the Dance

family

The Dance (written as a toast at Jeremiah and Megan’s wedding)

Finding a spouse is like a dance. At first everyone is on the dance floor and it is a mixer. You are briefly with one partner after the next, all having fun, enjoying the dance, the crowd, the evening. You aren’t really flowing with any one partner because it is a mixer and the purpose is to be with everyone and no one. That is just what you do. The dances can be awkward, bumpy, even with trips and spills, but you haven’t been with one dancer long enough to learn, and you don’t care, because you are out there enjoying dancing, but with an eye for that one true partner. Continue reading the Dance →

Self Pity or Rejoicing?

Training the mind

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (2 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

“Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High. Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me” (Psalm 50:13-15).

“Whoever offers praise glorifies Me” Psalm 50:23

Offering God praise and thanksgiving pleases Him. And notice that circumstances don’t change the command. Even in trouble, we are to offer thanksgiving as we call upon God to help us. Then He delivers us as He sees fit. All of this glorifies Him and He is pleased with it. But it helps us as well. When we choose to rejoice, praise Him and offer thanksgiving, it helps change our way of thinking and puts us within a framework to handle the trial with grace so that we can ride over it a lot easier. There is no situation so dire that we can’t thank God through it, or even for it. Praise and thanksgiving are what keeps the ship afloat in troubled waters and steers it through to calmer seas. Without these, the boat could sink in the waves of self pity, doubt and depression. Continue reading Self Pity or Rejoicing? →

An Infirmity with a Purpose

weakness

An infirmity with a purpose

Paul was given an infirmity for a purpose. Since he had just told about ‘a man’ (himself), who had had a celestial mountain top experience, God gave a trial to him to keep him grounded.

“And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be halted above measure” (2 Cor. 12:7).

Then in verse 8 Paul pleads with God to take it away. Notice how he is not pleading with Satan but God. He knew who holds the keys. God must have told him no because this was His answer to him:

“And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:9, 10).

There is a connection here between strength and weakness, infirmities and power, and oddly enough, pleasure.

Continue reading An Infirmity with a Purpose →

The Source

God's Word

Jeremiah. 17:7,8

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is in the Lord, for he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green. And will not be anxious in the year of drought nor will cease from yielding fruit.”

What is the condition for being blessed in this verse? It is to trust and hope in the Lord. What are the results of trusting and hoping?

“For he shall be like a tree planted by the water which spreads out its roots by the river”

What typifies a tree? Trees are tall, strong, stable, and unmovable only when their roots can access a source of nourishment. What does a river signify? A never ending source of nourishment.

“and will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.” Jer. 17:7,8

If the effect of heat on leaves is that they get scorched and dried up, why does this tree not need to fear or be anxious? Its roots are connected to a source which causes it to remain green even in the deepest drought. Not only that, but the tree bears fruit! The harsh conditions the tree is in doesn’t adversely affect the tree, nor stop it from bearing fruit because it is tapped into a source below.

Psalm 1

This Psalm is similar to the above verses in Jeremiah, but there are some differences. In this one the conditions for being blessed are different:

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful;”

This passage actually notes what the source is:

“But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.”

God’s Word is mentioned as ‘the source’ that the psalmist meditates on day and night. It is so important as to be a lifeline that he returns to day and night which will cause him to bear fruit and prosper even in a drought.

 He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” Ps 1

“Along the bank of the river, on this side and that, will grow all kinds of trees used for food; their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for medicine” (Ezekiel 47:12).

What is your trial? No matter how severe, when you are tapped into the source, you won’t shrivel up or dry out but will be able to keep going and still bear fruit in harsh conditions. Believing God’s Word and His promises taps you into that power. You have everything you need in Him.

How deep is this source?

“And when the man went out to the east with the line in his hand, he measured one thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the water came up to my ankles. Again he measured one thousand and brought me through the waters; the water came up to my knees. Again he measured one thousand cubits and brought me through; the water came up to my waist. Again he measured one thousand and it was a river that I could not cross; for the water was too deep, water in which one must swim, a river that could not be crossed” (Ezekiel 47:3-5).

Rev. 22:17 “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!” and let him who hears say, ‘Come!” and let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.”

 

They That Wait

Training the mind

I would have lost Heart

“I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!” (Psalm 27:13,14).

The Psalmist would have lost heart, why? Because the situation must have been so confusing, so horrible, and so hopeless that he would have lost heart but for one thing – his ‘belief’ in God’s goodness that he thoroughly expected to see.

