Day Twenty
“Run With Endurance”
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
Hebrews 12:1
Congratulations! You have made it halfway through this challenge. By this time the initial enthusiasm we all started with is beginning to wane as we get into the daily grind of living, praying, and seeking to maintain an unwavering faith. I hope that today we can all gain some practical tools that would help us in our fight for faith and as we watch God do the impossible things all around us.
Let me first encourage you that we are not the first ones to walk this path. Many have been called to live lives of faith and to trust God for impossible things. I encourage you to read through Hebrews 11 and do a little research on the people listed in that chapter. We have been surrounded by a great host who have gone before and who kept the faith in spite of impossible odds and dangerous circumstances. I am referring to people like Hudson Taylor, George Mueller, Reese Howells, John Hyde, David Yongii Cho, and many, many others. Reading about their lives, but more importantly about how the Lord intervened in their lives, can inspire our faith and help us as we run the race.
We need next to lay aside some encumbrances that hinder us as we follow the Lord. There are good and innocent things that distract us, but now more than ever our focus and hunger should be God. Let us not be distracted by good things but lay all distractions aside so that we might hunger for God more, spend more time in pursuit of Him, pray longer in the secret place, and have a stronger, more enduring faith. I say “a stronger and more enduring faith” because it is essential in the days ahead that our faith continues to grow and to endure to the end. That will only happen as we lay aside encumbrances that seek to divert our attention and our energies from our spiritual goal of knowing Christ and gaining answers to our prayers.
We must be vigilant about keeping guard over our hearts, preventing sin from stealthily sneaking in to cause us to stop running, to quit believing, and to give up this challenge. This is more than a forty-day challenge, it is a life challenge. These forty days are just small, bite-sized measurable parts of the race of life that help us to become more clearly focused. Sin only serves to bring us into spiritual death rather than the life and pleasure it promises.
This morning the Lord woke me at 3:30 a.m. to seek Him and continue writing this material. Though I enjoyed my time in the secret place with Him I have also had to fight through the sins of listlessness, mental wanderings, laziness, and ill use of my time. I have wanted to do many things more than I have wanted to sit down to write this chapter. Many things have looked more enticing: books, emails, the headline news. I have had to see these things as sin that would keep me from obeying God in finishing this book in a timely matter.
Our adversary will never rest. He is always seeking to entangle us and to trap us in the snare of sin so we will prove to be ineffective in seeking and serving God. Let us be well reminded that while we give harbor to sin in our souls our prayers will prove to be ineffective. “If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear.” (Psalm 66:18)
We must fight against sin with ferocity. We must labor endlessly to protect our minds, our eyes, our ears, and our hearts from the gross and gruesome effects of sin. When our souls become dull, when our passion begins to wane, when unbelief begins to dominate, and when things seem enticing that used to be hated and avoided, we must be aware and sound the alarm that sin has entered the camp. We must declare all-out war on sin in our lives.
When we have been inspired by those who have gone before us, when we have set aside the encumbrances that distract us, and when we have fought against sin with all of our hearts, then we can run this race with endurance. Oh, how we need a faith that endures. We need a faith that endures longer than forty days and longer than forty years. We need a faith that will endure in the face of cancer, loveless marriages, rebellious children, wilderness experiences, devastating loss, cruelty to our children, injustice in the workplace, the temptation of sin, and a thousand other things we will be called to face in this life. We need a faith that keeps running, keeps believing, keeps trusting and remains confident in the worst circumstances, in the midst of tragedy and triumph as well as in pain or praise.
Christ set the example on the cross of not only enduring, but enduring with joy. He can give us that same enduring faith and spirit with a joyful attitude. How serious are you and I about finishing strong? I did not set out on this forty-day challenge only to fall by the wayside because the going got hard, there were obstacles along the way, or my prayer requests were slow to be answered. I did not set out on this relationship with Christ only to stagger across the finish line at the end of my life, out of breath, barely making it. I want to run harder as the days pass and the difficulties arise. May each of us be at a full sprint in our faith and devotion to Christ on the last day of our lives as we make our final lap in the race He has set before us. Others finished strong, and so can we.
Steps to Trust and Obey:
Can you identify any encumbrances in your life? What are they? In what ways do they distract you?
Who are the people who inspire you to keep trusting God and running the race? If they are still alive, why not write a little note or make a phone call to tell them?
Has sin infiltrated your soul? Spend some time in confession and cleansing your heart.
What is God speaking to you? What is your response to what He is saying to you?
Monday, April 13, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
40 Days - Day 19 (March 25-May 3)
Day Nineteen
“Be Anxious for Nothing”
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Philippians 4:6
People deal with anxiety in different ways. Some turn to rest and relaxation to get their minds off of their troubles. Many turn to alcohol and drugs to help them cope with their anxieties. Some people go to the doctor and take prescription medicines to flood their hearts and minds with calmness. We are encouraged in today’s text to take our anxieties to God in prayer.
By this time, this forty-day challenge may be proving to be a greater challenge than you anticipated. Surely by now you have faced spiritual warfare as the enemy has tried to distract you from praying in faith and believing God for those spiritual goals we started with nearly three weeks ago. I am sure you have battled every kind of emotion ranging from spiritual elation to cruel, dark depression as well. You may not have seen things turn out like you had hoped, and instead of trusting God perhaps anxieties and doubts are plaguing your thoughts and cutting off your confidence in Christ.
When a person is battling anxiety they are going to be preoccupied with their own self interests to the neglect of others. They will be distracted with their cares, and so troubled by them they can become paralyzed in fear. These are real issues in the battle of the mind and the soul. We are told in this verse to be anxious, troubled, distracted, and weighed down by NOTHING.
