I Surrender All?

“You never go away from us, yet we have difficulty in returning to You. Come, Lord, stir us up and call us back. Kindle and seize us. Be our fire and our sweetness. Let us love. Let us run.” ― Augustine of Hippo, Confessions

Why does it still happen to us, who call ourselves Christ-followers? Why do we shy away from this disciplined, more refined lifestyle? God is calling us to something deeper, something far better than what we experiencing in the here and now. Why do we fight it? Could it be that we have something more to surrender? Could it be that we have held back a part of us from Him?

God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. He did what? It’s true. God told Abraham to take Isaac up into the mountains, build an altar and shed his only son’s blood as an offering and as a sign of allegiance to the Almighty. Scripture doesn’t say that Abraham refused, yet I struggle with this passage. How could a father follow through with a request like this? Abraham doesn’t refuse and he does what God asks of him, he goes up into the mountains and takes his son with him. Everything is premeditated, including the murder weapon. Yet I know that Abraham must have dreaded what was to come. He must have mourned and waged within himself over this request from God. Isaac’s name means “He laughs” and that is certainly what Abraham and Sarah did when they received the news that they would have a son. After all, Abraham was nearly a hundred years old when they received this divine news. But Isaac’s name meant much more then their initial response. He would bring joy into their lives. They would laugh until tears ran from their eyes! He was their answer to so many years of barrenness and familial emptiness. Isaac was Abraham and Sarah’s pride and joy…even to the point of replacing God.

We do this sometimes. People and even things have a tendency of replacing God as top priority in our lives. We don’t intentionally run from God, but little by little we find ourselves unwilling to surrender everything before Him. This is a very real danger in our ministries and in our spiritual journey and Christ-followers! We utter the chorus “I surrender all” with our lips and yet in our hearts we’re holding onto something that needs to sacrificed at the altar of self!

Abraham didn’t hold back. He was obedient to God. Perhaps he understood the message that God was trying to send to him way before he held the sharp blade over his bound son on that stone altar. He certainly displayed his obedience in his response to Isaac’s questions about where the lamb was going come from when Abraham replied, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” (Genesis 22:8) Though Isaac had become his pride and joy, and perhaps, for a time replaced God on his priority list, Abraham had faith! His faith was indeed rewarded when an Angel appeared and stopped him from completing costly sacrifice. The angel said, ““Do not lay a hand on the boy,…Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” (Genesis 22:12)

If, today, we find ourselves far away from God because we have run may we return to Him! If, today, we find that we have placed others of things before God may we be willing to lay them all at His feet in total surrender. God is faithful and longs for us to return to Him! He also longs to make us holy people, the very image of Christ for all the world to see. But that image cannot remain on us if we are unwilling to surrender everything and return to Him!

Prayer:

Lord in my returning, make me holy.

Lord in my renewal, send the fire!

May my life and heart be ever for you

restore me from sin-sick muck and mire!

November 18, 2013 1

Creative Arts Competition – Last Reminder

Here’s just another reminder about a fun competition that I would like to begin here on my blog. This is our first annual (with more to come I hope) creative arts competition.

Criteria is listed below:

Hey fellow writers and avid readers! I would like to announce a writing competition that I would like to conduct right here on this blog site: http://www.scottstrissel.wordpress.com
I am looking for your entry submissions for the following categories:

Photographs:
Submissions to this category MUST be your own work and not cut and pasted from someone else! These photographs should represent elements of “Thanksgiving” not just the holiday but the emotion, family, Christ, Salvation, our spiritual journey. Please limit your photo entries to five photos.

Poetry
Submissions to this category MUST be your own work and not cut and pasted from someone else!
Again the topic is Thanksgiving and as mentioned above should include some of these thematic elements. Please utilize a total of 750 words, less is fine , but no more that 750 words.

Prose (Story form or article format):
Submissions to this category MUST be your own work and not cut and pasted from someone else!
Again the topic is Thanksgiving and as mentioned above should include some of these thematic elements. Please utilize a total of 800 words, less is fine but more will be rejected.

Winners:
Of each category will be announced on November 29th (the day after U.S. Thanksgiving, AKA Black Friday)
The winners will be post here on this blog site and will receive a bag of Starbucks Coffee (hey I wish I had cash prizes to give you but I’m a broke Pastor with four kids to feed).
I will accept international submissions and if chosen I will post your submission here, but I WILL NOT be able to mail you coffee (sorry).

DUE DATE OF SUBMISSIONS:
November 23rd, 2013 by NOON CST (US central standard time)

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY:
Please submit your entry to: scottstrissel@yahoo.com
Please, also label it on your e-mail “Thanksgiving Writing Competition”

November 16, 2013 0

Me, the Prodigal (Poem)

There are days, dear Lord, when I fear

and I let go of your mighty hand

when all around me danger looms here

I am weak and deaf to your commands.

Yet your loving hand never strays from me

How could I have ever taken my eyes away

from your strength and presence free

while I begin to sink beneath this deadly fray?

