Bigger isn't always better

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In our culture of super-sizing, bigger isn't always better. Size isn't important at all, especially when it comes to faith. That is, the amount of our faith not in the situation, not with the problem, and/or not in the person. Rather, faith in (knowledge and understanding) of whom we are praying to. So, faith is a clear comprehension of who our God is, not how big our problems are. As we see from the image above of the foggy path ahead of us, "faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1 ESV).  We need not worry about the fog or trying to figure everything out. God has that part already figured out. 

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We only need such a small amount of faith in our HUGE God.  Faith the size of tiny grain will suffice. Jesus said, "if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you" (Matthew 17:20 ESV). Even Jesus tells us to not be concerned with the size of the mountain (our problems), but rather focus on the source of our faith, our very BIG God, who can easily move mountains, because NOTHING is IMPOSSIBLE for GOD (Luke 1:37 ESV).

"For whatever we focus on gets bigger: if we focus on our problems, they get bigger, if we focus on our God, then our God gets bigger than our problems." (Deep Waters: Lift Your Gaze by Kim Clark)

Make sure you and your family are focused on the right thing for 2018. May the Lord continue to richly bless you and your family in the new year.

The Gift

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It was something everyone had wanted for so long. Each person had their own idea of what the gift should look like, what color the wrapping paper would be, the size and shape of the present, and the perfect colored bow.  They even smiled every time they thought about it. It gave them hope.

It was going to be beautiful once they received it!  They couldn't wait. Patiently they longed for it. And they even prayed for it. 

Then it came...not in the packaging, wrapping, or shape they expected,and the bow definitely wasn't right! And goodness, the delivery was ALL wrong! It wasn't supposed to come like this! It was promised to be perfect! And this clearly wasn't!

The waves of disappointment washed over each person and some were even angry! Enraged enough to murder! All because their gift didn't come as they envisioned it!

The gift came in the form of a baby, born from a virgin, unwed mother in a foul-smelling stable with animals mooing and snorting all around them.  

Then to make matters worse, the first people to be notified of this momentous occasion that everyone had been praying for centuries was not the nobles nor the religious leaders and scribes. Rather, the angelic host birth announcement came to a band of uneducated, dirty nomads who-hadn't-bathed-in-months caring for some dumb, smelly sheep in the middle of nowhere. That's who heard it first. Those were the Savior's first visitors to call upon him.  Not his extended family, not the rabbi's or religious leaders, but a rough-looking group of unshaven, stinky shepherds. That's who, in a excrement-filled stable of animals, first welcomed God in the flesh into this world.

That how, where, and through whom God chose to give mankind the greatest gift of all humanity.

What is your gift you are waiting for?  

Maybe it will also be delivered in a packaging, form, or wrapping that you are not expecting?  

Maybe it's in a form a trial, illness, or painful relationship? 

Whatever the form, God will give you the gift that is best for you at this time in your life.  

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Trust him with his gift to you this holiday season as you gaze into the stable, find the manager, and fix your gaze on glowing baby, your Lord and Savior. 

"He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:32 ESV)

Merry Christmas dear friends as you remember the true meaning of Christmas: "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14 ESV)

"Would you annul my judgement?"

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I was desperately praying for someone I love.  Praying God would be merciful with them. Praying this would be the final stop in the valley of the shadow of death and they would repent, turn from their sin, and run to God.  

After days and weeks of fervent prayer and fasting, on one of my runs, I heard the Lord speak to my heart...

"Would you annul my judgement?"

Sheepishly I hung my head low as the tears of sweat seeped into my eyes. The tears, like the Lord's words, burned. I wiped the sweat away from my eyes and bit my lower lip.

Then I heard...

"Am I not their eternal father?"

My stomach sank as the Lord continued...

"Would you interrupt an earthly father disciplining his child?"

I looked away as if I could avert his gaze, but Lord pressed...

"Would you question his ways?"

I just shook my head and murmured, "No."

My shoulders drooped as the Lord spoke...

"Then why are you questioning my ways, asking me to truncate the process, and lift the consequences?  These are the very things I am using to bring them closer to me."

My only recompense was silence.

"I've got this. I am big enough to work all things out for good, including this situation.  I am that BIG of a God."

