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Tag Archives: God

Time for Selah

01 Apr

This past Wednesday, we took some time to practice an Old Testament tradition of selah. Basically, it means to “stop and listen.” To stop listening to the noise of the world and just listen. Another way to interpret it is to “stop and think about that.” It shows up often in the Psalms after certain passages in the book.

Interestingly, it is a bit of a normal happening in the Psalms and is a lost idea in today by most of us. I’m convinced that if we were to employ this practice more often, we might find ourselves hearing God’s voice more clearly and more consistently. All it takes is shutting off some things and becoming more and more comfortable with silence and the opportunity to hear His still, small voice.

So, this week, most students in my area are on Spring Break. What if we take some time and just shut everything off. Stop and simply listen for His voice. Don’t talk. Don’t ask for anything. Just listen. I wonder what happens.

 
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Posted by on April 1, 2012 in Life

 

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A Faithful Generation

26 Mar

Recently, I have been processing through many things in my life. But none as much as my role in the Church; what it looks like and what it actually is. For so many years, I have envisioned it as the title that I have pursued for so many years: Pastor.

Ever since I was a younger lad (Junior High) I have desired to be in some sort of leadership and when God interrupted my life and redirected it, I simply equated “pastor” and “leadership” as one in the same. For many people, I think this is the typical case for those of us who spend any amount of time inside the walls of the church and see it as the redeeming organization that it can be. But, recently, I am getting my version of leadership in the church flipped upside down on its head.

What would happen if most of the leadership of the Church was predominately people who just loved Jesus? Sure, there are qualifications for overseers and deacons inside of Christ’s bride, but what if the people who had the ideas, were empowered to step up and be the leaders of that area of ministry inside, throughout, and outside of the Church? What if pastors, ministry coordinators, directors, you name it, were to do everything they could to not be the face of everything? What if the Church actually believed that they could do what they felt burdened to do?

Now, let me qualify the above questions with the understanding that this is not an indictment of any specific body of believers. Nor is this a commitment to back every single ministry idea that comes my way as something that is going to be fully-backed by any ministry that I am affiliated with. However, it is a call to action and reform in the minds of the believers that call the Supreme Lord of the Universe their God. It is a charge to be the Church that Christ has purposed in the heart of those who love Him. And, ultimately, I believe it is the way that the Church was intended to move and act.

I have a few ideas and a few questions that I am asking and so maybe you want to jump into the conversation. what do you think about the questions that I outlined in the italicized area? Leave your thoughts in the comments. I’ll be back in a couple days with some more thoughts.

 
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Posted by on March 26, 2012 in Church, Leadership

 

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Suffering for the Name

14 Mar

I’ve been thinking about a whole lot of things lately, but none as much as the way that God calls us to live out our lives in this world. I think that that might be the most dominating thought that ever crosses my mind. Regardless, it brings me to a thought that has been talked about by many and it is the topic of Suffering.

This is such a horribly misunderstood word in the American culture because it goes against almost everything that we strive for and reach for inside the American Dream. It also cuts against the grain of most people’s understanding of Jeremiah 29:11. How can a God that has a perfect plan that is supposed to be a plan to not harm me and to make me prosper ever expect or worse, command, that I suffer for His name? That just can’t be right.

Not only so, but wet also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. -Romans 5:3-5

It is quite clear that we should suffer as part of our discipleship of Christ. We can expect it to happen! It is not enough to think that it won’t come.

Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. – 2 Timothy 2:3

Paul seems to suggest that the uniform of a follower of Christ is suffering. And this idea of hardship and strife creates a friction between my mind and my heart. For so long, we have expected that by being close to God, we would be far from hardship. Inversely equal, when we feel hardship and have to suffer for the Christ, we find ourselves feeling God as absent. We have come to believe this:

Hardship = Absence of God

But that is so not true! If anything the opposite is true. It seems a bit over the top to say it, but how many times do we look through Scripture and see people who seem to think that they are suffering and find out that God is not far, but actually quite near. On top of that, how often do we read of times when people knew that they were going to potentially suffer and simply obey and God shows up in a crazy supernatural way? Shadrach, Meeshach, and Abednego? Stephen? Moses? Abraham? Esther? Job?

