Prayer

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Worthy of Trust

Trustworthy!

What makes something worthy of your trust?  What is it about a statement, or a person, that would  make you say, “I trust that.”?  Is there one characteristic that you can point to and say if that is present, then you will trust?  Is there a set time period that a person or statement must go through before you will trust?  And then, what happens when you do trust a statement made, or a person’s word, and you end up betrayed?  What then?  Can trust be regained?  Will the relationship or situation ever be the same?

Who, or what, to trust is a question people deal with on a consistent basis.  Everyone seems to have their own way of determining what is trustworthy.  The eternal nature of God provides us with a foundation that allows us to build absolute trust in His Word and His ability to keep His Word.  We read of this as Paul writes to Timothy these words:

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance:  Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners — of whom I am the worst.  But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.  Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.  Amen. 
1 Timothy 1:15-17

Wow!  A trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance.  Why is this statement trustworthy, and why does it deserve full acceptance?  Is it not because of the author — the one making the statement and bringing it to pass?  It is not simply a single characteristic that we like about God and hold on to as our sole reasoning for trusting Him.  It is not a matter of picking and choosing what we like about God and then discarding what doesn’t fit our image of what God should be.  How trustworthy could any statement of God be if we make Him like us?

Let’s look at how Paul describes for us, in the above verses, the nature of God that makes Him trustworthy. 

  • His purpose – As Jesus, God came into the world to save sinners.  His very nature is a Savior.  The nature of a savior is to save . . . to seek the best for someone else, even at your expense. 

  • His mercy – God’s nature is merciful.  He is not looking for people who deserve Him, He is willing to be merciful — even to the “worst of sinners”.

  • His patience – God does not grow weary or give up prematurely.  He willingly holds back judgement and wrath because “He is not willing that any should perish but all would come to repentance.”

  • His position – He is King of kings and Lord of lords.  His postion as king gives Him the authority to make things happen.  He needs no man’s counsel and does not need permission from anyone to make what He says happen.

  • His presence – The eternal nature of God as King means there is no asterick or limited “lifetime” guarantee.  No concern of a “new sheriff in town” that does things differently now, so everything you’ve heard before goes out the window.  Not with an eternal God.  No one was in charge before Him and no one will be in charge after Him.  No changing of the guard.  He was and is and always will be.

  • His deity – An immortal God is not bound by the fickleness of mortal man.  Immortality goes way beyond never dying.  It is the unchanging, spiritual nature that God is.  It is an incorruptible being that is not influenced by the “desires of the flesh” that make mankind so untrustworthy.

  • His form – The invisible nature of God is loosely tied to the ever-present nature of God.  God does not have to by physically seen to be “an ever present help in time of need.”  His presence with us teaches us, and allows us, to learn daily just how trustworthy He is.

  • His uniqueness – He is the only God.  He is the only “I AM!”  There is none like Him, so any comparisons that we try to make will always fall short.  There is none like Him, so all of the excuses about people who have let us down and have been untrustworthy do not apply. 

The sum total of His characteristics show us a God beyond compare. . . . A God who can be trusted yesterday, today, and forever.  Only an eternal God with the characteristics that my God has can truly be worthy of all my trust with no exceptions.

I pray that you also know this eternal God that is beyond anything you could hope or imagine.  I pray also that you would recognize this eternal God is worthy of trust.   

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What Child Is This?

You’re Pregnant! 

Words that have caused many parents to begin wondering — wondering, what if?  What if this child is the next Bill Gates? . . . the next Condi Rice? . . . the next Peyton Manning? (How about them Colts?) . . .  the next Oprah Winfrey? . . . the next Billy Graham? . . . the next Katherine Hepburn? . . . the next Tiger Woods? . . . the next Mother Theresa? . . . the next Jonas Salk? . . . the next Clara Barton?  And on the list could go, based on who the parents view as successful, motivated, honorable, and meaningful contributors to society.  We all have our list.  If I could just be more like . . ..  And then we have children and we transfer our list to them.  If they could just be more like . . ..  The pressure and expectations soar off the charts.

Speaking of high expectations, take a look at the following birth announcement. 

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.  He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.  The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.”  Isaiah 9:6-7

Oh, yeah — a birth announcement given centuries before the actual birth!  Can you imagine the “what ifs?” of growing up in that culture during that span of history?  The discovery of each pregnancy.  The joyful announcement, “It’s a boy!”  The mind begins to race and wonder, “What if?”.  What if this son will be called “Wonderful Counselor”? . . . “Mighty God?” . . . “Everlasting Father?” . . . “Prince of Peace?”  It seems the questions and wondering would consume families for years, for decades, and for generations.  And then the generations turned into centuries.  What now?  Did many even think it was still possible?  Was there widespread hope or had the multitudes given up? 

