Posts in category: Uncategorized

Feeling unqualified

It was his first time in church. After service the young man was introduced to the pastor. The pastor asked him what he thought about the experience. “It was just what I needed,” he said. His eyes were getting a little watery, then he said, “I felt something.”

The pastor looked at him, smiled and asked, “Can I pray for you?” “I don’t think so,” the young man responded. After a pause, he said, “I’ve got a lot of stuff in my life that needs to be straighten out first.”

This young man’s reaction might be similar to yours.

What specific promises of God have you been holding on to? Promises of breakthrough, or answers to pray, or direction, etc. But as time goes by and/or detours take place, you can start to doubt if what God has promised will actually happen.

You may blame God, but most often you’ll blame yourself. And this is where the similarity with the young man mentioned early starts. You believe there is something wrong with you. You haven’t prayed enough, read the bible enough, or gone to church enough. There are things you need to straighten out first.

God hit the button

On the show The Voice, the contestants come out and sing as the judges face the opposite way. If the judge likes what they hear, they hit a big red button and their chair turns around. By doing this, the judge is signaling that they are impressed with what they have heard and want the person to come onto their team.

What’s so awesome about God is that he hit the button for you to be on his team without you doing anything. In fact, in spite of you doing anything. You don’t have to prove anything, or try to qualify beforehand.

Back to the young man…

He thanked the pastor and begin to walk off. The pastor caught him and said, “You don’t have to do anything.” The two of them prayed together. The young man later told people that God accepted him just the way he was.

So if you’re trying to get things straight first, or trying to prove something to God before his promise can to be fulfilled, cancel the audition. The Judge has already hit the button, turned towards you, and likes what he sees!

Honey bear

I was so excited to eat some honey I had bought the other day. It was in one of those little plastic bears and actually made locally. I took the cap off and begin to squeeze some on my toast but nothing came out. So I squeezed little harder, nothing until…Splat! Honey everywhere!

You’ve seen those “sealed for your protection” things that are on almost everything? They’re even on toilets. The little plastic bear’s sweet contents were sealed for my protection, but it didn’t work too well.

As I was cleaning up the sticky mess, the thought came to me how certain people remind me of that little honey bear. They have wonderful things inside them, but they are sealed off from everyone and everything. And when you try to extract some of the good things in them, if you’re not careful you will have a mess on your hands.

We tend to seal ourselves off from others when we’ve been hurt and are in some kind of pain as a result. Pain has a way of sealing us off from things, places, and people that remind us of what hurt us. And when and if we do start to open up it’s often mixed with bitterness and anger.  That’s exactly what we see happening with the children of Israel when God began to take them out of Egypt. 

Pain unsealed

Instead of trusting God’s instructions through Moses, Israel was frightened and wanted things to go back to how they were. The pain of years of slavery and being under their heavy-handed taskmasters began to speak…

“When they saw the Egyptians marching after them and were very afraid, and they said to Moses, ‘Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?  Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, “Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians”? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!’” (Exodus 14:10-12, NIV)

Pain has a way of clipping our wings and keeping us from being able to fly, and if left unresolved for very long, you can almost forget that you were ever created to fly in the first place. God wants to remove the seal of pain and release our hopes and dreams. 

It may be a little messy at first as your protective seal comes off your life, but that’s okay…I know somebody who’s got some experience cleaning things up.

Every night

We used to have two cats named Jeffy and Jack. They had to be brought in every night. Jeffy would run and practically jump in your arms, but Jack was a royal pain.  He was always out “hunting and exploring.” We would make all those silly sounds that only cat people know about. We would even shake a little dish filled with cat food. Sometimes he’d come, sometimes he didn’t. And when Jack didn’t come in we’d worry all night about him.

One night I went outside to get the cats. Jeffy ran straight at me, then by me, and then into the house. Of course Jack was nowhere to be seen. As I began making those aforementioned silly noises, I spotted him over in a field near our house. I called him. No movement. I moved closer to see what he was doing.

Jack was down low in a hunting position staring straight ahead. I watched him for about five minutes wondering what he was doing. Then I called his name. As I did a little bird popped up off the ground that was right in front of him. Jack leapt after it but it flew away.

Jack then turned towards me with a look that said, “What the heck?! Couldn’t you see what I was doing over here? Hello!! That was one of the best bird hunting expeditions EVER and YOU wrecked it!” After looking one more time at the spot where the bird was, he sulked his way over towards me and let me pick him up.

“Sorry Jack, but you need to come in,” I whispered in his ear. As I put him down inside the house he went over and began to eat some cat food. I’m sure he was thinking, “Geez. I’m eating the same old BORING cat food when I could’ve been feasting on wild fowl fricassee.”

A few hours later Jack was sound asleep on the couch. He didn’t hear the howls and yelps of the pack of coyotes out in the field, but I did. I was sure glad he was inside.

