The Enemy Within

In Psalm 84 Asaph is considering an impending attack from Israel's enemies.  He lists them all, nation by nation, talking of their plans to wipe Israel off the map and take their land.  He's praying to God for help and protection and asking God to deliver His people from this threat.

I was thinking about the condition they must have been in.  Nations preparing to battle.  Fearful of the future and seeking God's protection.

It's hard for us to understand the feelings and thoughts that must have been pounding in their hearts and heads.  We are at relative peace.  I wonder sometimes because I've been watching shows like 24 and Jericho and The Walking Dead and they make you wonder if we really are at peace.  But at least for normal Americans like me, I do not feel threatened.  I don't think my way of life is going to end any minute.  I'm not fearful of the end of life as we know it.  It's hard to understand the feelings Asaph and the people of Israel must have had.

Then something occurred to me.  We are not threatened by external enemies who want to crush us, but that doesn't mean we are not threatened.  Our enemies don't have names like Moab, Amalek, Philistia or Ammon.  Our enemies are named Lust.  Greed.  Fear.  Hate.  Anger.  Depression and hopelessness.  These enemies aren't physical but they are just as real and just as able to destroy us.

Satan uses these internal enemies to attack us when we are at our weakest.  They lay in wait until we are tired, fed-up or stressed out.  Then they attack with no conscience.  No feeling.  No compassion.  Satan's plan is and always has been to steal, kill and destroy.  He'll do that anyway he can.

So Asaph's prayer can still be our prayer.
"My God!  I've had it with them!  Blow them away... Knock the breath right out of them... bring them to the end of their rope and leave them dangling, helpless."

I may not be attacked from an exterior, physical enemy but I am attacked - this week in fact, so this prayer is personal for me.  God, do to my internal enemies, the enemies of my mind, my peace, my hope, my faith what you did to the national enemies of Israel.  Destroy them and let me stand.

The Coup d'état of God

I'm a Christian.  A Christ follower.  A believer.  A fanatic.  Whatever you want to call it my primary function in life is to know Christ and make Him known.  At Real Life we remind ourselves often that we want to connect with people so that we might connect people to Jesus.  Our mission is to help every person possible find real life through a relationship with Jesus Christ.  Sound easy?  It's not.

Right now there are several "irons in the fire."  I'm not at liberty to discuss what our Elders and I have been praying about, discussing and working towards, at least not yet, but it is all about being able to connect and direct more people to God through His Son Jesus Christ.  And since that is why we exist, it's cool.

I'm excited about what God is doing and how He is directing and providing and leading this whole process called church, but, to be honest, I'm frustrated.

I'm one of those people who wants to make a decision and then get to work.  I don't find pleasure or joy in the journey.  I want to know what we're doing, where we're going and then get after it.  I know this about myself and so I try to balance.  Take a breath.  Seek guidance and direction.  And then get back to to the work of making it happen.  And therein lies the problem with me.


I was reading in Romans nine today and had to stop what I was doing and think and pray about what I had just read.  In verse 33 Paul quotes from God's revelation about Himself to Isaiah the prophet when He says, "if you're looking for me, you'll find me ON the way, not IN the way."

It occurred to me that at times in our doing of THINGS for God we forget to actually LOOK for God.  Instead we tap Him on the shoulder and politely ask Him to get out of the way so we can continue our doing of things for Him.  The problem with this is that when we try to get God out of our way we are actually starting a mutiny of the Spirit.  A Coup' of God.  We're trying to take charge of a ship we couldn't possible be capable of running!

A Coup is the sudden, illegal deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state.   I (the small group of the EXISTING state) forget that God IS THE WAY and treat Him as if He is only IN THE WAY. Think of it this way, an elementary school basketball team trying to overthrow their coach, Larry Bird.  It's not possible!

At times in my life find myself quickly trying to move Him out of the way so I can get back to His work.  Do you see how ridiculous that is?  Look folks, God IS the goal.  He IS the thing we're after.  It is on our way through this life that we connect and interact with God.  But when we try to put our goals, dreams and aspirations ahead of Jesus as the goal we find that He is in the way.

Father, help me and this church to always seek You.  To find You and walk WITH You on the way to knowing You more and loving You better.  It's all about YOU.  Help us to keep our focus on You even as we move ahead for You.

