Holy Spirit

Old News? No, Good News!

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Have you ever been in a church service, heard a basic Gospel message, and thought, “I’ve heard this before. I know all this. Can’t we move on?!? Give me something that’s practical for being a better person at work or loving my family more.”

I have. I know I’m terrible, but I’ve had those thoughts. Sorry.

For the past several months, I’ve been trying to share (with any who would listen) the Good News about the all-sufficiency of Jesus. Recently, I’ve tried to move on to different topics, all the while feeling like I need to hear this all-sufficient message again and again… daily, if need be.

Here’s the all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ:

In His death (and, of course, resurrection), we have life… life eternal.
Because Jesus won, I’m free to lose.
Because Jesus was strong, I’m free to be weak.
Because Jesus was someone, I’m free to be no one.
Because Jesus was the ultimate leader, I’m free and content to be a follower.
Because Jesus was (is) extraordinary, I’m free and content to be ordinary.
Because Jesus succeeded, I am free to fail.
Because “It is finished”, the work is done.

That’s right. The work is done. It is finished. The righteousness of God has been fulfilled in Christ death:

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (1 Corinthians 5:21)

In Him, we become “the righteousness of God”! This is such good news! Can you grasp that!?! Because of the love of God in Jesus Christ, there’s no more trying to be a better person. Jesus was good enough (understatement) for all of us. There’s no more toeing the line or stepping up your commitment. In His great love, Jesus was committed to you and I, and that’s enough. No more to-do lists. The requirements have all been met.

If we truly grasp the love of God in Christ and what has been accomplished for us, we are compelled to live for God and not for ourselves. We are compelled to obedience; it is not a chore or a burden. We don’t gravitate toward the things of this world system or toward sin, but instead are drawn by the Holy Spirit to the things of God.

We, as Christians, talk quite a bit about “crucifying self” and we talk about it as if it were something we could accomplish. The Apostle Paul said, “I HAVE BEEN crucified with Christ…” (Galatians 2:20). It was something that occured… that happened to him… and it was ongoing. Read the same passage out of The Message, a paraphrase of the Bible which captures the meaning and context of passages quite well:

What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that. Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily. (Galatians 2:19-21, The Message)

I asked yesterday, “How do you think God feels about you?” The majority of folks replied that they felt God was disappointed in them. It proabably wouldn’t take long to discover this was because of past decisions or poor behavior. But it’s so sad that we’ve been led to believe by the enemy of our souls, Satan, (or worse, the Church), that we are a disappointment to God.

Please hear this: Despite poor decisions or bad behavior, you and I are as acceptable to God as Billy Graham, Mother Teresa, or the Apostle Paul. He loves us just as much as He loves them. If you are “in Christ”, your past, present, and future failures, poor decisions, and ugly behavior is covered by the blood of Jesus.

Again, if we truly grasp the love of God in Christ and what has been accomplished for us, it should bring tremendous freedom to any and all areas of our lives. In essence, it’s His love that sets us free.

This is the Gospel… the Good News… and we should never tire of hearing it.

Out of Control?

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Do you think the world is just out of control? Reading the headlines, watching your favorite news channel, and hearing others speak, it would certainly seem so.

Ground assaults. Airliners shot out of the sky. Senseless tragedies. Wildfires. Endless, mindless stabbings. It seems so out of control.

But take heart and take heed…

Who else has held the oceans in his hand?
Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers?
Who else knows the weight of the earth
or has weighed the mountains and hills on a scale?
Who is able to advise the Spirit of the Lord?
Who knows enough to give him advice or teach him?
Has the Lord ever needed anyone’s advice?
Does he need instruction about what is good?
Did someone teach him what is right
or show him the path of justice?
No, for all the nations of the world are but a drop in the bucket.
They are nothing more than dust on the scales.
He picks up the whole earth as though it were a grain of sand.
(Isaiah 40:12-15, NLT)

God is trust-worthy. He is worship-worthy.

I’m trusting Him today. How about you?

I hear You call my name…

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I’m listening to a song by B.J. Putnam entitled “Here For You” and the “bridge” of the song is repeated over and over. It simply states:

“I hear You call my name.
I’ll never be the same”

If you ever had God call you (and most of you reading this have), you know this is true. Once you grasp the moment in front of you… once you heed His call and take His hand… once you give your life to Jesus, everything changes. You are never the same.

It’s not that you all of a sudden have to follow all the Christian rules. That would be religion. That’s not it. At all. It’s not that you have to stop cussing, or drinking, or smoking… or start giving to charities or helping little old ladies across the street. Again, if you’ve never heeded the call of God in your life, trust me… that’s not it either.

It is recognizing that your way isn’t the right way. It’s allowing God to wipe the slate clean by the blood of Jesus, giving you a fresh start and eternal life. It’s a refreshing freedom not found anywhere or in anything but Him. It is simply surrendering your life to God, moment by moment, more and more. Romans 12:1 in The Message paraphrase of the Bible really says it well:

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.”

