Nail-biters!

Yeah, I get anxious and I chew on my nails! Why exactly do so many people who are full of anxiety chew on the ends of their fingers? I do not have an answer for that question. There are plenty things in the world to worry about. The war in Iraq offers us an opportunity to worry about the possibility that our country has entered another endless conflict which will continue to claim American lives for the next decade, like the conflict in Vietnam did in the 60's and 70's. Then, there is terrorism. Will there be more subway bombs, crashing airliners, or dirty nukes brought to one of our major cities? Rising energy prices and the coming of winter can provoke real angst as there is the threat that this will disrupt the U.S. economy significantly. If you're more prone to fret about stuff closer to your home, you could stew over your health - wondering if the 'big one' will stop your heart, or if cancerous cells are presently plotting your demise. Worried, yet? Or should I keep going?

Most of think that worry is beyond our control. We blame our tendency to fret on our genes or the way our parents raised us. There is some truth in that. Some of us are much more prone to become anxious than others. And if you're raised in a home where the future, the unknown, or the untried is feared and where anxiety is in constant evidence, you are much more likely to live fearfully in this wide world. However, we need to know this - anxiety is voluntary, too. We can choose to worry or we can choose to live in the quiet confidence that our God reigns!

Worriers need to memorize this passage so that they can recite it the moment that they look for a finger nail to chew on! Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4-7, NLT)

"Don't worry about anything!" That, is what we call an imperative, meaning it is a command. God would not command us to do what is beyond our control or the impossible. He clues us in about the 'how-to' of that directive. So how do we stop worrying? "Tell God what you need and thank Him for all He has done!" Go ahead, try it. If you're a hard-core worrier, your mind will rebel against this simple prescription. It will tell you that you're being stupid, that you're avoiding reality, that you need to 'take charge.' Take it from a guy whose wrestled with each of those things and more. Make the choice- Trust and Thanks.

Jesus has an interesting description of the result of worry. In a story he told about seed the of the Gospel producing a harvest in our lives, He said that some "seed fell among thorns (weeds) that shot up and choked out the tender blades so that it produced no grain." (Mark 4:7, NLT) Then He explained His point. “The seed cast in the weeds represents the ones who hear the kingdom news but are overwhelmed with worries about all the things they have to do and all the things they want to get. The stress strangles what they heard, and nothing comes of it." (Mark 4:18-19, The Message) Isn't that interesting? We can miss out on the blessings of living in God's Kingdom, in the richness of His care for us, just by focusing on our problems instead of God's care. I can certainly understand why He used the word - choke- too. I've spent too many nights, laying on my bed in the darkness of the early morning hours allowing anxiety to wrap its grip around my chest until I thought I would die!

But I have learned that worry is a choice and now when I feel the icy fingers of stress, I break their stranglehold with Trust and Thanks.

Believer, are you fretting today?
Are your nails bloodied by your tearing at them in anxiousness?
Make a different choice - a choice that moves the focus from your inabilities to God's power and promises.
_________________________

All Your Promises-- Smith, Andrew-- Mercy / Vineyard Publishing

Oh all Your promises
Are "Yes" and "Amen" in Jesus.
Your promises are true.
All Your promises
Are "Yes" and "Amen" Lord Jesus,
We'll keep running after You.

O Lord our Lord,
How majestic is Your name.
Your words are true,
Your mercy does not change.
All Your promises are precious,
Reviving our faith.
Every one of them
Will be fulfilled one day.

We will run,
We'll run and not grow weary.
We will rise upon the eagle's wings.
In the presence of the Lord,
Our spirits will soar,
Till we one day gaze upon our King.

But my foot had almost slipped,
O Lord, I'd almost lost my way,
'Til I entered the house of the Lord
And heard Your sweet Spirit say,

Oh all Your promises
Are "Yes" and "Amen" in Jesus.
Your promises are true.
All Your promisesAre "Yes" and "Amen"
Lord Jesus,We'll keep running after You.

