Abiding in Christ

The last couple weeks, I have been reading Colossians over and over again (along with some other passages).  This morning, I don't know if my alarm just didn't go off or if I slept through it or what happened, but I ended up getting a late start on my way to work.  My devotions ended up being reading John 15 in the car at stoplights and a short prayer time.  Certainly not the ideal morning, but I am thankful that He speaks and hears even on rushed mornings. 

I was reading this evening again in Colossians and chapter 3, verses 12-17 really stood out to me in light of John 15:1-8.

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.

So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

In Colossians 3, that command to let the word of Christ richly dwell within us ties in so closely with John 15. We cannot bear fruit without being connected to Christ. Continuing in Colossians 3, we are not just to have His Word dwell within us, but it is to come back out of us as we speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with hearts of thankfulness to the Lord! When we are abiding in Him, the source of every good and perfect thing, His Word is our life and breath. We cannot help but respond in gratitude to the Lord and let that overflow to those around us.

May God give us hearts that long to be close to Him, to know and to do His will, to submit with joy to His perfect plans, and be thankful in all things to the Giver of every good and perfect thing.

Bible Search

I absolutely love making use of the tools available to me to find passages that come to mind with a couple key words and a couple clicks.  It is such a blessing that we have so much technology available to us to aid us in our Bible studies.  At the same time, sometimes (at least for me) it can hinder what we get out of the Word.  If I didn't know where a verse was before we had internet and before I had my Franklin electronic Bible, I pretty much had to read around where I thought it was until I found it.  It was a lot more work, but there were lots of rewards to it as well!  I had mentioned a particular Bible story to one of the men at church on Sunday in relation to Sunday school and I thought for sure it was in Nehemiah.  Rather than searching for it, I decided to read Nehemiah and try to find it.  I was so blessed and encouraged by it.  Now, I didn't find the passage that I was looking for, but God used it in my heart and I am thankful. 

I did give in and decided to search for it... it was actually in 2 Kings 19:14-19.

Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and listen to the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. Now, O Lord our God, I pray, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O Lord, are God.”

This was Hezekiah's response to a letter basically saying look at all these other kings that have been defeated... what makes you any different?

What a great response!  So often our first response to hard situations is to try to come up with some kind of solution.  Why do we not first take all to the Lord in earnest prayer?  We lose out on opportunities to bring glory to the Lord by trying to solve it ourselves, though even if we did "solve it ourselves", it is only because of wisdom we have received from the Lord.  We would do well to recognize that from the beginning and save ourselves the time and pain involved in the sin of "worry".  May we always be taking all things to Him in earnest prayer and may He receive greater glory because of it!

Heirs of Grace

This evening I had a softball game... always lots of fun.  I got pretty rocked in the back of the head by a softball as I was coming into home plate which is probably the reason I'm still up.  Considering I was safe, it was well worth it, right? :)  It's been a fun season.  I'm thankful for the opportunity to get some exercise and hopefully be a light to some of the guys in the community.  A few weeks ago, one of our players died.  He was diagnosed with cancer just three weeks before he passed away.  It was a really sad situation... wife and a 2 year old.  It sometimes makes me wonder... why not me?  Why someone with a family depending on him and a baby?  But, God knows best.  Obviously, I am very glad to be alive... just reminded that He could take any of us at any time.  It ended up being a good opportunity to pray with the guys on the team.  One of the guys bought shirts for all of us with that guy's last name on them to honor him.  It is very sad... but God knows what He is doing.

I was reading in Titus 3 this evening and was reminded of the reason we are empowered to love when we don't feel like it or do good to the one that uses us, etc. 

Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men. For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

We can go back and remember how much we have been forgiven... how much grace has been given us in Christ... how much hope we have in Christ... how much of our good works (none) helped us earn favor with God... etc.  When we consider these things, our desire to love and obey the Lord and serve others increases greatly.  We have been given great grace and mercy--we can extend the same to those around us!  We were encouraged on Sunday by Pastor Tim to pray big prayers for ourselves.  I am praying that I would grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and that it would be evident to others in the way I pass on some of that amazing grace that I have received.

An Option

Sunday school this morning was about Exodus 33.  I was so challenged by verses 1-3 and 12-16.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’ I will send an angel before you and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, because you are an obstinate people, and I might destroy you on the way.”... Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people!’ But You Yourself have not let me know whom You will send with me. Moreover, You have said, ‘I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.’ Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people.” And He said, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then he said to Him, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?”

God told Moses that He was sending an angel before them to in a sense "fix all of their problems".  But, God wouldn't be there.  This is staggering to me!  God sometimes will give us the option of "an easy way out" that is not His best.  It comes down to this: when we are facing a trial, are we going to take the "easy way" without God, or are we going to hold firmly to Him and not compromise our relationship with Him no matter what pressure may be around us?  By God's grace, may we "mourn" before the Lord when we are faced with the option of the "easy way" and may we hold fast to the Lord knowing that His way is always best.  We can't go on in life without Him.  We can't pretend that everything will be fine.  Sure, the angel would have been able to drive their enemies out and things would have felt fine and dandy for a little while, but what happens after that?  Is all well when everything is smooth and easy, but without God?  No!  We need Him to be central in absolutely everything.  It doesn't matter how hot the fire gets or how hard a trial may be, if God is at the center of it all, we can say, "it is well with my soul".

