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Archive for the ‘Hope’ Category

Desperation Leads to Awakening

Posted in Formation, Hope, Missions on November 9, 2010| 1 Comment »

This week, I have the privilege of being at the Baptist state convention meeting.  The meeting is being held in McAllen, Texas.  The last time I was in this part of the world was on a mission trip and I had forgotten just how great it is to be in this part of Texas.

Today, I sat in a workshop being taught by Jim Dennison.  Jim has been a pastor for years and now serves as the Theologian in Residence for the state convention.  His talk was on the power of the Holy Spirit and the spiritual awakening that is going on in the world today.  Unfortunately, this work is not happening to any large degree in North America.  It is all going on south of the equator in places like Africa, Brazil and the rest of South America.

He talked for  quite some time about the four Great Awakenings that have happened over the course of the last 200 years.  One thing I found profoundly interesting is that each great spiritual awakening occurred in the midst of a sense of desperation.

As I have continued to process that thought, I have begun to personalize and internalize it.

I have had to ask myself this question: “How desperate am I for God to move in my life?”

My fear is that I have grown so accustomed to doing things on my own accord and out of my own giftedness, that I have moved away from a dependence on God.

A second question I have been asking myself is this: “What is it in my life that I am attempting to do that I will surely fail if God does not show up?”

I have become convinced that until we are desperate for God to show up – until we are desperate for God to take over – we will not experience a spiritual awakening.

The question for you today is this:  How desperate are you for Jesus to show up and make a difference?

Think about it today.

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As Simple as Peanuts

Posted in Formation, Hope on November 8, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Southwest Airlines has made somewhat of a claim to fame in their offering of peanuts on every flight.  While other airlines were offering a wide variety of things (remember when you used to get actual meals on some flights?), Southwest chose to offer only peanuts.  Now days you can get pretzels too!  But it is still pretty simple.

Maybe they are on to something.  Could it be that simpler is better?  Perhaps in a world of more, more, more we should look for less.

When we really dig down to the basics of faith, it is a simple relationship that matters.  And that relationship is grown and developed by simply spending time with Jesus.  As a fellow follower in the Way, I challenge you this week to do less.  But in your effort to do less, focus your time on the one relationship that makes all the difference.

I pray you have a simple week!

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Road Closed – You’re On Your Own

Posted in Hope, Humor on November 4, 2010| 1 Comment »

Yesterday, as I was driving to Post, I saw a rather comical sight.  I was driving down the highway and saw a “Road Closed” sign for a crossroad.  The sign said, “Route 281 Closed, Find Alternate Route.”  Maybe it’s just me but I chuckled when I saw the sign.  Typically, when a road is closed, a detour is offered.

We have all seen signs like, “Highway 6 Closed, Follow Detour,” or something to that effect – but not in this instance.  If I had needed to turn down that crossroad, I would have been up a creek.  Basically, the message was – “We don’t care how you get where you are trying to go but you aren’t going this way.  You’re on your own!  Good luck.”

Aren’t you glad that on the journey to God, the pathway is clear.  If we ever get off track, all we have to do is remember Jesus’ words:  “I am the way . . . no one comes to the Father except by way of me.”  Jesus never said, “Bummer for you – you are on your own” but rather he made statements like: “Come to me” and “follow me.”

Just remember that life is full of curves and ups and downs, but your path is sure as long as you follow Jesus.

Be blessed today!

 

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30 Seconds for God

Posted in Hope on October 25, 2010| Leave a Comment »

It is definitely Monday.  I have  a sick child at home and as soon as I hit the office, my routine was out the window.

I decided to stop and pray before getting out of the car this morning – good thing because I am not sure when I will have that opportunity to stop again.

Sound familiar?

Take 30 seconds right now to stop and give your day to God.  Everyone can let go of 3o seconds.  It will make all the difference.

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Encountering God

Posted in Formation, Hope on October 21, 2010| 1 Comment »

In my reading this morning, I was reading excerpts from A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God.  I ran across this quote from Edward Hays.  He said:

If we are to experience God, we must be open to God, to the mystical, to the divine, appearing in our lives.  And we must have an openness that is free of any preconditions about how that will happen.  Looking for God in a godly form is the great historical mistake.

How do you expect to see God today?  Maybe a precursor question might be “Do you expect to see God today?”  God is at work all around us.  But often we miss that encounter because we are not looking – or maybe we miss it because we are expecting to see God in a certain way.

My prayer for each of us today is this:  O God, I know you are at work right now, all around us.  Help me to see you today in a fresh way.  I want to experience your presence as never before!

May God bless each of us with eyes to see and ears to hear!

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Unfailing Love

Posted in Formation, Hope on October 20, 2010| 3 Comments »

I have been preparing for the funeral of my friend Ettie that will be held Thursday.  I met with the family yesterday to make the arrangements and discuss the service.  I asked to see Ettie’s Bible in hopes that I could get a glimpse of what passages she held dear.

One of her grandsons went to get it from her night stand and when he got there, it was opened to the book of Psalms.  He brought it to me as he had found it.  As I looked over the chapters on those open pages I noticed there are 4 or 5 chapters visible on those two pages so I have no idea what Ettie was reading the last time she picked up this book.

But the chapter that caught my eye was chapter 13.  The chapter is only 6 verses long but it is amazing!  It begins with a heart-wrenching cry:

How long, O LORD ? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?

How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?

Do you ever feel like that?  I am always transparent here and today is no different.  I feel like for the better part of the last 2 years,  I have been where this author was when he wrote this passage.  God has been working on me and it has been painful.

