Excuses, Excuses

How honest are you with yourself? It’s a tough question, isn’t it? Are you self-aware, able to see what you do clearly as well as understanding why you do it?  Learning to be honest to God and ourselves is a big step in spiritual maturity, a key to personal freedom.  I am a real supporter of AA as a pathway to sobriety. The 10^th step addresses this issue, with the person seeking that freedom committing he will “take personal inventory and when wrong promptly admit it.”

In recent months I noticed that I was becoming more irritable and critical. Finally, I took time to prayerfully examine my life and realized that I had been repressing an unfocused anger. I took steps to address it, to think about it, and to ask God, the Holy Spirit, to work in me for a change. What freedom I found in the process.

Often when we are challenged about some choice or behavior our first response is to rationalize and excuse, pointing out why we are right. It is a pattern as old as Eden, where Adam told God that "it was the woman you gave me that gave me the fruit!" She, in turn, blamed the serpent, "it deceived me and I ate the fruit!"

Think of the various excuses you use to justify yourself. Some blame bad parents. Others point to a poor education. We might point out our genetic heritage, co-workers, traffic, our spouse … the list is long, isn't it?  Many years ago, a wise teacher repeated a phrase that sticks in my mind. It was her definition of a self-justifying excuse - "a skin of a reason, stuffed full of lies!"  With that little phrase, she pressed us to be responsible people.

If you want to be right with God, throw away the excuses; forget about convincing Him that 'the Devil made you do it.' Spiritual freedom and maturity begin with honesty – with ourselves, with others, and with God. John teaches us - "If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness." (1 John 1:8-9, NLT)

We look at the mess we've created
with ill-informed, or selfish, or thoughtless choices
and we say,
"That's what I did. God help me!" -
the glorious truth is - He will.

In the book of Romans there is this passage that is packed with promise. Take a look.
"Now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:21-24, NIV)

The Law of Moses defined the standard we were to live up to in order to be acceptable to Him. In our human frailty, we all fail – miserably! Those failures are sin, and sin separates us from God. But God… yes, He stepped in to provide a way home, a path to maturity.  The situation is not hopeless, because what I could not do for myself- get right with God - has been done for me by Christ Jesus.

When we get ‘honest to God,’ when we turn to Him in faith accepting His invitation to live in grace, we are justified! No excuses are needed. God declares our sins forgiven and erases the debt and guilt. Yes, as the old phrase says, I am new; “just as if I'd” never sinned!

Are you wallowing in guilt?
Are you still trying to excuse the things you have done that you know are wrong, sinful in the eyes of God and others?
Throw away the excuses and choose to humbly acknowledge the truth. THEN, accept the gift of forgiveness and renewal. We can become ‘new creations’ through Christ’s death and Resurrection, empowered to please God by the Spirit Who lives in us.

It is the way to real and lasting change, the only way to become genuinely holy, and therefore, pleasing to God.

Take this Word with you today. Meditate on it for a few moments.
"Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.

And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners." (Romans 5:1-6, NLT)

Lord God, lead us to freedom, to maturity, to lives of beauty through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

______________

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More than My Fear

Have you ever sensed panic rising in you, wanting to run from a situation as fast as you can or to find a place to hide? I remember facing major surgery for the first time in my life about 15 years ago and feeling possibly the worst fear I had ever known. Waiting outside the operating room, I trembled, my breath coming in short gasps! I survived and learned a whole new lesson about overcoming panicky emotions.

Fear can be conquered with faith! Jesus' disciples who were in a boat with Him as a storm rose on the Sea of Galilee. When they panicked, they turned on Him and accused Him of not caring for them! Mark tells it this way – The disciples said, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

He asked them to think about their reaction to the storm, to consider the totality of their resources, wondering why they gave into fear so quickly.

Emotions are a wonderful gift UNTIL they are allowed to rule us.

Fear can become a panic, running wildly through our thoughts, if we do not speak faith to it.

Anger can turn into a roaring blaze of rage if we do not restrain it.

Desire will turn rapidly to all-consuming lust, greed, or gluttony if we do not invite the Spirit to rule in us.