Believe

I was reading this morning in several different passages and still had the browser tab open from the last one from this morning: John 14.  Those first words jumped out at me as I was reading again tonight, "Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me."

Christ was finishing His earthly ministry.  His disciples had grown close to Him, walked with Him for years, were taught be Him, encouraged by Him, rebuked by Him, etc.  They had left absolutely everything to follow Him and now He was going away.  These are the words that He gave them: do not let your heart be troubled.

How quickly my heart is "troubled".  It really shows me how weak I am in the flesh... how dependent on the Lord I am for strength. I am reminded of those words from Psalm 63:8--My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.  It is not about how strong I am, but rather about how strong He is. My heart becomes troubled when I am not believing in God. That sounds super cliché, but when we see things from His perspective... when we trust Him fully... our hearts need not be troubled.  When we know and understand that His plans are perfect and that no plan of His can be thwarted... when we know that God is using sinful human beings to accomplish His perfect work, we can find rest in Him.  We need not fear His plan being changed by the actions of man.  We don't need to know why, but we do need to believe Him with all of our hearts.

Great is Thy faithfulness,
O God my Father.
There is no shadow of turning with Thee.
Thou changest not,
Thy compassions, they fail not.
As Thou hast been,
Thou forever wilt be.

Pardon for sin,
And a peace that endureth.
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide.
Strength for today,
And bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine,
With ten thousand beside!

Great is Thy faithfulness,
Great is Thy faithfulness,
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed,
Thy hand hath provided.
Great is Thy faithfulness,
Lord, unto me!

Freedom and Responsibility

I've been thinking quite a bit lately about how responsibility always comes with freedom.  Whether it be the freedom to drive a car or have keys to the office, these freedoms ought not be taken for granted.  They come as we have earned trust.  You know... we can't even earn trust.  Trust is given to us just like freedom is.  It is given generally based what has been seen, but it is still given in faith.  Take a look at these thoughts from Galatians 5, 1 Peter 2, and 1 Corinthians 8.

For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another... Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king... But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.  

God clearly lays out the purpose of freedom.  It is for serving one another, for serving to the Lord and willfully submitting to Him and the authority that He ordains in our lives.  It is for showing honor and love to those in authority as we submit to them.  It is for being sensitive to the weaknesses of others [considering others as more important than ourselves].  What a joy it is to have the freedom that God gives and to go right back to Him and say, "God, I want to be your bondslave... not because I am forced to, but because I love to do Your will!"

You see... freedom isn't to be used for selfishness. You have a car? Use it for good... submit to authority with it... use it to show that others are more important than yourself.  As I consider these things, I am challenged to really analyze the incredible freedoms that I have been given.  Am I using them to serve God, to serve others, and to honor and submit to authority? 

Remember when you gained the freedom of being allowed to cross the street for the first time by yourself?  I remember telling my parents that if I was crossing the street and could tell that I wasn't going to make it all the way, I'd lay down really really flat and the car would go over me and I'd be between the wheels and be fine.  Freedoms are granted to those that are ready to use them in the right manner.  May the Lord graciously hold back any freedoms from us that would cause us harm and may He continue His sanctifying work in us so that we are ready to use the freedoms that He grants us in a manner that pleases Him.

Our Position in Christ

A friend and I were studying Ephesians 2 this evening and discussing the joy our position in Christ in comparison to what our position was outside of Him. Take a look at verses 1-3 in contrast to 4-10.

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

We were lifeless. We were slaves to sin and to the pattern of the world. We obeyed satan. We lived for ourselves indulging every sinful desire. The wrath of God was being stored up for us.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

The Christ entered the scene and poured out the riches of His mercy and love on us when we were completely undeserving. We were dead and lifeless. He had no reason to love us. In fact, He had every reason to pour out judgement upon us, but He chose to make us alive with Christ when He died on our behalf to take the full wrath of God and rose again to conquer death. He did this so that we could have the hope of eternal life right now and so that He might actually show us the infinite riches of His grace toward us in Christ.

You know... we hardly understand what He did for us on the cross. We won't fully get it until we see Him face to face and recognize the fullness of His grace and kindness toward us. But while we are still stuck with our finite minds here on earth, we can and ought to take so much joy in what we do know about His goodness to us in Christ and accept His free gift with gratitude and humility knowing that we could not do anything on our own to save ourselves. We had to be saved by a sinless Savior. Not only has He saved us, but He has ordained His perfect plan for us. He has prepared the way of righteousness for us to walk in. He has created us for good works, not to glory in ourselves, but to glory in the goodness of God and live for Him out of the strength that He provides through our joy in Him.

May God grant us the humility to recognize the greatness of His grace and may that recognition fill our hearts with overwhelming joy so that we desire nothing other than to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

The Object of Our Trust

God has been so good and gracious to me, far beyond all that I could ask or think.  I am finding myself more and more aware of all the ways that I must place all my hope and all my trust in the Lord.  I was reading this evening from Proverbs 28 and verses 25 and 26 jumped to me.

An arrogant man stirs up strife, but he who trusts in the Lord will prosper. He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but he who walks wisely will be delivered.

