This is what I write when I talk to God and talk about Him.
Articles
Psalm 16:8: I keep my eyes always on the LORD. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Psalm 16:8: I keep my eyes always on the LORD. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
The Lord keeps things incredibly simple, doesn’t he? While theologians and preachers often complicate God—and life with God—God himself makes it very easy to grasp what I have to do. He is always building bridges to me; He is tearing down walls. He takes vast, mystical truths and is rendering them down to bite-size morsels. Otherwise I’d choke.
What do I need to do each day? How do I stay focused? Keep my eyes on the Lord. Always. That’s not difficult to comprehend. That’s not difficult to do. Simply focusing on Jesus, staying his word, is what I need to do to stay on track and accomplish his will for today. He’s given us an awesome gift: His word. I don’t need to guess about who he is, or what he wants me to do.
Hebrew 3:1: Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.
Do you think it would change from Old to New Testament? I am always amazed at how much my soul and spirit are realigned after just a few minutes of reading scripture. How much more when I devote my day to knowing Jesus? I mean honestly, what is more important than that? I challenge anyone to find a goal greater than knowing Jesus. Work, family, ministry—they are all second after that. I have plenty of goals in this scattered confusion called a life, but are they really more important than drawing close to him?
I really don’t think so.
Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;
for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.
Psalm 95:6-7
For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with victory.
Psalm 149:4
Genesis 41:16 “And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”
What do I want out of life? If it’s a “good life,” I am certainly on the wrong path! There are preachers who say that trusting in God is a key to prosperity and getting everything you want. What Bible are they reading?
I am puzzled by people who follow God, but have no desire to serve him. Is it possible to live for God, while pursuing all your selfish, fleshly desires? I don’t think so. All the people I’ve ever known who truly loved Jesus—and had a genuine passion to know him—had one thing in common: they gave up living for themselves.
“Take up your cross and follow me.” It is the first requirement for following Jesus. It creates a transformation within the person. A giving up of material (ie, earthly) gains in the pursuit of heavenly ones. To walk with Christ means wanting a life filled with eternity—not the drama, carnality and politics of this life. So I’ll ask myself again: what do I want out of life?
If I say “Jesus” or “God’s will,” then there will be many times my life will just suck. I’ve written before that is common to all saints, and they could endure it because what they wanted was not a good life, but the eternal City of God. But God is no miser. He doesn’t want his people to be utterly miserable on earth—nor does he intend to keep us that way. He is merely preparing me, through seasons of pain, for what is to come.
At least I can say my pain has not been as bad as Joseph’s! I was never a slave, nor a prisoner. The pain that Joseph endured was the very thingthat prepared him to rule beside the Pharaoh. If he had been able to skip over those years, he would never have become king (or “vice” king).
God gave him the gift, tempered the man, then put him into position. The years as a slave and prisoner made Joseph mature, humble and wise enough to rule. He had no ambition as he stood before Pharaoh, interpreting his dream. He was a wreck, a shell of man. He had been successful in the past and lost it all. All that remained was the gift, the anointing of God, an empty vessel that the Lord could flow through.
I’m hardly a Joseph, but I’ve experienced similar transformations. I’ve gone through times that have removed my self-centered expectations, ambitions, even hopes for success. All the dross was drained away. Only the good that Christ put in me remained. I felt like crap, empty and worthless, but found that a great treasure of God’s wisdom and power was deep within me. People were amazed at “my” anointing—I along with them.
It is no different for me now. I have yet to come into my full destiny. And—as I said before—it may not come in this life. But I do know that these years of trial are not wasted. They are producing the very maturity I need. They are making the man Jesus desired all along, a man empty of himself.
As Joseph shaved and trimmed his hair, he probably thought, “This is the beginning of what God promised me. Now I know I heard from him! The devil has not been in control and my life hasn’t been wasted. God has been directing everything the entire time!
Joseph responded to the Spirit’s call, surrendering all, and as a favor from his father he received a robe that set him apart. But that favor of his father was costly! It cost Joseph relationships and brought him rejection, misunderstanding and mockery
“You do not know what your life will be like” - James 4:14
There was a prayer many of us prayed in Bible College: “Lord, take my life.” We said it in moments of great emotional swelling, while music was playing and we knelt at an altar. Visions of heroic ministry, of preaching to thousands, of dying in foreign lands for the gospel, filled our minds (put there by verbose and persuasive preachers). To us at that time—surrounded by our friends in that cushy and artificial environment—we knew that to live for God meant exciting and fulfilling experiences as ministers. Most of us were wrong.
