Quiet!

Several days ago, during my vacation in Colorado, I stood on a rocky point, about 9,000 feet up, looking out over the Sangre De Cristo mountains. The place is called “Inspiration Point” by locals and it lived up to its name. I felt real worship at that moment, awed by the beauty.  When a tiny baby is laid in my arms,  my response is never to scream or yell with delight over new life.  Instead a tender silence envelopes the child and me. I see yet another miracle of new creation.  Have you felt awe recently?

Awe is growing extinct and, with its passing, we are losing the art of listening. We crank up the volume, buy ever bigger TV screens,  shovel sound into our ears constantly- and – we risk becoming deaf to the voice of the Spirit. He often speaks to us as He did to Elijah, with that “still, small voice,” a whisper in our soul.

Often, because we are such activity freaks and noise junkies, on those moments when we do become aware of His Presence, instead of growing still before Him,  we open our mouths to make noise!  Incapable of quiet wonder, we insist that somebody says something, sings something.  Richard Foster, a favorite author, observes "Our Adversary majors in three things: noise, hurry and crowds. If he can keep us engaged in "muchness" and "manyness," he will rest satisfied."   - Celebration of Discipline

We need to 'hear' the admonition of God that came to a man who didn't know enough about awe to keep his mouth shut and his ears open! It comes from the Gospels.

"After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.

Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah."

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with hm I am well pleased. Listen to him!" When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified.But Jesus came and touched them. "Get up," he said. "Don’t be afraid."  (Matthew 17:1-7, NIV)

Dear Peter, how I love him! I fear that I do the same kind of thing, blurting out some inane remark instead of pondering the Presence! The ancient prophet declares, "God is in his holy Temple! Quiet everyone—a holy silence. Listen!" (Habakkuk 2:20, The Message)    Just so we're clear, His holy temple is not St. Patrick's or any other church building. We, Believer, are His holy Temple.   And when we sense the Spirit moving in us - be it in corporate worship, standing on a mountain, or in the company of a suffering saint - an appropriate response is to grow still;  to allow awe to overwhelm us, even as something that feels like terror sweeps over us.

Here is a word from the Word.

"LORD, I have heard of your fame;

I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD.

Renew them in our day, in our time make them known;

in wrath remember mercy." (Habakkuk 3:2, NIV)

Today, make some space in all the 'noise' of your life to listen.   Invite the Spirit to fill you up with holy awe.  Like Elijah, you will find that in the quietness, the small voice of God whispers a great big message of assurance to your soul.

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Spirit Of God Descend Upon My Heart (Morecambe)

Spirit of God descend upon my heart

Wean it from earth thro' all its pulses move

Stoop to my weakness mighty as Thou art

And make me love Thee as I ought to love

Hast Thou not bid us love Thee God and King

All Thine own soul heart and strength and mind

I see Thy cross there teach my heart to cling

O let me seek Thee and O let me find

Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love

One holy passion filling all my frame

The baptism of the heav'n descended dove

My heart an altar and Thy love the flame

Frederick Cook Atkinson | George Croly

© Words: Public Domain

Trading Treasure for Junk

Most of us have received those emails that start out with a sad story of someone who needs to transfer money and needs our help to do it. If we will just send them our bank information, they promise to let us keep a percentage of the transfer for our kindness. What should be an obvious scam somehow becomes believable when greed overwhelms common sense. We like to think we are smart enough to avoid those scams that are so numerous in our digital age but millions of dollars are lost to con men every day. Their smooth talk and appeal to fear or greed manages to convince some people to believe a lie.

Paul’s letter to the Romans opens with a celebration of God’s gift of grace through Christ, the Gospel. Then, in 1:18, there is a jarring shift to his description of the tragedy of spiritual deception. He explains that God, who trumpets His existence in the world through Natural revelation, is ignored by people who prefer not to know that there is Someone to Whom they owe their existence and their worship. And, in that ignorance, a deception sets in that leads to a terrible exchange of treasure for junk, with awful consequence.

"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. . . . . For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. . . .   They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen." (Romans 1:18-25, NIV)

Are you ready to trade away a rich relationship with the eternal God for some lesser god, for what you think will bring you happiness, or for a moment’s pleasure?   Don't say it cannot happen to you!   If we linger long enough near temptation, gazing at the trinkets offered by the Swindler, they can take on the gleam of fool’s gold, appearing to be things of great value. If we refuse to acknowledge God, we leave ourselves wide open to becoming fools with confused values that lead to our destruction, similar to those who let greed overwhelm their good sense in a world of scams!

So, how do we avoid the swindle?  The Word tells us to make two choices. 

First, glorify God.   What does that mean?  Worship Him.  Acknowledge His supremacy.  Make His Name great.

Second, give thanks.  Thankfulness reinforces contentment.  A contented person knows an inner peace that keeps the lies of the swindler from taking hold.

There is an example to be found in the experience of the ancient people of God, those who knew His Presence in the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. They had seen His power when they were miraculously brought out of slavery in Egypt.  They were fed by His hand each day. But, fatigue set in and they complained about the Lord’s provisions. They fought with the leadership that God appointed to lead them.  In their resistance, deception set in. In a night of self-indulgence and revelry, they exchanged God's glory for a gleaming golden calf!  That generation of people died in the desert blocked from the Promised Land by their faithlessness to the God who had called them. 

