I have so much to be thankful for – and serving a God who is wildly, passionately in love with me is at the top of the list. My list is long, and I’m hoping yours is, too. I have a roof over my head and am well fed. I’m blessed to be able to write this blog and am involved in a number of other meaningful ministries. I have a wonderful marriage and good family and friends. I have my own business that is moderately successful and gives me a degree of freedom over my schedule. That freedom allows me to be involved in events at my mom’s nursing home and other daytime activities that I might otherwise have to miss. Of course I could get more specific and the list would begin to bore you.
Yet for each of those things, it would be easy for me to add a “but…”
I have a roof over my head, but that roof needs to be replaced and I can’t afford to do it.
I am blessed to write this blog, but I don’t have time to do all the many additional things I dream about – truly taking Apprehending Grace Ministries from being simply this blog and a few other things to being a vibrant ministry.
I have a moderately successful business, but there are so many stresses with owning a small business these days.
I have a wonderful marriage, but…
You get the idea. For every aspect of our lives, we have a choice – to look at the blessing or to look at the disappointment. The disappointment might be real or imagined, but either way, it mitigates the joy we feel when we think of the blessing. I find that the disappointment we experience falls into two categories:
“Not yet” disappointment – that is, disappointment in what you haven’t yet seen, received or accomplished.
Experienced disappointment – reality crashed into your expectations.
Both find their solution in God.
Experienced Disappointment
We will experience disappointments and sorrow in this life. Things will break and people will die. Life will crush in and our hopes will be shattered in Humpty Dumpty fashion. We can hold onto that disappointment, or we can give it to the One who cares for us more than we’ll ever be able to comprehend.
28Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light.”
Matthew 11 (NLT)
I find that dealing with life’s shattering disappointments makes me weary. There’s no better word for it. Weary is more than just tired, it’s overburdened and tired. Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary defines weary as “exhausted in strength, endurance, vigor, or freshness.” Phil’s family would describe it as “all used up.”
Jesus says “Come to me when you are all used up. Come to me when your strength, endurance, vigor or freshness is gone.” I love that the word “freshness” is included in the definition. When you have become stale and are about to become moldy – “come to me.”
And once you’re there – give him all your disappointments, your worries and your cares.
Give your burdens to the Lord. He will carry them. He will not permit the godly to slip or fall.
Psalm 55:22 (TLB)
Let him have all your worries and cares, for he is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you.
1 Peter 5:7 (TLB)
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:7
If a “but” is taking the joy out of your blessing, you are carrying burdens you need not carry. Go to Jesus – the yoke He has for you fits you perfectly. Once there, give Him all your “buts” – and don’t take them back again. Let Him deal with them for you. (Remember, He is always working in the background to cause all things to work for your good if you continue to pursue Him.) Give God your “buts” today – then just focus on the blessings.
“Net Yet” Disappointment
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when dreams come true, there is life and joy.
Psalm 13:12 (NLT)
“Not yet” disappointment is the disappointment in ourselves and/or God, that our dreams have not yet been fulfilled. Scripture validates our feeling of disappointment, but that doesn’t mean we ought to dwell there. It also validates that fulfilled dreams bring life and joy.
Pray into your unfulfilled dreams. Trust God to bring them. “Not yet” disappointment teeters on the brink of lack of faith. Push past the lack of faith into the knowledge that God is on the move! You don’t see it yet, but He is moving to bring about the hopes and dreams that are within His will and those hopes and dreams will be more fulfilling than you imagine.
Live life on purpose! Don’t just hope for your dreams to come true and don’t just pray into your unfulfilled dreams – do whatever there is for you to do today to help your dreams come true tomorrow.
As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
James 2:26 (NIV)
Believe God for your dreams and work toward them. Make your life a “no excuse” zone. When you’ve given your energies toward praying and making your dreams happen, you cannot be disappointed in yourself. When you know that you know that you know that God is working on your behalf, you cannot be disappointed in Him.
For All Disappointment
King David knew a thing or two about disappointment. One of my favorite passages in Psalms was written by him in a period of disappointment. You probably know this Psalm – it begins with the well-known verse “As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.” (Psalm 42:1, NRSV) Clearly this is a Psalm written in a time of disappointment. Yet David has found the secret to dealing with that disappointment. Read on:
5 Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and 6my God.
My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
……….
8 By day the LORD directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life. Psalm 42:5,-6, 8 (NIV)
In the midst of his weariness, David speaks to his own soul – he instructs it to bring it into alignment with true reality. “Put your hope in God” he says. True reality is not what we see and hear and feel around us. Our emotions lie to us regularly. I woke up this morning wanting to cry for no reason – I was just feeling sad. I could come up with reasons I might be feeling this way and it’s tempting to do that. Life makes more sense to me when I can justify my feelings – but that’s just what it is – justifying them. Why justify them, when instead I can instruct them as David did? “Why are you so downcast, soul of mine? Rejoice in God! He is my Great Redeemer and my life. He lives in heavenly places and never ceases to pray for me. He is my hope and my salvation. He is my friend. He longs to whisper His secrets in my ear.” How much more edifying that is than figuring out why I might be sad. (Don’t hear what I’m not saying – there is a time to work through our emotions, but there is also a time for setting them aside knowing that they are simply lying to us or trying to sabotage us or divert us from God’s purposes.)
