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I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.
Philemon 1:6

One of the tremendous benefits of sharing our faith in Christ is that it gives us a fuller understanding of every good thing we have in Christ! That says to me that we cannot fully understand or know every good thing we have in Christ unless we share our faith!

This gives me an additional perspective for sharing the Gospel. I am by no means an evangelist, and I often feel like my attempts at sharing my faith are a bit lacking. Yet I am committed to the importance of the challenge – how will they believe unless someone tells them? (Romans 10:14-15) I have always seen the activity as something I do for God and for the other person. But this passage tells me that I also receive benefit from it.

In thinking about this, I can see how it is much like the benefit one receives from teaching. Any teacher will tell you that they learn more when teaching than their students do. Their learning comes first from their preparation and secondly from the students and the questions they ask and insights they provide.

As I study to prepare myself to share the Gospel, I learn more about all that God has done for us. As I share it, I am blessed simply because I have been obedient. I may be further blessed by the questions and observations of the one I’m witnessing to. And the greatest blessing of all is when the person responds positively to the Gospel. Whether there is a response or not, however, we can know that we have made an impact for the Gospel, just as we know that we are impacting the future beauty of the flowers in our garden when we water them regularly. We don’t always see an immediate response, but there is a response. We don’t always see a response to our words, but we can be assured that something happens in the spiritual world each time we share the Gospel.

What do you need to do to be better prepared to share the Gospel?

• Praying is a start. Pray for specific people you would like to share the Gospel with. Pray that God would bring people across your path who need to know Him. Pray for fertile soil – that these people would be prepared to hear and respond to the Gospel. Pray for wisdom, courage, compassion and the right words to say.
• While you pray, invest a little time in learning methods for sharing the Gospel. You might familiarize yourself with the 4 Spiritual Laws or the Goodness Scale approach to sharing the Gospel.
• Write out your testimony. Yes, write it out. (OK, you can type it out.) Create a version that you can share in just a minute or two as well as a version you can share in 3-5 minutes.
• Be able to articulate the reasons you believe. Peter emphasized this when he was writing “to God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners in the lands of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, the province of Asia, and Bithynia.” (1 Peter 1:1). As believers in Christ, we are to live as foreigners in the world. Peter’s advice was this:

But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,
1 Peter 3:15

We’re to always be ready to explain why we place our hope and trust in Jesus.

Who might you need to share the Gospel with this week? I know this is a topic that many Christians want to avoid, but Paul’s letter to Philemon tells us that we won’t fully understanding of every good thing we have in Christ unless we are active in sharing our faith. So for the sake of those who need to hear the Gospel, and for your own sake, pray, study, and then SPEAK UP!

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” [Jesus said]
Matthew 13:44

This is one of those passages we often use to teach about how valuable the Kingdom of Heaven is – it’s so wonderful that this man went out and sold all he had so that he could have it. I wonder how often we allow the passage to challenge us. If we have truly found the Kingdom of Heaven – that is, eternal life in Christ, do respond as this man did. There are two phrases in the passage that challenge me:

• Notice that the passage says “in his joy” he went and sold his possessions so that he could buy the field. Are we joyful in our obedience when it requires sacrifice on our part? If not, perhaps our focus is on the wrong thing – our focus should never be on our sacrifice, but on the wonderful treasure that will be ours – Jesus.

I have been convicted lately about how self-focused my life is at times. Yes, I regularly serve the Lord in a number of ways, but the self-focus comes in when I become aware of the cost of serving – generally, a loss of personal time, energy or finances. Perhaps that’s an indication that I sometimes allow my focus to get fuzzy or even all out of whack. Lord, help me to continue “in joy,” not giving recognition to any loss I might experience along the way.

• The passage also says that he sold “all he had” to purchase the field. Have I gone all in? (I can guarantee you that I have not.)

As pondered this passage in my mind, I was in an airport waiting for my flight. Not far from me there was a young couple with a little girl. She was perhaps about three years old – at the age where little girls love to walk on their tippy toes, almost bouncing from place to place. Her mom was standing next to several pieces of luggage while giving the little girl a bit of freedom before requiring her to sit quietly in an airplane for several hours. The little girl would get about fifteen feet away and her mom would call to her and tell her to come back. The little girl would obediently turn and bounce back to her mom. It occurred to me that at any second the child could choose to disobey (as children learning about freedom are want to do). I am fully confident that the mother wouldn’t hesitate to leave her belongings for a second to run after her child. I was standing there with my laptop bag between my legs, my arm resting on my purse with half an eye on my cell phone that was laid on the counter next to me charging while reading a book* and pondering this passage. I was ever aware that at any moment my treasured possessions could be pilfered if I wasn’t diligent in the crowded airport. Yet I’m certain this mom would gladly leave all her possessions behind (not even selling them as in the parable) if her most treasured possession began enjoying too much freedom.