Surely Paul was mistaken! People who have lost their jobs or retirement savings in this economic downturn have something to be troubled over, right? Surely the pastor who reads about a fellow pastor being shot while preaching should be anxious about his own safety. Bankers should fret over the lack of ability to get home loans and the retailers should lie awake all night worrying over profit margins. But read this verse again slowly and carefully - we are to be anxious for nothing.
Death? No. Sickness? No. Poverty? No. Injustice? No. Persecution? No. The opinions of men? No. There is not a situation in this world that should cause us stress and worry if we are really abiding in Christ, His word is abiding in us, and we are forging ahead in faith. Now, I will be the first to admit that this is easier read and said than done, but that does not negate the truth. We are called not to live in anxiety or to become distracted and preoccupied with our cares.
We are to take them to God - all of them. This might take some time, and since we seem to always be in a hurry especially when it comes to praying there are many cares that do not get left at the throne of grace. We cling to them and fret over them, even though many of them are beyond our control and many of our anxieties will never happen but are only fears of things we think MIGHT come to pass. We are to bring them all to the Lord and leave each of them with Him!
With thanksgiving we are bring our requests to God. That may seem impossible when circumstances are difficult or painful, but there is always something for which we can be thankful. We can be thankful that God never sleeps and always hears our requests. We can be thankful that God is compassionate and concerned about the cares of our lives. We can be thankful that faith-filled praying moves God to work mightily on our behalf. So pray in faith with thanksgiving and trust God with the results.
Steps to Faith:
Lay your anxieties down one by one. This may take some time, but do not carry even one anxiety away with you.
Pray over each care you are facing, but do so with the conviction that God cares and will intervene.
What do you have to be thankful for today? Make a list and spend some time worshipping the Lord with a grateful heart.
What is the Lord speaking to you? What steps of obedience is He leading you to take?
“Be Anxious for Nothing”
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Philippians 4:6
People deal with anxiety in different ways. Some turn to rest and relaxation to get their minds off of their troubles. Many turn to alcohol and drugs to help them cope with their anxieties. Some people go to the doctor and take prescription medicines to flood their hearts and minds with calmness. We are encouraged in today’s text to take our anxieties to God in prayer.
By this time, this forty-day challenge may be proving to be a greater challenge than you anticipated. Surely by now you have faced spiritual warfare as the enemy has tried to distract you from praying in faith and believing God for those spiritual goals we started with nearly three weeks ago. I am sure you have battled every kind of emotion ranging from spiritual elation to cruel, dark depression as well. You may not have seen things turn out like you had hoped, and instead of trusting God perhaps anxieties and doubts are plaguing your thoughts and cutting off your confidence in Christ.
When a person is battling anxiety they are going to be preoccupied with their own self interests to the neglect of others. They will be distracted with their cares, and so troubled by them they can become paralyzed in fear. These are real issues in the battle of the mind and the soul. We are told in this verse to be anxious, troubled, distracted, and weighed down by NOTHING.
Surely Paul was mistaken! People who have lost their jobs or retirement savings in this economic downturn have something to be troubled over, right? Surely the pastor who reads about a fellow pastor being shot while preaching should be anxious about his own safety. Bankers should fret over the lack of ability to get home loans and the retailers should lie awake all night worrying over profit margins. But read this verse again slowly and carefully - we are to be anxious for nothing.
Death? No. Sickness? No. Poverty? No. Injustice? No. Persecution? No. The opinions of men? No. There is not a situation in this world that should cause us stress and worry if we are really abiding in Christ, His word is abiding in us, and we are forging ahead in faith. Now, I will be the first to admit that this is easier read and said than done, but that does not negate the truth. We are called not to live in anxiety or to become distracted and preoccupied with our cares.
We are to take them to God - all of them. This might take some time, and since we seem to always be in a hurry especially when it comes to praying there are many cares that do not get left at the throne of grace. We cling to them and fret over them, even though many of them are beyond our control and many of our anxieties will never happen but are only fears of things we think MIGHT come to pass. We are to bring them all to the Lord and leave each of them with Him!
With thanksgiving we are bring our requests to God. That may seem impossible when circumstances are difficult or painful, but there is always something for which we can be thankful. We can be thankful that God never sleeps and always hears our requests. We can be thankful that God is compassionate and concerned about the cares of our lives. We can be thankful that faith-filled praying moves God to work mightily on our behalf. So pray in faith with thanksgiving and trust God with the results.
Steps to Faith:
Lay your anxieties down one by one. This may take some time, but do not carry even one anxiety away with you.
Pray over each care you are facing, but do so with the conviction that God cares and will intervene.
What do you have to be thankful for today? Make a list and spend some time worshipping the Lord with a grateful heart.
What is the Lord speaking to you? What steps of obedience is He leading you to take?
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Knowing the Will of God
There are countless decisions that have to be made in a lifetime. Some are small and seem rather inconsequential while others have greater impact. In the middle of all this there is the simple truth that God has a plan or a will for people’s lives. Some acknowledge this truth and spend their days seeking that will. Others could care less and go about life on their terms and reap what they sow [Gal 6:9].
I know there are some who may be reading this who are confused and distraught as you face major decisions in your life. You want the make the choice that honors God and that He wills for you to make. Choices like where to go to college, who to marry, what type of vocation to pursue, and where to live bombard your every waking thought. Each of these decisions are big choices and we must have the wisdom of God as we contemplate them.
