All my efforts, all my pains
nothing but the best for Thee
grant me Lord your loving heart
and others I might see.
Plant me in the fertile soil
so that these roots grow deep
be my gardener and my Lord
an abundant harvest to reap.
And in those days that will come
when drought and famine be
these lips and service, action take
to ever live for Thee.
-Amen.
When at times life is at a cross-roads
when, restless, life sweeps away all desire.
Begin, then on your knees dear Soldier
for God to once again ignite that fire.
When apathy begins to reign supreme
and careless hearts and minds devour
Allow our prayerful hopes to take wing
and He will grant to us His holy Power.
Dear Soldier get back into the fight
your battle, this war is not yet won
The Holy Spirit can come and empower
until His work, and earth’s darkness is done.
“Those who trust in The Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever.” (Psalm 125:1)
When I was a teenager I worked at camp. Before the camping season even began and the children poured into cabins and onto the docks of the lake for a swim, we (the staff), would first begin with team building exercises. These exercises included climbing obstacles, figuring out puzzles and my worst fear: the trust fall. I had difficulty trusting those around me. I hated having to let go. I feared what might happen if those behind me chose not to catch me. I envisioned the pain that I would feel to fall to the ground. I also imagined my bruised pride as I might lay there looking up at people who really did not care to help me in my time of need. Luckily those scenarios never happened. I never fell to the ground, nor did those gathered below me choose not to catch me. But I still had trust issues. Do you have trust issues?
Read Psalm 125:1 again. There is a key word that ties everything else together within this sentence; the word “Trust”. Trust can be a powerful companion, but it can also be the one weakness within the armor of faith. Ask yourself honestly, “how much do I trust my Lord?” It’s a startling question with many, many different answers. For some of us we struggle to trust anyone, let alone God. For others trust is attainable but only after every other resource has been extinguished. Still others, the very few, trust is all that they possess and God is near to them at every human endeavor.
Which one represents you today? How much do you trust the Savior? Are you willing to go where He beckons? Are you placing your all in His hands? Have you ever had trust issues? Do you still envision in your mind how it will feel when God lets you down? Trust Him today. He won’t let you fall. He won’t let you down. We too can place our all in His hands and find that we will endure forever because of His unfailing strength and love. Let go…and fall into His safe and loving arms today.
-Just a thought…perhaps a frightening thought at that.
It’s a cliche. It’s a metaphor floating on a current. Wave after wave, bobbing on the foamy seas, a lonely bottle with a message inside. It is a song. It is one of the hits from iconic 80’s band The Police, entitled “Message in a bottle”. The song’s theme is nothing new. It is something that every person on earth has struggled with. Not being marooned on a deserted island, but the feelings of total and utter loneliness. Everyone has experienced these feelings of loneliness and solitude. It doesn’t take a deserted island to feel this way, it just happens sometimes. Perhaps it manifests itself through forms of depression. Other times loneliness happens at the intersections of choice.
We find ourselves lonely even when in a crowded room. Loneliness creeps into the corners of the heart, weighing us down like an old roof on a buckled and bowing barn in an abandoned field. Eventually that barn is going to collapse. Eventually in this loneliness the roof caves in on us and we find ourselves casting these bottles into the seas so that someone, anyone might hear us and we will no longer be alone.
King David felt like this. He cast many “messages in bottles” when he composed psalms of prayers and desperations to God. In Psalm 142 David identifies the emotion of loneliness because he had been there, he had lived in the shadows of loneliness. “Look and see, there is no one at my right hand; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life.” (Psalm 142:4) Yet there is wisdom here as well. He goes on to disclose the remedy for such moments of despair and desolation; “I cry to you, LORD; I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.” (Psalm 142:5) David knew where his hope could be found even in the midst of his loneliness. Earlier in the same Psalm he says; “When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who watch over my way. In the path where I walk people have hidden a snare for me.” (Psalm 142:3)
Are you casting out messages in bottles today? Are you alone in your troubles? Does it seem like the roof has caved in on your life and has pressed you down and crushed you by these burdens? Take comfort, take courage, because you are NOT alone! God is near and He will never leave you alone. When you cry out to Him, He will answer you.
-Just a thought for today
This world is so quickly paced
the whirs and blurs of vacant grace
we strive to ever find our place
within such follies here.
And I, in all my faulted woes
fighting, ever fighting blows
where the heart is the spirit goes
within such heartache here.