That’s what it means to embrace the call of God your life. That’s how you worship God everyday, moment-by-moment.

Beside the initial call that makes you come forward in a church service (or bow your heart somewhere/anywhere else) to accept the free gift that God offers, namely eternal life, there seems to be other opportunities to give more and more of yourself. Different doctrines call it different things: Consecration, Baptism of the Holy Spirit, Entire Sanctification, and other terms. Different strokes for different strokes, I guess. However, for each denomination, it includes yielding… surrendering… submitting… to more of God’s leadership in your life.

B.J. Putnam talks about it in his own words in the video below. It’s the guitar tutorial of the song, but he also gives a brief backstory behind the song.

It is answering the call.

Here’s the lyrics of part the song:

“I am here for You…
To worship You.
This moment will not pass me by.
‘Cause I’m in love with You,
In awe of You,
I’m giving everything…
I’m giving everything away.

I hear You call my name.
I’ll never be the same.”

I hear Him. Do you?

What is He saying to you?

A Perfect Storm…

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During the Inspiration Cruise to Alaska that Sharon and I were on last week, Dr. David Jeremiah was the headline speaker. Phillips, Craig, and Dean each had morning devotions, and Michael W. Smith and Nicole Nordemann also spoke. The theme or main topic seemed (for me) to be dealing with fear.

Dr. Jeremiah preached three times and each time spoke on fear: “What Are You Afraid Of?”, “Fear of Failure”, etc. Although I’m not the fearful type (at least I thought so), my ears were perked up the entire trip because I was anticipating hearing from God during the trip.

In one of the sessions, Dr. Jeremiah taught from Mark 4:35-41 where Jesus calms the storm. We’ve all heard the story plenty of times and we think we know it well. I know I did.

Then Dr. Jeremiah said something profound: “A perfect storm can follow perfect obedience. Just look at the disciples of Jesus. He said, ‘Let’s go to the other side.’ They followed. They were obedient. And a storm ensued.”

I had never thought of that.

Many times folks think that the perfect will of God is a safe place. While it’s true that God is with you while you walk in the perfect will of God and therefore, and you can trust Him fully, the perfect will of God may be a dangerous place. It may be a risky place. It may make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

In all likelihood, it will require sacrifice and huge steps of faith. And as Dr. Jeremiah points out, although a “perfect storm” may result, the words of Jesus and God Almighty ring true:

“Do not fear” (Exodus 20:20, Isaiah 35:4, 41:10)
“I am with you” “I will be with you” (Genesis 28:15, Exodus 3:12, Isaiah 41:10)
“Why are you still afraid?” (Mark 4:40)
“Be strong and courageous” (Deuteronomy 31:6-7, Joshua 1:6-7,9,18, 1 Corinthians 16:13)
“I will go before you and be your rear guard” (Isaiah 52:12)
“I will never leave you or forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6,8, Joshua 1:5, Hebrews 13:5)

Although a perfect storm may follow perfect obedience, the answer is perfect love.

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear.” (1 John 4:18)

What am I becoming?

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Today is Kaitlynn’s birthday. She turns 18 today. Our granddaughter Kennedy reached that milestone several weeks ago. It’s definitely a landmark age. It signals the beginning of adulthood, at least in the legal eyes of most states in the union. It’s a crossroads of sorts for most young people. Just graduating high school, they begin to shape their futures.

The question is posed to them from childhood: What do you want to be when you grow up? When you turn 18, the rubber meets the road. Do you take a year off from school, get a job, and try to “find yourself”? Or do you continue on with your education at college?

Kaitlynn and Kennedy, it certainly matters what decision you make, but it’s not the most important decision you will make. Since God can redeem any situation and use it for His glory, He is more concerned about molding and shaping me and you into someone who resembles His Son. As you and I have heard before, He is more concerned about our character than our comfort.

God is not as concerned with what you decide to do with the rest of your life as He is with what you become. That is the most important issue. The rest will take care of itself.

Working in construction or in fashion… digging ditches or serving on city council… teaching children or conducting an orchestra… through trials and storms… through times of overwhelming blessing… He wants us more Christ-like. That is His goal, plain and simple.

If and when He accomplishes that in our lives (and He will), He will be glorified in the process.

So the question is: What am I becoming?

It’s a good question to ponder, whether we’re turning 18 or 78.

It is what it is…

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“It is what it is.”

That has to be one of the most (over)used phrases or sentences in recent memory.

Think about what it means:

Basically, it means that this is life, and you need to accept it. Right?

“That’s life.”
“Take it or leave it.”
“C’est la vie.”
“It is what it is.”

But as I heard it the other day, I thought of what God said to Moses.

