A Restored Soul, Yes! Thank You

“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, je leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.”
Psalm 23:1-3a

I had been chatting with one of my awesome volunteers and she was telling me about a book she was reading at the time. I don’t remember the title of the book or the author but one of the characters in the early pages was a little boy who was terminally ill and working to memorize Psalm 23. This little boy was trying to understand what “restore my soul” meant. Someone explained it to him, if my memory serves, this way – “that even if the outside can’t be fixed, the Lord can fix the inside.” What a powerful statement!

We need out inside fixed more than anything don’t we. This life can be brutal on our hearts, our minds and our souls. The pace of life, that the world says we should live at is so fast, that we miss the amazing creation we live in, we miss divine appointments and we even miss His voice trying to speak to us. With the pace of life being so fast, when our bodies or our circumstances turn on us it doesn’t take long for hope to start failing or for anger to replace kindness.

If life is less than perfect – and it usually is, the holidays seems to magnify all the bad bits and hide the good bits. That when we need our Shepherd to find us, pull us out of the muck and mire we find ourselves in and lead us back to the place that He has made safe for us. Here in His pasture we find rest, and nourishment. He’ll soothe our emotions and bring healing to our souls so that we will be strengthened for all that we must face on this planet.

See Jesus came to transform us from the inside out - to restore our minds, our hearts and our souls, for those are thing things we need to love Him the way ought. When we love him the way we should we can love others, we can choose to be kind, we can slow down so we have time for those divine appointments and we can hear his voice in the quiet.

Will a restored inside make life in this world any easier – no, He never said it would. It will help us to deal with whatever the world throws at us. It will remind us that the Shepherd is nearby to lead us to rest, to put soothing balm on any wounds and to make us stronger than we can imagine being.

I don’t know what you are facing today. Maybe you are travelling pretty well right now – your soul may still need some restoration though. Maybe life is a raging storm and you are feeling battered and bruised – the Shepherd is out looking for you and when He call for you don’t run from Him, stand still and let Him come and get you. Some rest and restoration will help to keep going until the storm is over.

A restored soul? Yes, please and thank you!

A Prayer
Father – Thank you for being the Shepherd of our lives. Thank you for coming to look for us when we stray or when we’ve been wounded by life. Thank you for restoring our hearts, minds and souls. Once we have rested and received Your healing touch, help us to share Your goodness and faithfulness with those around us who are in need to your inside out transforming work that restores souls and brings rest. In the name of Jesus, who is our Shepherd and restores our souls – Amen.

Thankful for the Son

“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”
Hebrews 1:3

After what seemed like a month’s worth of cold, gray and damp days the sun was finally shining over Kansas. There is nothing like a little sun to help lift people’s spirits and make us thankful for the light and warmth that it brings. Whenever the sun breaks through the gloom of a cold gray day it reminds me of Jesus and that magnifies the effects of the sun shiny day.

I really like how this week’s passage describes Jesus. The Son (that is Jesus) as the radiance of God’s glory. Radiant like the sun only magnified oh I don’t know maybe a million times or a billion times. Back in the Old Testament book of Exodus we can catch a glimpse of just how radiant God is. After talking with God on the mountain, Moses’ face reflected God’s radiant glory. Sort of like a supernatural, but painless Son burn. The first time the people saw Moses with his radiant face they were afraid because they knew that he had talked to God and lived. That first time Moses shared the words of God with the people and then covered his face. Going on from there when the people saw Moses’ radiant face, they knew the he had been talking with God and that no doubt he had a message for them. So imagine how bright God’s glory really is. Just the thought of that makes me thankful, what about you?

During Jesus’ time on this planet I think we catch some glimpse of His radiance – when he is baptized, on the mountain with Moses and Elijah, after His resurrection and perhaps at His ascension. The writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is the radiance of God and an exact representation of God’s all sustaining power.

Was there radiance in his sun kissed face? Was there radiance in his calloused hands? Was there radiance in his dusty feet? What about in his tears or in his sweat in the garden? Was there radiance in His nail scarred hands and feed? Was there radiance in His healing touch or in His words? I think the answer of course is yes. His humanness may have acted like Moses’ veil, but I believe it was there just under the surface beaming out from His heart and just controlled enough so that He could walk and talk with us.