I scarce can catch another breath
as compassion sighs a lonely death
sin, an addiction worse than meth
within the broken here.
So who will offer us the light
when hell is all that is in sight
our darkness bleeds into the blight
within the broken here.
Its a famous scene in a commercial. A man has just finished his walk when his neighbor informs him that he dropped his butt. The neighbor is trying to give him his butt back but this, now healthy man, refuses to take his butt back. The message is simple. This man has worked hard to discard the excess weight. He refuses to put it back on. It is a part of his old way of living and now he has embraced a new way, a healthier way.
Quite simply, we are all called to this new way of living. Spiritually speaking, if we claim to have accepted Christ as Lord of our lives then the old has gone and the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17). We no longer need the old ways of life. We no longer crave the sins that weighed us down in our sinfulness and depravity. Jesus has reached down and lifted us up to a new and better way of living. We don’t need our butts anymore…ok, I admit that sounds funny. We no longer need that old way, that harmful, self-indulgent way any longer.
Yet the world and Satan himself wants us to pick it back up. They will tempt us to forget about this better way and to come back to where we once were, lost and blind to the sins in and around us. The world will try and convince us to take it back up again because without it we have lost our identity. Without it we are no longer whole. Without it we are simply not ourselves. But dear fellow believers, don’t buy the lie! Don’t give into those temptations of the old life any longer! Don’t let Satan convince you that you have lost your fun, your joy, your freedom, because the opposite is true…you have gained all of that with this new life in Christ Jesus!
So the next time Satan tries to convince you that you dropped something when you gave up your old life, don’t buy the lie! Remember the lengths in which Christ has taken to redeem you and has brought you safe, sound and whole into this new life!
-Just a thought for today!
A STRANGER MEETING:
I met a guy last night while at a men’s retreat who had a testimony to share. He was an addict. An addict who had found a second chance. He was…no, he is an addict that now understands his addiction and is about to graduate from a Christian treatment center. As I encountered this man, I had planned to say a courteous “hello” and walk on by but he firmly grasped my hand and shook it enthusiastically. “This was not going to be a short conversation”; I thought to myself as he pulled me in closer and began to tell me about his life. He had been a habitual cocaine user who had been introduced to the “hard stuff” through other recreational drugs. Slowly he revealed how his life quickly spun out of control. With tears in his eyes he shared with me passionately how he had lost everything and how he had come face to face with his own kids who had wept bitterly at the fear of losing their father. Slowly he had come to realization that his addiction wasn’t under control, it was controlling him.
When the wake up call came he answered it with nothing left to lose. He hopped a train and found himself in the Harbor Light seeking to rid himself of his demons. As he shared his tale with me, a mere stranger he had just met, I found tears in my own eyes and a lump forming in my throat. This guy had been through hell and was on the other side rejoicing because he had found new life, not only from his addictions but a new life in Christ. He was experiencing hope again and he wasn’t afraid of sharing his testimony with everyone he had the chance to encounter. After sharing his story with me about where he had been and how far he had come he told me he would soon be graduating from the recovery program and that he looked forward to going home to see his family, but he was also afraid of that old life that would come creeping back in.
Right there on the roadside, we prayed together. I prayed for his life and where this road would take him. I prayed that he would continue to stay strong and resist the temptations of his addictions. That he would remain strong not only for his well being but also for the well being of his wife and kids. We parted ways then, his story, that chapter of his life complete in its telling. He was now a brother, no longer a stranger. We had shared a bond through his willingness to be vulnerable to a complete stranger. I promised I would keep praying for him and his all too soon homecoming. Then we turned and went our separate ways.
WE’RE ALL ADDICTS:
What? Who? Me? Yes, everyone of us. We all suffer from one addiction or another.
Addictions come in many shapes, sizes and forms. There are the chemical dependancies like drugs, alcohol and other substances. The gentleman I spoke with understood his addiction, he knew he needed help and sought it out in order to save his life. But there are also the emotional addictions like attention craving, self-deprecation, pity, and so on. The Physiological addictions can become equally destructive if left uncheck or unresolved. Pornography and sexual addictions often go unchecked or spoken about and yet the statistics of those who struggle with this type of addiction is staggering.
For some of us it’s the addiction of self-pity. Everything happens to us. The world is out to get us and we seek the attentions of others and the tidal waves of sympathy to balance out this emotional addiction.
