Worship Establishes Balance

Thomas exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus answered him, Because you have seen you believe? Blessed are they who do not see and yet believe. John 20:28&29

Believing is a difficult thing to explain isn’t it? Come to think about it, it’s a bit difficult to personally understand as well. It’s kind of like being “all grown up”. Kids can hardly wait for the day when they are grown up until one day they are there and can’t understand where all the time has gone.

Likewise, belief is something we can often see in others but, at times, feel woefully inadequate in our own lives.

This makes prayer challenging. Effective prayer requires faith!

So how do we go about increasing our faith?

We have all read the books or seen the movies wherein hope is slipping away and despair is growing by the moment. The horizon has been repeatedly scanned for possible escape; any help! Suddenly, miraculously over the distant hill we see the cavalry, the townspeople, the lone stranger, the long lost love… Hope turns to unfettered joy as desperate hopelessness turns to victory!

The Psalmist might have had an initial similar expectation as he begins his thoughts (Psalm 121)

I lift up my eyes to the mountains; from whence shall my help come?

He continues:

My help comes from the Lord who made the heaven and the earth.

He will not allow your foot to slip;

He who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, he who keeps [you] will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper

The Lord is your shade on your right hand.

The sun will not smite you by day, nor the moon by night.

The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul.

The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in

From this time forth and forever!

So how do we increase our faith?

Worship is the key!

Let me hasten to point out that we too often have the view that worship is music or singing. While music and singing are often present at worship and sometimes vehicles of worship, it can as easily be an escape from true worship!

In a discussion with a woman who attempted to deflect confrontation about her private life Jesus said, “…true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth and truth” John 4:23&24

“Worship in truth”…what, if you were sincerely honest would you really say to God?

Until we are willing to deal with truth we will never enter into the truth of worship. The Psalms are great examples of honesty. (For example, read Psalm 10 looking for the truth and for the turn around.) It is only due to the courage of the psalmist in laying his heart bare before the God who knows him better than he know himself that his perspective begins to change.

Once we experience the deep release of truth with God we will be set free to worship!

true worshipers shall worship the Father (John 5:23) in spirit and truth!

It is within this type of worship that we find the boldness to pray!

Set Right Again

For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

Many are very familiar with this scripture. Knowing about this scripture is far different from knowing the scripture. There exists a serious lack, in terms of time invested, in the Bible by Christians today. This lack has brought sever consequences. Fear, stress, relationship troubles, pornography, impatience, debt, mistrust, insomnia are commonplace in the lives of Christians in current times.

Jesus prayed the following words: They (the followers of Jesus) are not of this world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” John 17:16&17

We are “sanctified”(set apart for God’s purposes) by God’s word. There is no other method available. Jesus know that living in this world dilutes are strongest resolutions. The “truths” of this world begin to take on an air of acceptability over time. The only antidote for the “truths” of this world are the real truths of God’s world and the only place that we experience God’s world is through His word.

Hebrews tells us that the Word of God is living and active. Clearly then, scripture is not a stagnant document. This is an important distinction because, unlike every other book or document, the Bible reveals its truths in levels.

…the natural man does not accept the things of God; for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. I Corinthians 2:14

The closer we are to our “natural man” the less likely we are to read the scriptures because we do not “understand them”. The amazing resilience of scripture provides that, even if we begin close to our “natural man” state, the “sharp, two-edged sword" begins to speak to our spiritual man.

As our spiritual nature feeds on God’s word, our spiritual nature grows stronger and stronger. As our spiritual nature (faith) grows new levels of scriptural truth open up to us.

It is time to begin again. Pick up God’s word and ask the Holy Spirit to direct your thoughts and reveal His truth. Begin exactly where you currently are; He will gladly meet you there.

Dependent independence

Sunday was a bit unusual for me.

Without going into all of the details, risking boring you to death, I would like to share with you a message that our gracious God shared with me in a brief moment in the Prayer Room.

As I was rushing around with different perceived responsibilities I caught a brief moment to pop into the Prayer Room.

Already there were several people who had gathered to pray for the morning's services. As the prayers began an individual asked God to bring independence to all of those who are locked into dependencies.

Immediately, God expanded the thought in my mind. Here is what He said:

We easily choose for ourselves to be independent:
independent from parents, independent financially, independent from rules; this leads us to dependency: dependency on drugs, alcohol, pornography, gambling, approval of others...

If we were to choose dependency on God, He would give to us true independence!

Galatians 5:1 says: "It is for freedom that Christ set you free; therefore keep standing strong a do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery".

So over the last couple of days I have had to ask how it is that one can turn his/her dependency toward God and away from the things that enslave.

It has occurred to me that there is a key indicator of one's dependency on God.

Prayer is the definitive indicator of one's dependency on God. Let me hasten to add that it is not just the ordinary, everyday type of prayer that most of us Christians have learned to offer; it is instead the desperate cry from a hungry heart.

You will probably be familiar with a couple of stories Jesus told that illustrate this:

The first is a brief discussion with His disciples regarding the goodness of God

Matthew 7:9&10: "what man is there among you, when his son shall ask him for a loaf , will give him a stone? Or what if he shall ask you for a fish, he will not give him a snake will he?"