God is against the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Arrogance and trusting the Lord cannot exist together. Either we believe that our way is best, or we believe that God's way is best. This foundational belief (not with the mouth, but with the heart) drives every one of our actions. This has been life changing for me over the last several years especially, but it has again come to my attention lately as the Lord works these truths into my heart again so that all my faith and hope are in God. Who has proven himself as more worthy of trust than our completely faithful God? What security do we have outside of Christ? Are we guarenteed even the next breath? Is not everything that we are dependent on the grace of God?

There is a pattern throughout the history of mankind, starting with Adam and Eve and continues today--God pours out His amazing blessings, we take those blessings and start trusting in the blessing that was provided rather than the Provider of those blessings, and we turn our hearts away from the Lord until He humbles us again to the point of having no choice but to trust in Him. I think of the Israelites in the wilderness after leaving Egypt... they had nothing to eat or drink even, but God provided both of those things. They had to be dependent on Him.

I feel that I am at that time of experiencing the blessings of God. He has been so infinitely good to me. You know, if all we had was Christ, that would be enough, yet He blesses us with so much above and beyond even that. I am so aware these days of my need to trust Him in the midst of His blessings. I must love and serve the Giver of every good and perfect thing with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. Trusting Him doesn't always seem pleasant at the time. Being completely honest reagardless of the consequences... putting others as more important than ourselves... being a peace maker... humility... etc. It is not always easy, but if we truly believe that He is worth trusting, we would obey Him fully without even considering an alternative. May God give us His grace and help to trust Him more. It is a sweet thing to trust in the Almighty God.

A Light

The lake near our house was just stocked with 1,200 lbs of trout this last week and they had a fishing derby.  Hardly anyone caught anything (I didn't even get a bite), but they had a raffle at the end to raffle off some prizes.  They drew my name for a little mag-lite... and actually, I'm super impressed with how bright it is!  But anyway, I was thinking about it that evening... what a random, completely unnecessary blessing!  It was a reminder to me that God takes joy in blessing His children.  I didn't need a new flashlight... and if I did, the Lord has provided for me to go out and purchase one... but He chose to just give it to me.  A light is such a little thing in comparison to the infinite riches of Christ, but I am learning more and more these days to see the Lord in the "little things" of life.  I am thankful for this increased awareness as it is so easy to go through life without being thankful to Him who gives every breath. 

I have been reading in Joshua lately about some of the big actions of God in blessing His people with land and giving them victory over their enemies... a little flashlight seems so small in comparison, but I think it is important that whether it be a small thing or a big thing, I recognize God as the giver of every good and perfect gift and thank Him for it.  God has blessed me so much beyond that, but I pick the story of the flashlight specifically because it is small.  God is honored with we thank Him for the small things just like He is when we thank Him for the big things.  God is doing a lot of big things... He always is, even when we don't see it.  Let's look for Him in every good and perfect gift and take joy in praising Him for His goodness and faithfulness to us.

The Goodness of God

I have been so overwhelmed by the goodness of God.  It's not because He changes, but rather because by His grace and help, I do.  His goodness to me far exceeds my ability to recognize them, but what I do recognize, I am so thankful for.  I was just sitting here thinking of some of His kindnesses to me this morning.  The next breath is only because He enables me to take it.  That random question from a co-worker, the Lord put within their heart and granted me wisdom in responding.  That prompting from the Lord to double check my blind-spot before changing lanes that likely saved an accident was His doing.  That conviction for my bad attitude was from Him.  That empowerment to reflect on His mercy and grace and extend it to others was from Him. The spiritual refreshment in fellowship with friends that desire to please the Lord... He put them in my life... He gave them a heart to please Him and to minister to me.  That peace that is unexplainable when there are so many unknowns... that is from Him.  The desire to want to please Him... it's from Him.  The challenges at work that cause me to grow in character... those are from Him.  The fact that I recognize any of the above or any of the below, it's from Him.  The ability to put into memory His Word and that He brings it to mind just when needed most, it's all from Him.  For music that points me to Him and the writers of it and the recording artists and the technicians that made it sound great... all skill comes from Him.  For technology and the ability to fellowship with believers across the world in multiple ways.  For a constantly changing heart because of His work in it.  For every spiritual blessing that is given me in Christ.  For God's kind intentions toward me.  For God never withholding any good thing from those that walk uprightly.  For the cross. For His unchangingness.  For His faithfulness.  For the unending love of God that I cannot be separated from.  For being taken out of darkness and brought into light.

I am just scratching the surface.  May the Lord grant us the eyes to see His goodness and may that turn our hearts toward repentance, humility, grace, and love for others so that they would see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven.  Thank You, Lord for Your unending goodness.

