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A Memo From God to Christians Old and New

May2

To: My Followers

From: God

Subject: Life

There will be no doing this yourself. 

Living a life with Me as your Lord – it’s not possible in your own strength.

I don’t say this because I have a superiority complex (I’m actually quite justified in feeling superior, but that’s another memo). I say this to enlighten you as to how your own heart works. I created you to need Me to live correctly.

Books, classes, sermons, good intentions, redoubled efforts, positive thinking, having a certain amount of faith, praying often enough… none of these will end your struggle to live right. They may aid you in moving in the right direction, but, ultimately, they will not enable you to conquer the affection for wrongdoing you have in your heart.

I am being quite literal when I say only I can make you live right. Me in you is the only way you will ever succeed at anything I’d ever approve of.

I’m not talking about Me enabling you to live well. I am saying anything good you do is not you at all; it’s Me. I just happen to be choosing to move and work through you. You may have the desire to do what is good, but you cannot carry it out (Romans 7:18, Galatians 5:17).

You need me, not just to be with you, but to take over you. Successful living – as I define it – cannot be accomplished any other way.

In the best sense of the word, I want to control you (Romans 8:6). And as contrary to human reason as it may seem, it is in your best interest to let Me control you (Romans 8:28-30).

All you need to do is be willing to let Me work through you. Once you consent – and you have to choose to consent countless times each day – My Spirit, within you but independent of you, does all the rest.

I know this is a mystery. But you don’t have to fully understand how it all works to obey.

Come to Me. Trust in My unfailing love for you. Let Me show you the only way you can live a life worthy of the calling you have received – by letting Me live through you (Ephesians 4:1).

MythBusters: Faithful Failures

Mar2

There is a rumor going around in the hearts and minds of a lot of us that God can’t and won’t use us to positively change the world until we are better.

“Better” is different for all of us. Your “better” is directly related to your areas of weakness.

So, for the person with low self-esteem, she believes she has to be more self-confident before God will choose to use her to communicate His truth to others. She feels her negative self-image limits God’s ability to draw others to His Spirit through anything she might say or do.

The person without the graduate degree thinks she has to become smarter and more qualified before God will be able to change lives through her. This person feels her lack of knowledge limits God’s ability to use her to illuminate the Bible for others.

The person who perpetually struggles in the same old ways, year in and year out, thinks she has to defeat sin herself, once and for all, before the Lord will be able to do work through her. She feels her sinful tendencies limit God’s capabilities to spread the truth through her.

God help the person who feels she has to be “better” in all three of these ways at once. Whomever she might be…

Last week God exploded this “I have to be better before God will use me” myth. He brought 2 Corinthians 12:9 to life for me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

It’d been a long week of mentally beating myself up for some choices I regretted, compounded by an unhealthy dose of Satan’s baiting me to believe his infamous mantra, “Trust your feelings.”

Feelings. Hmph.

To be honest, what I was feeling was confused and angry and bitter and depressed and unable to pull it all together. And I was slated to teach Bible study Thursday morning. Perfect.

(If you’re new here, please take the time to read sarcasm into my posts so they can be understood appropriately.)

I halfway knew how I was going to approach Thursday’s lesson on Hebrews 1-10. I was prepared enough, and I anticipated a decent morning in the scriptures, but nothing excessively fantastic given my state of mind.

I guess God took that as a subconscious dare because He descended on our group like a God with a purpose. He took control of the situation, tailoring the lesson to include a brief detour to examine the temptation of Jesus, living by faith, persevering, and the importance of scripture in all three of these areas.

In a weird sort of way, He used me to minister to me (and others), despite my being in such a crappy place emotionally and spiritually all week.

Myth busted.

I still don’t understand why or how, but it turns out God is not limited by our weaknesses. Not only can He use us when we’re at our worst, He does! We don’t have to be “better” to be counted worthy of His anointing. We just have to be available.

Lord, we fall so short of Your goal for us – to be made in Christ’s image (Romans 8:29). But You allow us the privilege and the blessing of Your working in us to share the love and truth of Christ with the world when we are open. Help us live wide open today.

 

 

 

Boundaries in Church

Feb18

image via CloudTownsend.com

Years ago a book called Boundaries was released. I haven’t read it, but I hear it helps you decide when relationships are harmful and how to enact healthy limits to prevent permanent damage to your soul. There have been a bunch of spin-offs – Boundaries in Dating, Boundaries in Marriage, Boundaries with Kids, etc.

