Tag: Purpose

Purpose or career driven searches that might use vocation, job search, calling, passion, or direction as descriptors.

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Let Me Get Home Before Dark

Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Joy and fulfillment come from being who God made you to be. It does not come from things you own, titles you achieve, political causes you support, children you raise, friends you have, or any worldly desire.

Paul tells Timothy, “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom. I give you this charge” Think of this charge to Timothy and know it also applies to each one of us. The good works prepared for us in advance are a direct command from God before we came into existence. That is a critical thought. We are to chase His purpose in our lives, not get His buy-in to what we think it should be, based on our experiences, learning, desires, or self-actualization.

LOVE

I cannot emphasize enough that all that we do should be covered in love. The fundamental building block to being the person God made us to be is that we do it in love. We can have passion, but in that passion, it should not lead to sin. We should not put ourselves above others, even when we know we are right with God in doing so.

1 Corinthians 13:13, “The three most important things to have are faith, hope and love. But the greatest of them is love.”

If what you pursue is not cloaked in love, then put a big question mark after it. You might be going in the right direction with the wrong motive or the wrong direction; something is not correct. There needs to be peace about your daily walk. You should be more content with what you do than what you achieve by doing it. Being the person God made you to be is about obedience, not results. Western culture has driven us to believe that you can only gauge success by results; this is not true in God’s economy. God has His measure. Trust me, and I say this from experience, God will motivate you to stay on the right track. God will continue to reinforce your efforts if you are striving to be His person, not yours.

GRACE

Today, more than ever, we spend much too much time judging people by their worldly beliefs. Are they Liberals, Socialist, Conservatives, or Christian nationalists; are they pro or anti-maskers, or are they pro or anti-vaccine?  We all have quirks that distinguish us from those around us; some beliefs can separate us from others or minimize our Christian impact on the world. Grace is not just making allowance for others; it is also not letting our worldly beliefs stand in the way of our mission for God.

2 Timothy 2:23, “But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.”

The world is watching us. We cannot be held responsible for others’ conclusions, but we are held accountable for our actions. If our efforts cast a shadow of God’s love for all of humanity, we need to back off. People of disparate backgrounds and worldly beliefs should all be attracted to the Gospel. We are to model to the world what the world needs to become. Please read all of Romans 14, where Paul cautions us about letting superficial worldly issues stand in the way of our mission and purpose.

Romans 14: 12-13, “So we will all have to explain to God the things we have done. Let us stop judging one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put anything in your brother’s way that would make him trip and fall.”

It is not enough to correct people with your mouth, but to compel them with your holiness.

HOPE

To be the person God made us to be, we need to change our focus. We need to stop believing that worldly events are the source of our hope. If you start thinking that your peace will come from the world aligning with your expectations, you will spend your life disappointed. I don’t care how noble or righteous your expectations are; the world will always disappoint. Your life will still be shrouded in fear, anxiety, and anger.

Our focus, yours and mine, need to be on advancing the Gospel while we have breath in our lungs to do it. Advancing the Gospel does not mean you need to take up a placard and stand on a street corner proclaiming the Gospel. It means being the person God made you be. For most of us, it means being the person who is not moved by current events. The Gospel has not changed. God has not changed His intent for humanity. Things will go well for the Christian community, and it will go poorly for the Christian community, but the end game has never changed.

The reason we can show love and grace is that the temporal environment has changed nothing. As an American, the capital riots shook my world. I had lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis when a nuclear war was minutes away. I lived through the assassination of President Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Presidential candidate Bobby Kennedy. I lived through the Mississippi Burning murders, which lit the race riots of the ’60s; nothing questioned my resolve for this country more than the storming of our Capitol Building over the basic tenants of democracy. But, my hope was not in the political system or law enforcement, but my knowledge that God is and always has been in control.

In being the person God made me to be, my hope can only be in Him. I cannot divide my hope between God and man.

Matthew 12:25, “And knowing their thoughts he said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.”

