Mike Fisk & Built with Grace

Sorry Too Full of God for That

January 4, 2012 in Uncategorized | Tags: abusive past, addiction, affairs, forgiveness, hatred, Jesus Christ, love, mercy, Psalm 103:4 | Leave a comment

He saves my life from the grave and loads me with love and mercy. Psalm 103:4 NCV

How full is full? The answer to that of course depends on the size of the container to be filled, and what you are filling it with. Also, the supply source can have an influence on your answer.

For example, if I were to try to fill a gallon container with water from a quart sized container the question becomes unimportant. I can’t fill the gallon sized container because my source will dry up. If, however my source is unlimited and my destination container is small, filling it to overflowing is easy.

The Psalmist tells us that your Heavenly Father loads you up with love and mercy. Interesting thing about love and mercy. When they are present they squeeze whatever is inside of us out. Love and hatred can’t abide together. When I’m filled to overflowing with God’s love I can’t hate, even if I want to.

Mercy can’t co-habitate with guilt. Forgiveness can’t share a bed with revenge. Grace won’t be seen with a judgmental attitude. Freedom (in Christ) won’t associate with legalistic attitudes. Fear can’t sit down to eat with worry. Your new life in Christ ignores the voice of your past as it screams accusations and reminders of your failures.

You are a child of the Living God. When you accepted Christ onto your life and asked forgiveness of your sin something else happened. The Father filled you to HIS measure with love and mercy. The filling with God’s love is immediate even though the results can take time to show themselves.

Sometimes our humanity fights the filling so it takes time to see the full results. Don’t give up on yourself though. Don’t give up on God’s ability to remove the sludge of the old life. Constant reliance on his love will slowly squeeze out the fear, the doubt and the pain that keeps us from feeling the full benefits of your Fathers unlimited love and mercy.

So when the affair you had reminds you of your unfaithfulness, remember God’s mercy. When the words you wish you could take back haunt you, remember his forgiveness. When the bruises of an abusive past cause you pain, remember his love. When the voices of addiction taunt you and welcome you in, lean on his strength.

I love the phrase, “He loads me up with love and mercy’. In this we can find all the strength we need to carry on.

PRAYER: Father God I thank you for giving me the full measure of your love and mercy. I ask now that you would empower me with your Holy Spirit so that love and mercy will spill over to those around me. Amen

Walking in Darkness with Confidence

January 3, 2012 in Uncategorized | Tags: anger, darkness of my soul, fear, fear of the dark, God, grace, guilt, Jesus Christ, Psalm 23:4 | 2 comments

Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. Psalm 23:4 (NLT)

There are times in our lives when we feel the darkness is so oppressive that we aren’t sure we can go on. The darkness of our hearts is far more painful, far more fearful than the physical darkness of night. That darkness is temporary and we can use artificial light to guide us on our way.

Not so with the darkness of our soul. The abuse of our past, the struggle to survive in the wilderness and the feeling we can’t go on add to the depth of the darkness. The darkness of our soul causes us to lose sight of God and, more importantly, of ourselves. We become victims of the enemies that lie in wait for us. Worry. Doubt. Despair. Anger. Frustration. Guilt. All these and more paralyze us and keep us from moving forward.

Psalm 23 is a Psalm that is often linked to death and funerals but it’s far from being a funeral dirge. It’s a song for the living. It’s a song of hope in the midst of darkness, safety in the midst of the enemies attack, life to the fullest in the face of death.

Religion offers no light. In fact, it only adds to the darkness. Relationships with others can offer some help for a time, but soon we realize that those we walk with are also making their way through the dark.

What we need then is a guide, a protector, a shepherd that knows us, understands our fears, overlooks our failings and isn’t offended by our weakness. We need a shepherd. Not just any shepherd mind you, we need the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, the son of the living God, the one who came to earth to walk among us so he could best understand the darkness each of us must endure.

The rod and staff of the shepherd brought comfort and confidence for the sheep. It was used by the shepherd to count the sheep. They were said to “pass under the rod” as the shepherd made sure each of his lambs was accounted for. Not a mere number count mind you, but a checking over, an accounting for. It was individual. It was personal.

The rod and staff guided the sheep as well. When the sheep wandered from the safe path, or strayed from the safety of the flock, the shepherd used the staff to bring the wandering home. To be sure, some didn’t heed the first gentle redirection. Some required a harsher tap or even a strike to bring them home. Painful? Yes. But the pain of the redirection was much less than the pain of losing you in the darkness and having you be defenseless to enemy attack. Painful as it was, the Good Shepherd would rather inflict temporary pain now than to lose a precious sheep later.

