Do you wonder while you walk?

My dutiful nature helps me to plow through a lot of work, but that can also have a down side. I can become so focused on planning the next meeting, solving the current problem, writing Sunday's sermon, making sure my family is fed, clothed, and housed; that the beauty of being 'in the moment' escapes me.  I need to take time to connect with the eternal, to know, "God is here, with us, now!" The wonder of His Presence, room for the unexplained, the mystery, living without the need to make God fit into my expectations, sustains me when ‘all around my soul gives way!’ Experience and age allow me to experience 'wonder' more these days.

Worship and wonder are closely related. We will sense God's Presence more readily if and when we learn to 'wonder.' Christianity that is reduced to theological concepts and rote religious acts is sterile! If we go through the motions but fail to expect the Spirit’s touch, the Gospel’s joy and life is quickly gone. It seems to me that many Christians do not have much time for mystery these days. They want explanations! They want proofs! They want to know ‘how does it work and what is the pay-off?’  Even some churches boast that their services are packaged into 55 minutes or less so ‘worshippers’ (are they really?) can get on to the important stuff like grocery shopping and sports.

"Preacher, get me saved. Make me good. Give me three steps to being better at ...." But life isn't that simple. There is an awesome mystery that God allows to exist around us which we can only appreciate if we will allow ourselves to wonder. With the writer of Scripture I declare with great certainty - "I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day." (2 Timothy 1:12, NIV) Do you see it? Paul does not put his hope in what he knows. He trusts the Person of God! Because I know the loving Father, I am able to relinquish the need to know the 'why' and live with the mysteries that surround me.

When I am called to the side of Christian in pain, or listen to a husband pour out the story of his broken heart, or see a dying saint struggle with fear, or …. there is a temptation to try make sense of their ordeal with platitudes and simplistic explanations, but to do so, is to profane the holy! The truth is that what God is doing is shrouded in the magnificence of His sovereign will and may only become clear in eternity. Our faithful trust defeats the Enemy's attempts to make her death a source of disbelief and magnifies the glory of God.

Believer, surrender to the worship of the One who says, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:9, NIV) Recover the wonder! It will cause you to serve God with more passion, to love Him more deeply.

Here’s the word from the Word. Ponder this passage as you move through this day.

"The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.  Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.
Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder;
the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”" (Isaiah 29:13-14, NIV)

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Hold Me Jesus

O sometimes my life

Just don't make sense at all
When the mountains look so big
And my faith just seems so small

And I wake up in the night

And feel the dark
It's so hot inside my soul
I swear there must be blisters on my heart

So hold me Jesus

'Cause I'm shaking like a leaf
You have been King of my glory
Won't You be my Prince of Peace?

Surrender don't come natural to me

I'd rather fight You for something
I don't really want
Than to take what You give that I need
And I've beat my head against so many walls
Now I'm falling down
I'm falling on my knees

 And this Salvation Army band

Is playing this hymn
And Your grace rings out so deep
It makes my resistance seem so thin

 So hold me Jesus

'Cause I'm shaking like a leaf
You have been King of my glory
Won't You be my Prince of Peace?

Rich Mullins © 1993 BMG Songs, Inc. (Admin. by BMG Music Publishing)

CCLI License No. 810055

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjmWsGYVLUI

You’ll never see me in that church again!

Proverbs says "An offended friend is harder to win back than a fortified city. Arguments separate friends like a gate locked with bars." (Proverbs 18:19, NLT)  Have you ever taken offense? I am talking about a time when you really dug into an angry posture of self-defense, when you fed a grudge against another by remembering it day and night, when you told anybody that would listen how badly you had been treated? It can be exhausting to keep that kind of thing going. Yet, so many of us do it.

American folklore includes the story of the Hatfields and the McCoys, two families that lived just across the river from each other on the Kentucky – West Virginia border. The feud was a real one that stretched out over 13 years from 1878 - 1891!  Nobody knows exactly what started it, but it probably was lingering difference over the Civil War, since one family had Confederate sympathies, the other was pro-Union. It escalated when a pig belonging to the McCoy’s wandered onto the land of the Hatfields and they claimed it as their own. 13 men were shot and killed during this ongoing feud!

A feuding Christian is a contradiction in terms! Jesus tells us that we cannot hang onto a grudge refusing to forgive and claim to be filled with the Spirit of God. It’s not negotiable, nor open for debate. In His model prayer, He teaches us to ask that God will "forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us." (Matthew 6:12, NLT) When you offend Him with your disobedience, do you want to be treated the same that you treat those who hurt or reject you? That’s the prayer’s intent.  Jesus won’t let us excuse our refusal to give up our offense. He goes on to say: "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." (Matthew 6:14-15, NIV)

I feel such sorrow when I hear that someone has alienated himself from his family or his church over hurt feelings. Because of some difference over a decision, or a failure to remember a significant event, or somebody’s insensitive comment I have known people to say – “You’ll never see me in that church again.” Or, they cut themselves off from family gatherings, refusing invitations to events like holiday dinners. Nobody wins in those circumstances. There is only lingering pain and often the one who suffers most is the one who refuses to reconcile himself.

