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I've been asked to be the commencement speaker at a graduation tonight for a local Christian School. Today I'm posting that address because, while it ministers to the graduate, I sincerely believe that it will also minister to your life.
I want to congratulate our graduate tonight. I celebrate, with you, the fact that you have completed a portion of your life. You have achieved an accomplishment of great value. As you receive your diploma, tonight, you can stand proud in the fact that you have finished something. You have completed the course. It has been a year of new beginnings, a year where you became both a charter member and a graduate of a newly reborn school. It is fitting that, in this year of new things, you are embarking on a new phase of your life.
As you close the door on High School, a door swings open to the rest of your life. Until now, your steps have been mandated by others. Until now, you had no real choices about what school you would attend or what field you would study. However, you are now starting a new era in your life. Moving forward you will be faced with many decisions. A whole world of possibilities is opening up before you. My friend, this evening we are standing on the horizon of your future.
It is a future that will largely be shaped by you. Your decisions, your choices, your work ethic, these are the things that will shape your future. I’m certain, tonight, that, from your point of view, the future looks good. I’m sure that you have high hopes and big dreams for yourself. I want you to know that I believe in you, the people gathered here tonight believe in you. We believe that you can change the world. We believe that your life can make a difference in this world. We hope with you for great things, amazing accomplishments, and a secure future.
However as we stand here together and gaze into the brilliant future that stands before you I want to share a little reality with you. As bright as the future looks right now, I can tell you with certainty that there will be dark days ahead. As inviting as it is now, I know from experience that somewhere over the horizon there is a storm brewing that will endeavor to destroy you. I wish I could tell you that, after High School, the rest of your life is a bed of roses, but it isn’t. I wish I could tell you that it will all be sunshine and smiles, but it won’t. Just as surely as I’m standing here right now life is gonna throw you a curveball or two.
There are going to be moments that try your faith, trials that dim your spirit, and struggles that sap your strength. I don’t mean to be the herald of bad news and it isn’t my purpose tonight to simply rain on your parade. I want you to know that there will be discouraging times ahead because I have a word from the Lord tonight that will help carry you through those times. When life is tiring, when you are struggling with your flesh, when bills aren't paid, when work is exhausting, when life is demanding, and when the future becomes unsure, I want you to remember this night. I want you to remember a commencement speaker that shared a special verse of scripture with you.
In Jeremiah 29:11 the Lord declared (ESV) "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." I want you to know this evening that God has plans for you. He has a plan for your life. This is the message that I need to convey to you tonight. Your life isn’t at the whim of circumstance and chance. Your future isn’t going to be determined by the economy or political situations. Certainly these are difficult times and it is likely that their impact will last many years, however, God has placed you here, at this time in your life, in this current climate for a reason.
Tonight, you’ve got to understand this. Your life isn’t governed by random circumstance. God has a plan for you and you can trust in his plan. His plan is to bless you. His plan is to prosper you. His plan may lead through some difficult valleys. His plan may take you through some turbulent storms. But his plan is for your good. His plan is to give you hope and a future. His plan is to take you where you truly need to go.
God has a plan for your life. It is this simple knowledge that gives the ability to trust the Lord and walk where he leads. Perhaps that's why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:7 that "we walk by faith, not by sight." Because, if we understand that God has a plan for our lives, then we also understand that we can’t always trust what we see and understand. Sometimes God's plan is going to take us in directions that, if we heeded our own understanding, we would never choose to go. Sometimes he's going to lead us into things that we, according to our own understanding, would do all that we could to avoid. However, the simple truth of the matter is that the road that leads us into God's plan for our lives will sometimes lead us through dry wells and barren wildernesses.
The only way to survive the journey is to learn that you can trust in the Lord. Tonight, as one who has walked this road a few years before you, I want to encourage you tonight with this simple truth, God has a plan for your life and you can trust his plan! His plan is to prosper you, not to harm you. His plan is to give you hope and a future. This, above all else, is the message you need to get tonight. You need to settle it in your heart. No matter what you face, no matter where this life takes you. God has a plan for you!
