Glancing Back and Looking Ahead

As I sit at my home computer early this Monday morning to write this Christmas is only four days away and after that the end of 2008. God has done so much this past year. It was a year of blessings and trials for each of us. I want to glance back over the past year and express gratitude for the faithfulness of God but I also want to gaze into the future prospects of 2009 and all the things the Lord wants me to trust Him for.
2008 was a busy year in the Edwards household. We now have all four boys in school. Brenda continues to teach women’s Bible studies and little girls about missions. She has been and continues to be a partner in ministry which was our dream when we began dating in college. God has honored our desires to make our marriage about Jesus and being available to Him. She was a trooper this past Friday as she sat next to me for five hours this past Friday at a book signing taking care of all the money while I talked to people and signed dozens and dozens of books. I had the privilege of preaching in Canada again this past summer as well as in New Mexico and all over the state of Texas. I am most excited about the way the Lord continues to bless FBC Paradise and the fact that the Lord blessed us with some new land to accommodate the growth we have seen. After many years of prayer, writing and revising, our long awaited dream of publishing our latest book has finally come true. God also opened up two other venues for my writing ministry with this blog and a weekly article in our local newspaper. The highlight of the year was getting to lead my 10 year old son, Tanner, to the Lord after preaching to a group of students. I wrote about this in a previous blog. 2008 was a great year.
What about 2009? There are so many uncertainties. We have a new president and a faltering economy. The Lord has set prayer challenges for me and FBC Paradise that surpass anything that I have ever had to believe the Lord for in the past. The dreams burning in my gut are growing larger and through prayer I will see them birthed into reality. 2009 is another year in which God will rule in sovereignty no matter what comes our way. He will be faithful in times of tragedy whether they are nationally or personally. He will be faithful to attend to new births as well as to minister comfort when loved ones die. He will not falter under the heavy load of our burdens and needs but will continually show Himself faithful over and over again. He will be faithful to lavish grace on the lost sinners as well as provision for those in need of shelter, food, clothing, and work.
Each year the Lord gives me a theme for the year to pray for. The theme I trusted God for last year was “unprecedented growth.” That had more to do with the growth of individual believers more than numerical growth in our church. I am not clear on the theme this year but I believe it will have something to do with faith. I know for many of you 2008 was a hard year and you are ready to see it fade into the pages of history hoping for better prospects in 2009. You have endured and clinging to the hope that you will finally get to see your dreams and desires come to fruition in 2009. Is this foolish thinking chasing after the wind or can we really gaze into the future of this New Year believing God for greater things?
Dreams delayed can at times seem tortuous. While the dream burns deep within circumstances can scream at us that our dreaming and believing are all in vain. If we give in to these voices we will be tempted to give up. As you gaze into 2009 the one thing I would urge each of us to do is not give up. [Gal 6:9] [Ps 27:13-14] How we need a faith that is able to endure the longest seasons of waiting on the Lord and the howling winds of our most severe trials. [James 1:1-9] We must believe the Lord and cling to His promises with all our might. [Luke 18:1] Sometimes the waiting can seem like it will never end and we may even come to the point when we cannot find another prayer to pray or even mustard seed like faith. God will show Himself faithful in these times as well. He gives strength to the weak and helps our unbelief.
Regardless of where you are on your journey with the Lord in this life I am exhorting you to forget about the past. If 2008 was not a good year I am urging you to shake it off and believe God for a better 2009. If you are tired and weary of dreaming but never getting to taste your dream and you feel like a horse chasing a carrot dangling over your head but you never get it, please look at my life. The years 2002-2005 were some very trying and difficult years. Tears, anguish, brokenness, and trials were my bedfellows. I watched as all my ministry dreams burned up right before my eyes. Now at the end of 2008 I can assure you God has resurrected those dreams and brought beauty from their ashes. [Is 61:1-3] He has allowed me to see fruit from my praying and labors and I have actually held some of my dreams in my hand (see the blog on “Holding a Dream.”) If the Lord can do that for me He can do that for anyone reading this.
You are going to have to pick yourself up and crack open your Bibles and believe what God has put in your heart to see with spiritual eyes rather than what you see with your physical eyes. [Heb 11:1] You are a child of destiny and He has purposes for you and plans for you in 2009. Do not throw in the towel based on what you experienced in 2008. Continue to believe and possess the land of all God has intended for you. That was the theme I believed the Lord for in 2005. I refused to live in self pity or doubt in 2005 as the Lord led me to Deut 1:8. I started 2005 praying that God would help Brenda and I possess the land of our destiny. It was at that point that I believed God would make the dreams He had planted in my heart come true. They did as He led us to Paradise, TX.
For some of you 2008 was a banner year and you might be tempted to coast into 2009 resting on your laurels from the past year. I would remind you of [Col 3:23]. God wants our best efforts and no matter how successful you were this past year I would challenge you to believe God for even more this upcoming year. That is exactly my intention. There is more ground to be conquered and more of God’s Kingdom to be advanced and expanded.
I thoroughly enjoyed 2008. It was a great year for my family. Though it was busy year many treasured memories were built. It was also a year where the Lord really challenged me to trust Him for more than I had at any other point in my life and ministry. As I stand on the edge of 2009 gazing into the distance, the one thing I am sure of is that God will show Himself faithful on all our behalves. By faith I intend to trust and believe God for everything He wants me to possess. That will include more growth at FBC Paradise, more blogs, at least two more books completed and released by the end of the year and relocating our church without going into debt to build new facilities along with preaching youth camps and retreats.
I have been reading a great book from author and Bible teacher Chip Ingram entitled From Good to Great in God’s Eyes. I just finished a chapter on dreaming great dreams and was deeply inspired as I finished it. I found myself offering this prayer before the Lord. “Lord, if you have some great dream you are looking to plant in someone’s heart to believe you for, if you have some need in this world that is not being met and you need to plant a vision and issue a call to meet that need, I am available. I will believe you for anything you call me to and I will follow you anywhere you lead. In Jesus name Amen.” That is my prayer for each of you as well as you gaze into 2009. There are things God is calling you to believe for Him for. Gird up the loins of your faith and tenacity and do not be denied as you live out the destiny He created you for. Maybe our paths will cross along the way this year on our way to the fulfillment of God’s dreams and visions for our lives. So long 2008 and look out 2009 for here we come charging full speed on the stallions of our confidence in God and His unfailing word.

