Mike Fisk & Built with Grace

Refreshed, Not Stressed

January 14, 2012 in Uncategorized | Tags: emotional pain, God, grace, Jeremiah 17:14, Jesus, living water, Psalm 6:2, stress | 2 comments

Have compassion on me, LORD, for I am weak. Heal me, LORD, for my bones are in agony. Psalm 6:2 (NLT)

I love plants, but I am not even close to what some may call a person with ‘a green thumb.’ In reality, if my plants could talk they’d probably describe me using the words ‘abusive’ or ‘neglectful’. Not intentionally of course, but the plants I have sit silently every day and quite often go unnoticed until their leaves droop. When that finally catches my attention I water them and hope they ‘come back’.

The Psalmist describes himself as being weak. That phrase ‘for I am weak’ may be better rendered ‘I am as one who droops’. That phrase gives the word picture of a plant in drought conditions…or a plant in my living room from time to time. The ground beneath it yearns for water. The leaves droop under the stress of trying to grow with no nourishment.

We get that way from time to time, don’t we? For some of us it’s not an occasional thing but a daily condition. The burdens of the day weigh us down. We yearn for even a little respite from the agony of worry, the fear of failure, the shame from poor decisions, and the demands of addiction.

We walk (on the inside) like the little boy I saw in the mall the other day. Obviously done with a long day of shopping and wanting to be carried he drug himself down the hall, arms drooping, head down, staggering under some unseen load, and moaning “I’m tired. Carry me.” (You can add the drama according to where you are today!)

In Old Testament times ‘for my bones are in agony’ didn’t refer to the skeletal system that upholds us. It referred more to the emotional make-up of the person. Not only did David feel like he was drooping under the pressure of the day, the pain went to his very soul. He was tired physically and that fatigue went all the way to the very heart of his being.

Another Old Testament author, Jeremiah, voices a similar plea when he says, “O LORD, if you heal me, I will be truly healed; if you save me, I will be truly saved. My praises are for you alone!” (Jeremiah 17:14)

There are times in our lives when we feel like my plant in the corner. We keep doing the things we do, we keep giving, serving and tending to our daily routines, but in the midst of the activity there’s a whole lot more going out than coming in. We can feel unappreciated, unnoticed, neglected or even abused.

That’s when we come to the Father for the refreshment we need from his spirit. Like the woman at the well, we come to the one who promises us water, refreshing water that lives within us to encourage us along the way. His healing is eternal and available regardless of the reason for our stress.

PRAYER: Lord there are times when the stress of my day seems to overwhelm me. Like David, the pain seems to go to my very soul. Heal me with the refreshing water of your Spirit. Help me to find my strength in you when the demands of life seem too great. Amen.

Prayer You can Believe In

January 13, 2012 in Uncategorized | Tags: does prayer work, faith, God's love, Hope, Jesus Christ, Matthew 21:22, trust, unanswered prayer | 2 comments

“If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” Matthew 21:22

There are certain things in the Christian’s life that I have to admit I struggle with. Perhaps the biggest one is prayer. Don’t get me wrong. I believe in the power of prayer. I’ve seen miracles that can only be explained by the working of God’s hand. I’ve seen lives changed. I’ve seen demons flee. I’ve seen people get up and walk when medical science told us they’d never walk again. Prayer works. Jesus’ words are not void.

On the other hand, I’ve seen parents weep over the casket of a child because their prayers ‘weren’t answered’. I’ve seen the innocent accused wrongly because a judge decided to use his own ‘wisdom’ rather than look at the evidence ‘objectively’. I’ve watched spouses walk away from families while the church prayed things would be different. Prayers offered up to heaven seem to fall harmlessly to the ground leaving lives and bodies strewn in their path. Does that mean I don’t believe in prayer? NO. As I stated earlier, prayer works. I’ve seen far too many personal examples of God’s working to believe otherwise. I believe the Bible to be God’s Holy Word, without error unashamedly. I believe in and take advantage of the promise we have in Hebrews and elsewhere that we can come with confidence before the throne of God to receive mercy and grace in our time of need. I believe our God is sovereign, all-powerful, loving and merciful. I believe my faith is a package deal. You can’t pick and choose which parts of ‘God’ you will believe and which you will not. It’s all or nothing. He believes in you when you fail, all he asks is that you believe in him when he disappoints.

So here are my thoughts on the hard aspects of prayer thus far in the journey. It’s not an inclusive list, I didn’t find them on some tablets buried in the ground. They came from my heart.

