One Quick Thing

Allow me this personal privilege to boast in the Lord. He showed up yesterday at Community Wesleyan through His servant, Natasha. She obediently looked into Hebrews 1-2 to speak on Hebrews 2:6-8 and the Lord was powerful! I'm grateful for His truth that challenged me and so many others. I'm proud of a a wife who listens to and obeys the Lord instead of pulling out an old sermon or settling on a more popular topic. It's a word of praise that I'm grateful to give. I'm not going to enable comments on this one because none of you was there (except the Jew). If your spirit is stirred in this, then send up a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord.

It All Happened So Quickly

Have you ever experienced something spiritually after which you marvelled at how quickly everything happened? For me I can remember one of the most recent times I had to ask God specifically for His forgiveness. I had not planned on sinning, but I didn't follow a leading the Holy Spirit gave me. As a result, I ended up crying out to the Lord because I realized how far I still have to go in spiritual obedience. Though I approached the Lord with a feeling of dread, I was shocked at how quickly He turned that dread to joy, reminding me over and over again that He loves me! I think that's what it was like for Hezekiah in 2 Chr 29:36. "And Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced because of what God had done for the people, for everything had been accomplished so quickly."

It seems to me that many spiritual victories are won over time. This is certainly emphasized in the church circles in which I run. Many people don't see quick victory, so the principle has become, "Spiritual victories happen over time." This is unfortunate. Spiritual victories can happen over time. BUT we can also find ourselves like the Israelites, marveling at how quickly everything is taking place. When you pray for a vision of God, His might, His activity, His love, His forgiveness, His grace, His mercy, His movement, His whatever, pray in faith believing that He's going to do it and let Him take the time He wants. EVEN IF THAT IS VERY QUICKLY! Open your spirit to Him and let Him control what happens.

Today I pray Psalm 24:7-10 over my spirit (and yours), "Open up, ancient gates! Open up, ancient doors, and let the King of glory enter. Who is the King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty; the Lord, invincible in battle. Open up, ancient gates! Open up, ancient doors, and let the King of glory enter. Who is the King of glory? The Lord of Heaven's Armies - He is the King of glory."

Salvation Full and Free

I've thought about salvation a lot since I've been a Christian. (Add Bible college and seminary class to the mix and I end up with more salvation thoughts than I probably need.) I'm glad to say, "I'm saved!" After all, it's because of Jesus's life, death, and resurrection that I can sit in this apartment, typing in freedom. I am assured that I will live eternally with the Lord because Jesus's bloodshed purified me, while His resurrection brought me new life! Halleljuah!

Yet, I've often pondered passages like Romans 13 (there are many) that talk about the "day of salvation." In other words, there is a future day that will come wherein we will have salvation full and free. If this is the way it's handled, can I say I'm saved? I think so. I think salvation is one of the many spiritual realities that is fulfilled already but is not yet fulfilled. (How's that for paradoxical - just like the Lord, isn't it?) I mean that the work for salvation is already done, and those who believe on the One the Father sent are participating in the work of salvation (cf. John 6:29). The fulfillment of salvation "full and free" will come on the great and terrible day of the Lord, the day of the Son of Man, the day of salvation. On that day Christ will come in final victory, and we'll be free of present struggles that seek to threaten our faith. Freedom will have new meaning when we are in heaven with glorified bodies, praying perfectly, worshiping perfectly, and living perfectly. I can't wait!!

Oh, yeah - Romans 13 also gives us some good advice. Until the day of salvation, clothe yourselves with the presence of Christ. Can God's goodness get any better? We can clothe ourselves in Christ!! (Laura, I strongly suggest that this be added to our Blessed Clothing line.)

Simple

It's simple today. I just want to praise the Lord. There were so many themes of praise in today's reading, and there are many reasons to praise Him in my personal life! He's enduringly good, so let's praise Him today. (If you read this, post at least one - you're encouraging everyone else who reads it in so doing.....)

- We stand in God's favor when we seek Him above all other things. My journey lately has been to seek Him above anything else. I'm certainly finding Him! For example, I had 22.5 hours at work this week. Just last night I sold almost $8000 worth of product. On average, that's a $300 work day! I drove home realizing that it wasn't me. That was standing in the Lord's favor after I prayed about the low hours. (Please note that God's favor CANNOT be measured by financial gain. This is about His not needing work hours to provide for our needs.)

- He speaks peace to everyone! Zechariah 9 even says that He speaks peace to the heathen; how much more peace can we experience when we dwell in His presence? I experience that peace when I reflect in His presence, looking out my back picture window with an outstanding view.

- He paves the way for His own work. I've not had to seek one opportunity yet to be a witness at work. He always puts me in the right place at the right time. He's also brought other ministry opportunities seemingly "ex nihilo."

Feeling Better

Romans 11 tells the Gentile believers not to think too highly of the fact that God had mercy on them. After all, God still loves the Jews and will bring His faithful people around. It was easy for me to read that this morning and think, "How could anyone feel better about themselves because of God's mercy? If we had His mercy, then we were living a bad enough life for that mercy to mean something."

