Blessed Assurance

Isaiah 42:16

"I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them."

And so, when I find myself groping blindly along ways I don't know, along unfamiliar paths, I can rest assured that He will guide me. What a word of promise to hang onto.

On one hand, it's a little frightening to receive a verse like this. It's not as though I haven't traveled along many unknown and unfamiliar paths, it's just that I can't help but wonder if things are going to be such that I will need this verse and the truths it teaches to hang onto to. Is God preparing me for even more unfamiliar paths by showing me these truths? 

Just when I start to permit my thoughts to travel down that foreboding trail, God reminds me that He has not given me a spirit of fear. God is not the author of anything grounded in fear. This, then, is a reminder that in the seeming darkness through which I have traveled, God has been with me. He has been my guide. It is He who has turned the darkness into light and He has never forsaken me, nor will He. 

A promise for the past and a promise for the future. A reminder that even if I encounter strange, unknown paths where I am seemingly blind, I have no reason to fear. Why should I fear when God almighty has promised to be my guide, to smoothen the rough places for me, to shed light on the path and that He will never forsake me. 

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!

Simply Breathtaking

"We can know that God has a mighty plan and that through His mighty plan God will look breathtaking." ... Jon Lyndon

A one sentence excerpt from Sunday's sermon, but what a loaded statement. It's a nice one to chew on when life seems to be dealing you a hand you would love to dispose of. The first part alone is powerful enough on it's own. "We can know that God has a mighty plan ..." Resting on the knowledge of truth, acknowledging that God has a plan ... not only a plan but a mighty plan. That alone can turn my world on it's axis as I acknowledge that, no, bad stuff doesn't just happen so suck it up, but rather, all things in my life are woven into God's mighty plan. Things do not just happen by chance. Even the seemingly horrible stuff which I can't begin to imagine as part of God's plan, as something He would send my way, is part of His mighty plan. 

Does that get your attention like it got mine? Yes, all the bad stuff is also part of His mighty plan. Now, before you take up stones and come looking for me, allow me a little bit of latitude as I explain. While it may an entirely true and trustworthy statement to say that there are things which occur in my life which God did not design for my life, it is equally true to say that nothing gets through to me without God's permission. What is permitted by God is also used by God to work to good in my life.

The real clincher in that statement, for me, was the last part, "through His mighty plan God will look breathtaking". God is to be glorified, it is His will, it is His desire. When the Almighty desires something, nothing stands in His way. God is going to look breathtaking. That's His plan. My life being part of His plan ensures that what I experience will not rob God of looking breathtaking. Can't get better insurance than that!

And Just When

Just when I feel like yelling at God, at throwing a nice tantrum and telling Him all this isn't fair, just then the Apostle Paul speaks to me from beyond the pale. No no, don't start thinking I'm channeling or communicating with the departed, only reading the written Word. 

1 Corinthians 15:1, "Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand." Thank you very much, but I didn't want a reminder! I wanted to feel sorry for myself and needed someone else to blame for it. No, Paul wants to remind me of the gospel he preached, which I received and on which I have taken my stand. 

It's good to get those reminders. Good to have my attention drawn back to the gospel, the good news, of Jesus Christ. To be reminded that is on this that I have taken my stand. I've planted my feet on the good news of Jesus and chosen to stand there. One of the luxuries of that stand is that I'm not bound by self-pity anymore. Yes, that's a luxury! I don't have to go through the misery, the despair, the pain of a pity party. Sure, the enemy would be more than happy to drag me back there. Sure, he likes to bill it as a "right", as something I'm "entitled" to. He even stoops so low as to whisper, quite convincingly, that God has big shoulders and won't be offended by my lashing out and yelling at Him. 

While that may well be true, as a father I think I can confidently say, He takes much more pleasure in me not throwing a tantrum and walking victoriously. So while God can handle me being angry at Him, He and I are both much happier if I choose not to. 

It's good to be reminded of the things I've chosen as my foundation. Something about the word 'foundation' that kind of makes me think I really need to stand there. Wandering back and forth with the slightest wind really doesn't lend itself to the whole concept of foundation. I guess I best climb back up on that Rock!

(Which reminds me of an image God gave me Sunday morning. It was of His hand being beneath me, shielding every step from the surface below. It was as if He was saying, "you don't need to concern yourself about the condition of the path, just keep stepping in My hand and you'll be just fine.")

It Just Doesn't Get Any Better

 Just how good do God's gifts for me get? Can I outdream His generousity, what are the limits to his benevolence? We don't really think that way - do we? I guess I can't speak for you, but when I analyze my thinking, my actions, I think I'd have to say that I do. It shows in little things. Things like, "oh no, I won't ask for prayer, it's just a headache", or "not to worry, I'll get through this" and not asking my Father for help, not asking friends to ask Him on my behalf. 

Just who do I think I'm talking about when I decide what He will or won't give me? Just who do I think I am to make that decision for Him. To decide how good God is. It kind of draws me up short when I think of it in those terms. How dare I presume to sit in judgment of God? In judgment of, "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?" 

How dare I ever think anything is too small or too big for my Father to give me? I dare I make God smaller and less than He is? My Father, Who gave His own Son on my behalf, has already given the greatest, the best, gift I could possibly ever receive. All the rest is small potatoes in comparison. What a wonderful Daddy I have, and the gifts He gives ... well, it just doesn't get any better!

This Debt I Owe

I know I've read Romans. I know I have, and yet I cannot recall ever reading this verse. Okay, I did a bit of translation comparison and I do recall it in the KJV but somehow it doesn't quite speak to me the way the NIV does on this verse. "Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.", Romans 13:8

"except the continuing debt to love one another", has to be one of the coolest statements of all time. I've always been of the mindset that I get to choose who I will love. On one hand, that is correct. I do get to choose, in the same way I get to choose whether or not I'm going to be obedient. What I don't get to choose, however, is my obligation to love you. It is a debt I owe you, to love you.

The writer of Romans tells us not to owe anyone anything, except to love them. In the same way that I am obliged to pay my taxes, I am obliged to love those around me. The big difference is that each year I clean up the slate the government holds and I don't continue in that debt. When it comes to love, I can never fulfill my obligation, never pay off the debt I owe.

For some reason, I find this exilharating. Not only am I called to love others, even commanded to love others, but I owe it to them. They are right in having a legal expectation that I will love them. This truth rings the death knell to so many of the enemies lies. "That person is unloveable", "That person does not deserve love", "oh what a wonderful person you are to love that person". Lies, lies, lies. First the enemy would have us feel justified in not loving those around us. If he fails in convincing us that God's commands don't apply in the situation, he turns and tells us how "wonderful" we are, that we would love the unloveable.

If he is unable to conquer me with the lie of rebellion, he comes to me with the lie of religion. If he can't convince me that obedience to God can be overlooked due to the circumstances, he tries to convince me what a wonderful person I must be for loving the unlovable. Both are lies. Both are put to death with this truth, "the continuing debt to love one another". As a debt I owe, neither is payment optional nor am I to be commended for making payment on the debt.

Definitely one for me to remember and chew on for a while. This debt I owe, to love others.

Dinner for Two

Sitting here with a smile on my face, poised to write about the manna I received today ... and I'm drawing a blank. No, it's not that God didn't feed me today. I even had an epiphany moment after which I thought, "now there's my manna for today". But sitting here now, I can't articulate it. I'm thinking that perhaps it was for me alone today ... not trying to be selfish but sometimes that may be the case. Just going on record, saying, God was good to me today and He 'fed' me my daily portion. You know, it's kind of nice to have a special meal with the Father which He doesn't want me to share.

On a side note, LG was awesome tonight. God is so good. Did I say good? I meant to say incredibly awesome. Or better yet, in the words of Job, (yes the one in the Old Testament) "And these are the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him! Who then can understand the thunder of his power?" Love those verses. It's in Job 26 if you really want to read the context ... it's definitely worth the trip.