The rod and staff were protection as well. The sheep were in constant danger from enemies that lurked in the darkness. The Good Shepherd was constantly watching the shadows to make sure no enemy could attack his precious sheep.

Regardless of the darkness you are in, with Jesus by your side to comfort, guide and protect you, the darkness will have no power over you. He never promised we would not walk through the dark times. He only promised that in the darkness he was right beside us all the way.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, as with the Psalmist I thank you for your rod and your staff for they remind me of your great love and protection for my soul. Help me today, as I walk in darkness to sense your presence beside me. Amen.

You are Gifted

January 2, 2012 in Uncategorized | Tags: 1 Peter 4:10, Be a success, child of God, Exodus 35:35, gifted by God, God, Jesus Christ, talented | 1 comment

He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them skilled workers and designers. Exodus 35:35

When we were young our play centered on success. Little girls played house and had tea parties in which the kids were good, the husbands loving and food was plentiful. They shopped for the nicest clothes and paid for them with play money, money they could play with again tomorrow.

Little boys were cops that always got their man, ball players that always made the winning hit or shot to bring the trophy home. They were the strongest and the best. They never got heart and if they did, they were better tomorrow. They worked at offices and drove the nicest cars and had the best homes and always seemed to have time for golf or fishing or time at home doing what they wanted.

If only real life were like that! Later in life reality sets in. Money isn’t as easy to get, clothes don’t fit they way they want, we miss the winning shot or strike out with two out and the bases loaded. The sense of failure, frustration and anger sets in, and soon we fight the feelings of uselessness.

Here’s a newsflash for you. This country wasn’t made great by the champions of the ball field. We didn’t become the people we were because of politicians or lawyers or professors holding court in the best universities.

The real movers and shakers that made this country great were the farmers who spent long hours tilling ground that may or may not produce a crop this year to reward them for their labors. Advances in technology and medical research came got their start because of kindergarten and elementary teachers that believed in the students they had. Leaders in all facets of life can trace their heritage to parents or parent figures who taught them that they could indeed be all they wanted to be and gave them the opportunities to grow.

God is a God of excellence. He doesn’t look to the strong and mighty to get the job done. He looks to the craftsmen, those skilled in gifts that he, himself gave them. He didn’t announce the birth of his son to priests, but to lowly shepherds. He didn’t choose a prominent metropolitan area for the King of Kings to be born in, but a small, unimportant hamlet. He didn’t choose a princess or a queen to carry the infant Messiah, but a poor, obscure peasant girl.

When it was time to build a place for almighty God to dwell, he chose simple willing, gifted people to prepare it. People like you and I who were created and empowered by the gifts that he molded us to have.

We are created by almighty God to do his work. We are gifted by God to glorify God, not to impress men. If God has gifted you to serve and placed you at a fast-food joint, serve to his glory. If he’s gifted you to clean and placed you in a hotel, make every room clean for his glory, not for the management’s sake.

1 Peter 4:10 tells us that, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” Where ever you are, whatever you are doing, you are gifted by God. Don’t let the world tell you otherwise!

PRAYER: Lord God, I thank you for who I am. I praise you for the way you have gifted me. Empower me by your Spirit to use the gifts you have given me to glorify you, not to impress men. Amen.

Hope for the New Year

January 1, 2012 in Uncategorized | Tags: God, grace, happy new year, Hope, Jesus Christ, Joy, looking ahead, Psalm 4:7 | Leave a comment

But you have made me very happy, happier than they are, even with all their grain and new wine. Psalm 4:7(NCV)

With 2012 now upon us many look back over the past year and reminisce about the highlights and the challenges; our victories and our failures; those things we can take pride in and those that bring shame and remorse; events and people that make us happy and those that still conjure up feelings of anger and hate.

Nearly all of us are looking to the horizon and wonder how the economic and political climate will affect our lives. Some are battling the pain of physical illness or relational distress.

So where is the ‘happy’ in ‘Happy New Year’? How much would you give today in order to assure yourself that 2012 will indeed be a ‘happy’ new year? No doubt you’d say, “Well, I’d give all I had for that assurance! But no one can promise that.”

To a certain point, of course, you would be correct. There are no guarantees in life. But because of the grace offered to us by Jesus Christ there are guarantees we can take to the bank, so to speak.

