You are currently browsing the monthly archive for January 2015.
When will we ever get along? On an international scale there is more war and bloodshed than ever. It seems that since Cain killed Abel there has been perpetual war. Can there be peace among men?
The Apostle Paul tells us that we are to pursue peace and that which builds others up. Yet peace has a cost. It is most costly at home where we interact with the same people day after day. Sometimes the problem is a neighbor.
Abraham had dug a well that was vital to the welfare of his flocks. One day while Abe was away some squatters from a neighboring village claimed it as their own. Abraham could no longer get water from the well he and his men had dug! This was cause for yet another war on the planet but the father of our faith picked another pathway.
Abraham chose to meet with…
View original post 391 more words
Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there. Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.” 1 Kings 19:3-4 (NLT)
Fear is an amazing thing. It can cripple our ability to reason wisely and focus on reality. I remember one time in particular when I learned the power of fear in a very real way and also the way in which it can affect us.
I was about seven years old and due to a family relocation, got to live for a summer at a borrowed cabin on a lake. I became friends with one of the…
View original post 1,258 more words
This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 (NLT)
A friend of mine is a pastor in a small rural church. While the church has been in existence for over 100 years, it had fallen on some hard times and had even considered closing its doors. My friend was a ‘last hope effort’ to survive.
Chris, as I’ll call him, prayed for months that God would raise up some of the men to become the leaders the church needed to be an effective witness in the community. One day, his prayers seemed to be answered. A man we’ll call Thomas visited the church a couple times and then came up to Chris one Sunday after church and asked if they could have lunch. Later that week as they sat a table in the local café, Thomas shared his testimony of how he’d found Christ. Then he asked Chris the $64,000.00 question: “I have never been disciple and don’t know that much about the Bible. Would you be willing to meet with me to help me learn how to do that?
You can imagine the excitement Chris felt over the next months. Thomas continued to grow in his faith and became more and more involved in ministry both within the church and in the community. Then came the heart attack.
I looked at my friend Pastor Chris as his countenance fell. “It took the wind out of my sails big time”, Chris continued, “the hopes I had for ministry seemed to come to a complete stop. I found myself trying to fill the gaps Thomas had left behind. I told God he could take me out of this ministry anytime. I was finished.”
Chris shared with me how discouraged he had been over the next months. There were some small glimpses of joy in the ministry, but most of it was gone. Looking back he realized he’d built his ministry more on a person than on Jesus.
Discouragement can come to us in many ways, as it did with my friend Pastor Chris. It can sneak up on us completely unaware and knock us off our feet. Many of the things we once hold confidence in lose their allure.
Usually discouragement is completely irrational. For example, you may do a project for school in which 100 kids evaluate you. If you get 99 high grades and 1 low grade it’s easy to focus on the one low grade and not the other 99 high grades. It’s the way we are wired. We tend to see the negative far more easily than we see the positive.
Discouragement happens when we lose confidence in ourselves and our enthusiasm disappears. It can be the result of personal attacks, failures on our part or the death of someone important to us. Whatever the reason, discouragement leaves us disheartened.
Imagine what it must have been like for Joshua. Joshua was a Bible Character and assistant to Moses as Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. As they neared the Promised Land, Moses died and left Joshua in charge.
Imagine how Joshua felt. Moses was the only leader he had ever known. Moses was the one that stood by him, trained him, and encouraged him. Moses made all the difficult decisions. Joshua followed his lead. Now it was his time to lead nearly 1 million people into a land known to be inhabited by fierce and powerful enemies. In the midst of this overwhelming challenge, Joshua receives assurance from God that God would be with him every step of the way.
Discouragement comes when we focus on our own ability and see the solution to our circumstances as being dependent on our own power. When relationships fail we tend to be discouraged because we think we are the only ones at fault when, in fact, relationships can only prosper if all parties are working together.
When we fail because of sin in our lives discouragement sets in because we get the notion that being morally perfect is possible and that God is disappointed in our actions. The fact of the matter is we will never be morally perfect and God is never disappointed or surprised by our actions. He not only knows our weakness, he is ready and willing to forgive us and help us through our weakness and use those weaknesses to make us strong.