When you struggle to believe in prayer, remember that prayer you can believe in means:

Your Heavenly Father won’t give you something that’s harmful to you. All of us are like 2 year-old children. We want the things we see in life with little regard for the consequences they bring to us. We see for today, not tomorrow. Why else does lust, addiction and spending beyond our means hold such an allure. Jesus promises us that if we pray for bread, God won’t give us a rock. The opposite is also true. If we pray for a rock to eat, God won’t give it to us. He loves us too much to give us something that will hurt us. Having said that, remember he also will never force you to take the best choice. He loves you too much for that too.
Your Heavenly Father wont keep you from going through something that you need to go through in order grow stronger. None of us like pain. Sometimes we’ll choose painful things because we think that pain will be less than the pain before us, but we never choose pain as the best route. However, strength never comes without adversity. Walking never comes without falling; good health never comes from willing it to as we over-eat and under-exercise; learning faith never comes without an element of doubt leading to trust. A loving Father knows what it’s going to take to make you strong and he won’t give up on you until he has you strong enough to face what lay ahead.
Your Heavenly Father won’t thwart his eternal purpose by keeping you from going through something you need to go through in order to help others on their journey. Your Father’s ultimate desire is to bring all of his children into relationship with him. The only way that will happen is through Jesus Christ. When Jesus left planet earth he left behind a charge to each of us, a challenge to go, to disciple, to reach out to those caught in the web of sin and despair. The most effective ambassadors are those who’ve struggled themselves. Because of his great love for you and others; because of his eternal goal of passionately desiring to spend eternity with your neighbors, he may allow you to go through things so you can more show more passion and more understanding to those who need Jesus.
Your Heavenly Father won’t answer a prayer that is contrary to his holiness. This may be the hardest of all for us to endure and understand. He is a holy God. He is a perfect God. Sin can not stand in his presence. Because of this, when sin in in our lives he needs to cleanse us. Not for his sake but for ours. Unconfessed sin keeps us from the passionate relationship he so earnestly desires. We may endure the consequences of our actions, not because he hates us, but because he wants to cleanse us.

That’s the short list. There are no easy answers. There are times we’ll never understand his actions. There are times we won’t even know how to pray. Circumstances may change our view of God, but they will never change God’s love for us.

PRAYER: Father I confess to you that I don’t understand your actions in my life. I thank you and praise you that in spite of my limited view and my weakness you still love me. I worship you for the fact that I can approach your throne even when I question your actions. Thank you for the grace to go on. Amen.

Choice: The Little Red Hen Revisited

January 12, 2012 in Uncategorized | Tags: choice, Consequences, God, Hope, Jesus Christ, Psalm 119:30, temptation, true faith, when faith fails | Leave a comment

I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I have set my heart on your laws. Psalm 119:30

Remember the story of the Little Red Hen? She scurries around the farmyard trying to get the ingredients for making some her great homemade bread. She asks for help from all the farm animals and none of them are willing to help so she does it all herself. When the aroma of the bread wafts through the farmyard all the animals gather together for a taste only to find that she wasn’t willing to share since they weren’t willing to help.

One moral of that story might be that you have the choice to do whatever you want, but you may not like the consequences of your choices. Little Red Hen never appears to be angry with those who refused to help. She didn’t chastise them in the least. The request was made, the refusal received, and life went on.

Perhaps one of the most precious gifts God has given us, next to salvation itself, is the freedom to choose. He didn’t create robots, he created humans. He didn’t put within us a computer chip programmed to respond correctly in every situation. He gave us a mind that, like his could reason, explore and think. He gave us emotion so we could enjoy the sunsets, smell the fresh spring rain and look in awe at the mountains majesty.

But choice has a downside. Choosing to follow the path of faithfulness isn’t the easy button in life. In fact, choosing the path of faithfulness often leads us along a trail that is most difficult. Choosing to follow God is easy when things are going well, but true character, true faith, is shown when things don’t go the way we want them too.

It’s easy to believe in a God of love and grace and mercy and all things comfortable. It’s hard to believe in a God that allows us to suffer the consequences of our own poor choices. It’s easy to choose a God who rescues us from adversity. It’s hard to believe in a God that allows us to go through the frustration of being falsely accused; of being attacked for openly sharing our faith; chided for following a list of rules that seems antiquated and irrelevant in comparison of with the way the world is going.

The apostle Paul writes, “Don’t grow weary in doing good.” He knew what he was talking about. His life in Christ was full of pain, adversity, being falsely accused and physically attacked. Yet he finished the course, he fought the good fight.

God doesn’t always ask the big things of us. Sometimes he asks for a series of little steps, little choices. The decisions we make along the way will be hard but the reward is worth it. True faith says we will follow more closely to him when human wisdom screams at us to go the other way.

PRAYER: Father God, it’s easy to follow you on the good days when I’m not tempted, not mistreated, not feeling under attack. But I haven’t seen very many of those days. Empower me to see you on the hard days; those days when nothing seems to go right. On those days help me to choose you regardless of the cost. Amen.