In light of that simple truth I want to give you a few pieces of instruction to help you stick with God’s plan for your life. First, understanding that your life is ordered by God’s divine plan, if you are going to follow that plan then you must know and love God. My first piece of advice for your journey is this: Get to know God. Get closer to him than you’ve ever been. As you grow older and walk through more difficult times your relationship with God is going to become increasingly important to you, nurture it now. Develop a relationship with him and a love for him because the faith that allows you to trust in his plan for your life springs from your relationship with him.
Secondly, worship God. The main thing that you will do in heaven is worship God. I truly believe that you need to get in the habit of practicing while you are down here. Don’t let life get in your way, don’t let yourself get too busy to worship. And remember this, worship is more than what we do on Sunday mornings. It’s more than music, the message and prayers. Worship is an on-going relationship with God. It’s a lifestyle, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Whatever you plan on becoming after tonight, first and foremost, make it a point to become a worshiper. Remember this, God will move heaven and earth for a worshiper. And there are going to be times when you need him to do just that.
Third. Make church a major priority in your life. Many young people come to the place where you are now and discard their faith. In so doing they walk away from more than just the support structure of the church, they abandon God’s plan for their life as well. Many new things are going to be coming your way in the coming weeks and months. You are going to embrace new decisions and a new direction for your life. But, whatever you do, don’t relinquish your place in the church. You will need the fellowship of the body of Christ along the way. It may not seem so important right now but, mark my words, the day will come when your relationship with the church will be the thing that carries you through dark storms.
Part of God’s plan for your life is to make you a part of his family. His family, in this current world, is embodied in the church. Make yourself a part of a church family. Make the church a central part of your life. Become active in your local fellowship. This is important because you were never meant to go through life alone. Someone got it right, years ago, when they said that no man is an island. No man can make it alone. So God created a spiritual family. The church is a major part off God’s plan for our world and it is a major part of his plan for your life. Become an active part of it. Your spiritual family will not supplant your natural family but it will compel you and carry you through places where your natural family will not be able to go with you.
Finally, as you make choices that will impact your future determine to find God’s purpose for your life. This is the most important thing that you will do because it’s the source of true contentment in this life. There is nothing quite like knowing that you are walking in God’s will for your life. This happens when you live your life with an awareness of God’s purpose for you. You are going to find yourself, in coming months, worrying about an education and a career choice. Those things are important but they will never give you the complete satisfaction that you desire unless they are combined with a sense of God’s purpose for your life.
God has a plan for you. God uniquely shaped you in a certain way to make a certain contribution with your life. Make it your goal to find out what God’s purpose is for you. When you do that, your career choice will be easier, the decisions about education will be easier, because it all works in harmony with God’s purpose for your life. Tonight you will graduate from High School, but somewhere down the road you will graduate from this life. When you do, nothing is going to matter more than the fact that you have walked in God’s purpose for your life. You won’t carry your career, or your education, into eternity. But, if you find God’s purpose for your life and walk in it, His purpose will carry you to Heaven.
Tonight you graduate into a world of uncertainties. As one man said, great opportunities surround you but they are disguised as unsolvable problems. I believe, tonight, that you will conquer the obstacles and make an impact on your world. I believe this because I know that God has a plan for you. And his plan is to prosper you. His plan is good. Find it and walk in it. That’s the key to true happiness in this life.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Faith That Preserves The Soul
It seems that, for several weeks now, I have been drawing from the same well. With very few exceptions the time I spend in fellowship with the Lord has resulted in inspiration in the area of faith. This past weekend, while pursing what I believed was an unrelated thought, God led me into another facet of the whole subject that should have been obvious all along but had managed to remain concealed to me. The scripture that I was using for my text led me to a study of the myriad of Hebrew words translated as hope in the Old Testament. I discovered in the course of that study that the common thread between all those words is the fact that they reference a faith that is directed towards the future.
Hope is, simply put, forward facing faith. It is hope that invites us to look ahead in confident expectation. Hope rises up and says that the current circumstances are not final. Hope declares to us that this is not the end of the story. No matter how bad things may get or how contrary the evidence may be, it is hope that refuses to lose heart. According to 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 it sees te momentary affliction as a transient, temporal, passing thing. Hope, according to verse 18, "looks not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen."
