stopping or even slowing down to listen to what He is saying back to me? There are some days I feel like I am in a constant conversation with God, but so often it's this one-sided dialogue because I never shut up long enough to hear what He wants to say! Some times I’m not even focused on what I’ve just asked Him!
God desires a relationship with us. Have you ever been in a relationship or had a friendship with someone and you felt like all they did was talk about themselves? I have, and it drove me nuts...I imagine God feels the same way.
"Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance." Proverbs 1:5
I’m currently reading a very interesting book. It’s called “Christ and Culture” by H. Richard Niebuhr, and it’s 50 years old.
I included that last bit about the book’s age because if you’re even a casual student of culture, you understand that culture changes - that is its nature. The culture of the U.S. was vastly different 50 years ago than it is today (example: a gallon of gas 50 years ago cost $0.19 compared to the $3.56 we have here in Des Moines this morning!), yet this book reads as though it was written yesterday. (“Culture,” Niebuhr says, “holds its inhabitants as the sea holds a fish.” How great is that!)
Niebuhr discusses the different postures that Christians normally take towards the culture they find themselves in. They read like this:
Christ against Culture: Christians and the pagan culture are at odds; at war.
Christ of Culture: The movements of Christ can be found within the historicity of a culture.
Christ above Culture: The current world in which we find ourselves living acts a “waiting room” for the Christian - more of a nuisance than anything.
Christ and Culture in Paradox: Christians and the surrounding culture and in a struggle of disbelief that will ultimately be determined by the ending of time.
Christ Transforming Culture: The Christian here believes that God is moving in the here and now, actively transforming the culture in the present, and not just when Christ returns.
I may have totally just nerded out and lost you all, but do you see yourself/Christians you know fitting into any of these categories? If you are a Christian, what’s your position towards culture? Towards the world in which we live in?
Well, that was fun.
Last night was Immersion's first ever Miracle Night and, by the sounds of it, God showed up in some very cool, very tangible ways:
Spiritually
Emotionally
Physically
Financially
We want to capture some of the pictures of what God did and is continuing to do after last night.
That's why we'd like you to post your God stories in the comment section of this post. You can post anonymously if you'd like or you can tell us who you are - either way we just want to know what God did/is up to in your life after last night!
So come, share your stories... Tell one, tell all! Bless you...
"They triumphed... by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony!"
In the words of Mike & The Mechanics, "All I need is a miracle/All I need is you."
Immersion is having its first ever Miracle Night this coming Thursday. What's a Miracle Night? Well, we're going to ask God to show up and do... well... miracles.
Blind eyes would be opened.
The bondage of debt would be broken over the lives of young adults.
Depression and anxiety would be healed.
Unbelievers would become believers in and followers of Jesus Christ.
Those, good people of Des Moines, are miracles. Events that do not happen in our normal, everyday level of existence... But maybe could and should (and if we're real honest, we want to have happen in our lives on a regular basis).
Now, some of you might be conjuring pictures of a televangelist with cuff links and slicked back hair, placing his hand on the forehead of a poor, old woman in a wheelchair and saying something like, "and now, be healed in the name of Juh-hee-sus-uh! And for only a $1,000 love gift, you too can be healed in Jesus' Name! We now accept credit and debit cards!"
Oops. Did I step on anyone's toes?
Here's Reality #1 for you and me: God desires to move in your life in miraculous way. Whether it's fixing your finances, healing the scars of sexual abuse, healing your lower back problems, or changing the way that you see God (and, consequently, yourself and others), God wants to show up in your life.
Here's Reality #2: God will not force himself into our lives. "Jesus is a gentleman," I heard it said once. A gentleman is always invited in, he never forces his way in. God is the same way - he will not force himself into our lives, he must be invited. I truly believe there are mountains of exciting things God wants to do in our lives, we just need to ask. Matter of fact, let's look at what Jesus said:
“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened."
I'd like to invite you to ask God for a miracle. Better yet, come and join us this Thursday at Immersion 7:37pm for Miracle Night. You don't even have to buy all this Jesus stuff, just give God a chance to show you how good he is.
May the Lord bless you and keep you on this Monday morning...
Justin
Jesus once said, "You ignore God's law and substitute your own tradition." He said this to a group of people who were known for being extremely "religious".
They said the "right" things.
They did the "right" things.
They had the "right" doctrine.
Yet, for Jesus, these were some of the most misled and dangerous people around.
They were the ones who hassled him the most.
They were the ones who hated him the most.
They were the ones who had him pinned to a cross in a garbage dump.
In most cases, it seemed as though Jesus and the "religious people" were following a different God, so much so, that Jesus once called the religious leaders "children of hell" and that their "true father" was none other than Satan himself! As I've said before in other posts, Jesus reserved his harshest words not for the raunchiest sinner, but for the disillusioned religious elite!
The religious leaders (a.k.a. "children of hell") were so dangerous because they were perceived as being God's ambassadors - as reflecting the character and nature of who God was and what he was like. They were the ones who people looked to in order to tell them what God thought about them and how they were to think of him.
Jesus would get so angry with them (and still does, in my opinion) because they misrepresented God the Father and what he was like. Jesus is the true reflection of God because he is God. What we see in Jesus and what we see in the religious leaders could not be more diametrically opposite:
Religious leaders said "do" in order to be acceptable to God.
Jesus said "be" the child of God, the image bearer, that you already are.
Religious leaders heaped oppressive demands onto their followers.
Jesus said, "my yoke is easy, my burden (weight, load to carry) is light."
Religious leaders kept mental records of their own sin as well as the sins of others.
Jesus said, through his Spirit, "I will remove your sin from you as far as the east is from the west and remember it no more."
As you can see, when we choose to follow tradition - human religious tradition that has the appearance of godliness but denies the power of the Gospel - we're in, as they say, "deep doo-doo". Jesus desires nothing by wrote, but a deep and living interaction with him through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Have you considered this for your own religious walk? Does your walk with God resemble an empty, lifeless, religious tradition or is it a vibrant and alive interaction between you and Jesus Christ? Consider the implications of each...
Peace to you on this Monday morning...
Justin
Something struck me as I was preparing for my message this week: Jesus thinks very highly of us.
Jesus thinks highly of us because he’s God. If Jesus is God and God is Jesus and Jesus not only loves us but actually likes us, then that would mean that God feels the same way about you and about me.
God honors you (Isaiah 43:4).
God calls you “very good” (Genesis 1:31).
God, in fact, loves you (1 John 4:9-11).
I think this struck me so hard because I wonder how many people really believe this? Christians included! Most of us - if only subconsciously - believe that God is mostly mad at us and is really disappointed with our lives. He’s standing in heaven with a long, flowing beard, checklist and clipboard and a sharpened #2 pencil in hand, constantly checking our behavior, scribbling on his checklist and clucking his tongue whenever we goof up.
My question is simply, “who would want to follow a God like that?”
Not me.
Luckily enough, that’s not the God of Scripture and it’s not God the Father of Jesus Christ. Even as I write these words, I can feel a weight being lifted off of my shoulders... God is not mad at me!
Would you take a moment during your day and ask yourself the question, “how do I think God sees me?” Then ask yourself a second question, “how do I see God?” Those two questions, G.K. Chesterton says, are “the most important beliefs” someone has.
God is good. Good is God. God says we’re “very good” (Genesis 1:31). Any questions?