GOD: In Surround Sound

This morning I was in my regular spot doing my prayer journaling and Bible reading.  Almost everything was the same this morning except that last night I installed a new rack and raised the our television up about 18 inches on the wall.  So as I sat down to journal I looked up and noticed the TV and couldn't help but consider where I was going to mount the surround sound speakers.  Since we moved several months ago I have yet to put up the little speakers that give me that "movie theater" feel.  Instead, four of the six are just sitting on a stand under the TV.  Not the same effect.

As I thought for a moment about where the best placement for the best sound might be my mind jumped to something I had read in Henry Blackaby's book, Experiencing God (have you noticed yet the rapid attention shifts that I constantly struggle with?).  Blackaby said that we hear from God in the following ways, or that He speaks to us in the following forms,

God speaks through the Bible - as we read or listen in an attempt to know Him more.
God speaks through prayer - as we talk to Him He aligns our wills with His.
God speaks through circumstances - as doors shut and open He guides the steps of our lives.
God speaks through the Church - or others that we have contact with who are also led by and listening to Him.

I have been wrestling with several decisions where our church is concerned and how to best proceed and accomplish His will and as always I have been praying that God would confirm His will in these specific areas in a way that I am able to understand.  He is doing just that through other believers I talk to, through the circumstances He leads us to and in my prayer time.

So as I was sitting there thinking about my surround sound speakers and placement and then switching to hearing God through the various forms He uses to communicate to us it struck me that my desire is the same for hearing God as it is for hearing the "real life" movie sounds that surround sound speakers provide.

I want to be in the sweet spot.

With my surround sound I want to position the speakers in such a way that where I sit provides the greatest effect of the system.  All the speakers working together to so that they hit my ear and make me feel like I am right in the middle of the action.  With God I also want to find that sweet spot where all of the ways He communicates with me are working together to confirm His will in my life and the life of His Church.  I want to in tune and be in the right spot spiritually so that His Word, my prayer time, our circumstances and what I'm getting from others all hit me together.  I want to be right in the middle of the spiritual action.

How has your communication with God been?  Are you hearing from Him through only one speaker?  Then you may be getting an incomplete picture of His will for you on a specific subject.  If you are praying but not reading His Word you've got a speaker out.  If you praying and reading but not connected with other believers on a regular basis who are helping to keep you accountable and plugged-in then it's a lop-sided message you're getting.  If all you listen for is what is happening to you (circumstances) then your missing out on the full-message from God on the subject.

Work to find the sweet spot where everything points to the same conclusion and gives you the feeling that you are right in the center of what God is doing in your life and listen to ALL the speakers not just some.

Think I'll put the rest of my surround speakers up this weekend and find that sweet spot in my living room and in my life.

6 Ways to Ruin Your Life

I had the opportunity to preach to the men at the Union Rescue Mission last night - what a great mission they have being the hands and feet of Christ.  Truly a blessing to get to be with them and share God's Word with them.

I preached from Luke 15, the parable of the prodigal son, but when I got home I started thinking about another way to approach that passage different from the way I felt God leading me to share with the men last night.  I began to see a progression in the young son's attitude and actions that led to his own ruin.  Let me point out the six ways to ruin your life from the parable of the prodigal or wasteful/reckless son.

1.  TAKING WHAT YOU HAVE NOT EARNED.
     Luke 15:12 - the younger son said, "give me my share of the estate."  It's significant that the younger son demanded this from his father.  First because younger sons didn't typically receive a portion of their father's estate, it was reserved for the first-born.  And secondly, as the younger son he had not yet contributed to the estate as much blood and sweat as his older brother or father had.  This younger son was demanding something that he had not earned.  And as we'll see, because he did not earn it, he did not fully appreciate it.

2.  DOING SOMETHING SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU CAN.
     Verse 13 tells us that, "Not long after" he received a portion of his father's estate he, "Set off for a distant country."  There seems to be no good reason for this trip other than the fact that he had some money burning a hole in his pocket.  He had the means to travel and do what he wanted, but as long as he was home he would have surely been expected to pull his weight around the farm.  Something he was apparently no longer willing to do.  Since he already had the money there was no incentive to obey, or to stay.  So he left, not because he had to or needed to, but simply because he could.

3.  SQUANDERING WHAT YOU HAVE ON WHAT YOU DON'T NEED AND CAN'T KEEP.
     Verse 13 goes on to say that this young man, "Squandered" his wealth in, "Wild living."  This is surely something that he would not have had a very easy time doing while still at home.  His father and mother were probably constantly on him about investing and not wasting his money.  Saving for the future and building on what he had so he would have more.  Instead of listening to their wise counsel he left home, taking all that he had been given and then blew and had nothing to show for it.  At times I cringe and have even pulled out of drive through lanes because it burns me to simply eat $5 knowing I'll be hungry again in a few hours.  This boy ran quickly through all his money and then tried to figure out where it went and couldn't point to anything of worth.