On this particular sunny day, that has chased the gray away I am thankful for the sun and I am so much more thankful for the Son – how about you?

A Prayer
Father – Thank you for the sun and thank you for Your Son who shows us your radiant glory and your all sustaining power. Remind us when the sun breaks through the clouds that Jesus came to set us free and purify us from our sin and for that we thank you. As we draw nearer to You help our lives to reflect a bit of His radiance to those around us. In the name of Jesus, who shines with His Father’s glory. – Amen.

Child of God - Be Thankful

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!”
1 John 3:1

There’s a song we’ve been singing in church from Bethel Music, sung by Jonathan David and Melissa Helser called No Longer Slaves. It is really a song of freedom and thankfulness. The chorus says simply “I’m no longer a slave to fear. I am a child of God.” I think sometimes we fail to fully comprehend the depth of what it means to be a child of God. So why child of God should we be thankful?

This week verse starts us off – we should be thankful because of the great love our Father God has lavished on us. Seriously the Creator of the universe loves us more than we can even fathom with our mere human minds and hearts. He lavishes us with love through the beautiful world we live in. Consider the lilies of the field, the birds of the air and all of the amazing creatures we share this planet with – there for His pleasure and ours, there to show us glimpses of God’s character.

We should be thankful that He was willing to take on the form of us, to be born into the world the way we are so that He could understand what we face and why we fall and at times choose slavery to things that keep us from really knowing Him. We should be thankful because His death for our sins and his resurrection breaks every chains for those who decide to believe and follow after Him.

We should be thankful because His lavish love drives out fear, moves mountains, splits seas and holds us tightly when we have no choice but to face the storms of life. We should be thankful because He has rescued us from sin and death and calls us into His kingdom, granting us dual citizenship to wherever we live on this planet and the His Kingdom, until the time we see him face to face and enter fully into the King of God. We should be thankful that He calls us son and daughter, and that we have not only the responsibility of being part of His royal family but also all the privileges.

We should be thankful, because He will never leave us, even when we try to leave Him. We should be thankful because when He looks at us He sees us for who we really are and still lavishes His love on us. We should be thankful because when He looks at us He sees the reflection of Jesus and sees who we are becoming and He is pleased.

So who are you? You are a child of God – be thankful.

A Prayer
Father – Thank you for the love You so lavishly pour out on us. Love that allows us to become Your child, members of Your family and citizens of Your Kingdom. Love that drives out fear, moves obstacles out of our way and holds us tightly in the midst of life’s many storms. May that lavish love pour out of our lives and into the lives of those around us, that they too can call you Father and be a child of God. In the name of Jesus, who made the way for us to be called sons and daughters. – Amen.

Victory Not Defeat

“You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness, O God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas, who formed the mountains by your power, having armed yourself with strength, who stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations. Those living far away fear your wonders; where morning dawns and evening fades you call forth songs of joy.”
Psalm 65:5-8

I have been struggling with a phrase that we’ve been using a lot lately, at work and everyday life. The phrase is “It is what it is.” Don’t get me wrong there are times when something is indeed “it is what it is” but sometimes it’s just a phrase to say something nice instead of what you are really thinking - do you know what I mean? Anyway, I’ve been struggling with it and praying about it. That’s when that still small voice whispered that we needed to stop accepting defeat and claim the victory that as followers of Christ we know we have.

About the time when I got the message that we shouldn’t just be saying “it is what it is” when we are frustrated, disappointed or even angry – I happened upon the videos of Heather Land – I Ain’t Doin It. Each of Heather’s short videos are hilarious, truthful and end with the statement “I ain’t doin it.” For a while anytime someone said “it is what it is” I would respond with “I ain’t doin it”. But that was only partly overriding the defeating words of the other phrase. Ok – I know I’m rambling – but you know I try to be real with these – so the struggle is real my friends. Then the phrase that really does override the - it stinks and there’s nothing we can do about it, feeling the defeat of “it is what it is” popped into my head. What’s the magic phrase that speaks of victory not defeat? “My God can move mountains.” Yep – He can and he can still the wind and the waves and my weary soul and your weary soul too.

According to the Psalm of Dave that I took the above passage from, He hears us and responds with awesome deeds of righteousness. He is God our Savior, He is hope, He made the mountains and by His strength He can move them or help us to move them. He is the One who puts joyful songs on our mouths, even in the midst of life’s many storms.