Holding a Dream

As far back as I can remember I have been a dreamer. I used to dream about playing professional sports and spent endless hours playing imaginary games in my back yard avoiding would be pine tree tacklers and hurdling wheelbarrows that stood in between me and the game winning touch down. I spent hour upon hour pitching in imaginary championship games to my pitch back spring loaded net which catapulted the baseball right back to me either as a grounder or as a pop fly.
My dreams were not limited to the athletic arena. I loved to write and especially loved creative writing assignments given in school. Little did I know then that my love to write would eventually turn into a passionate call from God. Somebody asked me the other day if I was an author? Another man standing next to me answered that indeed I was on my behalf when he saw me hesitating to answer. Using the word author sounds so formal. I rather see myself as someone who loves to write.
It was with that love that I began a dream in my heart to write the book Behold the Faithfulness of God many years ago. That book was written with tears, soul anguish, forging through trials and adversity, and great joy over the course of about two years. It was a labor of love written in my office here at FBC Paradise, while on our family vacation at a resort, and most of all in my favorite prayer cabin located outside of Palestine, TX. I wrote and wrote dreaming of the day those manu scripted pages would one day become a book. I typed pages on a computer and wrote on a legal pad on back porches, tucked away corners in restaurants, and hidden away in private retreats all the while clinging to my dream in my heart.
I prayed and prayed as other people began to touch my dream. I am referring to people like Charissa Fishbeck who read and edited the manuscript. I am referring to people like my pastor Charles Roberts, former college president Dr. Don Newbury, and Leighton Flowers who is the director for youth evangelism and Super Summer here in Texas. Each of these men read the book and offered their endorsements in written form for the back cover as well as valuable suggestions for improvement. I am referring to the men and women who make up the board of directors for No Compromise Ministries which serves as the primary vehicle which I write and publish books.
The book was sent to the publisher where there was more waiting as further editing and source verification was needed. The first cover design was rejected by the No Compromise Ministries board members unanimously as we felt the cover did not convey the message of the book forcing us to delay the whole process even further while another cover was designed. One of the most frustratingly painful times for the whole dream was waiting on God for provision to get the book printed.
The story is too long to go into at this point but in one day God provided all that was needed to get the book published after well over two years of praying and waiting. I received an email from our church treasurer informing me that someone had donated $9,000.00 anonymously for the printing of the book and on the same day I had another gift of $500.00 given for the same purpose. All the waiting on the dream of seeing that book printed seemed closer than ever.
The waiting continued though as I faced more obstacles. There was miscommunication with the publisher delaying the release date. Yet the promise of my dream coming true was closer than ever. Early in December of 2008 I received word from the publisher that we had finally gone to press and the books were scheduled to be shipped early in December. This was delayed because the publisher was overcommitted. After this delay I received a phone call that the books were shipped by a freight trucking company and I could expect their arrival within three business days. Three days turned into five and I was forced to cancel my first scheduled book signing. I received another phone call that the books had been held up in customs coming across the Canadian border where they were printed. This delay cost me another book signing.
I prayed and prayed and prayed. I had scheduled another book signing for December 17th and been assured the books would arrive that morning. I waited in faith praying all morning believing God to deliver those books. A huge ice storm up and down the east coast caused delays and once again I was forced to cancel another book signing.
Dejected I went about the rest of my day but still believing that the day was coming soon when I would hold my dream in my hand. By faith I could picture the cover of the book and see the book in my hands almost feeling it though my dream was delayed over and over again.
Yesterday afternoon while enjoying a school Christmas party with our youngest son Turner, I received a phone call from the freight company telling me that my book was three hours away. Three hours turned into five hours but right in the middle of preaching last night at church I saw the truck roll up through the glass doors at the back of the sanctuary. Several men sprang into action and unloaded the sixty boxes of books. I stopped in the middle of preaching and someone gave thanks to the Lord for getting that book to us in His perfect timing. As soon as the service ended I went across the street to where the boxes were being stored and gathered several books in my hand.
It was a very special moment between the Lord and me as I held my dream in my hand. All the years of delay and obstacles only made me all the more grateful for my dream being fulfilled. God put it in my heart to give all the money for the book to the FBC building fund to help us relocate as a church, so the church has prayed through this dream with me each step of the way. My dream had nothing to do with financial gain but the building of God’s kingdom. I have prayed for months that God would spread that book by word of mouth and asked God to sell a million copies with all the money going to help this church relocate. I also prayed that God would send this book all over the world.
Let me conclude by telling you how God is working the second part of that miracle already. The truck driver last night was an unbeliever from the Ukraine who now lives in Canada. The men who helped him unload the boxes of books last night had the chance to witness to him and when he asked if the book was some kind of holy book they responded by saying that it was the kind of book that can change your life. They gave him a copy to read when he got a chance. Just like that the very first book to go out went out internationally. I was also stopped by a lady in our church this morning who is very passionate about missions. She told me that she will be purchasing copies of Behold the Faithfulness of God to send to Romania where she has been on two mission trips.
It is a beautiful thing when God allows you to live long enough, to pray patiently enough, and persevere long enough, until He allows you to hold your dream in your hand. I know many of you have been waiting on the Lord for a long time. You have prayed until you have no more prayers left to pray. You have waited in faith and fought off doubt. Still your dream has been delayed. I want to encourage you to not give up. Keep believing that you will hold your God inspired dream in your hand. You will see it come to reality if you do not give up. [Ps 27:13-14] “I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.” [Gal 6:9] “Let us not lose heart in doing good for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.”
Take it from one who waited on his dream to come true for years. God does make dreams come true. Just this past week I witnessed God provide two families with miracle vehicles and one family with a miracle house. I loved what they said. They all desired to tell their stories to encourage others to keep trusting by faith. God is not a dream taker but a dream giver. Your dream might have been delayed for reasons you cannot understand. I am asking you to stand by faith and believe for the day you will hold your dream in your hands for the glory of God. It’s all about Him anyway. [Heb 11:1] “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” By faith possess your dreams and hold them in your heart until the day God allows you to hold them in your hands.
As for me I have other dream books to write. I believe God will put each of these books into the hands of readers all over the world and He will get the glory for all of them. If you wouldn’t mind from time to time could you pray that God would also allow me to hold those dreams in my hands too? I will be glad to pray with you about your dreams if you want share them with me.

Behold the Faithfulness of God

Copies can be purchased online at www.essencebookstore.com (search by book title) or by sending $15 plus $4 S&H to FBC Paradise.

ALL proceeds go to the building fund for the new church on our new land.

Passing Seasons

I had the privilege of getting to preach in my home church last night. It was very nostalgic. I recalled the night I was baptized in October of 1983. I recalled the old place we used to meet with as a youth group that has now been converted into a preschool area. I was walking through the old sanctuary remembering the Sunday night I was called to preach while sitting in the fourth pew in the middle section. That old sanctuary now serves as the children’s and youth areas.
I had the chance to talk to my pastor before the start of prayer meeting as well as greet old friends and faithful saints. I reminisced with current staff members and walked through their new one thousand seat sanctuary. It was a great night.
I enjoyed my time of getting to share God’s word along with personal testimonies. Unbeknown to any of us was what was taking place outside. It had been cold and overcast all day long. Later in the afternoon a little drizzle began to fall but nothing significant. Some time in the middle of the service the drizzle had turned into a wintry mix and there was snow and sleet piled up on cars once we walked outside.
I left that service to go and lead a college Bible study in a home which did not end until after 10:00 p.m. The temperature had continued to plummet and the wintry mixed increased in intensity. It made for an interesting drive back to this prayer cabin where I am writing this. The white snow flakes that shot down through the dark night fell like little missiles on windshield as the wipers removed them. It was beautiful and yet a few times the going was treacherous especially when crossing bridges.
This is early December. We are not used to weather like that very often especially in deep East Texas. Yesterday felt like a cold wintry day. The temperatures hovered in the thirties all day long with a cold north wind that chilled to the bone.
Today I have awakened to gorgeous blue skies and temperatures that will climb into the fifties before the day is over. I am looking out a window over a tranquil lake over onto the rolling hills of a Pine thicket. It is amazing how the weather can change so drastically. Just four days ago it felt like spring and I was wearing shorts and then overnight storms rumbled through bringing frigid temperatures along with snow and sleet.
Just as the seasons change bringing a changes in the weather so do the seasons of our lives change. This was brought home to me many years ago when my mother suffered a massive heart attack and lay in intensive care hovering between life and death for two weeks. Brenda and I left the hospital to get some lunch. We were both very somber and quiet eating our sandwiches and salads with swollen eyes and broken hearts. It dawned on me as I sat there silently that people all around me were laughing and enjoying festive hearts and merry memories with family and friends. I wanted to stand up and scream at the top of my lungs, “How can you laugh? Do you not know that mother is fighting for life and she is only being preserved by God through prayer? How dare you laugh and be light hearted. My heart is broken and aches and you should respect that.” Of course I did not stand up and say anything. It just reminded me that while my heart was breaking other hearts were rejoicing. We are all in different seasons at different times.
My mother ended up dying three months later in a rest home. I have been reminded numerous times while out eating with Brenda and the boys about those who sit around us and wonder if any of them are suffering as I suffered on that day many years ago. There are many seasons of life. Some are joyous and others are excruciatingly painful. Both pass. I have laughed again since my mother died on Mother’s Day weekend over ten years ago now. I have also cried again over the loss of others since that day.
Just like the cold cloudy yesterday passed into the beautiful day I am enjoying right now, I know other storms will come and other wintry mixes will ensue. I also know other gorgeous sunlit days will brighten our days. Change is inevitable.
Regardless of what season you find yourself in today I want to remind you that this too will pass. Nights of weeping turn into days of rejoicing. [Ps 30:5] [Is 613] Mourning changes into dancing. As sure as the seasons pass in the weather so do the seasons of our lives. Tough times don’t last forever. Happy times can be tragically snatched from us. One God rules firmly over both so keep the faith. Keep the faith for the seasons are a changing but we serve a God who never changes. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” [Heb 13:8]