Then I remembered a man at work who's into spirituality. He thinks we would have differences of opinion regarding organzied religion (maybe...) but metnioned his keen interest in spiritual things. I don't consciously remember feeling better than him, but there is a degree to which we Christians comfort ourselves in conversations like that with thoughts like, "Yes, but we have the truth." That is true, but we're not better than someone who misunderstands. Both of us need God's mercy, and both have it. One is taking advantage of that mercy; the other isn't yet. Christians, watch out for this prideful tendency to think how much better we are than those who still need God's mercy. If we watch ourselves, we will have compassion and an ability to do Christ's real work. Without watching ourselves, we end up doing things like forming picket lines with signs detailing our opinion of what and whom God hates.

Prayer

I'll just do a quick one today. My reflection in the Lord lately is very humbling and encouraging. It's humbling because I'm realizing more all the time the futility of my efforts at salvation. I'm not sitting around "trying" to be saved. I am saved. By "efforts at salvation" I'm referring to those things that all Christians tend to do as part of "normal" Christian living, like Bible reading, praying, remaining disciplined, sharing about God, worshiping, etc. These are all GREAT things and SHOULD be practiced regularly. However, they are futile for me right now because none of these things actually forms my salvation or even expresses it.

No, my salvation is formed by the One who made it possible - Jesus. Because He died and rose again, death is conquered, sin has no power, and I am not a slave! Even the expressions of salvation come from Him. My changed life - His. My heart of worship - His. My strength of resolve - His. My everything - His.

What I could use right now are the effective prayers of righteous people. I know I'm fine with the Lord, but I can so easily take that for granted. It turns out that the reservations I had with the church at which I interviewed are mostly reservations with myself. Though Natasha and I don't agree about the end point of the journey with this particular church, we do agree that the Lord has some MAJOR work to do in my heart if I'm ever going to be at a point of leading people into God's throne room. I'm humbled, but sometimes when I'm humble I'm not able to see how I'm going to get back up. So, pray.

Searching the Whole Earth

There's been a lot of coverage on the Holy Spirit in the Scripture readings lately. Yesterday I was reminded in Romans 8 that the Holy Spirit prays for us. Imagine that - the One whose breath gives us life prays for us. The One who can pray perfectly, whether or not His groanings can be heard or uttered by humans, is praying for us. That's empowering! As if that weren't enough, the Lord reminded me today that His Spirit searches the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are completely His (2 Chr 16:9)! The first person to whom that message was told was seeking after God and military strength. Thus, that word was meant to encourage him to place his trust fully in the Lord. It seems to me, though, that we do similar things. We place our trust in the Lord, remain faithful to Him with all the faith we can muster, and also seek our "best" interests on the side. The obvious problem with this is that our trust in the Lord isn't wholehearted if we're not trusting Him with our best interests. It encourages us that the Lord who made us is looking for faithful hearts to strengthen. He doesn't ask for our worship and leave us to figure it out alone; He strengthens us! He doesn't ask for our ministry only to sit and watch whether we can do it; He strengthens us! Yet again, the law of sowing and reaping comes into play in the common expression "Draw near to the Lord, and He will draw near to you."

Foretaste of the Future

Those of us filled with the Spirit of Christ (a.k.a. Holy Spirit) have something very unique that we don't often ponder. Romans 8 is clear that the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us is a foretaste of the future glory we'll have in eternal life with Christ. In other words, each moment we spend with the Holy Spirit points to that great time we'll have in God's forever!

This encourages me mostly because I can see the hand of the Holy Spirit on and around me a lot lately. For example, yesterday morning in prayer I was so caught up in communicating with the Spirit that I didn't realize I spent my whole morning (before work) already. I just kept praying and listening, feeling the calm sense of His joy. For another example, Natasha and I were eating dinner the other night when the Holy Spirit guided our conversation to affirm some reservations I had about a particular ministry opportunity. He opened our eyes to see exactly what we'd face if we moved in that direction. His presence is all around us, guiding our thoughts, our hearts, our spirits, our everything. And this is only one small glimpse! What are some examples you can give us?

Dear Mrs. Rev. Benson

Please scroll down and read my other post; it's much more "me" today.

I'm taking a break in my blogging practices to respond to Mrs. Rev. Benson. She asked why Natasha and I make the food choices we do. I'll answer that in a second. Check this out periodically for some of our ideas.

Kristi, our lifestyle changed over a year ago before we began understanding what was wrong with Natasha's health. She had gone into the hospital with more pain than ever and strange rashes. She had already tried eliminating some wheat and dairy, but it seemed as though not much was helping. The doctors had no answers, but they gave her Tylenol 3. BIG mistake. She had an allergic reaction before I went to work one morning that resulted in her passing out, turning gray, and remaining unconscious for over 1 minute!

