Mike Fisk & Built with Grace

Letting Go; Getting Life

April 13, 2013 in Uncategorized | Tags: 2 Corinthians 7:10, comfort, fear, forgiveness, freedom from pain, grace, Hope, Jesus Christ | 4 comments

For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death. 2 Corinthians 7:10 (NLT)

It’s hard to let go of things. There’s an age old story about how people used to catch monkeys. The story has several versions and may or may not be true. However, its message is worth a repeat here. In the story a jar or coconut was used to catch a monkey by putting peanuts through the opening. The neck of the vessel was small enough for a monkey to put its open hand in so it could grab the peanuts. However, the opening was too small for it to remove his clenched fist. As the story goes, the monkey would be so intent on keeping its prize (the peanuts) that he would be easily captured with its hand ‘in the cookie jar’, so to speak.

Like the monkey each of us has those things in our lives that are hard to let go of. It could be the pain of rejection; a broken or unfulfilled relationship; the emotional scars of abuse; fear of failure; the loss of a dream or the guilt of our poor choices and mistake ridden past. Reality is, it doesn’t really matter what the ‘peanuts’ in our lives are, until we can let go of them we are trapped.

The writer to the Hebrews relates a similar situation when he encourages his readers to get rid of everything that holds us down. He uses the analogy of a runner getting rid of any extra clothing so that nothing would encumber them. In the ancient Olympic games runners ran nude (or nearly so) in order to be completely free of anything that would keep them from winning.

Jesus says, “Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted”. Normally we associate mourning with death and while that is the most severe type of mourning, there are many other ways in which we mourn. Those things we mourn over become the ‘peanuts’ in our lives.

The good news is that Jesus came to give comfort for the things that cause pain; that cause mourning in our lives. Never lose sight of the fact that Jesus Christ desperately wants to comfort you in your pain. He came to earth so that we could have relationship with him, freedom from guilt. His purpose isn’t to laden us with more rules or remind us of our failures. His purpose is to give us freedom.

The problem is those ‘peanuts’. We need to let go of the pain. We need to let go of the anger and resentment. We need to let go of the false belief that we are a failure. We need to let go of the lofty dreams of a fairy tale existence where everyone lives happily ever after. The Apostle Paul tells us that until we let go of those things, God cannot free us.

When we truly let go of our sin and negative feelings, He will come in and comfort us and show us the true meaning of relationship and forgiveness. Let the following prayer be your gateway to letting go and getting life.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus. It seems like I can’t let go of this feeling of guilt, remorse, anger [fill in your own pain]. I try so hard to make the right choices and they blow up in my face. I’m asking you today to forgive me and help me to live for you. Help me change the things that need changing and let go of the things that keep me from life. Amen.

Compassion Means Action

April 12, 2013 in Uncategorized | Tags: 2 Corinthians 1:3, comfort, compassion, faith in action, God of comfort, Good Samaritan, grace, Jesus Christ | 2 comments

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort. 2 Corinthians 1:3 (NIV)

Jesus tells the story of a man who was beaten and robbed by a bunch of thugs. Severely injured and left on the road to die, he was without hope. Soon two men came upon his beaten, bruised and battered body. Each of them took stock of the situation and decided it was best if they moved on. The third man, a hated Samaritan came along and saw the man laying there in a pool of blood. Realizing there was no time to waste, he bandaged the man’s wounds and brought him to safety. He had compassion on him.

Compassion. The dictionary defines it as a consciousness of someone else’s distress with an urgent desire to alleviate it. Sympathy is understanding and perhaps even sharing the emotions of another person in distress, but compassion takes that a step farther by seeking ways in which to alleviate the pain.

James tells us, what good is it, when you see someone in need to say “I’ll pray for you, I feel bad about your plight.” (My paraphrase from James 2) Referring back to our example of the story Jesus told. Let’s give the first two men that came upon the victim some credit. Let’s say, for the sake of argument that they stopped, looked and even prayed over the man who was beaten to a bloody pulp. Of what benefit were there prayers.

It’s interesting that Jesus chose the characters he did. The two that passed by were ‘the religious elite’ of the day. The type of people any pastor would love to have on their board or staff. The one that stopped to give compassion would be looked down upon in most churches.