Surgeon for a Lifetime

January 11, 2012 in Uncategorized | Tags: chosen as a child of God, Ephesians 1:4, forgiveness, healing, Holy Spirit, Hope, Jesus Christ, my past | 3 comments

Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. Ephesians 1:4 (NLT)

“We won’t really know until we open him up and have a look inside.”
Imagine the feeling of a parent or spouse as they hear those words. Perhaps you don’t have to imagine. You may have been the one in the waiting room praying, worrying, hoping. Trusting God helps, but it doesn’t take away the knot in the stomach.

Even though the tests medical science has come up with are amazing, there is still an element of ‘surprise’ once the surgery begins and the surgeons look inside. Often they don’t really know how to ‘heal’ the situation until they are in the process of the surgery.

Many times we assume that our Heavenly Father is like the surgeon. He sees us and the problems we have. He sees the wound of our souls and has a rough idea of what he will do to make us ‘whole and usable’ for his purpose. He begins the surgery of our heart, but doesn’t really know what will happen until he gets inside of us. His actions are determined by what he discovers inside. Our healing is dependent on discovery.

Viewing God as some great surgeon with scalpel in hand is contrary to the picture that the Bible paints. Even the best of surgeons are dependent on what they see in the present and what they’ve seen in the past. The Father sees your future. The Father sees you in your entirety. He sees your physical limitations, your emotional make-up and your spiritual struggle, and after all that, he chose you!

He isn’t surprised by your addiction. He isn’t surprised by your anger. He isn’t surprised by your struggle with pornography or worry or financial demise. He saw your divorce coming before the earth cooled. He knew all about you and still he chose you.

Not only did he see your present before you saw your past, he sees your future as well. A surgeon looks at your physical condition and determines your prognosis. With the Father your prognosis is dependent on Jesus Christ and what he did for you on the cross. The empty tomb of Christ is a symbol of what the Father thinks of you. Resurrected. Perfect. Eternally blessed. Ready for heaven. Established as his dearly loved children.

PRAYER: Father God, I never tire of the reminder that you loved me enough to choose me even though you knew my weakness. Thank you that your love is based on the person of Jesus Christ and not the mortal soul I am. I’m eternally grateful for the truth that I’m chosen by you. Amen.

Blaming the Victim

January 10, 2012 in Uncategorized | Tags: blaming the victim, Father forgive them, forgiveness, God, grace, Jesus Christ, Luke 23:34, new life | 2 comments

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, because they don’t know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34 NCV

When life doesn’t turn out the way we’d like it too our first inclination is to put the blame on someone else. We get stopped for speeding and blame our boss for being so unbending about getting to work on time, or blame the kids for taking so long getting ready. We fight all the way to church and blame the pastor for not having a good sermon rather than considering the fact that our anger kept us from hearing the Spirit’s soft, gentle voice. We put on extra pounds and rather than exercise and make wiser choices we blame the fast-food place for not serving ‘healthy fried foods’ (whatever that means). We spill our hot coffee as we leave the drive through and blame the coffee shop for having hot coffee!

I still find it humorous to see some of the warning labels on the products we buy. “Warning: Items taken out of the oven may be hot and cause burns.” Really? Perhaps the best one lately is the commercial with a computer generated pickup snowboarding down a mountain side with the disclaimer warning us that “We shouldn’t try this at home because pickups can’t snowboard.” Again. Seriously?

We spend millions of dollars a year trying to protect ourselves from ourselves because we’ve never really learned to accept responsibility for our actions. It started in the garden of Eden. Adam blamed Eve who blamed the snake (Satan) and we’ve been blaming ever since.

But the ultimate ‘blame-game’ we play started in the streets ofJerusalemabout 2000 years ago when we sent an innocent man to the cross. Jesus of Nazareth was condemned to die, not because of the Romans, not because of the Jews. He was condemned to die by a group of angry people who needed someone to blame for their struggles. Someone to blame for the oppression of the political system they were under. Someone to blame for the burden religion had placed on them. Someone to blame for the physical pain and the relational wounds they suffered.

So who did they blame? A man who’d spent his entire life serving others for no profit of his own. A King who chose to leave the splendor of his throne to live in the ghettos and wilderness of Palestine. A ruler who gave up his authority to be governed by the selfish, greedy subjects of his own kingdom. A Savior who came to show life to the very people who would put him to death.

It’s no wonder that this man prayed “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.” They didn’t! To this day there are people who continue to blame the one who promised us tribulation and that he’d be with us throughout the pain. We continue to blame the victim.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus. I humbly bow before you today in praise and thanksgiving for giving your life so I could live. Forgive us for the times we blame you when we need to take responsibility for our own rebellion. Thank you for the grace you give us to move on. Help me extend that same forgiveness to others who still ‘don’t know what they are doing’. Amen.