Focus

Do you ever have those times when you just need to get alone with your Savior and commune with Him?  I have need of these times daily, but some things call for more significant effort in getting alone with Him.  I had the blessing of being asked to lead worship on Sunday and was thrilled to do it, but it is such a huge responsibility to lead His people in worshiping the Lord.  While everyone is responsible before the Lord for their hearts, being a leader holds extra responsibility.  The weight of wanting to say and do the right things was heavy upon my heart on Sunday morning.  I drove to church about 40 minutes early and parked around the back where I could have some of that much needed alone time with the One who deserves all praise and glory.  I was reading different passages along the lines of what we were singing and what the message was going to be about and praying that the Lord would work in my heart to first prepare me for worship and then enable me to lead His people in worship.  He graciously reminded me that it only matters that He is glorified... if He is glorified, that is enough!  That is the purpose of worship.  Yes, I want to say and do the right things, but it isn't about me--it is about Him!  He must be my full motivation for wanting to say and do the right things.  By His grace and help, I believe I was at that point when I went up to lead worship, but I was reminded once again about just how dependent on the Lord I am.  I can't stir within myself the desire to please Him.  Only He can do that.  I can't even breathe apart from God enabling me to do so... every breath is a gift from Him.

This morning was another one of those mornings.  I had a lot on my mind and really needed to hear from the Lord.  I set my alarm moderately early (considering we were up pretty late the night before) and read through four or five passages that were very much applicable to what was on my mind and just asked the Lord to show me what He wanted me to get from His Word. Well, you know... He is in the business of doing just that and I found myself very encouraged through the Word.  One of the passages I read was Romans 12.  Verses 1-2 and 9-13 jumped out at me.

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect... Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

We prove, or demonstrate what the will of God is by letting Him renew our minds.  When God is at the center of our attention, we think the things that He would have us think.  When we think the things that He would have us think, we do the things that He would have us do.  By this, we "test" His will to see just how perfect it really us.  It goes along with the concept of tasting and seeing that the Lord is good.  It is not enough to stand and look from the outside.  He must change us from the inside out so that we experience His goodness as we trust and obey Him.  Paul gives us some specific ways in which we can do this in verses 9-13... to be devoted to one another in brotherly love--this is pure undefiled love and he explains further what that looks like:  giving preference to one another (seeing others as more important than ourselves), being diligent and literally "boiling hot" in the way we serve the Lord, rejoicing in hope (the eternal hope we have in Christ), persevering under pressure and opposition, devoted to prayer (recognizing that we are dependent on Him for all things), meeting the needs of the saints (being the hands and feet of Jesus), and practicing hospitality (specifically to those that are strangers). 

May God conform us more into His image this Christmas as we focus on Him and let Him change our hearts through His Word.  May He give us a tender heart that needs only the slightest nudge to run after Him without looking back. May He grant opportunities to apply His Word and help us to see and act on those opportunities.  And may He give us the humility to come before Him in fervent prayer for all things.

That God May Be Pleased

Life can be so full and so busy at this time of year.  It seems like everyone is in a rush for everything and as much as I'd like to exclude myself from that, I feel more busy than most at the moment.  I like to plan ahead... buy Christmas presents online, etc.  We try to be very generous, but also very practical in our Christmas giving (school supplies, clothes, etc.).  This year more than ever, I feel like we all more than everything we need.  We are so blessed!  There are still things that will be needed if they aren't needed at the moment... but I have yet to buy even one Christmas gift apart from a gift exchange gift which my brother graciously picked up for me. 

Life has been busy!  I have been doing some remodeling in my room thanks for the gracious help of some talented friends.  I also had the blessing of having one of my best friends over for the weekend.  Work is crazy busy with the end of the year and the increasing immediate needs of our clients before the end of the year.

I like life being so full.  I wouldn't want to keep it at this pace forever, but going to bed absolutely exhausted at the end of a full day is actually quite a good feeling.  I am thankful for God's grace in enabling me to be full of joy, giving me desire for the Word and desire to be changed by it while still physically exhausted.  I have felt such incredible peace and joy from the Lord these last several weeks.  Certainly times of life tend to be more joyous than others, but it is the kind of joy that can't be driven just by circumstances.  I have gone to bed so many times over the last few weeks saying to God... "O that You would be pleased with me!  It is enough that You would look on me and be pleased.  What can I give You that hasn't been given to me by You?  But if I could just please You with every part of me... that would be the fullest joy!"

This desire to please the Lord with all of me is not something that I can derive on my own.  It is not something that I can convince myself of.  It is the gracious, merciful, and loving hand of God working in a heart that is desperately wicked. 

I am reminded of Psalm 51:15-17.

O Lord, open my lips, that my mouth may declare Your praise. For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

God's pleasure in His children is not dependent on how much money we put in the plate... how many homeless we feed... how many Bibles we hand out... (though all of these things are part of living life as a Christian), but rather His pleasure in us is based on a heart that if fixed on Him.  A heart of humility and submissiveness to the Lord is what He desires.  If we has us "sell all we have and give our money to the poor and come follow Him", may we be submissive in doing exactly that.  If He calls us to go to a foreign land to preach the gospel, may He give us a heart of submission to do exactly that.  If He tells us to stay in the hard situation we are in... by God's grace, may He gives us that heart of submission to stand firm through the fiery trials of life.  I've had so many friends get married in the last several weeks, it's been pretty crazy... and you know, it is sobering to consider the amount of trials and temptations that each of those individuals will face during their marriages.  May God give them grace to cling to Him and submit to Him within their marriages.  It's exciting, but what a responsibility they have before the Lord in portraying an image of Christ's love for the church!  May His glory not be marred by our lack of submission.  Christ said, "I did whatever pleased the Father."  May we be able to say the same for the days ahead, by His grace.

