Show Me

Do your kids ever ask you, “where are we going?”

I bet they do, and I bet you tell them.

Next time, don’t.

Say “I’ll show you.” I think I’m going to start that with my boys today. It will be good for them, spiritually.

We are just like little kids. We really do have “little faith” you know. We want to know everything before we do anything. We want to be able to weigh the pros and cons to see if the outcome is worth the trip. And often, we decide before we take the first step if we will bother making the journey.

Well, unless you are an Old Testament prophet – which you are not – God will most likely not ever show you where you are going. Oswald Chambers even said, "Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you." He’s just not into the personal fortune-telling thing.

And before you argue, go read your Bible; God is doing us a great big ole favor in this. When he did tell the Old Testament prophets where to go and what to do, he often told them how horrible it would be, and how useless their warnings would be. Now, how would you like to know that before you moved – and still be expected to obey? Well, don’t worry. God isn’t going to roll out His full plan for your life for your personal approval (and we should be thankful for that) because we would surely make a mess of it. We can only handle little bits at a time.

And that’s just it, he moves us a little at a time – by faith. We all know about Abraham. He “obeyed and went even though he did not where he was going.” (Heb 11:8) He didn’t say, “LORD, show me where you want me to go.”

But that’s what we do. When we pray, we ask (tell) God to show us things, reveal things to us, give us this peace or that wisdom on this decision – and in reality, if we are honest, many times we are praying in the flesh because we have “little faith”; we are afraid of what we do not know or understand.

Instead we should pray, “help me overcome my unbelief!”

We should pray, “Increase our faith!”

It is an easy thing to sit in your chair, or lay in your bed at night, and ask God to show you where He’s taking you or what He’s going to do. It requires, and is indicative of “little faith”. That should raise some red flags. We should recognize that as praying in the flesh. Where in the Lord’s Prayer does Jesus teach us to tell God to show us the future?

We would be better off asking Him to show us --- Us. We’d be better off to ask Him to help us to really see our “little faith” so that we may truly and sincerely desire to follow and obey Jesus – and remain in him – rather than be consumed with what will happen next.

Besides, when you take time to think about it, where you’re going is really inconsequential. You can’t get there without the very air you breath.

And WHO made that?

Clean Up This Mess

I have two boys. By definition, boys are messy. Mine are no exception. As a matter of fact, they are exceptional.

As a father, I’ve learned how to deal with the messes they make (somewhat). See, if I just tell them to clean up their mess, they barely notice that I am speaking. So I’ve learned not to push it too hard all the time. The best time to bring it up is when they want something from me. That’s when you see results.

For little kids, it’s hard to make them actually see a mess, because they are messy. But when you say, “We’re not going anywhere until this mess is cleaned up” somehow, the scales fall from their eyes, and toys slowly begin to get picked up (very, very slowly).

We "Big People" are exactly the same way with our Father in Heaven. We tend to not see the mess we allow to build up in our lives: "petty little sins" that seem so insignificant to us that we forget about them. I’m talking about things like “white” lies, holding a grudge, and the entire spectrum of socially acceptable sins and ungodliness within the church (yes, I said it and it’s true).

When we want something from God, or when we want to get closer to God, He will remind us about the mess. He will tell us to clean it up. There are times we simply want Him to restore to us the joy of our salvation, but He will tell us to deal with the mess we’ve left behind first. Oh, you can come as you are alright, but that ain't the end of it. It may be that we need to spend some time in solemn confession, but it may require restitution be paid, or even more horrifying – a heartfelt apology to someone we've wronged.

If I had cherished sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened;

but God has surely listened and has heard my prayer. (Ps 66:18-19).

The first part of that verse can be translated many ways, but it literally means If I looked and saw sin in my heart, which basically means If I hadn’t dealt with the mess first.

If you read Psalm 66, you’ll see that almost the whole thing is a celebration – a very happy man praising the LORD. And then he gets to the end:

Come and hear, all you who fear God;

let me tell you what he has done for me.

He has good reason to be overjoyed:

Praise be to God,

who has not rejected my prayer

or withheld his love from me!

Who doesn't want to be like that? 

Each of us may have a mess to clean up that we’re just not seeing. Ask the Father to show it to you and help you clean it up so you can get moving.

-- I know I can never refuse my boys when they ask me for help.

Christianity, Persecution, Blessing

The persecution of Christianity in its simplest terms, historically and worldwide, can be outlined progressively:

               1. Social Persecution
               2. Legal Persecution
               3. Violent Persecution

Graphic from
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/publiccatholic/2013/03/degrees-of-christian-persecution-where-does-america-fit/

Where are we in America?

Social persecution of Christianity is commonplace – even fashionable. Disapproval, insults, hatred, ridicule and criticism. By and large, the media will not tolerate any expression of Christianity.

We have been wading into the waters of Legal persecution of Christianity for years. How many court cases have targeted or successfully hampered the free expression of Christianity? The Gospel of Peace is now officially “hate speech”.

At least we haven’t experienced Violent persecution yet . . . or have we? Take some time and see for yourself. It’s buried, but it’s there. In this country there have been an increasing number of violent crimes and murders against Christians for no other reason other than their faith. But if Social persecution already exists, which it does, you can expect the media to avoid such stories like the Plague.

Whether you are a Christian or not, you need to know how this relationship works. Numbers of people are really inconsequential. Temperature is what matters. The spiritual temperature of Christianity is almost always directly proportional to the degree of persecution.

CHRISTIANS! Have you ever noticed that the capstone of Jesus’ Beatitudes is this:

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Everyone wants a blessing, but they won’t take what the Lord gives. Stop fighting and arguing with those whose understanding is darkened. Stop useless boycotts with no power behind them. Stop feeding your natural desire to get even and win and stand up for your rights. Stop wasting your life.