Even in This

At the risk of sounding redundant, or seeming to be ruminating on yesterdays manna ... God has been talking to me about worship again. It may have to do with the fact that I'm preparing to lead worship for our Life Group tomorrow night. For those who are wondering what a Life Group is, it's a small group from my church which meets weekly. Anyhow, God's really been speaking to me the past several days about worship, more specifically about when it's appropriate for me to worship.

Now that may seem, to some of you, to be a fairly straightforward issue. You can likely even guide me quickly to several Psalms where the psalmist admonishes us to be praising God at all times. That's the neat and tidy answer. Being a black and white person I like neat and tidy answers. The harsh reality, however, is that life sometimes doesn't present itself in neat and tidy packages.

Sure, if I stop to think about it, I can list a lot of things in the past six months for which I should (and readily could) praise God. That said, this same time frame has easily been the most difficult, most challenging time in my life. Never has my faith been as sorely tried, never has my self esteem been as battered or my mental state been as tested as in the past six months. I have frequently questioned whether God has His hand in my life and if He does, what His intentions might be.

It is in these darkest hours that I have found it the most difficult to worship God. To lift up His name and exalt Him. To praise Him for Who He is and for what He has done.

The past two days, God has been showing me first through King Nebuchadnezzar and then through Job that worship is not to be conditional on my circumstances. God brought Nebuchadnezzar to declare God's greatness not in the cradle of blessing but rather in the total estrangement from humanity. While he was in the fields eating grass with the animals, Nebuchadnezzar lifts his face to the heavens and extols the virtues of God.

Job, in the midst of trials I cannot even begin to imagine, does not turn his back on God nor does he curse God. When He challenges God to meet with Him so that he can plead his case to God, God shows up. In the latter chapters of Job, chapter 38 and following, God speaks to Job. God basically tells Job exactly where mankind sits on the continuum of created beings to deity. God explains in very succinct terms, to Job, that mankind has neither the experience nor the knowledge to begin to question God's actions. God is God and no one, regardless of how devout he or she may be is either qualified or entitled to call God's actions into question.

The psalmist writes, in Psalm 62:1, "My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him." It is in light of acknowledging God for who He is, that I can begin to echo the psalmist's words. My soul, does indeed, find rest in God alone. He is my salvation in all circumstances of my life.

Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Daniel 1 - 4: A Study in Worship

It struck me this morning, that Daniel is a study in worship. Perhaps I should say, a call to worship. King Nebuchadnezzar's call to worship is documented here. King Neb witnesses Daniel and his three companions repeatedly choose to worship and obey God, even in the face of death. God's hand, His mighty power, is revealed time and again as He reveals dreams and their meanings, spares the lives of His followers and blesses his followers with physical health. King Neb even acknowledges the mighty hand of God stating that there is no other god capable of doing what the God of Daniel and the three, can do.

In spite of this acknowledgment, King Neb does not recognize God as being the One he needs to worship. In Daniel 4, God sends Nebuchadnezzar a dream, the interpretation of which scares Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar is told that he will be brought low and caused to dwell among the animals. Daniel suggests that he turns from his sins and does righteous deeds and shows mercy to the poor so that perhaps his prosperity can be extended. The king, however, chooses to continue in his ways.

He likes to look on himself as the architect of his success. He is, in his opinion, a self made man. Yet God, who made him the power that he is, Who permitted him to take Israel into captivity, Jeremiah 25:8, "Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Because you have not obeyed My words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,' declares the LORD, 'and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar king of Bablyon," is determined that King Nebuchadnezzar will worship him.

God takes everything from him, his sovereignty, his sanity even to a great extent his humanity. Nebuchadnezzar is driven away from society and becomes like an animal of the field and feeds on grass. It is in this condition that Nebuchadnezzar recognizes God and looks to the heavens and praises God.

It struck me that so often I pray, 'God please do such and such so that Your name may be glorified'. It's as though my mindset is, God show Yourself and I will praise you. While we legitimately praise God for the things He does, if the only time we praise Him is when He does great things on our behalf we are not praising Him as He wants us to. Nebuchadnezzar praised God while he was in the field feeding on grass. While all he had ever had was taken from him.

God wants me to praise Him for who He is. He wants my praise even if I feel I have lost everything including my sanity. My praise should never be dependent on what God has done for me. My praise should always be because of who God is. If that is the source of my praise, I will always be able to praise Him for that never changes.

Maturity or Death?

"Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God." Hebrews 6:1


I came across this verse today and something struck me which I don't think I've noticed before. The phrase, "not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death,". Why does the writer of Hebrews admonish us to move toward maturity beyond the elementary teachings about Christ? It seems to me, that the alternative is being at risk of moving back to a position where we are participating in acts that lead to death. I'm not going to delve into the question of eternal security here, but if remaining immature in one's faith put's one at risk of returning to acts that lead to death, I want to move toward maturity and a choice for life.

A Matter of Perspective

A young boy and his sister were happily riding up and down a department store's escalators while their mother shopped. She had purchased an icecream cone for each and left them with strict instructions not to leave the escalator. They were happy ... no shopping and all the rides they could dream of. As they moved in and out of the crowds riding first up then down and back up again on the escalator, the young girl was heard to whisper loudly to the young boy, as his cone came perilously close to the fur coat ahead of him, "be careful, you'll get fur all over your cone".

How often is my perspective exactly like that. Focussed entirely on myself and the impact a situation will have on me. I fail to see the larger picture. I don't see the icecream in the fur coat, I only see a few hair in my cone.

1 Peter 2:9 says, " But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." A chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession ... and I flush with pleasure as I think of the wonder of it. What an amazing thing for me to be a part of all that. For me to be chosen by God, to be His special possession. It's quite breathtaking to consider it.

Do I consider, in the midst of all the self congratulation, the why of this equation? The reason why God showers me with this goodness? Do I stop to contemplate the reality that none of this is for my self-aggrandization. All of this is not about me, rather, it is that I "may declare the praises of him who called me out of darkness into his wonderful light." All of this is about Him, not about me. It is that I may declare His praises. Do I take my eyes off of myself long enough to realize this? To recognize that the blessings bestowed upon me are not, primarily, for me - bur rather for the glorification of His name. That He might be praised.

Do I take my eyes off of my ice cream long enough to realize that while His blessings are wonderful, it's not about my icecream. it's not about what God does for me but about motivating me to praise Him.

Who is He?

Much can, and has been, said about who God is. Tomes have been published about the nature and character of God. One author may have a different view or opinion of who God is than another and both may expound on the merits of their viewpoint but at the end of the day, who exactly is God?

I find it comforting to know that my belief about who He is has no bearing on who He is. His unconditional being, His constancy of character and being regardless of the circumstances I find myself in, or what I may believe about Him on a given day is a certainty. In His own words, "God said to Moses, "I am who I am"", Exodus 3:14a. What could be more assuring than that. To know that God is the same today as He was when He spoke that to Moses.


What a sure anchor for our faith. To know that the God who has shown Himself faithful through the generations is the same God who promises to care for me, to walk with me in every storm, to not allow me to be tested beyond what I am able ... and the list goes on. I will place my trust in Him who is, I AM.

Erase or Replace?

I noticed, today, that a friend of mine had marked on Facebook that he would attend an event, Erase Hate Day. Like the cat, curiosity got the best of me and I clicked on the event to see what it was all about. As I read down through a number of the comments and heard subscribers talking about the need to end hate, in all of it's multiple manifestations, something struck me.

How do we end hate? How do we make an end to bullying, violence to women, racism and the list goes on, seemingly, endlessly. It struck me that the only end to hatred is love. We cannot "erase" hatred but that we "replace" hatred. As I thought on this, I realized that this isn't specific to hatred but to any habit we want to put an end to. Luke 11:26 came to mind, "Then it (a demon cast out) goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first."

We can impose the authority we may have to dispel that which is undesirable. We can demand and command obedience and adherence to strict codes of conduct ... for a period of time. If, however, the conduct we are looking to put an end to is not replaced with another behavior it will return and be more rooted than it was before.

