Month: January 2015

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Let it go!

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.’” (Matthew 16: 24, 25)

 

“I don’t want to put my family at risk. That area of town is not safe. I hear about the crime on the news, so I don’t feel comfortable about bringing my kids and wife there to work on Saturday.”

We have heard comments like this one when we asked Christian parents to come with us and serve with their families to help build homes for the poor residents of inner city Atlanta. We had recently moved there from the West Coast with our youngest son, a junior in high school (our oldest was away in college), and while we raised support to enter Appalachia to work among the needy there, we jumped into ministry with existing organizations working among the poor in the greater Atlanta area.

I always felt sorry, and a little scared, for professing Christians who made those kinds of statements. Did they think their middle and upper-middle-class lifestyles in the ‘burbs was safer than the inner city? I’m talking soul-safe.

Research reveals the lie it is to assume safety in our North American middle and upper-middle class form of Christianity as lived by many in today’s churches. A huge percentage of young people who have grown up in church, Sunday school, and youth group with all their associated activities, leave home and also leave the church. Too many never return, except perhaps on the two big holidays: Easter and Christmas.[1]

Anyone who has been awake in church over the past decades knows this to be true. We love seeing young people and young families involved in our churches, but the truth is, too many stay away, living their lives and raising their children outside of the rule of God.

Frightening. Jesus knew what he was talking about: “whoever wishes to save his life will lose it.” Are we listening? Because Jesus is still speaking the same words to us today. Do we believe what he says?

I weep sometimes as I pray for my own children, and now, grandchildren. Giving up the people you love is not an easy, light matter. It is an every day matter, though.

It is the bedrock of following Jesus. Giving up first ourselves and then the ones we love. To love God supremely, over every other love, is what he demands (Matthew 23:37). And rightfully so (I Peter 1:17-19).

I believe him. I believe what he says. I do not want to be the loser, nor see my loved ones the losers, eternally, because we held onto our lives and loves now rather than letting God have them.

I believe these words of Jesus as well: “but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Finders keepers.

This is the happy part! We see through a glass darkly now, but if we obey Jesus, because we know he is trustworthy, one day we will have overflowing joy in the Presence of our Lord. Everything we thought we were losing in this life, we were gaining forever.

And forever is a very long time.

This giving up to gain is the crux of discipleship, the core of discipleship, and to call ourselves disciples of Jesus, we must be living this truth. Jesus said so. It is something we must renew daily because it doesn’t come natural to us.

Right. So he gives us supernatural power to do it.

[1] Refer to The Barna Group https://www.barna.org/ ; Unchristian: what a new generation really thinks about Christianity … and why it matters by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, Baker Books, 2007; Almost Christian: what the faith of our teenagers is telling the American church by Kenda Creasy Dean, Oxford University Press, 2010.

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Gettin’ up off the duff

“And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.’

And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.’” (Mark 8:31-38, NASB, companion passage to Matthew 16: 21-27)

So now we have determined the time we will set aside to intentionally read and study God’s word. That’s the first step in a “camp out” in the scriptures. You have to be reading the Word to experience a passage standing out, calling you to come aside and spend some time there.

I do not avoid the seemingly difficult or hard sections of scripture. I remember when I would sit in church and felt like I could go through the motions of the morning service half asleep and not miss a beat. Those were the days of the stirrings of a desire to know God and his Word, when I began to seek a challenge from what God said, to understand it and run with it. Surely there was more to Christianity than these boring formalities. Whatever that “more” was, it would be like a splash of cold water on a sweltering day. Refreshment. God’s Word would wake me up!

Now let me clarify, I was feeling frustrated and bored with church not so much because anyone else was doing something “wrong,” but because I was a baby Christian and God was bringing me from spiritual crawling to the point of beginning to stand and walk.

By AimeeLow
By AimeeLow

 

A baby has to want to walk and not be satisfied with crawling on all fours. That’s where I was, spiritually speaking; tired of the old, itching for the new. But I didn’t understand that yet; all I knew is that I was frustrated with the boredom of church as usual. God was nudging me to get up and walk.

In our women’s Bible study this week we were asked to write a prayer for ourselves as we begin the study of the book of Hebrews. My friend Betsy wrote: “Challenge me to be intent on my study in Hebrews, that I will grow spiritually during these weeks. Thank you for the gift of Your Word—may it become more alive for me daily.”

We should seek to be challenged by God’s words. When we are confronted with things too big for us to understand in our human finiteness, that is the very moment we have the opportunity to expand our faith in the God who spoke those difficult to understand words. We can choose to rise to the challenge.

Do we reject and turn away from something we cannot mentally grasp or a problem we can’t solve? If we all did that in ordinary life, we’d still be living in caves and gnawing on raw meat.