Once that was under control, we started looking into many more options. We came across a naturopath who helped us understand the origin of several of Natasha's pains. It turns out that many of us are putting garbage into our systems that ultimately result in problems. The "garbage" isn't necessarily junk food (though that's a large culprit). It's actually a combination of many chemicals and food combinations that aren't good. Add to that the human body's need for enzymes - a naturally produced digestive chemical in the body. Humans have a storehouse of enzymes, which many of us in North America use up over time. Enzymes are found naturally in vegetables and raw meat. Who eats raw meat - aside from sushi? How many of us eat vegetables (NOT potatoes, corn, etc., which are all STARCHES!!!) - especially the dark, leafy green ones? So, here we are - people who like to eat lots of chemicals (MSG), junk food, weird food combinations (proteins and starches, for example - very bad - down with steak and potatoes!!!), and heavy doses of starches (pasta, bread, potatoes, corn, etc.) without supplementing our bodies with enzymes to break it all down.

That sounded nerdy, and it was. The result of what I just wrote about, though, is body malfunction. For some people it means acid reflux (which Natasha used to have). It can be as extreme as something like fibromyalgia (which she also had). It's also common for people to have irritable bowel syndrome, excessive gassiness, and nausea symptoms (these are much more common).

The point? The naturopath listened to Natasha spill about her body for over two hours. Then he empowered us. It turns out that he and his wife had prayed for a solution to his wife's fibromyalgia and stumbled across dietary issues. He was a doctor, and doctors (at least in Canada) are strongly encouraged NOT to follow naturopathy because it hurts the pharmaceutical companies (who are giving chemicals with side-effects that they'll have to prescribe other medicine to cure, all to the result of a crazy pharmaceutical cycle). He did not continue practicing as a licensed doctor so that he could actually help people. He does reflexology and hydrocolonics, but we have benefitted as a family from his advice in dietary lifestyle. It's not a cure, but getting one's eating lifestyle back on track is important for all of us.

At first, we were hardcore. We did NO wheat (or anything glutenous), NO sugar, NO dairy, and NO red meat. As Natasha's body came around we began introducing grains, raw honey, 100% pure maple syrup, yogurt (and similar mild dairy), and the like. We still eat red meat sparsely; it's difficult to digest. We also avoid regular wheat products. We don't eat much sugar (not counting what we ate at Rev. Benson's and Mrs. Rev. Benson's ordination shindig). We choose things that have few ingredients. If we can't identify several things in an ingredient list, we know it didn't grow that way, so we avoid it.

We came to the point over time in which we realized that the Lord was answering a prayer we had prayed for years. We wanted Natasha's health under control, but He wasn't giving a huge sign from the sky. Instead, He empowered us with a lifestyle that had shown remarkable improvement in Natasha's health, and I couldn't believe how much better I felt! Instead of a flash healing, He empowered us with a gradual solution that we'll keep over time. Without what we know now, a miraculous healing would have been undone with poor habits in another 20 years, right?

So, now you know (if you read this whole thing). It seems impossible, but we love to eat and love cooking. Start with chicken, fish, fruit, and vegetables, and see where that takes you. If you want to know more, you know where we are.

One of My Favorites

One of my favorite passages of Scripture is the powerful experience recorded in 2 Chr 5:13-14. After months (even years) of preparation, the Temple was ready. The priests were assembled, and the musicians went wild in their praise before God. What was God's response? HE DESCENDED INTO THE TEMPLE IN A CLOUD OF HIS PRESENCE!! That's right; He literally mad eHimself manifest before all the worshipers gathered in Jerusalem that day. The site that had previously been one of turmoil (when David fell in contrition before the angel of the Lord on Araunah's threshing floor) was now one of great joy, ecstasy, humility, awe, wonder, fear, and any other emotion you might be able to think of. Praise Him!

I sat in my chair this morning praying, "God, could that be true in me? Could you sweep into this temple in such manifest presence?" After all, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, so why not? I've been in preparation for days, weeks, months, and years to be the temple I am right now. I plan on continuing that preparation until God makes me a glorified temple for Himself in Heaven. Still, I long for the Lord's presence to descend on me - not just part of me, but all of me. Not just in me, but on me, around me, beneath me, above me, beside me, taking me over. I want my present filling of the Holy Spirit to grow and increase, shrouding me in a cloud of the Father's presence, reforming me into the type of a Holy Spirit baptism that submerges me into depths unknown in the Lord. I pray believing that is happening now, believing that the feeling I have is an indicator of things I may not able to write about coherently. Bless the Lord!! (And pray for me.)

Overcoming

The "secret" - if there is one - to overcoming sinful desires and thoughts has very little to do with controlling oneself through self-discipline. I'm fully aware of what that sounds like, but our biblical instruction points to something much better than self-discipline. It points to full salvation. I'm using the word full because I agree with Bud Bence, who remarks that Christians tend to make salvation too small. We tend to look at it as a one-time deal, something that happened back when we prayed somewhere, something we have to live up to. In reality, salvation is a daily reality that makes us dead to sin and alive to God. "Sin is no longer [our] master" (Rom 6:14) because God is. That's why we don't need to make a series of rules and regulations about not sinning, as if we were still subject to human rules and regulations. (I'm sure we've all experienced the futility of overcoming sin with human rules and regulations.) The "secret" is actually to "use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God" (Rom 6:13). Our bodies are weak, but our God is willing and able to handle the sin that used to control us. We submit ourselves to Him, seeking intimacy with Him, and He shows us "the way of life, granting [us] the joy of [His] presence and the pleasures of living with [Him] forever" (Psalm 16:11)!

