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You can’t afford to have any thoughts about yourself that God doesn’t have about you. When you entertain things that are not true and central in God’s perspective about you, you are allowing something that will battle against you. But as a Christian it’s not only essential to realize who you are in Christ, but also what you now have through Christ.

Many leave the riches of Heaven sitting in the bank, thinking that they only get them when they die and go there. The belief that Heaven is entirely a future reality has reduced far too many of God’s declarations in Scripture about the believer’s identity and calling to “positional” truths that are acknowledged but never experienced. It is time for that to change!

Going deeper

If it’s true that the value of something is measured by what someone will pay for it, then you need to rethink your worth. Understanding your inheritance begins with discovering the deeper purpose for your salvation. Beyond knowing that you were a sinner saved by grace, there is a deeper discovery that God’s highest purpose for the Cross was not merely to forgive you of sin, but to invite you into an intimate family relationship with Him as your Heavenly Father.

This legal standing of relationship to God as His sons and daughters is precisely what gives you an inheritance. Romans 8:14-17 explains this way…

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. (Romans 8:14–17, NKJV)

Battle for potential

The fact that you are an heir of God is mind-boggling. But you must not be content to read these verses and be awed by them. They prophesy your potential, a potential that you must pursue throughout your entire life.

When you discover who God has made you to be, and wants you to have, you will never want to be anyone else. It will be a battle, but if you avoid the battle you were born for, you’ll face a battle you’re not equipped for. However, if you engage in the battle that’s already been won for you, you’ll emerge victorious and abundantly equipped with heaven’s resources.

Not invited

Nobody likes a person to butt in unwelcomed to a conversation or other activities. Especially when the person is giving their opinion that was not asked for about something that they were not included in. 

They’re called nosey.

 A nosey person butts into something that is none of their business. It’s awkward and can be frustrating, unless their interruption saves your life. An interruption would be welcome when a person has noticed something that is amiss and/or life threatening.

God butts in

God’s notices when something isn’t right in you life…

You were conducting yourself in the lusts of your flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature a child of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved you, has saved you” (Ephesians 2:3–4)

God’s the ultimate eavesdropper. And he isn’t waiting around until you invite him into the conversation. Driven by his “rich mercy” and “great love,” he’s butting into your life.

But God…while you were still sinning, Christ died for you
But God…while you made no move toward him, he took the initiative toward you
But God…while you didn’t realize you were at death’s door, he rescued you

Even while you’ve been ignoring him and doing things on your own, he’s been interrupting, letting you know he’s there, and that he loves you.

You should love it when God butts in!

In case you don’t know, Kathie’s and my favorite time of the year is Christmas. We go all out! Our house gets decorated the day after Halloween. We have amassed so much stuff that we’ve probably funded college for the children of the man who owns the Christmas light factory. Storing this stuff is getting to be a challenge.

We were setting up the inflatables and noticed the one of them. This particular one had been faithfully used for many years. It was one of our favorites, but it has seen better days.  As I waded it up to through it in the trashcan, Kathie said,  “Let me see if I can get it working.”  So she began checking every connection, and sure enough got it working again!

A dark city

There was a group of people who lived in a city who were kind of like our almost-to-be discarded Christmas inflatable. In fact, a man wrote a song about them and their city:

O’ little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lay,
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by,
Yet in thy dark streets shineth, the everlasting light,
The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

The prophet Micah tells us that it was to this little insignificant city, whose best days seem to be over, that God says:

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.” (Micah 5:2)

You will shine again

There’s a direct parallel between these words and people who feel that they are no longer useful and/or seem destined for the junk heap. People who look up and see nothing but the black night skies and settle into dreamless sleep. The Lord is saying to you, “Although you may look like nothing, out of you shall come such great things!”

Let every Christmas decoration you see this season, especially the inflatable ones, remind you that God hasn’t forgotten about you. And he’s able to work on your life in a way that will cause it to shine once again.