Life is still going to be hard – a bad report from the doctor, difficult people in our lives, projects that turnout to be more difficult than we thought – in all of this and so much more, we do not have walk in discouragement. Because our God can move mountains - we can walk in victory not defeat.

A Prayer
Father – Thank you for putting humor in our lives, especially in the midst of storms. Thank you for how You choose to respond to us with mercy, grace, love and strength. Thank you for the victory we have in You. Thank you for moving the mountains that need to be moved or for giving us the strength to climb over it or journey through the valley. Help to remember in those moments when “it is what it is” is on our hearts and expressed in word – that we should follow it with “my God can move mountains” so that we live in victory not defeat. In the name of Jesus, who has made us victorious – Amen.

Get Your Hands Up

“Therefore. I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Romans 12:1-3

Some of you know that once upon a time when I was younger, I spent ten years working at a Department of Energy research facility as a security contractor. Federal arrest authority, special response team training, pursuit driving, proficient with multiple weapons and fully prepared to do whatever might be needed in order to protect the facility, the people and the research. We were trained to yell “GET YOUR HAND UP!” as we confronted a subject. If their hands went up and they complied with our next instructions, we would take it as a sign of surrender with the understanding the arrest would likely happen without further incident. Around the world police shout for subjects to get their hands up, to surrender to their authority. I was thinking about this as I started reading Romans chapter 12.

Paul writing to the followers of Christ in Rome opens chapter 12 in some ways with “Get Your Hands Up” statement. Calling on the audience of his time and to us today to offer our bodies as living sacrifices – to surrender our lives in a way that is holy and pleasing to God. In my opinion this is not a once and done sort of call, this is a daily call on our lives as believers.

Every day we need to lay down our lives, our sense of what’s right and not right and allow our minds to be made new. To allow our minds, our hearts, our eyes, our ears to see and hear the world and respond to it according to God’s standard of right and wrong, God’s expectation of worship, God’s standard of mercy and grace.

We need to renew our sacrifice, our act of surrender daily cause let’s face it sometimes the world and its trappings look pretty inviting. But the strains of the old song “This world is not my home I’m just a passing through” ring true for those who have surrendered their lives for the new life offered by Jesus.

How do we do that, how do we get our hands up and lay our lives down? There are lots of ways and they all work together. Read God’s Word and take it to heart. Listen to music that speaks of His goodness, power and love. Treat people well, even when they are mean to you. Show mercy and grace as opportunities arise. Pray, pray, pray that the Holy Spirit will give you direct and guide every step you make. Allow God to give you an attitude adjustment when you need it and to prune you so you can grow and bear more fruit. Finally, share all the amazing things God has done for you with those around you so that He will be glorified and they might decide to follow Jesus.

A Prayer
Father – forgive your people when we choose to live like we have surrendered to this world. Remind us of the grace and mercy You showed us when we first believed and decided to follow Jesus. Help us Lord, every day to get our hand up and lay our lives down as living sacrifices. May we serve you with humble and overflowing hearts and with minds that have been made new. In the name of Jesus, who laid down His life so that we could truly live – Amen.

Who Are We to Please?

“Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
Galatians 1:10

You no doubt have heard said, “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.” There seems to be some question as to who is responsible for this particular saying or whether it is an adaptation from another similar quote that uses the word “fool” instead of “please”. Regardless of their origin these words ring of truth. In my line of work – this can really be a tough issue. I’d had a conversation with someone who what complaining in a way that we (referring to myself and the others that I work with) – couldn’t please everyone. Something to which I heartily agree. I asked the person I was speaking to this question – knowing the answer I was hoping to hear – If we can’t please all of the people, who are we supposed to please? That person didn’t have an answer and that made my heart hurt.

You see as followers of Christ; our first priority should be to please God. That is the point Paul is trying to make in the passage above. Let’s back up and get this into some perspective. Paul had written to the church in Galatia in order to address some issues the church was having with false teachers. Paul opens his letter with one of his wonderful greetings but then gets right down to giving this group of believers the what for about their behavior. “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – which is not gospel...” (Galatian 1:6-7). Paul goes so far as to say that those responsible for interfering with the gospel of Jesus should be eternally condemned for trying to tell the gentile believers that they needed to follow Jewish law in order to really be saved. No doubt Paul’s comments didn’t win him any popularity contests, except perhaps by the few who had recognized what was going on and hadn’t fallen for it.