Maybe the formula should look like this:

Hardship = Opportunity to Press Into God

Let’s commit together, today, to believe and know that when we face hardships, that God is not far, and so we should press into Him. That we come to recognize that this is Him offering us the opportunity to dive into what He has for us.

 
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Posted by on March 14, 2012 in Life

 

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It’s Rarely Easy, But It Is Simple

13 Mar

This past weekend, I went with a bunch of Senior Highers on a thing we called “Retreaternighter.” Appropriately named with the motto: “If a Retreat and an Overnighter had a baby.” It was so much fun and we had a total blast. Many kudos to all the adults that came with us!

While we were there, I preached a message on Saturday Night that I don’t think I have ever preached before, but afterwards, God really made something clear that sparked something new in me regarding the things that He has for us. It relates so specifically to a post that I wrote last week concerning the Crazy Thing in your Head. 

God’s Will is rarely easy, but it is Simple.

I think it has to be the most asked question for Christians in America and it has the most paralyzing response so many times that it makes me sick. But often, the question, “What is God’s Will for my life?” comes up time and time again. And the reality that I have been coming around to understanding is this: If you can’t answer that question for the future, then the answer is: “Right Now.”

Now the person that is saying that there is no way that can be true is probably the person that continues to ask the question, over and over and over again. Look, how many times are you going to ask about what’s next before you realize that what’s next is actually what is right in front of you, right now? The reason that you “aren’t sure about it” is because you aren’t comfortable with it or it “seems impossible” or “you’re not good enough for that” or whatever excuse born in a lie we decide to use.

The reality is, His “yoke is easy” because it fits. It fits because He created you to fit that yoke. And for too long, we have equated easy with comfortable; easy with a lack of struggle or suffering. The English term is “easy” but the American definition is probably more accurately described as “lazy.” Look, I’m not saying that we have misinterpreted the Scripture. I think we have misapplied it. His burden is light because he gives us everything we are going to need in order to accomplish everything He sends our way. But if we refuse to simply take on His yoke and simply walk in the things that He has for us, it won’t be easy and you can bet it will be complicated.

This is convicting to me. I want so desperately to “do the right thing.” Mainly because I don’t want to screw it up. But, many times when I try to figure out what the right thing is, I tend to make things much more complicated and less dependent upon Him. I think that there is a better way:

Pray, Trust, and Obey.

I think the song might say, “For there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus…” You get the point.

 
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Posted by on March 13, 2012 in Life

 

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Crazy Ideas May Not Be So Crazy After All

08 Mar

ImageI have been thinking about some things that God has been impressing on my heart (they are kind of hard to ignore) and how I have been processing them. Sometimes I think it is valuable to analyze even the way that I am thinking about things because it helps break down my actual thoughts on a given topic. The reality is, I have had a number crazy, outlandish, visionary thoughts and I am still trying to determine what my role is for so many of these ideas. However, I am learning something new through all of it and I think it’s worth sharing.

“The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. – 1 Corinthians 2:14 (NIV)

The reality is that the moment that we simply dismiss the crazy, potentially awkward, potentially uncomfortable thoughts as “bad pizza from last night” we run the risk of dismissing the opportunities that God wants to place in front of you. It’s the difference between operating in the Spirit and simply using the Spirit when it seems like a good idea.

So that crazy idea that keeps “nagging you” every time you open your ears to the Spirit, maybe it’s not so crazy after all. Maybe it’s exactly what God wants you to do next. Perhaps that feeling of emptiness and complacency that you just can’t shake is because it can only be filled by pursuing that crazy idea. I think it’s something to think about.