Helpless

We are completely helpless. We can come up with our absolute best plans for a good life, success, influence, money, and many other things. Even those of us with the best plans are still helpless. We strive for things like success and money, but neither of those things last. We strive for things like influence, but we constantly wonder if that will come and, if so, how long that will last. We strive for a good life, but many of us lay in bed at night wondering when the other shoe is going to drop.

It doesn't have to be this way. It seems like it does simply because it always has been this way, for most of us. We all have our shortcomings, our sputters, our "infirmities," or even our "sins." No one has ever been able to beat it since Adam, the first human.

Insert Romans 5, one of the most relieving passages of Scripture ever! The passage reminds us that we don't have to overcome our shortcomings, et al. We don't have to strive for a good life. That's already been done for us. Jesus Christ bridged the gap between God's infinite goodness and humanity's pointless strivings. Though Adam brought death onto humanity, Christ conquered death and offers that opportunity to us, too! Instead of striving for a good life made up of many fleeting things (like money, etc.), we can live forever with our Creator, the one who loves us enough to send His Son (Jesus) to people who are too helpless to love Him back if we tried.

Today His praise is on my lips for helping the helpless! Along with David in 1 Chr 29, "My You be praised forever and ever! Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is Yours, O Lord, and this is Your kingdom. We adore You as the one who is over all things. Wealth and honor come from You alone, for You rule over everything. Power and might are in Your hand, and at Your discretion people are made great and given strength. O our God, we thank You and praise Your glorious name!" (To read all of David's - and my - prayer, see 1 Chr 29:10-19.)

Without Reason

Paul continues the story of Abraham in Romans 4, giving expression to the great measure of faith found in the Jewish forefather. I've written about Abraham and faith on a few occasions on this blog, too. He was just an outstanding example, as any of us can tell. It's his faith without reason that prompts this particular post.

I am a "thinker" raised by a dominant "thinker" dad. I've had a lot of exposure to other "thinkers" who have discipled me in the Christian faith. It comes as no surprise to anyone, then, that I value a thoughtful faith. As David Higle once put it, "You can't separate your spirit from your mind."

This isn't the whole picture, though. Along with human spirits and minds come our emotions, wills, and bodies. While this Aristotelian separation helps us understand the many facets of our relationship to the Lord, this approach has led to extremes in our understanding of the Lord. For example, we thinkers tend to emphasize reason, always thinking through the astounding logic of God. Unfortunately, we are afraid and/or oppose any part of God that cannot be explained and that does not fit into our nice thoughtful God-packages.

Paul writes in Rom 4:18 that Abraham's faith did not waver even when there was no reason for it. In that, his faith glorified God. While I agree with Rev. Higle on the futility of separating faith and reason, I can only echo his sentiments in terms of emotion, will, and body. Our faith cannot (and should not) be separated from our emotions. It cannot (and should not) be separated from our wills. It cannot (and should not) be separated from our bodies. A faith that can truly be called Christian is characterized by a love for the Lord that comes from our minds, wills, emotions, spirits, and bodies simultaneously. Each aspect may connect better with various aspects of God; as God cannot be truly described without the mesh of all His aspects, so our faith and worship cannot truly be faith and worship without the mesh of our entire being.

In other words, unreasonable faith is okay.

What Is It?

What is it about people? I'm a people person - love people. Even still, what is it about people that tests my patience (or your patience, or whoever's patience)? Life in a community has so many positive things to offer, but our inability to approach one another on common ground quickly becomes frustrating at times. This morning I've considered people who encourage my pursuit of God. Then I started thinking about some other people with whom I have unresolved issues (like my car insurance provider). How quickly I went from peacefully rejoicing in the Lord to a sense of near annoyance!

You know, the problem isn't people; the problem is me. I make remarks or take actions that are best from my perspective. Another person in their perspective wants another set of actions. Instead of adopting the mind of Christ to serve, love, and seek reconciliary understanding, I assume I'm in the right and plug ahead, annoyed. My annoyance, whether justified or not, is pointing out my own selfishness this morning. May this be a day in which I see a fresh side of the Lord to humble my selfish attitude!

Through Faith

It is through faith that a righteous person has life (Rom 1:17). This statement comes right after the famous verse, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation...." Faith in that Gospel, faith in that power of salvation, faith in the One behind what we believe. That is what brings life.

