I'm Not Like Them...

I'm not like them...I don't belong…

How many times have you heard that said...or how many times have you said it to yourself?

I read something this week that got my attention, I Corinthians 12:14-18. I have always heard verses 20-31, you know the ones that talk about we are all different parts of one body. We all have different gifts yet one body. Well, verses 14-18 deal with the lie that "I'm not like them so I must not be one of them" or "I am not like them so I don't fit". Ok...what-ever!

We are not supposed to all be the same! We each have an important and specific role in the Body of Christ. We each have gifts we are to use in this Body...we can't choose to not be a part of it!

15 Now if the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.

For those who have accepted the free gift...you are part of the family AND you are unique and different for a purpose!

Silence...Broken Communication

I don't know about you but silence can be extremely frustrating to me. Its not really just the silence, but lack of communication. The inability to communicate with others.

Come on...am I the only one who gets totally frustrated when I realize that my Blackberry isn't getting e-mails. That I can't get a wireless connection for my laptop. Its a helpless feeling that quickly leads to frustration when we can't communicate with others...the others that we want to communicate with.
I was out of town this week and didn't have a reliable connection to check e-mail and communicate...when I wanted to. Add to that a three hour time zone difference and communicating with those back home and at the office gets nuts. The disconnect becomes depressing. We would like to think that others lives don't go on without us...but they do. When the role we have in others lives is diminished, its a rough reality to face. But what is at the root of this? Broken communication...the silence.

Is this the same pain and frustration that God feels when I don't communicate with Him?
When I just carry on with my life in silence due to broken communication?
Father, I am sorry, forgive my silence...

Good...Better...Best

Why do we choose Good or Better rather than Best in life?
Its more than choosing between a poor choice and a wise choice.
When we make a poor choice Satan comes to us and reminds us that we didn't make a bad choice or the worst choice...poor doesn't look so bad, but poor is a long way from the best.
God wants His BEST for us, just as a father wants his best for his children.
We choose good or better because it's easier...right now.
Best is not normally easy right now but it allows us to rest with Gods peace, favor and blessing.
How will you choose? How will I choose?

A Nature Like Ours...

Ever feel discouraged by your humanity? I do. This human nature was given over to a sin nature way back in the garden, and it plagues us today. There are times when I am struggling and look at the men in the Bible and think...yeah, sure...but that's not me. We somehow think that the men and women of the Bible were so different than us.
Here is what I read today: James 5:17 "Elijah was a man with a nature like ours..."
WOW...did you read that? He had a nature like ours. He was just like you and me. The context of this passage (James 5:13-18) is dealing with the power of prayer. The man who could pray a drought into existence was like you and me. The man who then prayed down rain, was a man like you and me. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, yet he chose to believe God at His word...and there was power in his prayers because God heard and answered. Elijah sought out the heart of God and prayed for that.
Be encouraged...you and I have the same nature as Elijah. God spoke to him and He can speak to us if we let Him.

Fact or Fiction

So, is spiritual warfare fact or some mythical fiction story to make us think?
No doubt...it's real! This is something I have always known deep down inside but the reality is becoming more real every day. Quick story from today...
My family and I were visiting some ethnic markets from different parts of the world. We walked into one which had all kinds of idol images of gods from different religions. The craftsmanship was great but it just had a cold presence to it and I wanted to get out. I made a comment to my girls, kinda half hearted joking and half dead serious, that we needed to leave before we had a buddha stick to us. We left the store. Five minutes later we are standing in line to eat and our girls were like two I have never seen before. Respect for one another as well as others was not even a consideration to either. Bickering and a foul spirit had taken over. Where did this attitude (spirit) come from?
What I didn't realize is that my wife, who is quite quick with discernment, picked up on this spirit and quickly prayed for God to bind it and get it away from our family. Once at the dinner table, I prayed basically the same prayer as my wife. She turned to me and said that she too had prayed just minutes before. Like minded prayers...
The summary of the story is that without the girls fully understanding what had just happened, they were quickly back to their normal selves. Call it coincidence if you like...I know better.
Spiritual warfare...a fact of life we cannot ignore.

Vision...

Vision: the ability to see beyond the reality of today.

(thank you Chuch Swindoll)

Do you have vision or are you trapped by the reality of today?

Authentic Reality

Last night I had the opportunity to sit and listen to John Eldredge speak in person. As I listened to him unpack a bit of what his new book, Walking with God, is all about, I was filled with a number of thoughts and emotions. But two words summed everything up…Authentic Reality.

As I sat and listened I realized that this guy, John, is about as authentic as they come. No predispositions. He is just as I thought he would be after reading some of his books and listening to a couple of audio books. Though there were glimpses of “I would like to be like him” they quickly faded and I was left with, I want an authentic relationship with my God. One that I found modeled in John Eldredge’s book and in person. Today I realized these same relationships are also modeled throughout the Bible. It’s a book of examples of the relationship God desires to have with you and me.

