Promises

Promises, one of the things that humans put so much value on, yet oftentimes, so little stock in. As kids, we grow up learning never to break a promise, especially pinky promises! It is amazing how something so sacred as a promise can be magnified even more by simply locking pinkies with another. It's also amazing how we can go from 'cross my heart and hope to die' to breaking that promise like a toothpick. As adults however, when someone promises us something, we typically take it with a proverbial 'grain of salt.'

Pressure is something that has ruined many good promises, broken many  good friendships, shattered many extravagant dreams. If we could do an accurate study of how people handle pressure, I believe we would find that most people perform more poorly under pressure than they would undertaking the same task with no pressure. I don't personally know of anyone for certain, who hasn't broken a promise. The promise might have been made, as most are, with every good intention, but do to outside circumstances (pressure), the promise was broken. Why is it so hard to keep a promise? Why are we so easily influenced, or so timid of enduring moments of pressure in order to be true to our word?

Nobody likes to be uncomfortable, and pressure is uncomfortable. This is one reason why I am so glad that Isaiah 55 shows us that God's ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts. If God succumbed to pressure the same way that we do, he would be the (literally) biggest liar of all, but His ways aren't our ways. He cannot lie; therefore, He cannot break a promise. His promises fill His Word from cover to cover, but the one that has stuck out to me the most recently is Matthew 19:29.

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. (Matthew 19:29 NIV)

As a missionary, this verse is an amazing promise! We leave everything: family, jobs, and friends are just the tip of the iceberg that we leave behind. Some people wonder, "For what? Why do you leave when there are people here who need help?" 

While we don't leave to receive the hundred fold, this promise has enabled many to endure the hardship of leaving those we care about, to reach others that we may never know.

The proverb is true that you reap what you sew, but when you sew where the Master tells you to sew, the reward is much greater.

United In Love (What's LOVE got to do, got to do with it?)

Colossians 2:2 NIV (emphasis mine)- My goal is that they would be encouraged in heart and United in Love, so that they may have full riches of complete understanding...

"United In Love" has become (for lack of a better term) my ministry slogan . The Bible is so clear that, as Christians, we must love in everything we do. Love must be who we are.

1 Corinthians 13:1 says- If I could speak all of the languages of earth and of angels, but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

Love is the universal language, and surpasses many barriers. Though the world has made gray the line between love and lust, true genuine love is understood worldwide. Love can soften the hardest and warm the coldest of hearts.

Sometimes, the correct words are no where to be found. Even the most articulate person with the greatest knowledge of vocabulary cannot adequately express his or her feelings from time to time. With all the big words and extravagant gestures, the message sometimes gets lost. Love doesn't have to be flamboyant to be recognized. When it develops a 'look at me' attitude, then it is no longer love.

1 Corinthians 13:4- Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy it does not boast, it is not proud.

Love doesn't look for the spotlight, it only needs a spot. From that spot, it grows and becomes who we are. It envelopes and changes us; as we interact with others, they no longer see us for who we were, they see us for who we are. We are the children of God and (1John 4:8) God is Love; this makes us children of Love.

So to answer the question, 'What's love got to do with it?' The answer is simply: Everything!



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Prayer journaling

Wow it has been ten forevers since I last blogged. I don't really have a whole lot to blog about this time, but I do feel that it could be beneficial to let you in on something that I have been doing as of late. Prayer Journaling is something that I really never saw myself doing, but it is so beneficial to really see what your prayers are, to be able to go back and read them is really awesome. At Ozark First Assembly we have something simply called Monday night prayer. It is a time between 5 and 7 for church members or even people from the community to come in and spend some time in prayer. I have been doing this as many monday nights as possible, and at the end of my prayer time I have been journaling. As I have indulged into the world of worship music I have come upon the awesome "revelation" that worship songs are simply prayers put to music.

My journaling is mostly in poem style and I would like to share just a few of them with you. I have written a few poems in my day, but when they are a God inspired prayer poem, it just has a much deeper meaning.

June 4, 2012

Let us not complicate Your Word
Let us not complicate Your Presence
When You have spoken and we have heard
When You have come and are our Essence
Be the Lord over all, be our every answer
Catch us when we fall, as we seek to be Your pleasure
You are the Solution to every problem
The comfort over all our fears
You have overcome our situation
You have overcome it for years

Let our worship, let our love
Fill this place, and the Heavens above
Flood our hearts as we flood Your altars
With our broken dreams and confidence faltered

July 2, 2012

Tears on the altar and tears on the floor
A simple prayer of faith to change us forevermore
With our fingers imprinted in Your altar
A sincere sign that we are your sons and daughters
We ask for favor as we seek your face
To be a light shining in a dark and dreary place
A City on a Hill a place of healing and refuge
A kind word, a bright smile, however you choose to use

