Fence Post Living?

Recently in my reading I came across the following statement. "I was in great need both spiritually and physically. Spiritually, 1 thought I was saved, but was really sort of on the fence, having too much of the Lord to enjoy the world, and too much of the world to have real joy in the Lord." When I read that I thought that is something that needs pondered. "Too much of the Lord to enjoy the world and too much of the world to have real joy in the Lord." Whether or not the person who wrote that was saved, I do not know. What I do know is that the last part of that line describes many Christians I know - including myself at times. Oh how easy it is to try and walk with the Lord as close as we can to the world. That is not the path to true joy. The key is to move into the Kingdom at far as we can. To leave the world behind. Trying to combine the love of the world and the love of God does not work. What we need is to realize that Christ in us is the hope of glory. Not the world in us and not a combination of both. That is why Paul said, "I am crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live but Christ in me." He knew that He could not live for Christ in his abilities. It was only as he came to the end of himself - when he admitted he was helpless - then Christ's strength would be manifested in him.

The reality in life is that we have all been raised in the love of the world. We have been taught the strength of the world. We have experienced the peace and joy and hope of the world. When we become Christians we naturally take what we have learned in the world and try to live our Christian life using those things. The bottom line is that you are destined to fail to really enter in to God's life if you do that. Daily acknowledge your lack of ability and ask Jesus to live through you. Ask Him for the faith to love with His love, the faith to have His strength be yours, the faith to live in His joy. Trust Him to give you the gift of faith so that His life can be manifested in you and wait for Him to prove faithful. It is time to get off the fence and get into the Kingdom. Bless you!!!

Own or Loan...

This morning (9/8/09) I was reading in Ezekiel 14. God speaks about idols and how that they hinder people from even inquiring of Him. As I was reading that I began to reflect and wonder at what kind of idols I have allowed to come between me and God. I am embarrassed to say that many things began to come to mind. Things like the RV and the car and the way I deal with the things "I own." Even as I say that it sounds so foolish for the truth is I do not own anything. Everything I "own" is really only "on loan" from God. Most importantly that includes my (and your) life. Yet how often I have allowed "my life" which includes my desires and my ways and my wants and my agenda and my things to become an idol in front of the one who owns it all.

God says He will deal with our idolatry. In Ezek. 14:5 He says, "I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have deserted me for their idols." What an incredible blessing to have a God who loves us enough to pursue us even in the midst of us turning away from Him. It is amazing for me to think that God blesses us with everything we have and we use what He has given to us for our glory - robbing Him of His glory and God continues to seek us and our best. WOW! I do not have it within me to understand that kind of love. I need more than my love. I need God's love to fill my heart. How about you?

Faith - Real Faith...

We are now in Colorado visiting Stephanie and Jeremy. It has been nice to stop traveling for a while and have time to read and reflect. I am reading a short book called Real Faith and it has been eye opening for me. The main point is that faith is not something you have in your mind - it is within your heart and it is a gift from God. On the surface that seems obvious since that is what God says in His Word in Ephesians 2:8, but faith is often not thought of in that way. Faith seems to very easily be turned into positive thinking, where we try to convince ourselves in our minds that we really do believe the promises of God. That is more belief than faith. According to the Bible faith is a powerful thing. Only a mustard seed is needed to move mountains. Throughout my Christian walk I have always wondered why we see so little being done by those who proclaim to have faith - including myself. I am beginning to realize that what I had in the past considered to be faith was not really faith at all. Faith is not something I can force to happen in my life. Faith is something that is received from God - it is a gift. When God gives it to me then I can believe for healing and wholeness and restoration and on and on. The key is that I must call out to God and rely on Him and wait upon Him to give me faith for the moment to accomplish what He has for me to do.

The bottom line to all this is that faith is not about me and what I can conjure up in my mind. Faith is about God and what He can do in and through me for His glory. I am still processing all of this but I think there is something great to be had here. May the Lord bless you as you seek to walk by faith - real faith that God has placed within your heart.

Since we left Franklin, we have been to the following National Parks. Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, Glacier, Redwoods, Yosemite, Sequoia, Grand Canyon and presently we are at Zion in Utah. We have driven down the beautiful Oregon coast, we have walked with the stars in Hollywood, ridden the waves at Newport Beach in California and we have relaxed for a week in Phoenix, Az. But today we went canyoneering in a slot canyon and it just about topped everything that we have done so far. We repelled down a 100 foot cliff and we chimmeyed (hands on one wall and feet on the other) down many tight places. We even went into and got out of a keeper hole. It was an amazing day with much adventure but it was also a great reminder that life is so much more than just enjoying the great outdoors.

My reminder came by the name of Greg. He was our guide. He was a great guy who was very good at what he did but it did not take long in talking to him to realize that he was lost. He knew there was a god but that god (whoever he was) was not personal and not knowable. He reminded me of another person I met in Montana while we were staying at Kathy’s mother’s home. He too was a rock climber. He spoke to me about the spirituality of nature and about how you can connect with the trees and the rocks and the spirituality of the great outdoors. But again there was nothing personal about his god. Nothing to relate to on a intimate basis. It is one thing to know there is a god out there who created this incredible place where we live and quite another thing to know that God in our hearts on a daily basis. To know Him in such an intimate way that we can trust Him with our lives. It is an incredible privilege to have access to that revelation in our hearts. What a mighty God we serve. May we continually pray for the wisdom to be able to share that hope with others.

One other thought I have had on this trip is how much we are created to live for and serve God. I have truly enjoyed seeing the incredible world God has created for us - the hiking and sightseeing and touring has been simply amazing but in the midst of it all I have a yearning in my heart to be doing something more. Just living for me, for what I can do and what I can see is not enough. Just doing what I want would seem like life at its best, but in the end it is not fulfilling. In other words just living for the weekend is not what life is all about. We are created to do something more than just meet our own needs. We were created to live lives that glorify God by serving Him and fulfilling His will. I have always known that but now I am more convinced of it than ever before. We covet your prayers as we seek how and where God would have us to do that in the future.

I have been so poor at keeping up this blog I thought I would try something shorter. So here is a quick thought for you. When we were in Oregon we stopped off at a Bible School where friend of mine from Seminary is the President. At dinner that night he shared with us that they had a new chancellor named Wayne Cordeiro. When he said the name I recognized that he was the person who wrote the Life Journal that I had been using as my devotional and I had passed many of them out at Galloway Church where I had been pastoring. He said they were using the Life Journal too and then he added that Wayne was in town and that he was meeting with them every morning at 6:30 am to do the journal. So the next morning I went and did the Life Journal with Wayne. Before we did the journal he shared a short thought that really struck me and I believe it will bless you as well. He made the point that when a baby is first learning to walk they must go from a secure position of standing on two legs to an insecure position of standing on one leg and leaning onto the other one. Only when they are willing to leave the secure position and take the risk of stepping out into the unknown - to a less secure position - will they ever learn how to walk. Of course walking opens a whole new realm of possibilities. As he shared that I thought that is what we are doing. We have left a secure position of ministry and stepped out into the unknown believing that God has great things down the line. I must admit I was somewhat fearful to leave that secure position but stepping out has truly opened up our lives to many amazing experiences. Every day has proven to be an adventure as we take one step at a time.

I do not know what God has in store for each of you but I do know that the "steps of a righteous person are ordered by the Lord." So I encourage you not to be afraid to take that step that the Lord has placed upon your heart. Living in the security of the past and the present is ok but taking the risk to leave the secure and step out - is really the way to greater things. May you never become emtombed in the security of the moment. God has more for you than that. Bless you as you prayerfully seek each day to walk by faith!!!