To my knowledge, Boundaries in Church has yet to be written. But I’ve been considering the concept quite a bit lately.

I attend a large church in a Memphis suburb. Like most churches, our staff is over-worked and under-paid, and they rarely say no to meeting a need inside or outside of the church. In order to address all those needs, the staff constantly appeals to the church members for help (as they should).

I’ve heard it said that 20% of the people do 80% of the work, and I’m feeling it.

Week after week, I receive email after email with opportunities to serve inside and outside of my church. And every time I read a request, my first thought is, “How can I fit this in? How can I rearrange things to make room for more service?”

Similarly, I learn of financial needs within my small group, within my church family, within my community, and abroad on the mission field constantly. And my first thought is, “Where can we find $10 a month to contribute to this cause?”

A lot of times I’ll say yes to that service need or commit to that financial need because I want to help and because I take seriously the Bible’s commands for believers to serve others and take care of those in need.

In other words, I feel a responsibility as a follower of Christ to say yes all. the. time. Don’t get me wrong, I want to serve and help. But I am getting tired. I am getting tapped. I am starting to respond to emails requesting help with, “UGH! Why can’t others step up?” instead of, “Yes, I’d be happy to sacrifice my time and money to help the Gospel go forth once again.”

And that’s where Satan and my flesh both step in and battle each other for control of my soul.

Satan wants me to feel guilty for even considering not serving or giving this one time. “You can always find $10 more and one more hour to donate to a worthy cause…. but you don’t want to… you don’t really love Jesus… you’re a fraud.”

My flesh swells with pride and says, “You already serve in so many ways! You LIVE at that church. You already give X amount of money to the church and missionaries and other charities. That 80% of the church members that don’t do or give jack need to quit being so selfish and step up! YOU do plenty. Sit back, feel proud, and refuse to do anymore!”

I don’t believe God would have me embrace feeling guilty or excessively prideful. He wants a different response from me.

But what?

As I think about priorities, I’ve been taught they should look something like this:

  1. Personal relationship with God (spending significant quality time with Him in prayer and individual study of the Scriptures daily)
  2. Family (spending significant quality time with them and making sure all their spiritual, emotional, and physical needs are sufficiently and exceptionally met daily)
  3. Occupation (accomplishing #2 requires money, and obtaining money typically requires working)
  4. Serving outside the home (inside the church, in the community, or abroad)

Jesus says the greatest commandment is to love God and love others. #1 and #2 accomplish that, and #3 and #4 can also be focused on that if we so desire.

The Bible also commands Christians to use their gifts to build up the church (Romans 12:4-8), serve others (Matthew 20:26-28), take care of those who can’t take care of themselves (Matthew 25:40), and share the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ with others (Matthew 28:19-20).

Certainly, these things can be exponentially better accomplished if our #1 priority is attended to. If we have kids, the biblical commands to serve others, take care of those who can’t take care of themselves, and share the Gospel can ALL be accomplished within our immediate families as well (#2). Once our family members each enter into a personal relationship with Jesus, we’ll have to move outside of our families to fulfill the mandate to evangelize, but we don’t have to look too far: neighbors, our kids’ friends, their parents, etc.

Depending on your job, some or all of the biblical mandates can be lived out in our #3 priority.

And so our 4th priority is left as a kind of a catch-all. Whatever biblical commands we didn’t satisfy in priorities #1, #2, and #3, we can fulfill in #4. But if we’re not doing #1-3 well, maybe #4 shouldn’t be on our radar.

Maybe we shouldn’t use our time and money to serve outside of our family if we aren’t taking sufficient, no, exceptional care of our family with the time and money we have.

(Note: I am not talking about tithing in this conversation. I believe a 10% tithe is a non-negotiable no matter what state your family is in. When I talk about giving money in this article, I am only referring to giving above and beyond our tithe. (Leviticus 27:30))

All this to say, when an opportunity to serve or give comes our way, we should disregard Satan’s attempt to make us feel guilty and our flesh’s attempt to make us feel prideful and look at our priorities. Before we commit to service of our time and money, we should ask ourselves if we’re spending enough alone time with God, if our family is getting the best physical care we can give them (fast food is toxic, ahem), the best emotional support and spiritual training we can offer (this takes TIME), if our family has enough money to take care of itself (if not, consider using your extra time to get a J.O.B. before volunteering for something else).  If we can answer yes to all these things, and we still have time and money left, by all means, serve and give.