Look around our churches and Christian groups for a moment. How many of these groups are full of life? How many of the groups are full of people with life? The church in which I have membership has many people with life. It also has many people who seem to have life on the outside. The pastor tries his best to keep a positive mental attitude and to encourage the congregation to do the same. One churhc in which he grew up (or the first one he pastored - can't remember) was "dead." He must have vowed never to have that, so he expends a lot of energy trying to bring life to the church. He does this through music, through big programs, through outreach, through uniquely designed services, and through his broad mission statement. At the end of the day, only those with faith in the church are really alive. The pastor's life doesn't come through any positive attitude, an outgoing personality, or another program. (He and his staff are likely working very hard at deepening their faith and the faith of those who come through their doors!)

Are you and I giving into a temptation to find life in a positive "Christian" attitude? What about exciting "Christian" programs/works? Or, at the end of the day, are our minds free from the questions that make us wonder if all that attitude and works amount to anything?

Those Who Search

Psalm 9 indicates that the Lord won't abandon those people who search for Him. This is an exciting promise! Many of us understand the spiritual condition in which we find ourselves during that search. The more we search for the Lord, the more we realize our need for Him. The closer to Him that we draw, the more visible our shortcomings become. (His light shines on us, and darkness cannot hide from the light.) Sometimes we even hit that point in our search when we start to wonder if it's worth it; we have too much baggage, after all! It's much more comfortable to say, "I'm a Christian," and live with that statement. Living with that statement keeps us in the "big picture" spiritually, but we don't have to face some spiritual roots that need pulled out of our lives. Facing those roots generally exposes the fear of abandonment. Not to worry - as the verse says, God will not abandon those who search for Him. Instead, when we seek Him we'll find Him. And what better place to have our dark roots exposed than in a place with the only One who can do something about it?

Read it

This is an interesting post, most particularly the last statement.

Paradox

Sometimes I think if there's a word to sum up God, that word would be "paradox." I know that even "paradox" isn't adequate, but there are so many paradoces in God's nature that make Him more beautiful than we otherwise would have imagined.

Psalm 8 exposes some of those paradoces. For example, verse one lauds His majestic name, ascribing glory to Him that fills the earth and reaches beyond the highest heavens. Though God is so lofty and high, He also teaches young children and infants about Himself (verse two). It is the testimony of the young ones who silence God's vicious enemies! The paradox: The ever-high and glorious God whom I cannot describe adequately teaches young children and infants the simplicity of who He is.


God made everything we see in creation, but the psalmist highlights the celestial objects in verse three. The Lord created the moon and a universe full of stars. The handiwork of His fingers is responsible for the overwhelming peace there is in sitting in a field and staring up at the midnight-blue sky full of constellations, nebulae, galaxy bands, the moon, meteors, and the rest. God also created humans and spends a lot of time thinking about and caring for mortal people, whose creations cannot replicate God's work. Humans are much lower than the magnificent God, but He crowns us with honor (verse five) and put us in charge of everything else in all creation (verses six through eight). The paradox: God, who created and rules over everything, humbly loves humanity and gives us authority and responsibility over a creation we couldn't hold together on our own if we tried.

What are some paradoces you've encountered in your walk with God?

Finding a Wife

I have avoided allowing this blog to be "mine" for several weeks now. There hasn't been much personal expression aside from my responses to the Lord. This morning, though, we'll get a little of both.

Proverbs 18:22 was part of today's reading. It says, "The man who finds a wife finds a treasure, and he receives favor from the Lord." Guess what I thought of right away? Yes, my wife. Natasha is certainly a treasure, and she may be very embarrassed that I'm writing this. Too bad; she didn't mind any other spiritual reflection, so she can bear with this one.

If anything expresses the favor I've found with the Lord, it's the wife with whom He blessed me. Natasha is a treasure, and I tell her that. You could start with the fact that her eyes sparkle like light sapphires or that her hair looks and feels like silk. That would be selling her short, though. The way her smile can warm up an entire room and her voice can bring calm into a tense situation only scratches the part of her surface that I can write about here.

1) I've never met anyone like Natasha who so earnestly longs to love the lord and please Him. She constantly brings herself before Him in prayer, always ready to grow or move if God says so. He refines her like precious silver.

2) I've never met anyone like Natasha who genuinely loves so many people. She even loves those uncomfortable people that no one knows how to treat! God has given her a heart of gold.

3) Elsewhere in Proverbs the author states that a good wife is her husband's crown. In other words, a good wife is what makes a husband most proud. I am always very proud to take Natasha out, whether it's on a date, to the church, or just to be out. I feel like a better person when she's around.

4) Natasha cultivates peace around her. I'm a person who could stay out without going home for hours if I'm on my own. (In fact, when Natasha travels I enjoy finding things to do so I'm not home alone.) However, since I've been married I look forward to coming home and sitting down with my wife. God has clothed her with a garment of peace.

5) Natasha has been given more beauty than I can understand. In the middle of this posting she came in to make sure her dress was modest. She looks beautiful in the dress, but she's also concerned about how she's presenting herself as a daughter of the King. She realizes that true beauty comes from within and chooses, therefore, not to misuse clothing to grab people's attention or to create a false sense of beauty. Instead, she prays for a modest presence that is clothed with fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

6) She sings all the time. Usually she sings her praise to the Lord in a way that I know the Holy Spirit is sitting with us in the living room. (Actually, the Holy Spirit is her best friend - they do tea.)