Crossroads of Faith

I’m sitting in my favorite little prayer cabin located in East Texas enjoying a precious few hours of solitude, meditation, prayer, and writing before returning home later this afternoon. I preached at my home church last night to a group of high school and college students in two different services and remembered many experiences about how my walk of faith began at the Denman Avenue Baptist Church in Lufkin, TX. It was good to go home and to see so many people I love back there and so many who helped me walk this pilgrimage of faith by prayer and encouragement.
While driving to my preaching engagement I began to contemplate the many times in our lives we come upon cross roads in our faith. These are intersections in our lives when we must make a choice to believe God and walk out our faith in obedience or trust what we can see and deduce from logic and go the other way.
Like the old saying goes, keep doing the same things in the same way and you will keep getting the same results. I wonder if this is part of the problem in so many believers’ lives. We know the scriptures and we have all sorts of head knowledge about God’s reliability and trustworthiness but when the rubber of our faith meets the real life road of trials and tests we often find our souls bankrupt of faith. Somehow the things we know in our head have not found their way into our souls and core convictions about how we live and approach life.
Noah faced a cross road of faith when God called him to do something no other person before or since has been called to do. By faith he had a choice to obey or disobey, to believe and act on that belief or to doubt and fail to follow through. Hebrews 11:7 states, “By faith Noah, after being warned about what was not seen, in reverence built an ark to deliver his family. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” Noah chose to step out and believe that something he had never seen in the form of God’s judgment was indeed coming and the ark was the only hope for the salvation of his family.
Moses faced many such cross roads of faith. He faced one at the burning bush [Ex 3:1-10]. He faced another at the Red Sea [Ex 14:1-31] He faced one more when the people were thirsty [Ex 15:22-27]. The biggest cross road came when deciding whether to go in and possess the promised land. The vote from the spies was ten to two in favor of not believing nor obeying God [Num 13-14]. This lack of trust at the cross roads of faith cost an entire nation including Moses himself. Other people’s unbelief can impact lives far beyond their own. My lack of faith could have devastating consequences on Brenda and the boys but conversely my choosing to follow God by faith can also have a wonderful benefits and blessings for my family. This tells me that the majority can be wrong. This is a frightening thought when you think about how many churches make decisions. Many do it by popular vote. It is possible to have a majority of people who live in doubt actually vote against doing the will of God. The majority can walk up to the same cross road and in mass choose the road that leads away from faith. The consequences of such choices can be tragic, just ask the nation of Israel how much they enjoyed forty years of living beneath their destiny as a whole generation of doubters died off. Why are we so prone to live in doubt?
Over and over again in the scriptures people faced cross roads of faith. At times ordinary people believed and trusted God for extraordinary things. At other times they chose the road of doubt and unbelief. People like Elijah who believed God over and over again. People like David who faced a giant in the name of the Lord. People like Daniel and his three friends. There were others like the disciples who despite seeing miracle after miracle who chose doubt over and over again. There was a whole nation who despite beholding God’s faithfulness time and time again they doubted and bowed in submission to their fears.
I have faced dozens and dozens of such cross roads of faith in my life. I was brought to this intersection of faith this past Sunday while preaching at FBC Paradise. I expect that I will face dozens and dozens more such intersections of faith before all is said and done. You know what is frightening for me. I can believe God at one cross roads and walk the way of faith and confident trust in my Lord and yet on another day at another cross roads I can choose the way of doubt, fear, and what I can see. If I want to follow God’s plan for me to get where He wants me to be I have to choose faith every time.
If I get in my car and start a journey but each time I come up to an intersection I just follow any whim do I really expect to end up at my destination. For me to get to the Denman Avenue Baptist Church in Lufkin, TX from FBC in Paradise, TX I had to map out a course. Fortunately I have made this trip several times and I know three or four different routes. I chose the shortest one leading me along the way to this prayer cabin where I spent the night last night and am enjoying these few moments to reflect and write. Each time I came to an intersection I chose the course that would get me to my desired destination.
As a Christian my ultimate desired destination is God’s approval. That means I must be willing to walk the path of faith even if I have to walk it alone many times. “Without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him, must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him.” [Heb 11:6]
I don’t know what intersection you are facing in your life today. Choose the road of faith. You might not see where that road will lead. It may go against common sense and what feels right. I urge you to choose the road of faith anyway. It is the only way to please your God and leads to a life of His infinite reward.

Flight of the Ravens

I am amazed at God’s sovereign power. I am also greatly encouraged from reading the scriptures and from twenty five years of walking with Him that He can be trusted. I am also astounded by the numerous times God calls my faith into account as I am put through some test or directed to some act of obedience that requires assurance that He will be there for me and will catch me.
Elijah is one of my favorite Bible characters. He was a loner who preferred the company of God in isolation than the company and camaraderie of people. He was a man of faith and tremendous courage. This larger than life servant of the Lord was tested over and over again before making his famous stand on Mount Carmel.
Elijah was called to prophesy a drought over Israel and King Ahab for their rebellion, idolatry, and disobedience. That is exactly what Elijah does in I Kings 17:1. What follows is a series of tests for this fiery prophet.
Sure enough the rain stopped. We learn in [James 5:17] that it did not rain for three and a half years. I Kings 17:2 states, “Then a revelation from the Lord came to him” That is the way Christian Holman Standard version translate that verse. The updated New American Standard version puts it like this, “The word of the Lord came to him saying.”
I would be amiss not to take the time to mention the importance of hearing from God. Hearing from the Lord is the only way I know how to live in confidence. Just last night as I was leaving a service where I had been teaching some college students, it started snowing, sleeting, and the temperatures begin hovering around the freezing the mark. I had a hour and a half of drive in front of me late into the night to get back home. Ironically I had just finished teaching on this passage from I Kings 17. The service did not end until after 10:00 p.m. and we began getting reports that the bridges were icing up. I really needed to leave but my host kept inviting me to spend the night with them. I really wanted to get on my way so I could be at home the next day for Brenda and the boys.
We watched the local weather forecast on the news and checked the internet weather channels for information. I finally decided to try to make the trip. When I got to the edge of town I had to make a choice of going two different directions that would take me back home. One route was shorter but it consisted of back roads most of the way. The other route was longer but had major roads all the way. I breathed out a quick prayer for direction. Outside the sleet and snow continued to fall rapidly as I asked the Lord for wisdom about which route I should take. I sensed the Lord leading me to take the longer route. Should we really expect to hear from the Lord on matters like that? I think so.
Not hearing from the Lord on the mundane matters of life as well as the seemingly trivial matters of life is important. Elijah heard the Lord to tell him to prophesy a drought over the nation and the Lord’s word for him after that was for his own survival. Do not forget that Elijah would face the consequences of the drought just like everyone else would.
God’s word for Elijah was very clear and simple. Elijah was go hide himself at a brook called Cherith. God assured Elijah that he would find water to drink from that brook but then the Lord said something else that must have been shocking. Read it for yourself. “It shall be that you will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.” [I Kings 17:4]
What does that mean when the Lord told Elijah that He had commanded the ravens to provide for him there? It means just what it says it means. God, who has power over the entire universe, chose to make some ravens his messengers and agents of provision for the fiery prophet Elijah.
That set my mind to thinking what it would have been light to have been one of the chosen ravens. I do not know raven culture but I imagine they do have some ability to communicate with one another. They probably have some limited reasoning skills to help them find shelter and food for themselves. How did God take some ravens and have them gather both bread and meat and deliver it to Elijah once in the morning and once in the evening daily?
God whose power is infinite has the ability to turn the ordinary flight of a raven into a kingdom assignment for Him. The flight of the raven for those days had great kingdom significance. That meant for those ravens that they not only had to find provision for themselves but also the provision for Elijah and yet God intervened and provided. Would it have not been easy for those ravens to have kept back God’s provision for Elijah for themselves? They would have enjoyed feasting on the bread and meat two times a day but God set them apart for His purpose and the flight of the ravens took on added significance. If they had chosen to rebel what would have happened to Elijah? Yes, God could have provided for him through some other means but He intended to do it through the ravens. If they rebelled then Elijah would have had nothing to eat. Without food to eat Elijah would have died and if Elijah would have died the drought would not have come to an end because Elijah was God’s spokesperson. Ahab would not have been confronted as well as the false prophets who were peddling their idolatrous poison into the hearts and minds of the people. These delivery flights for the ravens were bigger than they could have imagined for not only Elijah but for an entire nation.
The flight of the ravens was more important than feeding one man. It was God’s way of providing for His messenger who would shake up a whole nation of Isreal. Never under estimate the importance of the flight of the ravens.
In essence you and I are little more than ravens in God’s hands. We are his servants who are given various kingdom assignments. The flight of our lives may not seem important to us but we cannot see the tapestry God is weaving through the course of history with each life and each assignment bringing together His sovereign plans.
I want to be as available to God as those ravens were. I want the flight of my life, though seemingly insignificant at times in my own life, to have purpose and meaning for something and someone bigger than myself. The flight of our lives must be yielded to God and we must believe that our existence on this planet among billions of others has significance. We were created for good works. [Eph 2:10] “For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared before hand so that we would walk in them.”
I know your life and my life are of much more value to God than the life of a raven. You have things you were created to do in this life. You were created to partner with God and to labor for Him and with Him. You were created to be on mission for Him. The assignments may vary from time to time. We may not know the full value of our missions in our life times but do not for one second think God created you to take up space on this planet. If He wills to bring ravens on mission for Him and chooses to use them in His grand scheme, how much more does He desire to use us? My hope is that you and I will live with a willingness to be available to God and be compliant to His plans for us regardless of what they might be.
I am thankful for the reminder this morning about how God used the flight of the ravens to show me that I am on mission for Him too. My life counts and I have no idea how my little assignment is playing a march larger role than I know. Today part of that mission is to sit at this key board to type out these thoughts and sentences hoping to lasso them onto the pages of a book and on my blog. I believe by faith that somebody is going to read this one day, perhaps in my life time and maybe after I am dead and gone, and by faith I am trusting that this simple flight and this obscure raven is going to produce something of eternal value in a heart. I cn rest easy tonight knowing that the flight of this raven was not wasted but that I was an instrument in the hands of a great and mighty God who allows me to be used by Him.
Who knows? My assignment might bring encouragement and help build the faith of someone God is going to use mightily. Maybe God will use some raven to bring His provision for me today. It doesn’t matter if I am the prophet or the raven. Being used by God is what life is all about. Lord, thank for the faith of the prophet and for the flight of the ravens.