But if serving and giving means these other things suffer, even if these other things suffer because you are emotionally and physically exhausted from all the serving and the giving you’ve been doing, STOP IT! Cut back. Give yourself grace. Know that God understands. Know that God loves how much you desire to pay more attention to your relationship with Him and to take better care of your family He’s given you as a gift and responsibility.

Give yourself permission to set some limits. And give the 80% a chance to up their game ;)

When to Confront Someone

Dec14

Last week I had an issue with a friend. I felt wronged and disrespected. I felt unloved and unvalued. And, for some reason, I felt like that person ought to know how I felt.

Why do we do that? Why do we feel we have to tell someone when they hurt our feelings? What’s really behind that line of thinking?

Maybe it stems from our sense of justice. If that person remains ignorant to the fact they hurt us, they will never feel guilty. And they should feel guilty. After all, THEY HURT US. It is only justice they should feel bad for doing so.

Or maybe we feel we have to tell them they hurt us out of pride – we won’t stand for it! We don’t deserve to be treated poorly, and they need to know they aren’t going to get away with it. We may not exact revenge, but we will cut off that relationship or alter it in some way to make it impossible for them to hurt us that same way again.

In either case, there is one thing behind this compulsion to give offenders pieces of our minds: selfishness. Me, me, me – it’s all about me and my feelings.

Is it biblical to confront people for these self-centered reasons? to take justice into our own hands or to defend our own honor?

Let’s see…

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. (Romans 12:17-19)

So, how do we live at peace and leave revenge/justice/our defense up to God when someone has hurt us? We feel angry and bitter, there is no denying it. What do we do with those emotions so we can live in agreement with this Romans passage?

I asked a wise friend this question, and he gave me an incredible answer. Don’t confront someone unless your heart is for them.

In other words, if it isn’t in their best interest to be confronted, keep your feelings to yourself. Until your heart is more concerned with their benefit than with your “need” to express your feelings, keep your mouth shut and your heart in prayer.

Needless to say, this piece of advice isn’t natural. But it’s biblical.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:3-4)

I sat on this idea for a couple of days, questioning if my heart really was for my friend who had inadvertently hurt me. To be honest, I wasn’t thinking about him at all in the beginning. I was thinking about me and what would make me feel better. The more I thought about it, though, I don’t think going off on my friend really would have made me feel much better. It would have angered my friend, hurt my friend, and I doubt it would have tempered my anger and bitterness much at all.

My friend had already hurt me – there was no undoing that. But I had a choice in how to respond. I could hurt him back, or I could help him see how he hurt me so he wouldn’t make the mistake of hurting anyone else again. I could root for him in my soul to become better than how he had acted toward me. I could believe that he hadn’t intended to hurt me, and I could believe, through Christ, my friend had the ability to grow. I could long for him to grow and make that the reason for my confronting him.

I believe this is one way to apply Paul’s instruction to live in peace with one another and consider others better than ourselves.

I’m happy to report approaching my friend with this mindset – what’s best for him in this situation – worked out pretty well.

Although the rule of thumb is counter-intuitive to us self-centered humans, I think we’d do well to live by it. Don’t confront anyone until your heart is for them.

 

How to Commit Idolatry

Aug31

One thing I love about the Bible is that it’s about me.

And we all know how much I love me.

I’m my favorite subject.

I was reading Jeremiah 2 and 3 yesterday and saw myself in nearly every verse. That’s really bad news if you know anything about Jeremiah 2. But it’s really good news if you know anything about Jeremiah 3.

I’m coming out of a season of pure rebellion against the Lord. No, I didn’t shave my head, renounce Jesus, and join a hippie commune. But, in my heart, I told the Lord He could keep His way of doing things to Himself; I wanted to do things my way.

That’s basically what God is accusing Israel of in Jeremiah 2. Their rebellion might look worse than mine because they were outwardly worshiping idols. But, don’t be fooled. I was inwardly worshiping myself by continually choosing my way over God’s way.

The Lord says to Israel, “What fault did your fathers find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves,” (Jeremiah 2:5).

Do you hear the sadness in the Father’s voice? The disappointment. The hurt. My soul stung as I read this verse, confirming the truth of the statement that following worthless idols makes us worthless. I’ve experienced that in my rebellion. God didn’t love me any less or value me any less, but I was of no value to the Kingdom, unable to do my part in furthering the Kingdom while my heart was turned away from the Lord.