7) Natasha wears a crown of wisdom. She's human, so she doesn't think perfectly. However, I am positive that I can count on one hand the times she has made a mistake or has been flat out incorrect. It's because she processes everything in wisdom and prayer. She brings me back down to earth but remains excited when she knows something good is about to happen.

8) The Lord and Natasha have a fabulous relationship. I alluded to it above, but I'm serious. She loves Him so much, and He constantly pursues her with His love, grace, mercy, presence, peace, wisdom, power, goodness, faithfulness, teaching, blessings, corrections, etc., etc., etc. I've even asked before how it is that I could be yoked to her. The Lord always answers, "Because I'm gracious and pursue you both." That's good stuff!

9) Natasha is pure. (That's strong, but it's true. I'm not going to make it cloudy by trying to expound on something so obvious.)

10) Natasha is refreshing. Spending an hour with her will leave almost anyone feeling as though they have value and worth they didn't understand. Her innocence and wisdom team up to communicate God's truth and her inner beauty every day. She makes people feel comfortable most of the time. Her insights empower others to sing a lifesong to empower others. She's just plain fun, too. Her great sense of humor in this mix is just as refreshing as her depth. Incredible!

Imagine, all this from Proverbs 18:22! It's amazing to reflect on the favor I've found in the Lord through my fabulous wife. There's more to say, as I'm finding every day. I'm still learning about her and will likely be able to build on this in the future. (Proverbs 31 will come at some point, so maybe the Lord will prompt me for something like this again.) A quick note to my cherished beloved: Natasha, remember that this post is a reflection on Proverbs 18:22. I assume, then, that you're not going to try and turn this around to try and make this about me. I love you!

Trust

Trust is an intriguing issue, particularly when it comes to trusting God. Many of us hear about trust daily. The people I work with, for example, don't trust one another and make no bones about that. They stand around in their free time, talking about who stole (is stealing or will steal) whose sale. Those of us who share secrets think long and hard about who needs to know. There are some friends with whom we don't share secrets until the secret is about to be made public. (Often, the secret is made public, in part, through that friend.) Then there's the old Trust Fall. In a Trust Fall one person stands on something at least three feet in the air, facing away from a small group of people. The group divides in two, and the two smaller groups stand facing each other, arms extended toward one another. The person facing away from the group says, "Ready?" The group responds, "Ready." The person announces, "Falling!" The group says, "Fall away!" The person keeps their body in a "standing" position and falls backward from the pedestal, trusting that the group will catch them.

Can we really apply any of these scenarios to God though? I suppose that we could trust God to be a team player if we were in sales with Him, and we can certainly trust Him with a secret. He catches us when we fall into the unknown. Is this it, though? Reading 1 Chr 5:20 in its context causes me to question that. The verse says that the tribes of Reuben and Gad, along with the half-tribe of Manasseh, cried out to God during their battle against the people living east of the Jordan River. It says God heard their prayer because they trusted in Him. What was the nature of their trust? It must have been more than the kind of trust we're trying to build at work. After all, fighting a battle is much more serious than achieving a sales goal. A battle is much more important than a secret, too. (Although some secrets have been the initiation of some battles.) Moving blindly into battle could be akin to the Trust Fall, but the person falling is only falling three feet, and there's an entire group of people waiting to catch the friend. God is unseen (usually) and has been known not to be pliable to human will.

What, then, is trust? This morning my mind immediately recalled the heart of the psalmist in Psalm 31, whose trust is obvious and whose words were partially repeated by Jesus in His Passion:

"In You, O Lord, I have taken refuge; ...In Your righteousness deliver me.... Be to me a rock of strength, a stronghold to save me.... For Your name's sake You will lead me and guide me.... Into Your hand I commit my spirit."

This is one among many passages like it that really schools us about trust. Often, we think trust is identified by following God blindly into a new ministry position or taking on a project with shaky funding and staffing. We think trust is going out and getting groceries, wondering how a bill would be paid. (You can insert your own trust assumptions here with mine, if you want.) What Psalm 31 teaches us about the trust exhibited by the warriors above is threefold:

1) Trusting God is about who God is. He is our refuge. He is our deliverer. He is our rock of strength. The righteous run into Him as a stronghold. His name is powerful. His arm fights our battles for us. His mighty chariots are the ones that rout our enemies' armies. He alone has authority and power to save anyone.

2) Trusting God is not about us. Note that the psalmist wrote, "For your namesake." Other places in the Psalms (and throughout the Old Testament) one can read phrases like "because of Your lovingkindness" or "because You are merciful." When we pray in trust, we pray along with Daniel in Dan 9:18: "O my God, lean down and listen to me. Open Your eyes and see our despair.... We make this plea, not because we deserve help, but because of your mercy."