For too long, we have hitched our wagon to the principle, insights, and philosophies of man. To be the person God made us to be, we need to get back to God. Crawford Loritts uses the the poem below in the introduction to his book, “Make it Home Before the Dark.” Our time is limited here on earth; we need to use it wisely.  The link below will take you to the poem that inspired Crawford’s book, it is well worth your time to read it.

Dr. Robertson McQuilkin – Let Me Get Home Before Dark

2 Timothy 2:15, “Do your best to present yourself to God as an approved worker who has nothing to be ashamed of, handling the word of truth with precision.”

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A Christmas for Eternity

Mark 4:18-19, “Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.”

Is your view of eternity a day at a time? Do the struggles you face today form your worldview? Are your prayers reflective of your needs and pain in the moment? I bring this up because of the year we have just gone through. Many of us have had to put our hopes and dreams on hold. Many of the issues in the news, and life, seem ever evolving. Social Media has made us “in-the-moment” people. Some of us get so caught up in the news of the moment that they lose sight of why they are here. We are here to glorify God from generation to generation.

Exodus 3:15, “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.”

THE SHORT VIEW

How we fight COVID-19 today is different from what was reported just a few months ago. The news about injustice changes as new information becomes available. Sometimes our worldview is cemented before we get the whole story. We worry about the economy as closures and unemployment rise. Our worldly leaders seem more intent on persuading us toward their agenda than actually solving a problem.

All of this drives us to a short term view of our lives and the world around us. We start to think that whatever happens in the next moment, the next week, the next year, or the next decade will alter our existence forever. We have to react before it is too late.

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Fear is the great enemy of faith. Living in fear is looking at circumstances as if God didn’t exist or doesn’t care. Fear is trying to control the uncontrollable. Fear is looking for solutions that are human-made, not faith-based. Fear shrinks our world and makes us ineffective.

Luke 12:20, “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?”

Who will benefit from all your worry?

THE ENEMY

Who is your real enemy? It is COVID, injustice, political leadership, or even poverty? Is it your boss or your neighbor or cultural bias? Or, might it be something that uses all of these to keep you from seeing the real enemy? Do not get me wrong, these are real issues that we should not ignore, but they are not the real danger. If non-believers bring about world peace and do away with poverty, hunger, and disease, are you better off? Short-term, yes, you are more comfortable; long-term, not so much.

We get so tied up in every day that we forget we are creations meant for eternity. Our entire life span is but a moment. A single day almost unnoticeable. It is real at the moment but not worthy of concern when thinking of eternity.

A Short term view of our existence is a tool of the enemy to convince us that God does not love us. It is one of the best ways that the enemy whispers in our ear that if God did love us, he would do what we want, God should address our fear with immediate solutions.

1 John 4:18, “We need have no fear of someone who loves us perfectly; his perfect love for us eliminates all dread of what he might do to us. If we are afraid, it is for fear of what he might do to us and shows that we are not fully convinced that he really loves us.”

THE LONG VIEW

Romans 8:18, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone” ― Pablo Picasso

Christ came for the long view. He didn’t come so that the Pharisees would be put in their place or the Romans would be run out of town. He even told His disciples that poverty would always exist in the world. He wasn’t looking to correct the by-products of sin, but to destroy the impact of sin itself.

Matthew 26:11, “The poor you will always have with you”

He died that we might spend eternity with Him. There will be no political parties or disease or hunger or injustice. These are of the world and therefore under His dominion to be eliminated upon His return.

Ephesians 1:22, “And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church.”

I would challenge each of you to divorce yourself from all news and social media for 30 days. I challenge you to only engage in gospel-based learning and information. I think you will find that nothing happened that would not have happened with or without your knowledge. I think you will find your world view has pivoted away from the temporal to the eternal. I think you will find yourself filled with more confidence and hope; concern and fear will decrease. The Bible will guide you in the due diligence required to deal with this world.

 1 John 5:14-15, “And we are sure of this, that he will listen to us whenever we ask him for anything in line with his will. And if we really know he is listening when we talk to him and make our requests, then we can be sure that he will answer us.”

COVID can’t stop Him. Whoever is in the White House cannot prevent His will. Nothing in your environment will stand in the way of God’s love for you. Stop fixating on things you cannot control and start fixating on the things you should control. Fixate on God’s providence over all things. God will protect your soul. God will prepare you for eternity with Him.