What do you do when you are faced with such choices or ones like them and you honestly do not know what direction to go? Knowing the will of God on a matter can seem confusing especially if the answer is delayed. There have been times when I have sought the Lord’s will and waited for a year or longer before ever discovering His heart on the matter. If you are going to know the will of God you will first have to be patient. We often hate this part and in our impatience we make rash decisions that come back to haunt us. If you are feeling rushed and anxious about a decision I would ask you if you are in a hurry because there is a deadline for the decision or are you being impatient? If there is no deadline, I urge you to sit back and trust God to reveal His heart and mind on your decision in His time. [Ps25:4-5] [Ps 119:105] Wait on God!
The next thing we must do when seeking to know the will of God is to saturate our minds in the scriptures. You may read days and weeks on end and get no direction but if you persevere God will reveal His will in the scriptures. This happened to me many years ago when I felt a call to transition from the full time traveling ministry into the pastoral ministry. I struggled with this thought for over a year before the Lord revealed His will through reading the scriptures. In less than a week I got clear confirmation three different times about what He was leading me to do and where He was leading me to do it. George Muller once wrote about the use of scriptures when he needed to know the will of God. “I seek the will of Spirit of God through, or in connection with the Word of God. The Spirit and the Word must be combined. If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word, I lay myself open to great delusions also. If the Holy Ghost guides us at all, He will do it according to the scriptures and never contrary to them. Thus through prayer to God, study of the Word, and reflection, I come to a deliberate judgment according to the best of my ability and knowledge, and if my mind is thus at peace, and continues so after two or three more petitions, I proceed accordingly”
Muller says he used not only the Bible, but prayer and reflection to help know the will of God on a given matter. Muller founded orphanages in Bristol back in the 1800’s and funded them solely through prayer without ever asking anyone for help. He loved and cared for thousands upon thousands of orphans and needed to know the will of God repeatedly during his ministry. Did I mention that he read through the scriptures two hundred times in his life?
The last bit of counsel I would offer comes from [Rom 12:1-2.] To sum it all up I would simply say we must come to the point on a given matter that we are willing to be fully surrendered. What I mean is that come to a place where we are willing to do what God reveals. Maybe in our minds we are leaning one way and really want that direction to be God’s will. We must climb on the altar as we lay our lives before Him fully surrendered and willing go anywhere, to do anything, at anytime. That is being fully surrendered.
Recently I was facing an issue and in prayer I knelt at the altar in church and yielded to whatever God willed. As much as possible I cleared my mind of what I wanted and yielded myself to His will no matter what and then resolved myself to wait on Him before making a decision. I did not come away from that experience with an answer but I did rise from my knees with total peace that I wanted what God wants and I trust that what God wants is always best. To be surrendered we must be willing to let God sort the matter for us and not lean one way or the other. We must be content to go which ever way God leads.
Lord, there are many reading this who need to know your will. I am asking you to lead, to use your scriptures, to bring each one to a point of full surrender to whatever you deem is best, and then for you to give clarity of mind to let each one know what you want. I ask you to clear up confusion and to make your heart and mind crystal clear so we can all follow you with renewed confidence and commitment. In Jesus name, amen.
40 Days - Day 18 (March 25-May 3)
Day Eighteen
“Nothing is Too Difficult”
Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You.
Jeremiah 32:17
Over two weeks ago we entered this challenge with hope in our hearts, believing that God would step in and show up in our lives and in our situations. Some of the things you have been asking for over this period of time are downright difficult. These are not your garden variety prayer requests. You might be tempted to think your circumstances will never change, the depression will never lift, the bills will never get paid, and the disease will never be cured.
If your God, by the simple act of the spoken word, could create the mountains and command them where to sit, carve out the oceans, set trees in the rain forests, gather sand dunes in the desert, just for fun add a waterfall to a river or stream, stretch the neck of the giraffe or add stripes to the zebra, why would you begin to entertain the though that your situation is too difficult for God?
You could also substitute the word “incomprehensible” for the word “difficult.” There is nothing in this universe that is hard for God. His strength is not taxed when He lifts our burdens. He power is not diminished when He miraculously moves on our behalf. His abilities are not exasperated by our needs and trials. He is God - He has never had a hard day, faced a difficult dilemma, or toiled under the weight of some trial.
However, there are things that are too difficult for us. There are tests that buckle our knees like person doing squats with more weight than he can press back up. We simply collapse under the weight. Not God. With the slightest effort He rules the universe and He knows and hears the cries of His children. He knows what you are up against today. He sees your need before you even ask. He waits to be wanted and He is more than able to handle any and everything that comes your way.
What is too difficult for you to fix, endure, or figure out is no big deal to our God. How often we lose sight of this truth! We get tunnel vision, focusing on our troubles so intently that we lose sight of God and forget the perspective that He has. What does God see when He sees what you are up against? Is God anxious, troubled, or perplexed about what to do? If we have been praying in faith and praying according to His will and with the right motives, we should relax and believe that God will step in at the right time in our lives.
We should not interpret God’s silence or seeming inactivity as a sign that He does not care or can’t handle the situation. Let us unload our cares on Him today - all of them. What is strangling our faith? What looks too difficult for God? Cry out again for His help and then wait on Him to get involved. He sees and knows when the best time will be to come to our rescue. Do not become distraught over delays. If He can create the universe, hang the stars in space, arrange the planets where He wants them, see every galaxy of every solar system as well the hairs on the head of every single person alive, He can handle our situations. We must get this into our minds and the deep recesses of our hearts. We cannot pray effectively until we pray with the conviction that nothing is too difficult for God. I know there have been times in my prayer life that I have not believed my own prayers much less believed that God would answer.
We get tired. We get overwhelmed and stressed with the demands of life. We cry when we are emotionally traumatized. We are finite human beings who are limited in every way, serving an infinite God who has no limitations. His strength is never exhausted, His wisdom is never confounded, His energy is never depleted, His mercies never come to an end, and He never needs sleep. He can handle what you are facing and what you are frantic to see Him do.