“Let it go” is wise counsel. Ask Christ to de-throne Self, to enlarge your heart, to increase grace in you. Trust Him for justice and give up all demands for fairness. Too hard, too much to ask? Not if God is our Father. Our true security and sense of well-being is found in His love, not in having our way or even in being treated as we think we deserve.

Here’s the word from the Word - "Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you. Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents." (Ephesians 4:32-5:1, The Message)

 Will you let it go? Really, you can and you should; for God’s sake.

A person, not just a problem

I went to a meeting thinking I was going to take care of a ‘problem,’ but I left the room praying for a person! Before I spent time with him, he was only a name on paper, his situation just another one of those issues that needed to be cleared from my calendar. We need to remember that behind all the descriptive words we use, there is a person whose life is a tapestry of successes and failures. That rich dude, poor soul, smart gal, tall kid, black man, white guy has a name, a background, an experience, and real value as a person whom God loves.

If we desire to love as Jesus teaches, it will demand that we give names to faces, that we care about people more than programs, that we let ourselves be touched. It so easy to thunder against some sin in theory, but what a difference when that ‘sin’ is attached to a person in pain. For example, the Scripture is clear that God loves life and as the Creator gives dignity to every person including the unborn. That conviction makes me solidly against the practice of abortion. However, you will never find me screaming at a young woman outside of a clinic. Why? Because she is not just an object aborting a baby, she is a person in crisis. Does that make her choice less sinful? No! But, it demands a different response from me, a willingness to reach out with care, not condemnation.

On Sunday nights on CBS there’s a program named, “Undercover Boss.” A high level executive in a large company, often the owner or founder, takes an assumed identity and spends a week working at the front line level. Often the executive is moved to tears when he realizes how company policies are making life difficult, how little changes could make a real different for the people who are doing the job. He cares when he gets to know the real people that were just numbers on a spreadsheet in his office.

So, disciple, it’s time to meet people! You matter to God. How much? Jesus said "the very hairs of your head are all numbered." (Luke 12:7, NIV) What? He’s just saying, God knows you very well! And, He loves you. So, do others matter to you? Do you love them enough to make them people about whom you will care, with whom you will become involved?

Here’s the word from the Word. It’s familiar, but take time to read it thoughtfully. Then, go love that person that yesterday was just a problem!

"See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him. Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is." (1 John 3:1-2, NLT) "If we love our Christian brothers and sisters, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead." (1 John 3:14, NLT)

"Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions." (1 John 3:18, NLT)

_______________

Using Things And Loving People

Using things and loving people
That's the way it's got to be
Using things and loving people
Look around and you can see
That loving things and using people
Only leads to misery
Using things and loving people
That's the way it's got to be

Being loved is in the giving
All we have is what we share
Loving life is for the living
You have to have a heart to care
And loving things and using people
Only leads to misery
Using things and loving people
That's the way it's got to be

So put your hand inside my hand
I don't know where the road will lead
We may not find the things we want
But we will find the things we need
And all we need is love

Using things and loving people
Brings you happiness I've found
Using things and loving people
Not the other way around
'Cause loving things and using people
Only leads to misery
Using things and loving people
That's the way it's got to be
For you and me

Written by: Hal David & Archie P. Jordan

Extending hospitality to the Devil?

On our cross-country drive from California to Maryland last August, we drove right through Las Vegas. I’d never been there so we pulled off the Interstate and onto the main drive where beautiful buildings stand shoulder to shoulder. Almost immediately, I felt a terrible sense of foreboding, a kind of repulsion that went deeper than a mere emotional response. There is a spiritual darkness that grips that city. It is a demon’s playground. The Holy Spirit living in me reacted to the spirit of ‘sin city.’ After just a few moments we turned around and got back on the road! The same reaction occurs in me when I meet a hate-filled person or enter a home where a TV is spewing vile content into the living room.

The Bible says that our actions can ‘grieve the Spirit of God.’ (Eph. 4:30) The Word goes on to explain that we make choices that extend hospitality to the Spirit or that makes Him feel unwelcome! "Do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. … Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you." (Ephesians 4:30-32, NLT) Another passage warns of giving ourselves over to violent anger which, if held onto, provides ‘the Devil with a foothold in your life.’

Do you take the spirit realm seriously?
Do you unwittingly extend hospitality to the Devil, inviting his demons to take up residence in your home, to work through your life?