Peter has a final instruction that is worth noting here:
Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Philippians 4:8 (NRSV)
We do have power to redirect our thoughts, and using this power changes our perspective and our attitudes.
Let’s Leave the “But” Out
I have a blessed life. That blessed life is diminished when I let the “buts” of Satan rob me of the joy of the blessing.
Friends, may I encourage you to silence your buts this Thanksgiving and then continue the practice throughout the holiday season and 2011. Make it a lifestyle choice you make today.
Stay tuned – check out tomorrow’s blog titled “But In…”
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
James 1:27
It seems to me that the Church is much better at emphasizing the latter point than the first one– when was the last time you heard a sermon encouraging you to look after orphans and widows? When was the last time you were given the opportunity to participate in ministry to orphans and widows? Does your church budget reflect this priority of God’s or is it more heavily weighted toward helping you become/remain unpolluted by the world? I can’t think of a single church I’ve belonged to where there would be anything close to a balance in the church budget between looking after orphans/widows and pursuing holiness. Now you might say that there are fewer orphans and widows than there are healthy people who need help pursuing holiness. OK, I’ll buy that, and I would also agree with you that the percentage of a church budget associated with a specific ministry isn’t a final determination of the church’s support of or involvement in that ministry. For example, nursing home ministry is relatively inexpensive. Still, the point is valid that the Church as a whole does very little to serve “the least of these.” Which means individually, most of us are probably doing little to serve “the least of these.” Jesus said:
31“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
41“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Matthew 25:31-46
There are 16,000 nursing homes in the United States, and another 35,000 assisted living facilities. 1.6 million people live in those nursing homes, and 800,000 people die in them each year. The statistic that hit me the hardest, though, is that about one third of all the people who die in the US will have lived in a nursing home for three months or longer before their death. One third. Another statistic that got to me was that eighty percent of people who live in nursing homes receive less than one visitor each week. These people are among the sick Jesus talked about. I would argue that they are also among the strangers because they have been moved to a place that was not their home, and the prisoners because they cannot leave (in most cases). Yet they are the people who built the world we live, who taught in schools, who worked in factories, who cooked and served in restaurants, and who taught in Sunday Schools. They are people who are lonely, confused and disappointed. Some are feeling defeated.
For just a moment I want you to remember and think about the most difficult trial you have ever gone through. Now multiply your suffering, confusion and stress by some large number. That’s the kind of trial that our nursing home friends are going through. What did you need when you were going through your trial? You needed Jesus to comfort, heal, protect, provide and love you. And when He seemed far away, you needed a friend to come alongside you, put their arm around your shoulder and walk you over to their Friend, Jesus. You needed your earthly friend to be a sort of conduit between you and the Lord because your circuits seemed to be closed at the time you most needed to hear from God. Your friend did that by reminding you of God’s faithfulness and His promises, by praying with you, and simply by being there.
We have the awesome opportunity to become friends with people who desperately need someone who can introduce them to Jesus and/or be their conduit during times when He seems far away. They need someone to take their hand and lead them to the feet of Jesus with their pains and their cares. They need someone to give them the cold cup of living water that comes from Christ.
Those who live in nursing homes, have been moved from their home into a strange place where people who are as young as their grandchildren now tell them when and what to eat, when to wake up and go to bed, when it’s time to take a shower and when it’s time to take their medicine. Much of their privacy is lost as they share rooms with people they don’t know and the doors are kept open most or all of the time. Their world has become quite small and they have no control over it. They are probably in pain most of the time. Everyone has authority over the residents and many people treat them as if they were invisible. Most will struggle wondering if their life has any purpose or ever will have purpose again.
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10
This verse is God’s commission to you and me. We are saved by grace through faith, but we are commanded to do good works. The verse is also God’s commission to those who are in nursing homes. Those in our nursing homes who know Christ need refreshing and encouragement that God still has purpose for them. God still has works that He has prepared in advance for them to do. From personal experience, I can tell you that some of those works are to minister to the people who befriend and serve them. Nursing home residents have been such a blessing to me as I’ve ministered to them.
You are all familiar with Jesus’ final commandment to the church:
He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.
Mark 16:15
A significant percentage of those in our world live in nursing homes. They are most likely at the time in their lives when they are in more need than they have ever been – socially and spiritually. The fields are ripe for harvest and the saints are in need of encouragement. Will you consider going?
I introduced a new series of posts a little more than a week ago – Let’s be PC – Practicing Christians! I never intended for the first post to about serving in nursing homes, but it seems God did. I was just about to hit the publish button on this post when I realized it’s all about practicing what God commands and should be the first in this series. I had planned on blogging about a subject that will have to wait for the future. I guess God wanted to draw our attention to religion that He accepts as pure and faultless. I won’t argue with that call!
Resources: To become involved in nursing home ministries, contact God Cares Ministry if you live in northeast Ohio – they offer training, resources and teams you can join if your church doesn’t have one; the Sonshine Society for large-print resources and to find ministries in other areas of the country, or a local nursing home to ask the Activities Director if they have a church service for the residents and if you might visit residents one-on-one. Be the catalyst that begins a ministry at your church that reaches into the lives of men and women who helped create the community in which you live.