So, David teaches us by example when he talks to himself! He says, "Praise the Lord, I tell myself, and never forget the good things he does for me." (Psalm 103:2, NLT)

There is an attractive myth of our time, widely believed, that tells us that every thought must be spoken, every feeling explored, every desire fulfilled. In truth, self-discipline, that wonderfully valuable tool for successful living, teaches us to rein in our thoughts, or redirect our emotions, and to restrain our desires. Those choices may cause us some discomfort, but none of them will be fatal!

Ever see a fully grown adult throwing a tantrum? Not pretty, is it? Then, too, some make poor choices to satisfy some urge today and in the process sabotage tomorrow, immaturely blaming the mess they create on someone else. We try to excuse ourselves by saying, “I just could not help it,” but in this we lie. People enslaved by ‘living in the moment’ are often unaware of the deepening chaos they are creating. So we must learn to speak to our own soul with the voice of reason and in the power of God's Spirit.

Spirit-filled Christians who speak Truth to their inner storms gain greater freedom with each victory. They grow in godliness. The Spirit produces a wholeness of life that makes them the overcomers God desires them to be.

We do not gain this victory by ignoring the inner tumult, or by denying negative emotions, or by repressing unpleasant feelings. We know what we feel, but we also know that God gives the power of choice and promises us His Spirit lives in us to help us be over-comers! We can fully acknowledge our emotions without letting them take control.

Jeremiah, called 'the weeping prophet,' faced calamity and felt the crushing weight of sorrow. His example is powerful. Here is how he spoke to himself - “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the LORD." I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness, and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassion never fails. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:18-23, NIV) Oh, how I love that passage as it gives me courage to face reality and to overcome my first responses.

Here is a truth to take with you today. “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."  (2 Corinthians 10:5, NIV)

A contemporary paraphrase of the holy Word, The Message, enlarges the thought. Let these words become part of your resources to overcome fear. Learn to live in faith, and to see what God can do with the challenges of your life.

Read and rejoice! "The world is unprincipled. It’s dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn’t fight fairly. But we don’t live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture.

We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity."  (2 Corinthians 10:3-6, The Message)

Lord, help us to become ‘more than overcomers’ so that we live for Your glory. Amen.

Sorrow’s Possibilities

I visited Bev’s grave yesterday, remembering. 10 years ago we were facing the approach of death as the deadly cancer in her body advanced. Sitting there, grief settled over me like a wet, grey fog.

And then, too, I thought about the assassination of Charlie Kirk and his Memorial service held on Sunday. My heart ached with sorrow for a life ended too soon, for a young wife left alone with little ones. And, my sadness was compounded by the too often awful words stirred up by his death – some criticizing his life and others praising him – using harsh and hateful words in the process. Could we not just agree that a good man died in a terrible way?

My melancholy widened to take in the sorrow of millions in this world who live under despots, in desperate time of war, and with great fear! It was not a good day.

But, I found great comfort in remembering that there is One to Whom I can turn Who understands, Who does not turn away, Who will not judge me weak for my tears. Yes, I am talking about my Savior, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Isaiah wrote of the Lord’s Servant, our Savior, describing Him as “despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;  it was our sorrows that weighed him down.”  (Isaiah 53)

Joy is a great gift and thankfully there is much in my personal life for which I am joyful. Like most people normally I would do almost anything to avoid sadness. Should I find myself sorrowing I sometimes look for a way to exit that emotion as quickly as possible. And yet we should know that … there is a kind of maturity that grows in our sorrow that cannot happen otherwise.   C. S. Lewis wrote that “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”  

Levi Lusko, a young pastor from Montana, wrote, Through the Eyes of a Lion, in which he tells the story of his daughter’s death. Lenya went to visit her Grandparents for dinner and a few hours later, her life here on earth came to an abrupt close during a severe asthma attack.

Told without self-pity, the story urges us to grab onto God’s promise of eternal life and the Resurrection. Levi does not gloss over his grief, nor does he diminish the real struggle that accompanies loss. His words are not clichéd or empty triumphalism. He offers, instead, a template for applying the Word of God to life, signposts to the path of faith that will protect us from letting sorrow descend into utter despair.

He writes of the new parts of his life that emerged after Lenya’s death. I could identify with his realization that his pain had broken up hard places in his life and made him much more tender. It has happened to me, too.  I was once a man who resisted tears, but I am now touched easily by pain, much more empathetic than I once was. It was pain, awful loss, that broke my heart, in a good way.