READ THE WORD.

DO WHAT IT SAYS.

GET READY.

Perilous Laughter...Good for you?

I had a rough day today. My littlest boy is sick, and I don't feel well. I didn't sleep good last night. The country appears to be falling apart. Whine, whine, whine, etc. Anyway, I came across this note I wrote on Facebook back on Friday, April 24, 2009. I don't think it was a coincidence either that I happened across it on a bad day almost 4 years later. Thank you LORD. Y'all enjoy:

Bad day for the guy with the scooter

Have you ever remembered something that was kind of funny when it happened, but when you remembered it, it was the funniest thing of all time? That happened to me while I was eating my lava-hot left-overs today.

Just to set this up, Sunday evening when we were all at the Ponstein's house, there was a show on about a dead whale that exploded in the middle of a city in China or something. That's funny, but that's not it. Wednesday night, me, Chris, and Tommy were talking about that show, and all of the possible scenarios that would have accompanied this Chinese inner-city whale explosion. It took about 5 minutes for us to get as silly as a bunch of little girls.

Well, as I was eating, I remembered our little silly session, and one thing in particular that was a little bit funny to me at the time. It doesn't even matter what it was, what was amazing was how funny it was this time. I started laughing hard, like comedy club hard. Next thing I knew I blew Dr. Pepper out my nose and my arms are all sticky, and I'm laughing harder than ever. Now I'm doing that crying, coughing, choking laughing, and to make matters worse, I'm also laughing at how funny my own laughing is. I almost fell out of my chair. That kind of laughing could kill a person.

What's weird is that it made me think of a verse in the Bible: 

A glad heart makes a cheerful face,
but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed. (Proverbs 15:13)

There's plenty of us that have things going on that can make us sad and crush our Spirit. I read that "The indulgence of a disposition to sighing tends to destroy life. Every deep sigh throws off a portion of the vital energy." That's the truth. Anyone who's ever been down knows that it sucks the life out of you. 

It's much better to have a glad heart, even if you almost die from laughing. There's another verse that says: 

All the days of the afflicted are evil,
but the cheerful of heart has a continual feast. (Proverbs 15:15)

I can't control all the circumstances in my life. I can't just decide not to be afflicted if tough times are here for a spell. But because of God's Spirit in me I can have a good attitude, and I can be cheerful even when it may seem to some there's no reason to be. I'm thankful for those little laughing episodes, and all the cheerful and silly people I know that lift people's spirits. 

So, in the words of Meher Baba (capitalized on by Bobby McFerrin in the 80's):
"Don't worry, Be happy."

Keep It Classy...

“I met those of our society who had votes in the ensuing election, and advised them,
1. To vote, without fee or reward, for the person they judged most worthy:

2. To speak no evil of the person they voted against: And,

3. To take care their spirits were not sharpened against those that voted on the other side.”


~John Wesley, October 6, 1774

A friend with good sense brought this quote to my attention today, and it just needs to be passed on.

With social media having more of an impact than ever, this has been the ugliest presidential campaign season that I have ever seen. Some friends of mine (like in the real world) have completely changed over the past few months. Some have turned into annoying political pundits. Some have sprouted horns, spewing hate about the other candidate and his supporters every chance they get. Many have un-friended and been un-friended on Facebook because of their views, or more accurately, because of the manner in which they present their views. Some have gone anti-government, some anti-America. Some have just gone insane. A very few, probably the wise ones, have been silent.

I’m really not surprised by the actions of some of my acquaintances that do not claim to be Christians. Why should I be? Should I expect a man without the Spirit of God in him to carry himself in the same way that a man with the Spirit of God in him would? Certainly not. So when a couple of my non-Christian acquaintances have acted like eloquent philistines, not only abusing free speech, but the very gift of speech that God gave them, I am not surprised.

However, I am disturbed by the behavior of some professing Christians as of late. If you saw just their political posts on Facebook in the past few weeks, you couldn’t distinguish them from the likes of Bill Maher. Some have insulted our President, made disparaging remarks about the opposing candidate and his supporters (both sides), and worst of all, engaged in the latest form of gossip: RE-POSTING… Posting unconfirmed stats, images, etc. usually just to tear someone down. This is both liberal and conservative Christians doing this, and it is utterly disgusting.

If you are now, or have been doing this, you need to know that this is sin against God on a number of points. First of all, no matter how you or I personally feel about any given president, the Bible clearly teaches that we are to give him the respect and honor he is due (Romans 13:6-7). That’s non-negotiable, and if you can find a biblical loophole on not loving or respecting another person, be sure to let me know. Second, the Bible clearly teaches that God is the One who puts leaders in their position of authority (Romans 13:1-5). You may have been taught all your life that your vote matters, but it doesn’t matter as much as God’s, and we would all do well to keep that in mind. Third, Christians may give unbelievers cause to blaspheme the name of the Lord when they deviate from what the Bible teaches on our relationship to the governing authorities. Christians should be model citizens. When unbelievers see us behave contrary to the plain and clear teaching of Scripture, they rightfully call us hypocrites, but to their detriment, they also attack God. Fourth, relationships are strained damaged, broken, and sometimes completely severed. The Bible teaches that God will not accept your worship as long as someone else has something against you (Matthew 5:21-26)… You need to make things right with them, or your days of being right with God are over. Let that sink in for a second.

Look, it takes one to know one. I’ve had to do some confessing of my own. But afterward, it made all this that much more ugly. Take some time… Do it now. Don’t wait. If you have some things you need to confess to God, tell Him, and don’t get caught up in that business again. We all need to get our hearts right more than anything else.

(Thanks to Kirsten for the post title)