It has been a while since I blogged. Thank you so much for the many of you that have emailed or called to check on me and mine. I am so grateful for friends like you!
Over the past few months my family has been through quite a battle …one that is not over yet. However, I would like to share with you something that the Lord has given to me as a promise to cling to during this time.
This wonderful truth first came from Eric Mason, a pastor in inner city Philadelphia. He preached at our church a few weeks ago and since that time the Lord has brought his words back to my mind again and again; and, as He always does when he wants us to learn something, He has affirmed them in several other situations.
Eric was preaching on brokenness….something I will share more details of in an upcoming blog…but one point that he made that was so striking to me was the “but nots” of the Bible. For example in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” And in looking at the life of Job, the Lord allowed the enemy to do whatever he wanted to Job, “but not” take his life. Eric put it so poignantly when he said the “but nots” of the Word are the backstage passes to our soul that only the Lord has issue and access too. Beautiful!
The Lord may use the enemy and his attack as a conduit to His will, but He is still in control and will only allow the enemy to go so far.
This promise of the Word has been so incredibly true and perfect in my heart these past few months.
The recent release of Mercy Me’s “Bring the Rain” also came at an apropos time. I will leave you with the lyrics:
I can count a million times
People asking me how I
Can praise You with all that I've gone through
The question just amazes me
Can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You
Maybe since my life was changed
Long before these rainy days
It's never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on you, oh Lord
My only shelter from the storm
But instead I draw closer through these times
So I pray
Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain
I am Yours regardless of
The dark clouds that may loom above
Because You are much greater than my pain
You who made a way for me
By suffering Your destiny
So tell me what's a little rain
So I pray Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Showing posts with label grace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grace. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Friday, June 01, 2007
His burden is easy.
Sometimes life is simply overwhelming. One lays awake long into the night and wonders why the Lord would allow situations of struggle into the lives of families that are so obviously in love with Him, striding to the right thing, and are in His service.
If one is not careful, the overwhelming thoughts of anger and bitterness can quickly arise as these same situations spin out of our control and leave us awake struggling to understand. Thus a vicious cycle can begin.
The events of life lately have reminded me of verses in the New Testament that I never quite understood and still grapple with…
“1 Peter 4:13 Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.”
Be glad in the trials? Are you kidding me? This verse would seem to indicate that those preachers of the prosperity gospel that promise your best life now, are liars. We have been called to suffer right along side Him, and that suffering may not take on the form of a cross and nails. It may take on the form of overwhelming loss, or stress, or concern for one that you hold dear. It may be grieving for a soul that is so far from the Light.
"The things we try to avoid and fight against - tribulation, suffering and persecution - are the very things that produce abundant joy in us. Huge waves that would frighten the ordinary swimmer produce a tremendous thrill for the surfer who has ridden them. "We are more than conquerors through Him" IN all these things - not in spite of them, but in the midst of them. A saint doesn't know the joy of the Lord in spite of tribulation, but because of it. Paul said "I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation". Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest (Rom 8:37, 2 Cor 7:4)
I believe that the trials, the long sleepless nights, the trials that make us so weary, are to simply draw us in…to focus our eyes not on the storm but on the One who controls it. To lean in and cry out “I cannot do it on my own, I am not in control, I need You, I need your help.”
Oh that I might be able to cling to the promises of Him that are faithful and true. “When I am overwhelmed I go to the Rock that is higher than I. Ps. 62” in the words of Charles Spurgeon. "Your sorrow itself shall be turned into joy. Not the sorrow to be taken away, and joy to be put in its place, but the very sorrow which now grieves you shall be turned into joy. God not only takes away the bitterness and gives sweetness in its place, but turns the bitterness into sweetness itself."
Last night when tired and weary and searching for an answer, I was reminded that He inhabits the praise of His people. I found this new song and remembered that I could turn my overwhelmed feelings over to Him and exchanged it for a lighter burden and he would carry mine..Matthew 11:30.
I’m Overwhelmed by your love
Your amazing love, for me.
I never will understand why you chose to be my friend.
Oh I will not forget the price You paid with love on Calvary.
Amazing love, amazing grace, I am overwhelmed with gratitude and praise
And I will rejoice and fall on my knees, lift up my voice, a love song I will sing…
Serenade of sweet worship to you my King.
For those of you in the battle know you are loved and being held up in prayer. Read the last chapter…WE WIN! Love you!
If one is not careful, the overwhelming thoughts of anger and bitterness can quickly arise as these same situations spin out of our control and leave us awake struggling to understand. Thus a vicious cycle can begin.