In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.
Hebrews 2:10 (NIV)
Meditating on Scripture is a wonderful thing! As I read through Hebrews, I am asking God to highlight themes, verses and truths that He wants me to notice. So in reading Hebrews chapter 2 today, I got stuck on verse 10. The NIV translation says that Jesus was made “perfect through suffering.” Well, that begs the question:
Was Jesus not perfect before He suffered on earth?
That messes with my theology a bit because God is perfect and Jesus is and always has been fully God. In fact in this verse, it describes God as being the One “for whom and through whom everything exists,” yet we read in chapter 1 that the universe was made through Jesus (v2) and that He sustains it by His powerful Word (v3). Further, in John 10:30, Jesus says “I and the Father are one.” More subtly (to us 21st century Christians anyway), Jesus proved over and over again that He was God by forgiving sins. Such actions were anything but subtle to the Jews in Jesus’ time. They understood that only God could forgive sins. Every time Jesus said “your sins are forgiven” he was making a very loud and clear statement to the Jews that He was God. (See Matthew 9:2-6 for a great example of this.)
So Jesus was perfect before He suffered on earth, yet Hebrews 2:10 tells us that he was made perfect through suffering. I read the verse in many different translations and I read it in context (i.e., reading through the entire passage and fitting it with the passages around it). I then read several commentaries to see what they thought of the verse. I learned some things – they added to my head knowledge, but didn’t satisfy my spirit. Few commentaries even addressed verse 10.
So I laid the passage aside and read a couple of chapters of 2 Samuel (following our Resting at the River’s Edge reading schedule). I then went back to the passage in Hebrews. Still nothing. So I agreed with God that I would meditate on the passage – mull it over and over in my mind, examining it from many different angles, letting it settle in my mind, heart and spirit – all the while asking God to help me understand it – to bring revelation to me about this passage.
And He did just that! Sometimes we need to meditate on a verse for days, weeks, or even months or years before we gain insight into it. Today’s revelation came very quickly. (Thank You, Lord!) God brought to mind notes I had made from my husband’s sermon at a local nursing home just a few days ago. He was talking about the purpose of suffering and explained that suffering is both our punishment for sin and a byproduct or consequence of sin.
You know the story about what happened in the Garden. Eve violated God’s only command and ate the fruit and gave some to Adam who was standing beside her. Through their rebellion, sin entered the world. Later in the day, God was walking in the garden. That’s where I’ll pick up an abbreviated version of the story.
11“…the LORD God asked. “Have you eaten the fruit I commanded you not to eat?”
12“Yes,” Adam admitted, “but it was the woman you gave me …”
13Then the LORD God asked the woman, “How could you do such a thing?”
“The serpent tricked me,” she replied. “That’s why….”
14So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you will be punished. You are singled out from all the domestic and wild animals of the whole earth to be cursed. You will grovel in the dust as long as you live, crawling along on your belly….”
16Then he said to the woman, “You will bear children with intense pain and suffering…”
17And to Adam he said, “…I have placed a curse on the ground. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. 18It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. 19All your life you will sweat to produce food, until your dying day. Then you will return to the ground from which you came. For you were made from dust, and to the dust you will return.”
Genesis 3:11b-19 (NLT)
Adam’s punishment was that what had been a joy in his life – tending the beautiful, growing garden – would now become work, and hard work at that. And the beautiful garden was now a cursed place that would grow thorns and thistles. Both the people and the land (and everything dependent on the land) would now suffer. Suffering became both a punishment for Adam and Eve (and all their descendants) and a consequence of their sin as the entire earth was subjected to the curse.
Against its will, everything on earth was subjected to God’s curse.
Romans 8:20
With that in your mind, let’s go back to Hebrews 2:10:
In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.
Hebrews 2:10 (NIV)
Jesus, as the author of our salvation, was made perfect – or complete through the suffering He experienced. We often say that Jesus paid the price for our sin. The price, the penalty for that sin could not be paid in full without experiencing the suffering that is both the punishment and the consequence of that sin. God could not have laid all the sin of the world upon His Son without Jesus experiencing the suffering that the sin caused. Christ was not “made perfect” through suffering, but His sacrifice was made complete through suffering; His authorship of our salvation was completed.
Imagine – imagine – the sinless one willingly experiencing the suffering that results from your sin so that he could author your salvation. That’s what He did and that’s why the new covenant is superior to the old covenant. Jesus’ suffering made His sacrifice complete. Without the suffering, there would be no salvation for you and me. I’m sorry, so very sorry, that Christ suffered because of my actions. But I’m oh, so very glad He willingly did. Another reason that Jesus is greater…than all.
3 You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you,
whose thoughts are fixed on you!
4 Trust in the LORD always,
for the LORD GOD is the eternal Rock.
Isaiah 26:3-4
So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10
I woke up in perfect peace this morning. What a wonderful thing! I honestly can’t remember when the last time was that I slept so well and woke up in such peace. Which is a huge God thing because a little more than three weeks ago I had some routine tests that led to some less-than-routine tests that are leading to surgery to rule out some serious medical issues. There’s an 80% chance that I’ll be fine…and a 20% chance that I won’t be so fine.