Still others suffer from the addiction of fear. Everything causes anxiety or fear in their lives. They subconsciously have to be in a state of constant fear to exist in their “normal”. They continue in this endless cycle of fear which can lead to depression and physical sickness.
Everyone faces some sort of addiction on this pathway of life. Sure chemical dependencies are very obvious and will lead to the total destruction of life much faster than some of the emotional or physical addictions, yet all of them limit us from a healthy normal life. All of them hinder our spiritual growth. All of them seek to further mar the image of God within us through habitual sin.
Praying with that man on the road caused me to evaluate my life. Have I come through hell or am I still struggling through it? Are we healthy, vibrant Christ-followers today or are going through some kind of addictions hell? Is there a substance or an emotional/physiological addiction that is controlling you today? If so, perhaps it’s time to stop running. Perhaps it’s time to admit the kinds of demons your fighting. Perhaps it’s time to recognize how much more we need other Christian brothers and sisters and most importantly how much we need the power of the Holy Spirit to guide us through it into victory.
When we can begin to realize just how in need we are of saving, then and only then can we truly find recovery and allow it to take place in our lives and in our hearts.
-Just a thought for today.
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:14-19 NIV)
How often we neglect or remember the importance of corporate unity as the body of Christ. Albeit personal holiness comes first, but instep right behind it ought to come corporate holiness as not only a reflex to the first but a response to the mighty moving of the Holy Spirit in corporation.
Paul prayed for those who were ministering the gospel of Christ. He encouraged them and recognized how vital this corporate unity is to the body because without it we flit and flutter every which way rarely finding harmony with one another on purpose. Quite obviously Paul was also praying that they would continue in this faith despite severe oppression and persecution. He prayed for their safety and for the power of the Holy Spirit to guide them. That Christ would remain in them and continue to unite them together.
Do we offer prayers like this on behalf of other believers? Do we find the time within our personal prayers and sometimes selfishness to consider the needs of other Christ-followers? I don’t mean to sound judgmental or damning because all too often I find myself praying these same selfish prayers: “Lord help me….” ; “Lord bless me…”; “Lord speak to me….” All too often, if I’m not careful, I can get sucked into these self-indulgent prayer traps and lose complete focus on the cares and needs of others in the corporate sphere of this body of Christ.
Paul had troubles of his own. He eventually is killed because of his faith. Before that he is shipwrecked, in prison, beaten and so on. Yet he finds the time to pray for and encourage others along the way. Corporate unity requires a corporate mentality. We aren’t here to go it alone, nor should we be so consumed with our own issues and problems that we lose sight of the great body of Christ.
We are to be holy first as individuals and then as the corporate body and through this we must remain united through prayer, fellowship and encouragement.
-Just a thought.
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.” Romans 8:1-3
How is your spirit dear saint of God? Are you still guilt ridden? Do you still find that in your soul you feel ill-equipped and not good enough for His redemption? Do you still think that He came for everyone else except for you because you can’t fathom His forgiveness could be given to your iniquity?
Paul could have felt this way. Paul could have easily come to the conclusion that his persecution of Christ-followers was enough to condemn him without the possibility of redemption, and yet he recognize how vital salvation through Jesus was. He even states that he is the worst of all sinners (chief of sinners) 1 Timothy 1:15. Yet Paul perceived this saving grace in his life and we ought to as well! Jesus came for all of us! Our sins can and will be forgiven if we’re serious about it. Before Christ came the Jews had the law to guide them and to live by, but when Jesus came salvation was found in his unmerited grace! We, who were once slaves to sin can now be completely free from its enslavement in our lives! That doesn’t mean that we won’t suffer or experience hardships, but it does mean that we have hope and the right to be called sons and daughters of the most high! It is all possible because God sent to us His only Son!
Do you feel condemned today? Do you feel lost or downtrodden? You won’t find salvation by merely doing good works or trying harder. Salvation and the alleviation of guilt and condemnation of sin only comes through knowing the One who was crucified and has set us free through the shedding of His blood! God loves us THAT much! He wants that right relationship with us. The whole plan of redemption can be summed up in this chapter by Paul. We matter to God and we have been offered the way out…the only way!
Feeling condemned today? Find this gift of grace which is offered freely for those who believe!
-Just a thought for today.