The Joy of Possessing Nothing

As the temperatures drop and the north winds howl, we know Christmas in inching closer with every passing day. Children anxiously look at their calendars counting down the days (we are only days away at the time of this writing) being forced to wait so impatiently. The sights and sounds of Christmas abound everywhere from decorated homes, endless television commercials seeking to draw us in to sales, and brightly wrapped packages piling up under the tree and as they wait for that Christmas morning when they see their wishes and dreams under the tree while joyous adults thrill to watch children and grandchildren tear through rolls of wrapping paper and miles of ribbons. It is a festive time of year.
What concerns me the most is that we have bought into materialism heart and soul, children wanting more and more while seldom appreciating what they already have and adults over indulging and giving more than can be realistically afforded. Contrast all of this with a simple statement Jesus made in Acts 20:35. “….It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Here is the fundamental problem with possessing anything. The more we possess the more we must maintain it, protect it, and cherish it. Homes must be maintained and lawns manicured. Vehicles must be serviced, fueled, and cleaned. Clothes must be laundered. You could make a strong case that all the things we possess really possess us. You own a television and then you feel obligated to get cable or to subscribe to satellite programming. Then we feel obligated to sit down and watch all of those channels (most of which have nothing worth watching) and monthly we pay fees to continue this cycle. Do we own our televisions at that point or do they own us?
The more we possess the more we are possessed. Wouldn’t it be liberating to live a life contrary to this? Wouldn’t our hearts be free if God gave us a heart that was possessed by nothing but Him and we held onto things loosely? What if we lived our lives and refused to be possessed by anything and were completely open to giving up those things at the slightest prompting from God? Kids could release their video games and toys as the Lord leads to give them to others who have little to nothing. Adults could pass on clothes, computers, and cash to those whom the Lord reveals are in need. The more we are possessed by God the less we are tempted to be possessed by things.
It is a blessed thing to be one who is free from being possessed by the stuff of this world contrasted with a heart to give. It is a joyful thing to be a giver. Giving has nothing to do with being wealthy but everything to do with being possessed by nothing and being obedient to the Lord.
I was recently convicted about this concerning my personal library. If there is any possession that has possessed me it would be my books. I have well over 5,000 and counting. God challenged me to make my books available to people. It was hard to be freed from that vice like grip those books had on me but just yesterday I passed on two books to a person in need. It did bring joy to my heart to know that two books the Lord used in my life now can be used to minister to some one else rather than collecting dust on my bookshelves. There is joy in being possessed by nothing.
I want to challenge you to lay your money and your possessions before the Lord with nothing being off limits. I want to challenge you to be a giver more than a taker. I urge you to linger long at the Savior’s feet and listen for His promptings for you to give. It is does not matter the sacrifice nor the treasure of the gift. Strive to live day in and day out, and especially during this Christmas season, to be possessed by nothing and to live not only willing but longing to give when He calls you to. Walk to the edge of this verse and discover for yourself if it is more pleasurable, joyful, and delightful to be on the giving end rather than the receiving end.
Here is the subtle trap of the enemy. He keeps reminding us that we have needs and wants and if we are constantly giving there will be nothing left for us to possess. We worry we will go without and not have enough. Your God owns everything in this world and there is nothing you will ever need that He does not already possess. Guess what. God who possesses everything delights in giving as well. An old college professor told us once in class that you will never out give God. He was right. No matter how much I give, no matter how sacrificially you bless others, God never runs out of blessings for those in need and including you and me. Today you might be used to bless someone else and the next day it might be your turn to be blessed. God is possessed by nothing and keeps giving and giving. He never runs out and His storehouse is always full. There is nothing that you will ever offer Him that He has not already made provision for in your own life when you have need. You cannot out give God.
Each time I get to be a part of God’s plan to bless someone else I feel alive, more joy than I can describe, and a greater level of contentment that I can describe. I am testifying from personal experience that it is more blessed to give than to receive. It seems ironic that in an age when people are seeking more and contentment in their possessions that they are increasingly empty, disillusioned, and unfulfilled. Combat all of that and be a giver. Let the Lord lead when to give, what to give, and where to give as you let your possessions fall at His feet. Then you will discover for yourself more joy and contentment than you could fathom. May we ever live and strive to possess nothing and be willing to give any and everything.

Can You Ask God for Too Much?

I heard a sermon many years ago where the preacher made the comment that if we as Christians were going to make an error in prayer – let it be that we asked God for too much? Before I precede any further, let me state I am not referring to praying that is motivated by greed, selfish ambition, or self glorification. I am talking about praying large prayers that further God’s Kingdom. Kingdom minded praying is the need of the hour.
When we are praying for Kingdom expansion can we pray for too much? Can we pray for too many souls to be saved when the scriptures tell us that His reason for not returning is because He does not wish any to perish? [II Pet 3:9] Can we pray for the gospel to be spread to too many countries when He told us to go and make disciples of all nations? [Matt 28:19-20] Is it possible for us to pray for glorification of God too much when Jesus told us that He would be glorified that we bear much fruit? [Jn 15:7-8] “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My disciples.”
I do believe that it is possible to ask God for too much for ourselves like the person who asks God to help them win the lottery even though they have no desire to honor God with the money. People selfishly pray for vehicles, houses, job success, and so forth with the wrong motives. So much of praying today is not motivated by the glory of God.
When it comes to praying for God to move, to work, to save, to heal, to revive, or to increase the harvest of souls can you ask for too much? O that we would expend our lives asking God for more and more expansion of His kingdom and for less and less for ourselves. When God’s glory is our chief desire, we can expect to see our prayerful desires answered. [Ps 37:4] “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” How I long to pray and desire things that move God’s heart and that He would love to give. I long to ask God for larger, more expansive, longer lasting, and far more impacting prayers than my own petty minute selfish wants.
Why do we want our children to be successful at sports? Is it so we can brag or so we can brag on the God at work in our children? God should get all the glory not the coaches, players, or parents. If our motivation is that God give our children a larger platform to testify of His greatness, can we ask God for too much? If God is glorified by my children playing in high school or college then God can help them succeed as long as we all remember that it is not about us but it is all about Him. [Jn 3:30]
Think about your prayer life? How many of our prayers can pass through the filter of what God really wants to happen or really wants to give? I am afraid many of our prayers fail the test and truthfully God would not get much glory from much of the prayers lifted up these days.
Recently I was driving with Darrell (our youth and worship minister) talking about how we long to see the power of God poured out in our lives, families, and our church. As I have pondered that conversation over the past few days I brought back to this dilemma. Does God want to pour out His power and His might in our lives? Or does God intentionally hold Himself and His power back so that His children live in perpetual frustration because they do not get to behold His miraculous intervention in the affairs of their lives? I believe that God absolutely wants to demonstrate His power. This is nothing we have to pry from Him. There are times when we have to pray with tenacity and wait on God’s perfect timing but He does come through.
We are a very impatient people and rather than asking and pleading with God for more power, more intervention in our world, or more of His glory to be on display for a lost world to behold, we start trusting in our education, our programs, our technology, and our experiences rather than in Him. For the most part, people are contented to live without God’s help as if they do not need Him. We do need Him. There comes a time in every life when find ourselves up against something we can’t move and fix on our own. In that season we dare not ask God for too little or for nothing at all. We have not because we ask not for ask with wrong motives. [James 4:2-3]
I for one desperately need Him. I cannot write, preach, lead, or shepherd without His help. I cannot be the right kind of husband, parent, or friend without Him. I cannot sway the masses to trust Him and submit to His leadership without God first softening and transforming hearts. I cannot carry the heavy loads of my troubles and cares much less the burdens others have.
Though I have been eyewitness to many powerful outpourings of God’s Spirit over people and marvelous divine interventions of protection, healing, and provision I am not content. I long to pray for greater things and ask God for more and more kingdom impact. I want to see spiritual awakening where the masses to turn to Jesus in repentance and salvation in great numbers. I want to see church attendance increase not only in our church but all over this community, county, and country. I want to see people live without the bondage of being in debt so more money would be freed up to meet benevolent needs, given to missions, and invested in storing treasures in heaven rather than on earth where rust and moths will destroy. [Matt 19:21] I want to ask God for more burdens to be lifted off weary shoulders, for more despair to be hauled off despondent souls, and for more people to fall madly in love with Jesus. I want to trust God for people to have greater faith resulting in larger and larger prayers being offered and answered. I want to pray for fewer and fewer Christian leaders to fall into gross morale sin shaming themselves and the Savior. I want to believe for cold hearted Christians to be revived and to find the joy of their salvation again as live with holy flames in their hearts.
If I make a mistake in prayer I want it to be that I believed, I trusted, I asked, and I expected too much from God. Away with small hearts accompanied with small faith. I want large faith to pray large prayers. I want to ask God for such grandiose things as would bring Him wave after wave of glory. This is not a time for timid praying or tiny faith. These are days when God stands poised ready to step into time and space and forever change lives and the destiny of people, churches, and nations. May it never be that we cowardly approach God and doubt Him. Lord, help my unbelief and place in me an unshakable confidence in You and Your desire to come to our rescue. Please help me to believe you for more and more and never be ashamed for asking and trusting you for too much.