The greatest thing about you is what God has done for you. Live your life with the joy and peace of knowing that God has dominion over all things. You are safe within His hands.

2 Corinthians 4:8-9, “We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”

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Where is God in your Neighborhood?

My question to you is this: Where does God live in your neighborhood? Have you met Him in passing at a gathering? Have you engaged in small talk to pass the time? Are you so busy creating yourself that you haven’t taken the time to know and love your creator?

This post is a little different for me; it’s more of an allegory than my typical posts. It is a journey through a broken and lonely world that ends in warmth, redemption, and love. We all travel this same road. Some of us are fortunate enough to arrive at the destination faster than others. Unfortunately, some of us never arrive.

I see in my head this timeline of my life stretching from left to right across the horizon. At the far left is the knowledge that God wrote my story before I came into existence. This story is God’s pre-story of my life. His account of my life was to prosper, filled with hope and a future. But as I move along the timeline toward the right, my life story plays out as I lived it. It goes something like this:

I knew God lived in my neighborhood, but I didn’t know which house was His.

As a child, I went to church and knew there was a God, but He was probably busy with some of the other 4 billion people on earth or maybe building the rest of the universe. I wasn’t sure what He looked like or where He lived, or what He did for a living. I didn’t care; I was busy creating my life.

I knew God lived in my neighborhood as I saw Him around once in a while

Later in life, I would see something that reminded me God was there. It was in the clear azure blue skies, the crisp fall mornings, and in the full moon perched precariously above a mountain range. It was a kind voice or a gentle gesture.  I saw God in the complexity of the world He created that seemed to flow so seamlessly. It was like marveling over the beauty and craftsmanship of a Lamborghini Sián Roadster without ever having met Ferruccio Lamborghini.

I knew God lived in my neighborhood because  He talked to some of the neighbors.

Still, later I met neighbors who had met Him and talked with Him. He even did things for them. I didn’t understand why or how, but they were convinced. I thought you had to be His friend to get His time. He seemed like a nice enough guy but had to be busy most of the time. I envied that they knew Him but felt out of His league.

 I knew God lived in my neighborhood because we talked from time to time.

Finally, a friend introduced me to Him. He seemed open and receptive; our conversations were superficial, mostly me complaining about something I wanted. Maybe I asked Him why He didn’t fix something, but I never allowed myself to get close enough to Him to see him work. I wanted Him to help me but didn’t expect it to amount to much as I hadn’t done much for Him. Generally, you don’t get something without giving something.

I know God lives in my neighborhood because He took me in.

Then one stormy, rainy night, my house burned down. I stood by the curb in the cold, dark rain and watch the smoke rise. The life I had so carefully crafted came to an end. The things I have stored up for myself vanished. It was God who was there to invite me to live in His home. I lost a house, a shell of myself created to satisfy my worldly lust. What God gave me was a home filled with love and compassion. I have lived there since.

1 Corinthians 3:12-15 “Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.”

Great stories always start with great tragedies. We all like the overcoming-all-odds ending, but we skip past the overcoming part. The overcoming takes away from the thrill of victory. If we have to look at the cost, the prize seems a little tainted. We don’t like asking ourselves if the prize was worth the cost. We want to rejoice.

When we come out the other end after a traumatic encounter with our broken world, getting to the end seems less daunting than when we were in the middle of it all.

Where does God live in your neighborhood?

Many of us live ordinary lives that don’t strike us as tragedies. We pay our bills and are kind to animals. We try not to be overly angry, but there are many stupid people in the world. We help when we can, but we have a responsibility for our future too. Life is a compromise.

Job 4:19 “How much more those who live in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like a moth.”

That is the tragedy. When we surrender our will to the author of our lives, we no longer live with compromise. We live in the fullness of the life He created. Don’t wait for a storm. Decide to trust your life and all of its decisions to Christ.

Move out of your house into His home.

Ephesians 2:19-22, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord.”