And the very-cool-very-God-thing is that (for the most part), I have been able to not be anxious about it. No, it goes beyond that – I have had a supernatural peace surrounding me and filling me. Sure, I’ve had my less peaceful moments when I needed my husband to hold me and tell me he had a feeling everything would be all right! But there have been very few of those moments and in between them I have a strong confidence in my God who has promised so many things to me.
I’ve always wondered how to have this kind of peace! I know I don’t have all the answers and I don’t pretend to have it all together, but I am learning some things through the process that I’d like to share. God has been gracious enough to open my eyes to things I’m doing that help me experience what He’s doing in me – giving me peace beyond my wildest expectations! Maybe some of these things will help you keep the peace.
Purpose to pursue God in your situation. I remember as my husband and I were driving somewhere shortly after my second test. I looked at him and said, “I so want to do this well. I want to trust God in a way that I haven’t trusted him in the past.” God saw the desire of my heart and is giving it to me.
Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart
Psalm 37:4
Don’t be so proud – ask others to pray for you. I am absolutely certain that the prayers of faithful friends have a lot to do with my peace. I think it was in the same conversation when I said I wanted to do this well when a few minutes later I said something about not doing so well with all this. That’s when my husband reminded me that when I’m weak others will stand in the gap for me. His comment restored my peace. Share your needs with friends, and don’t ask them to pray just for healing. Ask them to pray for God’s presence to be manifest in your life.
Remind yourself of the promises of God. I wrote the blogs on Ephesians 1 shortly after I learned that more testing was needed. I have been so blessed when I meditate on Paul’s words that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms simply because I belong to Christ.
Have a rhema Word from God to hold on to. The Bible uses two different words that are translated “word” – logos and rhema. There is not complete agreement on the definition and use of these words: many evangelicals believe there is no difference; many charismatics believe there is a substantive difference. I fall into the camp of the charismatics on this one. Have you ever read the Bible and a specific passage came alive to you and seemed to have supernatural application to your life at that time? That is what would be called a rhema word. A rhema word is a word from God that has immediate and significant, even supernatural impact in your life at that time.
One of the characteristics of a rhema word is that it is life-giving. It is the word used in Matthew 4:4:
But he answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”
Guess what! You and I can’t control God (for which I am quite thankful!). That means we can’t demand or manufacture a rhema word from God – He has to reach down and give it. But you can put yourself in a place where you are more likely to receive it. We all hear from God differently, so pursue God diligently in the way you are most likely to hear from Him:
If you most often hear from God through His Word, be especially diligent to study God’s Word.
If you hear from God most clearly during worship, add times of worship to your week. Listen to worship music, attend your church’s worship team’s practice session.
If you experience God most often while serving others, serve wholeheartedly.
In all these things, ask God for a word or promise to hold on to. God will speak to you.
Stay connected with the Body of Christ, particularly those people who tend to hear from God prophetically (or those who are prophetically gifted). My pastor prayed for me last Sunday and during the prayer he spoke prophetically that God was going to show me His goodness and grace in the coming months in a way that I haven’t known in the past. WOW! Does that mean my diagnosis will be the one I don’t want but He’ll walk through it with me, or does it mean I’ll be in the 80%, which would be showing wonderful goodness and grace to me? I don’t know. But I know He’s going to show me His goodness and grace beyond what I have known in the past and that’s a promise that fills me with hope and peace. It is a promise that makes me look forward to whatever God has for me in the coming months.
Limit yourself when it comes to learning about what might happen in the future. I’ve talked with doctors and they are very careful to only give you enough information to get you to the next test. The Internet, on the other hand is happy to let you spend hours reading about all the what-ifs that might come into your life. The doctors know what they’re doing in this regard. I’ve learned to recognize when I’m approaching that tipping point where information is about to rob me of my peace, joy and faith, and I back away from the edge. I’m not deceiving myself or not facing the truth. I am just acknowledging that dwelling on the details can quickly overwhelm me so I back off and run to my storm shelter. I know the truth about my situation and choose to dwell in the shadow of the Almighty instead of staring down the barrel of possibilities that may never materialize. To do the latter is to invite the enemy to wreak havoc with my peace.
Limit yourself when it comes to talking about your situation negatively. This is very similar to the point above. I process things verbally, so the temptation for me is to talk, talk, talk about it. Anytime someone says “how’s it going?” or “what’s new?” my mind immediately jumps to these tests which occupy the major portion of a couple of days each week. It doesn’t take many sentences, though, before I can hear the strain in my voice. There’s that tipping point again. Back away from the edge – most people don’t want that much detail anyway.
Throughout the day when my mind wants to dwell on the what ifs, I return to the rhema Word, other promises God has given me, and the goodness of the God who loves me and blesses me beyond my ability to comprehend.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:8-9
I’m reading a book about grace. In it, I read that Charles Spurgeon, the famous British pastor, once described faith as:
“believing Christ is who He said He was and that He’ll do what He promised to do – and then living accordingly.”*
I want to live in such a way that people see that I serve a God I trust. Otherwise, why would they want to meet Him?
One of my favorite movies is Guess Who with Ashton Kutcher, Zoe Saldana, Bernie Mac and Judith Scott. It’s a 2005 remake of the 1967 film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner with Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy & Sidney Poitier.