In my heart, have I sold all my possessions to pursue the Kingdom of Heaven?  Am I willing to hear God say “give this away?” or “go here?” I want to believe that I am…

How about you? Is Jesus your most treasured possession and do you treat all your other possessions accordingly?

In my previous blog, I wrote about the disciplines practiced by early Christians before their baptism on Easter Sunday. They devoted themselves to prayer, repentance, fasting and giving. I have purposed in my heart to ask God to give me some person or organization to give financially to each week. We’re coming up on week three and God has been already identified where I am to give. It has been a joy to give, but in the back of my mind, I’m becoming aware that week four is coming up…And I’m starting to feel the financial pinch. I am excited about God using me…but it won’t be as easy in the coming weeks as it has been in the first couple of weeks. This is evidence that in my heart, I’m not “all in.”

I’m convinced that if I want to experience more of the Kingdom of Heaven, my heart needs to be predisposed to joyfully sell it all. Clearly Christ is worth the price.

How are you challenged to joyfully sell all you have? Share your story with me, as a comment below or on Facebook. As David Platt says in his book Radical, Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream, “For when we abandon the trinkets of this world and respond to the radical invitation of Jesus, we discover the infinite treasure of knowing and experiencing him.”

*This blog was inspired by the first chapter of David Platt’s book Radical, Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream, copyright 2010 by author, published by Multinomah Books ebooks, Colorado Springs, CO.

Yesterday was the first Sunday of Lent, a season that is well known to many Christians and hardly on their radar for others. One of the things I like about it is that it is observed by Christians around the world – when we observe the season, we are joining with the Body of Christ worldwide. I come from a church tradition that barely recognizes Lent so I thought it’d be a great opportunity to do a little research. What I’ve learned is motivating me to set apart this season as a time to pursue God more diligently by returning to the basic disciplines that were the hallmark of early Christians.

Before we look at those disciplines, let’s look at the original purpose for Lent. Understanding what something was meant to do helps us to use it properly. If you’ve never seen a fork before, and I give you one without telling you what its purpose is, you might come up with some unusual things to do with the fork. You might use it as a decorative hair pin, or take two of them and intertwine them to create a structure of some sort. While you can do those things with a fork, what it is best suited for is eating. So first we want to look at the original purpose for Lent.

During the first couple hundred years after Jesus’ time, new believers – people who put their faith and trust in Jesus – were baptized only once a year on Easter Sunday. They spent several weeks before their baptism preparing themselves spiritually for this significant milestone in their obedience to Christ. During this season they would concentrate on four basic practices of the Christian faith. In doing so, they would seek God humbly and lay a strong foundation for living a long life with Christ at the center. They focused on these four practices:

Prayer
Repentance
Fasting
Giving

Let’s look briefly about each of these areas.

Prayer
The Christian life is to be a life of prayer. Paul gave this instruction to the Thessalonians:

¹⁷pray continually; ¹⁸give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:17-18

I have grown a lot over the past year in the practice of giving thanks, but it’s an area of prayer in which I want to continually improve. The other area of prayer in which I want to improve is listening to God. It’s too easy to rush through my thanks and requests without pausing to enjoy God’s presence and listen for Him instructions, discipline or praise. (With the potential of hearing God’s “atta girl” how can I short-change this time during my prayers?)

During this season of Lent, I want to be more diligent about setting aside time to pursue God in prayer. Will you join me? Let’s agree among one another to make an appointment to meet God in a quiet place and pray each day during lent.

Repentance
This second focus of the new believers in the early church who were preparing to be baptized on Easter morning was a key message of the New Testament. Both John the Baptist and Jesus said repeatedly “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” Repentance is more than feeling sorry for our sin. It means changing our mind about what we did and agreeing with God that it is sin. There’s a big difference between asking God to forgive us of our sins, or even being sorry for our sins, and agreeing with God that what we did was a sin. Repentance requires changing our mind and then our behavior. And for our mind to be changed, we need to approach God humbly, with an attitude of humility, saying “Lord, I want to do your will. Forgive me and change my heart.” And then we need to listen.

So during our prayer times during Lent, let’s approach God humbly and ask Him to teach us His ways.

Fasting
This is perhaps the most common practice people participate in during Lent. “What are you giving up for Lent?” is a question we hear (and perhaps ask). I want to focus on fasting a little differently. First, I want to focus on the purpose of fasting. We are not fasting because it’s the season in which we’re supposed to give something up. It’s easy to fall into that trap. I want to go further and constantly remember that I am fasting to draw closer to God. I want the truth that Jesus spoke about when He said “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” to be a reality in my life. So we humble ourselves through fasting and turn to God to be filled. Fasting reminds us that we are weak (because we so want that thing we’ve given up) and we turn to God for His strength.