How important it is, I was reminded, to seek the indwelling of God's Holy Spirit that my life may evidence the fruit of the Spirit which Galatians 5:22 and 23 tell us is, "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." If these characteristics are what I am known by, the need to "erase" habits from my life will have been taken care of because they will already have been "replaced".

Next To An Open Fire

It's that time of year on this side of the globe. Time to clean out the gardens, rake up the leaves, mow the lawn for the last time and if everything works out right have a fire in the back yard to dispose of dead branches. Everything worked out right this year and I had a nice fire going for quite some time the other day. I love the smell of the wood burning and the feel of the warmth coming off of the fire, it makes fall seem right. When I came inside, however, my clothes were saturated with smoke. There was no disguising that I had been near a fire.

Contrast that with, Daniel 3:26,27, "...Then Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego came out of the midst of the fire. ... the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men nor was the hair of their head singed, nor were their trousers damaged, nor had the smell of fire even come upon them." As amazing as it is that these men were not killed by the fire, they were not harmed in any way. As if that wouldn't be enough of a sign of God's faithfulness, God goes one better than that and these men come out of the furnace not even smelling of fire. Not even smelling of it!

When I go through difficult times, times which I might be tempted to equate to a fiery furnace, I can't help but think of the injuries I am going to incur. The scars I will carry with me for the rest of my life. It doesn't seem possible to go through some of the hard times we experience on this earth without realizing permanent scars. Yet these men came through the fire not only unscarred, but without even the smell of fire on them.

God is able to bring me through without the smell of fire on me.

And Again He Reminds Me

How many times, in how many weeks, do I need to be reminded to give thanks, to be thankful? How often does the Father have to repeat Himself before I adopt the pattern of living which He prescribes? He hit me with another gentle reminder today. It's funny how those gentle reminders don't always feel gentle at first, but it's really the clarity of what He says that is shocking, not the reminder itself.

Colossians 3:15 - 17, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father."

Let ... permit ... allow, not something I have to actively pursue, just something I need to permit. We ask for peace, at least I do, and fail to see that it's available ... all I have to do to have the peace of Christ rule in my heart is to permit it, let it happen. As a matter of fact, not only is peace available to me, I'm called to it. Makes one wonder why I strive so hard for it.

Then the reminder for me ... "and be thankful". Not feel grateful but "be" thankful. I love the verbs God uses in conveying His truths. He knew how attuned to feelings we, His children, are. So He reminds me, it's not about how you feel, it's about what you do ... "be thankful". Some more permitting prescribed in the next verse and then He wraps it up in verse 17 by saying, whatever you do, whether its something you're saying or your actions, give thanks to God.

It's easy for me to thank God when I get what I was hoping for. Easy to give thanks when things go my way. When things don't seem to be progressing along the timeline I had imagined, or in the manner I had hoped for, prayed for, then thanksgiving comes less naturally for me. The writer doesn't suggest we give thanks, doesn't say give thanks when you feel thankful, doesn't even say give thanks for the good things in your life ... rather he says, Whatever you do, give thanks. Be thankful.

And Yet I Complain

"Many, O Lord, are the wonders you have done.  The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare."  Psalm 40:5

Now if that doesn't boggle the mind I'm not sure what does. I mean, really, how do I explain my dissatisfaction, my complaints, my self pity in light of the glorious truth that God has planned more things for me than I could possibly recount. So many things, in fact, that were I to attempt to recount them all, they would be more than I could possibly declare. 

I believe the Psalmists words to be true! Truth is irrefutable, it is not open to discussion or dispute. Yet, each time I complain, each time I wallow in self-pity I am turning my focus away from the truth. I am choosing to waste my time, my energy, my resource focusing on what I don't understand instead of glorying in the marvelous reality of God's care and compassion for me. 


I purpose to declare the wonders which God has done for me, to reflect on His marvelous character and His deeds and plans on my behalf. So much healthier to dwell there. God truly is gracious and wonderful!

Leftovers?

I've been eating turkey for a few days now. It seems to be the tradition which follows Thanksgiving. I know Manna was to be collected each day (with the exception of the Sabbath) because it didn't last to be served as leftovers. I also know that I was "instructed" to collect manna every day. That said, I think there is a place for ruminating on what we've consumed. Maybe that makes today a Sabbath for me, I don't know? What I do know, is that I experienced the most incredible encounter with God today, when I chewed on what I had collected yesterday.

It's interesting that the whole "thanksgiving" theme seems to be coming at me, without any design of my own, right at Thanksgiving time. Yesterday God spoke to me about the importance of thanking God for every circumstance in my life. Not only for the good things in my life, for the things I perceive to be blessings, but for everything. Everything, if I believe that God is a compassionate, loving God who wishes only the best for His children, is a blessing ... whether I perceive it as such or not.

So I'm standing in the pharmacy this morning and my mind settled on some circumstances in my life which I consider the most difficult I have ever encountered. Circumstances which I am convinced are by the design of the enemy. Circumstances which I know are not God's will for my life, as an ongoing situation. Well, as my mind settled on this and was about to migrate to self pity, which is where it tends to go when contemplating these circumstances, I remembered yesterday's feast, "Give Thanks".

As the prospect of thanking God for these circumstances entered into my consciousness, I initially resisted. I thought about how ridiculous it would be to actually thank God for what must be the mindchild of the Enemy. Then I moved in obedience and thanked God. I thanked God for the circumstances He had permitted in my life, I thanked Him for what He is planning to accomplish in my life, for His glory, through these circumstances. As I thanked Him, not only did my perspective change, but I felt the presence of God's Spirit on me in a way I have not experienced in some time.

Sometimes yesterdays food is better today than it was when it first hit the table yesterday. I know this is not an excuse for not collecting manna everyday, but it certainly is sweet when God blesses so abundantly when I apply yesterday's truths.

Thanksgiving

Lots of manna today, a veritable Thanksgiving Feast. I've started reading a book by Matilda Nordtvedt and it's really a remarkable book. I love the way she cites scripture and weaves biblical truth into her book. She's been writing a lot about giving thanks in everything. Not, as some people teach, to be thankful in spite of our circumstances (to find something to be thankful even when life is not treating you well), but rather to be thankful for everything that occurs in our lives. 


How to be thankful for horrible situations, for terrible situations? Her premise is, that everything that comes our way has been approved of by our Father, God. Even the things that Satan devises to tear us down, to shake our faith, have to be permitted by Him before Satan is permitted to afflict us. She says that, if God has permitted it, then He has also changed the purpose of it so that it is not to destroy us but rather to build us up. 


One of the verses that jumped out at me in particular, tonight, was Psalm 71:8 "Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day." Let my mouth be filled with thy praise all the day. All the day ... isn't that amazing? From the time I rise in the morning until the time I lay my head down at night, the psalmist says, my mouth should be filled with praise for God. 

It's a different perspective than what I've been accustomed to holding. It's a complete paradigm shift for me. I've been taught, and I've believed that we are to be thankful at all times. At all times, however, not for all things. To filter everything that happens in my life, to me, through the lens that says, "this is something which God intends for your benefit" is a little mind boggling.


If I really believe that God is for me, and I believe that nothing can happen to me without God permitting it, then it follows (unless my logic is faulty and some of you may be able to correct me), that everything that happens to me is permitted for my benefit. If it's for my benefit, then no matter how painful and how difficult it it ... I need to thank God. What a mind blowing concept ... I think I'm going to have to give this a try.

Show Me Your Face

Show me Your face, oh God. I want to know You. Reveal Yourself to me, oh Father. These are prayers of my heart, longings from deep within me. I long to know God. To see Him as He is, to know Him as a friend. The quest seems illusive, however. The more I search after Him, the more I long to know Him.

What is the formula, the definitive means by which one can come to know God. How do I really get to know God? To see Him for Who He is, to relate to Him as a friend? It's a good thing that God anticipated my questions ... long before I was born. Well, I guess I wasn't the first one to ask the question. It seems Jesus' disciples were asking pretty much the same thing in John 14, which begs the question, "why am I still asking it?". Jesus did, after all give a fairly succinct answer to the question in verse 7.