This forward facing faith that peers into the future looking for the fulfillment of a promise is, after all, the essence of hope. Paul said, in Romans 8:24-25, that hope that is seen is not hope at all. Rather, hope reaches for what it does not, even can not, see. This is what hope really is. It is an intense optimism of the spirit that refuses to relinquish the belief that a better future is just ahead. It strives, with all that it has, for that which has not yet been realized. It tops the mountain and gazes across the valley with the firm belief that the destination lies just across the way. It will not give up and it will not back up. Hope is thoroughly convinced that the promise that hasn't yet come to pass, is just about to be realized. It invests itself, fully, in what it cannot presently see.
Perhaps this is why Paul said, in Romans 8:24, "for in this hope we are saved." Because our salvation relies on this hope. Paul said that we groan inwardly and wait eagerly, in anticipation of the promise that we have only heard of but have never seen. There is a significant longing of the pirit that manifests itself in hope that propells us towards heaven's open door. Every person that is saved will possess within their being this fervent hope that declares, this world is not my home. It is a hope that is constantly striving for a city whose builder and maker is God. It is a hope that propells the sinner form the pew to the alter, it is a hope that persuades the bound to leave their habits behind and pursue a better way, it is a hope that persuades men and women to lay down their lives and lal they have and reach for that which they can only see through the eyes of faith.
The greatest challenge to this kind of hope is the tendency, that we all possess, to get bogged down in the present circumstance. Today's affairs, today's circumstances, today's problems and doubts and fears will attempt to entangle and entrap you and rob you of your hope. If we aren't careful we will allow the circumstances of this life to temper our hope. I want to encourage you today to make a conscious effort to keep hope alive in your heart. If we aren't careful our faith may become jaded and our hope may dim. Life will give us every opportunity to turn back, to shrink away from the promise of God. With this in mind, the writer of Hebrews said, in Hebrews 10:39, "we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls."
I feel compelled today to remind you that there is a faith, born of hope, that preserves the soul. When the things of this life would damage and destroy you, hope rises up and preserves the soul. When trouble and tragedy would diminish your fervor, hope looks to the future and propels you on. There is a preserving hope that results in a persistent faith that refuses to give up and toss in the towel. Perhaps this is why Paul says, in the next verse (11:1), that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Faith is the assurance of the thing that you can only hope for, it is the conviction of the thing that has not yet been seen. That's the kind of faith that preserves the soul, it endures the moment but strives for the promise.
Hope is, simply put, forward facing faith. It is hope that invites us to look ahead in confident expectation. Hope rises up and says that the current circumstances are not final. Hope declares to us that this is not the end of the story. No matter how bad things may get or how contrary the evidence may be, it is hope that refuses to lose heart. According to 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 it sees te momentary affliction as a transient, temporal, passing thing. Hope, according to verse 18, "looks not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen."
This forward facing faith that peers into the future looking for the fulfillment of a promise is, after all, the essence of hope. Paul said, in Romans 8:24-25, that hope that is seen is not hope at all. Rather, hope reaches for what it does not, even can not, see. This is what hope really is. It is an intense optimism of the spirit that refuses to relinquish the belief that a better future is just ahead. It strives, with all that it has, for that which has not yet been realized. It tops the mountain and gazes across the valley with the firm belief that the destination lies just across the way. It will not give up and it will not back up. Hope is thoroughly convinced that the promise that hasn't yet come to pass, is just about to be realized. It invests itself, fully, in what it cannot presently see.
Perhaps this is why Paul said, in Romans 8:24, "for in this hope we are saved." Because our salvation relies on this hope. Paul said that we groan inwardly and wait eagerly, in anticipation of the promise that we have only heard of but have never seen. There is a significant longing of the pirit that manifests itself in hope that propells us towards heaven's open door. Every person that is saved will possess within their being this fervent hope that declares, this world is not my home. It is a hope that is constantly striving for a city whose builder and maker is God. It is a hope that propells the sinner form the pew to the alter, it is a hope that persuades the bound to leave their habits behind and pursue a better way, it is a hope that persuades men and women to lay down their lives and lal they have and reach for that which they can only see through the eyes of faith.
The greatest challenge to this kind of hope is the tendency, that we all possess, to get bogged down in the present circumstance. Today's affairs, today's circumstances, today's problems and doubts and fears will attempt to entangle and entrap you and rob you of your hope. If we aren't careful we will allow the circumstances of this life to temper our hope. I want to encourage you today to make a conscious effort to keep hope alive in your heart. If we aren't careful our faith may become jaded and our hope may dim. Life will give us every opportunity to turn back, to shrink away from the promise of God. With this in mind, the writer of Hebrews said, in Hebrews 10:39, "we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls."