During your prayer time in the next couple of days, ask God how He would like you to participate in fasting. It might be that giving up some type of food will come to mind. I’d like to invite you to think about other kinds of fasting. For example, you might fast from television during certain times of the day. Or you might give up some other activity and spend the time in prayer and Bible reading.

Giving
Finally, the Christian life is a life of giving. It is one of the ways we demonstrate our love for Christ. Our God is an incredibly generous God. Most significant, He gave His son so that we could live forever with Him. Being generous doesn’t come naturally to most of us. Most of us have to fight against the urge to hold onto everything we have. But in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said “Give to everyone who asks you.” A few verses later he said “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Matthew 6:38)

We don’t give so that we’ll get back, but God in His goodness blesses us.

Phil and I started this without realizing it when we spontaneously gave more than we were required to and more than we had anticipated giving. I’m hoping God reveals an opportunity to be generous each week during Lent. I want to encourage you pray about increasing your giving during this season. Give generously – share what you have with those around you.

Let’s Do It!
That was the emphasis of study for the new believers during the Lent season: prayer, repentance, fasting and giving. Some may wonder why we have to do it every year, even if we’ve been a Christian for most of our lives. The answer to that is simple. We don’t have to, but it is our privilege to do so. Practicing these four basics disciplines of our faith creates and reinforces an attitude of humility and puts us in a position to hear from God. Let me know what He’s saying to you!

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
2 Corinthians 5:17

God’s already done the heavy lifting to bring newness into to our lives, the thing left for us to do is be willing to change our habits and patterns of living.

But change without direction isn’t a good thing. You may remember from yesterday’s blog that my friend had to learn how to drive without his hand on the emergency brake when he bought a new car. Learning to drive without your hand on the emergency brake is a good thing, but without direction, that freedom could take you places you don’t want to go. Let’s look at 2 Corinthians 5:17 in its context:

¹⁴For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. ¹⁵And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

¹⁶So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
2 Corinthians 5:14-17

The passage gives us a hint at the direction our change ought to take – or at least a look at the guiding force behind our change. It says that it is Christ’s love that “compels us.” The King James Version say His love “constrains us.” Another translation of the word is “preoccupies” – Christ love preoccupies us.

The Greek word used is sunecho and it means all three things. Perhaps if we’re not experiencing the new life, it is because we have not allowed Christ’s love to do those three things – to compel, constrain and preoccupy us!

Let’s examine how Christ’s love preoccupies us, constrains us and compels us so that each of us live a changed life that is controlled by the One who initiated and completed the change.

Preoccupy
Are you preoccupied with the love of Christ? Does it occupy your thoughts when you are going about your day?

Paul gives more advice in Romans 12:

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.
Romans 12:2

The way we are transformed is by the renewing of our mind – by that constant preoccupation with Christ’s love. That’s what transforms! It’s interesting that the tense of this passage is quite active – Don’t be conformed – be transformed! 2 Corinthians is past tense – we have been made new – Romans is active voice – be transformed!

My friend lost his old habits as he learned about and appreciated and enjoyed his new car. Now obviously, we don’t want to worship a car, but you get the idea. The more we preoccupy ourselves with the Lord, the more we will be transformed.

Constrain
Do you allow the love of Christ to constrain your actions and words? Do you allow it to place limits on your behavior and thoughts? When we think of limits, we typically think of God limiting the “bad stuff.” That’s true. But it also includes constraining us from doing good stuff that He has created for others to do. It’s that kind of constraint that helps keep us from being crazy people.

If we try to participate in every good opportunity that presents itself, we very easily miss out on two of God’s greatest gifts – time with God and rest.

There are so many good things we could do, but there are specific good works that God has prepared in advance for each of us to do. If I don’t allow God to constrain me, I might try to do the good works He’s prepared for you. Then where would your joy be? And you might try to do my good works and I’d have to compete with you for them. That’s not what God has in mind. What He has in mind is that our love for Him constrains us – sets limits for us so that we do only what He would have us do – and that places limits on both the bad things we shouldn’t do and the good things we should do.

Compel
Do you move forward compelled by the love of God? Do you move forward compelled by the Holy Spirit? Do you plan your day, week, month and life according to His desires for your life?

Look at verse 15:

And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

His desire is that we not live for ourselves, but for Christ. When Christ’s love compels me, I live a life (not just think the thoughts, but live a life) that is more like Christ’s.