One More Day

Far too often, I take the time God has given me here on earth for granted.  I was just talking with a friend yesterday about how events in life can spur us on to loving the Lord more and making the most of the time God has given us.  I didn't realize that one of these events would happen to me today.  I have the blessing and privilege of working with the high school guys in Awana on Sunday afternoons... my brother helps out as well and mom is a leader for the high school girls.  We were on our way there this afternoon and there was a big pickup truck going about 45 mph in the 55 mph zone on a two-lane road (one lane each way).  I turned on my left blinker went into the oncoming lane since there was plenty of room and passed the truck.  I was about 5 feet in front of the truck and turned on my right blinker to indicate that I was going to come over soon, but was planning to be 20 or 30 feet in front before actually merging.  At this point, the driver of the truck sped up so that the front of his truck was a foot or two in front of my back bumper so that I was unable to merge back onto my side of the road.  I hit the gas some more to get by him and he continued to speed up to prevent me from merging.  I hit the brake and he did as well.  By this time, a car was approaching at a closing speed of 110 mph (55 mph each way).  I was unable to merge.  I moved to the right as much as I could... somewhere between 6 inches and a foot from the side of the truck and by God's grace, the driver coming the other direction went partly into the very small shoulder that he had available to him and squeezed by.  I was able to merge after the truck sped away and we called 911 and provided the police with his license plate number and description of the vehicle. 

God was so gracious to us.  We prayed and thanked the Lord for His protection.  Of course, we wouldn't have minded being with the Lord tonight, but apparently the Lord has more for us to do here on earth and I am thankful for that.  I think the rest of the family is thankful as well. 

This even certainly causes me to ask myself some questions:  Why did the Lord allow it to take place?  What does He want me to learn from it?  What areas of life am I not living to the fullest for Him?  How can I make the most of my time on earth for His glory?

I do not know all the answers to these questions... in fact, it may not have even been primarily for my sake, but I am a strong believer that God didn't have me there for no reason and I would do well to consider what He might be wanting to teach me through it.  I am thankful for His protection... for His grace... for the security of my righteousness being found in Christ alone... for one more day to live no longer for myself, but for Christ who died and rose again on my behalf.

Love and Obedience

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind.  I had the blessing of witnessing the marriage of two very good friends the weekend after Thanksgiving.  It was an incredibly joyous time rejoicing with them as they made life-long commitments to one another before the Lord.  Weddings are interesting... it is an exciting time... a time to have fun, make memories, enjoy celebrating, etc., but it is a very holy time.  It is a sacred covenant being made before the Creator of all things including marriage.  I was discussing this very thing with the officiating pastor following the wedding and we were discussing how God made such a serious thing also be so joyful. 

As I have been reading in 1 John this week (1 John 5 today), I am reminded of a similar serious but joyful thing: obedience.  Obedience doesn't generally strike us as something really exciting or joyful when we hear the word, but when we consider that the Creator of all the universe is calling us to obey Him, that is an exceedingly joyful thing.  Love is a word we all like... we were created to both give and receive it... but how often do we connect love with obedience?  God does... and He tells us why He does!

Take a look at 1 John 5:1-4.

Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

When we begin to understand what an incredible privilege it is to be asked to do anything by the all-powerful, all-knowing God, there is absolutely no thought of obedience to Him being a burden.  Yet, God knows that we in our sinfulness far too often are so self-centered that we miss the fact that it is a privilege to serve Him and obey Him, so He reminds us that His commands are not burdensome!  God never meant obeying Him to feel like a burden.  He meant our obedience to be out of love and joy! 

I think back to times as a young boy when dad would ask me to help him on some kind of project... what an honor that was!  I got to help dad scrape gum off the tables at school!  I was absolutely elated to have the privilege of being with dad and help him with such an important task in preparing his classroom for the students. 

Alright, so what has changed?  Why do I feel like serving the Lord is a burden when not only is it not a burden, it is a privilege?  Why do I see serving others as a burden when in doing so, I am actually carrying out what the Lord has called me to--"by love, serve one another"?  Am I now too old or to big or too smart or too wise to do small things for the Lord?  Will I accept only big important tasks that get me noticed in front of others, or will I accept the small tasks that no one will ever notice or maybe they will even look down on me for? 

The Lord has so much work to do in humbling me!  Okay, so I do not always see serving Him as a burden.  By His grace, I often find great joy in serving Him.  His commandments truly are not a burden and He is continually giving me joy through the Holy Spirit in loving and obeying Him.  But don't miss the point!  I do not always obey Him joyfully... in fact, I don't always obey Him at all!  This is all a part of the sanctification process.  We need to become like little children once again and joyfully take the smallest of tasks from the Lord as an incredible privilege, obeying immediately and joyfully because there is no greater One that we could be serving.  There is no greater honor on earth than to be asked to do even the smallest of things by the Creator of all the earth.  May God give us grace and help to understand how blessed we are to be used by Him and turn our hearts toward loving and joyful obedience.