God goes on to charge Israel: ”My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water,” (Jeremiah 2:13).

The first sin is forsaking God, abandoning Him. We, too, put God on the shelf when circumstances don’t seem favorable. When obeying God – submitting to what He asks us to do – doesn’t feel like it’s in our best interest, we tell Him, “No,” forsaking Him.

That’s bad enough.

But that’s not all.

We are made to worship, and if we refuse to worship God, we instinctively search out something or someone else to worship. We dig our own cisterns, looking for alternate water. In other words, we go find idols who suit our fancies, the second sin.

  1. Abandon God
  2. Find God Substitute

Yes, I have done this. Recently. The Bible is about me.

God appeals to Israel – to all of us. “Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the LORD your God and have no awe of me,” (Jeremiah 2:19).

There comes a point when the rebellious realize their cisterns are broken, their idols don’t satisfy. Indeed, they can’t satisfy. Not fully. Reprecussions from our idolatrous choices begin to show themselves. Our relationship with God is strained. Our relationships with others are breaking. Our days become dark, joyless, evil, and bitter.  And, slowly, we begin to understand it’s because we have no awe of the Lord anymore. We haven’t respected Him or trusted Him. We’ve lost our healthy fear of Him and are no longer motivated by love for Him. We’ve done this.

I’ve done this.

As I read the words, “…you forsake the LORD your God and have no awe of me,” my soul cried out, “Lord! May it never be!” And He whispered, “Kelly… it already was.”

My soul ached. He was right. Just a couple months ago. It already was. I had no awe of the Lord.

Even in the midst of the rebellion, God had tried to warn me of the path I was on. But, like the Israelites, I said, “‘I am not defiled; I have not run after [idols],” even though I knew I had (Jeremiah 2:23). I thought if I didn’t admit my sin was sin, it wouldn’t actually be sin. I could still pretend it was acceptable.

But, finally, Israel and I could no longer deny our sin.  We both exclaimed, “It’s no use! I love foreign gods, and I must go after them,” (Jeremiah 2:25). We made excuses. True, the pull of sin can be strong. We can feel unable to resist temptations.

But we are not powerless! We have the very power that raised Christ from the dead IN US (Romans 8:11). The power of God can help us resist the “foreign gods” we love, but we have to want to resist.

The Bible is about me. And it’s about you, too. Where are you in this story? Are you acting like Israel right now? Stop and feel the weight of your rebellion. Be broken by it.

And then take heart, Jeremiah 3 is coming.

 

 

Talk is Cheap

Aug10

My 5 year old, Lexi, had her first soccer practice ever last night. She was supremely cute in her bright pink everything, including cleats.

Her coach seems like a great guy, but he, admittedly, knows little about soccer. He asked for help, so I volunteered to assist him.

During one of the drills last night, Lexi stepped up for her turn. Before I passed her the ball, she called out with great excitement, “Mommy, I’m not going to do anything wrong!”

Hmm.

I passed her the ball, and she successfully completed the two-part skill. As her ball rolled into the goal, she smiled widely at me and hollered, “Mommy, I didn’t do anything wrong!”

As I praised her, my parent radar went off.

Why is she so worried about doing something wrong? Where is this perfectionist tendency coming from? Have I caused this? Am I too hard on her? Am I always correcting her? Do I not encourage her enough? Or is this just the result of her being a first-born?

Lexi’s goal was not to enjoy soccer or have fun at practice (although, she did). She was solely focused on not doing anything wrong. Perhaps I will uncover why that is when I am able to see her response when she does do something wrong.

Is she scared of punishment? Is she trying to impress me or others? Does she believe she is only valuable if she performs well? Will she be frustrated with herself if she messes up? Will she take goof ups in stride with a smile on her face?

It’s hard to know what’s behind her thoughts, but, as her mom, I want to do everything within my power to assure her that my love for her does not depend upon her performance. She can be the worst soccer player in the history of the sport, and I will still love her with relentless affection.

While it’s important I tell her that is the case, it’s more important I show her. Talk is cheap, as they say.

I need to be purposefully embracing her, complimenting her and lifting her up when she fails at things. I need to give her proof I really do mean it when I tell her I love her no matter what and her value doesn’t depend upon her performance.