Discovering Joy

Outside the weather is turning colder and the winds have a northernly bite to them that can chill to the bone as the calendar turns over from November to December. The preparations for Christmas are evident everywhere. The town Christmas tree it set to be lighted this coming weekend standing proud and prominent against the blustery winds. Many homes and fences are adorned with sparkling colorful lights and Christmas trees can be seen through living room windows brightly displayed with handsome ornaments.
Christmas parties and gatherings abound. The shopping center and mall parking lots are filling fast as people scurry about trying to find the best bargains and the perfect gifts for family and friends. It is supposed to be a joyful and even festive season but joy seems hard to come by this time of year. I read something the other day where one person described this season as the holidaze rather than holidays.
I rode on an elevator at a hospital yesterday and over heard one woman commenting on another woman’s Christmas wardrobe and great efforts to get into the Christmas spirit. As I looked into the festive dressed woman’s eyes I saw despair instead of joy. She might have appeared joyful externally but inwardly there seemed to be a void she was missing. Joy seems absent from so much of this Christmas season.
Retailers are fretting over whether they will turn a profit in these tough economic times and shoppers are anxious over how they will even be able to afford Christmas and as they tirelessly shop for the best bargains. Over committed people resent the very gatherings they attend wishing for a night at home and the chance to unwind in front of the television without having to be somewhere else. Party hosts and hostesses stress out over food preparations and decorations often missing the joy of simply sharing an evening with family and friends.
I did not see joy on the faces of many at church as we sang and dug into the scriptures recently. There are far too many burdens, fears, and worries to have a place for joy. Joy is absent in the conversations of those distressed and down trodden in life. Joy may even be absent on the faces of over indulged and spoiled children who know little to nothing of Jesus statement that it is more blessed to give than to receive. [Acts 20:35]
It was a cold dark world the Lord Jesus was born into. The nation of Israel was over taxed and governed oppressively by Rome. The nation had lost its way spiritually losing communion with their Creator. It was into this hostile environment that Jesus was born. The message to the shepherds in the fields was simple and direct. “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” [Luke 2:10-11]
The phrase “great joy” means large, mega, big gladness, cheerfulness or delight. The shepherds were challenged right away that the news they were about to bring would bring a new discovery a joy into their lives. What they were about to hear was going to change everything and the birth of the Christ child was the ushering in of mega gladness, large delight, and big occasions for cheerfulness even in the midst of oppressive circumstances. It was truly good news.
O how we need to rediscover the joy the shepherds experienced that first Christmas night. We need a joy that transcends our circumstances and a joy that is greater than heartaches and sorrows. I am not referring to the manufactured joy created by this age with laser lights, fanciful gadgets and gifts, nor the inauthentic expressions of “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays”. I am referring to a cheerfulness in a Savior who was born in a manger and ultimately died on a cross that you and I might have life; full and abundant life. [Jn 10:10] I am talking about a joy and gladness that comes from walking in a real and vibrant relationship with Jesus day in and day out. I am talking about the infinite joy that wells up within the heart of children of God who enjoy His presence. [Ps 16:11]
Jesus gives us reason to be joyful whether it is on Christmas day or any given mundane Monday or tumultuous Thursday throughout the year. Jesus is the ultimate source of joy. In His presence is unending joy not beneath the Christmas tree or in the pot gold at the end of the rain bow nor in a winning lottery ticket. Jesus assures us that we can have His joy and that His joy will make our joy complete and full if we are willing to keep His commandments. [Jn 15:10-11]
He comforts us again with His desire to grant us our prayers if we will ask in His name and offers us full joy once again in return. [Jn 16:23-24] The context of His making this statement was talking to His disciples about the persecution they would face after his death and resurrection and the presence of the Holy Spirit to help them.
Paul found joy while in prison. [Phil 4:4] Our experiences and failed expectations are no excuse for living joyless lives. Joy can be discovered in Jesus Christ just like it was first discovered by a shoddy group of peasant shepherds watching over their flocks so long ago. They discovered not just a little joy nor a joy experience that was frustratingly temporary. They experienced true, everlasting, great, infinite joy, gladness, delight, and cheerfulness in Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, and the soon and returning King.
Today, I hope you too will travel back in time to a cold night out in a field and discover the great joy that has, does, and forever will continue to transform hearts and perspectives.

He Is Able

Hanging on a wall in my office across from my desk is a small cross stitched picture with these simple words on it, “He is able.” This morning as I was reading scripture I came across Eph 3:20, “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,” What really jumps out of that passage is that our God is able. You say able to do what and the answer is whatever you need Him to.



He is able to break through rock hard hearts who, have rejected the grace of Jesus for decades and melt those hearts before the cross and Lord Jesus. He is able to forgive anyone for any sin committed no matter how vile, cruel, or wicked. He is able to turn impossible situations into paths of possibilities. God is able to birth divinely planted dreams into reality. He is able to meet any financial need and to connect His provision with your lack no matter where you are. He is able to lift any burden that weighs you down and to comfort any broken heart. He is able to turn irreligious people into passionate warriors for Christ. He is able to heal any disease and bring peace and tranquility into any tumultuous and stormy situation.



The question is not if God is able. He is more than able! The real issue is do we trust Him? Do we trust His bountiful promises made in scripture? Do we trust His love for us in the nights of weeping? Do we trust Him when the deadline is approaching fast and the answer has not come? Do we trust Him to really forgive our hyenas sins? Do we trust Him when the doctor’s report reveals the grim reality of sickness and disease? Do we trust Him when everything and everyone around us say God has forsaken and abandoned us?



God is trustworthy. He is worthy of my trust and yours no matter what trials we are facing today or will face tomorrow. He is worthy of our confidence and assurance to move mountains, calm our fears, bind our broken hearts, open shut doors, offer direction and insight, and grant peace where peace is unexpected. God keeps His promises. All of them forever. “The sum of Your word is truth and every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting.” [Ps 119:160] We can count on Him. He is able to come through and keep His word over and over again. He is no fair weather God who abandons us in our time of need. He is faithful, true, sure, a present help in times of trouble, consistent, and available to help in our time of need.



No matter what you are facing today, I challenge you to be reminded “He is able.” He is able whether you sit in a hospital room, stare across an empty room where a loved one used to sit, look at an empty check book, see a loved one being crushed by unwise decisions, feel a marriage crumbling, or see a society disintegrating right before your eyes. Our God is able. Trust Him today and behold His faithfulness. Consign your confidence in Him and watch Him save the day. Be assured He is able to handle every situation in your life today and all the days to come, while at the same time being able to meet my every need, along with every need of every person from every tribe, kindred, and nation.



There is a little praise chorus I used to sing from time to time that I am reminded of while writing this. “He is able. He is able to accomplish what concerns me today. He is able – more than able to handle anything that comes my way. He is able – more than able – to do much more than I could ever dream. He is able – He is able.”



As I look across my desk to that little picture hanging on my wall, I am reminded of God’s incredible power and I mount this day like a knight riding full speed charging into battle with confidence. The banner we carry in our hands and our rallying cry shall ever be, “HE IS ABLE.”