Levi points out that a new touch of the Spirit, an ‘anointing,’ can result from being crushed. He explains- in the Bible priests and kings were ‘anointed’ in a ritual that involved having olive oil poured over their heads. Here’s a reference - “…the anointing oil that was poured over Aaron’s head, that ran down his beard and onto the border of his robe.” Psalm 133:2 (NLT) This olive oil that marked that person as God’s own, as one prepared for service, as one empowered by the Spirit was the product of a crushing.  

A press applied great pressure to the olives and it produced the oil that was used for anointing.  Now it gets good. “Jesus, who is both King and Priest forever, when to Calvary, but first he went to the Garden of Gethsemane. Gethsemane means ‘olive press.’ …. Beyond the ceremonial oil, there in the Garden, Jesus knelt down and was in such agony (of spirit), under such great pressure that He sweat drops of blood. There He was crushed before He went to the cross. … You cannot get to Calvary without going through Gethsemane.”  (Lusko)

My greatest desire is to be used by God to do His work. More than money, fame, or fun times I want to know Him and make Him known. But, I cannot do that without an anointing of the Spirit. Nor, can you.

At least a part of the cost of that anointing is crushing!

We need look no further than the life of Jesus. Isaiah says that “he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.”  His crushing released the beauty of our salvation!

Do you desire to be an intimate of God, ‘anointed’ for service? Pain is part of the process!

A. W. Tozer writes that “It is doubtful whether God could ever bless a person greatly until He has hurt him deeply.”  You may have to think about that for a while before you add your agreement.

If you are walking in a hard situation, if you are wrestling with pain, grief, rejection, loss, temptation – whatever is actually so common to the human experience – offer it to God for His purpose. Ask Him to make you tender, to sharpen your spiritual hearing, and to release the sweet fragrance of His anointing in your crushing.

And always remember – Jesus Christ knows sorrow and walks with you in those moments.

Amen

______________

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Truth or Mercy?

I struggle with a real tension in my Christian life. When should I show mercy to another and when should I tell them the hard truth? Jesus asks serious disciples to carry His message out into the world not just to hang out together in a church sanctuary. That message is one of God’s great love, of humanity’s great sin, and of the gift of life eternal for those who receive Him in faith and follow after Him.

He warned that “Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”  (Mark 13) The Gospel is great news BUT it runs head-on into human rebellion, calling people to surrender to God and that is a message of offense!

One temptation which all serious Christians face in this culture urges us to take the edge off of the Message, to only speak of the love of God, to ignore sin. The texts about God’s mercy and love are so much more acceptable than those that call us to change our ways and conform to His will, aren’t they?

So, how do we live faithfully to the call of Christ?

First, there must be humility.
Those who love Jesus are sinners saved by grace. We cannot forget His mercy shown to us and assume a place of moral superiority. The weeds of hypocrisy grow in fields of spiritual pride.

Second, we remember that PEOPLE matter.
Every interaction we have must begin with genuine acceptance that wordlessly announces: “You matter to me because you are a person.”  

Some would suggest that loving that person requires us to affirm their choices, making them feel good about who and what they are. There is the real rub. We cannot claim to love a person who is living in open rebellion against God and say to them - “You are fine, just as you are.” 

Third, we avoid taking the role of a judge.
Jesus counsels us that when we interact with those who have sinned that we  “First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.”  The call for others to repent and be reconciled to God through Christ is not delivered from a lofty perch. We get down into the dirt of life and offer a hand, show the way, weep with the broken, and give bread to the hungry.

Fourth, we seek to understand and put the Gospel into real life context.
How people act and what they do have a backstory, and Christians do well to listen before they speak, to understand the situations into which they speak.

Jude teaches us that a one-size-fits-all approach misses the will of God. "Build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love. And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives." (Jude 20-23, NLT)

Some need mercy, a genuine compassion that sees where life Is beyond their control, where they are captives of their experience, their past, or their incomplete understanding. 

Others need rescue! We have to stage an intervention. Risking offense, we tell them the truth about the way they live and their ultimate end, judged by God. 