The events of life lately have reminded me of verses in the New Testament that I never quite understood and still grapple with…
“1 Peter 4:13 Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.”
Be glad in the trials? Are you kidding me? This verse would seem to indicate that those preachers of the prosperity gospel that promise your best life now, are liars. We have been called to suffer right along side Him, and that suffering may not take on the form of a cross and nails. It may take on the form of overwhelming loss, or stress, or concern for one that you hold dear. It may be grieving for a soul that is so far from the Light.
"The things we try to avoid and fight against - tribulation, suffering and persecution - are the very things that produce abundant joy in us. Huge waves that would frighten the ordinary swimmer produce a tremendous thrill for the surfer who has ridden them. "We are more than conquerors through Him" IN all these things - not in spite of them, but in the midst of them. A saint doesn't know the joy of the Lord in spite of tribulation, but because of it. Paul said "I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation". Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest (Rom 8:37, 2 Cor 7:4)
I believe that the trials, the long sleepless nights, the trials that make us so weary, are to simply draw us in…to focus our eyes not on the storm but on the One who controls it. To lean in and cry out “I cannot do it on my own, I am not in control, I need You, I need your help.”
Oh that I might be able to cling to the promises of Him that are faithful and true. “When I am overwhelmed I go to the Rock that is higher than I. Ps. 62” in the words of Charles Spurgeon. "Your sorrow itself shall be turned into joy. Not the sorrow to be taken away, and joy to be put in its place, but the very sorrow which now grieves you shall be turned into joy. God not only takes away the bitterness and gives sweetness in its place, but turns the bitterness into sweetness itself."
Last night when tired and weary and searching for an answer, I was reminded that He inhabits the praise of His people. I found this new song and remembered that I could turn my overwhelmed feelings over to Him and exchanged it for a lighter burden and he would carry mine..Matthew 11:30.
I’m Overwhelmed by your love
Your amazing love, for me.
I never will understand why you chose to be my friend.
Oh I will not forget the price You paid with love on Calvary.
Amazing love, amazing grace, I am overwhelmed with gratitude and praise
And I will rejoice and fall on my knees, lift up my voice, a love song I will sing…
Serenade of sweet worship to you my King.
For those of you in the battle know you are loved and being held up in prayer. Read the last chapter…WE WIN! Love you!
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Seeking Guidance
I know it has been several weeks since the first edition of prayer and fasting. God has been working in my life in some amazing ways….ways I needed to digest before I tried to put them or anything else into words.
Our second week of prayer and fasting revolved around guidance. In Psalm 146 The Word says “Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there. When their breathing stops, they return to the earth, and in a moment all of their plans come to an end. But happy are those that have the God of Isreal as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God.”
My pastor started by saying, “We have no specific plan other than to keep our eyes on the Lord. Wouldn’t it be great if God removed man from the picture – trumped all of our wisdom – and guided our church through the miraculous.”
The irony of this statement is that our church has already been lead through the miraculous in so many ways. Four years ago when my pastor came to this tiny church set completely out of the way in Highland Village, TX, there were 168 people. Today we run 6 services in a weekend and around 3 to 4 thousand adults…We have numerous ministries that run in a place never built to hold that many ministries. We have a building that continues to stand up though there is no reason that it should. We have never done any sort of mail out inviting people to come, any campaigns trying to bring people in, and there is no way that anyone just drives by as it is so far out of the way. Yet God continues to bring in the hurting, the healing, the broken and the strong, those who have never heard and those that have been in the church since the womb. That is miraculous. We are completely understaffed yet God continues to provide the exact leadership that we need when we need it. We have been guided through the miraculous. No one can look at our church and say…”Well, they built this huge building right where everyone could see it, or well those people are constantly out and about looking for members, stealing sheep, holding campaigns, doing things that is humanly possible and their church is growing.” Rather the truth is…God has expanded faster than our staff and elders know what to do and they daily are broken and tired and in need of Him. I have a group of leaders and other members of my church that press in to Him because they don’t know what else to do. That is God guiding through the miraculous.
So we took our elders and our staff and laid hands on them and prayed for them. That God would speak to them in a definitive direction. That when God guides us that the processes created by that direction would be guided by God.
Then we prayed for ourselves. That God would deepen all of us. That those in our church who sit on the fringes…who use church as hobby, just something to do on a Sunday morning…would be drawn into the deeper part of knowing Him. And then we prayed for suffering. There is a type of suffering that Paul talks about that is a good suffering that deepens us more than anything else ever could.