It’s been six years since I left that school and among the diverse experiences those years have brought, the pictures conjured in my mind during my BRSM days have not been a part of them. It may be just me; maybe the rest of my classmates went on to experience exactly what they envisioned in those days. But if I’ve learned anything in the last six years it’s this: life turns out nothing like you expect.
It may not be a problem for everybody. Even for many believers, they are content with their lives, however perfunctory and regular they are (as sad as a statement as that is). I have come to realize there are some people out there who don’t have dreams; they never aspired to do anything, be anything, or experience anything great. And as Christians they don’t even want to know God in a unique or profound way. That has never been me. Long before I stepped foot onto that campus I had great aspirations. Perhaps I was incredibly foolish. Maybe I was just extremely proud. The remainder of my life will prove if I was, but for now I’m faced with a challenge of reconciling my current life with what I expected and what I believe.
I know I’m not the only one who faces this problem. In many ways, the long recesses of life, the constant changing of circumstance, can rectify my discouragement. Maybe in ten more years I will be doing all those things. That’s not the real problem: whether or not my aspiration will ever come to fruition. The real problem is how I choose to live right now. Ten years is a long time. Can I stay faithful to Jesus in the meantime? Do I have the perseverance, the patience, the faith, to continue to obey Him during disillusioning, disheartening, and down-right crappy times?
When you’re in the thick of a difficult season, it’s hard to imagine life getting better. These are crucial times—times of growth and testing—when a person has a choice: hold onto their faith and endure or give up and walk away from God. I have seen with my own eyes people give up and walk away. The temptation to do so is strong, especially when there is little in your life that gives you hope or joy.
Maybe in time life will improve. Maybe it won’t. These are the thoughts that run through my mind. Why aren’t I preaching to thousands? I know I can. Forget the fact that I choose to avoid traditional ministry because of the rampant hypocrisy; there are still many people who need to hear the gospel. Can’t I be one of the ones to tell them? What about all those personal goals and desires? What my family and social life? Why can’t all that look the way I want it to look?
I really don’t know if all that will happen. In reality, I don’t know if I will live to the end of today (if I’m being perfectly honest). The only thing I can do is remind myself of the Truth. My life has never been this thing going on on earth. Is not my true life hidden in Christ? Am I not already seated in heavenly places. I may not be able to change my current circumstances. Life may never be what I want it to be. But I wasn’t promised a nice life on earth. I was promised Eternity.
And that, in the end, is more than enough.
James 4:8 “Come near to God and he will come near to you.”
James 4:8 “Come near to God and he will come near to you.”
Last time I wrote in here I said how I believe God is intimately involved in all our lives, even the lives of unbelievers. I still hold to that. But that is not the same as being in the will of God.
“For though the LORD is exalted, Yet He regards the lowly, But the haughty He knows from afar.” (Psalm 138:6)
There is an obvious separation between a sinful person and his heavenly Father. Despite his loving care, sin is an insidious thing. It drives an immovable wedge between a person and his God. Someone cannot claim to know God, nor receive his guidance, until he repents.
But even for a believer, there is a process required to meeting and knowing the Lord. Beside the basics, of believing in Jesus Christ, repenting of your sins, and accepting him into you heart, there are certain steps we need to take in order to know God, to be close to him.
I don’t know why it’s not easier. I wish I could walk with him as Adam did in the Garden. Perhaps it’s this wicked world I’m in, its loud distractions. Perhaps it’s a testing of my faith. Or maybe God himself choose to distance himself from the world, because of all our sin (Genesis 6:3). All I know is that God is waiting for me to seek him.
But the process is remarkably simple. “Come near to God and he will come near to you.” I don’t need to sacrifice 1000 lambs, burning pounds of incense. There is no secret password I have to learn, or a certain dance I need to do. My prayers are heard by him because I trust in him. He knows my needs before I speak them. If I were to only carve out some time to fellowship with him, study his word, wait for him to speak, he will meet with me and speak to me.
All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.
