Let's Roll

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).

The Israelites had wandered for many years knowing God's Promised Land waited. When it was just within their grasp, they just couldn't face the giants in order to get it. They sat for years knowing their blessing was just within reach. But they also knew that they would have to fight for their promise. It would not just be handed to them on a silver platter. But they were afraid of the cost.

Does this sound like us? We can see the promise of our vision, but we just can't make the commitment to reach for it because of the fear of what it will cost us. It might cost money or time or work. But that is not the most important cost.  It will cost faith. That is the payment that is required. We want the promise, but we don’t want to face the giant of our own fear. Blessings require obedience and commitment, and stepping out on faith.

God told His people then, and He tells us now, to be strong and courageous, to be obedient and committed. Know the Word. Fill your mind and heart with its promise and the strength that it brings to receive His promise. Do not be afraid, and never be discouraged. Reach out and make the commitment that is needed to receive His promise. Disillusionment and discouragement will vanish with commitment to Him.

Our pastor has a vision for our church. It is one of great promise. Caleb was one the spies sent to calculate the cost in facing the giants in the Promised Land. He returned to the Israelites and told them “Let’s roll!” But nobody rolled. The fear was too great. Years would pass before the Israelites would face their fears and claim their promise.  When they finally mustered the faith to claim their vision, Caleb then received his promise of Hebron. The lack of vision and faith of the Israelites held back the promise of Caleb’s blessing. Does our lack of faith hold back our pastor’s vision and promise for our church?  If we don’t roll with the vision He has received from God, it does. Our pastor will one day, just like Caleb, receive His promise because of His faithfulness. If we don’t support the vision he has cast, what we will receive for the lack of ours? 

"Are you guys ready? Let’s roll!” Todd Beamer cried out that Tuesday in September as members of flight 93 stood ready to advance against the greatest of odds. That's how Todd Beamer lived, and that is how he died. He gave his life so others might live.  He gave his life for that vision.

Our Lord gave everything for us. How can we not return the favor?

3 John 2 revisited

I sent some thoughts on 3 John 2 several weeks ago, but I need to send some these thoughts again. I pray that whoever this is for will find strength and courage in His promise.

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3 John 2

“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospers” (3 John 2).

When I first read these words years ago, I had just found out that I had cancer, and God spoke these words of directly to me. The Lord placed my name after “beloved”. I was His beloved. He wished for me to thrive and be in health! My mind focused completely on these words, and I decided they were His promise for me! He wanted me well! I read the second half of the verse, “even as thy soul prospers”. When my soul thrives and prospers, His promise is for healing for whatever my need. My soul thrives out of love for Him, and in return I prosper and discover His health. With spiritual growth, I can believe in God’s healing even when I haven’t experienced it, because with a prospering soul, God bestows greater faith to believe. With greater faith I also learned that the healing my mind envisions may not be what God has for me. But it is always for my spiritual best.

Are you facing a difficult situation in your life? Perhaps you face an illness which claims your days. God wishes above all things that you prosper in Him, and discover His truth and health for your life. Although it may not seem much, give Him the best you can give him, and He will give you His very best in return. Hope will prosper and faith will grow. You soul will prosper, and you will discover His promise for you.

Spiritual Cost

If you want to live for Jesus Christ, it will cost you something. You will have to grow spiritually. It will mean perseverance in Bible study and prayer, fighting discouragement, having reasonable expectations, and being honest with yourself and others. It is nice to read about spiritual growth, but spiritual growth is not easy. You must apply what you learn. Application needs commitment or it won't last very long.

Danger exists in humanly counting the cost of commitment. Being obsessed about the cost to you personally may cause you to focus of the "how" instead of the "why", and make you retreat from the depth of inward commitment necessary. With too little human commitment, your desire for growth fades away. However, there is safety is spiritually calculating the cost. When the price of growth is spiritually counted and the cost is absolute surrender to Jesus Christ, then biblical paradoxes take on new spiritual depth! Servitude brings greatness. Weakness brings strength. To live is to die, and to die is to live.

