12.02.10
2 Timothy 1:7
"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self discipline."
Do these words ring true in the year 2010 or was this just for the first century church?
Have you ever felt the need to stop, slow down or yield when you should have just kept going? We all have. I can remember when I was about 24 years old and doing student ministry. I took a group of students up to West Virginia to do some camping and some rafting on the New River. It was an awesome trip and the students and I had a blast, well I did that was, until we got to the rock jump. The raft guide took us to a rock that was about 30 feet high off the water and one by one the students climbed to the top and jumped without a thought. When it was my turn I was the last one on the rock and I did the worst thing you can do when thinking of jumping of a high rock into water, or anytime your up high for that matter, I looked down. I began to see the water below as the end of me. I tensed up and had no idea what to do, I didn't want to jump, but I certainly didn't want to have to climb back down in front of everyone. I finally resolved myself to the idea that I was going to have to jump and trust that I would be okay. I closed my eyes and jumped, and to give you some perspective this truly was like jumping off the third story of a building. When I came up out of the water I remember thinking that wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be and I wished I hadn't hesitated. Then we all ran back to the top of the rock and jumped for another hour or so. Once I realized that I just needed to not hesitate and just do it I realized I was in for the ride of a lifetime.
That is the kind of spirit that God wants us to have in our relationship with Jesus. That is how God wants us to be about sharing our faith with folks who do not know Him. The students I was with didn't think about the height of the jump or hitting the water they just jumped and enjoyed the ride. I hesitated and doubted and almost missed out on the ride of my life. God promises us life to the full if we trust in Him with faith like a child. God wants us to know that if we just jump and trust we will experience the ride of a lifetime.
We're told in the book of Acts that when the apostles of the first century church were out sharing the Gospel they were arrested and angel of the Lord freed them from their prison. The angel than commanded them to go and keep sharing Christ. When they did they were brought before the Sanhedrin even the Pharisees recognized that these men that preached in Jesus' name could not be matched as long as they were going in His name.
Acts 5:38-39
"...Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God."
These are the words of a Pharisee who knew that God was more powerful than anything they could possibly do to those men.
In Romans Paul tells us that if God is for us nothing and now one can stand against us. This should be all the encouragement we need to live with no fear, no timidity and a spirit of utter trust and faith that God is FOR US!!!!
Thought question:
What will it take for us to trust that Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today and forever is for us and no one and nothing can stand against us? What will it take for you to just jump off the rock and not hesitate?
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Lost in the mall....
4.22.10
"At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength..."
Have you ever felt like you were just all by yourself even among dozens of people. Do you think that is even possible?
When I was about eight years old or so, I went to the mall with my mom and held her hand tighter than I have ever held her hand. When I was little I hated to be lost, it was probably my biggest fear. I never wanted to be separated from people I knew, and the mall to an eight year old can be the biggest place on earth. That day I was going to do my best to stay near to my mom.
We had been in the mall for a while and I began to realize that my mom was right near me, so I let go of my death grip on her hand and began to hover around her. Like any eight year old my eyes began to wander all over the store but I still could sense the presence of my mom within a few feet. A few minutes later I looked up to ask my mom a question and realized the person that I had been keeping close to was not in fact my mom. It was someone I didn't recognize and to say that I was freaking out would be an understatement. If you had heard the screams and tears you would have thought I had just been shot from close distance.
For about twenty minutes I screamed and cried for my mother who came running up to me with a mall security guard. She asked me quickly "Why did you wander away from me?" I had no answer but I remember thinking I didn't wander away from you, you left me. As I look back I realize now that I had wandered away from her and she had not left me. I experienced my biggest fear, not because my mom left me, but because I had not paid her any attention and wandered away from her.
Our relationships with God are a lot like a child getting separated from their parents. We get distracted and see things that catch our attention and wander away from God. Our biggest fear is being separated from God, but we allow ourselves to get lost. Naturally our reaction to this is that God has left us and is ignoring us.