In the same way, we should not reject or avoid challenges in our spiritual lives or from God’s Word. God intends us to stand up and learn to walk, meeting the challenges to our ideas and interests and adopting God’s ideas and interests.  This is one reason he sent his Spirit to be with us, to teach us.

Mastering our time and rising to the challenge set before us by God in his Word, learning to embrace God’s interests as we unwrap our arms from our own interests, this is what camping out in God’s Word can stir up in us.

 

Scriptures taken from New American Standard Bible (NASB). http://www.lockman.org/

 

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The Right Time-Today

“From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.’

But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.’”

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds.’” (Matthew 16:21-27)

This passage is worthy of a campout, metaphorically speaking. We need to set up our camp chair, pitch our tent (ok, maybe an RV), build a fire pit and settle in for a stay.

If you are a fisherman you take your chair down to the lakeside and cast your line into the rippling waters. Let it sink down into the depths of the waters, into the world of the fish, a world quite different from our world of air. You sit in quietness patiently awaiting your prize, a big fish for dinner.

If you are a hiker and explorer, you put on your hiking boots and gather your supplies for a day hike into the surrounding countryside. Your eyes are keen to see every sight; you don’t want to miss the smallest plant or bird or animal. Your ears are alert to the call of an eagle, the delicate and joyful songs of the forest birds, the rushing of the river waters and the wind in the pines. You breathe in the fresh, invigorating scents of the out of doors. Rounding a bend or cresting a summit, you thrill at the vista before you. Your heart expands with the beauty and wonder of it all. These are the treasures you anticipate and spend your energies for.

Camping out in God’s Word can bring us panoramas and thrills and joys in a deeper, more profound way than even the most treasured moments of our favorite activities.

So how do you camp out in God’s Word, exactly? First of all, when you go camping anywhere, you have to carve out time to do it. The camping trip becomes a priority.

We must become the masters of our time, rather than Time being our master. It is a fact that we will do what we want to do. We will find a way to do whatever is important to us. We will: That is simply what it is all about, a matter of the will. Do we want to know God more deeply by spending time with him? And are we willing to do what it takes to make that happen?

I struggle with this very thing. I want to spend more time in God’s Word, really hearing him in the words so I can learn from him. Personally, I require solitude, or at least quiet, to do that well. That’s just how I am.

On the opposite pole is a dear pastor I know, a wonderful and gifted teacher of the Word, whose favorite place to write his sermons is the neighborhood McDonalds! I find that unbelievably funny because there is no way I could accomplish writing anything in a noisy, bustling McDonalds! Yet it works for him, and he is a witness for Christ to the patrons and workers while preparing spiritual food for those of us who come to church on Sunday.

I find it amazing and wonderful how God has made us all different. He is loving it too, I’m sure, when he sees us pursuing him in all our differing ways.

Anyway, back to our will to master our time in order to spend time with God, reading and studying his Word. We do what we want to do, when we want it badly enough.

Want to have more faith? Want it badly enough to make time to read? Because faith comes by hearing the Word (Romans 10:17). Need encouragement? That too is found in the Bible; encouragement comes from the scriptures (Romans 15:4). Need instruction for living and examples of what not to do and be and also what to do and be? Guess where to look: the Bible (I Corinthians 10:11).

I want to have time to write more, so on many mornings I get up earlier to be able to do so. I snatch times later in the day to focus my thoughts and energies on writing. I also want to read the scriptures more, so I make that a priority for my mornings. Somewhere time can be found. Somewhere in my own 24-hours-a-day allotment of time.

One of my friends listens to scripture on CD when she drives. Another listens to it when she is working around her home. Talk about multi-tasking! They are making time and technology serve them.

We can creatively make time our slave, rather than be a slave to time. We can use technology to serve us, furthering our goals to spend time in God’s Word.

There, in God’s Word, we can increase our faith. And find encouragement to press on. And gain instruction and examples for living in this world.

Master (your) Time. “‘For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds’” (Matthew 16: 27).

“Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts …” (Hebrews 3:13-15).

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Whatever you say, Jesus

“When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, ‘This place is desolate and the hour is already late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ But Jesus said to them, ‘They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!’” (Matthew 14:14-16, NASB)

When we get the big picture, when we know what God is about (God’s purposes in the world, his kingdom agenda, a biblical worldview) it gives us Perspective and a compass with which to set our course for life, prayer and ministry. The more we live by faith, the better we understand God’s thinking.

What I mean is, as we continue to saturate our lives with God’s words and live our lives in obedience to him and his words, we are changed little by little. The more or less of the changes in us is probably in direct proportion to our faith in and obedience to God (John 14:21). And some of it could be related to how much we are paying attention to what we are experiencing, in other words, our intentionality in our lives with the Lord.

