Devotion and Practice...

This morning as I was finishing my reading of Ezekiel, the Lord jolted me with several verses from 33:30b-32. It says, "The people say to each other, 'come and hear the message that has come from the Lord.' My people come to you as they usually do and sit before you to listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice. With their mouths they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. Indeed to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but not do put them into practice." I read that as I was going through my devotions - I had just asked God to speak and I was sitting before Him to listen to His word. As I read those lines I had to stop and ask myself if I was just like them. Do I proclaim to want to hear God's Word and do I even express devotion, and yet lack in the practice part? I had to admit those verses related to me more than I wanted to acknowledge. A major part of this journey has been to face that reality and begin to do life differently. I am slowly learning what it means to come to the end of myself. What it means to really means to die to self. To come to the end of my strength so that God's strength can be manifested in me. I am not there yet. But I am learing how recognize quickly which thoughts and actions that are about to come out, are not God's. As a result I am beginning - just beginning - to do life differently. There is nothing like the small confines of an RV to reveal and expose things in my life that had been able to remain hidden behind my own rationalizations. Thank goodness God never gives up on us. May you too come to the end of yourself so that Christ can truly be glorified in you. Bless you!!!

Never Gives Up!

God that is - He never gives up on us. I know that because of His heart that is expressed in the books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. I have just finished reading both of those books and I was so blessed with the heart of God that is expressed there. Over and over again the children of Israel were disobedient and they turned away from God. Over and over again God said He was going to pour out His wrath upon them and the other nations that deserved to be judged. But in the midst of all that disobedience and judgment and wrath, there is another theme that pops up again and again throughout those books. That is God's heart to restore and to pour out His love to those who absolutely did not deserve it. Even though God had reason after reason to give up on the people of Israel - He never did. That means He will never give up on us. Never, ever, ever. You can not sin enough to make Him love you less. He loves you more than you can ever know. You can rest in His love. You can rest in His grace. You can trust Him!!! I just thought I should share that with you before I go to bed. Ah there is nothing like Walmart when it comes to good parking lot sleeping. Bless you...

Worry and Faith...

On Saturday night at 2:30 am I woke up with an anxiety attack. Actually I am not sure if if was a full blown attack as defined by the American Psychological Association, but I sure was filled with fear and worry and I definitely could not sleep. As I lay in bed trying not to think about my struggle to finish the DMIN paper and our yet to be determined future and some other things that have been on my mind, I was reminded of Philippians 4:6 which says, "Do not be anxous about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." And then verse 7 says, "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." As I refected on that verse, I began to pray and put the paper and our future in the Lord's hands. I must say that I did not immediately go back to sleep. It was not a little battle - in fact the impetus to worry kept raging for a while. But I asked God for faith to trust Him (do not forget faith is not something you conjure up, it is a gift from God) and I continued to thank God for His faithfulness and give everything to Him one thing at a time. Well in time I did get back to sleep. Not only that but I woke up in the morning with fresh ideas for the paper and I had renewed peace that God had not forgotten about our future.

I share this just to remind anyone who reads this, that God's Word is true. He will give us the faith to walk in the fullness of His promises if we will just ask Him to give it to us. In fact He will do it right now if you will just ask Him and keep asking Him until He has done it. So why not do it right now? Why not ask God to give you His gift of faith to be able to trust Him with the details of your day? The Bible says we do not have because we do not ask - so ask Him and wait to receive what He has for you. Blessings upon you as you live for His glory...

Dreams and the Real World

Yesterday we hiked to Hanging Lake. It was a 1,000 foot elevation climb on a 1 mile trail. As we were just beginning the trail we heard a loud noise like a sheet opening in the wind. We looked up just in time to see an open parachute and 30 seconds later the guy was on the ground about 200 feet in front of us. We hiked right by him. Moments before he had done a free fall off the clift and opened his chute which we were able to see coming down over our heads. It was amazing. So was the lake and the water falls that we hiked to. When we arrived at the top there was something called the spouting rock. It was a water fall coming right out of the rock. It too was amazing. The whole hike and the parachute thing reminded me of a song from the Sound of Music. "Climb every mountain, forge every stream, follow every rainbow, till you find your dream." The cliffs, the water fall, the lake, the parachute guy all seemed like a dream. As you can see from the pictures it was an amazing place.

Oh if we could only live life in a dream world. But the truth is we all have to come down off the mountain out of the dream. That is the story of the disciples as they came down from the Mount of Transfiguration. Do you remember that Peter wanted to live up there with Jesus and Moses and Elijah. But they had to come down and when they did there was someone who was sick and needed healed. There were disciples there praying and believing God that little boy was going to be healed - and yet nothing happened. As I was reading that story this last week I thought how similar that is to the church. In the church we live in the real world where people need help. They need healed, they need restored, they need a touch from God. And just like in the story there are people praying and often we don't see the results that we are praying for. The story only ends well because Jesus showed up. In fact the story not only ended well - it kind of ended like a dream because everything worked out perfectly. The thought that comes to me through all this rambling is that while we can not live life in a dream world, we can experience the stuff that dreams are made out of if we come to the end of our self and wait for Jesus to show up. That is what the disciples did. They gave it their best shot and then they waited for Jesus to show up and He did and He will - if we will do the same. Truly Jesus is the stuff that dreams are made of. Keep trusting Him - He is faithful...

Are You Listening?

The more I am on this road trip and the more I study about hearing God's voice, the more I realize how much I need to hear it. Actually I am beginning to notice the times He was speaking to me and I did not listen. As I seek to know more about His voice, I have come to the conclusion that one of the main reasons I personally struggle to hear His voice is because I am too busy doing my own thing. When I hear something that conflicts with what I am doing or want to do, I too easily ignore it and continue on. As I complete my Doctoral Project on God's Voice and Pastoral Care I would ask you to pray for me that I would become more aware of what God is and more willing to stop what I am doing and respond to His way. I do not want to write something that has no relevance to my life.

One big revelation to me lately is that one of the ways God is speaking most to me right now is through Kathy, my wife. I must confess that I am not very good at hearing Him speak through her because her comments often hit too close to home. The truth is my pride and self centeredness tend to keep me from hearing God through her. I hate to confess that, but if I am going to grow beyond it, I have to face it.

Well let me close with this thought. I have been reading through Jeremiah and Ezekiel and in the midst of all their prophecies about judgment and doom, God over and over again speaks about His heart to redeem. He does not get any joy out of judgment. He is always looking for the good that He can and will bring out it. That has been important for me to hear as I struggle to get it right in life. So the next time you feel like you have failed again and you are never going to get it right - just know that God is working to redeem. Listen carefully for His voice and trust that He is working for your best. Bless you!!!

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.