We can lose confidence in life situations, or ministry (as Pastor Chris did) or our jobs, or classwork because we’ve neglected to seek God’s help or place too many expectations on ourselves. Confidence is also robbed when we compare ourselves to others rather than reminding ourselves that we are created in God’s image as his masterpiece.
Are you discouraged today? Remember that no matter what you are going through, God knows where you are, how you got there and the best way out.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, right now I find myself in a situation I see no way out of. Please forgive me for not trusting you. Please empower me through your Holy Spirit to see the way you have for my escape. Help me to focus on you rather than my circumstances. In your name I pray, Amen.
Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up. Proverbs 12:25 NLT
When I was growing up I remember singing an old chorus that went something like, “Why worry when you can pray, trust Jesus, He’ll be your stay. Don’t be a doubting Thomas, trust fully in his promise? Why Worry, Worry, Worry, Worry, When you can pray.”
Cute little chorus and I remember enjoying singing it often. Then life set it. I became a grown-up. I watched the news; I fought valiantly (and often lost) battles with temptation; People let me down, ridiculed me, misunderstood me and put way too many expectations on me. I made stupid mistakes and waited for the consequences to set in. I think that’s why I worry.
Worry is really nothing more than a form of idolatry. Worry says, in a sense, “This is too much for me to handle, therefore it must be too much for God to handle. I’m doomed!”
King Solomon was right when he wrote in the book of Proverbs, “Worry weighs a person down…” Those of us who struggle with worry know the feeling. Worry is like a downward spiral. The more we worry, the more stress we bring on ourselves. The more stress, the more worry. We lose sleep, which causes stress which causes worry which causes stress which…well, you get the idea.
Worry robs us of the joy God intended us to have. Worry affects our relationships. Those who are chronic worriers become ‘Debbie Downer’ type people. Worry can cripple our creativity and steal away our ability to reason wisely.
So, what can those of us who struggle with worry do? First of all (and this may seem obvious to you), Pray. Jeremiah 33:3 says, ‘ Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come.’ (NLT)
God repeatedly tells us in his word that we will have struggles. We will be persecuted, mistreated, misunderstood and even killed. But he also assures us that nothing can happen outside of his permissive will. He tells the prophet Jeremiah to ask him and he’ll reveal to him all he NEEDS to know about tomorrow. Key word there is NEED. Jesus says, don’t worry about tomorrow. Work on today. Tomorrow is already taken care of.
When the enemy of worry attacks, what should you do? Here are some things I have tried to do. (I’m still working on these.)
- Is this something that will definitely happen? (Psychologists tell us that nearly 80% of the things people worry about are things that will never happen)
- If Yes, move to step two.
- If no, the chances are unlikely that this will happen, Pray that God will release you from this bondage of worry and help you trust in him.
- If what you are worrying about is likely to happen then ask yourself if there is anything you can do about it.
- If Yes, move to step three.
- If No, Pray that God will release you from the bondage of worry. The enemy wants to constantly question God’s promises to you. (Garden of Eden ring a bell)
- If what you are worrying about is real and there is something you can do about it strategize ways in which to take action. Four areas of your own life to consider in the strategy are:
- Communication: How is my prayer life? Am I really in touch with God on how I should act/respond to this crisis?
- Circumstances: What have I learned in the past about this type of situation?
- Counsel: Who am I listening to? God sends people into our lives to help us through the tough times. The enemy sends people into our lives to mess with our minds. Seek counsel from those you can trust and who have shown by their lives that God is working in them and through them. This may be a pastor, a friend, or if the problem is severe enough, a professional counselor. It’s amazing to me how we are more than willing to go to a medical doctor for physical ailments but those ailments of the heart we tend to think we can heal ourselves. Get help if you need it from a professional.