3) Trusting God is eternal. For the warring Israelites, it is easy to see the life-and-death consequences of trust. Even for them, though, their trust involved more than a hope for survival. They understood that their battle wasn't against flesh and blood alone, knowing that the victory won that had eternal implications between God and His enemies. They knew that some of them would die, but they trusted that those deaths would lead to the victory of the group and life in Paradise with the Lord. The psalmist wrote, "Into Your hand I commit my spirit." In other words, "Into Your hand I entrust my eternal well being." Trusting
God isn't about picking the right project, moving to the right place, paying bills, winning arguments, or maintaining a good reputation alone. Trusting God is ultimately about believing that we can relinquish control of our present and eternal destinies because God has our best interests in mind. Like Psalm 31:1 says, God will not shame us. We can trust Him!!

Measure of Righteousness

I was reminded of something very beautiful last night that is still on my mind this morning. God doesn't measure our righteousness the same way we humans do. We humans tend to look at righteousness as something expressed through zealous "Christian" deeds. (See Scot McKnight's recent writing for an interesting look at zealots.) We think that a righteous pastor can build a church from 50 to 500. We think that a righteous student is the one who abstains from drugs, sex, and alcohol. We think someone is righteous if they'll talk about Jesus to people with whom we wouldn't even talk. We think someone is righteous if they take mission trips and all the rest. Maybe these people are righteous, but we're not looking at righteousness as God does.

Remember Abraham. Hebrews 11 looks back at Abraham's life, saying that God credited Abraham's faith to him as righteousness. God didn't look at the pagan gods that surrounded Abraham. He didn't look at the fact that he lied to the Egyptians twice about Sarah being his wife. He didn't look at the fact that Abraham tried to rush God's promise of a son by having sex with Hagar. No, God looked at Abraham's faith. Abraham missed the proverbial mark a few times, but at the end of the day it was his faith that God saw. Because Abraham had a pure, real faith, God called him righteous.

What brought all this on? My brother. He tried to track me down a few days ago, so I called him last night. We spent over two hours on the phone talking about some unique things he's experiencing right now. 1) He's discontent with his education degree and thinks he will never use it. He says there's something more. 2) He's been thinking weekly of enrolling in seminary. 3) He is having some troubling dreams that leave him afraid and angry. To me it sounds as though God is drawing my brother to himself, that he is experiencing the still small voice of the Holy Spirit (on one side) and dealing with the spirit of fear (on the other side). We talked about this for awhile when he asked, "How? I'm in a spiritually crippled position. You know what I like to do." Suddenly my mind rushed to Abraham, someone whose righteousness has intrigued me in the past few weeks. I told my brother about what I thought and said that God looks for the same thing in us: faith.

When we have faith, we'll be drawn to a true encounter with the Lord. We'll see Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all at once. In that encounter our faith will increase, and all the while God is crediting our faith as righteousness. Righteous living is going to flow out of faith, not the other way around. Righteous living without real faith is hypocrisy. At best, it's zealotry (going "big guns" in the name of the Lord under our own pretenses of who He is and what He wants, but without really involving Him at all). Whether big or small, bright or dim, my brother has a grain of faith in Christ that the Lord is stirring right now. He was right when he said he's at a crossroads right now. The Lord is looking him in the eye, even though He can't be seen. My brother has the option of diving into the "unknown God" headfirst or sticking with the shallow waters of the known "gods." After our conversation, a very long prayer time, and sharing of some visions, I'm pulling for the first. What about us? Many of us are being stirred uniquely right now. Are we being stirred? Is our measure of righteousness driven by our faith, or are we building up righteous deeds that are hollow and empty of faith? Is our judgment of others based on faith or outward zeal?

One last thing for those who are thinking, "That's great that he has faith, but what about the junk in his life?" 1) You don't know him. 2) Even if you did, you'd realize that judging him for his junk isn't what the Lord is doing. 3) Like I said above, the Lord will start with faith and draw us to Him from there. Once we encounter Him, the Lord will make us who He wants us to be. (Now pray that I remember that the next time I don't understand why he's choosing to do something.)

Safely Laying

I found peace this morning in the verse, "I lay down and slept, yet I woke up in safety, for the Lord was watching over me" (Psalm 3:3). These words resonate in me this morning because it perfectly depicts the security I have in the Lord.

To my knowledge, I'm not under physical attack. Still, life often involves some strenuous circumstances. Laying down at night often becomes that quiet time when we reflect about who we are, what we've done, where we're going, and so on. I can remember a time when laying my head down at night wasn't always comforting. I'd replay the argument I just had with my parents. I'd consider whether or not I should break up with the girl who just asked me to move in with her (back in high school). Even worse, sometimes I'd revisit the things I said or the glory I took right before hearing an unbeliever say, "I thought he was a Christian."

I'm past many of these harrowing nights now, but now I can be tempted with thoughts like, "I wonder how I can pay the car insurance this month - before next month's payment is due;" or, "Instead of accepting money from my family to go see them, why don't they use their own money to come see me?" or, "I'd like to give a piece of my mind." Sometimes we think, "Okay, so the Lord wants me over there. What can I do to get myself there?" Other times it's, "You know, I think could really use this verse from 1 Cor 13. They seem to be struggling with unconditional love." This could go on forever.