Does Christ’s love compel you to live a life for Him, not yourself?

It’s Not One or the Other – It’s All Three
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians that it is Christ’s love that preoccupies, constrains and compels us. Is that true of you? Is it Christ’s love that preoccupies, constrains and compels you?

One final point – we are all wired differently and that wiring will cause us to gravitate toward one of the three of those things more easily than the others. For some of us being preoccupied with the love of Christ comes easy while others are more activity oriented. Some of us are great at being constrained, while others of us are great at being compelled. Sorry folks, but it’s not a one or the other deal. The word Paul used means all three things – preoccupied, constrained and compelled – and if we only allow it to mean one or even two things, we’re not there.

If we only allow Christ’s love to only preoccupy us or only constrain us, we can’t say with Paul that Christ’s love sunecho’s us. For sunecho to be a reality in our lives, all three elements of the word must come into it’s place.

God wants to bring that balance and that means changing from “life as usual” – because we don’t become more like Christ without experiencing change. So let me push you just a little beyond your comfort zone and ask you to ask God to bring your life into sunecho balance. Don’t be satisfied with the old way of operating.

Allow God to make you new as we continue in 2011. Pursue the adventure of allowing the Spirit of God to guide you into a life of power – a life that starts with a preoccupation with the love of Christ, and then is both constrained and compelled by it.

On January 1, 2011 I blogged about New Beginnings. Now that we’re a couple of months into the year, perhaps it’s time to revisit the topic. January’s blog was about embracing change because unless we embrace change, we miss much of what God has for us. If you’re like me, you probably did pretty well embracing change…for about a week (maybe two)…and then routines crept back into your life and embracing change began to seem like a lot of work with little reward. Let’s take a slightly different take on the subject today…

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV)

Life Lessons from A Friend’s Old Car
I have a friend who got a new car. Prior to getting the car, he was driving a real junker. During the first few days of driving his new car, he realized that actions he had taken to live with his old car had unconsciously developed into habits that he brought to his new car. Habits like rolling down the window (regardless of the weather) and reaching outside to open the car door – because the inside door handle had fallen off; and downshifting early while keeping his hand on the emergency brake when he needed to stop because his brakes were pretty shaky. (We can all be thankful he got a new car!)

As he was telling me about how he had to unlearn what had become automatic behaviors, I couldn’t help but see the life applications. As we grow up we develop behaviors that help us cope with or even thrive in our world. It doesn’t matter whether your childhood was idyllic or not quite so, you developed behaviors that helped you deal with your life. As you grew into adulthood – stepped into your “new” life – you unconsciously carried those behaviors with you. As you met each challenge in adulthood, your first instinct was to apply those behaviors. They either worked or didn’t work and you either adjusted them or didn’t adjust them, depending upon many, many things including how ingrained the behaviors are, your personality and adaptability, and the quality of the mentoring you receive.

The cycle didn’t stop when you became an adult. As you “live” in any specific situation for a time, whether it be a job (or lack thereof), a marriage (or lack thereof), or participation in your church (or lack thereof), you are constantly developing habits and routines that affect how you respond to all of life.

Interestingly, science has found that things we learn or experience in crisis situations – actions associated with high levels of adrenaline in our body – are most easily remembered. I suppose that saves our lives many times. Unfortunately, it also makes it very easy to develop and adopt crisis situation responses. And most of life doesn’t require a crisis situation responses.

I am so thankful that in God, as we allow Him to shape and change us, old things pass away. All things become new. Some of those things that pass away are habits that keep us from moving forward. The habit of driving with our hand on the emergency brake passes away, for example – IF we pursue God and allow Him to changes us. Praise God I don’t have to live my life with these old habits and behaviors!

“But wait!” you say. “You still are living your life out of those old habits!” You’re right. In many was I am. And so are you. Scripture is clear that the old has passed and the new has come – the words are past tense. It has been accomplished in the heavens. So why am I still living life in those old habits?

Key to a Life Made New
Well, I think one of the keys is in that word we have translated as “passed away” or “gone” – figuratively it means “perished” or “neglected.”

One of the most significant keys to experiencing all that God has for us is in that word – the old has perished – it’s a done deal – God did His part. Now it’s our turn to do our part – to neglect the dead thing! Instead of hovering over the dead, perhaps celebrating the life it once had or mourning the life it took from us – let’s turn to the new that has come. The new that is right here beside us – actually inside us – Scripture refers to it as “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27)

Do you spend more time remembering what God has killed than celebrating the new thing He has done? The mourning period is over! Long over! Don’t keep rolling down the window and sticking your hand out in the cold to get your car door open! Yeah, it was fun for a while, but God wants to do a new thing and as long as you keep getting your hand cold and wet, you can’t experience how dry and warm your hands stay when you open the door from the inside! Neglect the thing that God has killed and nurture the new thing God is doing.

