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Archive for the ‘Formation’ Category

Live By Faith and Don’t Shrink Back

Posted in Formation, Hope on September 24, 2013| Leave a Comment »

What are you facing today that seems overwhelming?

Maybe it’s a new job.  Or maybe a new co-worker that just doesn’t see things the way you do.  Or maybe you are facing struggles at home.  Some may be facing physical difficulties – that news you didn’t ever want to get from the doctor.

Whatever you are facing today, stand strong with God’s strength.  Hebrews 10:35-38 says this:

So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.  You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.  For,

“In just a little while,
    he who is coming will come
    and will not delay.”

“But my righteous one will live by faith.
    And I take no pleasure
    in the one who shrinks back.”

The righteous will live by faith.  That is a powerful statement.  And then the author follows it up with a visual image that has become very meaningful to me.  He says God will not be pleased “in the one who shrinks back.”

When you face those things that make you want to run and hide, don’t shrink back but instead, go head on into the midst of it with the confidence of knowing God is with you.  Live by faith.  Faith in the one who has your back.  Confidence in the one that has been this way before.  Trust in the one that is still on the throne.

Live by faith and don’t shrink back.  God is with you.

Be blessed today.

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Time For a Quick God Break

Posted in Formation, Hope on September 10, 2013| Leave a Comment »

What do you do when not only every block on your month at a glance calendar has something in it but your day’s schedule has something posted in every time slot?

What you do is stop and pray.  Take a God break. There is nothing more important than our time with God and there is nothing you will do today that will not be benefited by your time spent with God.

When we slow down, even just for a few minutes and seek God, we receive clarity and focus.  What is really important comes into focus and we begin to realize that all the peripheral things are just that.

Sit back in your chair – – go ahead – – do it now.

Reflect on God’s goodness in your life.

Take a minute to offer thanks.

Now, back to it.

Be blessed today.

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Just Temporary Circumstances

Posted in Formation, Hope on September 3, 2013| Leave a Comment »

When the world crashes in, where do you turn?  When you get that call that you dreaded, who will be there for you?  When you aren’t sure how you will make it through the day, where do you find the strength to keep going?

All of us have seasons in life in which we face what we think are impossible struggles.  Maybe it’s just a bad day or maybe its more than that.  Regardless, difficulties are a part of life.  They come our way and there is nothing we can do to control them.

So where do you turn?

Let me suggest that there is hope in difficult situations.  There is hope in the face of impossible odds or impassible obstacles.  Jesus came to give us that hope.  What he offers us is life – real life – eternal life.  He offers us life beyond our struggles and life in spite of our obstacles.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 reminds us that what we see with our eyes is only temporary.  Our hope comes in remembering that we don’t put our trust in what we can see but rather in what we can’t.  All our troubles are just temporary.  What God has in store for us is so much bigger and better than anything we can see or even imagine.

So regardless of the struggles you are facing in this moment – take heart – have hope.  God is at work all around you and what is in store for you is so much better than these temporary circumstances!

Be blessed today!

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School, Prayer and Time

Posted in Family, Formation, Hope on August 26, 2013| Leave a Comment »

The last two years on this day – the first day of school for my kids – I have written a post about prayer on the first day of school (you can read the one from last year here).  As I think about the importance of prayer and the importance that school plays in the lives and development of our kids, I am reminded that we should make prayer for our kids a daily practice.

I am also reminded of how limited, important and sacred our time with our kids really is.  When you look at the hours in a week and you deduct the hours spent sleeping and then you deduct the hours spent at school, you are left with a limited number of hours that you have with your kids.  When you do the math, depending on their involvement in other activities, you probably have between 20 and 25 hours in a given week (Monday through Friday) to mold and shape your kids – roughly half of the time that we turn them over to the school.

The time moves quickly.  It seems that one week you are taking your kids to kindergarten and the next you are packing the car to head off to college.

Make the most of your time with your kids.  Spend time with them.  Listen to them.  Guide them.  And yes, pray for them – everyday.

If God has entrusted you with children, how will you make their lives better today?

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Rest For the Weary

Posted in Formation, Hope on August 20, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I often cling to the verse in Matthew that offers a promise for those who need a break. In Matthew 11, we find that Jesus offers anyone who is tired and overloaded much needed rest. He tells us that all we have to do is turn to him and we will find the rest we need.

What kind of rest are we talking about here? Are we talking about sleep? Because I don’t know about you but over the past few weeks it seems I have been missing some of that. I am not sure Jesus was saying that if we turn to him we will have the opportunity to sleep more. But I do believe that when we turn to him and rest in him, our sleep will be more restful.

What Jesus was talking about was rest from the constant busyness and stress that is life.