Jude says it’s like reaching right into the fire and pulling the stick out before it’s burned. What an image. And, for such a person, we need a healthy fear of the power of temptation so we don’t get drawn into their disobedience.

Fifth, our message must be offered out of our own relationship with Jesus.
The mission to which Jesus calls us is not just to make church members or to share our particular religious convictions. We invite others to KNOW the One who has given us life and hope.

Our own relationship with Christ must be fresh! We encourage each other, pray real intimate prayers, and remember that we are all saved by merciful grace. Nothing speaks more powerfully than a rich, current, and deep love of God. It makes us shine.

Taking the Gospel into our world is no easy calling. It requires the insight and wisdom of the Spirit, which is given to us all. I hope you agree that real love never just leaves others alone, out of some mistaken sense of privacy.

My prayer – “Lord, keep us in your love and let us be merciful people of healing, sharing Truth, and giving light to dark places in this world. Amen.”

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Hope that holds me together

Somebody once said, "blessed are those who expect nothing, for they will never be disappointed." True enough, but is that really how anyone wants to live? Is the path to serenity paved with apathy?

You might say, "I don't know and I don't care." If you did, you would be among millions of Americans who choose to live a life detached, not truly alive in fact, but simply existing!

Daring to hope creates the possibility of disappointment! 
HOPE creates opportunity for fulfillment and joy!

The true foundation of lasting hope is God’s care.  The ancient preacher says - "Do not trust a neighbor; put no confidence in a friend. Even with her who lies in your embrace be careful of your words. But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me." (Micah 7:5,7 NIV)

Paul was inspired to give us this direction. "Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment." (1 Timothy 6:17, NIV)

People, even those who are close, may abandon you when you need them most.
Wealth, here today, lost tomorrow, can never provide real security.
But, the Lord sustains hope through times of sickness, war, recession, and even death.

What does it mean to 'put our hope in God?'

We transfer our expectations to His promises -
that He will provide what we need, not what we want;
that His love will never fail or falter,
that  "He is faithful, even when we are faithless;"
that He gives us eternal life through Christ Jesus.

Even professing Christians sometimes get it wrong, thinking they are hoping in the Lord, while in reality making God into a kind of personal magician who is expected to grant them all the joys of this present world, with little or no passion for spiritual things. 

Hope in God enters into our present pain. It does not seek to escape it. More times than I can remember, I have stood with families who have come to grief, with those who have a diagnosis of terminal disease, with people whose lives have gone upside down. I too have known that kind of experience. My choice?  I wait in hope. I trust God.

That choice is not always the easy or simple one! It is made in faith in God, the assurance I know that He can keep us when we hurt, hold us together when life is crumbling, and do what is beyond my comprehension at the moment. This kind of faith does not erase the pain of missed expectations. But, it allows real hope to grow.

Are you struggling to make sense of life today?
Is some disappointment causing you anguish?
Have you given up hope, choosing to live in apathy?

Put your hope in God! In faith, accept the love of Jesus, deep, sustaining, limitless love. Pray that the Holy Spirit will change your heart so that you will come to desire His love and let Him become the reason you live. Actively hand over your doubts and disappointments to Him in prayer. Look upwards beyond your present ache, feelings of lack, and/or fears and a new tomorrow will take shape.

Here's a word from the Word. "We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure." (Hebrews 6:11, NIV) "We who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever." (Hebrews 6:18-20, NIV)

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COURAGE!

On Wednesday afternoon, Americans were swept into a storm of words following the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Whatever you think of his politics, he was a man of genuine Christian faith, fearless in his convictions, and a leader to millions of America’s youth. What I admired most about him was his courage—his willingness to face opponents directly, answering with humor and wisdom. His boldness inspired countless young Christians to live out their faith, even in the face of cultural contempt.

If we want to live rich and full lives, one of the greatest needs is courage—a willingness to do hard things, to wrestle with convictions, to dig deep for truth. Nobody accomplishes much by drifting with life’s currents or by shaping their values to whatever ideas happen to be blowing in the wind.

But let’s not confuse courage with arrogance or combativeness. Courage doesn’t mean shouting down opponents or charging into every situation ready for a fight. More often, it means choosing to do the right thing, to live the right way, to stay on course despite criticism or circumstances that seem to have gone wrong. Courage resists the urge to react and instead chooses to respond.