Tomorrow’s blog will continue our theme with a look at the verse in its bigger context. I really enjoyed what I found. Check in tomorrow to see what God’s Word says about the direction of our change.

The last three blogs have looked at the Psalm devotionally. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I have. Today, however, we’re going to conclude by pulling out five treasures of practical advice from the Psalm. The writer of the Psalm encouraged and motivated me to have the same dwelling-with-God experience that he had, but find myself asking the practical questions like: How do I get to God’s presence? How do I live in His presence of God? How do I dwell with Him? Well, in the midst of this wonderful devotional Psalm there is some practical advice. Let’s look at five “best practices” the Psalmist identifies:

1) Verse 2 (“My soul yearns…”) – Desire the Lord. If you don’t have a desire for the Lord, ask for it. Remember, the end of the Psalm says that God doesn’t withhold any good thing from those who love Him. Is desiring the Lord a good thing? Absolutely. Consider these verses in 1 John:

¹⁴This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. ¹⁵And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
1 John5:14-15

Is desiring a better relationship with God in His will. Absolutely. If you don’t have that soul yearning to be near the Lord, ask for it.

2) Verse 4 (“Blessed are those who dwell…they are ever praising you”) – There is a connection between dwelling with God and praise. God dwells in the praises of His people. Don’t be shy about praising Him. Even in those situations that you think might be awkward – at school or at work – when you know that God deserves the praise but you are reluctant to verbally acknowledge Him because what will your friends think or what will your coworkers or customers or bosses think. You know what? I don’t know what they’ll think. But I know that God will dwell in those praises and I know that God in the midst of any situation is better than God not in the midst of it.

3) Verse 5 (“set their hearts on pilgrimage”) – Set your hearts on pilgrimage. Make a decision. Don’t just want it. Make a decision to have it. There are lots of things in this life that I want. But until I actually decide to pursue them, I don’t make the life changes necessary to have them. I might want a smaller house payment and less housework, but unless I am willing to give up lots of my stuff, I can’t have that smaller house that will give me the smaller payment and workload. Because all my stuff won’t fit in a smaller house. The same is true of every area of our lives. Pursuing any thing means turning away from other things. Make a decision to pursue God more. And then get rid of some of the stuff that keeps you from pursing Him.

4) Verse 6 (“As they pass through”) – Pass through the Valley of Baca, don’t camp there. Keep your feet (and heart) moving until you have gone from strength to strength. Continue your pilgrimage toward the heart of God.

5) Verses 8 and 9 (“Hear my prayer, O Lord”) – Pray often, simple prayers thrown in the midst of everything else you’re doing. Then have confidence in God. Know that He hears you and that His desires and plans are for your good.

Five practical tips from a Psalm that is, at its heart, a devotional Psalm. I love that God is a practical God who wants our hearts and our hands. Be blessed, friends, as you read and meditate not only on Psalm 84, but all other passages in God’s wonderful and amazing and calming and practical Word.

Blessings for Those who Dwell with God and Pass Through Dry Valleys

In the previous blog, we looked how very sweet God’s presence is and how very much the writer of the Psalm longed for it. At the end of verse 3, however, the Psalmist begins to make a shift in his focus – turning from the dwelling place itself to created beings dwelling near God. In verse 3, he looks longingly at the swallow who is privileged to make her nest near God’s altar. Let’s see how verse 4 continues:

Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
they are ever praising you.
Psalm 85:4

The shift is complete as the Psalmist turns to those who dwell in God’s house. He says “they are ever praising God.” Are you praising God, friend? If not, perhaps you are not dwelling in God’s house. Perhaps you are only visiting occasionally. The Psalmist says those who dwell in God’s house – who inhabit it, who live there – are ever (always) praising Him.

I am convicted because I recognize the truth and the reality of that statement. When I am dwelling with and in God, my focus isn’t on the problems of my life, but I become full of confidence in my God to deal with those problems for me.

A Journey of the Heart
Verse 5 describes two conditions which lead to us being blessed by God. “He blessed are those who…” That means we are and will be blessed if we meet the “those who” conditions. Let’s look at them.

Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.
Psalm 85:5

We are blessed when our strength is in God. Just a few sentences ago I wrote that “When I am dwelling with and in God, my focus isn’t on the problems of my life, but I become full of confidence in my God to deal with those problems for me.” Such confidence gives me strength – He becomes my strength when I dwell in Him. And I am blessed.