© 1995 Mercy / Vineyard Publishing (Admin. by Music Services)
CCLI License No. 810055

Who's in the jury box?

Our Wednesday Bible Study has been working through a series of lessons about spiritual disciplines, the choices we make to open our lives to the inflow of the Spirit and to defeat sinfulness. In addition to the Scripture, our guide for this study is John Ortberg's outstanding book, The Life You've Always Wanted. Last night we took a look at Jesus' command from Matthew 6 that we should do our 'religious' acts in secret. Remember His words? "When you give, don't announce it.... when you pray do it in private, not on the street corners... when you fast, don't look disheveled so others take note." The Message summarizes the principle Jesus is teaching saying, “When you practice some appetite-denying discipline to better concentrate on God, don’t make a production out of it. It might turn you into a small-time celebrity but it won’t make you a saint."

Because of that ancient sin, pride, there is, in every living person, a craving for approval and applause. If we feed that craving by 'showing off' it will become an addiction, turning us into actors, people pleasers, and hypocrites. If we allow ourselves to become 'externally validated,' that is - to let others determine how we feel about ourselves, we will become insecure, defensive, and shallow people. Our lives will be lived without conviction, and we will be incapable of making the hard choices that are necessary for any true child of the living God.

God defines success by our faithfulness to discover His purpose for life and then to faithfully live in that purpose. His one question to us is "Do you know my will and live in it?" Most of us define success much differently: by how much money we have, what titles we have claimed, how fast our kids run, and similar things. We run hard and fast after the approval of others, but it is a race that has no finish line. Why? Because when we achieve what we dreamed would mark us as a 'worthy person,' we look around and see that someone has done us one better! There is no better illustration of this than John Quincy Adams, who served as a US President, Secretary of State, Ambassador, and Congressman wrote near the end of his life: "I have done nothing. I have no ability to do anything that will live in the memory of mankind. My life has been spent in vain and idle aspirations, and in ceaseless rejected prayers that something should result of my existence beneficial to my own species."

Paul, the apostle, who lived most of his adult life being rejected by the secular governments of cities and towns, and fighting with religious authorities in Jerusalem, says - "Obviously, I’m not trying to be a people pleaser! No, I am trying to please God. If I were still trying to please people, I would not be Christ’s servant." (Galatians 1:10, NLT) He understood Jesus' demand for single mindedness with great clarity. What did the Lord say? "You cannot serve two masters."

Believer, if we want to please God, we must be willing to offend others and to endure rejection, criticism, even persecution. Certainly there will be those wonderfully blissful moments when His will causes us to bless others and when they will affirm us, thank us, and even take note and give thanks to God. There's not a thing wrong with that, but applause and recognition is never to the be motive for service, ever! If it comes to us incidentally, so be it. Be careful though. Applause is addictive. We can quickly learn to like it and turn ourselves into performers who dance for the crowds, even as we lose touch with the applause of the Audience of One. No one knows this better than a Pastor who takes the stage, week by week, in front of the congregation. I struggle daily with the temptation to fit my message and my service to popular expectations in order to get the glowingly affirming comments from those I am supposed to serve as God's spokesman.

Who are you serving today, Believer?
Who sits in the imaginary jury box, evaluating your life?
Is it God - or is it your parent, your pastor, your boss, your spouse, your friends?

Here's a word from the Word for meditation today:
"It matters very little to me what you think of me, even less where I rank in popular opinion. I don’t even rank myself. Comparisons in these matters are pointless. I’m not aware of anything that would disqualify me from being a good guide for you, but that doesn’t mean much.
The Master makes that judgment.
So don’t get ahead of the Master and jump to conclusions with your judgments before all the evidence is in. When he comes, he will bring out in the open and place in evidence all kinds of things we never even dreamed of—inner motives and purposes and prayers. Only then will any one of us get to hear the “Well done!” of God." (1 Corinthians 4:3-5, The Message)

Give us today our daily bread

Living in a time and nation where food of every kind is available in such abundance, I don't feel as grateful as I should for the bread that I eat from day to day. The prayers I say before meals are often offered up in a perfunctory manner. The current issue of US News (8/15/05) focuses on America's food supply and what American's have been eating over the last 300 years. It's fascinating stuff. Living in this age of packaged, preserved food plucked from supermarket shelves, I did not realize how much America's diet has changed and how blessed we are to enjoy the wide variety of dietary options that are available to us.

