He Keeps in Perfect Peace...
I am, by nature, a worrier. My brothers called me their second mother because I was often more concerned with the safety of their bless-ed little, dare devil boy lives than our own mother. If there is a problem, my natural inclination is to jump to the worst possible conclusion...in a single, breathless bound. Fun gift, right? So here's my real life experience. It is summed up best by Isaiah 26:3 which I paraphrase this way, "He keeps in perfect peace all who trust in him, whose thoughts are on him". I run my natural inclination toward fear through the filter of God and his word. The result? The world is crazy and I will do whatever I can to help BUT I'm not even worried. No anxiety here. No fear here. Only perfect, supernatural peace. Not duck my head in the sand and ignore the crisis peace, but real, tangible, informed, actionable peace. And it is available to everyone.
No I'm not even worried about the Seahawks trading Harvin ;), Ebola, ISIS, or Persecution. It's time to calmly solve some problems. Let's do this.
Friday, October 17, 2014
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
The NEWS and what to do with it...
Just read a few news articles. They left me feeling disturbed...
Never has it been more obvious that this world is broken, that common sense is nearly dead, that evil is running rampant and that people of God inspired principles are targets.
If you are a Christian and your prayer life is weak it's time to rev it up. Your brothers and sisters need you and, frankly, you're going to need it too in the coming days. If you are a Christian but rarely read the Bible it's time to mak...e it priority number 1. You need to know what IT says more than you need to know what someone else says it says...
You and I need to be inspired by David and Daniel stories because we need more Davids and Daniels. We need people who do what's right whether it's popular or not. We need people who will speak truth in the public square rather than remain silent because they're scared or they've bought the lie that it's not the way to win people or the lie that their voice doesn't belong there. We need brave truth tellers, truth demonstrators, truth illuminators. Sometimes I feel like we're standing here holding this great orb of light. It's stunning and life giving but we're covering it because we're listening to these little voices..."They won't want it", "That's not how you share it", "They won't like it", "They'll hate me"...meanwhile...the people are perishing! They are entangled in their sin, becoming more lost to it everyday and we're just standing here tongue tied, scared, defeated...LIED to!
But here's the truth. We hold life. We hold truth. And we're meant to share it!
And then there are those who are intentionally trying to take us out, trying to smother any hint of God. And yes, it often looks like they have the upper hand, like they are winning BUT, again, if you read your David and Daniel stories you will see their situation was the same. It looked impossible. It seemed extremely unlikely that they would win or make any positive influence BUT GOD.
"The king is not saved by a mighty army; A warrior is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a false hope for victory; Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His loving kindness, To deliver their soul from death And to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield." Psalm 33:16-20
My prayer today is this, that his Holy Spirit would be the wind at your back, causing you to soar and making you brave. I pray that he would illuminate your way, that he would speak his truth to your heart and to your mind, and that he would inspire you with his ideas and his solutions. So make sure you get in a position to hear from him today. Read his word. Pray. Worship. Let him fill you...and then see what he will do with you!
Just read a few news articles. They left me feeling disturbed...
Never has it been more obvious that this world is broken, that common sense is nearly dead, that evil is running rampant and that people of God inspired principles are targets.
If you are a Christian and your prayer life is weak it's time to rev it up. Your brothers and sisters need you and, frankly, you're going to need it too in the coming days. If you are a Christian but rarely read the Bible it's time to mak...e it priority number 1. You need to know what IT says more than you need to know what someone else says it says...
You and I need to be inspired by David and Daniel stories because we need more Davids and Daniels. We need people who do what's right whether it's popular or not. We need people who will speak truth in the public square rather than remain silent because they're scared or they've bought the lie that it's not the way to win people or the lie that their voice doesn't belong there. We need brave truth tellers, truth demonstrators, truth illuminators. Sometimes I feel like we're standing here holding this great orb of light. It's stunning and life giving but we're covering it because we're listening to these little voices..."They won't want it", "That's not how you share it", "They won't like it", "They'll hate me"...meanwhile...the people are perishing! They are entangled in their sin, becoming more lost to it everyday and we're just standing here tongue tied, scared, defeated...LIED to!
But here's the truth. We hold life. We hold truth. And we're meant to share it!
And then there are those who are intentionally trying to take us out, trying to smother any hint of God. And yes, it often looks like they have the upper hand, like they are winning BUT, again, if you read your David and Daniel stories you will see their situation was the same. It looked impossible. It seemed extremely unlikely that they would win or make any positive influence BUT GOD.
"The king is not saved by a mighty army; A warrior is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a false hope for victory; Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His loving kindness, To deliver their soul from death And to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield." Psalm 33:16-20
My prayer today is this, that his Holy Spirit would be the wind at your back, causing you to soar and making you brave. I pray that he would illuminate your way, that he would speak his truth to your heart and to your mind, and that he would inspire you with his ideas and his solutions. So make sure you get in a position to hear from him today. Read his word. Pray. Worship. Let him fill you...and then see what he will do with you!
Sunday, February 9, 2014
More of What Matters, Please.
I want to be less like an American Christian and more
like just about any other country's definition of a Christian. Here's what I
mean. I spent the week with pastors and missionaries from the US and around the
world. I heard stories of people so desperate to hear about Jesus that they
walk hours one way to sit on the ground in tiny, overheated, completely
inadequate structures just to hear the message. People who risk punishment and financial ruin, who defy
their family members and their government, all to know and live for Jesus. I
heard about Bible students who are so eager to carry the gospel to others that
they travel 9 hours by bike each weekend to minister, and then travel 9 hours
back to school when they are done (Cambodia). I heard that one of our Assembly
of God pastors from northern Nigeria was beaten and burned to death this last
week for his faith.
(Just let that sink in for a moment...)
Lord, forgive me for every time I've ever complained about anything in the church that has nothing to do with you and the good news of your
gospel. Forgive me for my petty complaints about the sound or
the songs, the decor or the length of the service. Forgive us for complaining about the lack of people there
who are just like us or that little lyric or bit of the sermon that we just
didn't like. Forgive us for being offended by anything and everything. Forgive
me. Forgive us. Because not a bit of it matters.
So this probably isn't a good week for me to be
within earshot of anyone saying that there should be more
or fewer guitars/drums/keys in our time of worship. I don't want to hear that our leaders should
be younger/older/more perfectly middle aged or, heaven help me, that they should dress in any particular style. Or whatever. Because I might just throw up. Because not
a bit of it matters!
And if it does matter to me or to you then we have a heart problem that we need to ask Jesus to help us with. And he will. He'll remind us of what actually matters to him. And we'll be broken again for those who haven't had the chance to hear his name once. Not even once! And we'll be motivated to pray and to give and to go. We'll know just what we need to do, to say and to pray because he'll tell us what actually matters to him.
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