Make no mistake, Jesus established an upside down kingdom relative to our world. Oh that we would value what He values. It would start a revolution.
Sitting down, He called the twelve and *said to them, “ If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” Mark 9:35
Nothing. That's what we are without love. It is the very thing that motivated God to create you and I so that we could experience love and it's many facets. Just as it was and still is the motive for all that God does, it must be our motive for all we do as well. I often pray this prayer for help with this, "Jesus, would you love people through me today? Helper, would you help me to love well today?" Simple. Direct. Effective. Love well today and be "Something." #love #motive
What if I have the gift of prophecy, am blessed with knowledge and insight to all the mysteries, or what if my faith is strong enough to scoop a mountain from it's bedrock, yet I live without love? If so, I am nothing. 1 Cor 13:2
I like salt on my food. It adds flavor and heightens my experience. Jesus liked salt too. Be confident that everywhere you find yourself today, you are adding value, bringing more flavor and enhancing the environment because of His abiding presence in you.
You are the salt of the earth. Matt 5:13
"Alone in an RV on the I35 somewhere in North Texas. It sounds horrible when you say it like that, but it is where I find myself today. Much like the character from a Saturday Night Live skit with Chris Farley playing the affable and intense motivational speaker, Matt Foley, who was living in a van down by the river. True, for me, it is only for a season and part of it is by choice and part of it is the result of bad timing. None-the-less, here I am, at least for a couple of weeks until I finish my class and make the drive to Nashville to join my family and look for open doors there."
This is an excerpt from my journal this morning that pretty much sums it up at this time. It seems as if God has closed the doors for us to stay here in DFW. That was our earnest prayer, "God, open and close the doors that You desire for us. Show us the way." He is doing just that. Annette and Rachel are in Nashville and are already thriving among friends and family. It's one clear indicator that we need to plant there as a family and explore opportunities for work. So the adventure in faith continues. One thing is for certain, it's much easier to teach and preach faith than it is to walk it out.
I have had my moments of anger, bitterness, disappointment and unforgiveness toward both men and institutions, however, I made a commitment to follow in Jesus' steps many years ago and that relationship throws open the door for the Holy Spirit to gently, and not so gently, remind me that I must walk in the same forgiveness, grace and mercy as I require from others. So daily I make a deliberate choice to forgive, to let go and set my gaze forward to what God has for us in our next season. So it is that I look into an uncertain future with confident expectation that God will honor His promise that He has a future and a hope already laid out for our family and this is just one more leg of our journey.
I will join Annette and Rachel in a couple of weeks after I have finished my final grad class work and honor a preaching invitation here in the area. In the meantime I will choose to die each day to my unhealthy desire for validation and my need to be vindicated. Why? Because that's exactly what Jesus did. It's not the easiest path, but it's the right path. In the end, our experience will be nothing more than some lessons learned, wisdom gained and a couple of chapters added to my book. The important thing is that I maintain the perspective that God is in control, Jesus is still on the throne and I have been given a "Comforter, Counselor and Helper" in the person of the Holy Spirit who abides with me through the good and the bad days.
For those who may read this little piece, may you find the grace to forgive when everything in you cries out for vindication, validation and even revenge. May you find the peace of God that passes all understanding, even when it doesn't make sense. May you find the power to extend mercy in the same way that you require it.
Grace & Peace Phil 3:10
Others May, You Cannot
By Buell H. Kazee
If God has called you to be really like Christ in all your spirit, He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility and put on you such demands of obedience, that He will not allow you to follow other Christians, and in many ways He will seem to let other good people do things which He will not let you do.
Others can brag on themselves, and their work, on their success, on their writings, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing, and if you begin it, He will lead you into some deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all you good works.
The Lord will let others be honored and put forward, and keep you hid away in obscurity because He wants to produce some choice fragrant fruit for His glory, which can be produced only in the shade.
Others will be allowed to succeed in making money, but it is likely God will keep you poor because he wants you to have something far better than gold and that is a helpless dependence on Him; that He may have the privilege of supplying your needs day by day - out of an unseen treasury.
God will let others be great, but He will keep you small. He will let others do a great work for Him and get credit for it, but He will make you work and toil on without knowing how much you are doing; and then to make your work still more precious, He will let others get the credit for the work you have done, and this will make your reward ten times greater when He comes.
The Holy Spirit will put strict watch over you, with a jealous love, and will rebuke you for little words and feelings, or for wasting your time, which other Christians never seem distressed over.
So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign, and has a right to do what He pleases with His own, and He will not explain to you a thousand things which may puzzle you reason in His dealing with you. He will wrap you up in a jealous love, and let other people say and do many things that you cannot do or say.