You are truly the Potter and us the clay
Never let us forget that as we go from day to day
Let Your thoughts be mine
Pure, heavenly, and Divine
Let Your ways be my ways
To see the path and give You all praise
Don't hide Your face and speak clearly your Word
Fill this place and lead me my Shepard
You are my hope, my joy, my song
Let me praise you with every thought, word and breath all the day long

July 9, 2012

I want to live a life that is whole and holy
In both my soul and my body
I want to walk with my head held high
Knowing that you Oh Lord are right by my side
You will never leave or forsake me
You are the same forever, never changing

You are the Master, I am the servant
You give eternal life, I could never earn it
Your mercy is so great, Only your ways are Divine
Open the eyes of the spiritually blind
You are so strong yet ever so meek
Strengthen the knees of the spiritually weak
Your Grace is sufficient, Your Word is so clear
Open ears so the spiritually deaf can hear
You are the Potter I am mere clay
Use me dear Lord in Your Highest of Ways

Open Book!

I just read the story of Jesus's disciples promising to stay with him no matter what, and when the guards came to seize Jesus the disciples fled. A random thought came to mind...

If someone was writing our life down and making it a story, how would we do? I mean there are so many stories in the Bible that we have read and been like that is awesome, and others that we have read and wondered why this Bible character acted in this way when he/she knew what they needed to do. That is just where we get it wrong. So many times we forget that these "characters" in the bible are not characters at all. They are real people. Their stories, their life stories have been jotted down for all the world to see. We know how they ended so it's easy for us to judge them or celebrate them. So that's my question to you. If your story, your life story, was written down for all the world to see, would those reading celebrate with the choices you've made or would they judge you for the decisions you have/are made/making. Whoever wants to save their life will lose it (Mark 8:35). I also take this to mean whoever wants to save their reputation will lose it. Let us live giving God our lives, our reputations, and let's remember our promises we have made to Him.

Moral of the story: Your life is an open book, what part does your "character" play in the story?

Paying Bills...

Just paid my monthly balance for my American Express Delta Sky Miles Credit Card... ouch... You all know what I mean. Bills are never fun to pay. But as I was clicking the submit button for the payment a thought came to mind...

For the wages  of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's what the Bible says in Romans 6:23, but sometimes our reality of that scripture is not the same reality that it depicts. You see a gift is of no cost to the recipient. All one must do to receive a gift is to accept it. Many of us like receiving gifts especially one given from the heart of the giver; a gift given in love or from the heart of the giver is always the best gift. The giver knows the sacrifice that they have to take to give such gifts, but very rarely does the recipient understand to what depth of sacrifice the gift is given. Thus the dilemma.

Imagine getting (as a giver) a one of a kind gift that is nonrefundable and nonexchangeable. It's the perfect gift, one that you know for a fact that this person needs; as you go to deliver your gift, you arrive at the soon to be recipient's home to find no one there. You leave the gift on the doorstep with a note telling them who the gift is from. Maybe not everyone would expect a phone call or letter in the mail within the week, but let's say we are this time, and let's pretend like that phone call/ letter never happens.  We get to wondering what became of our special gift. We return to the house to find it opened and sitting outside in the elements which will ruin it. We return home hurt because of the way our gift was received (rejected could be a better word). We try the subtle way of calling the recipient to see if they received our gift, which they kind of dance around the question with a "yeah I saw it" answer.

Think of how God feels. He gave His very best gift. Parent's you can relate to this, He gave His one and only Son. He did this knowing that people would reject his gift. A sacrificial gift, one given from the very heart of the Creator of all the universe. He did this for one reason, His love for us. His love has no boundaries because He has already crossed them all, laying down His very deity and flesh for us. All we have to do is except His gift.

How many will still say, "Yeah I saw it. I know about it" and still not except it? It's hard to believe the best Gift ever given was gift wrapped in rags, but would it have been more acceptable if the Gift would have been wrapped with silk? Regardless we all have a debt to pay it's our choice if we want to accept that our debt has been paid, keep living like there is no debt to pay, or keep putting it off to pay later. One day the Collector will come, will you be able to show Him your debt has been paid and enjoy eternal life or will you have to take the punishment for your debt which is death. Do you love your family and friends enough to tell them about this Gift?

This is a time...