I find the wording of the second half of the verse to be a bit curious. The word pilgrimage would better be amplified to mean “pathway, thoroughfare or course toward God.” So another way to translate this part of the verse would be “Those who have set their hearts on God’s path are blessed.” Notice it doesn’t say those who have set their feet on God’s path are blessed, but those who have set their hearts on God’s path. It is a heart journey to God, not a foot journey. God is and always has been after our hearts – your heart and my heart. Our feet will follow our heart.

He blesses those who have set their heart to follow Him.

The Valley of Dry Places and Tears
Having just written that those who have set their hearts on a journey toward God (or God’s dwelling place), the Psalmist again makes a big of a shift. He begins to discuss difficulties we’ll face along the journey.

As they pass through the Valley of Baca,
they make it a place of springs;
the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
Psalm 85:6

Some translations render verse six as the “Valley of Weeping.” Baca means both “weeping” and “balsam tree.” The balsam tree is a tree which flourishes only in very dry, arid ground. So this “Valley of Baca” might also be called the “Valley of Dry Places and Tears.” The Psalmist says that as those who have set their hearts on God’s path pass through the Valley of Dry Places and Tears, tears will no lo longer fall from our eyes, they will spring forth like new life from the ground and they will fall from the heavens!

I love that imagery! The Valley of Dry Places and Tears will become a place of life-giving springs and refreshing rain-water pools. Oh, Lord, may we know your refreshment and life when our journey takes us through the Valley of Weeping. May our hearts be set on You, Lord, when we walk through the Valley of Dry Places.

There’s another key phrase in the verse: “pass through.” We are passing through the valley, because we are on the pilgrimage, the pathway, the journey toward God. May we ever remember that we are passing through the valley, we are not dwelling there. We are dwelling in the House of the Lord. Don’t dwell in the Valley of Weeping – don’t live in your despair. Dwell in the House of the Lord. Live in the love and knowledge of the Lord God Almighty. That is the place of blessings. God doesn’t bless dwelling in the Valley of Dry Places and Tears. He does bless passing through it, though.

I hope you see the difference between dwelling in Baca and passing through it. I preached this series of blogs once, and the title of my message was “Where are you living?” We choose where we live – let’s choose God’s dwelling place, not the Valley of Dry Places and Tears. We can only live in one place at a time. We may own multiple homes, but we’re only living in one at a time. Live in God’s dwelling place while you pass through the difficult times in your life.

There is an interesting phenomenon, that happens as we pass through the Valley of Dry Places and Tears. Baca means both “weeping” and “balsam tree.” I wondered what a balsam tree looked like, thinking perhaps it might be something like our weeping willow trees. Not even close. In the En Gedi region of Israel, they are spiny plants that grow in dry, arid places. However, they “produced valuable and highly sought-after cosmetics, perfumes and medicinal substances. Their value was of such great economic importance that wars were fought for their possession, as when Mark Anthony conquered the Dead Sea area for Cleopatra.” [From http://www.holidayinisrael.com/ViewPage.asp?lid=1&pid=362]

Hmmm. Do you see where I’m going? The time we spend passing through the Valley of Dry Places and Tears can be a place in which God develops in us beautiful things – qualities that makes us more like Christ (can there be anything more beautiful?) and that He will use to bring healing in our lives and the lives of others. Hallelujah! If the plant is a physical illustration of what God does, it means that He uses our sorrows. They are not wasted.

Strength to Strength
Verse 7 assures us that the balsam tree is, in fact, an illustration of the way God works.

They go from strength to strength,
till each appears before God in Zion.
Psalm 85:7

Those who are dwelling in God’s house and who are journeying through the Valley of Dry Places and Tears go from strength to strength. Notice that our starting point isn’t the Valley of Weeping or the House of Blues. It’s the dwelling place of God – and we’ve already established that His dwelling place is filled with His sweet peace presence.

What a faithful God we serve, who turns our dry places and our tears into greater strength! There is also that promise in the second half of the verse – going from strength to strength until each of us appears before God. Hallelujah!

Friend, let me encourage you not to dwell in your dry places and not to dwell in your place of tears. Journey through them with your focus on the Lord and your confidence in Him. He will bring you into a new place of strength. He is that faithful and He is that good!

In our next blog, we’ll finish this meditation on Psalm 85, but for now and the next few days, let me encourage you to meditate on this portion of the Psalm and be blessed.

Noah did everything just as God commanded him.
Genesis 6:22

There is so much power in that simple statement. Noah was a man – a human no different from you or me. He lived in a corrupt time – not a lot different from you and me. He did everything just as God commanded him – how different is that from you and me? No waffling. No hedging. No resistance.