Lean Into Your Troubles

A person’s psyche is a very fragile thing. It is amazing that on certain days we feel every task is a chore and like we are walking knee deep in mud. Every step is a strain on our physical bodies as well as our psyche. We focus on the difficulty of the journey, the enormity of the mountain we must climb and we begin entertaining thoughts of despair and doubt when what we really need is to reach down deep in the soul with grit and lean into our troubles with determination.
We are not accustomed to leaning into our troubles. We have a trouble adverse mentality seeking to flee in the complete opposite direction. We often seek to step out of the harness of trials and adversity. What is amazing is the number of people who learned how to lean into their troubles and developed character in the process. I am thinking of people like Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill, and Franklin Roosevelt. Each of these faced adversity and each learned to lean into their troubles in triumph rather than defeat.
There are days when I am riding my bike and I see an approaching hill and my psyche begins to dread the climb. I begin dwelling on how hard it is to pedal and how I wish I was on the down hill side. My mind muses on the length and steep grade of the hill making it more difficult to endure. There are other days when my mind is determined and focused and I lean into the hill seeking to push past the pain and climb to the top faster than I climbed it the ride before. On those days the hills are just as steep but are somehow easier to surmount. What makes the difference? The hill is the same and the gears on my bike are the same. Attitude makes the difference.
Troubles can be little more than stepping stones to success when your attitude is altered. Keeping God’s perspective about problems makes them more manageable. They no longer overwhelm but give us the opportunity to watch God intervene. We can actually learn from trials if are ready and willing to learn the lessons God is seeking to teach us. At times it might be to learn patience. At other times we might need to learn how to have enduring faith or how to maintain joy in joyless circumstances. We might need a crash course in how to have hope in the midst of hopelessness or to love the unlovable. The lessons are bountiful as well as the lessons learned when we learn how to lean into our problems.
There are things I will never fully understand. Why does one person suffer from a diseased body early in life while another abuses his or her body with sex, drugs, and loose living but lives to a ripe old age? Why do some families encounter tragedy after tragedy while other families may live for generations without ever seeing tragedy? I do not have the answer why some pagan can father unwanted child after unwanted child while some married couple fall on their knees pleading with God for just one child coping with barren wombs? Why do some hard workers who labor diligently for a lifetime never seems able to get ahead while some lazy people cheat, deceive and fraud prospering hand over fist? Life is filled with many such contradictions.
If you give into pity parties and doubting fits, your problems will only appear that much larger. Lean into troubles today and learn what you can you learn from them. Refuse to give up but by faith press on to victory. Partner with God as He brings you into triumph.
I don’t know why we are so surprised when troubles find their way to our address. We ought to expect them and when they do come we should lean into them with our best efforts, our best prayers, our best faith, and refused to be conquered. We are victors and not victims through Jesus Christ. “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, ‘for Your sake we are being put to death all day long, we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loves us.”[Rom 8:35-37]
Please take note that we are likely to face tribulation in this life. We are bound to be distressed from time to time just like we might face persecution for our faith. We may know what is like to go through some financially lean times and face danger and or tragedy but none of these things can change the fact that we are loved by Christ. He helps in these troubles and uses them in ways we could never fathom. At times to reject the troubles is to reject Christ and what He wants to teach us and develop in us.
I urge you again to lean into your troubles. Get your mind right and set your thoughts on the things above and not on the things of this earth. [Col 3:1-2] As you lean into your troubles what you will discover is that you are leaning into Christ and what better place is there for any true believer to lean. He gives us strength and resolve to endure and His grace is sufficient. [II Cor 12:9-10]
Lean into the harness of your troubles and plow faithfulness in the soil of your trials. The harvest will come and with it the day of celebration. That might take place in eternity in the presence of Jesus or it might take place with your feet firmly planted in the sod of this planet. Either way, Jesus is sufficient and more than enough to help us keep leaning and straining against the sod of trouble and the snags of this life. In and through Jesus we conquer and overcome when we lean into our troubles.

Monday Mornings

The clock read 4:00 a.m. when my eyes popped open. Immediately I began going through a mental list of all the things that I needed to do today. There was the article to submit for the newspaper. There was prayer and sermon preparation for a holiday shortened week since Thursday is Thanksgiving. There was the hope that somehow I could squeeze a work out in at the gym. There were phone calls to make and phone calls to be returned. There was also the lingering desire to write something, anything if I could just find a little time. There are the six different books I am reading at the same time that I would like to complete. I have some appointments in the middle of the morning. There is the out of town basketball game for our oldest son Taylor late this afternoon. There are meetings to prepare for and people who need visiting. So much to do and I had not even rolled out of bed yet.
Wearily I drug myself out of bed trying to recover from another busy Sunday. After getting dressed I sat numbly in my chair watching some news headlines from the weekend and events of the upcoming week. I finally got motivated enough to get in my truck and drive to the office while shivering from the cold blustery north winds sending chills to my bones.
Here I sit at my desk and my fingers slowly at first strike the key board of my computer. Mondays are not always fun. Usually most of us have too much activity crammed into too little time and when Monday mornings roll around we know the rat race starts all over again. Many people view Monday mornings as the end. It is the end of the weekend, the end of time off and the end of freedom.
I choose to look at this Monday morning as a beginning. It is the beginning of another work week and the beginning of a holiday week. Today I will have the opportunity to meet with my Creator in significant and meaningful ways. Today I will get the chance to talk with someone or read something that might change my life forever. Today is Monday and I get live. I will have privilege of eating meals with people I love and cherish. I will have to chance to speak a word for Christ at some point in the day, I will get to intercede for my flock, to believe God for miracles that have long been anticipated, and to make the devil mad every chance I get.
Yes, today is Monday and as I write this the sun has not even begun to hint to its rise but I am thrilled with the prospects of living. My mind is awaking from sluggishness. My passion is increasing for charging into the rest of this day like a knight mounted on a stallion. My faith is stalwart as I think today could be the day when I see God answer prayers and give birth to miracles. It is Monday but I am grateful that God has given me this day as a gift. How I choose to live this day will be my gift back to him.
There are many today who will awaken in hospitals or rehab centers. There are others who will linger in the bed for a long time trying to hide from the pain and despair of their circumstances. There are some who start their Monday staring at job losses and financial crisis. There are some in this world who will awake today starving and wondering where they might find anything to eat. Other wake up trying to shake the oppressive cloak of depression while others try to find the key to unlocking the emotional prisons they have lived in for weeks, months, and even years.
I am a blessed man and as I start this Monday morning I will do so with optimism and the assurance that I start this day walking side by side with my Heavenly Father who knows all, can move any mountain, handle anything that comes my way, and who rules in sovereignty over the whole universe and my Monday morning.
I invite you to embrace Monday mornings as fresh beginning to journey with God. Regardless of what we might face, in spite of the challenges, and looking forward to the bountiful blessings, let this Monday morning be a source of giving thanks. We get to live. We get to relate to beautiful and wonderful people. We get to walk and talk with God. We get to behold His faithfulness. Maybe our paths will cross today and you will say something to brighten and cheer my day. Hallelujah! It is Monday morning and everything is going our way. My of my what a wonderful day is this Monday morning.

Reading, Writing and a Love Affair with Books

From as early as fourth grade I knew I wanted to be a writer. I joined the newspaper staff at our school but what I really enjoyed was not so much writing news as much as I enjoyed the opportunities of expressing myself with the written word. I loved creative writing assignments and while other students writhed in anguish I cherished those times. It was my delight to read my short stories to our fifth grade class and see the listeners being drawn into my story mesmerized and shocked by the endings.
While I loved to write, I also had a fascination with reading books which I attribute to my grandmother’s love for reading. She always had a book in hand. She was the one who took me to get my first library card. I will never forget walking into that building and being overwhelmed by sheer volume of books. Shelf after shelf lined with books on every topic conceivable held me enthralled for hours on end.
I was less than ten back then and today my fascination with books has not changed. I love to write them and I love to read them. My heart thumps a little faster when I walk into a book store. I feel at home surrounded by books. It is the only time I enjoy shopping as peruse shelf after shelf. I seldom go anywhere that I do not have a book with me in case I find a little time to bury my nose is good read.
It is with great delight that I write to inform you that my latest book entitled Behold the Faithfulness of God is set to be released around the first of December. This has been a book in the works for the past eight years. It has been a labor of love as well as one of born out of travail and sorrow. I felt the Lord calling me to donate all the money made from this book to the FBC Paradise building fund as we seek to relocate our church.
Over the next several weeks and months I will be seeking to promote Behold the Faithfulness of God. I have a book signing scheduled in Lufkin early in December as well one in Paradise and at Valu-Right in Bridgeport. I have prayed through the writing phase of this book, prayed for God’s provision to publish it, and now I am praying through the distribution phase. I have asked God to use that book to impact lives and to encourage people who are living in difficult situations and doubting the faithfulness of God. This book was written from my own personal experiences of questioning God’s faithfulness in times of confusion, calls to persevere through trials, and finally to bask in my Father’s love for me and my family through His faithful answers to numerous prayers.
I covet three things from you. First, would you pray for God to use and distribute this book all over the world? I have pledged to the Lord that whether we sell 500, 5000, or 5,000,000 books that God gets all the money for the relocation of our church. I have asked God to show this book His favor and to open doors to promote it and get it in the hands of people. Second, if you know of places I can go and preach to make this book available, especially on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights, I will try to work them into my schedule. The promotion of this book is not about my name being in neon lights but it is about the expansion of God’s kingdom in the heart of every reader as well as the expansion of His kingdom in Paradise as our church continues to reach out to those without a relationship with Christ.
Finally, I ask you to pray with me as I near completion on two other books. One is a devotional book called Sitting with the Savior and the other is a book I have been working on for the past two years entitled Running Toward Risk. I need God’s inspiration and anointing to finish them and for God to open doors to publish these books as well. After that, I have some thirty other titles or ideas for additional books for the future. Only God can supply the energy, the discipline, and the time to write.
I do not fully understand why God birthed such a love affair in my heart for books. They are scattered throughout my house in little piles Brenda is constantly tidying up. I am in the middle of reading six or seven books currently and constantly looking for an opportunity to get lost in another good read. My office walls are lined with shelves with some 5,000 plus books. It pains my heart that I cannot get to all of them to crack them open and turn page after page while my eyes scan the flurry of words and lasso thought after thought.
I admit it. I am a bookaholic. I am addicted to reading and writing. I know there are more of you out there. I do hope you will get a copy of Behold the Faithfulness of God and if the Lord uses it in your life I hope you will recommend it by word of mouth to other avid readers or to some who are struggling through their life journey.
Father, thank you for books. Thank you for the many authors whom You have used to teach me and to impact my life. Thank you for a grandmother who instilled the love for books into my life at an early age. Thank you for the calling and the open doors to write for you. I pray you would use these books and others you call me to write for the expansion of your kingdom one book and one heart at a time.

