Dueteronomy 4:29 - Confronting Yourself with God

It is clear from the Bible that God desires relationship with us and scripture makes all kinds of references as to what that relationship is:

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 1 John 3:1

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. John 15:15

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, Ephesians 5:25

Throughout scripture God sets up the idea of a positive, incredibly intimate relationship with God...parent...best friend...spouse. But if you are like me, you find it a challenge to hold God in one of those spots; to see God in the same way you see that parents who you have an amazingly special relationship with, the best friend that you can call anytime day or night, or the spouse that you never want to spend a moment separated from. The big difference is that those people are physical and tangible and we are confronted with them, standing in front of us, on a regular basis.

But we do get glimpses of this, moments when God feels that close and that real. This comes at those times when we are see and are closest to God, at those times when we confront ourselves with God on a regular basis and we feel the intimacy. Dueteronomy tells us:

But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. Dueteronomy 4:29

But how do we confront ourselves with God?

• Intentionally look for God - As you walk through your day, see what God has done and thank God. Make it a habit so that your response to beauty, a positive event, or something that causes wonder is, "Thank you God!"
• Meditate and think on God - Maybe this is a regular reading and meditation of scripture, maybe it is a time of prayer, or maybe it is a time of complete contemplation, emptying your thoughts of all distractions of the world and focusing on the divine. Make a time of meditation a daily habit
• Involve God in regular everyday activities - Bring God into routine activities, such as eating. Say grace before a meal, using your exercise time to memorize a key scripture verse, post scriptures on your bathroom mirror that you read to yourself every time you are in front of it. Make God a part of each day, just as your would a person who is incredibly important and special to you. 

When we are confronting ourselves with God on a regular basis, our relationship grows and we see those glimpses of God in the intimate relationship that he desires to be in with us.  We will find moments when we feel like God is that loving parent, loyal best friend, our other half.For me, the song The More I Seek You by Kari Jobe embodies this desired intimacy.

What are the ways you confront yourself with God and build that intimate relationship?

Luke 15:20b,28 - Grace

As I mentioned several posts ago, my small group is studying Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32 using a book and study called Prodigal God. The title of the study is one of the things that really captures me. Traditionally, we think of the younger son as the prodigal, but this study directs you to think of the Father as the prodigal. Crazy...until you examine a definition of prodigal:

1. recklessly extravagant
2. having spent everything

 ...so maybe you are still thinking that fits the son and not the father, but I want you to consider these two verses.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." (20b)

 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him." (28)

What the Father is recklessly extravagant about is love. He abandons all dignity and lifts his garment to run to and embrace the younger son who has returned and he again abandons dignity to leave the celebration to beg the older son to come in and celebrate too. This is grace! Neither son deserved this reckless love, but the father gives it to him.

Grace is a tricky concept for us to grasp. We want to insist on making restitution, as the younger son wanted to or we stand proud as the older son, holding onto our righteousness, and not receiving the gift, as the older son does. We struggle with receiving something that we don't feel we deserve...and yet we want it...but we can't accept it. We feel we need to do something to earn it. 


The idea of grace has become the topic of many songs and messages in an effort for us to understand and grasp the reality of grace. God has been giving grace for a long time though and as this video from the Skit Guys points out, even the disciples struggle with grace. The bible tells so many stories that involve grace and we see so many receive this and yet we continue to struggle with it in our own lives.

Click for Video

In fact, the struggle to accept grace impacts the way we approach God. In my small group this week, as we watched the Prodigal God video in its entirety again, Tim Keller made a statement that caught my attention. He expresses the idea that Jesus uses this story to tell us that we need to reexamine everything we ever understood about how to approach God. This week I latched onto that and started looking at how I approach God...

Think about that for a moment. How do you approach God? Are you heavy with the mistakes you have made? Are you confident that you have been good and can stand up tall with God? Are you ready to receive an absolutely free gift, knowing that you can not EVER balance the scale between you and God? Can you just BE with God?

Our understanding of grace has a big impact on how we approach God. Until we can fully wrap our head around grace, we will come to God with baggage. The good news is, that God is ready and willing to take that baggage from us. Like with the sons in the Luke, God is ready to willingly, extravagantly, and recklessly love us until we understand and embrace grace.

This week, I am reexamining my understandings of grace and how I approach God. Will you join me?

John 15:1,2 - Pruning: Painful Process to Perfection

Last night, at our small group, we were reading John chapter 15, which opens with this set of verses (1 &2),

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful."

The key to understanding this fully is in understanding how growing fruit works from a gardening sense. At the time, Jesus was talking to people who were familiar with agriculture and this illustration would have been meaningful to them.

Consider a fruit vine. There is the long vine that connects the roots to the branches.  When the person who cares for the vine inspects it, they are looking at the health of the branches. If a branch is dead or dying and bears no fruit, they remove it completely so that it is not draining the resources of the vine as a whole and taking away energy and food that the other branches could use to create fruit. Now if the branch is living, it is pruned back closer to the vine. This again reduces the energy needed to keep the branch alive so that all that energy can go into producing fruit. 