I feel compelled today to remind you that there is a faith, born of hope, that preserves the soul. When the things of this life would damage and destroy you, hope rises up and preserves the soul. When trouble and tragedy would diminish your fervor, hope looks to the future and propels you on. There is a preserving hope that results in a persistent faith that refuses to give up and toss in the towel. Perhaps this is why Paul says, in the next verse (11:1), that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Faith is the assurance of the thing that you can only hope for, it is the conviction of the thing that has not yet been seen. That's the kind of faith that preserves the soul, it endures the moment but strives for the promise.
Friday, May 22, 2009
God Has A Plan...
In the authoritative voice of a man anointed by God, Jeremiah spoke of judgment for Israel but he also spoke of promise. After pronouncing the terrible captivity that was to come he proceeded to share in Jeremiah 29:11 that the Lord had declared "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." This afternoon this scripture was prompted to my mind out of the blue and God spoke to my heart as only he can. The thought was simple but powerful, "I have a plan for you!"
God has a plan for me. He has a plan for you as well. And his plan, the prophet reminded us, is to prosper us, not to harm us. His plan is to give us hope and a future. I don't know about you but I am excited today by the simple yet profound knowledge that God has a plan and a purpose for me!
I know what you're thinking. So what's new? I've known all along that God had a plan for me. I've known all along that God was directing my paths. Yes, me too. But there' something about that sudden confirmation that can only come from a heavenly experience. There's something about realizing that God knows right where I am and He has a plan for my life.
His plan may lead through some difficult valleys, his plan may take me through some turbulent storms, but his plan is for my good. His plan is to give me hope and a future. His plan is taking me where I truly need to go. It is this simple knowledge that gives the ability to trust the Lord and walk where he leads.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, David said, I know that you are with me! There's something about knowing that God is with you, that makes even the most difficult of places a comfort to the soul instead of a terror to the flesh. Pardon me if it's too elementary for you, but I just want to celebrate the fact, today, that God has a plan for me!
God has a plan. That's good enough for me. Lead on, precious Lord. Where you lead, I'll gladly follow...
God has a plan for me. He has a plan for you as well. And his plan, the prophet reminded us, is to prosper us, not to harm us. His plan is to give us hope and a future. I don't know about you but I am excited today by the simple yet profound knowledge that God has a plan and a purpose for me!
I know what you're thinking. So what's new? I've known all along that God had a plan for me. I've known all along that God was directing my paths. Yes, me too. But there' something about that sudden confirmation that can only come from a heavenly experience. There's something about realizing that God knows right where I am and He has a plan for my life.
His plan may lead through some difficult valleys, his plan may take me through some turbulent storms, but his plan is for my good. His plan is to give me hope and a future. His plan is taking me where I truly need to go. It is this simple knowledge that gives the ability to trust the Lord and walk where he leads.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, David said, I know that you are with me! There's something about knowing that God is with you, that makes even the most difficult of places a comfort to the soul instead of a terror to the flesh. Pardon me if it's too elementary for you, but I just want to celebrate the fact, today, that God has a plan for me!
God has a plan. That's good enough for me. Lead on, precious Lord. Where you lead, I'll gladly follow...
Thursday, May 21, 2009
The Day That Nothing Happened...
It was just an ordinary day. It was a day like any other day. It was incredibly, boringly normal. The sun came up on the eastern horizon and settled down in the west. The usual business was conducted, normal people went about their normal lives with no real notable events taking place. It was just another run-of-the-mill day. One single day in a monotonous week, buried in a normal month, hidden in a year full of such days. It was just another date on a calendar. It was probably a day just like today, a plain old ordinary day.
As a matter of fact, the day was so unremarkable that England's ruling monarch, George III, reportedly wrote in his journal that "Nothing of importance happened today." That pretty well summed it up. The affairs of state had been seen to, the political wheels had continued to turn, the business of a nation had been conducted and nothing of any real importance had occurred on that simple, unassuming, ordinary day.
