When Faith Calls

I looked through the paperwork again. A feeling of uneasiness began to swell. Sure enough, I had made a mistake. The realization of my error was now setting in. The facts were clear. My error could potentially cost my client money. I felt a wave of emotion flush through my whole body. I felt terrible. I was heartsick. What should I do? My mind was racing. My heart felt like a lead weight. Any other good that I was currently experiencing was now soured by my present distress. Maybe I should just keep quiet? Should I call my client? “Lord, what should I do”?

What do you do when you face heart-wrenching disappointments? What do you do when your faith is tested? On that day I remember wanting to flee. I wished I could run away. Hiding under a rock seemed attractive. Taking a “time out” out of life sounded so appealing. When I face trials, I will often jump back and forth from “faith” thoughts” to “flesh” thoughts.

· Faith thoughts give me courage… flesh thoughts invite me to cower.

· Faith thoughts lead me to face the facts…flesh thoughts look to finagle the facts

· Faith thoughts encourage me to admit my failures…flesh thoughts prompt me to hide my failures

· Faith thoughts live in the painful tension of the moment…flesh thoughts seek to numb the pain

· Faith thoughts flee to Him for refuge…flesh thoughts seeks relief in something other than Him

· Faith thoughts find rest at His feet…flesh thoughts resist Him, vigilant to protect my pride

I’ve been praying, “Lord, what is it you want me to learn about faith”? “What is it you want me to learn about trusting you”? Faith sees what the eyes cannot see. Faith hears what the ears cannot hear. Faith touches where hands cannot reach. Faith tastes real life when life is hard to stomach. Faith is a sense, yet it transcends my senses. Faith is the aroma of heaven yet it can have the stench of death on earth. Faith gives comfort although it is not always comfortable. Faith gives safety, yet it does not always feel safe.

Faith feels, yet it is more than a feeling. Faith flows – it frees - it flies. Faith is unfathomable. Faith cries. Faith is consuming. Faith calls; faith soothes and give me light. Faith watches and waits. Faith lifts my head. Faith is the victory and by it I overcome. Faith assures my hopes and gives grounding to my dreams. It is by faith that I walk and faith convinces me of things not seen. But best of all, faith connects…yes, faith connects me to Him. Faith connects His heart to mine. Faith connects my thoughts to His thoughts. Faith connects my soul to Him and I am whole.

Faith always finds the Father, only to find the Father was never lost. Faith feasts on His mercy and falls at His feet. Faith sees His tears and faith feels His touch. Faith bathes in His blood, gobbles up His grace and finds it is enough. Faith wonders at His wounds and walks in His ways. Faith finds His robe of righteousness so warm and just my size. Faith finds His joy. Faith assures me that I am His delight. Faith elicits his pleasure and hears His words, “You will be alright”.
Faith called that day. The Lord gave me the faith to call my client. But the best call I made that day was to the Lord. Who will you call today?

The Free Heart

A story is told about a basket of apples sitting on a table in a convent school. There was a sign on the basket that said, “Take only one. God is watching.” On the other end of the table, there was a plate of cookies. On the plate, there was a note in a child’s handwriting that said, “Eat all the cookies you want. God is watching the apples.”

Obviously, the message for us is in this anecdote is not about apples and cookies. It prompted me to consider how we handle our desires for wanting more in life. Do you find yourself wanting more in life? I think we all want more but many times we are afraid of pursuing it. Do you know what it is that keeps you from pursuing more of the life God has for you? Do you feel guilty for wanting more? Or perhaps you are hesitant of pursuing more because you are afraid of others noticing? What is the “more” you really want? Can you name what the “more” is?
The Scriptures are replete with men and women who wanted more.

- Moses wanted more than palace pleasures and picked up a staff
- Abraham wanted more and made love to Sarah when he was a 100
- David wanted more and he picked up some rocks
- Jonathon wanted more and picked a best friend instead of a crown
- Nehemiah wanted more and risked sharing his heart with the king
- John the Baptist wanted more and lost his head
- Peter wanted more and got out of the boat
- A prostitute wanted more and wiped Jesus her tears of his feet with her hair
- Jesus wanted more for you and me and was nailed naked on a tree

The Christian life is about wanting more. The Christian life is about pursuing more. The great men and women of faith all wanted more; and we, just like them, may we end our days still longing for more.

For me, the “more” I have wanted lately is to live life out of a “free heart”. Sometimes, I feel like my heart is a magnet, daily attracting a plethora of anxieties. Bad news or strained relationships add stress to feelings of guilt and disappointment. Pressures to perform and the pull to please others can leave my heart shackled with others expectations. My heart was never designed to carry the load I put it through.