This is not just an optimistic general belief that all will be well in the end somehow, it is an actual belief (faith) that looks past the present distress onto something bigger, stronger and more secure that doesn’t change with the present times. That something is God, who is the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and your Heavenly Father. He is your shield and your fortress, a rock that doesn’t move. But belief in Him, if He didn’t have the one crucial characteristic of goodness would not be very reassuring. Because of His goodness, He is for you and not against you, which means you can truly believe in His promises that He will work everything out for good for His children (Romans 8:28). Continue reading They That Wait →

What Ranks the highest?

human nature

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What Ranks the Highest? 1 Corinthians 13

We all have a way of ranking others as to who ‘has arrived’ or not in our churches. This happens naturally due to our human nature. We all want to be accepted as being high on the spiritual grid before others. Who doesn’t? Not only that, but each church or denomination has things they value and rank higher than others so if you want to be respected, you will need to find out what those good works are for each church. The works in and of themselves are good, but it is our rankings that come into question. Let’s see how God views our rankings, and what He has to say about them. I Corinthians 13 addresses this. Let’s look at the broad groupings of what is valued in particular churches, then we’ll go back and see how these rank before God. Continue reading What Ranks the highest? →

Why, Lord?

Training the mind

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Life can take a turn that is really hard, and we ask, “Why is this happening?” “How could God let this happen?” From our perspective, there may not appear to be a point or it may seem cruel, but from God’s perspective there is a glorious end that we just can’t see. And if we can’t see it yet, we’ll just have to bank on the character of the God who says it is coming and rest there by faith. He was faithful to save us and He’ll be faithful to see us through to the end. We have to look at all our disappointments and storms, and see them as a pathway to glory with better things to come. The path to glory is one where ‘goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives’. But this goodness will just have to take another form for now, that we may not initially recognize.

There actually is a mountain of goodness behind the hill that we thought was our ideal life. That mountain is wild but it is higher still than the hill we wanted to rest on. If we could choose between the two, would we really settle for only the hill and not climb the mountain of God’s wild goodness? Wouldn’t that be cheating ourselves out of the ‘so much more’ that He wanted us to have? Our ideal dreams are only hills, He sees beyond them to a higher good. He will help us get there through this present trial, if we let Him.

Thinking outside the box #1 – the future

Anxiety and worry, resting, Training the mind, trust

The Future and other Worries – thinking outside the box

The future can be a problem to people with a lot of unknowns. Especially if you have a series of potential disasters looming and don’t know what the future will hold. Will it get even harder and will you be able to cope? What will your life be like then? The future is a big concern, especially for people with physical trials like cancer. I know that in my long trial of illness, I wondered what the future would be and thought that if I just knew what was coming I could handle it better. But, was that what I really wanted? What if God revealed it to me and it was even worse than I had imagined? I could crumble at the thought. No, better leave the future to God and get grace for each day. The future is too big of a weight for anyone to carry except God.
In dealing with unknowns, I found that I needed to change the way I thought, to think outside the box. The trial was hard enough in itself without my making it harder by all the conflicting emotions that could trip me up. In order to lighten my heavy burden I needed to learn to think about things in a different way. Continue reading Thinking outside the box #1 – the future →

Ministering to Those who are Bound

ministry

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“Let brotherly love continue. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels” …. “Remember the prisoners as if chained with them – those who are mistreated – since you yourselves are in the body also” (Hebrews 13:1, 3).

I stumbled across this little obscure section at the end of Hebrews. I had not given it much attention in the past. But this time it really caught my eye. Paul exhorts the believers to continue showing brotherly love, but this time he is concentrating on the type of ministries that are more likely to fall through the cracks, like taking in strangers and remembering prisoners, which is why I believe he is highlighting them. Why would these types of ministries be hard? Taking in a stranger takes a lot of guts and is usually out of people’s comfort zone, and visiting prisoners is usually out of the normal routine.

I would like to concentrate on Paul’s admonition to remember the prisoners. Paul is asking the believers to remember the prisoners, those who are mistreated, as if chained with them. So what can we learn here? I am assuming that the prisoners were there because of their faith, but if not, they still need care.
What do we know about this target group for ministry? Prisoners by nature, are bound and not free. So, practically speaking, they are hidden away so none see them except those who choose to visit. Also, we can presume some continuous suffering for an extended period of time.

Why is Paul admonishing the church to remember this group in particular? Because I imagine it would be very easy for people back in the usual church life, to forget what they can’t see, hence the admonition to remember. But Paul goes further than that, he admonishes them to remember the prisoners as if chained with them. In other words, what would it be like to be in a prison? Think about it? What would it be like to be bound, hurting and isolated with little comforts coming in or people visiting? When you remember in that way, it puts fire under you to seek out what a person would need in those conditions to keep their heads above water so that they don’t go under.