So often when we consider this scripture we do so from the perspective of the giver of the gift and the goodness of the giver. For a moment lets consider the requester rather than the giver. What attitude would a son have as he approached his father to request something to eat?

I would suggest that the son has few if any other options for getting his hunger addressed. It is dad or it is no one! His request is dependent upon his dad being the good dad that he has previously proved to be.

The second story that Jesus told was about a man who received a visitor late one night but had nothing to feed his guest.(Luke 11:5-8)

The man therefore went to his neighbor's house and knocked on the door. The neighbor refused to open the door due to it being late and he and the family were already in bed. The man continued to knock and knock until the neighbor got up and gave him what he needed.

Once again I ask that you look at this story a bit differently than you usually do. We tend to think of this story as an example of persistence in prayer. However, I would like for us to consider the desperation of the man who made the request. Why bother the neighbor over and over if there were other options available?

This brings us to consider the way we pray. We live in an opulent society that has taught us the extreme value of independence and self reliance. We hold these values as precious and true.

We are at a huge disadvantage when it comes to prayer that comes out of desperate dependency. We have too many options outside of our God!

For us to approach our God in absolute dependency we must first come to understand Who He Is and allow Him to reveal Himself it us! Outside of that revelation, our trust will be more easily place in the things we know, and see and have experienced.

Desperate dependency comes at a huge cost but it brings true independence!

Back in the Saddle

It is good to be back. I am sure you know the flood of "catching up" after being out of the loop for a while. It is good to know that one was missed.

Blessings to you and thank you for checking back. I will attempt to submit a new thought just about every day. Let me know if there is a particular point that you would like to see addressed. I have written much over the last few years and chances are that your issue has already been written about.

Jim

Time Away From Things

Today will be the last day that I post anything until May 21st. We are getting away from our tasks and responsibilities for a few days. Thanks for visiting my Blog. I would love to hear if you find it useful, challenging and/or encouraging. (I didn't ask about your not liking it only because I figure that if you didn't like it you would't still be around but if you don't like it let me know that as well; it will help me become better).

Jim

Getting to Know the Unknowable

"Getting to know you "

There is an old Broadway musical song that begins with the words: "getting to know you, getting to know all about you. Getting to like you, hoping that you like me…"

There is a reason why the phrase is "getting to know you" rather than "got to know you". It seems that knowing someone is more far more complicated that a first look, a few discussions, an appointment or two or even months or years of social interaction.

Many of you know the woman of my dreams and wife, Sheryl. This year we will celebrate our 36th anniversary of our marriage.

One amazing thing about 36 years together is that we still draw apart when we have busy weeks and lack of time together. The advantage of 36 years is that we can more quickly diagnose our troubles and move to remove the gap.

You see, we are two very different people.

By nature or by nurture I have become a night person while she is a morning person. She is organized and efficient and I am casual and priority challenged. She is teamwork; I am independent. Thirty six years together hasn’t changed these differences. Instead of change we have adapted to each other.

This is far more information about us than I feel comfortable sharing but the point I wish to make is this: Our time together in terms of years means little when we have limited time together in terms of minutes and hours. It is only by staying in contact that we manage to stay on the same page and maintain the same priorities.

This brings me to today’s scriptural challenge:

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it that it may bear more fruit…Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine and you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it shall be done for you"
John 15:1-2,4-7

That word, "abide" is a critical one isn’t it? Without "abiding" there is appears to be little hope for good. As a matter of fact, lack of "abiding" brings pretty dire consequences.

So many times we want to read the last part of that scripture that says, "ask whatever you wish and it shall be done for you" and skip over the rest. But it is clear the last part is wholly dependent upon the first part; particularly this concept of "abiding".

We must understand that, as in the need that Sheryl and I have for time together to stay in touch, the differences between Jesus and us are so very great and those differences can only be overcome by time together. It is in "dwelling" with Jesus that we are changed, not in an instant (in these matters), but over a lifetime together.

Purpose to dwell with Jesus and allow His word to dwell in you!

Formulas Are for Babies

There is a scripture that long confounded and disturbed me. How is it possible? Is it even practical?

I Thessalonians 5:16-18 says: "Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus"

A few short words that contain so much to contemplate. Even though I would love to address each part of this interesting and challenging scripture, due to the limited time and purpose of this space, I will limit myself to the challenge to "pray without ceasing".

After many years of struggle over this concept I finally came to understand that it is not the challenge that has me confused and wondering; it was my conceptualization of what prayer was.

Perhaps like many Christians, I knew that prescription for prayer: Head bowed, hands clasped, eyes closed, beginning with "My Father" and ending with "Amen". That is how prayer is done; at least that is the prayer that has been modeled for me for years and years.

So often the reality of scripture breaks down our preconceptions and shakes our comfort zones. Once again, scripture tells us to do something that doesn't fit into our definition much less our experience.

If prayer is a formula it is impractical to do it unceasingly. If prayer is a conversation doing it unceasingly is almost natural.

Carry on a conversation with your God throughout this week. He has been longing to spend some quality time with you!