God said “I am going to destroy the earth and everyone in it. Build a boat.” Then He elaborated a bit:

¹⁷I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. ¹⁸But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁹You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. ²⁰Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. ²¹You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.
Genesis 6:17-21

And the amazing thing – amazing to me anyway – is that Noah did “everything just as God commanded him.”

I was listening to a sermon by Tony Evans recently and he made a statement that impacted me. “Our expectations impact our actions.” If we expect that it’s going to rain while we’re out, we take an umbrella. Because I expected to have a business meeting today, I dressed a bit differently and took more care with my hair & makeup than I would on a day when I expect to work alone in my office.

Clearly, Noah must have expected God to be true to His word, because he acted immediately. He started building a boat, undoubtedly causing everyone around him to think he was crazy. But God hadn’t spoken to everyone around Noah. From the description God gives of those around Noah, even if He had spoken to them, they wouldn’t have started to build a boat. Because they had no expectation that God was who He said He was and that He would do what He said He was going to do.

I can’t help but wonder – what are my spiritual expectations? If I work Tony Evans’ statement backwards, we can determine my expectations based on my actions. Do my actions reveal that I believe God is who He says He is and that He will do what He says He is going to do? Do my actions reveal that I expect God to move on my behalf? Do my actions reveal that I expect God to deal with me according to my behavior – good or bad?

Noah didn’t have the benefit of a Bible to read. We obviously do. My “Let’s Be PC!” series encourages us to do the things we know God wants us to do. I want to be a Practicing Christian (“PC”) not one in name only. (I took a break from the series over the Christmas season, but will be adding to it soon – what topic would you like me to address?)

Back to my expectations (and yours). Do we live our lives as if we expect God to be true to His promises and His Word? Or do we live our lives our own way and hope God will bless it? Like Paul, I’m not there yet, but I keep pressing on to live according to God’s Word.

¹²Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on… ¹³…I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:12-14

Why would I (or anyone) not want to do as Paul did? Yes, life is hard, and yes, pursuing God brings us to the attention of our adversary, satan…but to not pursue God puts me in a place of dealing with life in this fallen world without the nearness of a loving Savior and the blessings He promises to those who follow His plan for their lives.

“Practical Atheists” is a term used to describe people who say they believe in Christ but whose actions are more consistent with those who don’t believe at all. I’d rather be a PC than a PA!

God gives us the tremendous freedom and responsibility of free will. At each step in our journey, we have the opportunity to choose practical atheism or Christianity. At each challenge we can be obedient to pursue God’s way (and accompanying blessing) or act according to our own “wisdom” and desires.

I want to be like Noah and do everything God commands. I want to be like Paul and press on to win the prize (which is Christ, Himself). How about you? Will you join me in pursuing God throughout 2011? There’s plenty of room in the boat!

Lord, may my actions reveal that my expectations are consistent with all You have promised in Your Word. Where my expectations fall short, reveal Yourself to me anew so that I might know you better.

“New Beginnings” – that’s the phrase that God has planted in my heart today.

I’ll be preaching at a nursing home tomorrow and all week I thought the message would be about God having a purpose for our lives – it doesn’t matter if we are 35 or 55 or 85, if we are still on this earth, God has a purpose for us. It’s a good message to deliver to residents of nursing homes who often wonder if God has forgotten them. Throughout the week the message wasn’t really coming together, although I had confidence that God would pull it together before I needed it.

Simultaneously Phil had been meditating about a message around the theme of “you’re never too old to learn new things.” He had been considering the passage in Joshua 14 about Caleb’s enthusiasm for going to battle to win new territory for himself and his family when he was 85 years old. After our discussion, we thought we might do a tag-team sermon in which I talked about purpose and then Phil dispelled the notion that they might be too old for a new purpose in life.

But as I said, this morning, the phrase “new beginnings” won’t leave my mind, and I’ve spent the last three hours or so writing about it. Now, at 1:30 in the afternoon, I’m not sure what I have for my message tomorrow and a blog today, and what I’m to do about this new beginnings sermon that is still rough around the edges!

So I am setting the sermon aside for now (it seems to be wandering and when that happens, I know it’s become more me than God, so time to let it simmer a bit more), but want to share a few musings with you that have come out of all this. I’m sure you’ll read much more about it in future blogs, but for today, here are some random “new beginnings” thoughts:

• I am so thankful that our God is a God of new beginnings. One of the reasons my sermon is wandering is because I am finding more and more passages that support my main points, and each passage is exciting and worthy of exploration.

• “New beginnings” is a nice little phrase that really means “things are going to change.” While I would not have characterized my younger life this way, as I grow older, resisting change seems more natural than embracing it. And that’s a nice little phrase that really means I really want things to stay the same. Change comes too fast and I am more easily overwhelmed by it. Yet it is the new things that bring freshness to our lives. If we allow them, it is also these new things that bring fun, adventure and a sense of achievement to our lives.