Getting off track

“I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.”
(Psalm 119:10, NIV84)

This verse tells us that we can love the Lord and seek him with all our hearts, but still get off track. So it encourages us to ask God to keep us from straying.

The things that get us off track can seem so important and valid, but they may not be what God wants. So God finds us and directs us back to where we should be, however we complain and see it as an interruption, even a disappointment.

“God what are you doing? That was the best situation for me! There was so much potential! I wish I could’ve just stayed there!”

When God interrupts

The Bible is filled with stories of people who were just going about their business when God called them to do something else. Some went willingly, some not. Some saw burning bushes, some were swallowed by fish. Some were thrust into the limelight, some were assigned to obscurity. But one thing is for sure, anytime God interrupts what people are doing, it’s always for the best.

Someone reading this can’t understand why God didn’t let you finish that project.  Or why he didn’t let you stay at that place. You were so close. Things looked so good. Why did God interrupt what was going on?

But it’s okay…

It’s time for you to rest in God’s hands. He knows what’s best for you. He knows about dangers that you’re unaware of. Traps that the enemy’s set for you. He wants to bring you in out of the dark. He feels much better when you’re with him, safe in his arms, feeding on his faithfulness. So close your eyes, you can rest in him.

A Grandfather’s Legacy

The old man Simeon took the baby and held him in the air. Everyone in the temple could hear him crying, “Thank you God. I can now die in peace, for with my own eyes I’ve seen your salvation.”

Two generations later…

A group of young men were walking home from the rabbinical school of Shammai.  One of them was talking about his grandfather, when the others interrupted, “Oh no! Here we go again! We’re tired of hearing that same old story about your grandfather praying at the temple and how he got to hold the baby Jesus.”Simeon’s grandson quit talking. His mind raced through all the stories he’d been told…

…stories about how God’s Spirit would come upon his grandfather and show him things.
…stories about how his grandfather had held a baby he swore was the Messiah.
…and many stories about how from that day forward his grandfather was never quite the same. 

One of his classmates nudged him back into the conversation, “Do you agree with your grandfather and all these other crazy people that Jesus is the Messiah?” “No. Well, I mean…” he stumbled for words. The others laughed.

Something Was Stirring in Him

Simeon’s grandson finally made his way home. Tired from the day’s activities, he laid down in his room. “I don’t know, maybe my grandfather was crazy,” he thought to himself.  “After all, my dad has never bought into any of it.” In fact, it was his father who demanded that he go to the conservative school of Shammai where he was to be taught the right way to believe. 

Something inside was pressing him so hard that he said, “God, I believe in you. I believe in the promise of a coming Messiah. My grandfather believed that Jesus was the Messiah. I’m not sure what to believe. Please help me.”

The room was flooded with a strange warmth. His heart pounded. Suddenly he was standing in a room glistening with colors and light. He couldn’t believe his eyes. He saw a man who he knew to be his grandfather. And standing next to him was another man who reached out his hand. This man said his name in a way that made everything else fade. He knew who it was and began to cry out, “Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!”

Never the Same

“Get up! You’re going to be late!” yelled his dad. It was morning and he had overslept. As he gathered his things and ran out the door, the memory of what he had experienced filled his thoughts. Was it a dream? Whatever had happened he felt different. He could tell something had changed inside of him. He knew he wasn’t crazy. And neither was his grandfather. 

Simeon’s grandson from that day forward was never quite the same.

“I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.” (Joel 2:28, NIV)

Inferiority Complex

A man went to a psychiatrist to seek help for his battle with insecurity. The doctor listened to him for a while and then gave him a diagnosis.

“The good news is you don’t have a complex. The bad news is you actually are inferior!”

It’s really not funny. Feelings of insecurity can be crippling. One of the most powerful weapons in Satan’s arsenal is insecurity. In spite of many wonderful experiences in their faith and knowledge of God’s word, low self-esteem hangs over many Christians like Los Angeles smog.

I’ve have counseled many people who were wrestling with insecurity. The reasons for feeling insecure vary, and the cures vary somewhat as well—what works for one person doesn’t with another. But one thing everyone benefits from is a true understanding of his or her identity in Christ.

Am What I Am

Most people who read the words of Paul would never think that the guy who wrote one third of the New Testament, took the Gospel to the world, built churches everywhere, and who had things revealed to him that were unlawful for him to repeat would feel insecure. But he gives us a glimpse of the battle he fought…

“For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am.” (I Corinthians 15:9-10)

Paul’s past had disqualified him, and among the other apostles he was inferior. Yet because of God’s grace he was able to say those beautiful words, “I am what I am.”  Are you able to say that?  Are you satisfied with who you are?  I pray God would release a work of grace in YOUR life that would allow you to experience a breaking of any insecurity, and to be the best you YOU can be!