4.  BEING FORCED TO DO WHAT YOU DON'T WANT TO DO BECAUSE YOU DID WHAT YOU WANTED ALREADY.
     Luke 15:15,16 tell us that things got so bad for this young man, out of money, out of friends, out of food, that he had to hire himself out to slop the pigs.  This was a horribly degrading job for a Jew, but hunger makes you re-evaluate your standards and force you to do things you never thought you would.  Because the young man did everything HE wanted to do when he had money he was now forced to do what he didn't want to do just to survive.  I wonder how many times he thought, "If only..."  But it was too late.  Sometimes getting you way now means having to give up your way later.

5.  REALIZING WHAT YOU ALREADY POSSESSED FOR FREE YOU'D GIVE ALL YOUR POSSESSIONS FOR NOW.
     Verse 17 starts out, "When he came to his senses."  Everybody comes to their senses sooner or later.  But it usually comes only after you've been compromised in some way.  No one ever thinks they'll end up where they do.  That's the problem with sin.  Sin always seeks to destroy the sinner.  Take him captive.  Make her suffer.  It's always enticing and promising going in but the result is always the same, steal... kill... destroy.  As he considered how well the dirty, nasty pigs were eating (from the same mud and muck they had been defecating in) he realized they were eating better than he was and had an abundance of food compared to him.  What he had in his father's house, aside from the rules and the work, he'd now give anything to have again.  Too bad he couldn't see that before he ran off.

6.  GOING BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM WITH NOTHING TO SHOW FOR WHERE YOU'D BEEN.
     This young son went back to his father with nothing, even though he left with everything.  He had nothing to show for his time away or for the fortune he took with him.  He left with maybe half of all that his father and brother had worked to accumulate and he came back alone.  He was only hoping that perhaps his father would have enough pity on him to hire him as a servant.  Funny how he was now begging to be a servant under the command and thumb of the man he once thought too strict as a father.

There you have it, six ways to ruin your life.  But did you know that there is only ONE way to restore it?

Once the son came home in repentance (it means he changed his mind about the way he was living and "turned around" and went back to his father) the restoration was quick and complete.  He now graciously received what he hadn't earned, his father's love.  He now willing gave his life to his father as a servant because he could.  He gave up the pitiful life he had for a life he desperately wanted but couldn't earn.  He would then do what his wanted because of what his father did for him (the signet ring signified this).  He discovered that he ALWAYS possessed what all his possessions couldn't buy him, love, acceptance and a home.  He came back to where he belonged as though his past didn't exist.  The sins from where he had been did not follow him to where he belonged.


Wherever you've wandered, you can never go too far to come back home.
Whatever you've done, you are never beyond the boundary of His forgiveness.
and Whenever you return, you will be accepted and loved as though you never left.


It takes a while to ruin your life, but it only takes Jesus to restore it.

How to Judge a Day.

How was your day?  

This is a question that is often asked but seldom answered, at least honestly, that is unless you're answering yourself.  When someone asks this question we often default to a simple reply like, "Just fine. You?"  We rarely tell anyone how are day really went.  Unless we're sitting in the silence with the soft glow of our computer screen in the darkness, alone, finally, with Facebook.

Every day someone is posting a status about how their day went, whether they were asked or not.  And it seems like we are more likely to share the result of our day if we consider it to be a bad day.  We use words like; Terrible.  Horrible.  Want to just crawl in a hole.  Will this day ever end?  Hopefully tomorrow will be better.  I'm not sure if people are hunting for sympathy, conversation or just using social media like it was group counseling.  Either way I think we need some perspective on how to judge a day.

I think most people work something like this.  Today may be a bad day because something bad happened - a single event like a flat tire - or because there were multiple small bad things that happened that give you that overall feeling.  But it could also be a bad day because nothing good happened.  You didn't win the Publisher's Clearing House big prize, for instance.  You got your hopes up because you were one of the top finalists but they didn't pick your name.  Darn.  Bad day.

It's probably safe to say that the judgement of our day is highly varied and depends not so much on what happens (or doesn't happen) but on how we feel about it.