Now if you  consider that is a people sense. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches.  Jesus is saying that energy will not be wasted on those who do not bear fruit, but for those that do, they will be pruned so that they may bear more (sweeter and better) fruit. If you think about it, the process is not painless,  because pruning is involved for this to happen. As good as we are, and as good as the fruit is that we are producing in the world and people around us, we will be pruned. God is removing the parts of us that drain our resources and ability to bear good fruit: pride that holds us back from fully embracing another in love, anger that is used in the wrong way, stubbornness that prevents us from saying or doing what could turn a situation around. God is working to remove those from our character, and bring us closer to the person we were created to be.

As we were discussing this idea, I had to hijack my own lesson to share a video created by the Skit Guy called God's Chisel. This humorous and moving skit talks about the idea of God shaping us to improve us, but also reminds us that God does not create junk. We are worthy of God's time and effort to mold us into the persons we are created to be.
  
As you consider all of this, remember that being shaped and molded sometimes is painful, but the end result is better. Perhaps God is working on you in a way that feels painful and you wish you wouldn't have to suffer in the process. Think about the end result and how much better it will be. God promised that life with God would be better...not easy.

How is God pruning you today? Are you resisting or are you letting God take away the things that hold you back? 

P.S. I just couldn't resist the alliteration in the title...no apologies :-)
 

Luke 11:5-13 - Expect Results

If I haven't mentioned it before, the small group I am apart of is studying prayer. This week, the focus was on Luke 11:5-13:

⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶ a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ ⁷ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity^[e] he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.

⁹ “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
¹¹ “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for^[f] a fish, will give him a snake instead? ¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ¹³ If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

One of the discussion points was praying audaciously with an expectation of results. At the end of the meeting, I challenged the group to pray audaciously as we shared our prayer requests and then live in a way that expects results...

A little background: One of the people in my group, Lizzie, has been my running partner for the past six months and I started running with, Chase, another of the group members last week. 

The next morning I was meeting with Lizzie and Chase. I arrived and Lizzie was there. When Chase didn't show up, we started running around the parking lot while waiting. After a few minutes, I sent a text to make sure Chase was still planning to come...no response. Eventually we decided to run part of our route.

When we arrived back to the parking lot, Chase was there. Even though time was tight, we decided to run a little bit more and called him over to join us. As soon as he joined us, he asked, "Do you have my phone?" He couldn't find his phone and he had been delayed looking for it and had finally come, hoping that I had found it (the small group meets at my house). I had not, so I called home to have Thomas look for it, but he didn't see it among the chaise or couch cushions. So as we completed our run, I prayed out loud, "God, help us find this phone! We really need it to show up."

So I headed home with Chase following me. He was hoping that the phone would be on the side of the road where he had parked the night before. I kept thinking about all the kids who walked down the road on their way to one of the two schools in the neighborhood...

When we arrived back to the house, Chase started looking along the road and I went to check inside again. He quickly came in...no phone! I decided to just remove all the cushions to check there again. Chase started to insist that was unnecessary...and then we saw it...his phone.

God answered our prayer and we celebrated! I loved the way God had brought us on this journey. We talked about praying audaciously and expecting an answer with the whole group and then God gave the three of us that were meeting together for a run the opportunity to practice it the next morning. God was faithful and the phone was found. The story was shared with the whole group, and now with you.

Have you ever talked about some section of scripture and then seen it applied almost immediately in your life? I feel like it happens all the time when I engage with God and others, how about you? I would love to hear your stories.

Romans 9:21 - What is Your Role?

Over the weekend, as I was listening to the message in church and my eyes wandered past the scripture being read and talked about, down a few verses and I came across Romans 9:21.

Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?

 (yes, I confess, my mind wanders beyond the borders of the message during church)

 It started me thinking about different people's roles in sharing God's message and working for God's Kingdom. I myself have at times, thought, "OK, God, what is my role in your plan? What great thing do you have planned for me?"

This verse reminded me that sometimes the answer (from an earthly perspective) is none. God does not intend for each person to be a great evangelist or to be saintly in good works...we were not all formed to be Billy Graham, Martin Luther King Jr., or Mother Theresa. We will not all be known throughout the country or the world for our work and faith.

Some of us were intended to be known just as that person who smiled while passing out food, the person who listened when pain and frustration were being poured out, that person who wrote a letter to point out a community injustice. Some of us were intended to be the glue that holds people together and keeps them pointed in the right direction.

From an earthly perspective, that isn't great, but in God's Kingdom, those things are. Remember that Mark 10: 43 tells us,

Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant...

The larger-than-life spiritual heroes are important. They motivate, inspire and bring people together. They spread a message to a vast number of people. The problem is, that it is the personal piece that keeps things going and makes the work deep and long-lasting. Those spiritual heroes can't have personal relationship with all those people who they motivate and inspire. That is when the common, or everyday Christian takes over. That person does the work, the lesser known work, the simple, everyday work; just living a life right with God.