In Guess Who, Theresa brings her boyfriend Simon home to meet her parents. Theresa and her parents are black. Theresa neglects to tell her parents that Simon is white, complicating all the relationships. Overriding the issue of race is Theresa’s father’s distrust of Simon. After a dinner ruckus that many consider the funniest part of the movie, Theresa goes to her father to talk. Every time I watch this scene I am stunned by its strength and truth.It is a perfect message for Father’s Day.
You can watch their interaction in this clip. The clip is 8 minutes and 35 seconds and includes the dinner scene, but the scene that makes it perfect for Father’s day begins at 6:29. Watch the whole thing or just part of it (or just continue reading below).
Theresa confesses to her father that she is afraid to marry a white man. She loves him and he’s a wonderful guy, but she’s experienced hateful words and looks when they are in public and she is afraid. Here’s the interchange that impacted me so strongly:
Theresa:I need you to tell me that it’s OK to be with him. Her Father: Baby, me telling you it’s OK is not going to change the world. Theresa: But it would change my world. Daddy, it’ll change my world if I know you’re behind us.
“But it would change my world.” Somehow, knowing that we have our father’s support, approval and blessing changes our world. Knowing that we have someone behind us gives us courage to face the battles in front of us.
Yesterday I was organizing some old photos and I came across the envelope that holds all the memorabilia associated with my father’s death. I don’t think I’ve looked through it since my dad died a few years ago, and I didn’t go looking for it yesterday – God’s timing sure is interesting, isn’t it? One of the things in the envelope was the printed version of his online guestbook. I read all the entries, and here’s part of my husband’s entry:
“Hey there, old man!” That’s how Pat and I always greeted each other. My father died of cancer when I was 12 years old. For the last 29 years, Pat Parks was as close to being a father to me as anyone. I always felt like he had my back. He wasn’t one to hover over us, but I always knew that he was watching out for me…I look forward to seeing him again – on the Other Side – and saying, “Hey there, old man!” (emphasis mine)
Dads – let your kids know that you have their backs. Don’t hover, but let them know you are behind them – cheering, encouraging and backing up in a fight when necessary. (And be sure to tell your daughters how smart and beautiful they are!)
The wonderful thing about being a child of God, is that He is a perfect Father. Whether our earthly fathers were supportive or not, we can stand with confidence and face the battles in front of us because He always has our backs. He promised He would. And we can bank on that.
18Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-30
5bfor he has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” 6So we can say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not be afraid.
What can anyone do to me?”
Hebrews 13:5b-6
Have you been blessed by January’s reading? I sure have – I’ve enjoyed January’s reading a great deal. Perhaps it’s because we’re reading a bit slower than last year. Both my husband and I sensed Jesus’ great compassion as we read the final chapters of John. The man who had just been betrayed by all his followers and crucified by his enemies built a fire on the beach and had breakfast ready when his friends who had worked all night came in. He asked them to put some of their fish on the fire – making them feel like they had contributed to the meal. He commissioned Peter, I believe as a way of assuring him that his betrayal had not disqualified him for ministry. Graham Cooke is fond of saying “Jesus is the kindest person I know.” This scene bears witness to that statement.
The Gospel According to Matthew
In February we’ll read another of the Gospels – the book of Matthew. It is told from a hugely different perspective, but it’s the same story. Matthew was writing to Jewish Christians and emphasizes that Jesus fulfills the Jewish Scriptures. The book is written in the style of an ancient biography. Interestingly, ancient biographies were often organized topically instead of chronologically, and that’s the approach Matthew took. You’ll find the sayings of Jesus organized according to topic, not in the order Jesus said them.
[Matthew] portrays Jesus as the epitome of Israel’s hopes for his Jewish audience, but also emphasizes missions to the Gentiles: outreach to the Gentiles is rooted both in the Old Testament and in Jesus’ teaching.
Sounds like good study material to help us become well-grounded believers. Jesus is not only the epitome of Israel’s hopes, He is the epitome of our hope as well.
Finally, you’ll find my husband’s life verse in Matthew:
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Matthew 6:33
“All these things” covers a lot of territory! What a challenge to believe this and live it when things are tough!
From Genesis to Exodus
We’ll also finish the book of Genesis and begin to read through Exodus. Egypt, Moses, Aaron, Pharaoh, plagues, miraculous deliverances, manna, water from rocks, Jethro’s visit, The Ten Commandments – all this and more await us! What an adventure the book of Exodus is. Consider reading it with that perspective. Imagine yourself as one of the Israelites as you read through the book. How would you have responded in each situation?
There are certain passages that I just fall in love with every time I read them. Genesis 1:1 is one of them:
In the beginning God created…
I don’t know why, but those words are magical to me.(Magical in a good sense – in the sense that they inspire awe every time I hear or read them.) Another two verses are those that begin the Ten Commandments:
“I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from slavery in Egypt.
“Do not worship any other gods besides me.”
Exodus 29:2-3
Be prepared to be challenged! He has rescued us from slavery to sin and demands that we worship no other gods beside Him.
Enjoy your February reading! Experience the adventure!