John 14:7 "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him; and have seen Him."

"If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also". To know God, all I have to do is know Jesus. I know it sounds simplistic to say "all I have to do", and truth be told, knowing Jesus does take commitment, diligence and discipline, BUT, knowing Him is really not that difficult. I can know about Him by spending time in His word. I can know Him, by being in relationship with Him, by spending time with Him. Who is the first person I call with good news, the first person I call for advice, the first person I go to with my problems ... ? How can I expect to know Jesus if I don't spend time with Him, if I don't go to Him with my failures and my successes, if I don't seek His counsel on the situations I face in my life?

How can I expect to know my Father if I don't know His Son?

Even If He Does Not ...

God's timing is amusing, to say the least. Yesterday I was complaining about being on a diet of manna, about not experiencing the luxuries of yesterday nor tomorrow and today God drops these verses in my lap.

Daniel 3: 17-18, "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O kind, that we will not serve your gods of worship the image of gold you have set up."


The kind of grumbling I was indulging myself in yesterday tends to be the by-product of a particularly dangerous line of thinking. It stems from permitting myself to muse that God is either incapable or unwilling to address the hurts in my life. It's dangerous because permitting that line of thinking to permeate my consciousness leads to an erosion of my faith. It leads to me taking my life out of God's hands and seeking to take care of myself. It leads to me feeling sorry for myself and angry at God. All in all not a healthy situation.

So with that backdrop I walk into church this morning. A wonderful mindset to begin worshiping God with. Well not really, but better to start worshiping God when I'm there than anything else I might do. The sermon begins with the reading of the passage in Daniel, chapter 3: 1 - 18. We reach verses 17 and 18 and God draws me up short. 

Here we have three men about to be thrown into a furnace and their response is utterly astounding. "God is able ... and He will ... But even if He does not ..."  The truth they have locked into their mindset is absolutely astonishing. Do they fall in a defeated mass beseeching Almighty God to spare them from the fate about to befall them? Not for a minute. They boldly confess the truth. "The God we serve is able to save us", truth number one. "He will rescue us from your hand", truth number two. 

Then comes the keystone of this passage, the part which drew me up short. "But even if He does not ...", even if He does not do what we know He is capable of, even if He does not do what we have every confidence He will do. That's an awfully big "but". Even if God doesn't act in the way we know He is able and in the way we have every confidence He will, we will not take matters into our own hands in an attempt to save our lives. These men had put their confidence in God to such a degree that even the prospect of death in a fiery furnace could not shake that confidence. Rather they told the king, the one who was about to throw them into the furnace that even if God didn't intervene, as they were certain He would, they still would chose to place their allegiance wholly with Him. 

That is where I want to live. Daily, hour by hour, each minute of the day ... to be so confident in my God, in His love for me, His plans for me, His purposes for me, that my response to each circumstance I encounter is; My God can, my God will, but even if He does not, I will place my confidence in Him and in Him alone!

When The Shoe Is On The Other Foot

I don't know how often I've heard the story of the children of Israel and God's provision of manna for them. I do know, that a time has not passed that I have not marveled at the ingratitude of the recipients of God's provision. How dare they grumble and complain when God is sustaining them in the absence of food. How dare they murmur when they had enough to eat?

It's easy to hold that perspective from position of plenty. Easy to say, "I would have been grateful, I would have been satisfied and given thanks." It's amazing how one's perspective changes when the shoe is put on the other foot. When one is asked to walk in the shoes they walked in.

Numbers 11:4-6 "The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, "If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost - also the cucumber, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!"

I'm sick of manna ... well not sick of manna ... I want more than manna. I want fish! I want melons, onions and garlic! I want what I was once blessed with but now only have memories of! I want the bounty of the promised land with grapes and milk and honey! I want the feast that God promises to prepare before me in the presence of my enemies. I don't want to survive on just manna.

Does that make me selfish? Does that make me ungrateful? Does that show a lack of faith, a lack of trust in God? Possibly ... probably ... likely. I marvel at the faith of Abraham and others who's faith is recorded in Hebrews 11, many of whom died waiting to see the fulfillment of the promises they waited for without losing hope. I marvel because I cannot begin to fathom the depth of their hope in the promises of the Almighty.

Today the shoe is on the other foot. Today it is not the children of Israel who are being sustained with manna, today it is I. Lord you know the bounty I long for. You know the promises I wait to see. Keep me faithful I pray. Forgive me when I murmur, Lord. Continue to nourish and sustain me with your manna, even when I grow impatient and long for yesterday or tomorrow. Help me to remember that yesterday was not what tomorrow will be and to reach tomorrow I must pass through today!

Why, exactly, do I ask?

I wonder how often a chipmunk asks his father to teach him how to fly, or how often a fish asks her mother to teach her how to run. Some things are best not learned. Some goals are best achieved by other means. The path I chose, or request, for reaching a specific objective may well not be the best path for reaching that objective. I ask for patience and God gives me opportunity to exercise patience. I ask for grace and God gives me opportunity to extend grace. Where I had hoped for a divine endowment, God lays out a regimen of exercise. Spiritual disciplines require hard work, they require diligence and commitment.

Romans 5:3b says, "we know that suffering produces perseverance" and James 1:3 reiterates this when it says, "you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance". You want to persevere, you're going to suffer. How often do I ask God for patience, for grace, for mercy and the list goes on, only to be frustrated when my circumstances require me to exercise those disciplines. I guess that's why they're called disciplines and not gifts. If I really want to evidence those things in my life, I need to be willing to work at them.

Really, when one stops to think about it, who benefits most from things like patience, grace, mercy ... disciplines of that nature? Is the the one who exercises it, or the object of it? I guess there is no point in me having the patience of Job if there are no circumstances in my life which require patience, no call for me to have grace until there are those in my life who need grace extended to them. It really begs the question, doesn't it, why do we ask for these disciplines? To be more like Christ, I know. As I am tested by the situations in my life, may I find His character proven in me. May those I encounter experience Jesus as I interact with them.

I Was Crying ...

Psalm 3: 4 - 6, "I was crying to the LORD with my voice, And He answered me from His holy mountain. I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the LORD sustains me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me round about."

I love the image these verses invoke. The faith of David at this time is so evident in these verses. He says, "I cried, God answered, I lay down and slept". What an image! I often cry to the LORD and then forget that He has answered me, so I fret and cannot sleep because of the calamity that is about to befall me. David's example is exemplary. It's something God has been trying to show me. When God speaks, when He answers my cries, I have no more cause for fear. I can lay down relaxed and sleep and wake when I'm rested in the full knowledge that God sustains me.

God has spoken and it will be so! This is a non-negotiable fact. Even if ten thousands of people set themselves against me, I don't have any cause for fear. To be able to go to bed and sleep in the face of this, to trust that God will sustain and preserve me when the circumstances seem dire is the most incredible gift. And that, God says, is what He wants for me. To be able to relax in His Word, to be assured enough by what He says that I can lay down and sleep.

What a wonderful God I serve!

Ice Cream

Forest's mamma said life was like a box of chocolates but for me some days are like ice cream. Today was ice cream. Hard to beat the goodness of ice cream, it's the ultimate comfort food. A nice big bowl of it is bound to make you feel better, provided you can ignore the guilt about the calories.

Today was a day to make me feel better. Better than I've felt in some time. In spite of that, I came to the end of the day with the realization, or at least the perception, that I hadn't picked up any manna today. That saddened me a bit, it's been almost three weeks now since I began this quest and each day has been an adventure. There have been days when I did not intentionally go out to seek manna but when all was said and done, God had fed me.

So, why no manna today? One of my best days in some time and yet nothing from God? Somehow this didn't seem to measure up so I sat to think on it for a bit, to reflect on my day. I acted on a decision I made with the counsel of some the elders in my church. I met with a godly man from my church to seek his advice in some  areas of my life. I received an encouraging message from a friend which provided some godly and timely advice.