I struggle with this too.  Everything could be going great for me.  Good morning, lots of stuff accomplished, feeling good about myself and ministry and family and then BOOM!  Flat tire.  Critical email.  Someone in my church puts something unbecoming of a follower of Christ on their status and all the sudden my good mood goes on a cruise.  

I don't know why we feel the need to judge each day based on events, circumstances or feelings.  Shouldn't there be an objective basis on which to judge our days?  Wouldn't that be so much easier?  Well, maybe, but even then it's different for each person.  Let's consider what might be on the list.

Obviously, if someone close to you dies it's a bad day. Right?  But what if they were suffering?  Or if they were a Christian and Heaven was waiting for them?  Then that death might be a cause for celebration instead of tears.

Someone might want to put the stock market crashing as an objective determinant of a bad day.  But someone is always making money on the stock market.  Up or down somebody is getting rich, it's been designed that way.  So bad day for one is still a good day for another.

What if we just said, regardless of what happens today, it's still a good day because I'm alive.  Even that is difficult for me because if I die I believe I'll see Jesus and that will be the best thing ever!  So being alive is not even a good measure by which to judge my day.

The writer of Psalm 118 simply said, "This is the day the Lord has made (or worked), let us be glad and rejoice..." 

Wouldn't it be wonderful to judge your day in this way?  This is the day that God ordained and knew about before the foundations of the earth were laid.  Before you took your first breath of air, whether in a hospital in the US or a hovel in a third world country the Lord knew your life before it was created.  The events of our day are not good judges - we aren't even good judges of the events themselves!  So why not say, "Today is another day of life that God has given, therefore He must have a purpose for it that I may not even see.  So, until He calls me to heaven I will rejoice in each day and be glad that He has called me out of darkness and into His wonderful light - regardless of the events of my day - it's a good day."

I hope that today, whatever day it is, is a good day for you.

What Can You Do Through Christ?

It seems like not a week goes by that I don't hear someone quote the verse, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13).  It's a good verse.  We use it often because we think it is encouraging and will help someone get through a difficult situation.  And I suppose it does (though we often use it in a way it was not intended, but that's another post).

I've been wondering what would happen if we put a different spin on this verse?  We know, because God is God and He can do anything, that He can give us strength to get through all of life's difficulties.  But how much do we trust God to do just that?  A child may trust her father but if she never jumps, and gives him the opportunity to catch her, does her trust make any difference in the real world?   I don't think it does.  See we Christians talk about trusting God a lot and how He will get us through the difficult times but I don't think most of us actually live that in our real lives.

Let me give you a hypothetical scenario and see what you would do...

Let's say that you absolutely believe that the Holy Spirit is directing you to go to a foreign country as a missionary.  My guess is that the first thing you would do is start looking for Him to confirm this for you somehow.  You'll look for "open doors" or things others may say that support your decision so that you feel more comfortable that you've heard from God.  And let's pretend that He begins to open the doors for you to go so that you feel even more confident that He is orchestrating this step in your life.  But then, as you begin to make the final preparations to leave, or perhaps are now on your way, God sends people into your life that begin telling you what will happen to you when you get to your destination.  Someone comes and tells you that the Holy Spirit informed them that when you landed you would be detained and jailed.  Later someone else comes and tells you that you will not only be jailed but you will be tortured and bound and imprisoned in this foreign country.

How do you feel now about God's call on your life?  Are you still absolutely sure that God wants you to go?  Or are you now questioning your decision, er, God's decision?  Are you saying to yourself, "maybe this was just a test... maybe I missed something... maybe God meant to talk to someone else."  Often, when the doors don't open or the road gets tough we begin to assume that God must have been mistaken or that we "miss-heard" the call on our lives.

In Acts 21 Paul is heading back to Jerusalem absolutely convinced that the Holy Spirit is leading him there.  He meets one believer after another who tells him that when he gets to Jerusalem he will be bound and imprisoned and that he should not go to Jerusalem.  They beg and plead with him not to go because they believe that he will die when he gets there.  (By the way, the Holy Spirit never said he would die and never intended that the people who prophesied would try to keep him from going.  The Holy Spirit was simply trying to inform Paul of what awaited him so that he would know what was coming and find comfort in the fact that God was in charge!)

After all this here is Paul's response, "The issue in Jerusalem is not what they do to me, whether arrest or murder, but what the Master Jesus does through my obedience..." (MSG).

Paul knew that God had called and arranged for him to go to Jerusalem.  He also knew that whatever happened to him there would only be what God allowed to happen to him.  So whether he would continue to live and share the message of hope and salvation through Jesus Christ or was killed and went to be with Jesus face-to-face, the outcome was still up to God.