Many years ago, when my children were teenagers, I distinctly remember praying for them to be kept from lives of sin and being impressed by the Holy Spirit about the importance of making our home a place of wholeness and holiness. Perhaps that sounds overly pious to you, but don’t misunderstand. We laughed a lot. We were not a monastery by a long shot. But, we were a holy house. We didn’t invite profanity to fill the air. We didn’t leave conflict unresolved. The music that filled our home glorified God. We consciously invited the Spirit. Many, many times people, even those who had no faith, remarked how peaceful they felt when they spent time in our home. Why? They sensed His Presence!

Disciple, does your life invite the Spirit of the Lord to ‘at home?’ Are you filled with the Spirit?

Jesus told a story that makes me shudder when I think of the implications. Read it thoughtfully, prayerfully. Then, if necessary, do some house cleaning. Make some priority decisions about what kind of music you will store in your Ipod, what kind of TV shows will play in your living rooms, what you will do about that old grudge, how you will deal with that habit that once troubled your conscience, but that is now ‘just me.’ Make your heart a home to Christ and you’ll never be at risk for what Jesus describes in this teaching.

“When a defiling evil spirit is expelled from someone, it drifts along through the desert looking for an oasis, some unsuspecting soul it can bedevil.
When it doesn’t find anyone, it says, ‘I’ll go back to my old haunt.’

On return it finds the person spotlessly clean, but vacant. It then runs out and rounds up seven other spirits more evil than itself and they all move in, whooping it up.

That person ends up far worse off than if he’d never gotten cleaned up in the first place. “That’s what this generation is like: You may think you have cleaned out the junk from your lives and gotten ready for God, but you weren’t hospitable to my kingdom message, and now all the devils are moving back in.” (Matthew 12:43-45, The Message)

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"Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you." (2 Corinthians 13:11, NKJV)

Protecting Me!

The speaker was blunt – “We are selfish. We want to be loved.” He talked of couples who get married pledging to love always ‘until death do us part,’ who are earnest in their declarations. Underlying those claims of love there are expectations built around self: “He will always be kind and make me feel special.” “She will be supportive and give me affection.” Unconsciously, those young lovers let self-love affect their concept of real love. That what sin does to us. It causes us to change the focus from God and others to Self. Even our best and most noble actions are generally tainted by some level of self-interest.

Our only hope of transformation is in the work of God. "We love because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19, NIV) The Spirit moves on us, allowing us to glimpse the love of God, stirring faith. When we respond with obedience, we experience His love and it breaks us. For the first time we start to understand our basic selfishness. Then comes the challenge to let it go, to love radically and to trust God to take care of us. Our original nature, that part of us that is broken by sin’s Curse, is fearful. We know what God wants of us, but will we do it? Or, will Self be allowed to turn us inward? It comes down to answering the question, how big is God? If our God is small or remote or uncaring, we will most certainly need to be our own protector.

The ancient story of Abraham is about a man we call the ‘father of the faithful.’ Why? Because he believed God enough to let Him lead. He left all that was naturally safe, to own what was only a promise! When Abraham was focused on loving God, he was amazing! When he let his own instincts guide, he was a small man. This is no more clearly seen than the story of his abandonment of his wife to the Pharaoh’s harem to save his own skin! Read this little account for the lesson. "When Abram arrived in Egypt, everyone spoke of Sarai’s beauty. When the palace officials saw her, they sang her praises to Pharaoh, their king, and Sarai was taken into his palace. Then Pharaoh gave Abram many gifts because of her—sheep, goats, cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels. But the Lord sent terrible plagues upon Pharaoh and his household because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. So Pharaoh summoned Abram and accused him sharply. “What have you done to me?” he demanded. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ and allow me to take her as my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and get out of here!” Pharaoh ordered some of his men to escort them, and he sent Abram out of the country, along with his wife and all his possessions." (Genesis 12:14-20, NLT)

Before you condemn Abe, think of those moments in your own faith walk when you have chosen the route of self-protection that seemed expedient over the route of obedience to which Love pointed you. Every one of us has moments when we let fear replace faith, when the priority choice is ‘protecting me!’ The only way to live a consistently godly life is to be enveloped in His love. This allows us to abandon ourselves to the pursuit of God, to trust Him explicitly, and to obey Him radically.

Here is a word from the Word. As you read it, ask yourself - ‘Whose child am I?’

"Brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children." (Romans 8:12-16, NIV)

________________

Abba, (Dad) I pray that Your Spirit will whisper of Your love
To my heart once again.
Many things conspire to cause me to fear for my safety.
Critics, circumstances I cannot understand, disappointments and missed expectations
Argue that You are far away, that I am forgotten; left to care for myself.
Tell me again, that You love me.
Show me the Cross and help me to hang onto the love of Christ Jesus
Which was shown there.
And, as You love me, I will love You with obedience.
Jesus, I thank you for grace and mercy. Amen.