There is not more value to one or the other, although sometimes it feels like that famous spiritual hero is more important than you or I. Each of us is a part of the tapestry of God's design. The song. Through Heaven's Eyes always reminds me that every contribution is important and sometimes we don't fully know how important.

So how can you see what your life is worth
Or where your value lies?
You can never see through the eyes of man
You must look at your life 

 What is your role? Do you value it?

God does!

1 John 4 - Walk in Love

When I read statements of condemnation and hatred from Christians in the news, I struggle with how to respond. Part of me wants to get angry and cry out against this, but I also don't want to be like the people I am upset with; I want to make sure my response is thought out, so what did I do? I went to the Bible...and came across this scripture in 1 John, chapter 4:

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

Reading it definitely caused me to stop and think, in fact it raised a lot of thoughts and questions....so WARNING: Possible stream of consciousness coming.

Look at verse 7 and notice that is says that EVERYONE who loves is born of God and knows God. Anyone who loves, and I don't know anyone who has never loved, is from God and knows God. We all have something inside of us connected to God. For some, that may draw us to God and for some that may be an ignored or not understood part of our being. But consider, if everyone is born of God (or comes from God), that everyone should be treated and revered as God's creation. If you are trying to live as God asks and love, this verse does not allow for us to pick and choose which people we respect and treat with dignity, it tells us that all who love are of  God. So where does hatred and condemnation come in???

In verse 8 we see, "God is love". If God is love, than each act of love is God revealed. SO God is revealed through another person's loving actions. The person may not always be loving and we may not always agree with the person, but at least part of the time, that person is revealing God to us. If you separate yourself from that person, you are separating yourself from the opportunity to have God revealed to you by that person...and consequently receiving less revelation of God. Is that what you want? Less God? At least most Christians claim they want more of God. So how do you accomplish experiencing more of God if you are spouting hatred and condemnation?

I love what verse 10 tells us. It says, :This is love." It is getting ready to hear what love is, but it starts by telling us what it isn't. It isn't that we love God. Why isn't it? Well, our ability to love is flawed. Point in case, we say things which condemn and express hatred for others. Our love is tainted and impure. So what is love? Love is that God loves us. Here we are, impure and sinful, but God gives up Jesus to be sacrificed so that we may be seen as pure. Love is something pure and holy. What we express is a shadow of love because it is not fully pure. What God expresses is love, pure and holy, and the example of love we strive for.

Verse 11 encourages us to follow God's example of love. If we are receiving pure and holy love from God, we need to try to reflect that out to people. This is not done through hatred and condemnation but through encouragement, discipline, and acceptance of people. This does not mean you like or love everything about a person, sometimes they disappoint you, or reject you, or hurt you, but we need to respond in love. Sometimes people disappoint, reject and hurt God too. God so loved that god sent Jesus to die for us that we might be forgiven and seen as pure and holy. 

Judgement is for God, for God has full and complete understanding, only God is worthy to judge and we need to leave that to God. Instead of hatred we need to speak and act in love. Instead of condemning, we need to reach out and accept people and let God worry about the rest.

So my response? LOVE. In love if I have access to the people speaking out in hatred and condemnation I can point out that there words aren't loving.  I can make sure I am not passing on these statements, thereby growing the problem, and I can speak words of love and encouragement into these situations.

Will you join me in walking in love?

Galatians 6 - Do For One What You Wish You Could Do For Everyone

What can I do?

Have you ever asked yourself this question? Child prostitution, fair trade wages, genocide...these issues can all feel so big, what can one person do?

So many times we see injustice around us and feel inadequate to make a difference. Just driving my car through the city, I will see a number of people who are struggling and begging for money. I can't afford to meet all their needs or even meet all their needs for just one meal. And if I gave them money, how do I know it would be used in life-giving ways?

I think we have all wrested with these questions at one time or another. Galatians 6:2 tells us to:

² Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

We can not ignore the struggles and injustice around us. But how can I change the world?

Well recently, I heard someone say, "Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone." The truth is that I can't help everyone and if I were to try to spread around the money I had available to help those in financial need, each would get such a small amount that no one would really be helped. If we are to have an impact, we need to really invest in the right way. You need to go deep, rather than wide; go long-term, rather than short-term, go time, not just money.

The idea is that we need to find the issue and area that we feel God calling us to and then find the place to focus that attention. In Galatians 6: 9,10 we read:

⁹ Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. ¹⁰ Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

If we examine our life and circumstances, the right opportunity will present itself. But we need to be aware and ready to do good and invest. No one person can solve a problem, but if you pick one person...one situation and really invest, you can have a great impact.

Now it is possible that you are reading this and thinking, it isn't fair to not help everyone. It is true, it might not be fair to take one homeless person for a meal and not another, but the truth is, it is OK not to do for everyone what you would do for one. If you only did things for one that you would/could do for everyone, you would be overwhelmed and overextended and no good to anyone. It is OK to just do for some.

What is the injustice or issue that God is calling you to? Can you identify one person or one place where you can invest deeply, over the long-term, with your time? You might not be able to do for everyone, but you can do for one.