At the end of the day, it's much more comforting to be able to lay down in peace because God is watching over us. We know that He's gone before us in our life circumstances, so we can fix our eyes on Him and believe we'll get through. He's understood financial constraints, family angst, even physical attack! Remember today that the Lord is watching over us. Allow your heart to soar because you laid down last night, woke up safely this morning, and have read a post reminding you that He is the cause of it all!

Question

Psalm 2:12 says that God's anger flares up in an instant. It is common in many Scriptures to read that God is slow to become angry. Things are rarely "either/or" in God's character, so I'm not about to assume that David was wrong about God's character in either expression of God's anger. I'll be interested to know, though, what people think about these two descriptions of God. I believe they both depict God completely. Still, how can a person make sense of a God whose anger is slow yet can flare up in an instant? (Note: If you choose to respond, do so freely. I do reserve the right to comment back, as a blogger always will.)

What Are You Waiting For?

Paul gave testimony to his conversion and calling in Acts 22. His response to Christ was one of awe and wonder. Ananias, who helped Paul regain his sight (in more ways than one), asked Paul a great question in verse 16. The NLT records him asking, "What are you waiting for?" There was no reason for Paul to wait to be baptized and move into God's plan. King Josiah's reign, recorded in 2 Kings 22 - 23, are another great example of someone for whom there was no reason to wait to launch into God's plan.

Perhaps the greatest reason we often wait to move into God's plan is a nagging feeling of, "Are you sure this is right?" Many of us hear God's plan and begin immediately to rationalize it or assume that the plan isn't a "right now" thing. For example, some people with whom I used to work would tell me they knew they needed ministry training, but they wanted to take a year off first. Some would say, "You know, I was in an emotionally charged meeting, and I think my commitment was emotional." Others would say, "That's a good idea, but I need something to fall back on in case ministry falls through." Even in "real life," we tend to say things like, "My job won't allow for that," or, "I really look forward to that spiritual experience whenever that happens (later)."

The problem here is that we can justify this very easily. We all know someone who should've thought logically about a "spiritual" experience (that wasn't spiritual at all). We also know people who sense something God is doing and try to force His hand. We need to recognize this for what it is, though - justification. Like I wrote earlier, we can justify things very easily. It doesn't matter whether a person is brand-new in the faith or whether one has known Christ for decades; God's grace allows us to recognize His voice. His voice is the one that is still and small, yet commanding and powerful. It is the voice that thunders in His perfect peace. It is the voice of One whose jealous love leads to joyful correction and humbling encouragement. It is the voice for which we long and which we fear. It is the voice of the One who directs our path, even when we've made plans. It is the voice of the One who draws us ever closer to Him so we can know Him better and live as people whose hearts are truly His. Have you heard this voice?

If so, what are you waiting for?

Two Songs from My Lifesong

This morning my response to the Lord can be elaborated in the lyrics of two songs written by a pastor I know. May you be blessed as I have by lyrics that speak our great pursuit of the One who perfectly and relentlessly pursues us!

"I Lay It All Down"
I lay it all down, I give you my heart.
I'm learning to die is where my life starts.
I lay down my rights and take up my cross,
Knowing I gain so much more than I've lost.
So I'll be a sacrifice, my life an offering,
I'll die so I will truly live.
I'll drink Your cup, oh Christ,
My soul filled with your life,
And pour Your love upon this world.

"We Want You"
We want you, Lord;
We need you, Lord;
To come and meet us,
To come and feed us.
To feast upon Your presence in this place,
To drink Your Holy Spirit with dry souls,
To be renewed, Lord,
To be with You, Lord.

Finding Him Alone

Lately my posts have been reflections on the Scripture readings the Lord provided for this year. That may continue on any given day, but I'm not going to go that direction this morning. Sure, there's still a lot to say about the Lord's acts among His people. I guess this morning's post has a little bit more to do about His acts in me.

My journey with the Lord began awhile ago and has always been fairly serious. Like I heard in part of a sermon Scott played for me yesterday, the Lord has been removing layers from my personal understanding of Him over time. It seems in the past six months to a year that He has removed more layers (or bigger layers). He is in the middle of removing a big one right now. The layer He's removing right now is undefinable at this point. I only know that He's guiding me to find Him alone.

What's funny is that this isn't the first time I've been led to seek only Him. That's a recurring theme in my spiritual journey. Still, I'm learning more about that all the time. The pictures Scott showed me yesterday have impacted me, but I can't describe how. I'm not sure exactly what's going on, but I can almost feel the Holy Spirit removing something from me. Even in prayer this morning, I wasn't as free to intercede because the Holy Spirit kept saying, "Seek the Lord!"

So, here I am again, walking into the unknown. Like I said last week about the "Unknown God," that's a really good thing. If you are a kindred spirit, please pray with me that I will find the Lord (and only the Lord) in this transition time when the Lord continues to make me more like Him.