Summer is coming to a close which is signaled by the beginning of school. As this week progresses, teachers are in meetings and preparing their classrooms. Parents are pulling together school supplies. Kids are trying to make the most of their last days of “freedom.” Things are piling up at the office. The yard needs to be mowed. Bills need to be paid. That stubborn door that opens only by force needs to be repaired. The car is on its last leg. Things at church are gearing up and that means that persuasive and persistent minister is going to be looking to sign you up for some area of service.

It all starts getting very heavy. It’s hard to run at full speed when you are dragging a boat anchor with you everywhere you go. But as the weight of the world presses down, that is what you feel like – you are dragging around a heavy load.

That is what Jesus was talking about. He offers relief. He offers peace. He offers rest.

Sit back and rest in him today. Rest in the peace that comes in knowing that he is in control. Take a deep breath in remembering that there is nothing so pressing, so important or so urgent that Jesus cannot see you through it.

Simply rest!

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God’s Truth Breathed Into Man and Passed On To Us

Posted in Formation, Hope on August 13, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Over the last three weeks, I have been leading our church family through a series dedicated to remind us of the importance of putting practices in place to help us have encounters with God – encounters that will open us up to be transformed by God into people who make a difference for the kingdom.

The first week we talked about fasting and creating time and space in our lives in order to focus on our relationship with God.  I challenged our folks to pick a day and set something aside in order to focus more intentionally on God.

The second week I challenged our folks to set aside 10 minutes on 3 different days in order to pray.

This past Sunday I challenged our folks to set aside 10 minutes on 3 different days to spend in God’s word.  I firmly believe that the best way to grow in our faith and understanding is to spend time with God pouring ourselves into the Bible.  It should be the road map and guide that we turn to for instruction and hope.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that all scripture is God-breathed (you can read it here).  Think about that for a second.  God breathed truth into man who wrote it down and passed it on to us.  How close did God have to be to those writing that truth down in order to breath that truth into them?  What an amazing picture Paul gives us of how in tune those original authors of our Bible were with the very heart of God.

And God still breaths truth into us today – in many ways.  One of the most concrete ways this happens is through the Bible.

But it only happens if we read it and spend time meditating on the truth we find there.  And then transformation begins to occur when we actually put into practice the truth God breaths.

So I challenge you, as I did our church family on Sunday, spend time in God’s word this week.  Set time aside and read.  Read not to finish.  Read to hear from God.

You will be amazed at what you find in the living word of God!

Be blessed!

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Too Much To Do Not To Spend Time With God

Posted in Formation, Hope on August 6, 2013| Leave a Comment »

To Do List

Do you ever feel like there are not enough hours in the day?  You take a look at your calendar and there is not an empty space for the day and then you look at your To Do list and the first 20 items on the list need to be done by noon and it’s already 9 am – and the panic sets in.

It is in a moment like this that God gently calls out, “Spend time with me – rest in me.”

And in our panic and frustration we think, “There is no way!  I can’t stop and spend time now.  I will do that later – when things slow down.”

That is just what the enemy wants us to think.  If we can stay so caught up in our responsibilities that we put off taking time for God, then tomorrow, God’s voice becomes  faint – drowned out by the obligations and responsibilities of that day.  Over time, we don’t even think of spending time with God any longer.  And that’s how it happens.

Becoming more like Jesus takes time spent with God and it takes discipline.  It doesn’t just happen.  We have to be intentional.

And the reality is that none those things on the To Do list, none of those appointments, not one of those phone calls – none of it will matter if not done as worship to God.  You see, everything we do should be worship.  Our work and effort should be an offering to God.  An offering of our best using the talents, gifts and passions that God has given us.

So I challenge you today to set the calendar and To Do list aside for just a minute and stop long enough to spend a few minutes with the creator.

It might just give you a better perspective on the day.

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Lessons Learned From a Day Without Food

Posted in Community, Formation, Grace on July 31, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Yesterday I told you about the challenge I issued to our church family on Sunday.  If you missed it, you can to a look at it here.

What I didn’t tell you is that I accepted the challenge as well.  There is no way I can ask our folks to do something that I am not willing to do myself.  So Sunday, I announced that on Tuesday, I would fast from food all day and rather than stuff my face, I would focus my attention on what God wants for me and my relationship with my savior.

I also asked the folks who accepted the challenge to fast this week to report back to me what God does through the experience.

So today, I am sharing what God showed me yesterday through my efforts to fast from food.

Let me just say from the beginning that what I am processing from my experiences is not what I was expecting.  I mean, I expected to have some moment of clarity where I felt more like a child of God than I have felt in a while.  Or some grand revelation or new direction.

But the coolest things happened that opened my eyes to how God works.

The first thing I was reminded of is that God has a very real sense of humor.  I knew this.  It wasn’t a new revelation.  Just take a few minutes on any given day to observe the world and you will see it too.  But I am here to tell you, God is a real jokester.