Why is Paul concerned about this fringe group, anyway? Because they all are members of a body, and part of the body is hurting. Paul cares for the whole body.

“For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ” (1Corinthians 12:12).

“that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26).

It struck me that there are more ways of being bound than in an actual prison. If you look at the inner workings of the visible church as a type of banquet hall with a table laden with food that is meant to feed the entire body, it is important to make sure that all the members get fed, that they are given care, even the ones out of sight. But, you need to remember a couple things first: it is possible to starve at a banquet if you can’t get to the table, and it is never acceptable that someone be starving in a family. So, it is important to be aware if there are any members of the family that can’t get to the banquet.

Who would be in this category? Any member who is isolated, out of normal life, hurting and can’t access the banquet like the shut-ins, the chronically sick, the suffering, the elderly, to name a few. Paul asks us to remember those in prison as if bound with them. That’s a pretty powerful reminder. So what would it be like to be out of life, or on a sickbed of suffering for months, or years? What would that person need to not go under emotionally? How can you bring the banquet to them?

I’m sure there are many ways to minister to them. In our church, we do meals for those in need, cards, visiting, praying and checking up on people. I think the importance of all this is that you want to show love and care. There is a special type of comfort given to a person in isolation in just being remembered, and all these special ways ‘remember’ the person. It is tangible love in action. We in the body of Christ learn as we go, on how to do this better and better: visiting the elderly, comforting the sick, greeting those who can’t be out in the main stream with some type of regular contact even in a small way through a text, a card, a smile, a hug, a gift of flowers, to tell them that they are remembered. When support is given, it makes it easier for that person to go through the trial, and lifts a little of the burden off, because they feel the whole body around them. Otherwise they are doubly hit, first by the trial, and then by feeling they are alone in it. They may also be feeling the loss of things taken away from them, things that they used to have, but don’t now due to the trial. A person in heavy trial sees a lot of loss along with new negatives. So having some type of positives coming back in from the body, can make a difference.

But, you might ask, how to do it all? No one person can put on their shoulders the burdens of the entire church. We can continually grow up in this area as we learn from each other how to love and minister to those God sets before us, as He opens up our eyes. Even though there is so much need in the church, as everyone does their part in their little corner, people will be helped and fed naturally with the entire body being ministered to. No one person can do it all, not even the pastor or elders, as they have so much on their plate in the running of the church. No, it takes a team of which we all are an integral part. And when we encourage each other in this, and help each other to see the needs, we grow up in Christ with a strong body continuously ministering and reaching out. That is the mark of a mature church. She learns how to minister to all her members in whatever condition they find themselves in. If it is something new, the body quickly learns how to minister to this new need, even through trial and error. And God can use even our failed attempts as we look to Him to help us learn to do it better. The important thing is to keep trying and leaving the results to Him.

So, how do you spot the needs? Look around you. Who is bound? Who is isolated? Who is sitting down when others are standing? Who is suffering and can’t get access to the good around them? Whose life has turned upside down? How can you bring the good to them? If you have a chance, go in after the person. Whether it is someone who is chronically ill or someone who has been thrust off to the side due to a condition, show that you care enough to pursue them. Remember, the highest form of giving is sacrifice which comes when time is given out of a very busy schedule.”

Ask God to show you the needs and tell you what you can do, then don’t worry about what you can’t do since you are not meant to do everything. You don’t ever want to operate out of guilt but out of a sincere desire to be available to respond to His leading, then you will be blessed. Learn to lean hard on Him as He moves you around to minister. And in doing so, you will become a little more like your Father every day as the church as a whole moves upward.

Consider what help you already have from God to do this:

“Now may the God of peace, who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever” (Heb 13:20,21).

You only work out what He has put in. You look up and follow orders. It’s as simple as that.

Jesus and the Boat

faith

“Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples. And He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.” And they launched out. But as they sailed He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy. And they came to Him and awoke Him saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. But He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, “Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!” (Luke 8:22-25).

What strikes me about this passage is where Jesus was positionally during this scenario. He was the one who charted the course across the lake and was ‘present’ and ‘all there’ at the beginning. It is easy to go on a voyage when your leader is visibly in front. But note what happens, during the voyage trouble arose with a windstorm. Now remember, they are committed to being in the boat since they are in the middle of the lake. They can’t just hop out on shore if the waves get too big for them. This is often the case with trials, God charts the course and once you’re in it, you can’t necessarily get out of it. Since you are now committed, it would be nice to have God’s presence always there in a way you can feel it.

But this was not the case in this situation because Jesus fell asleep, so his presence was not felt by those battling the winds. They must have felt that everything rested on them now. And things were not going well. Continue reading Jesus and the Boat →