Keeping the End in Sight

I've had the blessing of having the opportunity to teach through Ephesians 1-3 to the high school kids in Awana.  Ephesians is one of my favorite books which makes it an extra special blessing.  One thing that has been continually on my mind as I have been teaching it is that we must live with the end in sight.  Much of this is due to the fact that God has given me a passion for seeing believers press on to know and obey the Lord, but I am also encouraged in this manner because of the great blessings of Christ specifically in these three chapters. 

In Ephesians 1, we are reminded that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ, that He chose us, adopted us, His intentions toward us are kind, He loves us, He redeemed us with His blood, we have an inheritance in Christ, we have hope in Christ, we are sealed and secure in Christ, we are God's own possession, that God is far above all rule and authority, etc.

In Ephesians 2, we are reminded that we once were completely spiritually dead because of our sin, we once lived to please ourselves, indulging the evil desires of the flesh and deserved the wrath of God, but because of God's great mercy, He made us alive with Christ and saved us by His grace.  Because of this salvation, we get to see the surpassing riches of His grace both here and for all eternity.  We are reminded that we are saved not by our works, but by faith alone and by the grace of God and that we are created to do good works.  This reminds me of the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:22-23... love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control... we will see these fruits in our lives if we are living as He would have us live.  This doesn't earn us any more favor with God, but it is our joy to obey Him and serve Him.  We are also reminded in this chapter that we have peace with God through Christ, that we are no longer strangers to God, but we are in His family.  We have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  We are not only part of His family, but we are part of His body and the dwelling place of God.

In Ephesians 3, we are reminded of the amazing truth that we as Gentiles can be saved!  I take this for granted so much... but to think that it was twelve normal Jewish men spreading the gospel... and that God allowed me to hear the gospel, understand it, and He put in me a heart to respond to... it is just incredible!  We are reminded that God has revealed Himself to us so that we could know His eternal purposes and that because of His purpose in drawing near to us, we can have boldness in coming before Him because of Christ.  We are also reminded that He is able to do far more abundantly beyond all we ask or think.

Because of these truths, how can we not keep the end in sight?  How can we not hope for the glory that is to be revealed when we see Him face to face?  How can we live for ourselves now?  How can we who have been saved from sin choose to remain in it? 

Let us, by the grace of God, live no longer for ourselves, but for Christ who died and rose again on our behalf.  He is worthy of all we have to offer and infinitely more.  Let's offer the joyful sacrifice of everything we have so that He might be glorified in us.

Practicing

I was reading last night in a book called, "The Pursuit of Holiness" and was challenged to really take to heart the things in the Word.  I was convicted of the many times that I have read the Word and not let it sink into my heart to the point of being applied.  I was challenged to make specific applications from the Word rather than generalizing the application.  I truly believe that this is vital to the Christian life.  If I am not being changed by the Word, then how is it profitable?  Head knowledge puffs up.  Holiness and obedience don't happen overnight.  It is something that must be practiced over and over again.  I love how the Lord shows more and more areas that we need to grow in as we choose to submit to Him out of love for Him and His perfect ways.

I was reading in Psalm 86 tonight and a few verses jumped out to me...

For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You.

also...

Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name. I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and will glorify Your name forever.

What an incredible blessing it is that when we sin (over and over again), the Lord is ready to forgive. That word, "ready" brings joy to my heart... it speaks of His preparedness in the form of Christ's blood on my behalf. Christ has paid it all... He is ready to forgive! I also appreciate the challenge in this prayer from David asking the Lord to teach him in order that he may walk in truth. He also commits here to be thankful to the Lord and glorify the Lord. David understood what it meant to hear the Word of the Lord and apply it. Rather than stopping it at the general level, I think the Lord would have me think of specific ways to apply these truths. First, I need the Lord to teach me His ways... He teaches through His Word, He teachers me through preaching, He teaches me through others. This means that I must surround myself by the Word and by people that will bring the Word to me. Secondly, I need to walk in the truth that I hear from people... so not only do I need those that will speak truth into my life, but I also need those that will challenge me to walk by truth and hold me to it. There are so many things we have to thank the Lord for. We had a friend over this weekend from TX and she spent time thanking the Lord for some things that I hadn't even though of thanking Him for. I can certainly grow in the area of thankfulness to God both in my private prayer and in public. The last thing here is that I must bring glory to the Lord. God is worthy of all my praise and because of this, I must be careful to recognize Him in all good things. Every good and perfect thing comes from above. He glorifies Himself through His work, but too often, I attempt to steal the glory that belongs only to Him. This week, I am going to make it a goal to apply these things on practical levels in whatever places the Lord puts me... at work, at church, with friends, etc. He is great and greatly to be praised. Let's practice praising Him now. After all, we'll be doing it for all eternity!

Praise Him!

I had the blessing of going out to an Angel's game with a good friend of mine.  It was such a blessing and refreshment not only physically, but even more so spiritually.  It's such an incredible blessing to be able to have fun and be spiritually refreshed at the same time.  You know, we as a culture tend to put entertainment in one category and God in another.  Christ came to have "first place in everything"... to be "all and in all".  He cannot be excluded from entertainment.  He created things for us to enjoy and we ought to be able to be "entertained" by things that we can thank the Lord for.  When we enjoy the blessings (even entertainment) that God provides, I believe He is honored.  It is when we exclude Him that we are tempted to seek to be entertained by things that are not honoring to Him.  We must praise Him in all things... and that praise ought to drive us toward holiness.