Several years ago I went on a mission trip to Cuba. It was life-transforming in many ways but as I was writing this I was reminded of a difficult situation God brought me through. We flew from Houston to Cancun, Mexico, and from Cancun we flew into Havana, Cuba where we spent the night and were then dispersed throughout the country. When we landed in Cuba I noticed that I could not find my ticket for the return trip home. I had a ticket to fly from Havana back to Cancun but did not have the ticket to fly from Cancun back to Houston. I was frantic. I did not have enough money to buy another ticket and began asking the Lord to find that ticket. But that ticket was never lost to the Lord; He knew its location the whole time. I prayed and then got busy with preaching and ministering for the next several days. I almost forgot about the missing ticket until we gathered back at the airport in Havana. Right then, that same panicked feeling I had before resurfaced. By this time, I had been in two different countries and three different towns separated by hundreds of miles and more than a week had passed. I lost all hope of finding that ticket among my belongings.
When we arrived in Cancun I went to the ticket counter for our airline and told them of my dilemma. What they told me next is nothing short of a miracle to me - the lady went back to the office and came back out with my ticket! It had fallen on the floor as we flew into Havana over a week earlier and someone had found it and turned it in. After all of that, God supplied my ticket back to Houston.
If I had known what God knew I would not have given one minute to stressing out and being anxious over that situation, but I could not see that God had already handled it. What a reminder to me that God can handle our every situation! Maybe your situation seems more difficult than finding a plane ticket, but I assure you that whatever it is, He can handle it as well. Will you trust Him?
Steps to Trust and Obey:
Spend some time bringing your difficult situation to the feet of God today.
Ask Him to give you peace in your heart as you wait on Him to intervene.
Ask Him to build renewed faith in His ability to handle your situation.
Has the Lord spoken to you today? Is the Lord calling you to do something or to change in any way? What is your response?
“Nothing is Too Difficult”
Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You.
Jeremiah 32:17
Over two weeks ago we entered this challenge with hope in our hearts, believing that God would step in and show up in our lives and in our situations. Some of the things you have been asking for over this period of time are downright difficult. These are not your garden variety prayer requests. You might be tempted to think your circumstances will never change, the depression will never lift, the bills will never get paid, and the disease will never be cured.
If your God, by the simple act of the spoken word, could create the mountains and command them where to sit, carve out the oceans, set trees in the rain forests, gather sand dunes in the desert, just for fun add a waterfall to a river or stream, stretch the neck of the giraffe or add stripes to the zebra, why would you begin to entertain the though that your situation is too difficult for God?
You could also substitute the word “incomprehensible” for the word “difficult.” There is nothing in this universe that is hard for God. His strength is not taxed when He lifts our burdens. He power is not diminished when He miraculously moves on our behalf. His abilities are not exasperated by our needs and trials. He is God - He has never had a hard day, faced a difficult dilemma, or toiled under the weight of some trial.
However, there are things that are too difficult for us. There are tests that buckle our knees like person doing squats with more weight than he can press back up. We simply collapse under the weight. Not God. With the slightest effort He rules the universe and He knows and hears the cries of His children. He knows what you are up against today. He sees your need before you even ask. He waits to be wanted and He is more than able to handle any and everything that comes your way.
What is too difficult for you to fix, endure, or figure out is no big deal to our God. How often we lose sight of this truth! We get tunnel vision, focusing on our troubles so intently that we lose sight of God and forget the perspective that He has. What does God see when He sees what you are up against? Is God anxious, troubled, or perplexed about what to do? If we have been praying in faith and praying according to His will and with the right motives, we should relax and believe that God will step in at the right time in our lives.
We should not interpret God’s silence or seeming inactivity as a sign that He does not care or can’t handle the situation. Let us unload our cares on Him today - all of them. What is strangling our faith? What looks too difficult for God? Cry out again for His help and then wait on Him to get involved. He sees and knows when the best time will be to come to our rescue. Do not become distraught over delays. If He can create the universe, hang the stars in space, arrange the planets where He wants them, see every galaxy of every solar system as well the hairs on the head of every single person alive, He can handle our situations. We must get this into our minds and the deep recesses of our hearts. We cannot pray effectively until we pray with the conviction that nothing is too difficult for God. I know there have been times in my prayer life that I have not believed my own prayers much less believed that God would answer.
We get tired. We get overwhelmed and stressed with the demands of life. We cry when we are emotionally traumatized. We are finite human beings who are limited in every way, serving an infinite God who has no limitations. His strength is never exhausted, His wisdom is never confounded, His energy is never depleted, His mercies never come to an end, and He never needs sleep. He can handle what you are facing and what you are frantic to see Him do.
Several years ago I went on a mission trip to Cuba. It was life-transforming in many ways but as I was writing this I was reminded of a difficult situation God brought me through. We flew from Houston to Cancun, Mexico, and from Cancun we flew into Havana, Cuba where we spent the night and were then dispersed throughout the country. When we landed in Cuba I noticed that I could not find my ticket for the return trip home. I had a ticket to fly from Havana back to Cancun but did not have the ticket to fly from Cancun back to Houston. I was frantic. I did not have enough money to buy another ticket and began asking the Lord to find that ticket. But that ticket was never lost to the Lord; He knew its location the whole time. I prayed and then got busy with preaching and ministering for the next several days. I almost forgot about the missing ticket until we gathered back at the airport in Havana. Right then, that same panicked feeling I had before resurfaced. By this time, I had been in two different countries and three different towns separated by hundreds of miles and more than a week had passed. I lost all hope of finding that ticket among my belongings.