 
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Posted by on March 8, 2012 in Life

 

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Guess Who Moved?

07 Mar

I was leaving my friends house the other night and saw a church sign that read like this one:

See, I struggle with this one. Obviously, the sign is trying to insinuate that we are the one that moved, right? But, that gets real tricky for me for multiple reasons:

  1. Who Knows Who Moved? Do you mean to tell me that the person that put this sign up knows that I moved away from God when I feel far from Him? It cannot be inviting for someone to look at that sign and think, “Gee, I bet that place is full of Grace and Mercy. I bet I’ll be accepted there.” Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for activating the Church to be who it is supposed to be AND continue to pursue God. However, this sign doesn’t speak love, grace, and the invitation of the gospel. It speaks judgement; it speaks typical American cynicism. I mean let’s be honest and agree that sometimes, God moves and the only reason we recognize that He moved is because we feel far from Him. When we feel far from Him, we pursue Him. Sure, He holds us up. But, He leads us as well. Sometimes, we need to feel the desperation of losing our parents in Walmart in order to be persistent in sticking with them.
  2. On a Church Sign, Really? I cannot stand it when a Body of Believers wants to represent itself by trying to cause waves with a stinking sign. If you want to simply create waves, LIVE LIKE JESUS CALLS YOU TO LIVE! Sometimes, I think that things like this are only in place to try and rustle some feathers so people will come check out the place. I tell you this: I never want to be a part of a Church that uses insinuating interjections and theologically threatening slogans to get people to check out what we are about. The Church Sign is about opportunity and information. The Church is about interrupting people’s lives with the testimony of Jesus Christ in the gospel lived out through His Body.

So, I was a bit frustrated and wrote a blog post in my head. But, God sometimes feels distant to me. However, it only causes me to figure out where He is going next.

And to answer their question, I think God is the one moving. So maybe I should shut up and start following.

 
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Posted by on March 7, 2012 in Church, Life

 

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It Just Makes Sense, Right?

06 Mar

I have been thinking, for a long time, about what the Church should look like, at least as I read Scripture and see Jesus interacting with His disciples, The Twelve and the way that the Apostles went about conducting “church” after they came on the scene. One of the main things that I keep coming back to with this is the devotion that they had to the character of God. They never strayed from trusting who God said that He was because He had proved who He was. He constantly came through when He said that He would. He never failed them. And in response to that, these radical people, these followers of Jesus, lived lives that made sense inside of who God was and is and how He was leading them.

I simply cannot get over the reality that these men and women would simply drop what they were doing and begin to follow Jesus. After they encountered Him or the people who were filled with His Spirit, it just made sense to them that this is the obvious choice in comparison to the rest of the world. I mean, Peter preaches, and 3000 people are added to their number. Their lives are changed, forever, because after hearing about what the Lord has done, it just makes sense to follow Him with reckless, radical, relentless faith.

I want to be a part of a body of believers that resembles that Spirit of Power and humility and transformation. I want to be so humble and pour out nothing but His Spirit to the people around me that they see how God has made His presence known in my life and come to the conclusion that it just makes sense to follow this God. I think the Church should portray this power through it’s weakness. But it can’t do that when it gets lost in the lie that Church happens on Sunday. It (the Church) is paralyzed from neck to toe if it gets caught up in putting on a show for a bunch of people. We must GO and BE the Church.

I’m praying for that Church to rise up.

 
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Posted by on March 6, 2012 in Church

 

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For the Love of God, Just Pray!

27 Feb
For the Love of God, Just Pray!

I have been pretty quiet on the blog here for a while. Not really intentional on my part, but pretty intentional on God’s part. This weekend, I was coming back from a leadership summit in Florida and I began reading a book by Bill Hybels called “Too Busy Not to Pray.” I’m only through chapter one and a bit of chapter two, but this thought just came over me as I read:

For the Love of God, Just Pray!