Be Present (Luke 10:38-42)

The last couple of weeks has been very busy for me (mostly at work). In addition to work and social commitments, I am trying to keep up with friends and family, stay active on the Gay-Christian Bridges page and in the group, as well as stay up on various games I play with people over my phone. I find myself grabbing every moment I can, while riding the T...while helping my cousin's kids cook, to catch up with these things on my phone. I constantly feel behind and often find myself trying to catch minutes to do these things while I am with other people. Just think about that...I am spending time with a person in real life and trying to multitask to play Words with Friends or check Facebook...

When I recognize what I am doing, I can't help but think of the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10:

³⁸ As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. ³⁹ She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

I, like Martha, am becoming distracted by other things, when what I need to be doing is focusing on relationship with the person in front of me.


When Martha becomes so focused on other things, Jesus says to her,

⁴¹ “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, ⁴² but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Jesus reminds her to focus on what is important.
 
My boyfriend and I have a reminder phrase we use to help ourselves to focus on relationship and the person in front of us: Be Present. It is the reminder that we use to point out to the other know that their focus is split and it isn't where it should be. It started as something one of us would say to the other, but now, both of us find ourselves commented on our own behavior when we are not being present.

Not only can I have issues being present with those around me, but with God as well. This past week, my small group started a study on Jesus' prayers. One of the main points of the first teaching was that Jesus had a practice of prayer. It wasn't just a talk to God sometimes. It was intentional time spent with God. Jesus often went away from people and spent all night in prayer. He was very present with God and his power came from this close relationship. I feel challenged by this because it can be very easy for me to let busyness distract me from my relationship with God as well. I need the reminder of Martha and Mary of a regular basis.

Do you find yourself multitasking and tapping into social media, texting, games, etc while you are with other people? DO you find other thoughts encroaching on your time with God? Do you need to BE PRESENT more?

Take a minute to do a little self evaluation. Are you like Martha? Are you like Mary? Maybe you too want to adopt the phrase Be Present into your life.

Psalm 63 - Desparate Thirst

When I read this psalm, I can't help but stop at at the first verse:

O God, You are my God;
Early will I seek You;
My soul thirsts for You;
My flesh longs for You
In a dry and thirsty land
Where there is no water.

Such an image it presents, with the idea of thirsting for God like you thirst in a land with no water. I can only imagine what that feels like because I have never been that thirsty. But I know David and the nation of Judah understood that thirst. They knew what it was like to be without water and to struggle to get very little water. And they experienced finding water in little trickles,  so little that you can't help but get dirt mixed in with the water, but you drink anyway because of your great thirst.They did not have a faucet as we do, to provide water, or bottled water available that is pure and clean.

So, instead, I think of experiences that I can relate too, where my desire for something has been so great, that I would give and sacrifice everything to acquire it. That is the thirst David is talking about. What I come to that is the closest for me are the times when my heart cries out for another person, just their presence and a hug that let's me know that things will be OK and that I matter and am important. Those moments when life seems more than I can handle.

The beauty of it, is that in those moments, God is there. I cry out, scream and groan, and God's presence comes to me. I feel God, present, whispering that I am loved, I am strong, I will see the other side of this.

And in that whisper, I start to remember. I remember the blessings God has given me, family, friends, food, shelter, the ability to think and reason, the gift of giving to others and I feel grateful; grateful that I am a part of the world around me and that my life has impact on those around me. I remember that we are all connected and that I can find joy in your joy; that I share that joy and that you share my pain. And together, we will see the sun rise and a new day come.

This is what that thirst feels like and why I thirst for God, because God fills a place in my heart. God knows every crevice of who I am and God loves me.

Do you thirst for God? Do you crave to feel in unity with God  and the world around you? How do you experience that thirst? What in your life helps you to understand what it means to truly thirst as the psalm describes?

Holy One is a song by Casting Crowns that speaks to that psalm.

Psalm 62 - The Unshakable Cornerstone

Do you have an event in your life that you stand on and gives you perfect certainty about something. Possibly it is a moment in time that you stand on and makes you sure of some one's love for you. Possibly it is an moment in time that made your career path a certainty. Do you have an event in your spiritual life that is the cornerstone of your faith? Maybe it is something that leads you to know something as truth or maybe it is something that leads you to know something is not truth. (Take a few minutes and reflect on that).

As I read through Psalm 62, I couldn't help but notice a section that repeats itself:

¹ Truly my soul finds rest in God;
    my salvation comes from him.
² Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
    he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. 

 ⁵ Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
    my hope comes from him.
⁶ Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
    he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

Right from the beginning, the author makes a statement, and then a few verses later affirms it, with the one difference of saying, "my salvation comes from him" in verse 1 and, "my hope comes from him" in verse 5. 

As I read these verses, it is clear that  God is the writer's fortress and the  writer holds a truth that can not be shaken; that God is the writer's rock and salvation. I wish I knew the story behind the writer coming to that truth and place.