I've been reading Psalm 45 off and on for the last couple weeks and wanted to share it here.

I will extol You, my God, O King, And I will bless Your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised, And His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of Your majesty And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate. Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts, And I will tell of Your greatness. They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness And will shout joyfully of Your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness. The Lord is good to all, And His mercies are over all His works. All Your works shall give thanks to You, O Lord, And Your godly ones shall bless You. They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom And talk of Your power; To make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts And the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And Your dominion endures throughout all generations. The Lord sustains all who fall And raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to You, And You give them their food in due time. You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all His ways And kind in all His deeds. The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them. The Lord keeps all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy. My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, And all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever. 
 

What has really been catching my mind is the concept of multiple generations talking together about the goodness of the Lord.  Too often I am caught up in just talking to those my age about it, but those younger than me need it... and those older than me need it!  A couple Sunday's ago, I went up and introduced myself to two elderly ladies that started coming to our church recently.  I'm sorry to say that I have already forgotten their names, but it was amazing for me to see the joy on their faces after taking just a minute out of my Sunday to talk with them.  It was convicting realizing that I have so often overlooked these opportunities.  I can be so busy "serving" that I am not actually serving His body.  I hope to be able to apply some of these things this next week at church especially.  I want to talk of God's goodness to those ladies.  I want to hear from them about God's goodness.  That is fellowship!  Let's praise His name together.

Listening

I have been going very slowly through Psalm 119... sometimes three or four times on a given section throughout the day.  It is so rich.  I was reading verses 147 and 148 this evening and just love the example that David set for us.

I rise before dawn and cry for help; I wait for Your words. My eyes anticipate the night watches, that I may meditate on Your word.  

Pastor Tim preached on the Word of Christ this last weekend and mentioned different ways that it gets into us.  He mentioned that up until recently (when considering all of history), "read my Bible" really wasn't an answer that people had to that question. It was based on prayer, and speaking His Word to one another.  That is not to say that we should read less of the Word... we should see it as an incredible blessing and privilege to be able to read His Word!  At the same time, we ought not neglect the other ways that God's Word gets into us.  We ought not neglect the spiritual disciplines behind pursuing Christ just because it is easier to get His Words into us. 

I just love this example in Psalm 119... David gets up before the sun rises in order to cry out to God for help.  This shows humility realizing that he cannot handle things on his own.  It also shows urgency... it can't even wait until the sun comes up!  Then comes a very important aspect of communication with the Lord... waiting for His words.  I know at least for me, I can get so caught up in all of the things that I need to say to the Lord that I don't take the time to listen diligently for His answer.  The Lord actually knows everything that we are going to ask before we ask it.  We do not know His answer before He answers!  Perhaps we ought to do a whole lot more listening to Him than speaking to Him.  I can't help but think of Samuel and Eli... Eli tells Samuel to say, "speak Lord, for your servant is listening".  May God give us His grace and help to be more diligent listeners... that we would hear His words and live by them... that we would have that voice behind us saying, "This is the way, walk in it!"  Last but certainly not least, David looks forward to night because it is the time that He meditates on God's word.  I can hardly think of a more important time of day to meditate on the word of God than right before we go to bed.  It is in bed that we lay silently in the darkness in those moments before falling asleep that we are finally still and quiet before Him after all of busyness and stress of the day is over.  If our minds are filled with His word at that pivotal time of the day rather than the worries of the day, we can use that time to listen to His voice... to reflect on the events of the day and what was honoring to the Lord and what wasn't.  If our minds are racing to the events of the day without first being filled with the Word, we are prone to worry. It is vital that we are filling our minds with His word... seeking Him diligently in the morning, meditating on His truths in the evening so that we think His thoughts about the situations that we face on a daily basis.

May God grant us grace to desire His word more and more.  May we see it as the essential food for life and breath.  May we gain the mind of Christ.

Worship

God has granted the opportunity to worship in a few different churches over the last few weeks due to work and vacation and it has been a good challenge for my heart.  Just to clarify here, when I say worship, I mean more than just the music.  Worship as I am mentioning here is the entire service and the interaction before and after.  Let me also mention, that I am not of the opinion that you ought to make your home church one that you do not agree with doctrinally or in the manner of worship.  Satan uses these kinds of things to divide the body of Christ and so, I believe we ought to choose a place of worship carefully based on the truths of scripture and what leads us to love and obey Him more.  Anyway, one of the churches was really not my preference for worship, one of the churches was very close to what my preference is, and another one was a mixture of both.  I knew before I walked into the first one that it was not going to be my preference, so the battle in my heart happened the night before.  I was faced with the question, what is worship?  Can I worship in a service where I don't feel like others are worshiping the "right way"? 

These were all great things to think through.  I have thought through these things several times before, but it was good to battle with them once again.  I came to the conclusion that if I can worship in a secular environment (all of life ought to be worship), then I can worship the One True God in any environment.  Obviously, this church was not a "secular environment", but it was helpful for me to take the extreme case so that my heart would not be distracted by things while at the church.  I didn't have to think about what others thought of me... I didn't have to agree with the pastor... I didn't have to agree with the music... I didn't have to care about what other people were doing or how they were doing it... but I did have to worship!  Worship comes from the heart. 