When we arrived in Cancun I went to the ticket counter for our airline and told them of my dilemma. What they told me next is nothing short of a miracle to me - the lady went back to the office and came back out with my ticket! It had fallen on the floor as we flew into Havana over a week earlier and someone had found it and turned it in. After all of that, God supplied my ticket back to Houston.
If I had known what God knew I would not have given one minute to stressing out and being anxious over that situation, but I could not see that God had already handled it. What a reminder to me that God can handle our every situation! Maybe your situation seems more difficult than finding a plane ticket, but I assure you that whatever it is, He can handle it as well. Will you trust Him?
Steps to Trust and Obey:
Spend some time bringing your difficult situation to the feet of God today.
Ask Him to give you peace in your heart as you wait on Him to intervene.
Ask Him to build renewed faith in His ability to handle your situation.
Has the Lord spoken to you today? Is the Lord calling you to do something or to change in any way? What is your response?
Friday, April 10, 2009
40 Days - Day 17 (March 25-May 3)
Day Seventeen
“All Things Are Possible”
…With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
Matthew 19:26
What impossible situation are you facing? What mountain looms in front of you, casting an intimidating shadow? Today we are going to stare our impossible situations right square in the eye, trusting God to intervene.
The context of this verse takes place in an encounter Jesus had with a rich young ruler. This young man asked Jesus what good thing he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus told him to keep the commandments, to which the rich young ruler replied that he did. Next Jesus exhorted, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come follow Me.” (Matthew 19:21)
At this point the rich young ruler was grieved because he was wealthy, and he preferred his wealth over God. Jesus then told the disciples that it was extremely difficult for wealthy people to enter the kingdom of God. He was not saying that rich people are not or cannot be saved, he was saying that it is difficult because wealthy people often prefer their wealth or the things their wealth can provide, giving them pseudo comforts and securities and endangering the salvation of their souls.
There are impossible situations all around but today I want to narrow our focus to one. There are people in your life who have either strayed far from God or who have never been saved. The situation might look rather hopeless. You may have prayed for them for decades and have just about resigned yourself to the fact that they will never change. Some seem too far gone, too steeped in sin and destructive behavior to ever come to God in repentance. Several have heard the truth repeatedly but they have never responded to God’s gracious offer of forgiveness and eternal life.
I know you have tried. You have prayed every prayer you know to pray and there is still not one shred of evidence that any of your prayers have worked. You have talked, reasoned, pleaded, and debated, but still that family member or friend resists and rejects the love and mercy of God.
Please let this truth sink into your soul today - with men it is impossible. We cannot bring people to God in our strength and in our ability. We might be trying to do something in the natural realm that can only be accomplished supernaturally. God alone can convict. We might chastise, shame, and guilt people but only the Holy Spirit can convict people. Only He can draw people to the Father in repentance and lead them to salvation.
Here is the hope today - that is exactly what God does. He is convicting, calling, and leading people to repentance, and nothing is impossible with God. Nobody is so far gone that God cannot reach them. NOBODY! I am being tested; I have a list of people that I want to see saved or renewed in their relationship with the Lord. These are people I dearly love, have talked to multiple times, and in whom I have not seen any spiritual breakthroughs yet. Ten different adults who appear not to need God, desire God, or want God. This is an impossible thing if I am trying to do this in my own strength, but nothing is impossible with God. Nothing. No thing. No person. I recently saw two men at Wednesday night Bible study whom people told me would never turn to God. But because with God nothing is impossible, including the transformation of people, those men are now seeking God’s will for their lives.
I urge you to make a list of people you are burdened for. You probably already have such a list. Now, will you keep praying over the next weeks, trusting that God will do the impossible in their lives? Pray this scripture over the lives of those people over and over again. Don’t preach - pray and love. You will know when the time is right to talk, because God will orchestrate it. Be encouraged that if you are deeply burdened for someone, that just might be evidence that God is working in that person’s life as well to bring them to repentance and or salvation.
Steps to Trust and Obey:
List the people you are most burdened for to come to repentance and salvation.
Why do you think these are impossible situations?
What does the scripture speak to you about impossible situations?
Is there some other impossible situation you are facing? Pray over it and for the people on your list in expectation that God will intervene.
What is God speaking to you today and is He leading you to any steps of obedience?
“All Things Are Possible”
…With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
Matthew 19:26
What impossible situation are you facing? What mountain looms in front of you, casting an intimidating shadow? Today we are going to stare our impossible situations right square in the eye, trusting God to intervene.
The context of this verse takes place in an encounter Jesus had with a rich young ruler. This young man asked Jesus what good thing he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus told him to keep the commandments, to which the rich young ruler replied that he did. Next Jesus exhorted, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come follow Me.” (Matthew 19:21)
At this point the rich young ruler was grieved because he was wealthy, and he preferred his wealth over God. Jesus then told the disciples that it was extremely difficult for wealthy people to enter the kingdom of God. He was not saying that rich people are not or cannot be saved, he was saying that it is difficult because wealthy people often prefer their wealth or the things their wealth can provide, giving them pseudo comforts and securities and endangering the salvation of their souls.
There are impossible situations all around but today I want to narrow our focus to one. There are people in your life who have either strayed far from God or who have never been saved. The situation might look rather hopeless. You may have prayed for them for decades and have just about resigned yourself to the fact that they will never change. Some seem too far gone, too steeped in sin and destructive behavior to ever come to God in repentance. Several have heard the truth repeatedly but they have never responded to God’s gracious offer of forgiveness and eternal life.
I know you have tried. You have prayed every prayer you know to pray and there is still not one shred of evidence that any of your prayers have worked. You have talked, reasoned, pleaded, and debated, but still that family member or friend resists and rejects the love and mercy of God.