It is a beautiful thing to know something absolutely and completely. For me, it helps to have that experience that I hold in my mind that is the cornerstone of that knowledge. For me, my faith cornerstone  is an experience that happened when I was 13. The circumstances are a story of their own, but I was in the house alone and I heard a distinct and audible voice. God said to me, "I love you and this is not what I want for you." This had a profound impact on me. First and foremost, it was the beginning of developing a faith that was my own, not the faith of my parents or of the church that I attended. Secondly, I knew that God existed, was active, and desired relationship with me. That was profound for me and changed everything. Now, I admit that I can not provide you with scientific evidence of my experience or of the existence of God, and I can't even begin to fully understand or attempt to describe all that God is, but I know that God loves me, God exists, and God wants relationship with me. I have other beliefs about God, but I also know they are based on experiences of mine as seen through the lens of my understanding and environment. I do not classify them as a part of my cornerstone which can not be shaken.

Today, I invite you to consider what is the cornerstone of your faith and where it comes from. Is it unshakable and it is something you own? Can you turn to it when doubts and confusion present themselves to you?

I would love to hear your story, if you care to share it and maybe in the sharing of our stories we will both be changed.

 

Psalm 60 - God's Help vs Mans' Help

So here it is, the second time I am creating this post. I had a fairly complete post on Friday, but felt like the post was not really connecting with the scripture, and was me trying to paste the scripture onto what I wanted to say, and in the end, I have decided to scrap it and start all over. So here I am with psalm 60, having come back to it repeatedly over the weekend and finally ready to write about it.

After much reading and pondering, I find that I want to focus on verse 11 of the psalm;

¹¹ Give us help from trouble,
For the help of man is useless.

It brings up an interesting ideas that I have been thinking about over the weekend, how is the help of man different from the help of God and is mans' help really useless?

I can certainly think of times that I have been helped by other people and it certainly hasn't felt useless and I have appreciated it greatly, so how can it be considered useless? Well, first of all, it is important to remind myself that this is a psalm, a piece of poetic writing, given to the overly dramatic and imagery, not given to specific, concrete spiritual truths. In that context, I see that the question of mans' help is not the question to ask, but the idea to understand is the difference between God's help and mans' help. 

Considering this, it is important to understand the ability of God's help and the ability of mans' help. It is more difficult to understand the ability of God's help for me, because my understanding of God is limited by my human abilities to perceive and conceive of things, so let's start with understanding mans' help. 

People, can (not always will) help to the extent of their abilities, meaning gifts, skills, physical strength, etc, to the extent of their resources, time, money, etc, and their understanding, ability to see and understand the need, circumstances, the request, etc. In many ways this is quite broad and allows for a great deal of help from people. And perhaps it is better to talk about how people can't help. Here are some things that I find others' can't help me with: fully defining the nature of God, perfect truth, the environment around us, in other words, there are many mysteries around me that are not satisfactorily understood within the limits of human understanding.

Enter God. God is not limited by human understanding and therefore can understand these things. And it is through my relationship with God that understanding is revealed to me. Now, do I (or will I) perfectly understand these things, of course not, I am still limited, but I do find myself knowing or understand things for which I can't explain because my source is not my ability (or someone else's) ability to logic out the information, but through revelation. 

The other thing that comes to my mind when I consider this idea of God's help vs. mans' is the idea of things that when added together are greater than the sum of their parts. In nature we find things that when combined create something more that the elements that have gone into it. We can also see this with actions taken, when people combine their actions, at times, they become greater than the sum of those actions or labor. Consider a project that would take you two hours to complete, but when you get two other people to help you, it is completed within a half hour. (because this is experiential, I can't provide you with a concrete example because it would be my experience but not yours, but I have certainly known enough people to experience this that I hope you have a point of reference).

Enter God. God is in the midst of the task, bringing us beyond our abilities to accomplish something greater than we have the ability for, In many circumstances this occurs when we work in community but occasionally when we are working solo.

Does these ideas resonate with you? Have you experienced the help of God? I believe that David did understand the help of God and saw how it went beyond the help of man and therefore sought God's help in the midst of circumstances that were beyond his control. 

What about you. What help do you seek in situations outside of your control? 

Psalm 59 - Powerful Love

^{Hmmm...so here we have another Psalm that speaks of judgement of the wicked..another psalm written by David while he was running from Saul and his followers. There seems to be a lot of this in my readings this week. The interesting thing is that in seasons of my life, I have needed just that. I have needed to be reminded that others felt persecuted, that others got angry and just wanted God to take care of the people around them who were choosing to be wicked. In this season, I find myself wanting to slide over these passages because they don't connect with how I feel in this season of my life. Instead, I want to read verses that encourage me to grow in love, to grow in service, and to grow as an influencer of my environment. Of course I could jump to another portion of the Bible, and I may do that in the future, but today I want to wrestle some more with these psalms.}

^{David's words tell about the injustice of the situation he is in.} 

³ For look, they lie in wait for my life;
The mighty gather against me,
Not for my transgression nor for my sin, O Lord.
⁴ They run and prepare themselves through no fault of mine.