At that point in my reflection, the tiny bulb in the recesses of my mind lit up and I recalled Psalm 1"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgement, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish."

It's kind of cool when God has me walk out what He's trying to teach me, before He gives me the scripture to go with it. A number of times through the day I couldn't help but be thankful for the godly people who God has placed in my life the last several months. I have received well intentioned counsel from various people in the last while which, while well intended, strayed from from Biblical truth and principles. In reflecting on it today, it struck me how fortunate I am to have godly people speaking truth into my life to serve as a point of reference by which to measure this well intentioned counsel.

I know I've read those verses multiple times in the past. I know I've heard sermons on the importance of godly counsel. I know I've read other scriptures which speak to this. I know that I knew this in my head, had I taken the time to think about it but it's so much more refreshing when God takes His Word and makes it alive. When He teaches it to me through application and then tops it off with His Word as if to say, I'm not teaching you anything that I haven't been teaching for years but I wanted to take the time to teach it to you individually. I wanted to show you how much you mean to me. How much I value you. I Almighty God, took the time to spend with you today so that you would know in your heart, as well as in your head, the importance of godly counsel.

Today was like ice cream, it was wonderful dessert.

Even Though ...

"The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
He leads me beside quiet waters,
He restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff,
They comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever."  Psalm 23

I'd like to think that with God on my side the sun would shine everyday with just enough rainfall to sustain healthy life. I'd like to think that God's favour and His blessings would mean that I would live in bounty and not have a care in the world. I'd like to think that being a Christian was like having a genie in a bottle. But it's not!

God promises that the sun will shine on the just and the unjust. He promises rain for the just and the unjust. Being God's child does not, as a rule, put me outside of the natural. I may experience some miracles, but as a general principle I still function within the boundaries of a world infested with sin.

The psalmist realized this and captures it so well when he writes, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death," David recognized that even God's chosen have experiences where they have to walk through the valley of the shadow of death. One writer defined this as "the perils of life". The things which threaten my very existence. Even then, David says, "I will fear no evil". Even when I'm taken into the very dwelling place of that which seeks to destroy me, to take my life from me, I will not be afraid.

I won't be afraid because the LORD is my shepherd. His rod and His staff they comfort me. Oh to be in such a relationship with God that I could say that with confidence and boldness. To be able to recognize His rod and His staff as instruments of guidance and protection. To know with certainty that even though the shadow of death casts over me as I enter the valley, I have no cause for fear. To have that blessed assurance.

Oh LORD, I pray, draw me closer each day, that I may in confidence proclaim that I fear no evil. That even in the shadow, I see Your glorious light.

Sometimes I Need an Anthem

Today was one of those days. One of those days when the world felt all wrong. One of those days when I could as easily have stayed in my pyjamas all day and just huddled under a quilt. God, if He existed, seemed to have forgotten I exist as well. I had almost decided that I could use my sore back as an excuse for being housebound for the day and crawled into the inner recesses of my mind when something (or Someone) drove me outside. I decided that any injury I could inflict on myself putting siding on my garden shed was preferable to the injury I was likely to inflict on myself crawling around in morose self-pity. So out into the fresh air I went, after changing out of my pyjamas.

The human mind is an amazing thing. At least it amazes me. When I was in grade one, our teacher had us memorize scripture. The days of that happening in public school are long gone ... does that date me? Anyhow, one of the many verses she had us memorize was Psalm 119:11, "Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee". Hiding things in our heart is what amazes me. It seems as though, if we're willing to file the data, God is more than happy to access and replay it at the most opportune times. So back to this afternoon ... I'm outside putting siding on my shed, just trying to focus and to function. Not giving a whole lot of thought to God, His word or anything of that nature when into the back of my mind creeps a song. An old song which I've not heard for a long, long time. A song which was hidden in my heart.

The words pushed their way into my consciousness and would not relent ... "this is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long". It brought me up short. Praising my Saviour all the day long ... how had I forgotten that, how had I allowed "me" to stand in the way of that? And so I started probing my memory for more of the lyrics and was amazed at the words I recalled. I decided to make "Blessed Assurance" my anthem for the day, the standard I would carry.

Blessed Assurance   (Fanny J. Crosby)

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.

Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending bring from above,
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.

Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Savior am happy and blest;
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness lost in His love.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.

It's hard to nurture self pity, hard to feel hard done by when one considers the words of this hymn. Heir of salvation, purchase of God, Born of His Spirit and on and on. Some days I need an anthem. Today God gave me this one, hidden away so many years ago.

Blessed assurance indeed!

Traded

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves

Colossians 1:13

 

Yes, I know traded doesn't properly convey the letter of this verse. In reality I've been rescued from one kingdom, the dominion of darkness, and I've been relocated into the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Now kingdoms and all that goes along with them is kind of lost on most of us in Western society. What I do get, however, is the concept of rival teams. Each with distinctive colours, each with loyal fans (subjects) and players who will pour their all into making their team the pre-eminent one. Until they're traded ... and then the colours change, the loyalty changes and new allegiances are forged.

I've been traded. I no longer play for the D.o.D. (Dominion of Darkness), I'm now a member of the Kingdom of the Son. I'm a full fledged citizen. I have all the rights and all the responsibilities of any team member. I even get to wear the colours. As a matter of fact, the coach / team owner wants me to wear the colours of my new team.

It's interesting how God weaves threads through our lives, through the things He shows us / teaches us. When I read Colossians 1:13 it didn't dawn on me that it would circle back to Habits. My habits, the colours I wear, do they represent the team I belong to?

Not quite a break

Just wanted to say, God did meet me today ... Psalm 23 ... in a big way, and then a worship song that had this in it; ""Who is He that makes me happy? Who is He that gives me peace? Who is He that brings me comfort, and turns the bitter into sweet?"
Not something I can say right now but I can sure pray for it. It's great that God provides the words for us when we can't find them. He is an amazing God!"

Some powerful stuff ... too late for me to write about it but if you're checking on me, know that God did put out some manna for his servant.

Always faithful, always true!

Habits

I was going to start of by saying, "No, not the clothing!" but I started looking at the word and I'm not sure they're not one and the same. The things we routinely do and the clothing that is habitually worn by a particular group. Our habits, the things that are our "customary practice" or "regular disposition", as one dictionary defines habits, are in a sense our apparel. Just as a monk is known by his "habit", so too we are known by our habits. We wear them with pride or with shame, or perhaps with total indifference, but they do define us. Definition need not be a bad thing.

Definition not only identifies us to others, it also established parameters for ourselves. Boundaries whereby we can monitor our behaviour. A means of knowing how we have done in a given situation or day. God's showing me I've been wearing a lot of habits I shouldn't be wearing, He's also been helping me develop a few healthy habits to replace them. It's amazing what those healthy habits will do for one. Wonder if that's what Paul meant when he wrote about putting on the whole armour of God. Now that's a habit I need to develop.

The Offensive of Submission

“Submit yourselves…to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). "We should never quote the last part of that verse without the first: submit yourselves to God. That alone is the basis upon which we, who are no match for Satan, can successfully resist him." Randy Alcorn


Once again I'm into the upside down kingdom. Resisting by submitting ... just seems all to wrong for words, at least until I look at the objects of the verbs. Resist the devil, submit to God ... like Randy Alcorn, one of my all-time favourite authors says, I am no match for Satan, in and of myself I can't even begin to resist him. It is when I submit myself to God ... when I place myself under the lordship of the Warrior King and operate under His authority that I can resist the devil. 


So much of this walk of faith seems to come back to getting my eyes off of myself and keeping them focused on Him, the author and finisher of my faith. 

It may be dark but God is light ...

Okay, so I'm thick. No, I'm not talking about my girth, though that could certainly apply as well. I think it's an Atlantic Canada expression because I don't think I encountered it before I moved here. Out West we were perhaps a bit more forthright using terms like, "dense, dim witted, etc." The bottom line is, sometimes I'm a little bit slow on the uptake.