Consider these factoids.

Though we romanticize the first Thanksgiving feast of the Puritans, the truth is that New England colonists largely lived on a diet of 'pease porridge' - basically bean soup - day in and day out!

A 100 years ago, the nation's meat supply was often contaminated by spoilage, chemicals, and even garbage! A single book by Upton Sinclair, The Jungle, published in 1906 about Chicago's meat packing industry, caused an uproar that spurred the Federal government to begin to regulate that industry.

Graham crackers were the invention of a Presbyterian minister, Rev. Sylvester Graham, in the early 19th century, who believed that eating too much meat and fatty food aroused sexual feelings, so he made a basic biscuit that included a lot of fiber. Graham thought a person could control lust by eating high fiber crackers!

Here's the saddest fact. While being overweight is America's number one health issue today due in part to our abundant food supply, in many parts of the world people are still suffering with malnutrition and dying from starvation! A significant percentage of people in the world today still eat to live, existing on diets of very basic staples.


When I open the refrigerator today, I am going to really give God thanks from my heart, for so much good food. How about you? As you sit down to your table, make your prayer of thanksgiving a real offering of gratitude. And.... though Rev. Graham's ideas about controlling lust by eating crackers is a crazy idea, consider what and how much you're consuming. Our diets do matter to our God since how we feed these bodies, which are the temples of the Spirit, is an issue of health. Science has proven the value of a balanced diet, of one that is lower in fat consumption, and that is rich in fiber from fresh fruits and vegetables. I believe we honor the God who has provided us with so much abundance by choosing to eat in a way that helps to keep us healthy and strong, so we can serve Him for many years with strong bodies and clear minds.


"Give us today our daily bread." ...
“I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?" ...
"So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans (those who do not know God) run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, (even at your dinner table!) and all these things will be given to you as well. "
(Matthew 6:11, 25, 31-35, NIV)

That I may breathe your Breath, O God.

The noblest impulse in us is so quickly compromised by selfish interest. What begins as the best intended plans to make a better world can easily be turned into a means of feeding the needs of the ego, of enriching ourself, or buying the favor of others through the misuse of our position. By way of illustration I point to the story breaking from New York about the UN's 'oil for food' program that was created to allow pre-war Iraq to sell oil so the nation could afford food for its people. Sounds like a good and humanitarian cause, doesn't it? Yet, now we are learning that the multi-million dollar program was riddled with kick-back schemes and insider deals that enriched several UN officials. Sad, isn't it? But, not so uncommon. Everyone can tell stories of good people who, when given a position of power or trust, turned it into a means of self-aggrandizement.

We must, because of the sin nature that continues to war against good and God, remain vigilant and prayerful, asking God to keep our lives pure from selfishness and greed. Each new day our motives need to be held up to the Light to see where any ugly stain of sin is spreading, corrupting even our best and highest intentions to do the will of God.

George MacDonald, a Scot preacher/poet who lived a century ago, wrote in his book,
The Diary of An Old Soul:

With ev'ry morn my life afresh must break
The crust of self, gathered 'round me fresh;
That Thy wind-Spirit may rush in and shake
The darkness out of me, and rend the mesh
The spider-devil spins out of the flesh --
Eager to net the soul before it wakes,
That it my slumberous lie, and listen to the snake.
(as quoted in REV., Sept/Oct. '05 issue)

Isn't that a lovely picture? Waking to break the 'crust of self.'

No, of course not, but it is an accurate one. We break that shell that would block out the Spirit, so that the Life of God's Breath may bring us freedom, renewal, and the beauty of holiness.