Perhaps you are the one wounded on the side of the road. You’ve had a history of abuse and abandonment. Your wounds aren’t readily visible to those around you, but the pain is unbearable. Perhaps those bruises were given to you in the name of the church, or for your own good.

Paul writes to the church in Corinth to remind them that we are to be examples of God. God is the one that not only stops to look at your pain, He’s the one that stoops to our level, bandages your wounds, and comforts you in your pain. You may think you have fallen too far. You may think your wounds too deep. You may say you have nothing to offer.

That’s the beauty of our God. None of us have anything of any value to offer him for his kindness. None of us have the resources to purchase his forgiveness. We are comforted only because of his grace.

PRAYER: Father God. I praise you for the assurance we have that you will bandage our wounds and show us your compassion. We are a needy people. We are a wounded people. Thank you for the comfort you offer us through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Be Encouraged; Be an Encourager

April 11, 2013 in Uncategorized | Tags: acceptance, encouragement, Freedom from sin, grace, Isaiah 61:2, Jesus Christ, judgmental attitude, tolerance for sin | 2 comments

He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord’s favor has come, and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies. Isaiah 61:2 (NLT)

My son was very upset the night he called. He’d received his driver’s license just weeks earlier. He was on his way to a church youth group party, and missed a ‘speed reduced’ sign. As fate would have it, a policeman was sitting in the darkness. My son received his very first speeding ticket that night. We’d established a rule before his very first trip regarding just such a situation.

Both he and his sister were well aware that if either of them were to receive a ticket in the first year of driving their license would be ‘revoked’ by me for one week. The penalty for a second offense in that first year? Two weeks of revocation. A third offense? Three weeks. You see the pattern.

When my son called that night he tearfully explained the situation and told me he was coming home. My response may have surprised him. I told him something like this: “Why come home? You are there with your friends. Enjoy the night. We all make mistakes. It happens all the time. When you get home, I get your license. But for now put that aside and enjoy your time.” He followed my advice…and I followed my rules.

One day Jesus was teaching in the temple. He opened the scroll to the book of Isaiah and read from what we refer to as chapter 61:1-2. Something interesting happened however. Luke records it for us in Luke 4:18-19 ^“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”

Did you notice anything different in what Jesus read before he sat down? He stopped just before he read the part about Gods’ judgment. Jesus only read about encouraging the weary and poor. Why did he stop at that point? Because Jesus didn’t come to judge. He’ll take care of that when he returns a second time. His first visit to planet earth was not to condemn but to bring release.

Does that mean Jesus was light on sin? Certainly not. One only has to read the Gospels to see the number of times Jesus said “Go and sin no more.” Jesus’ primary purpose in coming to earth was to encourage those who were weak.

My son learned a valuable lesson about driving 20 years ago. To the best of my knowledge that was his only speeding ticket. However, he also learned that although there is a time for judgment, there is also a time for encouragement.

We are called to comfort the mourning; to encourage the weary; to strengthen the weak while we still have time. The time of judgment is coming. The Father will execute his judgment through the Son. We are called, as was Jesus, to be encouragers.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, you showed us that encouraging the weak isn’t a sign of being soft on sin, but an example of grace. Thank you for your gift. Help me to extend that grace to someone who needs it today. Amen.

Comfort Food for the Soul

April 10, 2013 in Uncategorized | Tags: addictions, bsnkruptcy, divorce, failure, fear, grace, Hope, Isaiah 40:1, trust | 2 comments

Our God has said: “Encourage my people! Give them comfort. Isaiah 40:1 (CEV)

Where do you get comfort from? For the Christ-follower, the ‘Sunday School Answer’ is Jesus. Okay, we have that one out of the way. Easy enough, right? Not if you are stuck in a marriage that never seems to find the fulfillment you hoped for when you said your vows; not when you struggle with an addiction and find yourself once again suffering from its consequences; not when you are a mother sitting by the bedside of your child or spouse as they breath their last breath; not if you are loading the last boxes onto the moving truck because the bank has foreclosed on your dream home because you lost your job.

It’s at those times that all the ‘Sunday School Answers’ of your past may seem to pale in relation to the pain in your soul. Is God real? Yes, you believe it with all your heart. Does he love you? Certainly. Never a doubt in your mind. Does it take away the knot in your stomach? The knot that seems to be growing so large that it is making it hard to breathe? Not always.