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Casting Out Fear

Fear causes us to live small lives and miss out on opportunities that God puts in front of us. Fear scrunches us into a little ball of mediocracy. Fear stops us from “being all we can be.”

Isaiah 41:10, “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

There will always be moments when fear is the natural response to worldly things that happen around us. But I am not thinking of the life-threatening events when fear overwhelms; I’m talking about the day to day encounters. I’m talking about things like fear of failure and fear of rejection, and fear of humiliation. What I am talking about is living a life worth living. I am talking about having the courage to stretch your boundaries, experience God’s power, and live the story He wrote for you.

1 John 2:15, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.”

Formula for Change

How do we get from who we are to who God made us to be? A formula called “The Beckhard-Harris Change Equation” states that the value of the new state has to be greater than the value of the old state plus the cost of change before change can effectively occur.

Beckhard-Harris would say, Your dissatisfaction with the life you are currently living, plus a vision of what the new life would look like, plus knowledge of how to get to that new life, has to be greater than what you feel you are giving up.

Let’s put this in Christian terms; The value of an eternity with Christ has to be of greater value to you than that of your current life on earth, plus the cost you put on changing. Until we realize that the experience God has written for us is so much better than the life we have planned for ourselves, we will never reach our true potential and will always live desperate lives. If you are a slave to fear, this equation is out of balance. If your vision of a Christ-centered life is blurred, you won’t move forward.

1 John 2:16, “For everything in the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but the world.”

Our Current State

We have to accept that we live broken lives. Much of the stress and dysfunction we experience daily is not life; it is life without Christ. We have become so accustom to comparing the quality of our life with the lives around us that we have missed how broken those lives are. It is not about being less dysfunctional than the Jones. The bar is a lot higher than that. Troubles and challenges will come, we know that, it is how we respond to those events that defines our experience on earth and it’s eternal significance.

The Desired State

Now we have to come to believe that life with Christ is a life worth fighting for. Spending eternity  with the author of the universe is exceptional in and of itself, but as a cowboy once said “I’m not afraid of being dead, it’s the dying that worries me.” We still live on a blue spinning orb. We still have to get up every morning and live. Our desired state has to include God’s plan for us while we are here. God made us; he understands what we are experiencing. God created us not just to survive but to thrive. He did not put us here to see what we could endure. God created us to blossom and grow. He created us to be light in the darkness.

Taking the First Step

Once we see the vision of what life could look like, we need to create a plan to achieve it. We have to know our first step. Once we know it, we have to commit to taking it. Each of us is dealing with our own set of fears. Each of us will attack this a little differently. All of us should have the same objective; get in synch with God’s plan. Some may join a bible study. Some aren’t there yet, what they need is a close Christian friend that can help guide them. All of us need prayer and support through the scriptures. For change to take place you have to take the first step.

Matthew 11:30, “For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

Change is more about believing in the results than putting in the effort. Change is more about having the faith to let God lead than making an effort to take the lead.

What did Jesus say?

John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Matthew 6:34, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Isaiah 43:1, “But now, this is what the LORD says— he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.”

The Psalmist said, “I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.”

Our greatest fear should not be what the world around us fears, but we should fear the lost opportunity to be truly happy living the life God has planned for us.

Don’t be afraid of what God asks you to do; embrace it. More than just embracing it, thirst for it. Make it your mission to stretch your experiences, learn more, be more; grow into a genuine person of God.

Psalm 37:4-14, “ Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will do this:  He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.”

Life Worth Living

God wants your heart to burst with Joy. He wants to fill you with His spirit to where you can scarcely breathe. He wants you to hate sleep at night in anticipation of what the morning will bring. He wants you to live a life of purpose and meaning. He does not want you to fear the world. He has already overcome the world.

1 John 5:5, “Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”

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Live for What Matters

You are blessed when you become content with who and what you are because it is only then that you receive everything you ever really wanted. It is in that moment that you truly become free to live a life worth living.

Psalm 37:4, “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Most of the struggle we have with other people is a struggle within ourselves. It is a struggle to have meaning and value. It is a struggle to be seen and heard. The struggle is not a question of who is right and who is wrong; it is a spiritual struggle to matter in a noisy, confusing and increasingly evil world.