During the worship time of our church service this morning, several young children picked up small streamers and twirled them around. It was such a picture of purity and joy. I couldn’t help but be reminded of a verse God has highlighted to me many times over the years:
3Then he said, “I assure you, unless you turn from your sins and become as little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. 4Therefore, anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Matthew 18:3-4
Lord, help me to worship You with the uninhibited joy of children.
This last blog in the “Heart of a Worshipper” series (HWS) summarizes all the characteristics I’ve written about. You can find the articles about each characteristic here. Much of this series has been revolutionary to my walk with Christ. I hope it’s impacted you as well. Today’s blog hits the two things that have impacted me more than all the other things put together. Read on…
The Heart of a Worshipper
For almost three months we’ve studied the heart of a worshipper. We’ve seen a progression of the worshipper’s heart as he or she pursues God more diligently. Let’s review all 7 qualities:
A hungry heart –one that desires to know God more intimately.
A pursuing heart –one that follows hard after Jesus. It is the action that results from having a hungry heart.
A transparent or unveiled heart –one that allows the Light of Life (Jesus) to shine through it so that He can reveal to us what is hidden in it’s most private corners.
A vulnerable heart – the heart that suppresses our “fight or flight” response as we sit at Jesus’ feet and allow Him to change us. It is the logical extension of the transparent heart.
A willing heart – one that is predisposed to say “Yes, Lord.” It is also the obedient heart.
A free heart –the heart that is unencumbered by sin, condemnation and fear.
A secure heart –the heart that is confidently established in the knowledge of Christ’s love.
Where are you in this progression?
Are you satisfying your hungry heart by pursuing God diligently?
Are you remaining transparent and vulnerable before God and His people?
Are you obedient and increasing in your victory over sin?
Do you reject condemnation and fear?
Has that lead you to a place of steadfastness in Christ, a place of calm and joy despite life’s circumstances?
I wish I could say that I’m always at that steadfast place, but I’m not. In this final article, I’d like to share two teachings that have helped me to become a greater worshipper of God.
Developing Childlikeness
He [Jesus] called a little child and had him stand among them. And he [Jesus] said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ”
Matthew 18:2-4
While reading this a dozen or so years ago, I was struck by the word “change.” That means that being childlike doesn’t come naturally, which makes a lot of sense when you think about it. From a very young age, children are trying to be older than they are. And while we try madly to reverse the process once we reach a certain age, we still don’t want to be considered childlike. Children are unsophisticated. They’re annoyingly spontaneous. They’re immature. I want to be sophisticated, in control and mature. Yet Scripture says I should change and become like a little child.
So I began to focus on children and the qualities they possess that I lack. And then I worked at changing to become more childlike. This was a step of obedience. Being willing to be childlike regardless of what others thought was a HUGE step for me. I’ve always had an overactive “what will people think” response. But I wanted to be more concerned about what God thinks, so I began to change. Here are some of the childlike behaviors that I saw and began to imitate.
Humility and trust – Verse 4 specifically says that God values humility. I see humility in children as trust without understanding. Children trust. Period. They don’t have to understand how it works or why it works, they simply trust what they’ve been told. I often require understanding before I give my trust. When I examine that attitude under a microscope, I find that at the root of it is pride. I am essentially saying, “Unless you explain it to me in such a way that I understand it and agree with it, I’m not going to trust you.” Or maybe I’m saying, “I don’t trust you to do what’s best for me. I only trust myself. Therefore, I must understand before I extend my trust to you.” Either way, there’s too much pride in the attitude. Scripture teaches by word and example that God is more loving than I can ever imagine, that He loves me more than I can imagine, and that He desires good things for me. I believe that. (Lord, help my unbelief!) The action that’s required on my part is that I place my trust in Him. Lack of trust shows up in adults in many ways: The need to control situations, the unwillingness to fully submit to God’s will in one or many areas, and the attitude of rebellion are just a few.
Spontaneity and joy– The two seem to go together in children. Children are discovering God’s world for the first time and they find great delight in it. (I’ve seen more spiders than I care to see, so I no longer take much delight in them.) By nature, I’m serious and reserved. When I look at my personal history, though, I can see that part of that nature developed as a defense against being hurt or judged negatively. So I’ve made a decision. I’ve decided that God wants me to take delight in His creation. I need to see it through the eyes of a child and be willing to respond to it like a child. That means being willing to be thought a fool for laughing aloud or skipping in the rain or showing awe when it’s appropriate. My adult response is to suppress the laughter, carry an umbrella, and act nonchalant toward new things. God wants me to be childlike. And I’ve found that life is more enjoyable this way. It continues to be a struggle for me, something I must repeatedly remind myself about, but when I’m successful at it I enjoy life more, and I’m confident that it pleases God.
I am the Bride of Christ In addition to beginning to understand what it means to be childlike, I’ve begun to have a greater understanding of my position in Christ and before God: Scriptures teaches that I am the Bride of Christ. Not only does God love me, but Jesus is “in love” with me. The Bible says He “delights” in me. When I began to understand how totally, unconditionally and passionately Jesus is in love with me it changed my heart and increased my passion for Him. It also gave me the confidence to be transparent with Him and the courage to be childlike in His presence. It revolutionized my worship of Him and my desire to draw near to Him.