For over a month now, God has been giving me gentle reminders - of the same thing. It started, I believe, on August 17th, "But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me." Micah 7:7,8 with the most recent addition to the roster, this morning, being Psalm 27:1 "The LORD is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid?"

Now I'm not sure, but I think God may be trying to tell me something here. God is light. God is my light. I have nothing to fear. One would think that after six weeks of being repeatedly told the same message in numerous ways I would eventually catch on. And yet, I battle fear. I know that God is love and perfect love casts out fear. I know that God has not given us a spirit of fear. I know all of that. I know that in Christ I am more than conqueror. What I'm having trouble with, is clearing the hurdle between where I know I am positionally in Christ and what I walk in experientially.

Since this seems to be what God is working on, in my life the past six plus weeks, I can't help but wonder if something else which I've noticed recurring the past little while may have something to do with this. If I'm connecting the dots in the correct order, I think that this second theme may well be the key to clearing that hurdle I'm struggling with. I've noticed the last week or so ... don't know how long it's been going on but I've been noticing the past week ... that God is reminding me to Praise Him, to Worship Him, to Exalt His name. This morning I caught myself singing, "Give thanks to the LORD for He is good, HIS love endures forever." 

Thank the LORD for HIS goodness! Focus on HIM and HIS goodness. I can't see how that can do anything but help. If HE is my light, and HE says HE is, then focusing on HIM has to take my eyes off of the things that put fear in my life. If I'm not looking at them, not thinking about them, not giving them opportunity to take hold of my mind they become toothless tigers pretty quickly. 

Stone Ground

 Matthew 7:7-11, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will fine; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!"


It's hard for me to trust God and to praise Him for His faithfulness when I feel let down by Him. I look at His promises, promises like Jeremiah 29:11, " For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Promises like the passage from Matthew 7, and I expect that what I receive from Him will be good. Good might be an understatement, what I really expect is incredible things from Him. Against that backdrop of expectation, it's difficult for me to reconcile the reality I live in at times. Things I have asked of God for years; things He has promised for almost as long and yet when I receive them, it seems as though I've gotten factory seconds or something salvaged from the 'some parts missing' pile.

I was having a fairly frank conversation with the Almighty this morning during corporate worship. While others were saying "how can we not praise God", "Our praises are the Holy Spirit blowing through our midst", and we're singing of God's never ending goodness among other things, I was saying, You've short changed me. You haven't come through on your promises. What You have done to me, is equivalent to promising someone a car and then giving them one with no wheels and no motor. While You met the letter of Your commitment, You've failed miserably in meeting the expectations You fostered.

That's when I thought of the Matthew 7 passage. I'm not sure it's the passage I would have sent myself to, were I the Holy Spirit, but then I'm not and He knows much better than I. I read it, read it again and thought; it makes my point precisely! I asked for bread, God had an obligation to give me bread. What am I doing with this stone in my hand?

And then He spoke. "If it looks like a stone, if it looks like a snake - I'm obviously not done with it yet! I gave you My word! If you ask for bread, I'll not give you a stone, if you ask for fish, I'll not give you a snake. If you think I gave you a stone, you best keep looking at it because I'm not finished with it yet. I won't give you a stone! I won't give you a snake! That's My promise to you, and I keep My promises!"

Not only do I tend to expect God to respond according to my time line, but I realized this morning, I've also been guilty of expecting that when He answers it will be with a completed package. No works in progress. I realized this morning, that rather than measure God's words by what I see, I need to measure what I see by God's words. His words are sure! If He has promised me bread and what I've received does not look like bread there are only a couple of possibilities worth considering. One might be that it's bread the like of which I've never seen, the other would be that He is not finished with it yet and in time it will be bread. A possibility not worth considering is that His word is not sure, that He has given a promise which He will fail to fulfill.

If we ask for bread, He will surely give us a loaf. If I'm holding a stone it may be He wants me to make flour.

My Hiding Place

I Will Exalt You   (Songwriter: Brooke Fraser)
 
I will exalt You
I will exalt You
I will exalt You
You are my God
 
My hiding place, my safe refuge
My treasure, Lord, You are
My friend and King, anointed One
Most Holy
 
Because You’re with me
Because You’re with me
Because You’re with me
I will not fear

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfdAvyVzB34

It's my funeral ...

^{How often do we hear it said, of someone making a questionable choice, "it's his funeral"? The general inference is not that someone is going to die because of a bad choice, but rather that we face the consequences of our decisions. The choice to die is not generally associated with a stable emotional state. Since Genesis 2:7 when, "the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." we have had an innate drive for self preservation. We can face incredible odds and prevail because of our refusal to roll over and die.} 

^{Against this backdrop of refusing to die, we encounter several New Testament Scriptures which seem entirely counter-intuitive. Luke 9:23-25, for example, reads, "And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow him. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it." Luke tells me that if I act intuitively and try to save my life, I'm going to lose it. The only way to preserve my life is to lose it for Christ's sake. Dying doesn't come easy for most of us, even when life hardly seems worth living. Yet Luke says that is the only way I can survive.} 

^{Dying seems to be very difficult for me. Perhaps I'm typical, having never lived in another's mind I can't really say. I remember late this spring / early summer when God told me to die. I was taking a walk, early one morning, at the church family camp. I was walking along railing at God. Railing about circumstances in my life which He "needed" to fix. I was railing at Him about lackluster Christianity and the infrequency with which we see signs and wonders following those who profess His name. I remember walking past a wooded area and looking in at some dead fall in the woods. I called out to God and said, "if this is all it is, then I might as well be one of those dead trees rotting away into compost on the bed of the forest! If this is all Christianity is, then let me die now." "That's exactly what I want you to do", is what He told me. It was not the response I was expecting and to say the least, I was a bit shocked. I expected Him to assure me that He wanted me to live, instead He encouraged me to become compost.} 

^{As I pondered my shocking revelation, I came to realize that only as "I" died was there going to be room for the "new me", the regenerate man. I may be a twin, but there can only be one of me and so God was saying, it's time for the old man to die. The faster his body decomposes, the less likely I would be to try to resurrect it. God reminded me of this again today. I was feeling dead and wondering if I would ever feel alive again and He said, "good, isn't it about time?" Time for the old man to be dead and gone. Time for the carcass to be decomposed so that there is no motivation to try resurrecting it.} 

^{It's amazing, horrifyingly so, how often I have tried to pull that stinking, decomposing carcass from the compost pit in the past several months and tried to live in it. To convince myself that it was comfortable and presentable. It is encouraging, however, to realize that I can see myself being different when I climb back into the old man. To see how many areas of my life it affects, negatively, and not like it.} 

^{Romans 12:2 reads, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will." The pattern of this world, that certainly was / is the old man. One thing about the "old man", he always had someone in his corner - himself. It was all about me! Everything! Amazingly, even when I was praying for people it was about me. "Lord, bless my boys with peace, make them content and happy." Not a bad prayer, IF it had been out of concern for them instead of making my life easier. The pattern of this world is ego-centric and my "old man" certainly fit that bill. "Let him rot in the forest," God says, "but be transformed by the renewing of your mind". That's one of the cool things about our Father. He doesn't just take things from us - even when the things He's taking are not good for us. He gives us an alternate and His alternates are a major up-sell. He didn't just ask me to die, He offers me new life, the transformational renewing of my mind.} 

^{And it changes things. It changes things so that I can weep for someone and pray for them because I care for them and want the Lord's best for them. Yes, I said for them - no longer for me. Do I still take trips out to the compost pit? Unfortunately. Are the trips becoming less frequent and the stays shorter in duration? I pray, so. Deuteronomy 30:19, "This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live." I chose life, I keep choosing life, daily, hourly. I choose life so that I may live but also for my boys. My choosing life gives them a heritage of life and it's the least I can do for them.}

^{2 Timothy 2:11, "Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him;"}

I choose my funeral ...

I lost it

God did feed me today. It was a smattering of this with a side of that. It was all good stuff (of course it was good, would He give me anything that was not good) and it all tied together, but trying to journal it tonight has me deleting, re-writing and deleting again. I don't want this blog to be about me or my journey. I just want to share some of the great stuff that God is nurturing me with these days. To make a long day much shorter, suffice it to say that prayer was a common theme in what I was fed today.