However, when my heart is free I’m not afraid. When my heart is free I am not overwhelmed. When my heart is free, I can find rest even in the midst of chaos. The free heart is not intimidated by life’s hassles and demands. The free heart feels and engages in life. The free heart sees God for who He is. The free heart believes God for what He says. The free heart trusts. The free heart obeys. As the psalmist boldly declares, “I run in the path of your commandments, for you have set my heart free”.

Jesus knows the chronic nature of our problem and bids us to “Cast all our cares on Him, because He cares for us.” He welcomes the weight of our overburdened hearts with His plea to “Come to me all who are weak and heavy laden, and I will refresh you”.

One of the greatest gifts from God is a “free heart”
The more I want today is a free heart? A heart that is free to surrender to Him. How about you? Does your heart feel free today? If not, what is that is weighing your heart down? Will you join me today in rolling all those burdens onto Him?

And by the way, if you want more cookies, help yourself.

Preach The Gospel To Yourself

Do you remember the first time the Gospel message gripped you? I recall how unbelievable it seemed. For me, it felt like the Holy had healed the unholy. The guilty was now without guile. I am thankful that the Gospel is not just a message for the “lost”. The Gospel message is also for the “found”. The Gospel was never meant to just lead me one time to the Savior. The Gospel is to lead me every day to the Savior. The Gospel is for the here and now – for life in the present.

The Gospel means “Good News”. I need to hear the Good News. I need to hear the Good News everyday…I need to preach the Gospel to myself.

I unfortunately experience periods of time where my mind re-plays messages from the past. Theses messages easily breed discouragement and despair. Instances of disappointment merge with memories and feelings of fear or shame are birthed. Martin Lloyd Jones diagnosed my problem when he said, “…most of your unhappiness is due to the fact that you are listing to yourself instead of talking to yourself.”

How about you? Do you listen to yourself or do you talk to yourself? If you listen to yourself, what are the messages you are listening to? My desire is for God to filter the internal messages I listen to. My desire is to tell myself the Good News. My desire is to preach the Gospel to myself.

I’ve cited below some of the Gospel message I have been preaching to myself.

• The Good News is that God unconditionally loves me. He really does. He does not love me just when I do the right thing. His love for me is not based on my performance. He does not love me “in spite” of who I am. He loves me just as I am.
• The Good News is that I have been adopted into His family forever. He is my Abba (my daddy). He will always be my daddy. He made me a part of His wonderful family. He is always watching me. My eternal relationship has already started and it exists in the present moment.

• The Good News is that I am completely forgiven. Because of the horrible death that my brother, Jesus, voluntarily pursued on my behalf, my Father does not see one tiny spec of sin when He looks at me. The only thing he asks me to do with my sin is to confess it.

• The Good News is that He values me. He doesn’t need me, but He values me. He knows me and is interested in everything about me (even the number of the hairs on my head). He has given me a unique personality, spiritual gifting and distinctive circumstances with countless opportunities to honor and glorify Him.

• The Good News is that He is sovereign and His purposes will always prevail. He has had a purpose and a plan from the beginning and He is carrying it forth perfectly. He has amazingly woven my short life into the fabric of this plan. There is nothing that surprises Him or can thwart Him. What He promises He will do.

• The Good News is that I am secure for eternity. While I will experience trials, hardships, disappointments and failures in life, my soul can be at rest and peace. The sufferings of the present will be nothing compared with the glory that I will experience in eternity.

And there is more Good News - what else do you need to hear when you preach the Gospel to yourself?

Questions Jesus Asked...And Still Does

Jesus was a master at asking questions. Sometimes he asked tough questions. Sometimes they were tender. Sometimes his questions were rebukes; sometimes they were rhetorical. One question from the lips of Jesus could lay open the hearts of his listeners. Below are some questions Jesus asked those he interacted with.

• "…why do you worry about clothes?”

• “…why did you doubt?”

• "Why do you notice the little piece of dust in your friend's eye, but you don't notice the big piece of wood in your own eye?

• “So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? “

• “Woman, where are your accusers? Has no man condemned you?”

• “Why do you call Me, Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?”

• "But what about you?"…"Who do you say I am?"

• "Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?

• “Why are you testing Me?”

• “Do you have a hardened heart?”

• “If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you?”

• “Do you love me?”

What question do you feel He is asking you?

The Grace Gap

My “Grace Gap” deals with how open my heart is to receive God’s grace. He is alive in us when our hearts are gapingly open to the outpouring of His grace. God’s grace is abundant, is freely given and readily available . He longs daily to grace our lives.

Unfortunately, our hearts are often closed. Or, the opening or gap available to His grace is so small that we offer Him little access and the flow of grace is restricted. We easily spend much of our life filling our gaping need for grace with self serving efforts. We seek ways to satisfy ourselves; pursue practices to prove our sufficiency or spin stories to show our significance.