I am reminded of a letter I read in an article in the Huffington Post called, Dear Hypothetically Gay Son. In it, he writes the letter he would hope to write to his future son if that son were to tell him that he was gay. The phrase that I was reminded of while I read the above words in the psalm were,

Our home is a place of safety and love. The world has dealt you a difficult card. While LGBT people are becoming more accepted, it is still a difficult path to walk. You're going to experience hate and anger and misunderstandings about who you are out in the world. That will not happen here. You need to know with every fiber of who you are that when you walk in the front door of your home, you are safe, and you are loved.

^{This father is acknowledging that his son is on a road that will lead to misunderstanding and persecution, but promises that his home will be a place of safety. The father goes on to say that he will be the son's defender, for he loves every part of who his son is and would go to war for him.}

^{David also finds himself  in a place of persecution, calling on God for help.}

⁹ I will wait for You, O You his Strength;
For God is my defense.
¹⁰ My God of mercy shall come to meet me;
God shall let me see my desire on my enemies.

 Just as the father in the letter promises to be his son's defender, David knows that God will be his defender and responds with trust and later with honor for God.

¹⁶ But I will sing of Your power;
Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning;
For You have been my defense
And refuge in the day of my trouble.
¹⁷ To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises;
For God is my defense,
My God of mercy.

So, in making this connection between the letter and the psalm, I am reminded of several things:

•  Reading about persecution and judgement reminds me that even though I may not relate it in my life, it is important for me to be creating a safe place for those who are feeling persecuted. I am called to compassion and love.
• I am also reminded of the beauty of love, the father for his son and God for David. The love that fully accepts and stands ready to defend others. A love that I strive for.
• I am also reminded to be grateful for the people in my life who operate in this love. Those who have stood by me, created a safe place for me, and have stood as my defenders.

Why might God have you reading these messages...this blog...what's message is in it for you? 

Obadiah - Desctruction and Restoration

I decided to take a quick break from the Psalms. We have been having a series at church on the minor prophets and last week was Amos. Since I won't be in town this Sunday, I decided to read Obadiah (which I am assuming this week's message is on) and share my thoughts.

One of the interesting things about Obadiah is that it is just one chapter. Like many of the messages by the minor prophets, it speaks about God's wrath toward the wicked and  the loving discipline that will be laid on them, as well as providing a message of hope for the faithful. Since Obadiah is a single chapter, you see all of these in a short amount of writing.

In Obadiah, the people who have turned away from God are the Edomites. The early verses talk about the pride of the nation.

³ The pride of your heart has deceived you,
    you who live in the clefts of the rocks
    and make your home on the heights,
you who say to yourself,
    ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’

Subsequent verses mention the things that God will take from Edom as as a part of their destrution, that are prized by the nation. These include, hidden treasures, her allies, her wise men, and her warriors. All things that Edom relies on, instead of God.

Obadiah goes on further to describe the things Edom has done to the nation of Judah. 

¹⁰ Because of the violence against your brother Jacob,
    you will be covered with shame;
    you will be destroyed forever.
¹¹ On the day you stood aloof
    while strangers carried off his wealth
and foreigners entered his gates
    and cast lots for Jerusalem,
    you were like one of them.
¹² You should not gloat over your brother
    in the day of his misfortune,
nor rejoice over the people of Judah
    in the day of their destruction,
nor boast so much
    in the day of their trouble.
¹³ You should not march through the gates of my people
    in the day of their disaster,
nor gloat over them in their calamity
    in the day of their disaster,
nor seize their wealth
    in the day of their disaster.
¹⁴ You should not wait at the crossroads
    to cut down their fugitives,
nor hand over their survivors
    in the day of their trouble.

Edom and Judah have a history, for sure. They are nations descedent from Jacob and Esau, two brothers. Jacob manipulated Esau out of his birthright and, while the two brother's reconciled, their descendants have held onto bitterness.

(The last verses tell that God's people will once again rule and possess these lands and the message of hope for the faithful is included in this chapter.)

But I want to draw you attention to the last part of verse 18,

There will be no survivors
    from Esau.”
The Lord has spoken

As a human and a Christian, I want to cry out, where is the opportunity for repentance and forgiveness for the Edomites? Don't they get a chance to change and find restoration?

A part of this is because I can recognize times when the sin of pride crops up in my life and I certainly don't want to read the message as, I am doomed to complete destruction.

So let me instead offer up some thoughts I have on this. First, as I mentioned, the nation of Edom had a long-time pattern of enmity towards the nation of Israel.  And Obadiah tells us they were filled with pride and had turned their back on God,. The essence of their identity seems to be wrapped up in their pride and their belief in their ability to make it on their own without God, or a need to show love and mercy to all those around them, specifically the Israelites.

For a moment, let's just jump for a moment to Saul of the New Testament. He had his identity wrapped up in pride.

If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more:circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.(Philippians 3:4b-6)

And he did not show love and mercy toward the followers of Jesus. Saul was stripped of his pride, repented and reconciled with the followers of Jesus...and became Paul. The essence of who Saul was, was utterly destroyed and Paul was born out of the ashes, a phoenix-type experience. In his own way, Saul was an Edomite and was destroyed utterly and reborn as a new person, Paul, one of the faithful who was restored.