James 4:2, “You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet, but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.”

God had made each of us uniquely gifted to live the story He had created for us before we even came into existence. I used to think of that story, much like a novel. It has a plot with antagonists and protagonists; it has a journey and an overcoming. Most of all, it had a happy ending, at least mostly. This story is written in the context of the world in which I lived. The decisions I made about love and jobs, and destinations all had a specific impact on the plotline. I could deviate from the original plot, but then the story lost continuity and rhythm.

But then I started to realize that my assumption was flawed. Maybe the story wasn’t so much about the worldly aspect of  my life, but spiritual? What if the story written by God, especially for me, was to glorify Him in all that I do? What if I was free to choose my path, but the intent remained the same; every step was an opportunity to glorify God?

Now, this new thesis has a caveat. The caveat is that God gave me a unique set of skills and attributes that are to be used to glorify Him, such that a specific path is better than all other ways. But the intent stays the same for all of us; that is to glorify God in what we become. Some paths give us challenges outside of our natural gifts and cause us to stumble. Some people make us struggle with our identity and cause us to take our eyes off of the original intent. We need to stay focused not on our talents and gifts, but God.

Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

We are to be peacemakers. We are to take strife and conflict out of the world, not to be at war with it. We intend to attract others to seek God by them wanting the peace and contentment in which we live. We want everyone to be called a child of God.

John 1:12, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,”

God made us in His image. He made us so that He could enjoy communion with us. We must learn to be content with who God made us because; He created us for a specific purpose that no other can accomplish. He did not design us to compete with His other creations. They all have a purpose. All are meant to glorify their maker, each in their own way.

Genesis 1:27, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them”

We are to be led by the spirit to use the talents and gifts attributed explicitly to each of us to glorify God. We do not have to fight for meaning or value; they have already been established. If we do not have the right hair color, height or weight, job, education, or whatever your vice is, it’s OK. You are perfect in God’s eyes just as you are. He made you. The greatness in you comes from the contentment of being just who you are. Everything else is dust-to-dust. Live for what matters.

Are we actively seeking God’s kingdom in all that we do and say?

Romans 8:14, “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

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Contentment

King Solomon was not only favored by God; he was considered one of the wisest men ever to walk the earth. He made this statement:

Ecclesiastes 9:11, “I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.”

We all struggle with insecurity. That insecurity can be job security, basic provisions, self-worth, or purpose. We live in a marketing-driven world that demands that we strive for perfection. We are continually comparing ourselves to others. It is not always vanity that drives us; sometimes, it is pure competition, the need to matter, the need to stand out in a noisy world.

Galatians 6:4, “Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else”

When I think about what Solomon said, I sometimes go to Hugh Heffner. That is right, Mr. Playboy. By almost any standard, Hugh Heffner lived a bohemian lifestyle, devoid of a moral foundation. He promoted a completely hedonistic lifestyle, not just for himself but also for everyone; He carried the banner for Godlessness, yet he was a multi-millionaire. The Playboy Enterprise was called an Empire. What killed his business model was their success. Pornography has become so widespread and free; Playboy could no longer make money from it.

If the measure of Godliness is worldly wealth and fame, why do the Hugh Heffner’s exist? Just as Job’s friends tried to explain, we should be able to look at the material value of a person and see their Godliness. But it doesn’t work that way.

 1 Timothy 6:6-8, “But Godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.”

King Solomon reminds us that we are not in control of our future. We can do everything right, and it still can go wrong. We can watch others do everything wrong and prosper. Timothy tells us to be content with whatever happens. He reminds us that we should seek Godliness with contentment.

Romans 14:17, “For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

Our purpose in life, as Christians, is to know God and bring Him glory. In everything, we should first seek His glory and be content with the outcome. Larry Crabb talks about making the first things first. He warns us about putting worldly issues in front of God’s glory. He states, “The forces of darkness value blessings; they call them life, they feel entitled to them, and they’re willing to do whatever it takes to get them.”

Augustine said, “There can be only two basic loves, the love of God -unto the forgetfulness of self, or the love of self-unto the forgetfulness of God.”

Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Do our words and deeds glorify God, or do they glorify ourselves? If we live a life focused on glorifying God, are we content with the outcome? God knows what we need as aliens on the earth. He understands the environment in which we live. He wants us to live a life that is attractive to others so that we can share the Gospel. Everything we have or experience should glorify His name to attract non-believers to the contentment within us.

We should use the gifts that God gave us, in the environment that He has put us in, to succeed in what He has set before us. But we do this for His glory, not ours. We are working for Him, not for our gratification.

Live a life worth living. Live a life of contentment and meaning. Live a life that puts you to sleep at night counting your blessings. Glorifying God brings goodness, and peace, and joy to our souls.

Colossians 3:23, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.”

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Root Cause

The root cause of every sin and conflict in our lives is spiritual warfare. Whenever I feel envy or jealousy, it is because I have forgotten that God made me in His image. Whenever I feel lost or abandoned, I have forgotten that all things work for God’s good. Whenever I feel fear or anxiety, I have forgotten that God has a plan for me to prosper, not destroy.

Genesis 1:27, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

In the middle of the battle, it is easy to lose sight of the enemy. The struggle becomes about preservation and protection; we lose sight of the victory. We fight to survive; we fight for the right to exist and continue; we lose sight for whom and what we are fighting.

When we have lost our job, we focus on paying bills and feeding our family and ourselves. When we lose a loved one or suffer through debilitating pain, we focus on relief and comfort. When someone betrays us for another, or we get passed over for a promotion, we want confirmation of our self-worth. We become focused on the short term, not eternity; this is human nature. It is the way of the world. It is who we became after the fall.

Getting a quick new job or a new love may bring immediate comfort , but it also might not be the the right solution. In the long run is can mask the underlying problem that will soon come back. It is a placebo that mimics relief, only to let you down later.

I would suggest that if we could take a deep breath, step back from the immediate for a second, we might see a bigger plan. We might see the spiritual battle raging around us. We might see the immediate solution does not bring lasting peace; it brings temporary relief. We might see that God can and will use this very moment to enrich our lives beyond our dreams.

John 1:45-46, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Can any good thing come of our despair? Come and see. I don’t want to seem Polly Anna about this; we have worldly needs that we must address. But thinking that addressing only those needs will somehow solve the bigger problem is foolish. The bigger problem, the problem that brings the most distress, is a  lack of faith. The immediate problem needs a resolution, but knowing that God had written your story before you came into existence and He has foreseen this very moment, should bring reassurance, hope for the future and a degree of patience.

Psalm 139:16, “You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.”

The outcome may not be what you envisioned. It may not be as timely as you would like. It may not be easy, but it will be best in the long term. The struggle remains a struggle, but it is no longer a fight you fight alone. The closer you are to Christ, the darker the forces against you, the more you need an army to fight beside you.

Joel 2:11, “The LORD utters his voice before his army, for his camp is exceedingly great; he who executes his word is powerful. For the day of the LORD is great and very awesome; who can endure it?”

The next time darkness overcomes you, close your eyes and see His mighty army surrounding you. When jealousy, hate, envy, fear, or anxiety consume your soul, take a minute to close your eyes, and see God’s glory all around you. Take command of all of God’s army with a powerful voice. God knows what we need; he will provide. We must remember that the battle is not a worldly battle over fear or material gain; it is a spiritual battle over our eternal soul.

We are a prize that the Lord will not surrender.

Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

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Waiting on God

Let me start with a short story about patience. On the very first visit to a prison, God helped me better understand patience when waiting on God. I went with Champions for Life, and I was in Broad River Correctional, Columbia, SC. I was standing next to the rail overlooking the cellblock below me. I was in this particular location to avoid speaking to the inmates. Because it was my first visit, I was uncomfortable, and I didn’t feel I had anything to share. So I was hiding in plain sight. I was there without really being there.

My thoughts were on a hundred things without landing on anything, fleeting moments of clarity that dissipated like the fog in the morning sun. I know they were there, without knowing what they were. Then I heard, “I have been praying for weeks that my lawyer would find a way to get me out of here.” This inmate had settled next to me, without making eye contact with me, and started talking to me. You see, he wasn’t a Christian, but he thought he would try out prayer. He didn’t expect anything, but he had hope. I was a Christian; maybe I knew the answer.