God tells us the same things. He loves us unconditionally. He loves us because we are us, not for what we can do or achieve.

But talk is cheap.

And He knows that. So He proved it.

Before we could accomplish anything, He sacrificed His life for us. He laid down His life for us to prove His love for us (John 15:13).

Romans says it well, “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us,” (Romans 5:7-8).

But aside from our salvation, I think God is still proving His love for us. Or at least He wants to if we give Him the opportunity.

When we fail I believe God wants us to come to Him so, like a good parent, He can embrace us, compliment us and lift us up. He wants to continue to give us proof He really does mean it when He tells us He loves us no matter what and our value doesn’t depend upon our performances.

But do we allow Him that opportunity?

When the air around us is thick with the stench of fresh failure, how often do we go to the Lord for that comfort we crave?

Personally, I prefer a bowl of ice cream. Or a television show. Or sleep. Anything to distract me and make me feel instantly better.

But my soul doesn’t need these things. When I fail I need my Father’s reassurance more than anything else.

Lord, teach us to come to You when we need to experience Your immovable love afresh.

The Most Powerful Way We Can Help Others

Jul3

No one enjoys struggling.  But some people enjoy coming alongside those who are struggling and helping them in any way they can.  I think of counselors, pastors, those who serve the community vocationally and/or voluntarily.  Something inside of them takes pleasure in helping those in need.

I wish I was made this way.  But I’m not.  When I take the Spiritual Gifts test, I ALWAYS score lowest on mercy and second lowest on hospitality.  In my own strength, I cannot will myself to be more empathetic.  I’ll get burnt out.  But in the Lord’s strength, I have a fighting chance to be the kind of friend God wants me to be to those who are struggling.

In Paul’s letter to the Roman church, he says, “I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me,” (Romans 15:30).

Paul’s struggle is irrelevant for the application of this verse to our lives, but, for the record, unbelievers in Judea were after him (Romans 15:31).  That never turns out well for Paul.  He either winds up in jail, beaten to within an inch of his life, or executed.

So Paul is running for his life, and for the advancement of the Gospel, and he pleads with Roman believers to join him in his struggle by praying for him.

Hmm.

Two thoughts.

First, we need to join each other in our struggles.  This is hard and messy and not fun and time consuming, all things I typically try to avoid.  Because, really, my life doesn’t need any more chaos.  I have enough of my own, I don’t need to take on your struggles too.

Except I do.  Because the Bible tells me so.

And because we simply cannot survive, much less thrive, without prayerful friends.  And our friends can’t know what to pray for us if we aren’t transparent with them.  Which is hard and messy and not fun and time consuming.

Likewise, we can’t know what to pray for our friends unless we take the time to listen and care about them and their lives.  Another word for that is “selflessness”.  If that were on the Spiritual Gifts test, I’d probably score zero in that category.  Negative zero, even.

But the Spirit, He scores infinity in mercy and hospitality and grace and selflessness and love and power.  And it is by His supernatural power in me that I can enter into others’ struggles and help carry them through dark days.

The key to helping them is in my second thought.  Prayer.

Paul seems to understand the most powerful way believers can help each other is to pray to God on each other’s behalf.  And prayer, it turns out, doesn’t cost money or require a psychology degree.  It only costs time and only requires a willing heart.

I may not have mercy in large doses, but I can choose to have time and a willing heart to pray for those who are struggling.  And the Spirit can help us become more faithful pray-ers.

Who do you know who is struggling and needs your prayers today?

(Dis)Unity

Apr10

Our church is entering a time of transition.  A couple of weeks ago, our senior pastor of almost 9 years announced that he and his family are headed to the mission field full-time.  They leave in less than 3 months.  And so the process of finding an interim senior pastor and, eventually, a permanent senior pastor is beginning.

Our church is led by a group of elected elders.  They vote on things to make the decisions for our church (1 Timothy 5:17).  Members can speak freely to the elders at any time, but, ultimately, members do not decide the direction of the church.  The elders do.

In any type of government, ecclesiastical or secular, there is potential for disunity among the governed.  And during times of transition, that potential is even greater.

And I fear the church-fracturing effects of possible dissension within our body at a time like this.

Dave Ramsey has a rule in his corporation.  If you have a problem, a gripe, a complaint of any kind, you can voice it up the chain of command without fear of penalty.  But if you voice it to an employee under you or equal to you in authority, you are fired on the spot.  Why?  Because Dave understands the crippling potential of unhealthy criticism within a body of people.