It started this morning discussing prayer with a friend and not being where I want to be in my prayer life and carried on through the day with prayer being addressed at different times and in varying arenas.

1 Thessalonians 5:12 - 22 says, "But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another. We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people. Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil." Verse 17, "pray without ceasing" tucked away in there with all those instructions for Christian conduct.

Pray without ceasing ... that's a tall order. For all that can be said about praying without ceasing, I think what God set between my teeth today was this. What you practice, you retain. I used to be fluent in a German dialect. I thought in it as freely as I now think in English and was comfortably conversant in it. In the past twenty plus years I have had very little occasion to use that language. As a result of it laying dormant for so many years, this language is now, largely, lost to me. I find that instead of thinking in German, I now think in English and then struggle to translate it when I have occasion to speak it. Prayer is like that. I know that my prayer life is not what I wish it were because I stopped talking. The Father never stopped listening ... I stopped talking. Now I'm in the process of relearning how to speak to my Father.

God's "Burden Economy"

I was emailing a friend about bearing one another's burdens this morning and it got me thinking about the scripture that addresses that. My first reading of the passage did little to shed light on the intent of the statement. If anything it kind of confused me, with verse 2 seeming to state something which was opposed to what verse 5 was saying.

Galatians 6:2-5 "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load."

Which leaves me with the question, do I or don't I carry someone else's burden or load? On one hand, it looks as though we fulfill the law of Christ if we do, on the other hand it seems that each one should carry his own load. My opinion is, a puzzle is an excuse to work on something, so I did some digging. The Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon
shows that the two words, burden and load in the NIV, are not the same in the Greek. In verse 1,  "the word for "burdens" is baros.  It means "heaviness, weight, burden, trouble." In verse 5, "the word for load is "phortion" and means "of burdensome rites." "The first verse is speaking of helping one another through troubles and the second is speaking of the responsibility each person has in those troubles and sins." So if I follow, we are called to help carry another's burden, but not with the purpose of alleviating that person from their own personal responsibilities. So on top of dealing with all my own junk, I'm now supposed to find the resources to help carry someone else's problems as well. Just exactly how much is one individual capable of?

Here's where the funky economy comes in. We are all members of one body. When one member hurts we all hurt. It's how God has knit us together. It's a privilege to hurt for/with someone, to uphold them in prayer and to do battle on their behalf. It's a privilege, but where does the strength come from to shoulder even more than I already have on my back?

We ALL have "enough of our own stuff to carry". Interestingly enough, I find that the more I bear someone else's burdens, as God calls me to, the less time and energy I have to focus on my troubles. When I "carry" the "stuff" that God asks me to, on behalf of someone else, I find my load is lighter than when I try to carry all my own stuff. It's as though God says, "you can 'help' me carry this by putting your hand on the handle while I carry it, or you can take your stuff from me and try to carry it yourself". It's kind of like when one of my boys wants to 'help' me carry something which is far heavier than they can handle. They can struggle with it and perhaps even make a little progress with it if they insist on taking it alone. If they are willing to assist me rather than doing it for me, they get the pleasure of walking alongside me with their hands on the material I am carrying without bearing the full weight of the burden. 

God wants to do that for me with my burdens and He wants to bless me by allowing me to "help" Him carry the burdens of others. The key is to get my eyes off of my own woes long enough so that I can see where He's working and then I can come alongside and join in what He is doing. 

And that's, a long time ...

Well I got that song converted to an mp3 so I could play it in my car today. What an awesome song "Marvelous Light (Passion 07)" by Charlie Hall. I wouldn't begin to guess how often I listened to it today. Turns out, that wasn't the manna God had for me today, though. 


I got in my car this morning and, before I had a chance to turn any sound on, realized I had "Forever God is Faithful" running repeatedly through my mind. I couldn't help but smile at God's sense of humour. Two days of trying to get "Marvelous Light" working for me and I finally have it sorted out and God says, "That's cool, but do you want what I have for you?" After the day I had yesterday I figured I was likely well advised to go with His plans today. His ways are, after all, higher then my ways. So, God is faithful ... no, not just faithful but forever faithful. That's a long time.


If God wants to tell me today that He is forever faithful then I want to see what the Word has to say about God's Faithfulness. I certainly didn't have time today to do anything close to an exhaustive look at the subject, but then, that's not what this is about, is it? It's about manna.


Google has become my partner in gathering manna. It's remarkable how quickly you can find verses you remember a snippet of or verses that apply to a certain topic with a search engine. I know, I could use that library full of books I've got at the end of the living room, and I do when I have the time - just because I love books, but when I'm on the road and have five minutes here and ten minutes there it just doesn't seem all that practical to take my library with me. But on to the manna ... what a wealth of reassurance about God and His faithfulness to us. 


I started off in Hebrews 6:17-19 "Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, 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." 

God was so intent on making His unchanging nature clear to me, one of His heirs, that He confirmed it with an oath. Not just any oath, mind you, He swore by two unchangeable things ... it is impossible for God to lie. So I can grasp the hope He offers me, knowing that my soul is anchored. It may feel as though it's mired in quicksand. It may seem an impossible situation. But God says, "I am unchanging". So if He is unchanging, and if He is faithful ... well it follows that He must by definition be forever faithful because He's not changing.

From there I bounced way back into the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 7:7,8 "The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt." 


Why me? Why would God choose me to be His heir, to be the recipient of His faithfulness. It's not as though I'm more deserving than others. It's because He loved me. God loved me and so He choose me. His love and His choice. I didn't lobby for it, I didn't send in an application with a resume attached, He initiated it and He brought it to pass.

A quick skip across the Old Testament landed me in Lamentations 3:21-26, "Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,  to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD."

His compassions never fail, that's almost like forever, isn't it? Follow that with "great is your faithfulness" and I think I'm starting to get the picture. Still picking up morsels though, so I keep going. The Psalms, they're always good for a reality check and if anyone had cause to question God's faithfulness, well aside from Job that is, David sure faced his share of hardship. In spite of all the calamity that seems to have shadowed David's life he was able to compose stuff like;


Psalm 36:5,6 "Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens,  your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,  your justice like the great deep." and;


Psalm 108:1-5 "My heart is steadfast, O God; I will sing and make music with all my soul. Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth." 

"Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed" It is only because of God's love that I am not consumed, that my circumstances don't destroy me and shatter my faith. This is truth! Even when I can feel the teeth gnawing away at me deep withing, I can know with certainty that I will not be consumed. So, like the Psalmist, I must choose to acknowledge God's great faithfulness. I must choose to "sing and make music with my soul", to make noise and draw attention to God and who He is. To awaken the morning if need be, but to praise Him with all that is within me. Great is the Lord!

Manna

"Then the LORD said to Moses, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions". Exodus 16:4

That sounds pretty similar to the "word" that was given to me. Collect enough each day to feed you that day, the manna collected one day will not nourish for the entire week. That seems pretty straightforward and not too difficult even for me to follow. God is doing the providing, all I have to do is keep my eyes (and/or ears) open and collect what He lays out for me. Make it a habit, do it every day because I need it every day.

Too easy! Or is it? Five days of collecting manna and all was going well. Tasty, nutritious morsels each day leaving me feeling fed and energized. I was enjoying the provision of God. I was reveling in His gracious bounty. Yesterday I couldn't help but wonder if perhaps, just perhaps, a feast such as I had experienced yesterday might sustain me for an extra day. Not a week, the instructions had been clear about that, but maybe an extra day. I wasn't going to try it out but I couldn't help but wonder. What I did do was prepare myself for going out today. Let's face it, picking up those tiny little morsels is work even if they are tasty and nourishing. Why not lay out a sheet and then pick it up in one quick exercise after it has fallen. Makes sense to me ... work smart, not hard.