In the movie Bruce Almighty, the main character, played by Jim Carrey, actually becomes God. There are some pretty funny parts, and some sobering ones too.  In one scene Carrey starts hearing all the prayers of everyone on earth. He tries several ways of dealing with it and fails. He then sets up a system of answering the prayers online. It goes okay at first, but by the time he finishes answering the first few million prayers, there millions of new ones.

Overwhelming

A few years ago I posted on twitter and Facebook for people to tell me what the hardest thing was from them to forgive. Within a short amount of time I was getting messages and responses. Dozens. And they were heartbreaking.

People wrote things like, “I was violated.” “I was abused.” “I was molested.” “I was betrayed.” “I was abandoned.” “I was cheated.” “I was heartbroken.” I tried to write everyone back with some kind of encouraging words, but it was almost overwhelming.

I began to think of how God’s heart must break as he sees and hears all these kinds of things that have happened to people. However, unlike Bruce Almighty and me, God is never overwhelmed.

God is amazing in that he forgives, heals and restores the fractures, offenses, wounds, hurts, and brokenness in our lives. No matter how severe, he can handle it! It’s this aspect of God’s power and character, his unlimited supply of grace and mercy that makes us love him and want to worship him.

He expects the same from us

“And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32)

The way God has forgiven us of the wrongful and hurtful things we’ve done to others, he expects us to do likewise to those who have wronged us. This may seem impossible and even unfair; but it’s the only way we can truly be healed and released from the hurt. The same grace that flows from God to us will flow through us to heal what others.

Forgiveness is the operating system of Christianity. We forgive because we have been forgiven.

Ever wondered in your heart why you are here, and is there really a plan and purpose for your life? Does God actually have something important for you to do? And if so, how do I find out what it is and walk in it? Ps 139:16 says…

“Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

In other words, God planned your destiny before you were even born. He is the Master Potter who sculpted you and brought your life into existence. Even before you were formed in your mother’s womb, God was sketching out your life.

What life did God design for you?

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

If you look up the word “hope” used in this verse, you will find that it means, “an expectation for the thing that one longs for.” God has things that He longs for to happen in your life. What are they? According to Jeremiah it is to experience peace not evil, and to have a bright expectation of what lays ahead.

Up to your neck

Life can be overwhelming at times. When you’re up to your neck in alligators, it’s difficult to keep your mind on the fact that your primary objective is to drain the swamp. But in the middle of the battle, God wants you to discover the power of hope. Hope that will give a second-wind in your pursuit of, and living-out God’s purposes and destiny for your life.

Please invite us over for the BBQ’d gator!

Many years before…

In October 1942, the legendary Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was on a mission in a B-17 to deliver an important message to General Douglas MacArthur in New Guinea.  But somewhere over the South Pacific the Flying Fortress became lost beyond the reach of radio. Fuel began to run dangerously low eventually forcing them to ditch the plane in the ocean.  Stranded on the ocean for nearly a month, Captain Eddie and his crew fought the elements to survive.

They spent many sleepless nights recoiling as giant sharks rammed their raft, but of all their enemies at sea one proved most formidable: starvation. Eight days out, their rations were long gone or destroyed by the salt water. It would take a miracle to sustain them, and a miracle occurred.

Captain Rickenbacker’s own words record the moment…

One of our crew, Captain William Cherry, read from the Bible and then prayed, and then we sang a hymn. There was some talk, but it tapered off in the oppressive heat. With my hat pulled down over my eyes to keep out some of the glare, I dozed off.  Then something landed on my head. I knew that it was a seagull.  No one said a word, but peering out from under my hat brim without moving my head, I could see the expression on their faces. They were staring at that gull. The gull meant food if I could catch it.

And the rest, as they say, is history. Captain Eddie caught the gull. Its flesh was eaten. Its intestines were used for bait to catch fish. The survivors were sustained and their hopes renewed because a lone seagull.