We all have struggles. We all have things we fight with on the inside. We all have triggers which can unlock the ugly within us, but we also have a God who knows all of that and still loves us. Our Father, who wants so badly to be in intimate relationship with us if we will only slow down and be honest with Him…and our self. We also need to realize that we have an enemy who is dedicated to discouraging and destroying that relationship. One who will use any and all things he can to jack up that intimacy.
Realizing there is warfare around us and a God whose love can conquer it, this is reality. Living a life free without falsehood or misrepresentation…this is authenticity.

Things our kids teach us...

It is amazing the things we can learn about God from our kids.

Yesterday, my oldest daughter came and brought me $32 from her piggy bank for her Compassion child which she sponsors.

...Pause, here is the background...She is 12 but has had a huge heart to sponsor a child through Compassion International for about two years. Last year when our church, Stonecreek Church, had a Compassion event she chose a little girl from Kenya that she wanted to sponsor by herself. For nine months now, I have never had to ask her for her money since I pay the bill. Each month she will bring me the money and thank me for sending it. She is 12 years old and doesn't have a regular job, yet she saves all that she has so that she can pay to help this little girl have a chance to break the poverty cycle her family is caught in. At 12, she babysits and does whatever she can to earn the money she needs for Faith.

...I know that it took almost everything she had in her piggy bank to give me the $32 this month, yet she did it with joy. This nearly broke my heart because I know it was a sacrifice and she won't be able to do other things she would like. There are things coming for which I know she would like to have the money to spend...yet she put that aside for someone she has never met. Because of her sacrifice, I as her father wanted to give it back to her...and more. Then it came...I could hear God saying, that's how I feel about you when you sacrifice for Me and for others. It's what He was talking about when the widow gave a penny and it was more than all of the others had given. And then, just as I want to give back to my daughter more than she gave...God wants to do that for me too!
He wants to bless us more than we can imagine when we are faithful to follow Him. When we are faithful to care for others who He sends our way. He loves us SO much more than we can imagine and wants good for us. Just as I want nothing more than good and positive things for my girls...how much more does our Father want that for us?

More parent friendly lessons from kids in the future...

I am beginning to understand...

I have said over and over recently that I just feel that God has been telling me to get ready, that the battle is coming. It's one of those conversations that keeps coming up when I get alone with Him.

I am beginning to understand what He is saying...at least part of it. I have been listening to John Eldredge's new book "Walking with God" and have been struck with what God has been trying to say to me. This battle in the spiritual realm is one that He expects us to fight...and others need us to fight.

This book is the kind of study in walking with God on a daily basis, a real life example of spending time with Him and growing to understand how to hear His voice. Through listening to John I am beginning to see the battle that is raging around us. I would guess that many of you have seen this long before me. I thought I understood it but realize it is much deeper, bigger, more inclusive and intertwined than I ever imagined. Even as I sit here to write this message I find myself being knocked off track by interruptions on every side. (it took over four hours to complete)

How many times have we been moved to pray together and for one another?
The bigger question is how many of those times have we let pass without spending that time in prayer? We get distracted by life. We get distracted by good things. Soon that strong urging within us fades and we succumb to the currents of life. Crap! We just missed God's prompting for us to walk with Him, to engage in the spiritual warfare around us, to intercede for another who needs help and is being stalked or attacked by the forces of darkness. We go AWOL and the battle rages on. Those spirits then begin to transfer to us, our family, our friends. God forgive me for not listening...and acting.

It's kinda like God telling me to take the garbage out and I say "sure, I'll do it in a minute".
Time passes, it gets late I head to bed or get caught up in something else...the trash doesn't get taken out. The next morning when I get up I realize it's still there on the floor...and the whole house stinks. Even though I then take it out, the house still smells at the end of the day when I return home. I have to clean the floor, open the windows...work much harder to eliminate the effect of my disobedience.

I think each of us can name a dozen times when we have said we need to get together and pray for something or over someone...but we didn't.

Two thoughts, first, we cannot let the accuser continue to throw this in our heart that we failed to meet up to the task. Let's ask for forgiveness and put it behind us. Second, let us renew our bond and covenant with our prayer partners that when we are moved to pray...we do it.
When we are moved as a group (two or more of us), that we pull together on purpose to pray. Maybe it requires designating a specific place to meet to pray. Maybe it requires committing to a specific time period to meet once we hear God calling us together. I don't know...but I am beginning to see another realm that I haven't seen like this before.

Enough rambling... I know that Satan is trying to and is going to continue to try and drift us apart with life, busyness and circumstances around us. Stand strong...

Life is bigger...than what?

Life is bigger, than what?

It's way bigger than you or me. Its a journey that is waiting to be discovered for each of us.
Life is not a haphazard set of circumstances, though at times it appears that way from our vantage point. We get overwhelmed by the things around us that we can't think or see clearly. If only we were conditioned like the elite of our soldiers, who respond to adversity and attack without thinking. They have developed instincts which allow them to respond in the correct way. It becomes second nature…

We too are being conditioned to respond to the circumstances of life. The things we encounter today are ultimately leading to a life or death decision in the future. We don't know when that encounter will come, but be assured it will.

Will you embrace life or accept death?