I don’t know, but given the underwhelming response to the fulfillment of this birth announcment when it finally happened, I would have to say most had given up on the dreams and the “what ifs” — most, but not all.  When the time comes for this promised son to be born, the young lady chosen by God to give birth to the “Everlasting Father” responds to her task in Luke 1:38; “I am the Lord’s servant.  May it be to me according to your word.”  Mary got it.  The “what ifs” that had been asked for generations were more than just possibility, they were coming to reality and she was going to be part of it.

When I read the “advance” birth announcment in Isaiah chapter 9 and then see the “actual” birth announcement recorded for us in Matthew and Luke, I am amazed at a God who understands and is concerned with both the “big picture” and the “details”.  I begin to grasp, along with Mary, the reality of this baby being born whose life was not beginning with that birth — but who is the Everlasting Father.  I start to understand that because of the eternal nature of God, life for Jesus did not begin with His birth and did not end with His death on the cross.  He was everlasting prior to His life on earth, during His life on earth, and after His life on earth.

May you and I live in great hope, knowing that this “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” has come so that the people — you and I — “walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.” 

I pray that you and I live in the light of an Everlasting Father and Mighty God.

 

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Seeing The Invisible

Mt Rainier Watefall

We are on a year-long journey at the Deer Run Church of Christ of focused learning and listening to God.  We have begun a theme for the next twelve months of “A View From The Top:  What Does God Say?”.  I am excited about what God is doing, and will do, as we make a serious effort to listen to Him and to put into practice His directions in His timing.  Part of this approach involves a daily text and questions for each participant to study and consider.  Much of my writing over the next year on this blog will likely be thoughts and responses to what God is saying to me through these daily texts and questions.  You can follow along with the texts and questions at deerrunchurch.wordpress.com.  . . . Now, back to the blog.

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.  Romans 1:20

I love the outdoors.  There is something about wandering through a forest, hiking a mountain, canoeing a river, walking a sandy beach, or gazing out over a flowering meadow that makes me feel much closer to the very presence of God.  Not that I believe that God’s presence is greater at these places, I’m just more sensitive to it in some locations than others.  I give more thought to the unseen qualities of God when I am surrounded by His handiwork than at other times. 

Paul writes to the Romans, and to us, and states that God has made His invisible qualities clearly seen so we have no excuse for ignoring God’s existence.  His invisible qualities have been on display since the creation of the world.  God says that if we would just look around and observe, it is impossible to miss His eternal power and divine nature.  Yet we do miss it, don’t we?  Or we see it but don’t connect it to having anything to do with us.

We see God’s eternal power and we trust that the sun will rise each morning and finish it’s work through the day before setting.  Actually we are “enlightened” now and recognize that isn’t even a true statement.  The sun is stationary and continues it’s work even after the earth rotates and the sun appears to set from where we are.  Yet, how often do we question the Son rising with us each day and finishing His work in us through the day before we settle for the night?  Yet, His divine nature, visible in creation, is true. . . . He is stationary, always at work to bring warmth and light into our life as He draws us to himself.  Even when we “rotate” away from Him, He still shines and continues His work as God.

While science has gained great understanding of “how” many things work, they come short in trying to explain “why”.  They may be able to explain the mechanics of how the sun produces light and heat, but they can’t explain how it started and why.  We may understand the process of green plants taking our “exhaust” — carbon dioxide — and combine it with energy from the sun to produce oxygen.  Understanding at some level how that happens isn’t the same as knowing why trees do that in the first place.  I love the outdoors and I love God’s creation because the more we study and understand parts of how it all works, the more I realize just how incredible is God’s eternal power and divine nature.  At times I even marvel at the faith of the athiests and evolutionists.  . . . Misplaced faith, but an incredible faith it must take to believe that all that is and exists just happened without a designer, creator, intelligent, and involved God.

May you and I observe creation around us and may our faith in God, who displayed His invisible qualites through creation, grow stronger as we trust Him to make us a new creation.

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Why Not?

Why?

If you are around young children very long, chances are that you will hear this one word question more often than you would like.  A child’s curiosity makes them want to know how things work and why things happen the way they do.  Everything is questioned to the extent that many parents and teachers begin to dread hearing the word, “why?”, and they long for the day that it is no longer used with such frequency.