It is at my worst that I turn again to You

how could I have let go of your strength and might?

Your love shines and pierces all the way through

my heart and within this sinking darkest of night.

Though I, the fool, am ashamed of my misgivings

You clothe me in riches beyond my deserving

Such love I cannot express to you in serving

all my days, all my efforts will I devote into your keeping.

-Amen.

November 15, 2013 0

A prayer for passion and re-ignition

If speech and arts are not accompanied by love and passion

they will fall horribly short and mean nothing but empty sound.

If actions are done out of obligation without compassion and care

they will reach numbed hands and cold hearts in a winter world.

If our actions are compelled only by our pay checks and selfish desires

we will start fires in our pocketbooks but not in the hearts of men.

It will all be for naught and this world would have inherited another cold soul.

Passion, fire and love begin and end with a heart knowledge of God.

Without such an intimate experience we can live, but it will be temporal

it will be less, it will be empty and vacant where He could reside and stoke

the fires of our souls and passions.

Dear Lord, Ignite our flames once more.

Ignite in us Your burning passion for Holiness and compassion

for this world in which we live.

May our worship not be out of obligation or command

but out of love and this deep desire to know more of You,

and through this engulfing flame, may our eyes

see others the way You see them and be spurned to act

without our interests in mind, but to capture the hearts

of others for You and Your kingdom come.

-Amen.

November 14, 2013 1

“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” Philippians 4:12 (NIV)

This passage of scripture is written by a prisoner and an apostle of Jesus Christ. Paul had learned a secret that each and every Christian ought to grasp; the secret of being content in any and every situation of life. Consider being in a cold dark prison cell for a moment. The comforts of home are not provided nor are the home cooked meals, nor the nice cozy bed that you used to sleep in…it’s all gone. You are locked in a cell of stone and metal where rats are constantly running over you and the floor is your only resting place. This image of being in prison isn’t a glorious one. It is stark, threatening and claustrophobic…how can Paul even proclaim to being content while locked away in a prison cell?

Contentment ultimately isn’t found in our surroundings or comforts. Sure at times we sit back and sigh and take in the moments of relaxation or familial enjoyments but eventually our contentment will evaporate. True lasting contentment isn’t found in things, people or places. We may experience momentary contentment but eventually our hearts, minds and bodies require more.

So how do we find, as Paul once did in a prison cell, this “secret of being content in any and every situation“? How does that happen? Is there a secret phrase we have to utter and then “poof” we are content? Is there some formula by which we consume in order to find contentment? The answer to both of those questions is “no”. There is nothing physical that we can do in order to achieve a lasting presence of contentment within us. You see, all of our efforts, which are man made, come from our own human portions of strength and wisdom. Our attempts to remain content are of our own making. These are external by design. For example, if we grow tired of our morning routine we might shake things up a little bit by taking a different route to work or formulate a different pattern of getting our children ready for school…these are externally our choices and strengths at play. We make the notion and we follow through with it in our own strength, thereby finding a jolt of contentment within old boring routines of life.

But there is another, better way to find complete and lasting contentment that I believe the Apostle Paul is talking about in this portion of Philippians. The secret to lasting contentment isn’t found in the external designs which are propelled by our own power and fortitude, the lasting contentment is found internally. Let me clarify though because this internal contentment isn’t an original part of our human DNA (that is post-fall of man). At the moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit takes up residence within us. He prompts us, strengths us, gives us this hunger to learn more about Him. This indwelling of the Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to become Holy people of God. Without this internal indwelling we cannot hold onto this grace that has been given to us through Jesus Christ.

Finding contentment is found in finding our source and hope of salvation. Once found, we feast on Him, we savor His fellowship, we thrive on His unending love and mercy and it becomes our focal point instead of the current location of our earthly bodies. This doesn’t mean that we neglect our earthly responsibilities or ignore our bodies but it does mean that our priorities and our perception of life becomes broader as the Holy Spirit stretches and renew us daily in our fellowship with Him. I believe Paul found this to be true. I believe that as His relationship with the Holy Spirit grew and he understood that it didn’t matter any longer if he had all of the comforts of life or none of them. It didn’t matter any longer if he achieved a certain portion of status in life. Those human achievements became an after thought as God’s Holy mission on his life took over and propelled to share and further Christ’s story. Paul understood that no matter where people placed him or where he was imprisoned God would use Him to share this vital message to the world!

Are you in a place right now that feels like a prison? Are you finding that your human contentment has run thin or has now completely evaporated? We can run from one thing to another chasing these fickle moments of contentment through job titles and achievements, but eventually we will find that none of it makes us happy any longer. We could keep running from place to place, from job to job, or we could allow the Holy Spirit to administer within us His Holy presence of contentment. By doing so we shift our focal point from human achievements and prestige to God’s perspectives which are always fulfilling. The journey to Holy contentment begins through discipline of the body soul and mind. This isn’t some kind of new age mumbo-jumbo, but rather a better way, a holy way that will lead us to contentment no matter where we are placed or end up.