I held it in my hands, not knowing what was underneath it. It looked like any ordinary branch from the top, wooden and covered in a flaky ashen grey bark. The grain and color of this branch looked healthy and strong. But when I turned it over I discovered the reason this branch had broken off and had fallen to the ground. On the underside the wood was infected and terminal. On the underside termites had other insects were milling about slowly devouring this branch from the inside out. Glancing up at the tree, from which this branch had fallen, I quickly realized that this tree was doomed. It looked sturdy from the outside, it towered over me as its branches reached the sky and stopped at about twenty or thirty feet above me. The tree wasn’t that old, perhaps ten or twenty years, and it would have continued growing had it not been for the parasite now eating it alive from the inside.
Slowly over the next couple of months, as I would walk past this tree which was situated in a park near my home, I watched in silent sadness as it lost all of its once beautiful leaves. Now with bare branches it stood ready to be chopped down by the park’s caretakers. It had gone from a vibrant young tree with so growth to achieve to a dead, hollowed out shell worthy of becoming wood chips or kindling for a fire.
Watching this foliage of tragedy unfold reminded me of how we are sometimes like this young tree in our spiritual lives. We attain a certain height in our spiritual maturation process, we look vibrant, hopeful and secure in our faith…but then it happens. We allow a small portion of our old lives to still exist within us. Sometimes on purpose while other times unknowingly.
As children of God who are called to be set apart for His purposes, we secretly set apart some of the old self and cling to it even though it could kills us spiritually. We store it up in our hearts, compartmentalize our “church life” from our “other life” and yet we know somewhere deep down inside of us that we are called to surrender it all. We are called to one life, not two separate lives. Either we’re with God as His child or we’re back in the world and in our old sinful, self indulgent lifestyles. When we cling to these bits and pieces of ourselves, which existed before the moment of our salvation, we are essentially saying to God, “you can have most of me, but I’m keeping this one small thing!”
When we do this, why are we then surprised when we begin to rot from the inside out? Why are we shocked when we lose our fruit and our branches become bare? Why do we suddenly realize that our passion for Christ is now gone and yet can’t fathom why it is that way?
If we were to get serious about this faith and about our spiritual survival, we would quickly realize how vital it is for us to face our infections. These infections are the spiritual parasites or the leftover remnants of the old life. We cannot ignore them, because they will never go away unless when expose them and submit them to the light of Christ. To simply ignore their presence only seals our fate of being slowly hollowed out and eaten alive.
From the outside that branch looked healthy, yet when I turned it over and saw what had become of it, I knew that the tree from which it had come was doomed. It was so brittle and full of holes from which the termites poured out. The outside looked fine, but the tree had lost that internal battle.
I think there is something to be said about our internal battles as well. We, as Christ followers, can not afford to lose this internal battle that wages within us. There is still work to be done by the Holy Spirit in the hearts of us all! There may be small pockets of the old life still resistant and evident in us. No one else knows it. By all appearances we look fine and healthy on the outside, yet on the inside we’re struggling to stay alive.
Two things must take place within our hearts to prevent this parasite of sin to continue to exist within us;
One, we must expose it for what it is. Don’t hold back or ignore it. Do not shy away from confronting it, and do not keep it hidden. The Lord knows its there, yet we keep trying to convince ourselves that it is not. Expose it to the Light of Christ! Share it with Him. Open up the doors of those hidden dark passages of your heart and allow His light to flood them completely! Without first exposing it to the Light of Christ, we can pretend and ignore it. But once we’ve opened up the doors completely, and honestly looked in, we can’t help but feel shame and regret. Let it happen. Spiritual maturity, also known as Holiness, cannot take place completely without first facing our deepest darkest sins. Then we get serious. Then we let it all out and place it in the forgiving nail scarred hands of Christ.
Secondly, once His light has gained access to the abscesses of our hearts, we must be willing to let go of it. We must relinquish our grip on it. We must surrender it all to Christ. Nothing else can grow there, nothing else can change in our spirit if we don’t first surrender those remnants of the old sinful ways.
When we have exposed this parasitical sin to His light and surrendered it into His hands, then we find ourselves surprisingly free of this burden of guilt and shame. We find that we can finally grow again and allow His very image to be our sole desire.
The tree doesn’t have to die, our spiritual walk doesn’t have to stagnate! We must be willing to reveal and surrender, then the healing can begin which will give way to this tremendous growth.
-Just a thought for today.
Pastor's Ponderings 