Sure enough, the day arrives when “why?” is no longer the question of choice.  The age of self-discovery has come.  Much to the dismay of many a parent, the question changes to a constant “Why not?”.  An explanation of the way things are is no longer good enough.  A reason is demanded for why things can’t be different.  As irritating as the constant questioning might be, it is good to be reminded that it is through this process that discoveries are made that can bring about much of the growth and positive changes that we enjoy.

As individuals and as congregations of Christians, we need to ask why.  Why are we here?  Simply put, we exist to bring glory and honor to God and to do so in such a way that we bring others into complete relationship with Him also.  When we understand the why, then we can begin thinking and dreaming of ways to do that more effectively.  When we grasp the “why”, we begin to grow into the “why not” stage.  Churches and ministries often do that as organizations.  “Why not add new and multiple worship services?”  “Why not have events and programming focused on teens, children, seniors, college students, or other specific group?”  “Why not reach out as a congregation to people in the community that have needs?”  “Why not . . .?”  While these and other “why not” questions often get asked by churches and groups, what about individually asking, “why not? “.

Individually, why not be more involved?  Why not give more of my time and money to ministry?  Why not serve others?  Why not teach a children’s class, a teen class, a small group, or other class?  Why not pray for my neighbor, co-worker, family member, etc., and talk to them about my relationship with Jesus every opportunity that I have?  Why not . . .?

Why not?

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Who Will Go? . . . Do? . . . Serve? . . .?

“And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’  Then I said, ‘Here am I!  Send me.'”  Isaiah 6:8

I love to read the words God gives to us through Isaiah.  Chapter six always jumps out at me and grabs my attention because of Isaiah’s quick and bold response in verse eight.  It makes me think about what caused this rapid, positive answer.  Also, what would it take for you and me to consistently have a similar response to the commands of God?

The reasons for us seeing a willing Isaiah are found in the preceding seven verses.  First, Isaiah saw God for who He is.  He saw the Lord seated on a throne being worshipped by angelic beings.  They were singing of His holiness.  He saw God high and lifted up.  God was established in such splendor and glory that there was no mistaking just how powerful and holy this God was.

Secondly, the absolute holiness of God brought Isaiah to the point of noticing himself for who he was.  He saw a sinful man who could not exist in the presence of the holiness of God.  His companions and surroundings did not fit with what he was observing.  The brightness of the throne room revealed just how drab and dirty Isaiah’s world was.

Then finally, he experienced complete forgiveness.  His sin was taken away.  It was out of this sense of joy, and even relief, that Isaiah volunteered to do whatever was asked of him.  It is not until after he volunteers that he receives the instructions for the task he was being called to do.

If we would daily recognize these same three things, perhaps our lives would be more fully devoted to God.  When we acknowledge our unworthiness to even gaze upon the holiness of God, and realize He paid the price to take away our sin, our response to serve Him should come just as quickly and boldly as Isaiah’s did.

I pray that God would give you and me the courage and boldness to always serve Him faithfully.

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Great Expectations!

“He has shown you, O man, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”  Micah 6:8

What do they expect from me?

We often ask this question for one of two reasons.  The first is because we don’t know the expectations.  There is confusion and no clear direction given as to what we ought to be doing.  The second way we use this question, with a little different emphasis in the wording, is when we feel the expectations placed on us are too great.

Not only do we use this question in our interaction with others, we use it in response to God.  Many times people are confused and just do not know what God expects from them  Usually this is because they don’t really know God.  The personal relationship with God has not been developed and nurtured.  We also use this question with God when we think He expects too much.

We don’t see ourselves as God sees us.  We see a God-sized task and decide we could never be a part of it.  In our mind we have limited the power of God when we say, “God could never do that through me.”  When God says through the prophet Micah that the requirement is that we would act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God, He defines what He expects and lets us know that it can be done.

How are you doing with the “great expectations” God has for your life?  Our lives often revolve around the expectations of someone . . . parents . . . spouse . . . boss . . . friends . . . children . . . our church . . . self . . . co-workers . . . or any combination of a variety of people.  Isn’t it time to center your life so that it revolves around the expectations of God?

May you and I live up to the great expectations that God has for us!

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The Acropolis

Acropolis

I recently had an incredible evening at the Acropolis, a Greek restaurant in Evansville, Indiana.  I was in Evansville attending the National Student Conference where I was helping to represent Impact and our efforts to recruit future interns and staff.  Monday afternoon was individual group time and dinner was not provided that evening at the conference, so four of us headed out to eat at this Greek restaurant.