Jeremiah 29:12, “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.”

The good news was that this was a conversation that didn’t require scripture memorization. This inmate didn’t know scripture. He had no preconceived theology. He didn’t even know if he had the right to expect an answer. He just made a statement. New evidence came to light that proved his innocence. But getting released was a process, not an event. A lawyer had taken his case and was working on his release. For two months, the inmate hadn’t heard a thing. That had to be incredibly depressing; to have spent years in prison knowing you are innocent, evidence finally surfaces proving your innocence, the release would come from outside the walls, and you were stuck inside.

I can’t remember the exact conversation as none of the words were mine. It went something like this; there was evidence to be reviewed, docket to be cleared, maybe hearts to be softened, liability to be assessed; God’s time is not our time. I remember his response; “Thank you, I prayed for encouragement, and He sent it through you.” That floored me. I couldn’t remember what I said; how could it have been encouraging. Was what I said even true?

1 John 5:15, “And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.”

What I took away from that weekend was to wait upon the Lord. I’m impatient, get it done, execution is everything type of guy. Ideas are a dime-a-dozen; success comes from following through. With my first visit to a prison, my challenge was that I wanted to experience changed lives, souls reborn. I wanted God to provide me with immediate fulfillment. I didn’t see this first visit as a step toward a new destination; it was the new destination. I fall into this trap all the time. I’m impatient about God’s plan for my life. Everything is significant, and I want to know why. I want instant feedback to confirm I am on the right path.

How do these seemingly false starts keep me on the right path? Why hasn’t this person or that person responded the way I thought they should? Why has nothing happened when I have worked so hard? I am waiting on the evidence that God is with me.

Mark 11:24, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

The second I ask, the prayer is answered. When Jesus saw the fig tree without fruit, he cursed it. But it did not die right away.

Mark 11:12-14, “The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.”

Mark 11:20, “In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots.”

The fig tree died from the root. It started dying the second it was cursed, but the evidence wasn’t clear until the next morning. God answers prayer the second we ask, but the fruit of that blessing may not be seen for some time. My impatience saps the joy out of that blessing. Sometimes when I don’t get what I want, when I want it, I stop looking and miss the blessing altogether.

Today I have a situation that I have prayed about for years. I have not prayed for a specific resolution, just that one happens. I want God’s will to be done. It ebbs and flows like the tide crashing over the shore; good days followed by bad days followed by good days—every fiber of my being screams out to walk away. I’m tired of it all. But a small, meek voice always cautions me to be patient; one day, God’s plan will be revealed. One day.

God may send someone to encourage you, He may not, but the blessing is already happening. Know that it is happening and know that God is faithful in all things.

Romans 12:12, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”

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The Hand of God

Genesis 45:8, “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.”

Today Joseph visited me. He wanted to remind me of something. Remember, Joseph is the guy that alienated himself from his brothers. He listened from the bottom of a well as they bartered away his life. His flesh and blood despised him so much they sold him to an infidel as a slave. Later he was wrongfully accused and sent to prison. Despite all Joseph had been through because of his brothers’ actions, he held no animosity toward them. Instead, he believed the hand of God was in everything.

Joseph reminded me of Ester and Jonah and others in the bible that endured heartbreak and calamity on the path to great things. Joseph consented to God’s power and had hope because of it. Jonah feared God’s providence and ran from it. Ester had to be told by Mordecai. They all were on the path to greatness, but greatness was over the horizon out of view.

I am always reminded that great stories start from great sadness. We love the joy of overcoming and sometimes fly over the journey. We gravitate to the feel-good ending without savoring the life they lived. No one wants to retire in war-torn Beirut. We do not want to talk ourselves to sleep at night by reliving the struggles; we want to bask in the overcoming’s glory.

As I struggle through this day, Joseph reminds me that his journey was critical to his prosperity. It is through his story that he  has value. The things I face today can either be obstacles in the way of my happiness or stepping stones to God’s glory. It is my choice.