Maybe you are there today as well.  Maybe your cry is the same:  “How long O Lord must I endure . . .”

My encouragement for you (and me) is this – hang in there.  God is still in control.

The psalmist continues in this same chapter by saying this:

But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.

I will sing to the LORD,
for he has been good to me.

God will continue to take care of us.  God has a plan!

Don’t give up but rather trust in God’s unfailing love!

Be blessed today!

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Discipleship Challenge

Posted in Formation, Hope, Leadership on October 18, 2010| Leave a Comment »

We started a college and young singles Bible study class at our church two weeks ago.  We are going through a study that focuses on what it means to truly be a disciple of Jesus.

The study is called In the Dust of the Rabbi and it is written by Ray Vander Laan.  Our lesson yesterday painted a picture of what being a disciple meant in the first century.   It was a life choice – a commitment to dedicate one’s life to follow a rabbi (in some cases, 24 hours per day) in order to become like him.  When Jesus selected his disciples, they gave up everything to follow and learn from him.

As we worked through the study, a statement came up that has haunted me since.  It is this:  “If I am not completely and passionately committed to following Jesus with everything I have, then I really cannot call myself a disciple in the Biblical sense.”

Has the term disciple become so common that we forget the significance of the word and the ramifications of its meaning?

I challenged the class to do something this week that will bring them closer to Jesus – to being more like him.  I then assigned one of the class members (thanks Coe) to hold me accountable to the same challenge.

Will you take the challenge this week?  What will you do to become more like Jesus this week?

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Trust Is the Key

Posted in Formation, Grace, Hope on October 13, 2010| 1 Comment »

I am getting really close to finishing the book of Romans.  Today I read further into chapter 15 and was reminded that I need to work on trusting God more.

Paul offers a blessing right in the middle of the chapter which I find a little odd.  Normally, Paul opens his letters with a formal greeting and then somewhere near the end he closes with a form of a blessing.

But here it is right there in verse 13.  He reminds us that one of the characteristics of God is hope and that God will fill each of us with joy and peace as we trust.

It would be easy to read over this verse (as I have done before) and miss the implication of Paul’s words.  He says that God will fill us with joy and peace as we trust God.

How many times do we pray and beg God for peace about something.  Or how often do we pray for God to make us happy or make things “good.”  And then as soon as we finish praying, we sit there and expect God to make it happen immediately.  We often expect some kind of Godly intervention to miraculously happen that makes our lives alright.

What Paul is saying is that the joy and peace will come but it will come when we let go of our expectations and trust that God really does know what we need.

Speaking from first-hand, real-life experience – that is very easy to write in this post but much more difficult to put into practice.  But today – that is what I am going to do!

So, in the words of Paul (Romans 15:13)

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.


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Unified To the Core

Posted in Church, Community, Hope on October 11, 2010| 2 Comments »

Today, my reading was in Romans.  In Romans 15:5-6, Paul encourages followers of the Way – us – by asking God to bless us with a spirit of unity.  Paul realized the importance of getting along.  As a community of believers, we are to be a family who loves one another, who enjoys being together and who takes care of one another.  Stop and think about it; who wants to be a part of a dysfunctional family on purpose?

But Paul goes on to say that the ultimate reason for this unity is what?  That God would be glorified.

The world needs to see a faith community that loves one another and God – not a community of individuals who can’t stand each other.  God is not glorified when we don’t get along.

Paul doesn’t stop with a general statement about unity.  He says that we should glorify God with one heart and one mouth.  This is the part that really caught my attention this morning as I was reading and praying through these two verses.  Paul is pushing for real unity – not just lip service.  Not only are we to be one mouth, but we have to be completely unified – we have to have one heart!

That is really hard in a family of believers.  Sometimes we go along with what is going on and we voice our agreement, but in our hearts, we are not really fully committed to the family.  Paul tells us that for God to be glorified, we need to have one mouth and one heart!

So where do we start?  Today, we start with prayer.  Begin asking God to give you and your faith community a spirit of unity not only in word but in heart.  Ask God to start with you!

Be blessed today!

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It All Comes Back to Godliness

Posted in Formation, Hope, Leadership on October 7, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Last night I had the blessings of speaking to college students at their weekly worship service On Campus.  My topic was a challenge for them to take the reigns of their generation and rise up to make a difference for Jesus in the world.  I used 1 Timothy 4:1-12 as the text.  In this passage of scripture, Paul addresses Timothy, a young follower, and tells him, “don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young.”  He goes on to tell Timothy to live by example.  As I went through this passage with the students, I was reminded that what Paul was telling Timothy was not only good insight for a young person, but it is a challenge for all ages.

In verse 7, Paul says we should train ourselves to be godly.  And then in verse 12 he says this: “set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”

If we are to live godly lives, we must do it by example and our godliness should be visible in everything we do – specifically in the way we talk, not only the words we use but how we use them and the attitude behind them.  Our lives should be an example of godliness – the way we live, our priorities and our passions.  The way we love is a reflection of our godliness as well.  Do you love others as Jesus does, or is your love geared more towards what you can get out of the relationship?  Godliness is obvious in where we put our faith.  We can tell people all day long that we are followers of Jesus, but if we put more faith in our money or our own abilities than in Jesus then who are we fooling?  Purity also reflects our godliness.  Are your intentions pure in your dealings with others?  How honest are you as a person?

If we are truly to impact this world with the hope and love that following Jesus has to offer, then we must lead godly lives and our godliness (or lack there of) will be reflected in the way we live.

Live godly today!

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