I fear that members of our church will begin to voice their negative opinions to one another on how they feel the pastoral search is going, spreading disunity like gangrene, focusing our body on lesser things than spreading the Gospel (Romans 15:5-6).

(I fear this not because our church is especially disgruntled but because our church is made up of humans, and humans, as we all know, are bent toward discontent.  So, while this particular post is about my fear for my church, I also fear for your church and the Church at large.)

To be clear, I am all for members voicing their negative opinions to senior staff members and elders.  Do it!  Do it in love (1 Corinthians 16:14; Ephesians 4:15).  You have a voice.  If you feel things are going in the wrong direction, speak up.  But speak up to those who have the ability to change things, NOT to your fellow members.   Spreading negativity within the congregation is not fruitful.  In fact, the destructive effect of such speech cannot be overstated.

And it plays right into Satan’s hand.

Satan wants our church to fold.  He wants us to split over whoever the new senior pastor is.  He wants to divide us, pitting members against members, directing our attention to ourselves and our preferences so we will have no energy left to spend on loving people like Jesus did.  Satan wants to stir our pride against our elders to convince us that they are incompetent so we dwell on our anger and bitterness each Sunday instead of worshiping our resurrected Lord together.

Paul understood what was at stake.

In Ephesians Paul wrote, “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.  Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace,” (Ephesians 4:3-4).

In Colossians he wrote, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity,” (Colossians 3:12-14).

Part of this unity that we should strive for includes submitting to the elders – and their decisions – even if we disagree with them.  The author of Hebrews puts it succinctly, “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you,” (Hebrews 13:17).

We won’t always agree with our leaders.  And that’s okay.  What matters is what we do with our disagreements.  We can handle them rightly by discussing them with those in authority over us, or we can handle them wrongly – sinfully – by discussing them with those around us.  Ultimately, though, Scripture commands us to submit to those in authority over us, whether we like it or not.

If you are in a church where you are unwilling to submit to its leaders, figure out why that is.  The leaders may not be acting in accordance with Scripture.  If that’s the case, leave that church!  Go find a Bible believing church to be a part of.

But if it turns out you are unwilling to submit to the leaders for personal reasons instead of biblical reasons, ask the Lord to work the rebellion out of your heart.  Ask Him to cut out your bitterness and your pride.  Ask Him to help you authentically and properly submit to your church leaders and, more importantly, to Him.

Your church’s unity – THE Church’s unity – depends on it.

Jesus is Praying For You Today

Mar30

Prayer is good.

Praying for each other is good.

And I appreciate people who pray for me in the privacy of their own minds.

But I am taken to a whole new level of honored when someone prays for me out loud in my presence.  I am humbled.  I am touched someone would take time out of his or her life to talk to God on my behalf.  I feel valued when someone lets me eavesdrop on their intimate conversation with our Father about me.

These are the emotions I experience reading John 17.  In this chapter, Jesus is praying to God the Father for Himself, for His then-disciples, and for all believers to come.

We have every reason to assume that Jesus is praying in front of His disciples.  They are conversing in the last verse of John 16, and the first verse of John 17 reads, “After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed” (John 17:1).

Can you imagine listening to Jesus talk to God the Father?  Just to hear Jesus pour out His heart about Himself would have been moving enough (John 17:1-5).  But then He prays for the disciples in their presence (John 17:6-19).

Jesus spends the first three verses commending the disciples to the Father.  Jesus tells God the disciples have “obeyed your word” and “accepted [your words]” and believed “with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me” (John 17:6-8).  In other words, Jesus is vouching for the disciples.  JESUS.  Not just some random person.  Jesus Himself.  What an honor that must have been for the disciples to hear.

After Jesus verifies the disciples’ faith, He begins to pray for them (John 17:9;11;13;15;17;19).  Jesus asks the Father to protect the disciples while they remain in a world hostile to them and the Gospel they represent (John 17:14-15).  Jesus asks for protection from the evil one and for God to “sanctify [the disciples] by the truth” (John 17:17;19).

The footnote in my Bible defines sanctify as “set apart for sacred use or make holy”.  How honored must the disciples have felt for JESUS to ask the Lord to use THEM – a ragtag crew prone to doubt, density, and denial -for Kingdom purposes?