John 16:33, “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble and suffering, but take courage—I have conquered the world.”

The bible is very clear that we will all face struggles in this world. Some of those struggles are of the nascence variety; some are devastating. Their value is mostly seen in the rearview mirror of life. The path is seldom flat, and wide, and lined with flowers. There are a lot of hills and rocks and roots. We shouldn’t lose sight that every twist and turn has meaning and value; God’s cemented His plans in everyday actions.

I love Mordecai’s statement to Ester:

Esther 4:14b, “Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?”

What we face; what we endure; what we triumph over is part of the fabric of our lives. It is part of the great tapestry God created for you before you came into existence. It is one of the greatest stories ever told, written by the most incredible author in the universe. It is meant to be lived. As hard as that may seem at times, it is true. Joseph was in a well listening to his family, betray him. Ester lost her family and was sent into exile to serve a pagan king. Jonah survived in the stomach of a whale. Each of these had their moments. We, too, will have ours.

It is what we do in those moments that define us. It is who we see in the mirror that determines our greatness. Our efforts do not create our greatness, but the action of the one who made us just for this moment. The courage we must muster is not the courage to overcome, but the courage to reach out our hand and ask our creator to take over; not to struggle and persevere, but to fall into His grace and turn the fight over to Him. Only through Him can we prevail. We can’t see over the horizon, but He can.

We live in trying times. Our plans are on hold, and the future became a fog of uncertainty. God knew this. It is part of His plan for you. It is times as these where we as Christian become separated from the weeds.

Matthew 13:30, “Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.'”

When our time comes, we want people to remember our greatness. We want them to remember how we held tight to God’s promise. We want them to remember when we could have taken the low road, but chose to have faith. We were born for times, such as these.  It is in these moments that God marvels of the greatness He created in us, and the greatness we chose to pursue. Today, choose to make God smile.

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Peter Pan

Peter Pan said, “You can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it.”

Peter wasn’t wrong. Paul put it a little differently.

Philippians 3:7, “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.”

Many people, men, more likely, have sacrificed everything else to gain power, privilege, wealth, or fame. The worldly trappings and the expectations of others drove their view of self-worth; they believed Peter Pan before they believed Paul. They thought that the uneasiness they felt was the product of not having enough. It was just the next thing that would make a difference. Many would look back on their lives and see that they had sacrificed everything in vain.

I don’t want to be that man. I want my life to count for something. I want to leave a legacy that will echo through eternity. In my death, I want to be bigger than life itself.

Matthew 6:19-20, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on Earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal.”

The world pulls at us with the gravitation pull of the Sun. It wants to keep us in its orbit of mundane, meaningless accomplishments. Eventually, our orbit will decay, and we will find nothing but a fiery finish. When the time has run out, we will realize that all that we accumulated will either be forgotten or exploited by others we have never met. We cannot reach back for a do-over. The do-over starts now.

Ecclesiastes 5:15, “Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands.”

Joy is a choice, and God wants us to choose joy, but happiness is also part of God’s plan. Not perpetual happiness with laughs and birthday cake, but true deep down happiness that grows from the soul. The type of happiness that brings tranquil sleep. It is a happiness that radiates throughout your body in quiet moments of reflection. It is a contentment that nothing else can give.

Peter Pan also said, “Never is an awfully long time.” To never experience the pure love of Christ is indeed a long time. It makes life a marathon in Death Valley, rather than a walk in the park. To always have to trust in yourself is exhausting. To always have to know the answers, have the plan, make a move, is to live a  life full of anxiety and worry.

Matthew 6:33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Seeking His kingdom and His righteousness is not just to put your sights on eternity with Christ; it is to live a life worth living here on Earth. It is to free yourself from chasing the esteem from others and only pursuing God. It is about having the type of faith that knows that Christ is with you, and your needs will be met. There will be setbacks and challenges, but you are not in it alone. You do not have to create the person that God wants you to be; God already created them; you have to find them within yourself.

Peter Pan, “To have faith is to have wings.”

Peter Pan wasn’t all wrong, but I’ll take Paul.

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