Never Beyond Hope

As I sat at breakfast gulping down a plate of biscuits, hashbrowns and eggs, I felt despair settling over me like a wet oppressive blanket. I had just contemplated a series of problems with my wife pondering them from every vantage point and finally determining that there was no hope. The enormity and gravity of the situation was and still is way beyond our control. I tried to peer way down the road of life to the final outcome of these trials but all I could see from my perspective was a dead end road. Hope sank life a diver doing a swan dive.
In between bites Brenda and I talked. She mostly listened as I thought out loud about all the possible scenarios or our situation. She offered words of encouragement and a different perspective than I was seeing in that moment. She has always done that for me and truly when the writer of proverbs states that the man who has found a good wife has found a good thing is true. She is perfect compliment to me, quiet, reserved, wise, and balanced in approach to life. Her words were the first seeds of hope.
I am not sure when it happened later on that day. I am pretty sure it was while attending a Sr. Adult banquet and listening to Dr. Don Newbury, former president and current chancellor of Howard Payne University, give a talk that shook me out of my despair and brought hope back to me full force.
Hope is such a fragile thing. The person who trudges through life without hope will live with a pessimistic point of view and fully expect to have a life of nothing but heartaches and hardships. Let that same person cling desperately to hope and they will expect trials to end, better days to come, and the assurance that God is always there.
In my journey I get to visit with many people and inevitably we talk about problems. Everybody has them. Some are bigger than others and some last longer than others. Everyone reading this faces some challenge, some problem or crisis that seeks to strangle and choke what little hope we may have. I also get to peer into the eyes and more importantly into the souls of those who have hope or those who live in the vice grip of despair.
For the person walking through life without belief in God’s existence or without a vital relationship with the Lord, where does hope come from? It is absolute foolishness to put hope in ourselves. Our resources are limited, whether they be mental, physical, emotional, or financial. God’s resources are infinite. Our perspective on problems can be inadequate and incomplete but God’s perspective is all wise, astute, and incisive.
As you watch the evening news and read the paper are you filled with hope or anxieties? As you keep a close watch on the stock market do you feel hope fading with each drop on Wall Street? Where do you go to cope with life? Many run to cheap thrills, sordid entertainment, and destructive behavior but God offers something better and more lasting. He offers the promise of Himself to help and intervene in life if we follow His principles and live by His precepts.
[Ps 42:5] “Why am I so depressed? Why this turmoil in me? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise Him, my Savior and my God.” There is always hope with God. Even when I am looking into the grief stricken faces of those who have lost loved ones. “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.” [I Thess 4:13-14] There is still hope for those worried about their financial futures [Matt 6:25-34]. There is even hope for the ones who have faced problems and carried heavy burdens so long you feel your situation will never change. “He told them a parable on the need for them to pray always and not become discouraged.” [Luke 18:1] In other words, we ought to always offer prayers with the hope and expectation that things will get better and live in continual despair. The bills will get paid. The sun will come up again after the rainy nights and days. Depression does lift and the darkness dispels as bright rays of God’s hope pierces through the gloom in our minds and our souls.
I am thankful for a seventy year old retired college president who came into my life last Friday with laughter, infectious joy and reminded me of the hope I have in my Savior Jesus. Suddenly my problems that had consumed my mind only hours earlier over a hot breakfast at a small diner seemed smaller and even petty. If I could be the one who jolts your heart back toward God and ultimately back toward hope then I would count this article a great success. Regardless of what you are going through, you are never beyond hope if God is your companion.

The Brevity of Life

So much of what I write about comes out of my real life experiences. This entry will be no different. While eating breakfast with my wife this morning at one of the local cafés she received a phone call from a lady who needed counsel for a friend who just lost her fifteen year old daughter in a tragic car accident. When I got in my office later and checked my email I learned about another tragic death of a young college student in a car accident who was close friends with a young man from our church who attends that same college.
When we are in our teens, twenties, thirties, and forties and maybe into our fifties and sixties we rarely think about death and the truth that life is brief. I had a conversation with a man last night who thought he had cancer earlier in the year and had to come face to face with his own mortality. This seasoned man thought he was staring death right between the eyes and was visibly shaken by it all.
Life is not only brief but it is also fragile. Bones break, vital organs shut down, blood pressure rises and lowers, immune systems breakdown and eventually our bodies succumb to death. For many this will happen of natural causes as the body wears itself out and people fall into a peaceful and eternal sleep called death. Others die of horrific circumstances and with excruciating pain.
The question raised by both Christians and non-Christians in such times is where is God? Where is God when you watch someone you love deeply die an agonizing slow and painful death while you feel you are praying seemingly in vain and sitting by helpless? Where is God when tragedy strikes taking someone way too premature in our thinking leaving sorrow and confusion behind? Where is God when the death dew settles cold over the bodies of young and old alike?
You might be surprised by the answer. God is present. You want to know where He is? He is there. [Ps 139:16] tells us, “Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.” That means God was present at the birth of every single person who has ever lived. He was there before we were born shaping and molding individual lives with creativity and sovereign genius. He is there when new babies are born. He is there for those who rejoice in the new birth and He is there for those who grieve the heart wrenching losses of babies taken way too soon. He is there for the families who have special needs children. The important thing to remember is that He is there in the beginning.
He knows every day ordained for every person. He knows the ordinary and boring days that come and go filled with our routines and schedules. He knows the thrilling days when we rejoice over His bountiful blessings and life’s accomplishments. He is there in the days when our hearts are so overwhelmed with sorrow and the bitter bile of confusion and anger that eat away at not only our faith but our very souls. He is there when we express our doubts, frustrations, and our blinding grief.
He is also there in the end when life fades to death, when hope fades to despair, when care free living is displaced with a burden that buckles the knees. He is there as eternity becomes reality and life on this earth fades into shadows and dust. He is there when faith becomes sight and the glorious Lord Jesus is manifest physically before the eyes of those who have placed their trust and faith in Him to forgive their sin and transform their hearts. He is also present for those left to grieve and remember. He is there as a comforter in tragedies. He is there as hope for those having to relinquish their earthly grips on beloved spouses, parents, children, and friends.
Jesus, who is the great truth teller, did not sugar coat the reality that death does come for all through the pages of the scriptures. [Ps 90:10] “As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years, yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; for soon it is gone and we fly away.” [Ps 90:12] “So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.” [Heb 9:27] “And inasmuch as it appointed for men to die once and after this comes the judgment.” [James 4:14] “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” [Ps 39:5-6] “Behold, You have made my days as hand breadths, and my lifetime as nothing in Your sight, surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Surely every man walks about as a phantom; surely they make an uproar for things; He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them.” [Eccl 3:1-2] “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven – A time to give birth and a time to die;…”
Death is as much a part of life as birth is. We often choose to forget about it but time and time again we are shaken from our sluggish slumber through life and brought back to reality that life is fragile and brief. Sooner or later death hits close to home. Friends pass on and we attend their funerals. Spouses are torn from our lives after decades of marriage bliss. One day you wake up and realize that most of the people you love are on the other side of eternity.
My challenge for all of us is three fold. First, do not take life for granted. There is a day appointed for all of us to die. We do not know when that day will come for us or for those we love. Enjoy life and enjoy the ones you love. It could all end sooner than any of us think. Second, prepare your heart for eternity. I know there are many who will read this who do not think there is a heaven or a hell nor is there a God who judges. This is a huge gamble. If I am right and at the end of life there is judgment with eternal implications based on a person’s relationship with Jesus Christ and you ignored and denied this truth, you will have lost EVERYTHING and those you love who pass away will have lost everything. Read what Jesus said in [Jn 14:6]. What if I am wrong? I do not believe that for a second but for argument sake say I am wrong. What have I lost at death by putting my faith in Jesus Christ to forgive me and save me? Nothing. At worst I lived a morale life. At best I will spend eternity in Heaven loving, worshipping, and conversing with the Savior who gave my life purpose and meaning. One last thing to consider is, invest in the treasure of people and entrusted relationships more than in things or possessions. We don’t take those possessions with us. It all stays. It all breaks, wears out, and is temporary. Live life with those you love with no regrets.
Sooner or later the funeral home will be called to pick up your or my life less corpse. Family will gather to organize a funeral or memorial service. Caskets or cremation will be chosen. Some preacher will stand to preach and remember our lives. In that day, what do you want that preacher to say? As family and friends gather to mourn your passing, what do you want them to say about you? Live your life with that conversation in mind. Until then let us live while we live and remember the brevity of life while not taking that gift or others for granted.