Psalm four is referred to as an evening song. It was a song that was often sung at the end of the day. A song that, in a sense would lead the singer to reflect back over the past day. He would reflect on the good and the bad events as well the joyful and the stressful ones.

Verse 7 is the climax of the song. The Psalmist comes to the conclusion that he is happier with what God has given him than anyone around him who is blessed with the most prosperous life.

How can he make such a statement? First of all he is reminded of the source of true joy and happiness. That source is God, through Jesus Christ. The prosperity of the world is empty and fleeting. But, God is the same yesterday, today and forever. He isn’t changed by circumstances, political upheaval, natural disaster or physical adversity. He alone is the source of our happiness.

Secondly, the Psalmist reminds himself (and us) that the joy God gives is for today. He doesn’t say ‘You will’ or ‘You did in the past’. He states plainly, You ‘have’. Present tense. For today, not tomorrow or some point in the future.

Thirdly, and this may be the most important, the Psalmist reminds us of the location or the seat of our hope and joy. Again, contrary to human wisdom, we are reminded that true joy, happiness and hope comes from within. It’s in our hearts. You can take my home. You can take my health. You can take my career and my financial stability. But you can’t take what’s inside me.

Lastly, our hope and joy is superior to anything the world can offer either through ‘new religious experiences, political change or social action. Think of it! The best that the world can offer us is like scraps from the table of God. There is nothing on earth that compares to what God has given us through Jesus Christ.

The Grace, mercy and forgiveness we have through him is better than having all the latest toys, the biggest house on the block, the best grades or the corner office. All that is fleeting and temporal. But the hope we have will last for the new year and for all eternity.

The joy of the world can make us look happy, but the joy of the Lord affects the heart.

Thomas Watson once said, “There is as much difference between heavenly comforts and earthly, as between a banquet that is eaten, and one that is painted on the wall.”

PRAYER: Lord God, as we enter into this New Year there are rumblings on the political and economic fronts. We don’t know what natural disasters await us. Thank you for the hope we have in you through Jesus Christ. Empower me with your Spirit to live according that hope. Let me live in such a way that others will be encouraged along the way by the hope they see in me. Amen.

A New Years Wish

December 31, 2011 in Uncategorized | Tags: anxiety, faith, fear, God, grace, happy new year, Hope, Jesus Christ, John 14:27, new years celebrations, peace | Leave a comment

“I leave you peace; my peace I give you. I do not give it to you as the world does. So don’t let your hearts be troubled or afraid. John 14:27 NCV

It will happen all across the world today. Some places will have seen it by the time you read this. In a variety of ways, places and circumstances, ‘the ball will drop’. As people watch it drop they will celebrate the dawn of a new year.

Some will use this as a new beginning. Old habits will be left behind forever (or temporarily at least), diets will be started (or restarted), resolutions will be pledged, prayer vigils for world peace, eradication of hunger, and a variety of other causes will be staged.

But in all the hysteria, in all the celebration, lurking in the corner of people’s minds will be the monster called fear. Oh, he may lay low for awhile, a day or two, just to make you think that things really will get better. But he’ll be back. He may come in the way of a terrorist attack or natural disaster for a world-wide effect. He may come more subtly too. You could lose your job this year or a loved one or…the inevitable, this could be the year others lose you.

I don’t mean to be some Debbie-downer and spoil your celebration today. I do really hope that each of you will have a happy, blessed and safe New Year. There is one way we can all assure ourselves of a happy New Year regardless of what goes on around us and that is to claim the promise Jesus gives us.

Jesus was well aware of what lay ahead for his disciples when he made this promise. He is well aware of what is in store for you this year too. When Jesus promises peace his promise isn’t for external peace, but for a peace deep inside our soul. It’s a peace that comes to us regardless of the external events of our lives.

So, while I sincerely wish all of you a Happy New Year, my real prayer for you is that you will have a Peaceful New Year grounded in the fact that Jesus Christ loves you, gave his live for you, and promises that no matter how bad things get in 2012, he knows what lies ahead and promises to walk with us along the rugged, painful and sometimes terrifying journey. Jesus is the only real source of peace you will ever find and ever need.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus you’ve heard all the prognostications for 2012. Better yet, you’ve been there and back. My prayer for this world is that we will find the peace you have promised by putting our trust in you. May each of us live a life of peace grounded in you so others will find the way to peace with you as well. Amen.