Come, Let Us Adore Him

It is hard to believe we have enjoyed Thanksgiving and now look forward to Christmas. What promises to be a happy season can also be the most difficult season for those who grieve the loss of loved ones. It can also be a difficult time for those who have faced set backs, financial crisis, and who have lost hope. The season of joy can often be a season of sorrow for those whose hearts are crushed with grief, despair, and loss of hope.

Today I urge you to turn your heart back to the manger and onto Heaven where our King sits triumphantly. This is the King who came as a babe, suffered crucifixion, arose victoriously, and rules sovereign in Heaven. It is to Him I would turn your attention to today. He alone is the one who can restore joy and hope to hearts that have been crushed.

In my prayer time this morning I kept thinking of the Christmas carol, O Come All Ye Faithful written back in the mid 1700’s by John Francis Wade. What I longed for in prayer this morning focused on adoring Him. I did not come with a long list of wants. I prayed for other people but I really yearned to worship Jesus. I focused on the beauty of His divine nature and the adoration flowed. Let me give you a few reasons why we should adore Him.

He is our Savior. He is our Redeemer. He is our hope. He is our joy. He is our wisdom. He is our Counselor. He is our King. He is our Lord. He is our Master. He is our strength. He is our provider. He is our intercessor. He is our victory. He is our peace. He is our life. He is our abundant life. He is our sustainer of life. He is our Bread of Life. He is our Light of the World. He is our Creator. He is our sacrificial lamb. He is our propitiation. He is our righteousness. He is our freedom. He is our deliverer. He is our help in times of trouble. He is our delight. He is our treasure. He is our light in the darkness. He is our shade in the heat. He is our guide. He is our comforter. He is our truth. He is our advocate with the Father. He is our defender. He is our protector. He is our purpose. For all of those and many more reasons He is to be adored.

I challenge you today and throughout this Christmas season to stop the hustle and bustle and make time to adore Him. Forego the parties and the endless activities for still moments of humble adoration directed toward our King. Praise the Lord for the babe in the manger but go further. Adore the triumphant King who redeemed us from our sin. Adore the Lord of Glory who is our KING.

During my time with the Lord I actually sang out loud O Come All Ye Faithful. In the privacy of my time with Him I sang out loud from my heart. There were no other worshippers present. There were no musicians. I brought nothing with me to Him except an adoring heart and I worshipped. I beheld the wonderful Savior and tarried with Him. As the hymn goes, “…Come and behold Him, born the King of angels. Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing! O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.”

Will you come before Him to adore Him? Will you adore Him in your private devotions this Christmas season? Will you come to adore Him in corporate worship? Let us bring to our King the repeated gift of an adoring heart as we celebrate His birthday. O come with me people of God, and let us adore Christ the Lord.

Being More Than Doing

We are a doing people. I just had a conversation with a lady getting ready for a lunch here at the church. She could not stand being idle. She informed me that she needed to be working and wanted to be working. I know there are some lazy people but for the most part I think people like pulling their own weight.

This translates into the Christian life. We like to do. There are endless activities you can get involved in most churches. There are Bible studies to go to, mission trips to take, meetings to participate in, events to plan and to attend, classes to teach, retreats and conferences to be present at. There is always something to do.

Here is what I have learned in my own life and seen in the lives of others as well. We might be working hard at doing and be involved at doing while not enjoy being a child of God. It is even possible to do things for God but not have the heart of God. Like the man I talked to today who simply told me how exhausted he felt because he and his family are always doing. My counsel included more abiding in Christ and less doing.

This can be seen in churches all over the place. People are busy doing but they are exhausted or disgruntled. Some serve out of resentment or a sense of duty. Few people have the joy of Christ in them as they serve. [Jn 15:10-11] Where is the focus on being the people of God and enjoying fellowship with Him in contrast to just doing for Him?

So let me ask you a few questions. How would you characterize your relationship with Christ and serving Him? Is it a struggle? Do you constantly feel the strain and pressure of needing to do more? Are you serving from the abundant strength God supplies or are you exhausted? Do you resent the never-ending stream of activities at church? Are you over committed? Have you lost a sense of joy in worship and service for Christ?