In Luke 19, we find the story of Jesus noticing Zacchaeus, a man of short stature who had climbed a tree to see Him. Zacchaeus was a tax collector—an outcast, despised for working with the Romans, and most likely dishonest. Still, Jesus stopped, spoke to him, and invited Himself to dinner at his house. Sitting at a tax collector’s table was not a way to polish one’s reputation—but Jesus did it anyway. Why? Because He saw a man hungry for God, and with courage, He pointed him to life.

What makes the story even more remarkable is that Jesus was just days away from the Cross. He knew the suffering, rejection, and the weight of humanity’s sin that awaited Him in Jerusalem. Yet He kept courageously loving the least and seeking out the lost. Oh, to be like Jesus.

Your life will bring situations that take you where you don’t want to go. People you love will fail you. And, being human, you will make mistakes and live with their consequences. In those moments—will you collapse, or will you “take courage”?

Hebrews 6 offers this assurance: “We who have fled to him for refuge can take new courage, for we can hold on to his promise with confidence. This confidence is like a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls.” (NLT) What a privilege to rest in Christ, to bring before Him what we did not foresee, and to trust Him as our faithful guide.

Is your heart anchored in the unchanging Christ? That anchor creates courage—keeping us from panic when life’s chaos strikes. Christians can run to Christ for solace and strength. In Him, they find courage to face the day and live for His purposes.

Take Courage, Christian. How?

• Pray constantly. Keep yourself God-aware—even in sighs, silence, or waiting. Share your burdens with Jesus.
• Worship regularly. Not just in a church building, and not superficially, but from the heart—renewing your faith in the Father’s love, every day, everywhere.
• Fill your mind with God’s truth. Scripture is an antidote to fear. (Suggested passages: Psalm 37, Ephesians 1, Romans 8.)
• Practice good self-care. Exhaustion fuels fear. Even Jesus stepped away to rest and renew.
• Choose one faith-filled, forward-focused action today.

The Word points us to the example of Jesus. My prayer is that as you read, you will “take courage,” choosing the right path with steady faith.

“Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins.

Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!” (Hebrews 12:1-3, The Message)

_________

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”  --    Theodore Roosevelt

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May I Have this Dance?

There is a peace promised by God to those who love Him, a serenity that flows from letting Him lead in the dance of life. Do you know how to dance with Him?

Many years ago, I thought that learning to swing dance with Bev would be fun. “Take dance lessons,” I thought to myself, “She will love it.”   Our instructors opened the first session by putting on a song and showing us the end result they hoped to teach us to achieve; two people, moving as one, gracefully across the floor. I loved the beauty of it.  Alas, the connection between my head, my heart, and my feet is faulty. To this day, despite the desire, I have never learned to dance with grace!

The instructors of that class pointed out two things causing my failure.

First, I was self-conscious, too concerned with what others thought!
Second, I was over thinking; trying to break down each movement into tiny parts rather than just moving into the music.

There are real parallels for those who desire to live a beautifully Spirit-filled life of serenity and grace. Paul wrote - “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25) 

God asks – “may I have this dance?”  He wants to take the lead in our life so that we can move through the trials and successes that come our way gracefully, but we cannot know the best of His goodness IF we refuse His control. We might find the rhythm for a while, but then as we reassert our own control things fall apart.  

It is a wonder to behold when you see a person fully give himself to the Spirit, in complete surrender. He moves gracefully through life; through disappointment, financial challenges, ill health, hurricanes, snowstorms, traffic jams, and temptation. Yes, those who dance with the Spirit live “grace-fully.”

I can really identify with the disciple, Peter. I am too much like him in my natural self; headstrong and impulsive.  After Jesus called him to leave his fishing boat and follow Him, Peter struggled for three years to get it right. Oh, he tried mightily but, most of the time, things turned out badly. The low point was the night of Jesus' arrest and trial. When warned of impending failure by the Lord, Peter insisted that even if the other disciples failed, "I never will!" "Ah," Jesus said sadly, "but you will, Peter. Before the rooster announces the dawn, you will deny me three times."   