Please let this truth sink into your soul today - with men it is impossible. We cannot bring people to God in our strength and in our ability. We might be trying to do something in the natural realm that can only be accomplished supernaturally. God alone can convict. We might chastise, shame, and guilt people but only the Holy Spirit can convict people. Only He can draw people to the Father in repentance and lead them to salvation.
Here is the hope today - that is exactly what God does. He is convicting, calling, and leading people to repentance, and nothing is impossible with God. Nobody is so far gone that God cannot reach them. NOBODY! I am being tested; I have a list of people that I want to see saved or renewed in their relationship with the Lord. These are people I dearly love, have talked to multiple times, and in whom I have not seen any spiritual breakthroughs yet. Ten different adults who appear not to need God, desire God, or want God. This is an impossible thing if I am trying to do this in my own strength, but nothing is impossible with God. Nothing. No thing. No person. I recently saw two men at Wednesday night Bible study whom people told me would never turn to God. But because with God nothing is impossible, including the transformation of people, those men are now seeking God’s will for their lives.
I urge you to make a list of people you are burdened for. You probably already have such a list. Now, will you keep praying over the next weeks, trusting that God will do the impossible in their lives? Pray this scripture over the lives of those people over and over again. Don’t preach - pray and love. You will know when the time is right to talk, because God will orchestrate it. Be encouraged that if you are deeply burdened for someone, that just might be evidence that God is working in that person’s life as well to bring them to repentance and or salvation.
Steps to Trust and Obey:
List the people you are most burdened for to come to repentance and salvation.
Why do you think these are impossible situations?
What does the scripture speak to you about impossible situations?
Is there some other impossible situation you are facing? Pray over it and for the people on your list in expectation that God will intervene.
What is God speaking to you today and is He leading you to any steps of obedience?
Thursday, April 9, 2009
40 Days - Day 16 (March 25-May 3)
Day Sixteen
“Thirsty for God”
“Oh God You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for you in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”
Psalm 63:1
Are we thirsty for God today? In our souls there are hundreds of things, good things, everyday things, that compete with our thirst for God. I am talking about things like food, television, recreation, spouses, children, sex, work, cell phones, surfing the internet, books, and friendships. None of these things is bad in and of itself but there is the danger that we will delight in these things and give ourselves to these things to quench the parched places in our souls, when what we really need is a fresh drink of God.
How I long for us to desire, to long for, crave, yearn, and thirst for more of God. Today we must check those things for which we are thirsty. As a deer or a dog pants for water are we panting in our hearts for more of God? More revelation of Him, more time with Him, more passionate love for Him? Do we desire to hear His voice more each day? He must be the treasure and delight of our souls.
Today we are challenged to be on a relentless pursuit of God. That is what the phrase “I shall seek You earnestly” means. I read something from pastor and theologian John Piper which has sunk deeply into my soul: “God wills to know the actual, lived-out reality of our preference for Him over all things.”[1] Do we prefer God above all things?
We prefer ball games, texting, television, sleep, food, drink, golf, video games, movies, entertainment, pets, fishing, shopping and hundreds of things more than we prefer God. How can I make this statement? Look at two indicators: where does our time go, and what are we most passionate about?
None of those things are bad; God just wants us to thirst for Him more than any and all of those things combined. Reality sets in for each of us in the fact that there are days when we do prefer God most and do thirst for Him with unquenchable souls. On the other hand there are days when we wake up and desire dozens of other things and prefer to spend our time and energies in pursuit of those things rather than deepening our desire to know God.
I know a lady whose thirst for God has caused her to drive some forty miles to attend a Bible study for years, because she prefers to spend her evenings with God more than sitting at home mindlessly in front of a television. She is a wife, a mother, and a business owner, and yet her thirst for God supersedes all else. You can tell it by listening when she talks. God oozes from her life, her speech, and her passion.
I am not suggesting that you need to do the same thing, I am suggesting that if you do not have this internal craving to know God, there is something wrong. Something in your life is competing for your affections that should be reserved for Him. Today we are on a couple of quests. First, we are on a quest to explore and discover the object of our deepest thirsting and preference. If you can say that God is your only desire, the remainder of our time this morning should be spent in relentlessly pursuing Him again today. If you have discovered that there are one or more things that have taken top billing in your preference department, you must remove those things from the top places, or some of them may need to be removed from your life altogether. God alone should be your chief pursuit, the One you hunger for the most, desire the greatest, and prefer above all things. If you do not have that kind of thirst for God, why not ask Him to create that in you? Ask Him to open the eyes of your heart and to create desire for Him above every other thing in your life. I just stopped writing for a minute to reach over to get a drink of water. I did not have to tell my body to get thirsty, it just did. Several times throughout the day and into the evening I will stop what I am doing to go search out a drink. Sometimes I sip the drink and sometimes I gulp, depending on the amount of thirst I have. Usually the amount of thirst I have is in proportion to the amount of energy I have expended.
Last Mothers’ Day I got a wild hair and decided to ride my bike fifty miles to Hurst, TX where Brenda’s mother and sisters live. It was a warm day, and the longer I pedaled the thirstier I became. I took periodic drinks but came to the shocking realization that I was going to run out of water before my trip was over. I tried to conserve what I could, but with about seven miles to go I drank the last drop and my body was crying out for more water to hydrate itself. I began to feel faint and gutted out those last miles, and when I finally did arrive, I did not care about eating, family, or television. I craved one thing and that was water. I drank as many glasses as I could.
Maybe one of the reasons we do not thirst for more of God is because we do not exert much energy in our pursuit of Him and our service for Him. These would be two good places to start. If we start expending some energy on His behalf I believe our thirst will take care of itself.