There is a curious verse in the middle of Jesus’ prayer for the disciples.  In verse 13 Jesus says “I am coming to you (God the Father) now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.”

Jesus is explaining that his praying for the disciples in front of the disciples will yield the full measure of His joy within the disciples.

And I kind of know what He means.  When someone pours out a heartfelt prayer on my behalf, I feel valued. How much more so when the person praying is Jesus Himself?

Lucky for us, Jesus prays for us in the next section of the chapter (John 17:20-26).  Jesus prays for “those who will believe in me through [the disciples'] message” (John 17:20).  To be clear, that means every believer who has ever lived since that first batch of believers who walked and talked with Jesus Himself.  The discples’ message – the Gospel – is still being spread today.  And anyone who believes in Jesus on account of hearing that message is the subject of Jesus’ prayer.

So what does Jesus pray for us?  Unity.  Unity with each other, and unity with the Godhead.  Jesus also prays, “I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory…”  I think this is Jesus’ invitation for us to experience His glory during our earthly lives.  But what does that mean?  Maybe it means having spiritual eyes to see Him working around us.  Maybe it means working with Him to accomplish Kingdom objectives – like spreading the Gospel, seeing hearts changed by the Word, and serving others with Christlikeness so they will see Jesus in us.

Jesus finishes His prayer for us by asking that “the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them” (John 17:26).  I don’t think I can come up with two greater gifts than the Father’s love and Jesus Himself in me.

Jesus prayed for you.  And He still – currently, continuously – prays for you (Hebrews 7:25; Romans 8:34; 1 John 2:1).

Knowing this, may you have the full measure of His joy within you.

Shine

Feb8

This blog focuses on tying the Bible together with real life.  And real life, as you may have noticed, is full of struggle, discontent, and confusion.  That being the case, most of the posts you read here address the undesirable effects of being human.

I try to make some sense of life in light of what the Bible teaches us about God, goodness, pain, love, and a host of other intangible concepts.

And when everything comes together – when reason and love give birth to hope and trust – we feel God shine.

The latest David Crowder Band single, “Let Me Feel You Shine” captures this sentiment beautifully.  If you haven’t heard it or don’t know the lyrics, have a listen.  I’ll wait.

 

Fantastic, no?

While David sings from the perspective of one longing to feel God shine, today I write from the perspective of one who is feeling God shine.

I am on the other side of the confusion and pain, and I am here to tell you that it is possible to feel God shine once again.

When life feels entirely hopeless, when life is too painful to press on, when all you can do is lie on the floor and whisper “Lord” over and over between the tears, knowledge is of no comfort.

We (and others) can remind us of God’s goodness, of the hope we have in Him, of his sovereignty, of His love for us.  And we know these things to be true.  But we don’t feel them to be true in the midst of suffering.  And that lack of experiencing truth in those moments allows feelings of hopelessness and despair to take over.

And then we feel guilty for feeling hopeless, and the negativity multiplies.  It’s a terrible cycle to be in.

But something that may prove more comforting than all the academic reminders of God’s wonderful attributes is someone else’s personal testimony that they have been there and not only survived, but now flourish.

For someone else to say, “I know the depth of the suffering you are experiencing.  I’ve felt hopeless and guilty as you do right now.  And the Lord, He delivered me.  It’s true – He revives those who are lowly in spirit,” (Isaiah 57:15).

When someone shares an experience like that with you, the ember of hope is gently blown on.  It lights up, ever so briefly, and dares you to hope again, ever so slightly.  You hold on to that other person’s story of deliverance and begin to think, “If God rescued them, maybe He will rescue me too…”

You have a death grip on that thought.  You treasure it.  You continue to lie at the Lord’s feet.  You continue to cry.  You ask the Lord to rescue you too.  You decide to rest.  No more doing.  No more reading.  No more talking.  Rest.    There is nothing else for you to do but wait on the Lord to do His part – to work for your good (Romans 8:28).

And then He does.

It may take weeks or months or years.  But, eventually, He answers your plea for mercy.  And with a flood of His love, you feel Him shine.  SHINE!

You experience everything you know about God – He is good; He is in control; He does love you; He does have a plan to use your pain for good.  Hopelessness is defeated by Truth.

I know.  It happened for me.  And, if you want Him to, He’ll make it happen for you, too.  If you are feeling hopeless today, hang your hat on my story.  And then rest while God writes your story.