We need not live in fear of the devil’s scams!  Why? Because we have a great Savior, a wonderful salvation, and a right relationship with God available through grace, by faith. Let’s lean hard on Him, confessing our need, giving His true praise. He is able to keep our sight clear and our minds alert.

There is this warning of the word from the Word. May the Lord keep us.

"Don’t be so naive and self-confident. You’re not exempt.  You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless.

Cultivate God-confidence. No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face.

All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.

So, my very dear friends, when you see people reducing God to something they can use or control, get out of their company as fast as you can."

(1 Corinthians 10:12-14, The Message)
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How I Need You

(A new song of faith)

Every day in Your hands

You were there before time began

Sovereign one I rest in Your plan

From the depths to the dawn

You are there Your promise is strong

I will trust with all that I am

Jesus Jesus oh how I need You

You stay the same

You are good in Your ways

Jesus Jesus oh how I need You

You are enough

All my trust is in You Lord

You fashioned me formed my heart

Search my soul and know every thought

Love so great but never too far

And through the storm You're the calm

And every war You've already won

Life secure in Your loving arms

You are powerful God above it all

I believe in You I believe in You

You do miracles the impossible

I believe in You I believe in You

Bethany Phillips | Chris Griffin | Micah Massey | Nicole McLean

© 2018 Highlands Creative Publishing (Admin. by Music Services, Inc.)

CCLI License # 810055

You can be joyful

The customer service representative had little interest in helping to correct the billing error that the company had made. She suggested that I should just email their department because she was ‘too busy.’ After spending nearly 30 minutes waiting on hold to talk to her, that answer was not what I wanted to hear. I knew that there was a choice to make – would I allow myself to become angry or would I choose to peace? Life is full of little choices like that for me, and for you, too. Thankfully, I chose to close the call graciously and to take a break to refocus for Jesus' sake.

In his letter to the Colossian Christians (and to us) Paul was inspired to give us practical direction about finding the serenity that God promises to His children. "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." (Colossians 3:16-17, NIV)  What exactly does this passage ask of us?

First of all, we are to give the Lord Jesus a priority place in our lives!

“The word of Christ” is how Paul refers to the entire message of wholeness and transformation found in the Gospel, the message. If we want to know joy, we cannot isolate the good news that we are saved, that God has restored us to Himself, to some isolated corner of our lives that we explore only in church on Sunday morning.  That ‘’word”  needs to be stirred into every moment, shaping every decision.  Paul says “richly.”  We cannot just sprinkle a little “Jesus” here and there in our lives, we need to soak our lives with His Truth.

Second, we are to be engaged with one another with wise counsel!

The Christian life is not lived best in isolation. We love one another in this family of God enough to both point in the right direction (teach) and to warn our brother (admonish) when we see him wandering. That is a challenge in our privacy obsessed culture, isn’t it? The idea that we are happiest when we can ‘do our own thing’ is a lie.  A deeper joy is found in choosing to a life that requires surrender of Self, first to Jesus, and then to become a part of His Body, the Church. Within that family, we engage in the give and take of loving relationships which enrich us.

Third, we choose the attitude of our heart!

What is the soundtrack of your life? Paul tells us to sing! You don’t have to have a voice that earns applause to sing. Let three kinds of songs find their way into your daily life –

psalms; songs that are worshipful, offering adoration to God;

hymns; songs that praise Him; remembering His gifts and promises; and

spiritual songs; those songs that come from our own heart, overflowing from our experience of His goodness.

We can choose to ‘sing’ shaping an atmosphere of joy and inviting the Spirit’s presence to flow in us and through us, or we can choose to be miserable, full of complaint and criticism. We choose!

Fourth, we always remember that we belong to Jesus!

“Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

My first prayer in the morning goes something like this – “Father, help me to remember to live for You and with an awareness of You today. May my words reflect Your goodness and love, my mind be shaped by Your purposes …”   Do I always live that prayer? Hmmm, no! But, my goal is to belong to Him. In Him, I am secure, loved, hopeful, and my best self.  Help me, Jesus!

Choose JOY today. Take this short passage and pray it, meditate on it, let the Word own you – heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Here is it is, the word from the Word, restated from The Message.

"Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way." (Colossians 3:16-17, The Message)  

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O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing

(sing along!)

Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing

My great Redeemer’s praise,

The glories of my God and king,

The triumphs of His grace!

Jesus! the name that charms our fears,

That bids our sorrows cease—

’Tis music in the sinner’s ears,

’Tis life, and health, and peace.

He breaks the pow’r of canceled sin,

He sets the pris’ner free;

His blood can make the foulest clean,

His blood availed for me.

Hear Him, Ye Deaf, His praise, ye dumb

Your loosened Tongues employ,

Ye blind behold your Savior come

And leap ye lame for you.

My gracious Master and my God,

Assist me to proclaim,

To spread through all the earth abroad,

The honors of Thy name.

Charles Wesley