If you have then maybe you are suffering from doing too much and not being a child of God and resting in Him. [Jn 15:1-5] has always been a mysterious passage. As a teen I could never fully understand what John was getting at. Now I feel like I understand a little more clearly. As we rest in Christ and abide in Him, we bear fruit. Yet we read or apply that passage more like this. Have a quiet time and then go get busy. Yes we are to have a quiet time but I must fully rely on Christ all throughout the day as well as in my quiet time. I must enjoy the fellowship of His company in solitary moments but also as I am working, counseling, preaching, praying, leading, or planning. I need to enjoy the Lord. I need to rest in Him. I need to rely on Him more to continue working in me and producing joy in my heart.

When I serve or I am called to do, I need that doing to come from the overflow of my heart and through His strength rather than hitching up to the harness of doing and gutting my way through it. Like right now. I admit I feel the pressure to write blogs because people tell me they read them and God uses them. There have been times I have sat down to write but had nothing overflowing in my heart.

As I write this, I write from a heart that is being renewed from some of the greatest fellowship I have had with Jesus over the past twenty years. I feel Him working in me and naturally that deep inward work is working its way out. I am not writing today out of obligation. I am writing out of sense of one who has been with the Lord and I am being transformed. It is an ongoing process of being transformed.

I challenge you today to slow down and be a child of God instead of just doing more. Be in love with Him. Abide in Him. Rest in His love. Do what He calls you to do and not feel guilty if He does not lead you to get involved in everyone’s program, study, or ministry. Do only what God leads you to do. Rediscover joy that comes from relating to the Lord on more intimate levels. Let His work in you strengthen you for the work He leads you to do outside of you.

I want to be before I do. I want more fellowship and more abiding and in turn trust Him to bear the fruit. I do not want to live my life struggling and straining for more fruit when as I abide in Christ it will be a natural by product.

I have not seen a great deal of this in my own life. I have said yes to things when I should have said no. I have volunteered my time for things He never called me to. I have seen over commitment hinder my relationship with the Lord. I have resented times of over commitment. Life felt out of balance. I ministered in exhaustion and there was NO FRUIT.

Now, I can say I am able to minister out of the overflow of what God is doing in my heart. I love this place He is leading me. It is so much easier. I have more peace. I am not anxious because I know it is not up to me. It is up to Christ in me. I ask Him to take over. More surrender and more trusting Him to work His work.

I pray this helps and God would set many of you to focus more on being than doing. If we could get to that place in our lives we would be a more productive people and just as importantly a more joyful people. Remember, more being than doing.

Fellowship In Christ

I just finished enjoying fellowship in my Lord Jesus. We met just moments ago in my office. I asked Him to fill this office in the same way He filled the tent of meeting for Moses. [Ex 33:7-11] I conversed with the Lord on the deepest level I knew how.

I expressed love. I yearned for rest in Him. I pleaded for mountains to be moved and miracles to be done. The time proved to be so sweet I chose not to attend two other meetings I had planned on attending earlier in the day. One of those meetings included a prayer meeting. I could not tear myself away from the Lord’s refreshing presence to go to another prayer meeting for the approval of men when I was already meeting with Him in my secret place.

I lost track of time. Minutes passed without my being aware. My heart burned as the Lord listened to my prayers and petitions. Joy unspeakable filled my soul. Peace washed over my mind and soul. My mountains began to melt in the light of His presence no longer casting a menacing shadow over my heart. Contentment engulfed me. I do not know how to convey the sacredness and the sweetness of the fellowship I enjoyed in Christ.

He has met with me in many soul satisfying ways in recent days. Though the vision He continues to open before my eyes is larger than I have ever dreamed, He also reassures me that He will bring those things to pass and I do not have to strive after them. I am learning more and more to cease striving in my labors as I rely more on God. He is faithful. It is His very nature.

Every time I have opened the scriptures lately it is as if the Lord has directly penned a personal message for me. I am working my way through the book of Exodus and time and time again He continues to speak to me. Though not audible, His voice is very clear. His call on my life is undeniable. Reading the Bible is delight and not a drudgery. I cannot wait to see what He will say next.

Resting in the love of God brings solace. Soaking in the joy of His presence and enjoying His fellowship have been my pleasures today. As the Lord continues to teach me about abiding and not striving in His presence, [John 15:1-8] has taken on added significance. Christ is my life. He bears the fruit through me as a by-product of our relationship. I do not have to have to struggle and strive to bear this fruit on my effort. In fact, it is impossible to bear fruit that way.