You know the story. God calls Moses to be the instrument through which God brings freedom to His people in bondage. But Moses has excuses. Numerous excuses. He asks God:

“Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” (Exodus 3:13)

Moses isn’t thinking about going to Pharoah here. He’s talking about going to his own people and rallying support, afraid that they’ll laugh him put of town. And God responds:

God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” (v.14)

“I am who I am.” I think often about the meaning of that phrase or sentence. To be honest, it puzzles me. It’s not something that rolls off our tongues. Moses had probably never heard that before, nor would he again. But it would be a sentence that would resonate through his life forever as he walked by faith.

It’s similar to “It is what it is.” But “It is what it is” is almost said in resignation. “I am who I am” is not the same thing. At all.

I just came off an Alaskan cruise with Michael W. Smith and Friends by Inspiration Cruises. It was fabulous, to make an understatement. One of the “friends” was Nicole Nordeman, who has to be one of the most anointed artists I’ve heard recently. She was introduced by Michael as one “with a quiet and gentle spirit.” She was that… and more. You could’ve heard a pin drop and she talked and sang.image

Her most memorable song, for me, was “I Am”. It is the story of growing up and God being with her every step of the way. The choruses of each verse speak of who God was (is) for her along the way.

As a child:

“And When I was weak unable to speak, 
still I could call You by name, 
and I said ‘Elbow healer, Superhero,
 come if You can,’ and You said ‘I am’ ”

As a teenager:

“When I was weak, unable to speak, 
still I could call You by name, 
and I said ‘Heart-ache Healer, Secret-keeper,
 be my Best Friend’ and You said ‘I am.’ ”

As a young woman, growing in adulthood:

“When I am weak, unable to speak, 
still I will call You by name. 
’Oh Shepherd, Savior, Pasture-maker,
 hold on to my hand’, and You say ‘I am.’ ”

As an adult:

“I will be weak, unable to speak, 
still I will call You by name 
’Creator, Maker, Life-sustainer,
 Comforter, Healer, My Redeemer,
 Lord and King, Beginning and
 the End’, ‘I am, yes, I am.’ ”

The song, the lyrics brought the phrase “I am who I am” into clear focus.

He is who you and I need Him to be at any given moment.

Need a healer? He says, “I am.”
Need a friend? He says, “I am.”
Need someone to hold you… to direct you… to protect you? He says, “I am.”

Need a Savior to rescue you?

He says, “I am.”

Humble pie

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I wonder what the Lord is trying to teach me…

Last October, I made plans and surprised Sharon on our 15th wedding anniversary with an Alaskan cruise this summer with Inspiration Cruises. I planned it with a couple extra days in Seattle before the cruise to sightsee and a couple of days after the cruise as well. Being an Inspiration Cruise, I planned the excursions and even signed up for the “Choir Track” for Sharon. She gets to practice with Michael W. Smith and perform with him with the rest of the choir in an onboard concert and in a concert in Juneau, Alaska. The cruise also features David Jeremiah, Phillips, Craig, and Dean, Nicole Nordeman, Scott Hamilton and others. It is going to be fabulous. I used miles/points and we’re flying free to Seattle and back. We even arranged for Sharon’s son, Adam, to be in town to house-sit and dog-sit for Bella. It was all well-planned, if I do say so myself.

This past Sunday, Sharon stumbled coming down some steps at church and badly sprained her foot. It’s the same foot which she injured two years ago in an anniversary trip to San Francisco. We went to Med-Express Sunday afternoon, they took X-rays and found nothing broken. They prescribed rest, ice, compression, and elevation. That’s what you do with any sprain. And we walked out of there with Sharon on crutches. We iced it for two days and Sharon tried packing for the trip. She did virtually all of her packing and then rested it and iced it some more.

Yesterday morning, she could barely move and her other leg hurt from favoring her injured one so much. I didn’t see how she was… we were… going on this trip.

I was mad. I wasn’t sure who or what I was mad at, but I was mad. Mad at Sharon (it’s not her fault!), mad that I didn’t purchase trip insurance, mad that all the planning for sightseeing was going to be spent driving around in the car… or worse, we weren’t going at all.

She called an sceduled an appointment with Orthepedic Associates at Augusta Health. They did x-rays as well, which were negative, prescribed the same rest, ice, compression, and elevation, and sent her to get an “air-cast” to stabilize the foot. She walked on it and now thinks she can handle the trip.

I am so wretched and so self-centered. All I could think of was how it all was going to affect me and MY plans. Life happens. Accidents happen. Stuff happens. It’s how you react that matters. I didn’t react so well. I didn’t pass this test.

I don’t want another one.

(We leave late morning. Sharon has the air-cast on her foot. I’m bloated from eating humble pie)

Nothing Else Matters

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Pastor Brandon delivered a great sermon yesterday about the requirements and rewards of following Jesus. Wholehearted devotion to Jesus has tremendous rewards… God Himself being the most wonderful… but it doesn’t come without counting the cost.