Captain Rickenbacker never forgot

Every Friday evening at sunset until his death in 1973, you could find Captain Eddie Rickenbacker out on a pier on a lonely stretch of coast in eastern Florida with a bucket filled with shrimp.  He fed the seagulls as an expression of thanks for the one who gave his life to save his.

Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:20)

How much has God done for you? How many times has He proven faithful and showered your life with His blessings? Then give Him thanks! Tell about what He’s done and what He means to you. Do it at sunset, and at sunrise. Do it on a pier, and in your house. Wherever you go, maybe even when you see a seagull, be thankful to God!

David Bowie

On January 10, 2016, two days after his 69th birthday and the release of the album Blackstar, music legend David Bowie died from liver cancer. Tony Visconti, David Bowie’s long-term producer and friend said, “His death was no different from his life–a work of Art. He made Blackstar for us, his parting gift.”

Since his death, fans and media have tried to piece together the cryptic messages in the album. One connection is that “Black Star” was the name of a little-known Elvis song about death. “When a man sees his black star,” Presley sings, “he knows his time has come.” Bowie was a known Presley fan, also shared the same birthday as him.

There are some indications that before he died David Bowie had a spiritual breakthrough. While fighting the cancer Bowie said to someone, “On the battlefield, there are no atheists.” Bowie’s wife Iman tweeted a few days before his passing: “The struggle is real, but so is God.”

David Bowie showed us how music can stir the soul, even in the face of death. However, he didn’t help us much with what happens when you die. In the song Blackstar, he refers to a place called the “Villa of Ormen”. “Ormen” means “serpent” in Norwegian, and is a creature mentioned in the writings of the occultist Aleister Crowley (who Bowie admired earlier in life). No one is really sure why Bowie mentions this place, but it seems to be figurative of where he saw himself going after he died.

Cha-cha-changes

Putting death in your own terms isn’t illegal, but is uncertain. If there is life after death, where do you go? Who will be there? These are questions that need to be looked at. The Bible doesn’t talk about Blackstars or “Ormen,” but it does say that God knows the moment of our death, and that there will be a seamless transition after death.

So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:6-8)

Heaven is a place prepared for people who know Jesus as Lord. Heaven is not the default destination of every person. Fortunately, this hasn’t been put in cryptic or veiled terms. It’s as simple as, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” I hope David Bowie knew this.

Thanksgiving long ago

Loaded with 102 pilgrims fleeing religious persecution, the Mayflower struggled for 66 days to cross the stormy North Atlantic Ocean. Unable to make it to New York, it landed at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts on December 11, 1620.

During that first cold winter, 46 pilgrims died. But during the spring of 1621, in an act of true kindness, the Wampanoag Indians taught the pilgrims how to cultivate the land—growing corn, beans, and squash, which helped them survive.

At harvest time the colonists were so grateful for their bountiful crops that Governor William Bradford organized the first Thanksgiving feast, and invited the Wampanoag Indians to join them. With joy and thanksgiving, they expressed their gratitude to God, but they also gave thanks to their native neighbors.

Many years later, in 1789, President George Washington wrote a proclamation, recommending that…

“…a day of public thanksgiving and prayer be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God.”

Conscious of our treasures

Over the years Thanksgiving Day has lost its original significance. For many people, it has simply become a time when families come together to eat turkey and watch football.

I read a quote by Thornton Wilder that said, “We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” So I decided to write a list of people I am thankful for…

• My dad for teaching me good theology and how to love life (not always in that order)
• My mom for always telling me I could do anything
• Kathie for loving Jesus more than anyone I’ve ever known
• My kids for letting my God become their God
• Dr. Roy Hicks, Sr. for teaching me about the Holy Spirit
• Ron Mehl for modeling a shepherd’s heart to me
• Jack Hayford for being my hero
• Dr. John Maxwell for being the first to teach me about leadership
• Don Long for being one of the best leaders I’ve ever seen
• Miriam Piper for always making me look better than I deserve
• Stan Carney for his 0’dark-hundred texts to me
• Regen for giving me great hope in the future

My challenge to you is to make a list of people you are thankful for and why. After making this list take some quiet time and reflect on everyone you have listed, then express your gratitude to them. It could be a hand-written note, an email, a text message, or a phone call. Whatever method you choose, make it personal and heartfelt. Let these people know how you feel about them and how special they are to you. They are Thanksgiving treasures!