How many times have I been in conversation with someone and they say something that clearly could use prayer and we just listen to it and move on in conversation? Or now many times do we go through our days come up against something that seems tough or difficult and just try to “get it done” by ourselves? Or when we have a thought and like a blink of an eye, try to think of the specifics of that thought and can’t recollect what it was but have this burning sensation that we know we were awakened for a serious reason?

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” – Ephesians 6:18

I love that this passage comes immediately after Paul describes the Armor of God. He is so descriptive in how he describes the things that God has already given to us to fight the Good fight and follows it up by instructing us to always pray. For everything. Personally, I went through a season where the last thing I would do is pray. It was like a last resort. “Well, we have exhausted ever logical thought, so, I guess we better pray,” I would say to myself.

How unrealistic.

So, the God of the Universe says to you and to me that “The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles (Psalm 34:17)” and that He is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…” and we go to Him as a 6th man on the basketball team?

How many times have we inadvertently picked God, last, in this “game of kickball” better known as life?

I have no where even come close to mastering this one. But, I know this: The business of my life requires me to be in the prayer business and the demand of my life calls for a high supply of prayer. I’m pretty sure that this applies to any person. Any person that believes that they have purpose from God each day. His business needs to be coated in prayer. So for the Love of God, Just Pray!

 
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Posted by on February 27, 2012 in Life

 

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Been thinking about Hurting.

03 Feb

“In this world, you will have trouble…” – Jesus

Isn’t it fascinating that Jesus comes to this world, spends his life spreading the Good News, performing healings, flipping the occasional table, pressing people to know God as their Lord, tells people of this Kingdom of God that seems to be like the utopian society that their government was telling them they could have, and yet he tells them that they will still have trouble.

Seems a bit off, doesn’t it? I mean come on, “If our God is for us, then who could be against us?” Right? Doesn’t that mean comfort? Doesn’t that mean whatever I want, whatever I think I need, it is taken care of? Jesus comes, dies, rises again, sends the Holy Spirit to live in us, and reminds us that we will have trouble; that things aren’t going to be so “peachy-keen” after all. Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted by on February 3, 2012 in Life

 

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Conflict on Facebook and Twitter is Dumb

01 Feb
Conflict on Facebook and Twitter is Dumb

It’s funny to me how “drama” seems to follow people like a cloud of gnats on a hot summer day. But, more than that, recently I have been watching as more and more people have been jumping onto Twitter for its streamlined and  seemingly more “private” home. But, there is something that I can’t get over and find it somewhat troublesome when it comes to how people are using it.

The use of Twitter for resolving conflict or sharing a beef with someone is becoming more and more prevalent. And I have one question to ask in response to the idea that Twitter might be a positive way to share your personal issues:

Why give something from your heart to a world that doesn’t care when you could give it to someone who cares the world for you?

I just struggle with it. For a couple reasons:

  1. Who, through Twitter, really cares? Let’s be real honest with ourselves. When I swipe through the posts on Twitter, when I see someone complaining about someone else, I typically keep skimming on by. Maybe that is just me, but it just doesn’t seem profitable for me to get involved with someone else’s “drama.”
  2. Is public profession of frustration the best way to handle the situation? As I look at it, every situation that I have ever had in life where I was frustrated with another person, never (or very rarely) became resolved by telling everybody else about it. Most times, it took me “manning up” and approaching that person or persons about the problem that I had with them. There is just something about talking with a person one-on-one instead of slandering them to the world.
  3. It’s self-promotion and self-pity. If we are honest with ourselves, all we are doing when we post something that is rooted in our frustration with someone else, is fishing for affirmation of our position. And most times, that position is rooted in our own desire to be right or justified in our emotions. That’s not healthy, it’s not beneficial, and does nothing to resolve the situation.

So there are some thoughts. I just don’t see the value in trying to handle conflict through social media. It’s not loving. It’s not fruitful. And frankly, I think it’s just plain dumb. There I said it.

 
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Posted by on February 1, 2012 in Life

 

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