So what are you willing to do in the power and strength that God provides you through His Holy Spirit?  He is only limited (as if it were possible to limit God) by our willingness to trust him, to jump as in the earlier illustration.  So if God can do anything and everything through you, what are you willing to do through Him?  Are you willing to trust that He knows what He's doing even when you don't?  Even when the doors don't open and the windows fall closed?  Will you still believe Him even when He "seems" to be telling you something different then He did before?

You can do all things through Christ who gives you strength, but can He do all the things He wants to through YOU?

From Zero to Hero

There are all kinds of movies about kids (or even adults) who have a miraculous transformations.  Usually from a nobody to some super popular person who then has to apologize for his/her friends for being a jerk, etc.  Did you know God has been turning no-body's in to somebody's for a few thousand  years?

Probably most of us know the stories of Noah - nobody knew who he was, well, they knew he was a quack and thought him crazy because he didn't live his life like anybody else around him (or on the world at the time for that matter!).  But you and I are here as a direct result of this nobody.  Or what about King David?  He was the youngest in his family, scrawny and got picked on and mistreated by his brothers.  He ended up killing a bear, a lion and Goliath before becoming King of all Israel.  Then there is Gideon who was a frightened young man hiding out that ends up leading a band of 300 against 30,000!

But I've got another zero to hero story for you that doesn't get a lot of press.  In Acts seven there is a situation in the early church where there is a complaint lodged against the Jewish Christians.  whether it was an oversight or intentional, the non-Jew widows felt like they were getting left out when the food was distributed to those who needed it.  The complaint went to the Apostles who apparently were  asked to handle the situation so this would not happen in the future.  The Apostles realize that if they took on this ministry of distributing food it would take them away from their primary role of preaching, teaching and praying.  (By the way, this is a good thing to remember when you get pulled in different directions - stick to your gift and your calling.)

The Apostle's decision was that seven men be chosen to oversee this ministry.  That sounded good to everyone so they agreed upon seven guys who are listed in that chapter.  Up until that day none of these men are mentioned in the Bible. And let's face it, this ministry, not very high up on the list of super wanted ministries within the church.  Anyway, they accepted the role and began to oversee the dispersal of food to the widows.

That should have been the last we heard of those guys.  Not very important guys doing not very important work.  But in the very next chapter of Acts one of the seven guys is so courageously preaching the Gospel that the religious leaders take note of him and decide he needs to be shut-up.  Now remember, Stephen was a nobody who is a contemporary with Peter, James and John!  These "super-Apostles," as Paul calls them, were also preaching and teaching in the same places and at the same time but Stephen stands out enough that he is singled out!  And the result of that focus?  Stephen becomes the first Christian Martyr in history.  His story only takes a portion of two chapters but has a huge impact on the church.

And that is not all!  In Acts 21 another one of these seven nobody's pops up in the story.  A  guy by the name of Philip.  When Paul and Luke get to Caesarea they stay at Philip's home.  How Philip and his family got from Jerusalem to Caesarea we don't know - only that they find him there.  Luke tells us that he stayed in the home of, "Philip the evangelist" who was one of the seven chosen in Jerusalem.  And that he has four unmarried daughters who prophecy. I think that is amazing!  Not only has this nobody became a somebody but he's the second one from a group of only seven who went from a little forgettable story in Acts seven to have a huge impact on the world for Christ!

Here's the reality even for us today.  Nobody knows what God is planning for their future.  We have friends who never had any kind of a desire to be missionaries who are now in their third year of a five year church planing mission in Koper, Slovenia.  Their work will have a huge impact on the kingdom for years to come.  Before becoming missionaries he was an engineer and she was a stay at home mom.  Honestly, nothing super-special about their lives, and they would tell you the same thing!

What you DO NOW is not an indicator of what God may do through you in a week, month or year. Who you ARE NOW is not who you may one day be.

So here's the rules.
1.  Release your future.   Don't get too hung-up on your past - Free yourself to God's plans.
2.  Be ready for God to use you.  Don't think that God can't or won't - that's what David, Noah and Gideon thought.
3.  Allow God to have the freedom to shape you into anything He desires - then let Him work.
4.  Always be prepared to be used as He sees fit - don't rely on yourself to figure that out.

Who knows, the next chapter of your life could be a completely different story from the first.  God will never give up on you.  Don't ever give up on Him.