Settle it forever, that you are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit, and that He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue, or chaining your hand, or closing your eyes, in ways that others are not dealt with.
Now, when you are so possessed with the Living God that you are, in your secret heart, pleased and delighted over this particular personal, private, jealous guardianship and management of the Holy Spirit over your life, you will have found the vestibule of heaven.
-From Faith is the Victory
"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." I have to admit, I loved the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986). That flick was a one day adventure on steroids, wide open with the pedal to the metal. It encompassed many of the teen shenanigans that I myself employed to keep life interesting in the strange season of life called the teenage years. Apart from the movie and it's questionable, but comical content, I like the line stated by Ferris as a philosophical observation about the value of life itself.
Life at 100 mph can do a number on you and cause stress, fear, anxiety and disorientation. You look up and days, weeks and in some cases years have passed. I don't want life to go by in a blurr and I awaken only to find that I missed so much that Jesus had to offer. No need to live a life of regret. One of the most impactful spiritual disciplines (most people hate the "D Word") I have encountered was discussed and written about in a series of letters by a Spanish Monk named Brother Lawrence in the 1600's. Sometime later, a missionary to the Philippines, Frank Laubach, also wrote about his experiences of practicing the presence of God in more modern context.
For me practicing the presence of God is simply keeping God/Jesus/Spirit in your conscious thoughts throughout any given day. It's not deep, complex or advanced spirituality... but it's not easy either. We are plagued by a myriad of distractions that cause our minds to be occupied by other things. It's an ongoing experiment of trying tokeep Him in your thoughts while doing the most minute things. When there is some measure of success you experience the peace that passes all understanding and it's almost like you are carried along throughout your day. I even notice that people engage me with friendly smiles and nods of acknowledgement. It lifts not only the person doing it but those around you as the fruit of God's Spirit flows naturally out of you. You leak out the goodness of God that's in you and it touches every person you encounter.
Attempt this holy experiment on a practical level by humming a familiar hymn or worship song that causes you to speak or sing directly to Him not just about Him. Talk conversationally with Him as though He is your closest companion... because He is. Bring Him into everything you do i.e. your work, class and home. Make Him the center of the most mundane of tasks and that moment will become a holy moment because He is there. Talk to Him about the people that you personally encounter during a typical day. Instead of only thinking thoughts to yourself, turn your inner monologue into a dialogue between you and your heavenly Father. He is near and He's waiting to spend quality time with you.
Spend this moment, this hour, this day enjoying His presence by practicing His presence. You have nothing to lose, but so much to gain. Enjoy your holy experiment in growing in grace because "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."
Grace & Peace
I'm never surprised when, as a follower of Jesus, the bottom drops out and hurt happens. I am surprised that sometimes our last resort for healing is the Healer Himself... JESUS. Jesus is our Source, man is just a ReSource. #firstthingsfirst
You've got to love big city commutes... or not. Just when you get up to speed 200 sets of tail lights go on at the same time in a red blaze of glory signaling you to slow it down and get comfortable because you're going to be here awhile. As the temperature gauge on your car rises, so too does your frustration level.
Waiting in line. It's never a joyful experience for me. After all I have places to be, people to see and things to do. Waiting is a waste of my time, right? Surely, Jesus would be just as frustrated as me... or would he?
What did Jesus do when he was put in a situation where he had to wait? He took a nap. He rested. He redeemed the moment i.e. no wasted time.
The next time you find yourself stuck, waiting or in a place of no movement, redeem the time. Could it be that God has allowed you that moment to rest, pray, think or restore? Bring intentionality and purpose into what might have been a wasted moment or season. Acknowledge Jesus in the time of waiting and you will discover a purpose for it.
Stuck in traffic? Worship. Stuck in a line at the DMV, Target or Walmart? Pray. Stuck in a season of life with no apparent movement? Stand on the promises. A waiting moment does not have to be a wasted moment. Redeem the time for the glory of Christ.
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Eph 5:15-16
Words
Anything can be pushed to an extreme which renders it absurd. However, don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. The words we speak are powerful. God created the planet with words. Jesus calmed the storm and raised the dead with words. Kings lopped off heads with a word.
You get the idea. What do the words that spill out of you say about what you believe? They say more than you think. We really do leak out what we are full of. Are your words betraying you? If so, you may need to put a guard on your mouth. Speak words that build up and bring life. Find the good and the positive in your situation and bring it to light with your words.
Don't run to the other extreme either. Life happens. Things break. We live in a fallen world. These things need to be acknowledged, addressed and discussed. After a good rant, turn the tables and declare, "...but God!" Life is lived in the tension between the extremes. Speak life today!
God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did. Rm 4:17
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