Are you in need of contentment? Ask the Lord, begin there…feast on Him daily and slowly you will begin to find His perspectives and vision bringing a contentment like you’ve never experienced before.

I’m reminded of a chorus in closing:

Where He leads me, I will follow
Where He leads me, I will follow
Where He leads me, I will follow
I’ll go with Him, with Him all the way

Find real lasting contentment today!

November 12, 2013 4

Before my day (a Poem)

In the waning hours before the sunrise

when soft light wisps through curtained window panes

and before the sounds of busy lives begin again

I renew my conversation with my God.

In blankets wrapped and pillow propped

before these feet place themselves into gravity

and as my eyes have yet to batten a lash in focus

I find again my deep connection with my God.

And in my counting of as many breaths

these lungs are filled with countless blessings

all my hopes and needs begin and end

with these early morning times of confessions.

So, dear Lord before I begin

and the world with all of its chaos ensues

allow me one more moment here with You

let me linger but for another and then…

come with me into the fray.

-Amen.

November 11, 2013 0

A “Knock-off” or the Real Deal?

A few years ago I purchased an electronic device that I thought was comparable to the electronic standard held by another brand. It was cheaper and I admit that this was my original motivation in purchasing the device. I thought I had made a good deal by going cheaper…but I was sorely wrong. It looked quite similar to the more expensive quite famous counterpart…but upon studying the “specs” which were the inner workings or the hardware, I discovered that though it looked the part it was just a cheap “knock-off” that barely performed the way that I expected it to. I was thoroughly disappointed and eventually I discarded my “knock-off” and spent a little more for the real deal.

1 John 3:18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

Few sentences in all the world strike at our hearts like this sentence from 1 John. Mimicking Jesus’ own “new” commandment (John 13:34-35), John reminds us all that we are called to this holy purpose here on earth. Dare I say that this world is already full of hell and pain, hatred and heartache…how better to display the Light of Christ to a darkened world than to love. But John doesn’t merely remind us to love with our words and with how we speak to people around us. That would be far too easy and a shallow, cheapened “knock-off” of Christ-likeness.

Phony Christians:

No one likes cheap stuff if they can afford the real deal. If we had the resources to have the original in our hands, to own it and enjoy it, we would never settle for a cheap “knock-off” copy! The world knows a thing or two about phoniness. There are far too many people in our world today who have experienced deceit and cons of every kind. They can spot the phony Christian a mile away. The kind of “Christian” who only pretends to love but is just as absorbed in their own little world as a non-Christian person. The pretend Christian won’t fool anyone for too long, because when it comes time for the rubber to meet the road, for faith to be put into action, the phonies will scatter and disappear at the moment of greatest need. The world does not need any more phonies, let alone phony Christians who are just artificial, cheap “knock-offs” of the real deal.

Newly Minted Originals:

This is not meant to discourage you dear fellow Christ-follower, this is just a warning to both you and me. Without real tangible evidence of love bedded deep within our actions towards others, we run the risk of becoming just another cheap “Knock-off”. Don’t let your faith become jaded. Don’t allow skepticism and judgement to taint your walk with the Lord. There is a very real spiritual war going on; we know the final outcome, yet Satan and his minions would like nothing more than to dissuade you as a Christ-follower and discourage you in your faith so that you only resemble what you once were. Don’t be swayed but how others treat you. Don’t become discouraged when you feel as if you’re the only Christian left standing. We are newly minted originals if we allow Christ’s love to permeate our faith in action. It does nothing to simply say the right things or speak these solid truths unless it is backed up by our actions as well. Those who are still lost cannot simply to Christ by sweet words and kind thoughts…they need real hands to show them the way. They need real feet to walk beside them. They need a shoulder to cry on when life has stripped them of their pride and possessions. They need you and me to go to them and not to wait in our halls or churches for them to come to us (which will never happen).

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let your love be seen from your heart to your hands! Let your faith propel you into action. Be bold, take risks, and discard the temptation to become just another cheap “knock-off” for Christ.

November 11, 2013 1

An Idle Saturday Morning.

I am laying in bed listening to the sounds of the wailing wind through a half cracked bedroom window. The swirl of rotting leaves, a cacophony of sound merrily at a play in the frosty yard below. I have no where to go on this cold November morning. No plans to keep, or commitments to make…yet I am restless. I once heard that idle hands are the devil’s play ground, but on this morning encompassed by a gale of fury with winter knocking, I am all but content in remaining absolutely still.

November 9, 2013 1

Reminder: Thanksgiving Creative Arts Competition

Here’s just another reminder about a fun competition that I would like to begin here on my blog. This is our first annual (with more to come I hope) creative arts competition.

Criteria is listed below:

DUE DATE OF SUBMISSIONS:
November 23rd, 2013 by NOON CST (US central standard time)

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY:
Please submit your entry to: scottstrissel@yahoo.com
Please, also label it on your e-mail “Thanksgiving Writing Competition”

November 8, 2013 0