"Trust me."

Smiling, I walked the rest of the way home, my gaze lifted, and prayers were now, "Your will be done, my God, your will be done."

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At Least Peter Got Out of the Boat!

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Judging others is so easy, just focus on their weaknesses and then self-righteously point out their failings. I know I can tempted by this sin as I focus not on my God, my Lord, and my Jesus, but on my fellow man.

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I look to Peter in the boat during a storm in the middle of the night and I am grateful for his example. Of all the disciples, he was the only one who got out of the boat!  He was a little messy in his leadership, but at least he took action. How many of are frozen in fear and don't get out the boat even when we hear the Lord calling to us, telling us to take that first step of faith?

Peter always seemed to come up wanting (like me), yet still pursuing His Lord. Out of the twelve in that boat, Peter was the only one who got out a perfectly good vessel and asked Jesus help him walk on water in the middle of a storm.  He had his eyes on his God in the flesh, not on the storm.

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Only when Peter diverted his focus from Jesus to the piercing pain from the waves and howling wind, he started to sink. Isn't that like us? As soon as our trial becomes too intense, we can't seem to tear our eyes from it; it consumes our entire lives.  We forget our God. But what did Jesus do with Peter? He had mercy on him, grabbed his hand and lifted him into the boat.  Then Jesus asked him, "Why did you doubt?" (Matt 14:22-23 NIV).

Isn't that just like us?

When I look to God and Jesus, there is NO doubt I come up short.  When I look to my fellow man (even Peter), I quickly point out the speck in their eye while they have to duck to avoid my plank that is about to clobber them (Matt 7:3 NIV)!

Leaders are not perfect, they are obedient to their calling.  I think we can so fervently point to other's weaknesses and then justify our own. I believe this grieves God.  "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23 NIV).

We can look to our leaders both in the church (like Peter) and outside the church and condemn them in self-righteousness like a non-believer, and forget Jesus's new commandment, that:

 We love one another.  

As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  

By this everyone will know that you are my disciple, 

if you love one another.

(John 13:34b-35 NIV)

I think of Simon Peter, that despite his flaws, Jesus promised to build his church upon him. Peter, who denied Jesus three times during our Lord's darkest hours, sank in the storm waters when he took his eyes off Jesus and then sheepishly acknowledged his love for his Lord publicly not one but three times.

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Are we all like Peter?  

Aren't we all in desperate need of forgiveness and grace that only comes from the cross of Jesus Christ?  

Aren't we all like wicked sinners who are slow to forgive and show love to those who have sinned against us? 

Aren't we all in desperate need to God's love which is only accessed through belief in the shed blood of Jesus Christ?

And don't we need to show that love to others when they (just like us) don't deserve it?

Let us get on our knees, pray to God for one another especially those who have sinned against us and our leaders, and show Christ's love so that the world can see who we really belong to.

We are Christ's children and a great price was paid for us.  We bare the mark of our Redeemer.  We are covered in his blood and washed clean.

Let us keep our focus on God and show love.  And maybe even a little fruit...

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"Don't You Trust Me?" asks God

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"Don't you trust me?"

Those words just pierced my heart.

I was praying crying out to God. I had been praying over and over for the same prayer request and God's response was not to my liking.  I wanted this trial to be over. I was tired. I was weary. I wanted my will to be done, not God's.

I knew in my heart God was not done with the situation that more things had to happen before God answered my prayers. I kept seeing an image of unbaked doughy bread. And I kept hearing from God, "I'm not finished yet, be patient and let my perfect will be done."

Impatiently, I kept repeating the same prayer request, like a child on a long trip, "Are we there YET?"

Then God spoke again to my heart, "Don't you trust Me?"

Ugh.

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God, the creator of the Universe, the all-powerful, almighty, holy, all-knowing, ever-present, not-bound by time, and infinitely wise God, asked me if I trust him.  Nice.  It showed right where my heart was at -- it was not in a good place.

Then I thought about it: God is so infinitely BIG, yet he is concerned with our little punny prayer requests that next month will be water under the bridge and we'll be wailing to him over another thing.  Or at least I will.

Yet, He loves us enough to send his only Son as complete, not in part, but the whole payment for our sins as he died for us so we can be reconciled to a holy and perfect God.  And God has done all of this so he can ignore our comparatively miniscule prayers.