Now back to the Edomites and the question of an opportunity for change and restoration, I believe they too had and have the opportunity to be reborn as a new people, ones in relationship with God, filled with love and mercy for others.

If you haven't already traveled there with your thoughts, let me pose the idea that Edomites are all people who, filled with pride,  believe that they are independent of the need for God, the Divine presence that calls us into relationship and speaks to us of love and mercy towards others.

Certainly I am on a journey to utterly destroy my pride that leads me to operate outside of a relationship of love and mercy with others and relationship with God. How about you?

Psalm 58 - The Importance of Injustice to Motivating Justice

This morning I read this psalm in the New Living Translation on my phone, and then started pondering it and considering the role of injustice in our world. As I sat down to write about it, I opened up the New King James Version and started to skim through it, but got no further than verse 1.

Justice- do you rulers know the meaning of the word? Do you judge people fairly? (NLT)

Do you indeed speak righteousness, you silent ones? Do you judge uprightly, you sons of men? (NKJV)

What immediately struck me was the term silent ones in the NKJV. While I had originally considered this psalm in the light of people making choices that were actively unjust, that new term caused me to consider those who don't actively see justice.

Does this change anything for you? For me, it causes pause because it means I suddenly need to consider whether I have been silent while an injustice has gone on. I have to consider whether I am in the number that this psalm is speaking about. 

The other thing this highlights, is translational differences. In fact, before I looked at the second translation and started typing this, a conversation ensued this morning about translations, which was started with the comment made by a Biblical scholar who referenced the New English Version version of a scripture in his writings but then in a side note mentioned that that particular writer didn't see it as a accurate version, presumably because it is a translation that is based on ideas not a word by word translation. This progressed into a conversation as to whether adjustments that were made by scribes and scholars who were writing down oral records and transcribing religious writings that are included in the Bible were divinely managed...which led to a discussion of whether a sentient God could make the translations or adjustments that were not divinely inspired fade away...which led to talk about free will...and on iy went, but I digress from where we started. All this is to say that my morning prepared me to notice and be sensitive to the differences in translation.

So let's go back to this psalm, while the psalm starts with this question, it very quickly answers it with no and goes on to tell of the wickedness of the men this psalm is directed towards. But as I pondered all of this, I started to think of the role of wickedness and injustice. Some of the thoughts I had were:

• If there wasn't injustice, would we appreciate and understand the importance of justice?
• Because we have injustice, we have opportunities to speak out for and practice justice, how important is that is develop into the people we were created to be? Without injustice, could we reach and become all that God ordained us to be?
• If the world was just (which would alleviate many struggles that exist in the world), would we appreciate that state of affairs, or would we not realize the beauty of that state and just see wickedness in a different form?

I don't know about you, but if I look at my decisions, I can see times when I stood up for justice and times that I failed to. I believe that it is more the former than the latter, but I guess that I am not the best judge of that. What about you? What do you think about some of the questions above and what questions are you left with?

Psalm 57 - Intimate Trust

Have you ever had a person that you trusted completely? After reading and rereading this psalm, I kept coming back to this phrase in verse 1, "For my soul trusts in You;" I really love the way the words are used to express a trust that is more than the idea of "I trust you." It is not just me that trusts, but my souls, the core and essence of my being, with all pretense and outward masks stripped away. Something deep inside me trusts. For me, this creates an intimacy to that trust. Not just that I believe the information the other person is sharing, but that I trust in their being and how their being interacts with me.


I know that I crave such intimate trust with people, and I think most people do also, but our society breeds so much distrust that it is difficult to achieve that and believe it is possible. In a world where we see relationships fall apart so easily because of betrayal and selfishness, how can we expose our soul to another person and give them ultimate power over us because in giving this most intimate trust comes the ability for that person to cause us the greatest pain and scar us the most. Would you give someone the key the causing you the deepest pain? Do you believe another the other person will flawlessly guard that gift and never cause pain? Are you willing to risk some level of pain in order to have the joy of that intimacy? Maybe you have walked that road before and now bear the scars.


In this psalm, as David faces trials and difficulties, he has found that intimate trust with Go and I believe that in finding that trust with God, I am able to give that trust to others in my life. When I rest secure in the knowledge that God will care for and guard my soul, I can give that intimate trust to another person, knowing that God will cover the minor scars. I believe that the joy that can be found in sharing that intimate trust with God and a few others in my life is worth the risk of pain, but only because I know the steadfastness of God. Whiler I may get scars from the people I choose to give this intimate trust to, I know that that is never true from God.


What saddens me in the world, is when I listen to the others stories and they feel they are scarred by God and this crushes their ability to find intimate trust with others. I think what is saddest for me is that in listening to the story, it is always a person, who claims to be acting in God's name that has broken trust. With an intangible God, it can be difficult to separate God and people who claim to serve and act for God. These two become mixed in our emotions and we end of putting the pain or betrayal we have received from a person onto God. Now God is big enough to bear it and God will still be there waiting for you when you realize that is wasn't God who caused the pain and God will be there to once again share intimate trust with you.