During the darkest times of our lives we don’t need another sermon on God’s provision, we need comfort. We seek comfort in many ways. Some seek it with a new relationship, but new isn’t always better, in fact, second marriages are more likely to end in divorce than first marriages and the chances of success at marriage decrease with every attempt.

Other comfort foods for the soul can be food (leading to guilt and health issues), drugs, anger, withdrawal, depression, religion and a whole list of other attempts at quenching the pain in life.

When you’ve tried all the above remedies for the pain within you it turns out the ‘Sunday School Answer’ really is the best. Sometimes, when we are honest with ourselves, we realize the pain we are experiencing is the result of our own sin. Other times we’ve done ‘everything right’ but our spouse still leaves, our health fails and our bank account disappears.

After years of slavery and exile, Jehovah God tells Isaiah to comfort his people with these words. The trial is over. The penalty has been paid. His words point forward to the restoration of Jerusalem (physical restoration) and the sacrifice of Jesus (restoration of the soul).

If you are struggling with the pain of life let me point you to Jesus. Not the religion of Christianity, but the relationship with a loving Savior who understands your need and longs to comfort the pain in your soul.

If you have ridden out the battle and find yourself on top, remember that those who are struggling with life don’t need another sermon. They don’t need a reminder of their faults. They need the comfort and encouragement that only the grace of Jesus can give them. Please be an instrument of that encouragement. Their pain is great enough.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I thank you for the blessings you’ve given me. I ask that you empower me with your Holy Spirit to be an encouragment to those who need you so that they may experience the comfort only you can give. Amen.

Some Day We Will Dance!

April 9, 2013 in Uncategorized | Tags: accepting the sinner, bigotryy, Christian tolerance, grace, John 16:20, obedience to God, Standing for right, trust | 2 comments

I tell you for certain that you will cry and be sad, but the world will be happy. You will be sad, but later you will be happy. John 16:20 (CEV)

I’ve never had the opportunity to travel to a foreign country. The only ‘culture’ I’ve had to learn to adjust to is limited to regional differences on how we talk or ‘traditions’. I know several people who have been able to live for a short time in a different country however.

One of my friends spent a year overseas. She knew the language of this country from four years of high school, but never had the opportunity to learn to speak this language conversationally. Those of you who have been in this situation know what she told me. She was met with two challenges upon her arrival. One was that classroom language learning and conversational languages can be similar but also completely different.

Her second challenge was two-fold. Most people she approached her first few weeks could fit in one of two categories. Either they took the stance of ‘Learn my language’ and mocked her, or they saw an opportunity to learn her language and so spoke only in English. Neither position was very helpful to my friend. Her first few weeks in this foreign country were confusing, frustrating and humiliating.

When Jesus is preparing his disciples for his own departure from the world he warns them of the attitudes that they would find in their future. During those times of grief and mourning, the world would rejoice. During times of sadness, those around them would be happy.

Jesus words held an immediate meaning for the disciples and a future meaning for us. If we are followers of Jesus Christ and fully committed to the Word of God and his standards, then what we see in our world should have a profound effect on our attitudes. We don’t need to go far or listen long to hear people praise sinful lifestyles and actions. Many are rejoicing because their cause is finally being heard and fairness is on the way.

The problem is, they are rejoicing over the very things that make God sad; finding joy in the very things that anger God. We as disciples of Jesus Christ must find a middle ground in which we are deeply saddened to the point of mourning for the sin that surrounds us. We must begin with our own lives and allow God’s Spirit to work within us to cleanse us. Then we must learn to love those who we disagree with while taking a stand against what grieves God.

When my friend returned to her homeland she was glad to be home where everything was familiar, but she never regretted the time oversees in spite of the mourning and frustration. Jesus promises us that our mourning will turn to dancing. It may not be until heaven, but we will dance with joy for eternity then!

PRAYER: Father God. I look around me and see the travesty we have made of your word. We’ve sinned against you Lord. We’ve sinned by following ways we know are wrong. We’ve sinned by becoming stagnant. We look forward to the joy before us and ask for wisdom while we travel this foreign land. Amen.