Paul is essentially saying in the passage above that all Christians and especially those who have been called into leadership positions by God need to focus on pleasing God, not men. That was the answer I was looking for when I asked who are we supposed to please.

If as followers of Christ, people who call ourselves by His name, we chose to please God first - with our whole lives what would that look like? Would our judgmental attitudes fade away? Would our desire to be pleased and to have things “our” way change? Would our gathering together as the people of God be less about how we think that should look or sound and more about getting to God’s heart and having God’s heart? Would we balance truth and grace instead of being all truth or all grace in our dealing with our follow believers and the non-believers in our lives?

We can try to please some of the people all of the time or all of the people some of the time knowing full well we will never make everyone happy and that trying to will break our own spirits or we can make the daily choice to please God first and watch as He takes us and those around us on an amazing journey into His heart as He changes ours.

A Prayer
Father – we can be so hard headed and stiff necked sometimes, forgive us for seeking to please ourselves and others before we think to please you. Show us Lord how to please you in our everyday lives. Lord give those You have called to lead on your behalf to have hearts that desire to please you before they please the people You have given them to shepherd. Be the strength, courage and wisdom all of us need to stand against those who want things their way instead of Your way. Thank you for who YOU are, draw us to you. Thank you that Your Son modeled pleasing You over pleasing Himself and by so doing made a way for all who believe to be restored. In the name of Jesus, who showed us how to please the Father – Amen.

Drama, Drama, Drama

“As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’ ‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.’”
Luke 10:38-42

I really don’t like drama. Wait, no that really isn’t a true statement. I do like drama in a good book, on television, at the movies or on the stage. What I really don’t care for is, the drama that at times seems to be a constant in all of our lives, either because of our own choices, the acts of others or just because life is just that way – full of drama, drama, drama. That kind of drama brings on anxiety and stress; it can distract us from the things that are really real in our lives – especially as followers of Jesus. As I was lamenting to the Lord over a number of dramas currently playing out in my life and the lives of people around me, I couldn’t help but think of Martha and Mary.

Jesus and the guys had stopped in as they were passing through town. Martha set about creating a wonderful meal for the guests. Mary, sat at Jesus’ feet hanging on every word He spoke. Giving Him her full attention – Mary’s choice was an act of worship, she wasn’t about to let anything distract her from what the Lord was saying to her and the others sitting there. Martha

Now understand, Martha hadn’t made a bad decision in wanting to show hospitality to her guests, done will the spirit of generosity the preparation of the meal was also an act of worship. Her hospitality turned into a drama when she allowed it to distract her for an even better choice to be part of the what was really real in her home. Jesus was there, He was Lord, Messiah, the Creator of the universe become like one of His creatures – He was there in her home, speaking life changing truth into those who were listening. Her hospitality was getting in the way of the opportunity she had to just sit and chat with the Lord.

I have no doubt that Martha prepared a wonderful meal that day, but I also think that Jesus would have been just has happy to enjoy a simple meal of bread, cheese and wine, especially if it had resulted in no drama and both sisters sitting, listening, talking and learning about what it means to look like Jesus.

So what drama is distracting you from totally surrendered worship, from sitting at the feet of Jesus – learning to look and live like him. Maybe it’s just everyday life, maybe you are so caught up in serving, that you have forgotten who you are serving for. Maybe there are things in your life that in and of themselves aren’t bad thing, but because you have allowed them to take priority, that now that are turning into idols and keeping you from the One who is really, real.

Whatever is causing the dramatic distractions in your life – take a step back, surrender that worry and stress and just sit. Sit and listen to the voice of the One who know you more and loves you better than anyone else. Listen for the life changing truth He wants to speak into your heart. Breathe in the peace that He gives and find rest from all the drama, drama, drama.

A Prayer
Father – sometimes our lives get so filled with drama, that we are distracted from that One thing that is needed. The need to sit, be still and know that You are God. Listen to the life changing, image transforming truth that He has for each of us. Help to know when things have become more than just things, when serving had become an obligation rather than an act of worship for the One who taught how to serve. Forgive us Lord, replace the drama with your peace. In the name of Jesus, who is the One that is needed – Amen.