I was sitting in my office and it was getting to be about lunch time.  I thought about what I should do during the time I would normally be grabbing some fast food.  I thought about spending the time in silence and looking into God’s word for a while.  I thought about praying through some things going on in my life.  Several things were floating around in my head when I received the text.

One of our 1st B family members sent me a text asking if I wanted to catch up over lunch at one of my favorite places to eat here in town.  I text back and explained I was fasting but that I would sit with him and drink a Diet Coke.  After the pleasantries back and forth about not wanting to torture me, we agreed to meet at noon.  I sat and drank and watched him eat a very attractive plate of chicken strips.  But things were good.  I really enjoyed our time together and felt God used that time and my focus to really connect with him.

As I drove back to the church, I was thinking about the experience and feeling pretty good about myself and my ability to go without food.  I’ll admit, there may have been a little pride in my chest.

When I got back to the office, my wife called to tell me that her parents would be coming through and spending the night with us and that they wanted to meet us in Lubbock for dinner.  She then remembered my commitment and offered to change the plan but I was feeling pretty good about my will power and so I told her that would be fine.

Last night we met for dinner at one of my most favorite places in Lubbock to eat.  I won’t tell you the name of the establishment but it is Spanish for grandfather.

Now I need to step back and tell you that Mexican food is my weakness.  And chips and salsa are my drug of choice.

I sat through that meal praying that someone would call me so I could be excused to go talk on the phone (thanks Tiny for not calling).  So there I sat, watching everyone around the table enjoy the meal I love the most.

God has a sense of humor!

But in all seriousness, God used both of those experiences to show me something extremely important.  So important that it will change my approach from now on.

What God showed me in a very concrete and “in my face” way is the beauty and absolute joy of community – of fellowship.  Since I wasn’t eating, I could focus completely and intently on the people around the table.  I could see the joy of being together.  I could really hear the passion in their voices as we talked about the church.  I could see God in the magnificence of it all.

It was moving and enlightening.  I am so humbled and thankful that God has a sense of humor and that God put me in those situations.

I am also reminded that God truly does reward what is done in secret.

What about you?  What is God teaching you through this challenge?

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How’s Your Focus

Posted in Community, Formation, Hope on July 30, 2013| 1 Comment »

This past Sunday I talked about the need to put into practice, the things we say we value.  If we call ourselves Christians, how are we actually striving to become more like Jesus?

Throughout history, believers have used disciplines to create time and space in their lives in which they can experience God’s movement and transformation.  For us today, we hear the word discipline and it has a tendency to conjure up negative images.  In fact, we tend to think of discipline as some sort of punishment for doing something wrong.

But in the sense of spiritual disciplines, they are practices or, as I described them Sunday, habits that help us do our part to experience God in new and fresh ways.

Don’t misunderstand that spiritual progression occurs through the grace of God and by God’s blessing of growth.  But that growth will never happen if we don’t do our part.  We can’t wake up one morning and say, “Today, I become more like Jesus,” and then go about our day in the same way we lived the day before.

We have to put practices in place and remain consistent with those practices until they become habits.  These practices are designed to help us shift our focus from ourselves and our desires, to God and God’s movement in our lives.  There are a number of habits to explore but one of those is fasting.

Fasting is the act of giving something up – something of significance – for a set period of time for a set purpose.

So Sunday, I challenged our family to fast.  In fact, the challenge I issued was for each member to open his or her heart to God and ask God to show a specific area in which things needed to be given up.  Then I challenged them to commit a day this week to giving up whatever God revealed to them for the express purpose of focusing more fully on God and our relationship with our creator.

I also asked them to let me know how it goes and what God does through their efforts.  So far, I have had many of our family members tell me that they have accepted the challenge.  Now I am excited to hear what God will do.

If you would like to take the challenge its not to late.  The question I have for you is this, “How’s your focus?”  What could you give up for a day that would allow you to focus more intently and intentionally on God and what God is doing in and around you?

Message me and let me know what God does.

Be blessed today.

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God At Work

Posted in Formation, Grace, Hope on July 16, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I spent the day yesterday reconnecting to colleagues and partners in ministry. It was a wonderful time of hearing about what God has been doing in so many lives and so many areas of the country and world. It was also a time to share how God has been at work in my life as well.

Have you ever noticed that you don’t think much about how God is working around you until someone asks you that question. All of the sudden you have to take a look. You begin to think about the good things you have seen and the lives that have been changed.

For me, I try to do that on a regular basis but it is usually more of a practice of trying to see God’s movement in the here and now. But when I think about all the things God has done over the last 6 months, I begin to see God’s hand in many different ways.

Why is that?

I think it has a lot to do with our “want it now” mindset. We tend to overestimate the change we will see in the next month and underestimate the change we will see in the next year.

The truth is, change takes time. God is at work every minute of every day – bringing about the change we need.

Don’t think for a minute that God is not at work all around you. Just take a look at the last 6 months and you can see it.

Stay faithful.

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