Give whatever is necessary spiritually. You will receive the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit! Spiritual growth within you will be a reality!

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him" (Luke 11:9-10, 13, NIV)!

His Strength Not Mine

When Paul wrote, "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me," he did not mean that he was to do all things and then rely on the Lord to find strength. He meant that for all he was told to do he could rely on the Lord for supplying the strength.

God's work in the world has been hindered by our self-strengthened work. Self-driven work finally wears us thin, and we burn out. Self has driven out the Spirit, and the strength that is offered. The Holy Spirit should not only be our direction, but our strength. We are to yield to Him, and wait for the strength He supplies. We are to rest in Him.

What does it mean to rest in Him? To be still and know that He is God? Those that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up as eagles. The Lord shall be the wind beneath their wings. That wind is constant, never wavering of faltering. It is as sure as He is the Cornerstone, our foundation. It supports all that you are, and in every way supplies strength for His calling, for your need, for every moment, every concern. That strength is your heartbeat, and you cannot exist without it.

When you are tired or fear suddenly closes around your heart, rest in the Lord until you are joyful again. Until His strength has become your own. Let your time of rest be one where His strength is renewed. Never seek to work for Him with your own strength. Work only with Him. You will discover that constant wind that carries you in the height of the Spirit. Live with Him, and in Him, and He will open doors of His own desire. My own self can do nothing, and it is in that moment of awareness that I find Him.

Don't Give Up!

For those who are about to give up….

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit. 

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow. 

Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor's cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown. 

Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit…..(author unknown)

You are on the verge of victory. Success (victory) is failure turned inside out. Don’t give up. Stand strong in the Lord, and believe. Your success is real. It is your promise. God does not want you to fail, and He never tells you to give up. It is when you are closest to your promise that you get the most discouraged! When the enemy fights the hardest to discourage you, he knows your blessing is just around the corner. Persevere and believe.

“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised” (Hebrews 10:35-36, NIV).

Victory in Sacrifice

Lord, I can conquer in your strength. There is no failure with you. But first, Lord, I must live in you. I must allow you to define my days, and define every area of my life. If I want to live my life to your fullest, then I must die to myself and allow you to live in me. Conquering power is your promise. I will know victory. 

That victory is often souls that have been won. Sometimes it is healing of an illness or resisting the enemy. Often it is in a sacrifice that others might not even know. But there is victory in the sacrifice–just as there was victory in your sacrifice. Often the victory comes as I lay down my own desires and needs for the sake of another. 

The world might call me a failure, but you know my victory is in sacrifice. It is in the moment I release my own desires, my feelings, my frustrations, and let go of my own self, I discover who you really are. In my weakness I am suddenly strong. In my sacrifice I find your victory.  No weapon against me shall prosper because I have discovered the power in sacrifice. 

Philippians 2

Life Your Faith

“Oh, my beloved one,” God imparts, “what do you speaks louder than what you say. You say one thing and do another. You teach someone about me, but then do the very thing that you said was wrong. My Word calls for honesty and integrity in all areas of your life. When your witness does not support what you say is true, then you make my sacrifice worthless. It breaks my heart just as my body was broken for you. My blood was shed so that you might walk in newness of life–not stay buried in the muck of your past. You have reasoned your actions until you no longer hear my voice gently leading you. I wait and long for you to hear. Give up the past ways that have defined you. Give up the things in your life that bring death. Don’t ever get to the place where you are no numb to my voice that you no longer feel my conviction. I want you to realize that your actions do not support the faith in me that you speak of so nonchalantly.  I am not a nonchalant God. I am life, and I wait for you to realize that you cannot instruct and encourage another in faith in me when it is not realized in your own life. Return to my heart. Live your life in my Word, and allow my Word to accomplish what it was meant to accomplish–new life in me. I love you, child, and I long for you to know and live my heart.”