The book of Genesis tells us that in the very beginning, "the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." (Genesis 2:7, NIV) Apart from His breath, we remain 'dusty men!' But we need not remain creatures of the dirt, living to satisfy only the needs that press themselves on us so powerfully. The Spirit can make us noble and new, morning by morning.

Have you broken away the 'crust of self' today and invited the Spirit of God to breathe new life into your service, your worship, your words?

Here's a word from the Word to take with you through this day.

This is what the Lord says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans and turn their hearts away from the Lord. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, on the salty flats where no one lives.

“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they go right on producing delicious fruit.

The human heart is most deceitful and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?
But I know! I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.”(Jeremiah 17:5-10, NLT)
_________________________

Breathe on me, breath of God,
Fill me with life anew,
That I may loveWhat Thou dost love,
And do what Thou wouldst do.

Breathe on me, breath of God,
Until my heart is pure.
Until with Thee I will one will,
To do and to endure.

Breathe on me, breath of God,
Till I am wholly Thine.
Until this earthly part of me
Glows with Thy fire divine.

Breath on me, breath of God,
So shall I never die,
But live with Thee
The perfect life
Of Thine eternity.

© Public Domain CCLI License No. 810055

Home - here or there?

It's good to be home! For 12 days, I enjoyed taking in splendid views from soaring mountains in Colorado. Worshipping with thousands of Believers at the Assemblies of God General Council in Denver last week left my heart full to overflowing. I appreciated the break from the daily responsibilities of life, recognizing that I needed renewal in mind and body, yet, to borrow an old phrase, "there's no place like home!" I missed the easy camaraderie with friends and the rhythms of daily work. By Saturday, I was intensely longing for home!

Do you ever feel homesick for Heaven? The Bible teaches us that as children of God we're not home, yet! Peter uses very powerful words calling us, 'aliens and strangers in the world.' 1 Peter 2:11 An alternate translation is 'sojourner' meaning one who is temporarily living away from his home. Where is your heart's true home? But, some might say, "how can Heaven be my 'home' when I have never been there?" Good question, and one I used to wonder about. As we worship and grow spiritually in Christ's love, we become increasingly at home in God's Presence. Today, I feel most alive, most at home, when I am with God's people, in the Spirit, enjoying the fellowship of Jesus. And that's just a tiny sample of Heaven. More and more, I long for Heaven and the beauty of my home there.

That's not to say there isn't beauty to be found here in this world. The smile of a child, the grandeur of Creation, the love of a friend are God's gifts to us while we make the pilgrimage to His home. In much the same way I found many wonderful moments in my time 'on the road,' but those glory moments did not replace the sense of being an 'alien' in a place far from home.

Here's what the Words tells us about life on the road and our anticipation of Heaven. Let it inspire you today.
"We know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven—God-made, not handmade —and we’ll never have to relocate our “tents” again.
Sometimes we can hardly wait to move—and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what’s coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we’re tired of it! We’ve been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies!
The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what’s ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we’ll never settle for less."
(2 Corinthians 5:1-5, The Message)

Believer, don't try to make this world your permanent home. It's passing away! Live to the full, give each day your best for the glory of God. Announce the Kingdom of God to those with whom you live, but keep Heaven in your heart.
________________________

O, heaven is in my heart,
O, heaven is in my heart.

The kingdom of our God is here,
Heaven is in my heart.
The presence of His majesty,
Heaven is in my heart.
And in His presence joy abounds,
Heaven is in my heart.

The light of holiness surrounds,
Heaven is in my heart.
His precious life on me He spent,
Heaven is in my heart.
To give me life without an end,
Heaven is in my heart.

In Christ is all my confidence,
Heaven is in my heart.
The hope of my inheritance,
Heaven is in my heart.
We are a temple for His throne,
Heaven is in my heart.

And Christ is the foundation stone,
Heaven is in my heart.
He will return to take us home,
Heaven is in my heart.
The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come!"
Heaven is in my heart.

© 1991 Make Way Music (Admin. by Music Services) CCLI License No. 810055