This is usually when we begin to blame God and point the finger. I wonder how many times we take a minute and realize that when we are not hearing God's voice or feeling Him at work in our lives is because of the distractions in our own lives. How many times do we think that if we just focused our eyes on God like a child clutching their parents hands in the mall that we would realize that He never leaves us, He never forsakes us?
In my own walk with the Lord I realize that the times when I can not see God or feel God moving in my heart is because I am not spending time with Him. I am distracted and focusing on things that are leading me away from Him. Oswald Chambers says that we should "allow nothing to keep you from looking with strong determination into the face of God regarding yourself and your doctrine." Always seek to spend time with a God who desires a real and unique relationship with each one of His creations. God's heart for us is that we will seek His love and know that He has plans for us to prosper and never fail. Don't let distractions take you away from the perfect love, a love that wants desperately to speak into your heart specifically and uniquely.
Thought question:
Do you ever find yourself not hearing God and than blaming Him when you feel distant from him? What distractions keep you from hearing God's voice?
2 Timothy 4:16-17
"At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength..."
Have you ever felt like you were just all by yourself even among dozens of people. Do you think that is even possible?
When I was about eight years old or so, I went to the mall with my mom and held her hand tighter than I have ever held her hand. When I was little I hated to be lost, it was probably my biggest fear. I never wanted to be separated from people I knew, and the mall to an eight year old can be the biggest place on earth. That day I was going to do my best to stay near to my mom.
We had been in the mall for a while and I began to realize that my mom was right near me, so I let go of my death grip on her hand and began to hover around her. Like any eight year old my eyes began to wander all over the store but I still could sense the presence of my mom within a few feet. A few minutes later I looked up to ask my mom a question and realized the person that I had been keeping close to was not in fact my mom. It was someone I didn't recognize and to say that I was freaking out would be an understatement. If you had heard the screams and tears you would have thought I had just been shot from close distance.
For about twenty minutes I screamed and cried for my mother who came running up to me with a mall security guard. She asked me quickly "Why did you wander away from me?" I had no answer but I remember thinking I didn't wander away from you, you left me. As I look back I realize now that I had wandered away from her and she had not left me. I experienced my biggest fear, not because my mom left me, but because I had not paid her any attention and wandered away from her.
Our relationships with God are a lot like a child getting separated from their parents. We get distracted and see things that catch our attention and wander away from God. Our biggest fear is being separated from God, but we allow ourselves to get lost. Naturally our reaction to this is that God has left us and is ignoring us.
This is usually when we begin to blame God and point the finger. I wonder how many times we take a minute and realize that when we are not hearing God's voice or feeling Him at work in our lives is because of the distractions in our own lives. How many times do we think that if we just focused our eyes on God like a child clutching their parents hands in the mall that we would realize that He never leaves us, He never forsakes us?
In my own walk with the Lord I realize that the times when I can not see God or feel God moving in my heart is because I am not spending time with Him. I am distracted and focusing on things that are leading me away from Him. Oswald Chambers says that we should "allow nothing to keep you from looking with strong determination into the face of God regarding yourself and your doctrine." Always seek to spend time with a God who desires a real and unique relationship with each one of His creations. God's heart for us is that we will seek His love and know that He has plans for us to prosper and never fail. Don't let distractions take you away from the perfect love, a love that wants desperately to speak into your heart specifically and uniquely.
Thought question:
Do you ever find yourself not hearing God and than blaming Him when you feel distant from him? What distractions keep you from hearing God's voice?
Thursday, April 8, 2010
The Edge
4.08.10
Mark 6:56
"They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed."
I was watching tv the other day and was completely enthralled with a show called "Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader". This show matches adult contestants against elementary age students and ask them elementary aged questions. The goal is to see if they can remember the simplest of math or history or geography. It seems pretty easy right, but some of the questions were stuff that I couldn't remember to save my life. As soon as the host said the right answer I thought to myself "how did I not know that?". We forget sometimes that if we haven't been around something for a while we can forget even the most elementary of concepts.