He quoted great Scripture to validate his points…

1) Acknowledge His Kingdom as more valuable than His gifts:

Luke 14:26: Love Him more, compared to everything else.
Mark 12:29-31: The Great Commandment – love God with all that we are.

2) Acknowledge His Kingdom as more valuable than yours:

Luke 14:27: Carry your cross, the instrument and of death. In our case, the symbol of death of self.
Mark 8:34-38: The paradox of hanging on to our lives in this world system causes us to actually lose what’s really important.

3) Acknowledge the eternal as more valuable than the temporal.

Luke 14:33, Matt 13:44-46, Phil 3:18-20: The kingdom of heaven has tremendous rewards, both in the life to come and in the here and now.

But as a believer, I never knew how to get there. I never knew how to get to that level of commitment. I thought I knew. I tried harder. I worked harder. I even prayed more and read my Bible more. But somehow I knew there was more to it than that.

After making these great points, Pastor Brandon stressed that this was not a “works” message. He stressed that it is “the intention of the heart” that matters, and he asked us to think about and pray the Scripture found in Ephesians 3:16-19:

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. (NLT)

To me, this was the key. Not actually the verse or the prayer, but what’s contained within. You see, all the good intentions in the world won’t make it happen. All the thought that humanity can conjure up won’t help us make that leap from merely a churchgoer to a authentic follower of Jesus. All the acknowledgement and commitment (or re-commitment) that I can muster will not help me follow-through and be victorious. It is the “intention of the heart.”

It is a fresh revelation of the love of God. It is knowing IN MY HEART OF HEARTS that God loves and accepts me as I am that produces undying devotion and compels me to live my life wholeHEARTedly for Jesus. It’s not perfect behavior, to be sure, but I am compelled by something I can’t fully verbalize, to live a life for the One who lived and died for me. It is a freedom to be “me”, knowing that will be enough.

That sounds like a resignation to stagnation, but what it produces instead is a freedom to grow, blossom and fly. It is a freedom to risk. It is a freedom to try (and fail, possibly) because I am walking with the One who succeeded and is ultimately victorious.

In essence, I am BEGINNING to understand how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. That is how I get from head knowledge to heart knowledge. That is how my commitment moves the eighteen inches from my head to my heart. A fresh revelation of the love of God. That is Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians because it makes all the difference in the world… literally.

I don’t need to move Jesus up on my priority list. I don’t even need to count the cost. Once I realize and internalize how much God loves and accepts me, I don’t need to evaluate my commitment. It automatically occurs. It just happens. There’s nothing else on my list. The costs become immaterial.

Nothing else matters.

Looking, listening, and praying…

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As I mentioned in earlier posts, I was up in New Jersey for my granddaughter’s high school graduation. We gave her a couple of gifts and my wife Sharon asked me to write a couple of notes to go along with each gift. In my self-absorbed mind, she wanted me to impart some “wisdom” to the young lass. Ha!

I’ve mentioned that I’m trying to listen more and talk less. I’m searching for direction and confirmation. My ears and eyes are wide-open. And I’m hearing things from God. It’s a great thing. I’m hearing them from unlikely sources, too.

While staying in Jersey at my step-daughter’s home, I went imageupstairs to her bedroom to see what she was doing. She was talking with her brother in her bedroom and as I came in the room, I saw what appeared to be giant Post-It Notes stuck to her walls all around the room. She is chasing a God-given dream to pursue modeling, singing, and even acting. On each of these notes are different areas of the dream: one for modeling, one for singing, a giant note with a prayer list, one with the heading “The Dream Giver”, and so forth. When I saw these giant Post-It Notes I was flabbergasted! I was overwhelmed by the thought and imageprayer and purposeful planning that had gone into chasing her dream. I am in awe of God and what he is doing in her life.

As we were driving to a wonderful spot in North Jersey, the New Jersey Botanical Gardens at Skylands Mansion, I was telling her of a dream that I believe the Lord has given me, something that’s been building for a few years. She said one thing I may never forget. she said, “When God gives you a dream, the one thing I found out is that there will always be naysayers. You can’t listen to them.”image

If you have a dream, keep your ears and eyes open. You never know what you’ll see and hear.

Still looking, listening, and praying…

Does it even matter?!?

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As I recently posted, I’m doing more listening and less writing for the next 40 days or so.

While I’m doing so, I want to continue to post things that are meaningful to me. One such thing is this video by Andy Andrews.

Andy is a well-known author and speaker. I highly recommend listening to him and reading his books. A couple of my favorite books are The Noticer and The Traveler’s Gift. His writing is humorous, meaningful, life-changing, and extremely easy to read.

Enjoy!