This office has been transformed into a holy of holies as the living indwelling Christ met with me. I am sure He met with you also. Today did not feel rushed. Though I could have been in other places the Lord beckoned me to stay with Him and out of that rewarding fellowship I continue to minister. I continue to serve. I write.

My heart is refreshed with His living water. Though the schedule of my life is demanding I find my heart continues to drink from well of Jesus Christ and I am renewed for continued ministry. Since starting to write this I have been interrupted three different times from unexpected visits. The fragrance of Christ still lingers here though. I am still at peace and my soul is still at rest. The fellowship continues even as I type this sentence.

I no longer find myself writing out of obligation but out of the overflow of my heart. The titles for future posts keep coming, unlike times I have stared at a blank screen for hours having no anointing or inspiration to write.

The truth is today, I am writing simply because what God is allowing me to experience must come out. It has come out in my preaching and teaching as of late and must make it to the printed page as well. I hope and pray the Lord uses it to encourage and inspire you to fellowship with Christ. No more hurried devotions. No more struggling and straining to live this life. More abiding in Christ is the need of the hour. I hope you will find fellowship with your Lord as sweet as I have. May the fellowship continue as I pack my bags for another trip to Canada. I pray the fellowship with Christ will continue as I watch the Indians play football in the first round of the playoffs tonight with my oldest son on the team as a freshman. He is dressing out but not expected to play much.

I trust the fellowship will continue as I sit on airplanes tomorrow flying to Denver and then on to Saskatoon. May our fellowship be sustained in frigid temperatures far away from home. The fellowship in Christ will continue in my heart.

Souls Knit Together

David had more than a friend in Jonathan. David had a brother. The scriptures record that their souls were knit together. [I Sam 18:1] I have also known that blessing multiple times over. When God knits your soul to another brother or a sister the relationship goes much deeper than friendship.

I have such brothers. They have been there for me in the darkest and most distressing times of my life. They have prayed for me. They have spoken hard truth to me when I did not want to hear it. They have reached deep in their pockets and given to me out of sacrifice to meet my financial needs when I was destitute. They have lifted me up when my spirits sunk faster than the Titanic. They have listened to my wild dreams and not mocked me for them. They have encouraged me to pursue those dreams. They have listened when I felt abandoned and wounded by Pharisees, hypocrites, and power mongers.

What a joy to enjoy camaraderie with men who know everything there is to know about me. I am grateful for such men who have seen me at my best and my worst and continue to love me. I am humbled by men who believe in me when I no longer believe in myself. I am thankful for men who have wept with me before the Lord as we poured our hearts out in prayer. I am so blessed to have men who love me despite my rough edges and there are many jagged pointed edges to my personality. I am often too intense. I am a man of passion. Though I love people I love solitude equally. I am driven and focused. I am thankful for men who love me anyway.

From time to time I get to turn the tide as I did the other day. I get to be the encourager, the listener, and the one who prays. One of those brothers called me in his private distress. My soul ached for him. We talked for a long while. More than anything I listened. I felt helpless to help him in the trial he faced. I can love and offer words of comfort from the scriptures and prayers for a brother down in despair. I can pray for him and his family. The one thing I cannot and will not do is to abandon him in his time of need.

There are relationships too deep to be defined by words. You cannot describe the depth of compassion, bonding, memories, and spiritual blood shared through years of standing side by side in the fight of faith. This one brother has stood with me through thick and thin. He has defended me. He has supported me. He has welcomed me into the inner recesses of his heart and life. He has given me opportunities in ministry. He has most of all loved me. Our souls are knit together.

While talking on the phone with him I thought of dropping everything to drive to be by his side. I would not give it a second thought though we separated by many hours and miles. That is what real friendship is and what a real friend does. You are there for one another. You stand side by side. You hold each other up when the other is weary and wounded.

I have never been rich. I love giving more than receiving. One thing I can say without reservation is that I am rich in relationships. To those of you who are knit to my soul I say, “I love you. I admire you. I thank God for you.” You know who you are. May we continue to stand side by side in the fight of faith and for the glory of God! Hope to see you guys soon. Never give up. Never quit believing God to do more than you think possible. Never doubt you have a soul brother in me.

A Greater Leap of Faith

Taking leaps of faith is second nature to me these days. There have been numerous leaps over the years. Some have been easier than others. Some have yielded greater fruit than others. All have taught me more about the faithfulness of God.