I put a song on my thumb drive last night that was going to springboard me into the day with God. It was going to be the key to today's manna. I was already thinking about what I was going to get out of it, the truths that were going to lift me up. What I didn't realize was that while my car stereo plays mp3s, it does not, apparently, play m4a files. I left home this morning and to my chagrin realized I would not be enjoying the much anticipated song.

"However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell." Exodus 16:20

The really sad thing about today is not that the 'manna' I had 'saved' for today's consumption was full of maggots and stinking. The sad thing is that I sat there all day smelling the stinking maggots instead of going outside and collecting some manna. I focused on the rotten mess on my plate and felt miserable about it all day when God had fresh manna waiting for me if only I was willing to go pick it up. I could have come home nourished & fed like the last five days, instead I came home miserable, hungry and frustrated.

All He asked me to do was open my eyes and pick it up.

Still I will praise You

WOW!

That's really all I should have to say today, but you know I want to say more. Corporate worship this morning at church was something else! God's presence was so real and so sweet. It kind of puts me to mind of Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration saying " it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters", Luke 9:33. I don't think Peter wanted to leave a good thing and that's how I felt this morning. Let's just set up camp here and keep this thing going.

The song that really spoke to me over and above the rest was, "You Never Let Go (Even Though I Walk)" by Matt Redman and Beth Redman. The lyrics of that song just really spoke to me where I'm at today. It reminds me a lot of Psalm 23, actually. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death". Certainly feels like that's where I am some days, but the Chorus ... oh the Chorus, that just lifts me up.
"And I will fear no evil,
For my God is with me.
And if my God is with me,
Whom then shall I fear?
Whom then shall I fear?

Oh no, You never let go,
Through the calm and through the storm
Oh no, You never let go,
In every high and every low
Oh no, You never let go
Lord, You never let go of me."

And then in the Bridge:
"And there will be an end to these troubles,
but until that day comes,
Still I will praise You,
still I will praise You."

This song is pregnant with truth and promises. Poignant reminders that God will never let go of me, regardless of the storms I may encounter. Promises that there will be an end to today's troubles and a commitment to continue praising God. It's easy enough to praise Him when the sun is shining and all is well. Some days, when it seems as though staying in the valley of death would be easier than walking through it's shadows, it's hard work to praise God. Some days, I just don't feel like praising Him at all ... and that's where the commitment comes in. "Still I will praise you"! I will praise You, God, for Who you are. I will praise You for what You have already done in my life and in others. I will praise You for what You have promised to do. I WILL praise You! Even when it's hard work. Even when everything in me wants to scream, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me", I will praise You. I will praise You with tears streaming down my face, not because of how I feel but because of what I know to be truth. I will praise You because You and You alone are worthy of my praise.

Still I will praise You!

His Grace

It's amazing where God meets me, how and when He speaks to me. It's been a busy day today and I wasn't sure when I'd get a chance to get into the Word. I was concerned I wouldn't get my daily manna until later today. As I'm going down the street this morning to get gas for the lawnmower and the tiller I get this song stuck in my head (and there's a testimony to the importance of choosing what I listen to). The whole time I'm out working in the yard today I've got this song running through my head, feeding me, encouraging me and just in general keeping my focus on God. The song I've been ruminating on for most of the day is Chris Tomlin's "Your Grace is Enough".

"Great is Your faithfulness oh God
You wrestle with the sinner's heart
You lead us by still waters in to mercy
And nothing can keep us apart"

Nothing quite like being reminded all day that God is faithful, that He leads me in mercy and that nothing, absolutely nothing can keep me apart from Him. The nice thing about that statement is that it's not just Chris Tomlin saying it, the Apostle Paul said it in Romans 8:35 - 39 as well. Nothing can separate me from the love of God!

I often cry out with Tomlin's words when I go before God.
"So remember Your people
Remember Your children
Remember Your promise
Oh God"
Remember Your promises God. You promised, Dad! You said You would, don't forget Your promises. I don't think it's inappropriate to remind God of His promises to us - as long as I also remember that He is faithful. If I also remember that;
"Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough for me".
God's grace is enough for me. That's something I tend to forget, I neglect to appropriate for myself. God's favour, entirely unmerited by me, is enough. It's enough for any and every circumstance I find myself in. It's enough for those situations which cause me to echo Job's words in Job 19:6,7 "know that God has wronged me and drawn his net around me. "Though I cry, 'I've been wronged!' I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice." I may echo Job's words and say that God has wronged me but reality is, His grace is enough for me. I need to learn to be more like Job, who though if anyone ever had cause to say "God has wronged me" went on a few verses later in Job 9:25-27 to say, " I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!"

To recognize in every circumstance of my life that my Redeemer lives. To remember that He will stand upon the earth victorious and I will see Him with my own eyes. That certainly helps put a lot of the other stuff in my life in perspective. My God is faithful, He leads me in mercy, nothing can separate me from His love, His grace is enough, My Redeemer lives and I will see Him with my own eyes. What could I imagine or hope for that could overshadow that?

Psalm 8:4 "What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him?"

And the LORD said ...

 ^"1 The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions. ² One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. ³ The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple ^[a] of the LORD, where the ark of God was. ⁴ Then the LORD called Samuel. Samuel answered, "Here I am." ⁵ And he ran to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me." But Eli said, "I did not call; go back and lie down." So he went and lay down. ⁶ Again the LORD called, "Samuel!" And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me."  "My son," Eli said, "I did not call; go back and lie down." ⁷ Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD : The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. ⁸ The LORD called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me." Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy. ⁹ So Eli told Samuel, "Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, 'Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.' " So Samuel went and lay down in his place. ¹⁰ The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, "Samuel! Samuel!"  Then Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening." ¹¹ And the LORD said to Samuel:..." 1 Samuel 3

Oh God, where are You? Why don't You speak to me? I need to hear from You! That, often, is my lament. Why have You forsaken me, why have You turned Your back on me? And God speaks to Samuel, a mere boy working in the temple for the priest. He doesn't speak to Eli, which I get when I read the story, but He speaks to young Samuel. To someone who doesn't even recognize His voice, for crying out loud.

As I read this, read it again, and pondered it today I noticed a few things which fed me. God initiated the communication. Samuel didn't even know God's voice, he didn't dream that God would speak to him - yet He did. So often I'm running alongside God saying "talk to me, talk to me" and He, in all fairness, must be thinking, "if you would shut up for 10 seconds I might be able to". Here, God went looking for Samuel, God calls him.

Poor confused kid doesn't even know it's the Almighty Who is calling him. He runs off to the priest, certain that it must be his employer who is calling him. It's not too surprising that Samuel is confused, he, after all, has never heard God speak before. If he knew God spoke to people, I'm sure he was convinced it was reserved for priests and prophets. By the third time God calls him, Samuel has to be thinking that old Eli is either losing it or he's playing some weird joke on him. The amazing thing about this all is that it takes Eli until the third time to realize God must be speaking to his helper. Well, maybe not that amazing after all ... how often does it take several attempts before I realize God is talking to me?

So Eli recognizes that the kid has heard from God. Get dressed in your best and head over to the alter, and whatever you do, don't keep The Almighty waiting. Interestingly, that's not what he tells him. Instead, he says, "Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, 'Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening". Stop your busyness. Go and lie down. I wonder how much more I'd hear from God if I took the time to stop doing, to stop chasing after things, to just "be" in His presence. Awesome advice that old Eli gives Samuel. Relax in His presence, just be ... and if perchance God should speak to you again, say 'Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening'. Now is the time to ask God to speak, after He has chosen to initiate the conversation. And then, for crying out loud, LISTEN! I'm listening God, take it away.

So Samuel goes back to bed and does as Eli suggested, and lo and behold, "And the LORD said to Samuel:..". God talks to Samuel. He actually talks to him. Maybe, just maybe, if I would shut down the busyness from time to time, if I would wait quietly for God to initiate conversation (and He's anxious to do just that), if I would acknowledge Him when He calls me and actually listen (not tell Him what I want to hear but listen to what He wants to say), maybe then I'd hear Him speak a lot more.  Definitely sounds like it's worth trying.