               Well tonight we had a night of Worship at our pavilion at my home church, Ozark First Assembly. There were 4 guitars many youth and young adults, and a few not as young adults. The night went pretty well I thought. We had a fire, the temperature was perfect for a fire tonight… at 90+. It was by a creek, mosquitoes were out. But we were all together, a group of believers joined together to sing praises to our God, Father, and King. The night started around 7, it’s not dark at 7, but that’s the time we decided to start. The 4 guitars were tuned, and finally playing the same song. People started singing. I wouldn’t really call what we did at this point worshiping; no it was more or less just playing the guitar and singing. So after we played about 7 or so songs, we stopped for a while. I spoke a few words concerning the heart of what the night was about. The guitars spread out a little amongst the crowd to better spread the tune, and we started again. This went on for another hour or so, but there were brief moments when no music was played and no one was talking. All we could hear were the sounds of nature, but shortly a guitar would pick up with another song and off we would go again. Though more worship occurred at this point of the night, we soon stopped, picked up around the area and went our separate ways. This is when a question was asked to me. How do you think tonight went? And it struck a random thought…

             Overall, I thought the night went pretty well, but with events like these we always wish that it would’ve gone better than it did. My philosophy on worship has become such, and that is what I would like to share with you. This is a time when TRUE worshipers will worship Him. That is a statement most of us have heard and believe. My question is, if this is true, why do we not see more people truly pour their heart out to God during our times of worship together? First off, you shouldn’t be worried about those around you, but I do know we’re all guilty of this, or I am anyway… But my thought is that no where in the ‘true worshipers will worship Him’ statement does it say how the true worshipers will worship. It only says that they will. So just because we do not see somebody pouring their heart out to God, doesn’t mean that they aren’t. Some people worship God just as silently as the Spirit moves through a service. Others go as extreme as singing as loud as we all do in the shower or car, or as loud as I do in the shower and car, and in the shower and car I sound like Joel Houston or Chris Tomlin or something. I mean you wouldn’t believe how awesome.. how amazing… sorry…

               People worship differently. If we try to make everybody worship the same, we will waste our time. As long as everyone is worshiping the same God, is that not enough? On the flip side of ‘true worshipers worshiping’, what does that mean of those who are not true worshipers…? Simply they will not worship Him. Yes, they may sing lift their hands and cry, but if they are not true worshipers, what they are doing is just making noise, motions, and forcing emotions. If this is you I almost apologize for stepping on your toes. I almost apologize because you needed to hear the truth. Now you need to accept the truth and do something about it. This statement also never states that those who are not true worshipers will never become true worshipers. There is hope! Seek God, become someone who worships God for who He is, and what he’s done for you. Give Him the glory, it’s not about how well you carry a tune, or how many buckets you’ve tried and failed to carry a tune in. 

             Worship Leader or Pastor don’t become frustrated when you don’t see visibly the fruits of your labor. God is working, and you never know what He is accomplishing in your congregation. Just do your job, follow the leadership of the Spirit, and let Him do his. 

Moral of the Story: What time is it you asked? Time when true worshipers will worship? Yes, and time for you to get a watch!

I love being handy!

I am a respiratory therapist in Ozark, and I recently had a patient who needed my help in buttoning up the shoulders of his hospital gown, after I ran a test on him. There is nothing significant about that, but the part that was significant, or thought provoking, came in the way he asked. He didn't say," Hey you unbuttoned me, will you please button me back." He instead said, " Please help me... I have almost lost all use of my hands."

Think about for just a moment how many times a day you use your hands... My typical day consists of waking up, (1) pulling the covers off of me, (2) unplugging my cell phone, (3) turning my phone off of vibrate and into some sound (if I remember) (4,5,6)opening my shirt drawer grabbing a shirt and putting it on, (7,8,9) Doing the same with my shorts/pants, (10,11,12,13)Doing the same with my socks-12 and 13 is my right sock then left or vice versa. That's 13 different times on a day that I decided not to set an alarm the night before, or make my bed, and this is only 5-10 minutes into my day. Oh yeah, and I forgot to shut the three drawers...

In any case, we use our hands a lot, but my real thought is much deeper than how blessed we are to still have use of our hands, no matter how arthritic they may be.

What if this patient of mine were God? We, as the Church, are the body of Christ, but sometimes I do feel as if Christ's body has almost lost all use. How often do we reach out to the lost, to the broken, even to the different. You see the awesome thing that I've come to realize about hands is that they are attached to arms. Seriously, think about the potential of hands attached to arms as compared to hands popped out where your current arm pits are. How would we put on deodorant... would we even need too... would hair still grow there... (back to the matter at hand, pun intended) Hands attached to arms can reach. They can reach out, up, down, or back. They can reach out to the different, up to the Father, down to the sick, and back to those who may have fallen behind.

How productive or useful is a hand that only serves itself? Should a hand bathe and dry only itself? You say that's pretty crazy, but how many churches do we have even in our own city, county, or state that the only reach they do is an in reach? There are times when in reaches are needed, but let's get real. There's a world in need of somebody to reach out to them, and God saw it fit to give us the hands attached to arms to do it with.

So I ask, Christian are you reaching out? Church are you? If not, God's saying, "I have almost lost all use of my hands."

Moral of the story: Arm pits are much cooler than hand pits. Reach out!