Sometimes in life we forget the simplest of things. We are so busy with life and so focused on the "what we have to do's" that we forget about some of the most basic concepts of life. I am thankful to serve a God that reminds of the simplest of things.
In the Mark text above the folks that were coming to Jesus weren't looking for Jesus to hang out with them for hours on end or even for Jesus to give them anything. They simply wanted to touch just "the edge" of his cloak, the smallest bit of him that they could get their hands on. They begged and pleaded with Jesus just for a stitch of the fabric on his clothing, and the beauty of the text is that it goes onto say that those who did touch him were healed. Their trust that there was something special about this man Jesus healed them and it all started because they touched just the edge of his cloak. They left work and their "to do's" just to get in the presensce of the one they knew could heal them. Everything else around them seemed to disappear when they heard that Jesus was around.
When it comes to our own faith do we get too wrapped up in the do's and dont's of Christianity and forget to just reach out and touch the edge of the cloak of the healer? Are we trying too desperately to have the right things to say or be looked upon with such a title or with such prestige that we forget that we should just reach out for the edge of his cloak and let him heal us. Do we even remember what it means to be healed? Have we gotten so caught up in the pursuits of a certain lifestyle that we have forgotten what it means to be in the arms of a healer? In other words are we getting in the way of ourselves dropping everything and trusting that if we just reach out for the edge of His cloak we will be healed?
Don't forget the simplest part of the faith is that we have a healer, a Father who loves us so much that He wants for us to just reach out and grasp the edge of his cloak. Sometimes we have to drop the "stuff" that gets in between you and the edge of His cloak.
Thought question: When was the last time you just reached out for the edge of the cloak of the healer and forgot about everything else? When did you put everything else of the faith aside and just gotten in the presensce of the ONE who says "I love you more than you can ever begin to know."?
Mark 6:56
"They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed."
I was watching tv the other day and was completely enthralled with a show called "Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader". This show matches adult contestants against elementary age students and ask them elementary aged questions. The goal is to see if they can remember the simplest of math or history or geography. It seems pretty easy right, but some of the questions were stuff that I couldn't remember to save my life. As soon as the host said the right answer I thought to myself "how did I not know that?". We forget sometimes that if we haven't been around something for a while we can forget even the most elementary of concepts.
Sometimes in life we forget the simplest of things. We are so busy with life and so focused on the "what we have to do's" that we forget about some of the most basic concepts of life. I am thankful to serve a God that reminds of the simplest of things.
In the Mark text above the folks that were coming to Jesus weren't looking for Jesus to hang out with them for hours on end or even for Jesus to give them anything. They simply wanted to touch just "the edge" of his cloak, the smallest bit of him that they could get their hands on. They begged and pleaded with Jesus just for a stitch of the fabric on his clothing, and the beauty of the text is that it goes onto say that those who did touch him were healed. Their trust that there was something special about this man Jesus healed them and it all started because they touched just the edge of his cloak. They left work and their "to do's" just to get in the presensce of the one they knew could heal them. Everything else around them seemed to disappear when they heard that Jesus was around.
When it comes to our own faith do we get too wrapped up in the do's and dont's of Christianity and forget to just reach out and touch the edge of the cloak of the healer? Are we trying too desperately to have the right things to say or be looked upon with such a title or with such prestige that we forget that we should just reach out for the edge of his cloak and let him heal us. Do we even remember what it means to be healed? Have we gotten so caught up in the pursuits of a certain lifestyle that we have forgotten what it means to be in the arms of a healer? In other words are we getting in the way of ourselves dropping everything and trusting that if we just reach out for the edge of His cloak we will be healed?
Don't forget the simplest part of the faith is that we have a healer, a Father who loves us so much that He wants for us to just reach out and grasp the edge of his cloak. Sometimes we have to drop the "stuff" that gets in between you and the edge of His cloak.
Thought question: When was the last time you just reached out for the edge of the cloak of the healer and forgot about everything else? When did you put everything else of the faith aside and just gotten in the presensce of the ONE who says "I love you more than you can ever begin to know."?
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