No, that doesn't wash with scripture. Scripture which is truth tell us that:

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God promises to never leave us, nor forsake us (Heb 13:5).

God promises to work all things out for our good and his glory (Romans 8:28).

God hears our prayers and will answer them in his perfect time not ours (Psalm 27).

God ways are higher than our ways, as the heavens are higher than the earth, as are his ways higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:9).

He is our God (Psalm 48:14).

And yes, all we need to do is trust him, pray, and rest in his sovereignty to work all things out for good.

My response now is, "Yes, God, I trust you."

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Spiritual Short-Term Memory Loss

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As I was praying to God the other morning and pouring out the desires of my heart, I heard him clearly speak to my heart:

“Have I ever withheld anything from you?”

“Haven’t I always provided for you?”

 “Am I not faithful?’

“Don’t I always meet all your needs?”

“Don’t all good things come to pass?”

“Yes, Lord, you alone are God,” was my sole response.

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How often do we do that? We so quickly forget God’s faithfulness, just like Dory in the Pixar Movie, "Finding Nemo." When we are faced with another trial or time of suffering; we panic – we forget God, forget all the awesome things he's done for us in past, and forget that he promises to never leave us nor forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6 ESV). 

When our daughter was younger, we would have to remind her of certain truths, i.e. to obey your parents, tell the truth, walk in a manner worthy of God, etc. When she would fall short and we would bring her actions to her, she would say that she “suffered from short-term memory loss.” 

Stifling a belly laugh, we would smile slightly and enlighten her that she in fact did not suffer from the medical condition of short-term memory loss. She just suffered from an affliction we all face, sin, in which the only cure is a Savior, Jesus Christ. We then informed her of her need to confess her sins to God and ask for grace from Jesus Christ which was so freely available on the cross to help her turn from her sins in the future.

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But isn’t that just like us? Don’t we all suffer from “short-term spiritual memory loss?” How quickly we forget our God and his past faithfulness when another faith-testing moment is upon us?  We forget how BIG he is. We fail to recall how omnipotent (all-powerful) and sovereign (all things are under his control) he is?  

Thankfully when we confess our unbelief (or short-term spiritual memory loss), we are forgiven by the shed blood of God's Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross. Our sins are then cast into the sea of forgetfulness (Micah 7:19). 

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(Sigh) Praise God.  I am forgiven despite all my shortcomings (sins).

Then it struck  me, if God is omnipresent (all-present) -- which he is -- then he has heard my prayers.  I don't have to be anxious about my petitions.  He's heard me and he's got this. 

And if he’s heard my prayers, because he’s omniscient (all-knowing), he’ll answer them in his perfect timing, not mine.   I just need to be patient and wait on God. Again, he's got this.

Therefore, in recompense to his omnipotence, he’ll answer my prayers exceedingly abundantly more than I can ever imagine, because he’s God (Ephesians 3:20). 

Ahh...thank goodness God's in control, not me.   God's best is always so much better than my best.  I just have to trust him. 

Praise God that he is OUR God.

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God is not impatient with us and our progress. Then why are we?

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"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."(Galatians 5:22-23 ESV emphasis added)

Exasperated with my lack of progress on publishing my first book, Deep Waters: Lift Your Gaze, I was praying to God on Sunday for help, wisdom and direction.  I was also feeling frustrated with the process. 

In prayer, I cried out to the Lord with a heavy heart:

“Why is this taking so long?” 

“Why does the process seem so arduous?” 

“Do all pre-published book authors go through these periods of difficulty?”

The Lord then spoke to my heart, “I’m not impatient with the process.” I sighed. 

No, he wasn’t. I was.

He continued, “Everything is happening in my perfect timing. I am sovereign over this, too.”

I smiled.  My heart was lighter.

No matter what or how I try, I can’t truncate the process.  I have to go through the hard times to get to the good fruit of what God is creating in me, a closer depiction of his Son Jesus in me.  He’s looking for my heart to be subtle, to trust Him and to keep my focus on Him.

Lift Your Gaze, my friends.  God’s got this.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."(Galatians 5:22-23 ESV emphasis added)