- Conscience: What does my gut tell me? After you have spent time with God listening and sharing your heart; after you have pondered the wisdom gained through your past; after you have sought godly counsel, there will still be times you need to rely on that gut feeling you have. When you are in tune with God, this is often the Holy Spirit speaking to you.
Why worry? We have a loving heavenly Father that wants to see us through the tough times in life.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, please forgive me for my lack of faith and the idolatry that keeps me from trusting you. Thank you that you know my heart, my needs, my fears and my frustrations far better than I do. I pray against the demon of worry in my life and ask that based on your power you remove it from me. Amen.
Turn to me and have mercy, for I am alone and in deep distress. Psalm 25:16 (NLT)
I don’t get to travel often. In fact it’s rare that I spend a night away from my family. One on occasion though I remember sitting in a hotel room 1500 miles from home. I was there for a conference that I’d looked forward to for months. I was basking in the warm sunshine of the Sunbelt while my family endured the cold winter of the north.
It was a great time. The sessions were everything I hoped for. The networking I did was fulfilling. Yet, the entire time I was there I battled the plague of loneliness. Don’t get me wrong. I was far from being alone. I was a phone call or text message from my loved ones; I was in a conference with loving and accepting people. But feelings of loneliness have nothing to do with the location you are in or the amount of people you are around. In fact, loneliness is worst when you are in a crowd.
One recent study suggests that 60 million people in the United States are affected by loneliness. The late Robin Williams once said, “I used to think that the worst thing in life was to end up all alone. It’s not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel all alone.” But it’s not just people that make you feel alone. One definition of loneliness is “feeling unhappy because of being separated from other people.” Feelings of failure, inadequacy, rejection, poor self-image, anger and many other feelings can lead us to withdraw into the harsh world of loneliness.
Sometimes we are separated from others because of physical distance, as I was at that conference, but other times we are separated from others emotionally. We’ve all been there. Maybe you are there now. No one seems to understand your feelings. Even your closest friends seem intent on ‘fixing you’ rather than just listening to you and letting you sort things out yourself.
While there is no easy answer to the severe feelings of loneliness, I take some comfort in the Bible and in particular the book of Psalms. Written by a man who failed as a father, leader, lover, husband and friend, David writes from the heart about his struggles with the emotional part of life.
In Psalm 25:16, he pleads with God to, “Turn to me and have mercy, for I am alone and in deep distress.” You can almost hear the anguish in his voice. Imagine that. At the time he was the most powerful and popular king his nation had ever had. Yet in spite of his power and popularity (the two things we all hope for) he felt complete and udder distress.
David knew that the only place to get relief for his soul was from God. In the same way, the only real way to battle the feelings of loneliness we have is by going to God. Many may say, ‘Why God? How can he understand how I feel?”
The reason God can understand how we feel is because his Son, Jesus Christ, endured loneliness and rejection more than anyone else. His family thought he was crazy. Church leaders constantly hounded him, trying to catch him in some lie so they could kill him (which they did eventually), His friends abandoned him in his hour of deepest need and never did fully understand him. The ultimate rejection, however, came from his own Father.
In our western, 21st century culture we don’t understand the significance of this event, but in the book of Matthew (Matthew 27:45-46) we’re told that God himself ‘turned his back on Jesus’. When God ‘forsook’ Jesus, it was like turning his back on Jesus. In that culture, when a father turned his back on his son it was the deepest and strongest symbol of rejection that could happen. At the point of Jesus’ deepest point of need, even his father rejected him and left him all alone. It’s no wonder some of Jesus’ last words were (to paraphrase) ‘Dad! Why have even you turned away from me? You were all I had and now you are gone!”
Are you feeling completely rejected? Do you feel like no one else cares? Do you feel like your failures are so great that no one can ever accept you again? There’s only one person who knows exactly how you feel because he went through the same feelings. That person is Jesus Christ and he anxiously reaches out to you to comfort, forgive and most of all be your closest friend.
Dear Jesus, you know better than anyone how I’m feeling right now. The feelings of loneliness and failure overwhelm me. Please help me to feel your presence in my life right now and especially during those times I need a friend. Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 