As an example, about the time they got the news of John’s beheading, the disciples had just concluded a mission trip of touring the cities and villages of Israel in teams of two. Not only did they preach, but Jesus had conferred on them the power to heal and cast out demons, obviously directed at big problems in the country. Jesus listened to their post-trip reports and advised they all go away for a while to rest. This had been exhausting work. Enter the needy crowds (Mark 6:7, 12-13, 27-29, 30-32, 33-34).

Now think of it, the disciples had been casting out demons and healing people! Jesus gave them that power. It was very specific. Yet it didn’t seem to occur to the disciples that he could, should he so desire, give them similar powers to meet other needs. They never thought of it to ask him.

I’ve seen God to amazing things in my own life, not to mention in others’ lives. I raise my hand and profess to believe with all my heart in the power of God to do the impossible. I’ve heard scores of wonderful believers quote their favorite passage: “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,” (Ephesians 3:20), and believe with all their hearts that there is supernatural power “that works within us.”

I’ve seen this power at work, though it isn’t always as dramatic as what I envision the casting out of a demon would be. But it has been every bit as real and miraculous an act of God in answer to prayer.

However, that doesn’t mean I always transfer that knowledge to the next moment when I come up against an impassable wall, when I am stopped cold in my tracks by a gargantuan need I know I cannot meet. Just like the disciples didn’t connect their recent experience of God’s power given to them to heal and cast out demons, to the present moment when they saw thousands of hungry people who needed food.

So, having said all that (in my last three posts), what could have been the next “paragraph” in the disciples’ request to Jesus as they scrambled for a solution to the need of thousands of hungry people? By implication, what might be our next words to God in prayer as we encounter insurmountable needs?

Jesus had granted the disciples the ability to cast out demons and heal. Might he also grant them the power to feed thousands of people, especially when he told them to feed the crowd (Matt. 14:16)? It’s worth the asking.

“Jesus, um, we have a big problem. We’ve checked and we don’t have the money to buy enough food to feed all these people, and we don’t have the food on hand, only enough for one child. But we recall you have power to take care of big things and it seems to us this is not too big for you. In fact, you gave us power to heal and cast out demons just a while back so we were thinking, if you want to give us the power to somehow feed these thousands, we’re ready. We’re up for the challenge! Just say the word, Jesus, and we’ll do whatever you say.”

I will always ask God’s mind on an issue, and when I am certain it is something he approves, I want to have the boldness to say, “Jesus, um, we have a big problem … but I know you have the power to take care of big things … you have given us power to do “greater things” and I’m up for the challenge! Just say the word, Jesus, and I’ll do whatever you say.”

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20, 21).

 

Scriptures quoted from NASB  www.lockman.org

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Lose it

“When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, ‘This place is desolate and the hour is already late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ But Jesus said to them, ‘They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!’” (Matthew 14:14-16, NASB)

 

I am involved in several prayer groups and I often pray for people I’ve never met. Most of the time I feel like I do not have enough information when it comes to requests for prayer from people, especially when I do not know them. It is imperative I seek God’s mind.  Of consideration is that God may be at work in a person’s life using the very thing (struggles, suffering) that I am asked to pray against.  I do not want to pray contrary to what God is doing in a person’s life, thwarting what he ultimately wants to accomplish. I don’t want to beat against that door God has closed.

The internal, heart issue God sees and is dealing with is much weightier than the surface or external issue, whether it is health or other problems, that we can see. These heart matters are much more important in light of eternity than temporal suffering (I Corinthians 4: 17, 18).

This is a hard one for us to embrace but we do have strong precedence in scripture for it. The most extreme example of this is found in Matthew 16: 21-23:

“From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.’ But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.’”

I don’t want to be a stumbling block to the work of God! And an emissary of Satan, to boot, fighting on the wrong side! Seeking the mind of God in prayer, setting our minds on God’s interests, is of utmost importance.

None of us wants to suffer nor do we wish to see others suffer. At the same time we know that hard things can make us stronger in our faith and relationship with God. As believers in Jesus Christ, not only do we have peace with God and rejoice in our hope of a future with God for all eternity, but we can know with certainty that our trials here are working in us perseverance, character and hope (Romans 5:1-5). Or can if we allow it.

If we would set our mind on God’s interests as a follower of Jesus Christ we must take Jesus’ words deathly serious. They must become our life’s creed:

“‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it’” (Matthew 16: 24-25).

“‘For,’ indeed, ‘what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?’” (Matthew 16:25). There are some things more important than others. It is imperative I seek the mind of God when I pray! Too much is at stake. Eternally at stake.

We have to give up others’ lives to God as much as we give up our own as we seek God’s mind and will for them in prayer. There may be tears in the offering, but God will turn those tears to jewels of joy … one day.