Have you had an experience that has made trust hard for you? Have you felt betrayed by God? If you have, I urge you to revisit those memories and see if it is God, or a person claiming to act in God's name that is at the root of the pain.

Psalm 51 - The Cleaning Only God Can Do

This is a favorite psalm of mine and there is so much that can be discussed in it, but I want to focus on this verse:

⁷ Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean;
      wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

We are all sinners and if we examine our lives, we can see the stain of sin all over it. Stains that we can't take back or erase. You know exactly which ones they are. But look at this verse...purify me and I will be clean...wash me and i will be whiter than snow. God is capable of removing our sin and cleansing us. In fact, Jesus traded his purity for our sin on the cross.

Do you really accept that? Do you really allow God to purify and cleanse you or are you holding on to the stains of your sin?

Since we can clean it up, we often have trouble letting God do it. We are creatures of control and independence and want to do it ourselves. we don't like to rely on others including God, but the truth is that we either let God cleanse us in a way that only God can or we remain stained.

And just the knowledge of our stain can hold us back from being who we were created to be and accepting all the blessings that are available to us.

Will you let God clean you? Will you accept God's grace and mercy? Let today be the day that you are purified and become whiter than snow.

Ephesians 4 - Move Towards Unconditional Love

Yesterday I visited a new local church in my quest to find a church home now that I have moved and her a sermon on whether unconditional love is real. The conclusion was yes, it is real, but we as humans suck at it.

But reading this chapter this morning, I just had to stop at verse 2.

² Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.

This line has such beautiful advice and can help us to practice and become better at unconditional love. But one of the things I noticed was that the reason for being patient and gentle with one another was not because the person deserved it....not because they had earned it...not because they would return it, but because of love. Our patience and gentleness needs to be a free gift because we love.

You may be thinking, I don't love the person who needs my patience and gentleness, but again, the verse doesn't specify that it is out of love for that person, just out of love. Our love of God should be enough. We can't return all that God gives us directly, but God has commanded us to pour that love onto God's children.

Today I challenge you to give yourself a pep talk about patience and gentleness as you start your day. i am confident that the opportunity will come up where it can be applied. Choose patience and gentleness and let love conquer any negative reactions to the person. They will be better for it and so will you and just perhaps, in the glimpse of God's love that you show to that person, they will turn to repentance.

Ephesians 2 - Gift of Belief

Can you believe? Why does the Bible say that belief is God is a gift?

⁸ God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.

I had to stop and ponder that for a moment as I read through this chapter and take a little bit of an analytical thought path. If we think about belief, what is it really?  The dictionary defines it as "a state or habit of mind in which trust or confidence is placed in some person or thing ."

So where does that trust or confidence come from. It comes from understanding. Either we understand the consistency of an event/person, we understand the thinking/process so we can figure out what is coming next, or we know the insides and out fully of the person/event.

So let's examine this in relation to God. Well, can we see consistency on God? Well, yes, and no. God is consistent, but we can't always see it. Sometimes we don't understand the reasons behind something and we struggle to know that it is for good. Also, God's consistency relates over a time span much greater than our own so sometimes the events can only be truly evaluated in the course of a history and then, since we are not witnesses, we struggle to find confidence in it. Do we understand the thinking of God so we can determine what happens next? Absolutely not, God is looking at a bigger picture and working with greater understanding than we are, God also had abilities beyond ours that we have no experience with, and hence lack understanding. Last, do we fully understand God inside and out. Again, absolutely not. We are limited and can't even begin to comprehend and understand all that God is.

So where does our belief come from? Well for many, it just isn't there. They lack belief and that lack becomes a hindrance in a relationship with God. Is that where you are? If you are, pray that God will help you and bless you with the gift of belief. Let me know you are asking for this from God and I will pray for you too.

For others, they have received belief as a gift. That is truly the only way to find belief in something where understanding is not there. So, yes...belief is a gift and God gives us belief that we might be in full relationship with God.

Numbers 35 - Integration

Where is God in your world? As I read this chapter, I am reminded that God wants tour acts of faith and worship to be integrated into your life. As God is telling the Israelites about where they will settle in the land, he sets aside a place for the Levites, those whom he has annointed to be spiritual leaders fro the nation.

⁷ In all, forty-eight towns with the surrounding pastureland will be given to the Levites. ⁸ These towns will come from the property of the people of Israel. The larger tribes will give more towns to the Levites, while the smaller tribes will give fewer. Each tribe will give property in proportion to the size of its land.”

This place is not set aside, its own land, but consists of 48 cities in the midst of all the other tribes lands. They are to be spread out throughout the land. 

Is this how God operates in your life? Is God spread throughout the areas and events of your life or does God life for you only in a central location? I challenge you to reflect today and make a list of the areas/events where God lives in your life. Does this include your work? your friends? your playtime? your family time? your home? If it doesn't, how can you change that. How can you begin to integrate God into all areas of your life?

I will be praying for you during this process and if you have any specific prayer requests, feel free to comment on this post or shoot me a private message and I will pray specifically for you.