• There are both specific times when we are “made new” (2 Corinthians 5:17) and there is the continual renewing in Christ (Romans 12:2). Both are wonderful. Both give us a hope and ensure our future.

• If we don’t embrace that newness, we miss much of what Christ has for us. I don’t want to miss the wonderful plans God has for me. That means I need to actively resist the urge to resist new things.

I guess one way to conclude my musings is with the old adage “The only constant is change.” In doing so, I researched the quote.

• It is originally attributed to Heraclitus of Ephesus, a Greek philosopher living about 500 BC. Obviously, change isn’t a new thing!
• Heraclitus was quoted by and expanded upon by the American science fiction writer Isaac Asimov:

The only constant is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.
— Isaac Asimov (American professor of biochemisty, science fiction writer, 1920-1992)

Asimov was not a believer, but his quote has special meaning for those of us who are – because we know what the world is now (we live in it), but we know so much more about what the world will be. And that’s the secret to enjoying the change that is about to happen.

Friends, if we are to enjoy and to thrive, if we are to have joy in our walk with Christ, we must embrace the word “new”…and that requires embracing the word “change.” If you’re a person who resists change or doesn’t like change…it’s time to change. Meditate on the firm foundation we have in Christ and the unchanging nature of the God we serve to give you the courage to embrace the new you He wants to develop in 2011.

If you would like to join one of our Living Life on Purpose groups – meeting together monthly with other believers to help one another embrace all God hash for us – be sure to e-mail me this week – Sandy@ApprehendingGrace.com

In the meantime, readers…
I pray God’s richest blessings for you and your family in 2011. May you know Him in a way you never have before. May you experience an intimacy with Him that you have never experienced. May you align your life with His perfect plan in a way it has never been aligned before. May Christ’s love shine in and through you each day.

“When satan brought his ‘A’ game, what did Jesus do? He quoted Scripture.”
Pastor Dan Caudill

When my pastor made this statement in his sermon last week, he had my attention. He was  preaching from one of my favorite passages:

¹⁴But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, ¹⁵and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
– 2 Timothy 3:14-17

Usually I jump right into verse 16, but there are some interesting things to note in verses 14 and 15:

• Paul is writing to Timothy – a leader in the church. Continuing in God’s Word is important, no matter how long we’ve been a Christian or how spiritually mature we may be.
• Studying Scripture makes us “wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” – I take this to mean that as we continue in God’s Word, we learn more and more about “such a great salvation” (Hebrews 2:3).

Then we get to the good part. All Scripture is “God-breathed.” How cool is that? When we read God’s Word, we know that what we’re reading has been infused with God’s Spirit – His wisdom, love and character. No wonder it so often speaks to our hearts and our needs.

But if we don’t read it…

• We miss His special message to us
• We don’t learn more and more about our great salvation
• We can’t expect to be prepared for the attacks satan will send our way

If Jesus’ defense against satan’s “A” game was Scripture (Matthew 4:1-10), can there be a better one? The problem is, if we’re not regularly reading (and memorizing) Scripture, there’s no way we can bring our “A” game when satan comes with his. And while topical studies are good, there is no substitute for reading Scripture as it was written – as complete books or letters. Reading an entire book or letter helps us learn the whole thought the writer was trying to communicate, not just a portion that relates to the topic we’re interested in. (Sometimes what we most need to hear are the topics we’re not interested in studying.)

The exciting thing is that anyone can read the entire New Testament through in a year by only reading one chapter a day five days each week. The longest chapter is eighty verses – most are less than half that. Fifteen minutes each day will put you in a position to hear God’s special messages for you throughout the year, learn more about our great salvation and be better prepared for satan’s attacks. I can’t think of a better deal!

Our Resting at the River’s Edge goes a bit further. We’re in the second year of a reading plan that has us reading through the Old Testament in two years and the New Testament each year. We’ll begin 2011 by re-reading three foundational books of the Old Testament – Genesis, Exodus and Deuteronomy. After that, our Old Testament reading will be new territory – we’ll cover the books we didn’t read last year. Our New Testament reading will begin in the gospel of Matthew. What follows will unfold in months to come.

So let me encourage you, readers, to read along with us. If you can’t find time to do both the Old Testament and New Testament, simply follow along in the New Testament. My blogs often come from my daily reading. As God whispers in my ear, I often share it with you. So as you read along with us many of my blogs will reinforce what you’ve been reading. Of course the best benefit, is that as you read, you’ll experience the fantastic benefit of hearing from God.

The recommended reading schedule for January is below.

To download a PDF of January’s recommended reading plan, click here.