Steps to Trust and Obey:
Is there anything in your life you thirst for and prefer more than God? If so, identify it and ask the Lord what He wants you do with it.
What kind of exertion to do you put forth in your pursuit of God? In your service to God?
What are you thirsty for God to do in your heart today? Ask Him for that.
What is God speaking to you and what steps of obedience is He requiring of you?
[1] John Piper, A Hunger for God. Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1997, p. 18
“Thirsty for God”
“Oh God You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for you in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”
Psalm 63:1
Are we thirsty for God today? In our souls there are hundreds of things, good things, everyday things, that compete with our thirst for God. I am talking about things like food, television, recreation, spouses, children, sex, work, cell phones, surfing the internet, books, and friendships. None of these things is bad in and of itself but there is the danger that we will delight in these things and give ourselves to these things to quench the parched places in our souls, when what we really need is a fresh drink of God.
How I long for us to desire, to long for, crave, yearn, and thirst for more of God. Today we must check those things for which we are thirsty. As a deer or a dog pants for water are we panting in our hearts for more of God? More revelation of Him, more time with Him, more passionate love for Him? Do we desire to hear His voice more each day? He must be the treasure and delight of our souls.
Today we are challenged to be on a relentless pursuit of God. That is what the phrase “I shall seek You earnestly” means. I read something from pastor and theologian John Piper which has sunk deeply into my soul: “God wills to know the actual, lived-out reality of our preference for Him over all things.”[1] Do we prefer God above all things?
We prefer ball games, texting, television, sleep, food, drink, golf, video games, movies, entertainment, pets, fishing, shopping and hundreds of things more than we prefer God. How can I make this statement? Look at two indicators: where does our time go, and what are we most passionate about?
None of those things are bad; God just wants us to thirst for Him more than any and all of those things combined. Reality sets in for each of us in the fact that there are days when we do prefer God most and do thirst for Him with unquenchable souls. On the other hand there are days when we wake up and desire dozens of other things and prefer to spend our time and energies in pursuit of those things rather than deepening our desire to know God.
I know a lady whose thirst for God has caused her to drive some forty miles to attend a Bible study for years, because she prefers to spend her evenings with God more than sitting at home mindlessly in front of a television. She is a wife, a mother, and a business owner, and yet her thirst for God supersedes all else. You can tell it by listening when she talks. God oozes from her life, her speech, and her passion.
I am not suggesting that you need to do the same thing, I am suggesting that if you do not have this internal craving to know God, there is something wrong. Something in your life is competing for your affections that should be reserved for Him. Today we are on a couple of quests. First, we are on a quest to explore and discover the object of our deepest thirsting and preference. If you can say that God is your only desire, the remainder of our time this morning should be spent in relentlessly pursuing Him again today. If you have discovered that there are one or more things that have taken top billing in your preference department, you must remove those things from the top places, or some of them may need to be removed from your life altogether. God alone should be your chief pursuit, the One you hunger for the most, desire the greatest, and prefer above all things. If you do not have that kind of thirst for God, why not ask Him to create that in you? Ask Him to open the eyes of your heart and to create desire for Him above every other thing in your life. I just stopped writing for a minute to reach over to get a drink of water. I did not have to tell my body to get thirsty, it just did. Several times throughout the day and into the evening I will stop what I am doing to go search out a drink. Sometimes I sip the drink and sometimes I gulp, depending on the amount of thirst I have. Usually the amount of thirst I have is in proportion to the amount of energy I have expended.
Last Mothers’ Day I got a wild hair and decided to ride my bike fifty miles to Hurst, TX where Brenda’s mother and sisters live. It was a warm day, and the longer I pedaled the thirstier I became. I took periodic drinks but came to the shocking realization that I was going to run out of water before my trip was over. I tried to conserve what I could, but with about seven miles to go I drank the last drop and my body was crying out for more water to hydrate itself. I began to feel faint and gutted out those last miles, and when I finally did arrive, I did not care about eating, family, or television. I craved one thing and that was water. I drank as many glasses as I could.
Maybe one of the reasons we do not thirst for more of God is because we do not exert much energy in our pursuit of Him and our service for Him. These would be two good places to start. If we start expending some energy on His behalf I believe our thirst will take care of itself.
Steps to Trust and Obey:
Is there anything in your life you thirst for and prefer more than God? If so, identify it and ask the Lord what He wants you do with it.
What kind of exertion to do you put forth in your pursuit of God? In your service to God?
What are you thirsty for God to do in your heart today? Ask Him for that.
What is God speaking to you and what steps of obedience is He requiring of you?
[1] John Piper, A Hunger for God. Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1997, p. 18
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
40 Days - Day 15 (March 25-May 3)
Day Fifteen
“Follow Me”
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.”
Matthew 16:24
I told the story yesterday about preaching at a camp and missing my family, through which the Lord told me to follow Him. Well, to be more specific, Matthew 16.24 is the verse He spoke to me during that time of prayer. There was nothing else, just this verse. I have come to love and appreciate this verse.
As we look at it today, let me briefly state what I believe the Lord is calling each of us to do. First, He is calling us to a willingness to endure suffering for His sake. To Jesus’ disciples, taking up the cross meant choosing to endure suffering, persecution, and even death. We have the blessing of having received redemption as a result of what Jesus did on the cross and it has therefore become a symbol of hope to Christians everywhere. The context of what Jesus is challenging us to is a call to be willing to suffer in following Him. That suffering might take many shapes and forms. You might suffer physically through persecution in sharing the gospel both at home and abroad. You might suffer ridicule from those who do not understand your methods or your ways. You might suffer poverty as did John Wesley or David Brainerd. You might be called to suffer in many different ways, but get this, a call to follow Jesus Christ is not always a call to a picnic. Yes, He offers us abundant life, but sometimes He leads us through some difficult and treacherous places when we answer His call to Follow Him. God’s call to the disciples led most of them to die a martyr’s death.