Peter was pretty discouraged. He had denied that he knew Jesus during his arrest. He then went back to his hometown and spent all night fishing but caught nothing. Then Jesus shows up and adds insult to injury.

Three times Jesus asked, “Simon, do you love me?” Peter was grieved and said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.” (John 21:17–19, ESV)

When Peter first chose to follow Jesus he left his fishing boat and fishing nets. In other words he left everything that was sustaining his livelihood. That’s pretty impressive. What an act of selflessness submission! But Peter was following Jesus with a very specific idea of what the future would include: the overthrow of an oppressive Roman regime and the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth. Peter could envision himself as a significant envoy (albeit a humble one) in this new empire.

When Jesus tells Peter after in the passage above, “Follow Me,” it is very different from the first time Jesus told Peter this. Peter now understands that the road to the Kingdom includes a cross. This isn’t what Peter had planned on, but it had been part of God’s plan all along.

Submission. Really?

It seems like submission when we’ve submitted our plans and even our livelihood to God, but it’s not. Like Peter we can be following our own idea of who we think God is, but not really aware of what His plans are. He’s not leading us as much as we’re trying to lead Him.

Like Peter, it’s easy to follow Jesus when He’s just “loaded your boat with fish.” But what about when the boat is empty and the frustration is high? It’s in this moment that Jesus tests our submission by asking,

“Will you still follow Me?”

Peter’s biggest lesson from following Jesus for three years was found when Jesus asks him three times, “Do you love Me?” Peter wasn’t hurt because Jesus asked him three different times, but because it took him three times to realize what Jesus was saying. Jesus is really saying to Peter, “Will you follow me for real this time? No matter where I take you? Will you really submit to me?”

God’s Plan All Along

We are not called to follow a certain plan, but a Person who has a plan. Life has different seasons, peaks, and valleys. Nobody plans to fail, but without deciding to submit to God’s will ultimately we are planning to fail.

We need to let go of our plans, and find ourselves in submission to God’s plans. Then we need discernment and wisdom to prepare and recognize what season we are in. It might be different that what we thought it was going to be, but we’ll find out it was what God had planned all along.

Every Thursday I write a blog. Every Friday I want to quit blogging.

It’s not that I don’t have things to say. I genuinely want to help and encourage people with my words. I pour hours of thought and prayer into what I write, but the fact is only a few people take time read my blog.

The few “likes” on Facebook about my blog are appreciated, and the comments (even one word “Amen” ones) are like gold. But somehow I can’t escape wondering if anybody gets what I’m saying, let alone cares.

When you deliberate over the structure of a sentence and the words used in it that best translates what’s in your heart, you want somebody to get it. You want somebody to know you care. You want somebody to take it to heart.

God’s Blog

There’s no comparison to anything I write to what God has written. His words are eternal, spiritual, and life giving. So I can’t help wonder if he gets bummed with the way His writings go unnoticed. Psalms tells us…

The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. (Psalm 14:2, ESV)

God is wondering if anybody is interested in him, much less what he’s written. Does anybody get it? Get him? Imagine how discouraging it would be to write words with miraculous power attached to them, yet no one seems to interested.

God’s poured out his heart and hopes for people. He’s given keys to blessing and instructions for living. But even though God’s word occasionally gets the nods of people, even a few “amens,” people aren’t really reading and absorbing the things he’s written.

Every morning God writes

Today, before you got up, God was already writing. He was pouring out all sorts of thoughts, plans, and hopes for you. He has instructions for that tricky relationship. He’s giving insights for that breakthrough you need. He’s at the end of the day and showing you how to get there.

Then as you absorb his words, you find they then come out of you to encourage others and remind them how much God loves them. You start to understand not only what God has written, but who he is, and you want others to know too. You can’t stop talking about him, whether anyone listens to you or not.

And you can’t stop blogging about him, whether anyone reads it or not. I want to remember this tomorrow, but he’ll be up early writing stuff to remind me.

Eastern Paraguay

I’m in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. It’s a big, busy city full of people on the Brazilian-Argentine border. It’s a place full of things God is doing. For this, I am excited, but I’m also bummed.

For 12 years I’ve been coming to Paraguay. I’ve seen amazing things happen. Many of the key leaders and pastors that are currently serving were in high school when I first came. To each of them God gave me personal prophetic words that would be used by God to affect their callings.

Something is wrong

The church and people that first captured my heart are in a city outside of Asuncion. Every year I’ve taken teams there who have been likewise captivated with this place and people. We’ve poured time and resources into this church. It was awesome what was happening…until a few years ago.

For the last three years it seemed like something wasn’t right. The people’s faces were long. The worship was lackluster. People who had been there from the start weren’t attending anymore. The other day we found out why.