Courage to Care

In this day of fast paced living and instant communication it is easy to grow callused about the needs of others. Though we have the technology to stay connected like never before it is amazing how many people are disconnected from one another and how few people really seem to care.
Take the man or woman who goes to work and finds multiple emails to respond to, receives phone calls all day long which need to be returned but keep him or her occupied from getting the rest of their work done, get dozens of text messages that need attention, and face the never ending onslaught of meeting on top of meeting which must be attended with cherry attitudes though hidden behind exhausted mental and emotional frames.
Even while driving in the sanctuary of our vehicles we can be interrupted by phone calls and text messages. By the time we get through the day and deal with our families we are emotionally depleted and want to sink into the refuge of our homes behind the computer, lost in a book, or vegetating in front of the television. Even at home the phone can keep ringing about work, school, church, and or needy friends who have a burden to share.
If we are not careful we can grow so hard hearted that we begin to resent the phone calls, the texts, the emails, and the constant demand for our attention. We can slowly drift toward isolation and an uncaring attitude toward family, co-workers, community members, and fellow Christians. If our hearts are not daily tenderized by the Holy Spirit we may begin to hate the continual pulls for our attention. We start to pull away people and withdraw into ourselves.
It takes courage to really care about people. How are you supposed to love, care, and offer compassionate counsel when your emotional reserves are depleted and you have nothing left to give? I have two simple suggestions. One is to simplify our lives. Did God ever intend for us to live at the paces we are living in this day and age? We equate being busy with being Godly but the truth is that many who are busy and overcommitted are coasting through life on spiritual fumes with little to no authenticity in their service or caring for others. We are so scheduled that we spend far too many days rushing from one appointment to the next with little to no down times in between. We hurry to meet this person, break the speed limit to get to the next meeting, keep our nose to the grind stones to meet deadlines, only to hurry home to get the kids to ball practice, all the while thinking about all the work still to be done. In the middle of this scenario somebody walks up to you with major troubles and tries to talk to you and you can only think about getting out of this conversation. It takes courage to deny yourself and to enter into another person’s private pain and really care to get involved.
With the RPM’s or our lives continually red lined or maxed out, we are headed for trouble. If we do not follow the example of Jesus who often withdrew from the crowds for spiritual replenishment and renewal [Mark 6:30-32] we will not care about others and grow to resent their intrusions into our lives. This is not the heart of Jesus. He often was interrupted by people with problems and time and time [Mark 5:1-42] again He cared, He loved, and He got involved. If we could simplify our lives, walk slower, care with more compassion, reflect deeper, listen longer, and build the buffers of silence and solitude into our lives more, perhaps we too would have the courage to care for others. It might start with driving a little slower and relaxing behind the wheel. It might involve scheduling some lunch dates alone in secluded places with the Lord. Maybe it might mean looking people square in the eye at the office or in the community and prayerfully asking God how you can help or minister to that person. We were not created to live at such highly stressful pace of lives. It affects our children as well. They crave the opportunity to stay at home and just be kids instead of always having to be on the go.
Think about the pace of life many decades ago. People walked more, took more time to visit with the neighbors, sat down for family meals more often, enjoyed Sunday afternoon drives, and shared their lives on more intimate levels. People laughed together, cried together, suffered together, rejoiced together, worked together, and courageously cared about one another. Today we do well to know even a few of our neighbors. We seldom have time for friends to come over and get so wrapped up in our own lives that we can be oblivious to the deep sufferings being experienced by those all around us.
If we could slow down long enough to walk slowly through the crowds and get our noses out of our Blackberries or I-phones we could start to really connect with people. This will not happen until we really are able to slow down the pace of our lives and simplify them. Slowing our lives down will not happen without intentional and determined effort. Living at a slower rhythm will take some adjustment and getting used to but I am convinced the rewards will be bountiful and we will be able to care for others like we have never been able to do before.
Read through the gospels. Jesus was a man on mission with purpose but He never seemed to be in a hurry. He always had time for people. Mainly people came to Him with problems; sickness, evil spirits, and sin. He always cared. His mission was giving glory to the Father through helping people. He spoke truth to people. He healed people. He counseled people. He loved people. He forgave people. He rebuked people. He made time for people. People were welcome intruders into His life. He walked slowly through the crowds and connected with people on deep emotional and spiritual levels. He cared.
There is a difference between Jesus and us. Jesus’ very nature was love. Ours is sinful and selfish. It still is. Loved oozed out of Jesus like water from an underground spring. It bubbled up because it was His nature. How do you find love like that? We are pretty good at offering superficial love but how do you love others on the deepest levels? Sadly, we can’t do it. Sooner or later we will come to an end of our emotional resources. There will come a day when we sigh and say to ourselves, “I have nothing left to give others.” Ahh! There is hope though.
We can courageously love and care for others when we let the love of Jesus, that is the love that originates from Jesus, consume and replenish us on a daily basis. We trade our burdens (our own and the burdens of others) for the deep reservoir of the love of Jesus and we love people with His supernatural love.
That kind of love is genuine. NO more faking care but we can offer people the true unconditional love we have drunk deeply for ourselves. We can care for others because Jesus enables us to care for them. We can connect with people and love them in spite of their faults because we have experienced His deep love in us and through us. He gives us the courage to care and the emotional stamina to get involved.
When we learn to simplify our lives and to love others through Jesus, I think life will take on a whole new meaning. Life will be more rewarding as we get connected with people and share life together.
If you are one of those people who resent the needs and demands of people let me encourage you to heed this little article and carve out time for seclusion to be refreshed by the Jesus who always loved courageously. Bask in His love like a person sun bathing. Once you have been filled with His love, pour out His love on others genuinely and then retreat to be filled again. How I pray this helps us to not only love and care but cause others to love and care for us when we find ourselves on the needing end. Lord, please give us courage to care for people like you did and like you still do.

One of Those Days

Have you ever had one of those days? I’m talking about one of those days when everything seems to be going against you. A day when the breakfast gets over cooked because you were in a hurry from over sleeping. A day when the button breaks on the shirt you took the cleaners. A day when you discover your child had homework they did not tell you about. A day when your hair has a mind of its own. I am referring to days when trials pound you one after the other.
There are days in this life when there are more trials than triumphs and more tears than celebrations. How do you handle the days when a routine doctor’s visit lands you in the hospital with a serious medical condition you did not previously know you had that has life long implications? How do you face the daily grind of emotional hurt inflicted on you by one you love so deeply and by one who professes to love you in return? How are you to cope with the stresses of financial pressures that mount each month as you walk the tight line of paying your bills on time and dealing with unexpected expenses?
Let’s face it. There are days when enduring the daily grind takes a physical and emotional toll. The Bible even has answers for days like that. First, the Bible tells us plainly that such days will occur from time to time. [Ps 30:5] “His anger is for a moment but his favor is for a lifetime, weeping may endure for a night but joy will come in the morning.” [Jn 16:33] “I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have overcome the world.” Did you catch those two verses? There will be nights of weeping. In this world there will be days of suffering. As long as we live there will be those kinds of days.
How do we manage days and seasons when everything appears to be going against us? I would like to offer two suggestions taken from [Jn 16:33]. The first is to take what I call the long view of life. What I mean is that many of those bad days and seemingly insurmountable trials if they were looked at through the lens of an entire life time would not seem like such a big deal. When we are having bad days, enduring nights of weeping, or trudging through days of suffering, we can lose perspective and hope. The headache might seem like it will never end but it does eventually. The bad day fades into night and we get the chance at a fresh start with the dawn of the morning. Children grow up, sport seasons come to an end, and the bills get paid. The long view for the Christian includes the fact that God’s mercies are new every morning. [Lamentations 3:22-23] Each and every day God stands ready to pour out fresh mercies and blessings for each day. Taking the long view also reminds us that our trials are temporary though they may seem like they will never end. When I take the long view I know that bad days don’t last forever. As a Christian even if all my days are bad days on this earth I know that better days await me in eternity. The long view of not only life but of eternity tells me that better days will surely come if keep trusting and waiting.
The second reminder I would offer is that Jesus told us in [Jn 16:33] that in Him we would have peace or tranquility. This peace that He is talking about does not come through the rituals of empty religion but through relationship with Him. To say it another way this peace does not come from merely attending church but through being connected in a day to day walk with Jesus which starts at the moment of salvation. When Jesus is not only our Savior but also our partner in all of life, His peace, His calmness of mind and His tranquility of soul can help us not just endure but even conquer bad days and bad seasons. It is a matter of trusting even when we can’t see the light of joy which comes in the morning after the long night of weeping.
Regardless of how this day is turning out I encourage you to take the long view and find peace in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Bad days will not seem so bad anymore when you have Jesus’ perspective and His peace.