I'd like to take the time to challenge anyone that may happen to stumble across this to really consider what it means to worship the Lord.  Once that is determined based on the Word of God, my next challenge would be to consider if the local body of believers (church) that you worship with generally help you to worship the Lord from the heart, or if it hinders your worship.  Notice, I did not ask if you liked it.  The question isn't whether or not I like the worship.  The question is whether or not it is worship!  Am I just going through the motions of attending church and singing songs, or am I actually worshiping the Lord in Spirit and in truth?  One question I try to ask myself often is, "God, are you pleased by this?"  This same question can be applied to our worship.  Are we pleasing God or men?  My challenge to you is to take action.  It doesn't matter if "all your friends are doing it"... what matters is that you are worshiping the Lord with all of your heart and that you are being fed and guided by the Word of God through the teaching.  If you need to find a new church home, please do it!  For the sake of your heart, for the sake of your family, for the sake of honoring the Lord, do it!  If you need to bring some things up to the leadership of your church privately, do it!  Why would we wait to do these things when there is nothing more important than worshiping the Lord?  It's not about opinions or preferences, it is about honoring the Lord.

I'd also like to challenge those that are not attending a perfect church (yes, that makes all of us) to give grace to those that are in leadership. There will not be a perfect worship service until we worship Christ for all eternity in heaven.  It is not helpful for us to complain about that one song that was too loud, or that one person that was or wasn't raising his/her hands.  We are commanded to speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody in our hearts to the Lord!  Encourage those around you.  Worship is not about me and it is not about you!  It is about the Lord.  Encourage others in their worship of Him.  Sing because He is worthy of our voices raised to honor Him.  You don't have to sound good.  He is pleased when we open our mouths to praise Him.  Do you need to quiet your heart before Him and worship in silence?  Do it!  Pray for opportunities to minister to people in your local body of believers and look for those opportunities.  The sum it all up, worship the Lord in Spirit and in truth because He is worthy of all of our worship and remember that you are not the only one that struggles with this.  Others need encouragement to worship Him from a pure heart.  Part of being in the body of Christ is the responsibility to encourage and exhort others to love and obey Him.  Do it because you love Him!

Out Of Love

I had the blessing of spending the weekend in Colorado. I was working out there on Monday and so my boss agreed to fly me out on Friday afternoon so that I could spend the weekend with a friend before work on Monday. It was such a refreshment and encouragement to me. We stayed up until like 3:45 am one night talking and I was using the words, "my responsibility before the Lord", quite often. I know that as a man, I have responsibilities in different facets of life... responsibilities toward God, to my family, to those in my church, to my boss and coworkers, to my friends, etc. I believe I am to be a man that takes responsibility. However, as we were talking, my friend mentioned that I was focusing too much on "responsibility" and not enough on "relationship". We can easily become people that have "to do lists" in all of our "responsibilities" toward those around us that we lose sight of the core of God's heart toward people--to love them as we love ourselves.

Fulfilling our "duties" toward one another must flow from love. The love of Christ must be what controls us. I fear that over the years, I have focused too much on the "responsibility" aspect of our obedience to the Lord and not enough on our obedience flowing out of our love for Him. Part of this is because I want to get away from the concept of love being simply a "feeling". Feelings come and go. In fact, this evening I had very little desire for the Word. I could attempt to justify it by coming up with some lame reasons for why I may not desire it as much as I should, but lets face it, we can always come up with a "reason" not to love. Yes, I want my desire for the Word to come out of love for the Lord, but sometimes I just need to "do it" even though I don't feel like I love Him as I ought to. Actually, I should always feel that I don't love Him like I ought to, but in my sinfulness, I often think far too highly of my love for Him. I am thankful for grace.

I find that when I do the "loving thing" regardless of how I feel and ask the Lord for help, God grants grace to love more (and feel more loving). It doesn't always start with the feeling, but God often grants the feeling as a result of true Christ-centered love. I spent time in Romans 5 this evening... didn't feel like it at all... but knowing that loving Him is often directly related to my knowledge of Him, I knew time with Him was the loving thing for me to do regardless of my feelings. As I read, I was reminded of the incredible grace of God.

Take a look at verses 1-11...

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

How can I read this and not be filled up with joy in the amazing grace of God through Christ? I was a helpless sinner. Now, I am justified in His sight. He died for my sin. How can my heart not be filled with the joy of my salvation? This isn't like winning a game or something... this is the eternal state of my soul being transferred from eternal separation from God to eternal full joy in His presence!

God, thank You for Your grace and help in changing my heart from a heart that is cold and unloving to a heart that loves You. Thank You for grace to love others when I don't "feel like it" and for granted grace even to "feel like it", though I don't need to "feel it" in order to obey You. You are so good. Your Word truly is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. It is food for the soul that doesn't even realize its hunger. Continue to grant me more desire for Your Word and for obedience to it out of love for You. Fill my heart with the joy of Christ as I sleep, for I know that You give to Your beloved even in their sleep. Thank You for grace. Thank You for Christ.