While we were waiting to be seated, the owner came out to introduce himself and to see what we were wanting to eat.  He told the hostess that we didn’t need menus, he would cook for us.  If we had a couple of hours to enjoy dinner, he would cook and bring us a variety of food.  The statement was made that if we liked beef, chicken, pork, lamb, and shrimp, we would like what he prepared for dinner.  That sounded good, so we were off to be seated and begin our adventure.  (They do have a full menu, but this is evidently the “house specialty” – you don’t order, you just eat!)

We told them our time was a little limited, we only had an hour and a half, so the food began arriving right away.  It started with a large platter that was the cold appetizers.  I wish I was more fluent in greek food and knew what it was, but the short label is that it was good!  This was followed with a dish of chicken, artichoke, mushrooms, and rice as well as a chicken pasta dish.  Then the food continued flowing to our table.  A Greek salad, shrimp in an incredible sauce, boneless pork ribs,  lamb ribs, gyros, green beans and potatoes -I’m sure I’m leaving something out- and then Doros comes out to see how we like his cooking and if we are filling up or would like more food.  We had consumed more than enough and our time was dwindling, so we declined additional food.  This meant it was time for dessert and coffee to finish our evening meal.

Wow!  What variety.  Everything from the service and atmosphere to the food was excellent.  Angie did a great job taking care of us and making sure we had what we needed for an enjoyable meal.  I enjoyed the time spent with Dean, Jeff, and Randy as we learned from each other and grew to appreciate even more what God is doing in and through each life.  Angie appreciated our committment to pray for her.  As we left, she brought us a request from Doros to pray for his son who has had meningitis.  We were glad to do that and to continue to pray for them.

If you are ever in Evansville, Indiana and want some great Greek food at a great place, I would highly recommend Acropolis.  It was truly an experience of food and friends to remember!

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Daily Bread

Bread 

“‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed – or indeed only one.  Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.'”  Luke 10:41-42

“Give us each day our daily bread.”  Luke 11:3

I find it interesting, that as Luke sat down to “write an orderly account” of the events of Jesus’ life on earth, that the teaching of Jesus on prayer immediately follows the account of His interaction with Mary and Martha.  When reading these two stories together, it raises the question when asking for daily bread, “What is the one thing that is needed?“

Most of us live a life full of choices.  So many choices that it becomes hard for us to pray for our daily bread because we can’t decide what it will be today.  Do I want literal bread, and if so, should it be white . . . or wheat . . . or oat . . . or some specialty variety?  Or perhaps I want my prayer for daily bread to be figurative.  But then what do I ask for?  . . . Steak & potatoes?  . . . Seafood?  . . . Italian?  . . . Chinese? . . . Some combination of my favorite foods?  We have such a hard time deciding, we often fail to ask for our daily bread – rather we settle with thanking God for the meal we decided on instead of asking Him to provide what we need.

Yet Jesus says there is one thing that is needed and Mary has chosen it.  What could be so powerful, so fulfilling, so necessary that Jesus commends Mary for choosing it?  We look at the text in Luke and we see that the one thing Mary did was she “sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.”  That is it?  Could Jesus Himself be the one thing that is needed?  While not clearly stated, the idea is evident that Martha was greatly worried about the “daily bread”.  The “preparations” for a guest surely would have included meals.  Yet Jesus makes it clear that the preparations were not nearly as important as listening to Him.

That brings us back to asking for our daily bread.  I have come to believe that Jesus is teaching a principle much greater than our simply giving a “thank you for the food” prayer at meals.  To live, truly live, what bread do we need on a daily basis?  In John 6:35, Jesus says, “I am the bread of life.  Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”  Our daily bread must be Jesus! 

Societies and cultures throughout history have relied on bread to sustain them when nothing else was available.  As a matter of fact, this teaching of Jesus in John 6 comes in response to the people who were bragging about Moses providing bread from heaven so the Israelites could live.  That is when Jesus replies that it was not Moses that gave bread to the people – it came from God.  God gives a true bread from heaven, a bread that gives life to the world.  That bread is Jesus.

In applying this principle, it is important that we ask, acknowledge, and thank God for providing all that sustains our physical bodies.  It is even more critical that we recognize our daily need for the true bread of heaven, Jesus.  We need to reach the point where we ask on a daily basis for Jesus to fill our life and to be our life.  To understand that without Jesus each day, we starve to death.  Then our focus changes when we pray,  “Give us today our daily bread.”  We pray more passionately, “Give me today Jesus!”

May Jesus be the bread that sustains us each day.