A few hours later as Jesus was being arrested, Peter pulled out his sword and made an attempt at defending his Friend, succeeding only in cutting off a man's ear, which Jesus promptly healed, as He told Peter, "Put that thing away!" And, later that same night, in the grip of panic in the courtyard of the high priest’s house, Peter was cursing and swearing while emphatically declaring, "I tell you, I never knew him!"

Fifty days later, at Pentecost, Peter was a transformed man in Acts, a man both literally and figuratively dancing with the Spirit! He gives leadership to the emerging group of followers of Jesus, explains the Scripture, preaches on the street, and courageously faces the enemies of the Jesus movement. He lives with grace and beauty through life.

How does the Bible account for the difference?
Acts 4:8 sums it up, saying "Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, ... "
When Peter released himself to the control of the Holy Spirit influence and started to move to the rhythms of Heaven, his life was marked by God’s Presence.

When he came to the end of himself, when he was crushed beyond hope by his failure, God came with the outpouring of His Spirit. From that day, Peter danced. Yes, he made mistakes now and again, but he was a man of grace and power, who spread the message of Jesus and life across the world!

God is asking you today – “May I have this dance?”  He invites you and me to a life in which we are ‘keeping step with the Spirit.'  Listen to the music of the Spirit. Give yourself over to His lead. Be filled! And, start to dance!

Here is a word from the Word – “So I say, walk by the Spirit, (let the Spirit lead the dance) and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh (natural person) desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh.
They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law (a slave to old ways) … the fruit (evidence) of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”  (Galatians 5)

Lord, lead me in the dance, making my life one that gives evidence of Your loving Presence. Amen.

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Broken-Hearted?

Have you ever reached the end of a long, tumultuous day and found yourself praying a frustrated kind of complaint? “Where are You, Lord? What do You want from me?”

Life can pile up into disappointment after disappointment. It can feel as if no matter what choices we make, no matter who we trust, no matter how much we give—nothing works. No return on investment. No recognition. No one seems to notice or care.

I’ve had days like that. Many, in fact. But in those moments, I remind myself of this truth: God is greater than my frustration. My security does not depend on the strength of my grip on Him—but on His strong grasp of me. The Psalmist captured it beautifully:

“I realized that my heart was bitter, and I was all torn up inside. … Yet I still belong to You; You hold my right hand.” (Psalm 73:21, 23, NLT)

Think of John, “the disciple Jesus loved.” As an old man, exiled on the rocky island of Patmos, he must have wondered if God had abandoned him. Alone in a cave after a lifetime of faithful service—what a devastating moment.

But Scripture tells us that on the Lord’s Day, John chose to be “in the Spirit.” There, in his lowest point, Jesus appeared to him.

“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: ‘Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.’” (Revelation 1:17, NIV)

In that lonely place, John received the glorious visions we now know as the book of Revelation—stunning pictures of God’s ultimate triumph over evil. His willingness to let God be Lord in suffering opened him to the touch of Jesus and made him a source of hope for millions.

I wonder—would he have received the same vision if he had spent his exile shouting at the heavens about injustice? Could he have known the comfort of the Lord’s touch if he had wrapped himself in bitterness? I don’t think so.

This doesn’t mean we must fake a smile or suppress our tears. Scripture never teaches that a man of faith lives above disappointment. But when life presses hard, when tomorrow is hidden in fog, and when the soul’s ache reduces us to groans, we do face a choice:

• Bitterness blames God and builds walls against His touch.

• Brokenness kneels in humility and opens space for His renewal.

David knew it:

“I learned God-worship when my pride was shattered. Heart-shattered lives ready for love don’t for a moment escape God’s notice.” (Psalm 51:17, The Message)

So I ask you:

• Are you weighed down today?

• Do you feel forgotten by God?

• Is there pain that won’t relent?

• Has someone broken your heart?

Choose to wait humbly on the Lord. When bitterness tempts you toward self-pity or indifference, resist it. Instead, let your heart be broken and open—tears and all. My prayer is that you will feel the tender, healing touch of your Father’s hand.

Here is word from the Word. Hold on to this promise:

“The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help.
He rescues them from all their troubles.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;
He rescues those whose spirits are crushed.
The righteous person faces many troubles,
but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.” (Psalm 34:17–19)
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