We must begin to see things from God’s perspective, to have the right perspective for life and prayer.

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Confidence in Prayer: Permission to speak, granted.

“When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, ‘This place is desolate and the hour is already late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ But Jesus said to them, ‘They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!’ They said to Him, ’We have here only five loaves and two fish.’ And He said, ‘Bring them here to Me.’ Ordering the people to sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds, and they all ate and were satisfied. They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full baskets. (Matthew 14:14-20, NASB)

 

When it comes to praying to God (likened to the disciples talking to Jesus) about a need you are aware of, I indicated that our initial approach to God should be to seek his mind in the matter. From there we can move to the next “paragraph” in our talk with God.

There are things we can be quite certain about as being God’s will, or not, and can speak to directly with confidence. When prayer requests or needs come to us, we may already either, 1) know it is God’s will based on scripture (e.g.: we can always pray for a person’s salvation, for God desires all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth: I Timothy 2:1-4), or 2) know it is not God’s will, again based on scripture, and therefore we cannot pray for it, even when a person makes a prayer request for such a thing (e.g.: I John 5:16,17). There are some things we can know without a doubt and pray accordingly, as we are growing in knowledge of God’s word and ways.

But then again, I’ve found there are many times when I do not have enough information, or “intelligence,” needed to pray about a certain issue. Here is where I try to be very careful so that my prayers do not end up beating against a door God himself has shut.

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Photo by Schick

Even when to pray a certain way makes perfect sense to me (that the door should be opened, like the disciples believed they should send away the crowd to get their own dinner), it may not be at all what God has in mind. Because he has, so to speak, bigger fish to fry.

To be continued ….

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Open to Suggestions

“Now when Jesus heard about John (the Baptist, beheaded), He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the people heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities. When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, ‘This place is desolate and the hour is already late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’” (Matthew 14:13-15, NASB)

I’ve pointed out that John the Baptist had been beheaded and his disciples came and told Jesus. Undoubtedly Jesus was deeply affected by this news: he and John were cousins and had known each other all their lives. Jesus also knew John had been sent from God as the forerunner to Jesus and his own ministry as the Messiah. He wanted a secluded and quiet place to go to and be alone. But when he and his disciples got to that place, a huge crowd was already there awaiting him. It was anything but quiet and he was far from alone. Jesus, moved by compassion for the milling crowd, welcomed them, giving up his own desire for seclusion to heal and teach those in need.

Then, after hours of serving, the disciples came to Jesus “and said, ‘This place is desolate and the hour is already late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves’” (Matthew 14:15).

As I read these words I thought, “Oh my goodness. Do I sound like that when I pray? How bossy and rude, to talk to GOD that way!”

That’s exactly what was taking place. The disciples were talking to Jesus; I liken it to me talking to God in prayer. The disciples saw a situation that they couldn’t handle (feed thousands of people) and made their best, most reasonable decision and proceeded to tell Jesus what he had to do. Humanly speaking, it makes perfect sense. The disciples had a concern for the masses who needed to eat, but it looks different from the compassion Jesus had, doesn’t it.

I wonder how many times I’ve come to a conclusion similar to the disciples’ when I see a great need. Operating from my own human store of compassion and wisdom, I make the same kind of decision as the disciples made. Then, I go to God and tell him what he ought to do in the situation. Sounds rather pathetic and presumptuous when put in that light. Well, it does to me.

I felt quite convicted. Again.

Honestly, how often do we approach God just like the disciples did? “Here’s my plan God, now I figure if you just do XYZ things will work out fine.” It’s a wonder God doesn’t have sore ribs from laughing at us.

That’s a nicer mental image than him getting red in the face in frustration with us, wouldn’t you agree?

When we approach God in prayer we should be asking him what he wants to do, not telling him what we think he should do.

The point of prayer is not to get our own way but to align ourselves with the mind and will of God.

Recalibrate. That is what I’ve been trying to do, making adjustments in my prayer life. Stop myself from just running into God’s “room” and blurting out my ideas as to what needs to be done, like a little kid who runs to his daddy with his childish ideas. Instead I come first of all seeking and listening for his thoughts on the matter at hand.

So the scenario in Matthew 14 could have read, “and the disciples, seeing the need of the crowd for food, went to Jesus and asked him, ‘what should we do in this situation? We can’t come up with any viable solution, but Jesus, we are sure you’ve thought of something else because that is what you do, what you are good at. Would you let us know what your thoughts are so we can meet the needs we see?’” And then listen for his answer.

So the scenario in my prayer life could look a lot like that too, with practice. From that form of entrance into God’s presence, we can then move to the next “paragraph” in our prayer (Matthew 6:9, 10).