A Beautiful Life

Each day I’ll do a golden deed

By helping those who are in need;

My life on earth is but a span

So I will do the best I can.

Life’s evening sun is sinking low;

A few more days and I must go

To reap the deeds that I have done

Where there will be no setting sun.

            This is an old hymn that my mother loved, and she lived it. Before she got ill a few years ago, she tried each day to do something special for someone else. She always helped those in need, and never gave up. She did the best she could. She lived her faith.

Have you ever known someone that states he is a Christian but his actions offer little evidence?  On the other hand. have you ever known a person that quietly reaches out to others without any fanfare? His life speaks of his faith! John Wesley believed that faith should be lived and shown in our actions. James, the brother of Jesus, agreed. “As the body without the spirit is dead,” he inscribed, “so faith without deeds is dead” (James 2:26). The worth of my faith is revealed in ministry, and discloses the value of my relationship with Christ. 

“‘For I was hungry’ Jesus said, ‘and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me'” (Matthew 25:35-36). If faith without works is dead, then faith applied as Jesus spoke in these verses is definitely alive. We are to share compassion, because of the sacrificial compassion Jesus had for us. True compassionate ministry is born of sacrifice, and recognizes the costly price Jesus paid so that it might be rendered.

Jesus had the greatest compassion toward me. How can I not have the greatest compassion toward others?  I want to live His compassion expecting nothing in return. My mother’s evening sun has gone down never to set again. She lived a beautiful life, and now she lives eternally with her Savior. I, too, want to live a beautiful life. Perhaps one day, I also will hear, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

My Easter Joy

Today is Easter, and I am free because of your sacrifice for me. Today you rise from the dead so I might walk in newness of life. Today you come once more into my heart and make me your own.

You are my place of safe retreat. You are my refuge from my own self. I can retreat from others into myself, but I can never hide from myself–from my own failures, my sins, my weaknesses, and my own limitations. I find that within myself there is no relief. But in these early Easter hours I discover that you are my sanctuary. You hide me under your wings until I forget my limitations, and my failures. You hide me until my own sins are washed away and remembered no more. You hide me until relief from my failure begins to fill my heart. You hide me from myself until the relief of your grace brings great joy. 

And that is my Easter joy. You have saved me from myself. I am free of who I have been, and free to be new in you.

A Miracle in Place

It was early on the Sabbath following Jesus’ crucifixion. Women came to anoint Jesus’ body with burial oils and spices. Why did they come? It was not for preservation. Embalming wasn’t something that the Jews practiced. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Salome had only one reason in their minds for coming to his tomb. It was the final act they could do for Jesus to show their great love for him. 

They asked each other who would roll away the stone. Even knowing a stone blocked the entrance, they continued in their journey. They had a passion. It was so strong that they continued on to the tomb. Have you ever had a passion, but let what seemed an overwhelming problem hold you back? When we often hit a problem or a stone we give up. These women preserved, and they were about to be rewarded with the miracle of a rolled away stone.

How many of us give up when we encounter what seems an overwhelming problem? How many of us don’t realize that this is the time that faith is meant to take over completely? These women continued on to the tomb. But what do we do? Do we continue or do we give up? The problem is meant to make us dependent on God. If Jesus has given you a vision, remember that it is His place to bring it into being. It is not yours. Continue on your way, and believe that it is only God's strength that moves the stone away. 

At the tomb an angel met the women and told them, “He is not here! He has risen!” Think of the impact of those words! They went to the tomb for one purpose, and left with the joy of another! From mourning to joy! From death to life! Go tell the disciples!

Consider what the women saw that morning, and what an experience it was. We read about it, but if we put ourselves in their place, we can see how overwhelmingly incredible it all was! A stone rolled away, and inside there is nothing but the cloths of mourning. And out in the world, Jesus is alive!

Whatever your passion or your purpose or your calling, remember the women who would not give up, and the unexpected joy they found when the odds were against them. They would have missed the miracle that early morning if they had focused on the stone. When it seems hope is gone, God puts a miracle in place.