The Transformed Heart While I have loved the Lord for thirty years, I have only been “in love” with Him for about fifteen. It was about fifteen years ago when I began to study childlikeness and Bride of Christ teachings. That led to studying the topic of worship and pursuing God through worship. The result is that my life has been transformed from the inside out.
In the first article of this series I included a definition of worship by William Temple, the archbishop of Canterbury from 1942 to 1944. It’s somewhat long but it explains how worship transforms the worshipper. I’d like to close the series with the same quote. If you find yourself fitting the description Temple gives in the first sentence, please ask God to help you make worship a priority. It will undoubtedly change your life.
“Both for perplexity and for dulled conscience the remedy is the same; sincere and spiritual worship. For worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is:
the quickening of our conscience ………………………. by His holiness;
the nourishment of mind ………………………………….. with His truth;
the purifying of imagination ……………………………… by His beauty;
the opening of the heart …………………………………… to His love;
the surrender of will ………………………………………… to His purpose
– and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin.
Yes – worship in spirit and truth is the way to the solution of perplexity and to the liberation from sin.”
Lord, help me to be one who worships you in spirit and truth.
I hope you’re enjoying this “Heart of a Worshipper” series (HWS). We’re about half way through the series, so this blog begins with a review. You can click on any of the topics to go to the blog on that topic.
A Willing Heart
Time for review. When this series is completed, I’ll have written about seven characteristics of the heart of a worshipper. We’ve covered four so far. How many of them can you remember? Can you name them? Let me help. Reading about them interspersed with “life” can make it difficult to see the natural progression, so let’s review the first four.
A hungry heart- one that desires to know God more intimately. There are many scriptures we could look at that express this sentiment, but I like these two:
“Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you.
Isaiah 26:8-9
“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?”
Psalm 42:1-2
A pursuing heart– one that follows hard after Jesus. Proverbs 16:26 says: “The laborer’s appetite works for him; his hunger drives him on.” So it is with God. Our desire for Him drives us to get to know Him better – the hungry heart becomes the pursuing heart.
In His book The God Chasers, Tommy Tenney explains his title like this: “A God Chaser is a person whose hunger for God exceeds his grasp…whose passion for God’s presence presses him to chase the impossible, in hopes that the Uncatchable might catch him.”
And the wonderful thing about our God is that He promises to allow us to catch Him! Review these scriptures if you have any doubts: Deuteronomy 4:29, Jeremiah 29:13-14, Matthew 7:7-8, andProverbs 8:17. (There are lots more, but these should give you a good start!)
A transparent or unveiled heart– one that allows the Light of Life (Jesus) to shine through it so that He can reveal to us what is hidden in it’s deepest, darkest corners. When our heart is transparent, we can say with David “All my longings lie open before you, O Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you.” (Psalm 38:9) Having a transparent heart allows God to reveal our sin to us.
A vulnerable heart is the logical extension of the transparent heart – it’s the heart that suppresses our “fight or flight” response as we sit at Jesus’ feet and allow Him to change us. It moves from allowing God to reveal our sin to allowing Him to transform us into the image of Christ. It also means total dependence on God – trusting Him to make the right choices for you. It means giving God the right to make the rules and put the ball in play. And it means giving up our right to say “No, I don’t want to be like that,” or “I don’t like those rules.”
A Willing Heart – The Second Half of the Equation
A key phrase in the last paragraph is “put the ball in play.” In other words, having a vulnerable heart that allows God to change us is only the first half of the equation…we must also have a willing heart that allows God to use us.
Chapter 6 in Isaiah is a fascinating illustration of the vulnerable and willing heart of Isaiah. Let me do a quick outline of verses 1 through 11 for you
Verses 1 – 4: Isaiah is given a glimpse of the throne room of heaven
…I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs…And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty…” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
Verse 5-7: Isaiah experiences conviction for his sin
Woe to me!…I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips…
Verses 6 and 7: God demonstrates that Isaiah’s sin has been forgiven by having an angel take a coal from the altar and touch his lips with it
With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
Verse 8: God makes a request and Isaiah enthusiastically responds
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
Verse 9-10: God elaborates on the assignment, revealing that it won’t be a pleasant one
“Go and tell this people: “‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes…”
Verse 11: Isaiah remains committed to carry out his task
Then I said, “For how long, O Lord?” And he answered: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged…”
There are no words in scripture to give us an idea of what inflection to put into Isaiah’s response, but we do know that the last thing he said was spoken with enthusiasm or passion: “Here I am! Send me!” It seems reasonable, then, that the next line would continue in a similar emotion. So even though the Lord has told him to go do this seemingly miserable task, his response is “For how long, Lord?”
I don’t think Isaiah was dragging his feet and saying “Oh man, how long do I have to do this?” I think He was saying with eagerness “How long can I do this for you Lord?” or “I’m happy to do it as long as you want me to, Lord. How long?”
Isaiah sees worship in heaven and his first response reveals his transparent heart “Woe is me, I am undone.” His second response reveals his willing heart: “Here I am. Send me.”
Oh, that I might be as enthusiastic when I receive assignments from God. I’m tempted to pray here, “Lord, make my heart and spirit cry with enthusiasm, ‘Here I am, Lord, send me,’ even when Your assignments mean obscurity or unpopularity or drudgery.” And that would be a good thing…but you know, sometimes my heart isn’t really there!