How then is God’s grace restricted from flowing freely? Where there is no need, there is no grace. Grace never flows where sufficiency exists. Grace is always ready to pour liberally to the desperate heart. God’s grace, like gravity, flows downward toward poverty of spirit, humility, brokenness or weakness.

This was the case with the Macedonian believers:
“… we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.

Their Grace Gap was huge! They opened wide their hearts. They knew the reality of their poverty and yet the gap in their heart was wide open,, allowing His grace to overflow.

Grace only flows when the weight of my neediness is great. The Grace Gap in my life is proportionate to the recognition of my need for help. Self sufficiency repels grace like water off a ducks back.

May your heart be open wide for His grace today.

“Gaping need overflows with gushing grace – humble hearts reflect Jesus face”

Identity Theft Is Not New

Identity theft is not new. It started in the Garden, caused confusion and turmoil for generations in our families and continues to cost us dearly in our daily lives.

Our enemy has stolen our identity. Have you taken it back?

There are different ways the enemy steals our identity. One way is when we replace our roles in life with our identity. This week, you and I will live out many roles (the role of a husband; the role of a parent; the role of an occupation; roles in our churches). When I allow my significance and value become attached to these roles, I’ve lost my identity.

Another way my identity stolen is through letting others define me. The thought of having another person being disappointed in me or perceive me a certain way can create incredible internal turmoil. I can then rush to re-create or carve an image or identity to soothe my pain and pride.

There’s an old Native American story of a young brave who happened upon a nest of golden eagle eggs. Deciding to be mischievous, he takes one of the eggs and places in with the eggs of a prairie chicken. The youngling eagle emerges and grows up with his fellow prairie chickens waddling through the dirt and pecking for tidbits of food.

One day, the young eagle saw a great shadow cast across the ground and with an upward gaze saw a golden eagle soaring magnificently across the sky. “That’s so beautiful,” the eagle said to a friend. “What is it?” “Why, that’s an eagle,” said the knowing friend, “the chief of the birds; but forget it. You could never be like that.” The eagle followed his friend’s advice, never giving it a second thought.

Eventually it died, having lived its entire life thinking it was a prairie chicken.

Reclaiming my identity, is not exercising the power of positive thinking. Rather, reclaiming my identity is a process of spiritual engagement that demolishes strongholds of mistaken identity and aligning myself with the truth of who I am in Christ.

May He alone be the wind under your wings. Something to Think About….

“…for the weapons of our warfare of not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” II Corinthians 10:4-5

(Eagle fable told by Ted Engstrom in "The Pursuit of Exellence")

“We may not live in the past, but the past lives in us.” Holocaust survivor

Don't Take Yourself Too Seriously

I heard a friend of mine say, “I take God seriously, but I don’t take myself too seriously”. That statement helped me feel the gravity of being serious about my relationship with God, but to lighten up on myself in how I often approach life. (My mother told me that even as a baby, I was serious.)

Psalm 126:2 says, “Then our mouth was filled with laughter…” Laughter is a great way that helps me not to take myself too seriously. Laughing about myself and having fun with friends helps me to keep life in perspective. (However, laughing “about myself”, is not the same thing as laughing “at myself. Laughing “at myself” is a form of self abasement)

The late Paul Newman is known to have stated that he didn’t take himself too seriously. In fact, Newman was having fun with a friend on Christmas Eve in 1970 when they decided to whip up their own salad dressing. The evening frivolity grew into creating a huge vat of their unique blend of salad dressing. The vat was so large it required being stirred by a canoe oar. As a joke, they began filling old wine bottles with the dressing and delivered them to neighbors as Christmas presents. One of the neighbors was the up and coming Martha Stewart, who shared the dressing with a grocer. The demand grew “Newman’s Own” salad dressing was birthed from a night of laughter and fun. Newman’s foundation donated over $200 million to charities last year. Newman wrote in his memoir, There are three rules for running a business; fortunately we don’t know any of them….our management philosophy was, ‘If we ever have a plan, we’re through’.”

Next time life feels heavy, join with me in “taking God serious” about His promises and go create something fun in the kitchen. Something to think about….

"Heart Friends"

I learned recently from a friend who returned from a visit in an Asian culture there are considered 3 types of friends: ‘talking friends’ (those you only chat csaually with), ‘bread friends’ (those who are only around for what they can get from you) and ‘heart friends’, who are true friends.

We all know that having a 'heart friend' is truly hard to find. A heart friend is the kind of friend who is with you in your bad days and ‘tells you your faults to your face like a mirror’. (Prov. 27:6 - "Faithful are the wounds of a friend..."). We all know 'heart friends' are rare.

I'm thankful for the heart friends I have had at different times in my life and may God bless you with such friends in the coming year.