We are so filled with love of ourselves and our comfort, security, and ambitions, we have left little room for the cross in our lives. If we are really serious about following Him, then we are going to be called to take up the cross in our own lives. We will have to learn to die to the opinion of men and die to the luxuries of this world. I am not saying that we might not be loved or be allowed to enjoy luxuries from time to time, I am saying that we should not get too attached to those things. During His time on earth, Jesus Himself had no place to lay His head and spent his last hours on a cross enduring unimaginable torture. Who are you and I to be unwilling to endure a little suffering if and when we are called to do so?
The last thing Jesus told His disciples was to follow Him. He did not spell out where that path would lead, and He did not give them a detailed map. He did not even give them some hints; it was an all-in kind of thing. We are called to follow Christ anywhere, at any time, to do anything. For me that has meant traveling to foreign countries such as Cuba and Canada. I have been called to do things that did not make sense to the world. I have been called to follow Him to places that were extremely uncomfortable and trying, but it has been worth it. In response to our following Him in full surrender guess what we receive in turn? Full and abundant life. (John 10:10) This abundant life is what being a disciple of Christ is all about. Many will not taste this abundance of life because they are not willing to follow Christ anywhere. They are trying to protect themselves and what they are getting is a life of frustration with little joy and fulfillment. Following Christ is an adventure, and fulfilling beyond words.
What are you going to do with Jesus’ invitation for you to follow Him? You may not know where it will lead but do you trust Him? I never saw as an eighteen-year-old kid that call to follow Jesus meant preaching for me. There is nothing else I would rather do, and I love the calling He has placed on my life. Most people who read this will never be called to be a pastor or missionary. You might be called to teach a small group, give your life to serve and minister to small children, or to be an intercessor in your community.
Will you give God your “yes” today and completely surrender to follow Him anywhere? I am not saying that it will always be easy but I am saying that it will be rewarding and fulfilling like nothing else you have ever done in this life.
Steps to Trust and Obey:
Will you give God your “yes” to follow Him?
Where do you sense Him leading you to go and what do you sense Him leading you to do?
Prayerfully take those first steps in obedience, trusting Him with each successive step.
“Follow Me”
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.”
Matthew 16:24
I told the story yesterday about preaching at a camp and missing my family, through which the Lord told me to follow Him. Well, to be more specific, Matthew 16.24 is the verse He spoke to me during that time of prayer. There was nothing else, just this verse. I have come to love and appreciate this verse.
As we look at it today, let me briefly state what I believe the Lord is calling each of us to do. First, He is calling us to a willingness to endure suffering for His sake. To Jesus’ disciples, taking up the cross meant choosing to endure suffering, persecution, and even death. We have the blessing of having received redemption as a result of what Jesus did on the cross and it has therefore become a symbol of hope to Christians everywhere. The context of what Jesus is challenging us to is a call to be willing to suffer in following Him. That suffering might take many shapes and forms. You might suffer physically through persecution in sharing the gospel both at home and abroad. You might suffer ridicule from those who do not understand your methods or your ways. You might suffer poverty as did John Wesley or David Brainerd. You might be called to suffer in many different ways, but get this, a call to follow Jesus Christ is not always a call to a picnic. Yes, He offers us abundant life, but sometimes He leads us through some difficult and treacherous places when we answer His call to Follow Him. God’s call to the disciples led most of them to die a martyr’s death.
We are so filled with love of ourselves and our comfort, security, and ambitions, we have left little room for the cross in our lives. If we are really serious about following Him, then we are going to be called to take up the cross in our own lives. We will have to learn to die to the opinion of men and die to the luxuries of this world. I am not saying that we might not be loved or be allowed to enjoy luxuries from time to time, I am saying that we should not get too attached to those things. During His time on earth, Jesus Himself had no place to lay His head and spent his last hours on a cross enduring unimaginable torture. Who are you and I to be unwilling to endure a little suffering if and when we are called to do so?
The last thing Jesus told His disciples was to follow Him. He did not spell out where that path would lead, and He did not give them a detailed map. He did not even give them some hints; it was an all-in kind of thing. We are called to follow Christ anywhere, at any time, to do anything. For me that has meant traveling to foreign countries such as Cuba and Canada. I have been called to do things that did not make sense to the world. I have been called to follow Him to places that were extremely uncomfortable and trying, but it has been worth it. In response to our following Him in full surrender guess what we receive in turn? Full and abundant life. (John 10:10) This abundant life is what being a disciple of Christ is all about. Many will not taste this abundance of life because they are not willing to follow Christ anywhere. They are trying to protect themselves and what they are getting is a life of frustration with little joy and fulfillment. Following Christ is an adventure, and fulfilling beyond words.
What are you going to do with Jesus’ invitation for you to follow Him? You may not know where it will lead but do you trust Him? I never saw as an eighteen-year-old kid that call to follow Jesus meant preaching for me. There is nothing else I would rather do, and I love the calling He has placed on my life. Most people who read this will never be called to be a pastor or missionary. You might be called to teach a small group, give your life to serve and minister to small children, or to be an intercessor in your community.
Will you give God your “yes” today and completely surrender to follow Him anywhere? I am not saying that it will always be easy but I am saying that it will be rewarding and fulfilling like nothing else you have ever done in this life.
Steps to Trust and Obey:
Will you give God your “yes” to follow Him?
Where do you sense Him leading you to go and what do you sense Him leading you to do?
Prayerfully take those first steps in obedience, trusting Him with each successive step.
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