It’s at those times that I am tempted to feel condemnation because I think my heart should be always willing, no matter what the circumstances or assignment. So I try to get my heart to the right place…yeah, right!
One thing I’ve learned is that I can’t manufacture a change in my heart any more than I could manufacture the heart itself! I cannot rely on myself for such things. Charles Spurgeon made this point well in a book called All of Grace.
If we trust to ourselves for our holding on [i.e., continuing in Christ] we shall not hold on. Even though we rest in Jesus for a part of our salvation, we shall fail if we trust to self for anything…Beware of mixing even a little of self with the mortar with which you build, or you will make it untempered mortar, and the stones will not hold together. If you look to Christ for your beginnings, beware of looking to yourself for your endings. He is Alpha. See to it that you make Him Omega also. If you begin in the Spirit you must not hope to be made perfect by the flesh. Begin as you mean to go on, and go on as you began…
In other words, don’t look to yourself, look to God. Don’t trust yourself, trust God.
Returning to our passage in Isaiah, we see that he didn’t work up his own obedience – it was a natural response to having seen the glory of God. So perhaps my prayer shouldn’t be “Lord, make my heart and spirit cry ‘Yes Lord’ with enthusiasm;” perhaps the secret lies in sitting at Jesus’ feet in worship and praying “Lord, give me a glimpse of Your glory as you gave to Isaiah.” And that brings us full circle – it all starts with having that heart which is hungry for God and it leads to the wonderful privilege of being used by Him.
If your response to God isn’t as whole-hearted as you’d like it to be or you’re feeling condemnation from the enemy for lacking enthusiasm for the things of God, let me encourage you to take time to sit at Jesus’ feet in worship. Just for a while, stop doing things for God and simply spend time with God. Ask Him to reveal Himself to you in a new way. He delights to do so!
In the previous blog in our “The Heart of a Worshipper” series (HWS) we looked at the first condition of the heart of a worshipper: it is a heart that is hungry for more of God. In this blog, we continue to look at the qualities of the worshipping heart. May you be blessed and transformed as you grow in your own worship of the King of Kings.
A Hungry Heart
The first condition of the heart of a worshipper that we looked at is a heart that is hungry for more of God. Psalm 42, verses 1 and 2 describe the condition well:
1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
Verse 2b tells us where a hungry heart leads us – to a desire to meet with God. Proverbs 16:26 says:
“The laborer’s appetite works for him; his hunger drives him on.”
Satisfying the Hungry Heart When the condition of our heart is that we are hungry for God, the response of our heart is to pursue Him more aggressively. Spiritual hunger is fed by pursuing God. A pursuing heart is one that is trying to satisfy the hunger for God that is within it.
In His book The God Chasers, Tommy Tenney explains his title like this:
“A God Chaser is a person whose hunger for God exceeds his grasp…whose passion for God’s presence presses him to chase the impossible, in hopes that the Uncatchable might catch him.”
He goes on to say that the chase begins with worship – recognizing Who God is. Become a “God Chaser” Pray “Lord, make me a God-Chaser!” Chase after God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength – He will not disappoint you!
A Pursuing Heart Let’s look at Deuteronomy 4:29:
“But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
The word for “seek” is baqash (baw-kash’) which means to search out (by any method, spec. in worship or prayer); to strive after, ask, beg, beseech, desire, enquire, get, make inquisition, procure, (make) request, require, seek (for).
That same word is used in Jeremiah 29:13 “You will seek (baqash) me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” What a great promise! But God doesn’t stop there. He goes on to say in verse 14 “I will be found by you.” These verses provide a prayer that we can be confident is always in God’s will: “Lord, I want to know You more. Teach me more of Your ways.” God will satisfy the hunger in our heart when we pursue Him.
Baqash is the word used in the Old Testament; there’s a similar word used in the New Testament: zeteo (dzay-teh’-o). It means to seek (lit. or fig.); spec. (by Heb.) to worship (God),to desire, endeavour, enquire (for), require, seek (after, for, means). This word is used in Matthew 7:7-8.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek (zeteo) and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks (zeteo) finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Again, God promises that we will find Him when we pursue Him.
Zeteo was also used by Paul in his sermon at Mars Hill. Acts 17:24-28 is a passage worthy of meditating on in worship:
The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek (zeteo) him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’
Wow! God did all this, he created this world and mankind and determined the time in which we were to live and the exact places where we should live…why? So that men and women would SEEK him. God’s desire is that we seek Him. He makes us hungry, then rewards us with a stronger relationship with Him.
Let’s look at 2 more verses that give us God’s perspective and response to those with a hungry and pursuing heart:
“I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.” Proverbs 8:17
“Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.” Psalm 107:8-9
God’s ways truly are not our ways. He loves us beyond our understanding, and He’s implanted in us a desire to know us. He created and controls the entire universe for the purpose of bringing you into a greater loving relationship with Him.
A hungry heart develops into a pursuing heart. If you have a hungry heart, don’t ignore your hunger pains. Don’t put yourself on a spiritual diet. Know that it is God Himself who has made you hungry and wants to satisfy that hunger by revealing more of Himself to you. Pursue God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Do it today!
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