In my own life I came to a realization that I was not there. I was not asking God for guidance in all things. I for sure seek Him in the big things of life, but what about the little things. God what do you want me to wear today, who do you want me to talk to, what kind of car do you want me to drive, what should my diet consist of, what friends do I need in my life. Rather than seeking the miraculous I was simply relying on my own strength (and I am not so strong) to make decisions. I kind of look at it as if I were a little pig building a house (yes I do realize I just compared myself to a pig!!). I have a great foundation - I was raised in the Word – but then I go about choosing the materials to build and then asking God to build it for me. Well, sure God could build a house with materials I provide ( I mean I He built a universe out of nothing) But how much greater would my house be if I talked with Him and asked for guidance for the right kinds of materials? Don’t you know that God would choose premium product and then offer to go ahead and provide it.
Our second week of prayer and fasting revolved around guidance. In Psalm 146 The Word says “Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there. When their breathing stops, they return to the earth, and in a moment all of their plans come to an end. But happy are those that have the God of Isreal as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God.”
My pastor started by saying, “We have no specific plan other than to keep our eyes on the Lord. Wouldn’t it be great if God removed man from the picture – trumped all of our wisdom – and guided our church through the miraculous.”
The irony of this statement is that our church has already been lead through the miraculous in so many ways. Four years ago when my pastor came to this tiny church set completely out of the way in Highland Village, TX, there were 168 people. Today we run 6 services in a weekend and around 3 to 4 thousand adults…We have numerous ministries that run in a place never built to hold that many ministries. We have a building that continues to stand up though there is no reason that it should. We have never done any sort of mail out inviting people to come, any campaigns trying to bring people in, and there is no way that anyone just drives by as it is so far out of the way. Yet God continues to bring in the hurting, the healing, the broken and the strong, those who have never heard and those that have been in the church since the womb. That is miraculous. We are completely understaffed yet God continues to provide the exact leadership that we need when we need it. We have been guided through the miraculous. No one can look at our church and say…”Well, they built this huge building right where everyone could see it, or well those people are constantly out and about looking for members, stealing sheep, holding campaigns, doing things that is humanly possible and their church is growing.” Rather the truth is…God has expanded faster than our staff and elders know what to do and they daily are broken and tired and in need of Him. I have a group of leaders and other members of my church that press in to Him because they don’t know what else to do. That is God guiding through the miraculous.
So we took our elders and our staff and laid hands on them and prayed for them. That God would speak to them in a definitive direction. That when God guides us that the processes created by that direction would be guided by God.
Then we prayed for ourselves. That God would deepen all of us. That those in our church who sit on the fringes…who use church as hobby, just something to do on a Sunday morning…would be drawn into the deeper part of knowing Him. And then we prayed for suffering. There is a type of suffering that Paul talks about that is a good suffering that deepens us more than anything else ever could.
In my own life I came to a realization that I was not there. I was not asking God for guidance in all things. I for sure seek Him in the big things of life, but what about the little things. God what do you want me to wear today, who do you want me to talk to, what kind of car do you want me to drive, what should my diet consist of, what friends do I need in my life. Rather than seeking the miraculous I was simply relying on my own strength (and I am not so strong) to make decisions. I kind of look at it as if I were a little pig building a house (yes I do realize I just compared myself to a pig!!). I have a great foundation - I was raised in the Word – but then I go about choosing the materials to build and then asking God to build it for me. Well, sure God could build a house with materials I provide ( I mean I He built a universe out of nothing) But how much greater would my house be if I talked with Him and asked for guidance for the right kinds of materials? Don’t you know that God would choose premium product and then offer to go ahead and provide it.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Overwhelming Grace
I just read the blog entitled "My God, Why?", by R. G Lewis, a missionary man of long time aquaintance.
I have recently been struggling with this same question myself. I found myself in the second chapter of Ruth, where Boaz says to her "May the God who has already given you refuge, bless you." (my paraphrase.)
My question was this. Why would God bless me more when He has already given me refuge? The refuge in and of itself is already more than I could ever hope to deserve.
For my ministry raised, Christian world mind, the answer was "obviously" GRACE. But to my forgiven sinner heart, I was once again brought back to a profound humbleness that can only be found when faced with the TRUTH of HIS love.
I have recently been struggling with this same question myself. I found myself in the second chapter of Ruth, where Boaz says to her "May the God who has already given you refuge, bless you." (my paraphrase.)
My question was this. Why would God bless me more when He has already given me refuge? The refuge in and of itself is already more than I could ever hope to deserve.
For my ministry raised, Christian world mind, the answer was "obviously" GRACE. But to my forgiven sinner heart, I was once again brought back to a profound humbleness that can only be found when faced with the TRUTH of HIS love.
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