One of the key rising young leaders was having an affair, and another one of the leaders was misappropriating church funds.

An Eye-opener

As I deal with the disappointment, I realize that God is also dealing with my pride. God brought this verse to my mind…

“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.”
(Proverbs 11:2)

When you consider your accomplishments it’s easy to become prideful, even arrogant. Accomplishments make you think about all the hard work it took to produce them, and pride enters when we think we’ve achieved them with our own efforts, skills and intelligence.

But the very things we take the greatest pride in can be a great eye-opener about where real blessings come from. Those who seek worldly treasures will only find worldly rewards. These rewards die when we die and will account for nothing in God’s kingdom. There may be impressive natural results in our accomplishments, unfortunately they do not have the durability to withstand spiritual attack.

This realization should break us of believing that we can have any lasting success through our own abilities. God will allow us to do things on our own, but because his purposes and plans are the only thing that will prevail, eventually we will be brought to a place of brokenness. This is no fun, but it is so that we would quit leaning on our own abilities, and start operating in God’s power. This is when real accomplishments can happen!

Saints above, people below

Someone once said,

“To dwell in love with the saints above, oh that will be glory. But to dwell below with the people I know, well that’s a different story.”

These words might bring about a giggle, but also a sense of truth. Some people can be very difficult to get along with. But getting along with and even loving people is an essential part of who we are as Christians. Peter puts it so simply,

“Love your spiritual family.” (1 Peter 2:17, TM)

It’s about relationship

God’s kingdom is made up of different kinds of people who come together as His people—His family. Differences no longer separate, and we actually are to enjoy one another’s company. Yet, this would seem utopian when compared to the atmosphere often within the church.

Disagreements over doctrine, money, music styles, politics, etc. frequently cause havoc. Splits, church hopping, lone-rangerism, broken hearts and wounded souls are the results. However, the worse result of our inability to agree is how it robs us of our spiritual power. Jesus said,

“If any two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.” (Matthew 18:19)

There’s power in agreement!

Satan knows that there is power in our being in agreement and therefore assaults our unity. Sadly, his scheme is done with such spiritual sounding phrases that many fall prey. Some examples would be…

“We agree to disagree”
“We’re on a different page”
“We don’t see eye to eye”
“We’re going a different direction”

These words don’t sound too brutal or heartbreaking, but they subtly divide and conquer.

Love so strong

“Your strong love for each other will prove to the world that you are My disciples.” (John 13:35, TLB)

This is love so strong that it proves we are God’s people. This is love so strong that it causes us to agree. And this is love so strong that it releases heaven’s power here on earth…among the people below.

The Ache for Home

Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home to get food, clean clothes, sleep, and love. Home is a safe place where we can be ourselves. Home is where we love and are loved. Our feet may leave, but never our hearts.

We are told that Jesus became human and made his home here with us. This fulfilled what had always been God’s desire. Early on God had told Moses to make Him a sanctuary so that he could dwell among the people.

Jesus Seemed At Home On Earth

Jesus attracted many followers and did many great things for them. Then in the middle of everything He launched a bomb…

From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead.
(Matthew 16:21, NLT)

It was difficult for His followers to understand what Jesus was saying. One person in particular who would have a very difficult time was Mary Magdalene.

Jesus had cast 7 demons out of Mary Magdalene. Her life was changed forever.  She was a transformed woman. She owed everything to Jesus. As a result she was with Him at Golgotha and witnessed the crucifixion. She heard His last words. She saw Him die and then be carried off to a tomb.

Then, one morning before dawn, she went to the tomb where he was. But somebody had opened the door and taken His body away. She was weeping loudly, when a person came near her and asked, “Ma’am, why are you crying?” Mary blurted out, “Mister, if you’ve taken him somewhere, just tell me.”

The man then said, “Mary.” She recognized that voice instantly. It was the same voice that that had commanded the horrible darkness that had surrounded her for years to leave. It was Jesus!

Mary ran to hug him, but his response was strange…

“Don’t hang on to me,” he said. “Go and tell the others what’s happening.”

Things Will Never Be the Same

There’s an interesting analogy here. Like Mary, we long for the good ol’ days.  We want things to stay the same. We resist change. We spend our energies wishing things were how they were. The problem is that life is not static. It ebbs and flows. It can be wonderful, it can be painful.

Kids grow up and move away. Some people get married, others don’t. You love people and sometimes they break your heart. People are healed and others die.  Things seem easy at times and then very difficult at other times. Great successes, and then rough failures.

Regrets, hurts, disappointments, or just thinking things were better back in the day, can keep us from experiencing what’s happening all around us right now. If we live stuck in the past, we’re not fully in the present.

Jesus has risen from the dead, and His death and resurrection changed everything, and still does. Things will never be the same.