I recently wrote a blog about trusting God for a literary agent. I wish I could report to you good news on that front but I am still waiting. Waiting in faith mind you. I trust God I will be published on a broader scale based solely on the fact I believe that is God’s will for me.

I need to set the scene for the biggest leap of faith God has called me to so far. This past Friday I found a secluded room upstairs around the youth department and nestled in a chair to finish a book on the life of Hudson Taylor. Every page of Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret jolted me closer to God and closer to a greater leap of faith. In fact, I know this one single leap of faith will in turn lead to dozens if not hundreds of other leaps of faith in the future.

When I finished the book I wandered to another room where I sat down to pour my heart out to God. Let me record for you just a bit of what I wrote in my prayer journal that afternoon. “Lord, I want my life to count for something. I want my life to be about something greater than me. I want to honor you in my generation. Lord, thank you for the life of Hudson Taylor and speaking to me through him. The work you are calling me to do is ever expanding. I am willing to do whatever you want. I want to leave a legacy of faith. I have seen you do some great things but I ask you for an expanded platform from which I can testify of you and do your work. I fall at your feet and cry, ‘ Please use me to even greater degrees.’ I absolutely trust you no matter what you want I trust you. I sit before you to follow your lead. I will do what you lead me to do. If you reveal it and clearly confirm it I will follow you.”

Later I sat before the Lord and asked Him to speak to me. I believe He did. Here is part of what I sensed Him saying to me. “The trials of faith will not get smaller. I will enlarge your platform by giving you more to believe me for. Do not shrink back in unbelief nor try shrinking my vision.”

During that time several things were placed deep in my heart to believe God to do. I do not believe this is the time to reveal all of them but I can report one of them. To do so we have to go back to July of 2010. In July my sole attention stayed focused on preparing for the then upcoming Shake the City Revival. We had two missionaries from Honduras come to speak at our church one Sunday evening. Many from our church have gone to Honduras to minister to the Chorti Indians over the past several years. I have not personally gone, at least not yet.

During a conversation I had with the Collins, who serve as the missionaries, the following day revealed a need in passing. There is little medical help where they minister. They told me about a foundation that will donate one million dollars worth of medical equipment and supplies. The only catch is they will not buy land nor construct buildings with the foundation money. Here is where the Lord worked. They casually commented that a hospital could be built for $100,000. The Honduran people cannot and are not interested in trying to get this done. They went on talking but at that point I disengaged. I knew God moved in my heart. While still riding in the car headed to Lubbock and the Collins still talking in the backseat to Jase who drove, I asked the Lord if He wanted me to trust Him for the money for that hospital. I did not receive a clear direction and the rest of the trip went without incident.

Periodically I would think about that hospital and wonder if God called me to get involved. Most of the time I would forget about it and move on with life, family, and ministry. Not on that Friday afternoon I finished reading the Hudson Taylor book and the following week. I had made my pledge to God that I would do anything He led me to do and follow Him anywhere.

I cannot explain how it happened but yesterday I knew I had another leap to take. A greater leap than I can ever remember taking. God confirmed it through reading a devotional and from Jn 14:13-14. His call had been crystal clear. I had only once choice and that included taking the biggest leap of faith of my life. He has called me to believe Him to build a hospital in another country. Somehow in the midst of this impossible venture God has given me perfect peace. All I have to do is trust Him. It is God’s job to provide for what He wills to be done.

The devotion read yesterday challenged me to write what I sensed God calling me to do down on paper and then tell someone. I told Jase yesterday. Today, I went two steps further. I cast the vision to the NO Compromise Ministries board of directors through an email this morning and had Jase make contact with the Collins in Honduras. They were shocked but no more than me.

There is more to this leap. I will not ask anyone for money. I will take this need to God alone and trust Him for a miracle. God has called me to pray every dollar in. So I am asking you to pray with me. This is bigger than me but smaller than God. This is beyond my ability but well within God’s strengthened grip. Hudson Taylor once commented that, “God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply.”

So once I again I have leapt. I am on the edge of the unknown but in perfect peace that God who has led me will bring into reality that which is not reality. [Rom 4:17] I know other leaps will follow. Once this project is completed others will follow. I am sure of it. They may get bigger. All of this makes me come alive on the inside as I get to trust God for nothing short of a miracle. When it is done He will get all the glory. All of this to show the greatness of our God. I ask you to pray with me and believe with me. He might ask you take a leap as well.