We called her “Rocky”

My mom passed away Monday. I’ve been thinking about her life’s accomplishments and how to contextualize some of them. She was an incredible leader. She was a renowned speaker and author. She was musically gifted. She could manage and administrate at the highest levels. She had a love for adventure and traveled the world.

She also broke down many of the barriers that had kept women excluded from leadership roles within the church. She saw those barriers as an especially odd reality in her own church organization, which was founded by a woman.

My kids affectionately called her Rocky. Mom loved this nickname because it identified a tenacity in her that characterized so much of what she did.

Her last journal entry

Not long after my dad’s death in 2013, we noticed that something wasn’t right with mom. She was diagnosed with dementia. This began a difficult process of watching “Rocky” go from an incredibly capable person, to needing assistance at basic levels.

While cleaning out her room, we found a journal she had begun after losing dad. Page after page records simple routines and outings. She also shares the deep pain of missing her husband of 57 years. On September 21, 2013 mom wrote…

Each day seems empty without Coleman. Lord, please hold my hand on this strange journey. I have always known what do for You, now I’m not sure.

Every entry, until her last on May 31, 2015, echoes this same frustration of missing her husband and not knowing what she was to do. While I lamented the toll dementia took on my mom, the Lord helped me see something.

Even though my mom had been very independent, she was always under the covering of my dad’s authority. There are many beautiful stories of women who went on to new levels of living after their husbands die. Not Rocky. When her husband died, she lost her strength. Peter puts it this way…

This is how the holy women of old made themselves beautiful. They put their trust in God and accepted the authority of their husbands. (1 Peter 3:5, NLT)

This isn’t just the secret to beauty, but also strength. I hope the next generations of “Rocky’s” help other woman understand this. It will make them more beautiful and stronger in all their life’s accomplishments.

Ever been in love?

Remember how crazy things were when you first fell in love? The minutes hung like hours when you were apart, and the time flew by so fast when you were together. No distance was too far to travel just to be together.

I fell in love with my wife Kathie at Point Loma University. For a whole year we were inseparable. Then she moved 350 miles away back to her home in San Luis Obispo. I know every inch of those miles because I traveled them often. Sometimes just for the day. Five hours of driving just to see her face and to hear her voice. It was extreme. It might’ve seemed wasteful, but I didn’t care. I was in love!

Love that remembers

One day Jesus was having lunch at a Pharisee’s house. A woman who was from a local brothel snuck in and sat at Jesus’ feet. She began weeping, in fact so much so that she was able to wash Jesus’ feet with her tears, and then began to wipe them with her hair. If that weren’t enough, she also poured costly oil all over his feet.

Everybody was watching.

Jesus asked the his host, “Do you see this woman?” “Uhh yeah, kinda hard to miss her,” answered the Pharisee. Then Jesus told him,

“Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, therefore she loves much.” (Luke 7:47)

She was in love with Jesus. She was grateful for the grace he had shown her and did not care about how over the top or extreme her expression of love may of seemed.

What was happening with the Pharisee is what can happen to us. Over time we can forget where God has brought us from. We lose that un-abandoned expression of our love for Jesus and our thankfulness for His grace. We see ourselves as having arrived, and can began look at people who are expressing their love for him as extreme, maybe even weird.

Don’t forget what God has done in your life, and more importantly don’t forget to express your love for him. Others may think you’re being extreme, but don’t worry about them. Be like the woman, not the Pharisee. God’s forgiven you extravagantly why not love him extravagantly!