However, on the day that nothing happened the wold was completely changed. Future days, months and years would bear witness to the monumental change that occurred on that quiet, ordinary day. In retrospect, it was a day that would shape the future of nations. It was a day that would forever impact human society. It was the day that freedom was born and liberty was declared. That day was July 4, 1776, and it was the day that the Declaration of Independence was adopted by delegates to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. What an incredible day!
As I read the words written by King George earlier today it caused the wheels to begin to turn in my mind. It was a day just like this one. How many times do we take fore granted the gift of another normal day? How many times do we look around our seemingly normal lives in the midst of an average day and label it as unimportant, as a day when nothing of any importance is going to take place?
I want to remind you today that it was on a day just like this that this nation was born. The repercussions of that event have framed the worlds history from that day to this. It was on a day just like this that roman centurion became the first of many Gentiles to be filled with the wonderful gift of the Holy Ghost. That day the gospel was demonstrated to be for the Jew and the Gentile alike and you and I become benefactors of the promise of God. It was on a day just like this that Stephen was stoned to death. That day was forever burned into the memory of the man who would later be used of God to deliver much of the New Testament to us. It was on a day just like this that a preacher decided to start holding revival meetings in an abandoned livery stable on Azusa Street.
Today may feel like an ordinary day. It may seem to be destined to be a day during which nothing of any importance will take place. However, I feel impressed to nudge your spirit today and remind you that it will be on a day like this that a chance meeting will plant the seed for the revival that will transform your city. It will be on a day like this that a spiritual foothold will be gained that will lead to a revival that will change the face of an entire region. It will be on a day like this that he will split the eastern sky.
It may seem like an ordinary day but "this is the day which the Lord has made." (Psalm 118:24) This is a day that was divinely ordained for your life. This is a day that God planned for you before you even woke up this morning. Don't make the mistake of writing this day off as just another ordinary day. Today is full of promise. Today is full of opportunity. God has good things in store for you today.
I can't help but wonder today what kind of fruit tomorrow will bear from what happened in our lives today. How will this single, simple, ordinary day shape the coming weeks and months of our lives? Who will you talk to today? Who will watch you from a distance? Who will be touched by your example today? What open door will god place in your life today? What opportunity will present itself in the disguise of a day where nothing of any importance happened?
Indeed, this IS the day that God has made for you. Don't waste it, don't over look it and don't underestimate it. God has a purpose for this simple ordinary day...
As a matter of fact, the day was so unremarkable that England's ruling monarch, George III, reportedly wrote in his journal that "Nothing of importance happened today." That pretty well summed it up. The affairs of state had been seen to, the political wheels had continued to turn, the business of a nation had been conducted and nothing of any real importance had occurred on that simple, unassuming, ordinary day.
However, on the day that nothing happened the wold was completely changed. Future days, months and years would bear witness to the monumental change that occurred on that quiet, ordinary day. In retrospect, it was a day that would shape the future of nations. It was a day that would forever impact human society. It was the day that freedom was born and liberty was declared. That day was July 4, 1776, and it was the day that the Declaration of Independence was adopted by delegates to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. What an incredible day!
As I read the words written by King George earlier today it caused the wheels to begin to turn in my mind. It was a day just like this one. How many times do we take fore granted the gift of another normal day? How many times do we look around our seemingly normal lives in the midst of an average day and label it as unimportant, as a day when nothing of any importance is going to take place?
I want to remind you today that it was on a day just like this that this nation was born. The repercussions of that event have framed the worlds history from that day to this. It was on a day just like this that roman centurion became the first of many Gentiles to be filled with the wonderful gift of the Holy Ghost. That day the gospel was demonstrated to be for the Jew and the Gentile alike and you and I become benefactors of the promise of God. It was on a day just like this that Stephen was stoned to death. That day was forever burned into the memory of the man who would later be used of God to deliver much of the New Testament to us. It was on a day just like this that a preacher decided to start holding revival meetings in an abandoned livery stable on Azusa Street.
Today may feel like an ordinary day. It may seem to be destined to be a day during which nothing of any importance will take place. However, I feel impressed to nudge your spirit today and remind you that it will be on a day like this that a chance meeting will plant the seed for the revival that will transform your city. It will be on a day like this that a spiritual foothold will be gained that will lead to a revival that will change the face of an entire region. It will be on a day like this that he will split the eastern sky.
It may seem like an ordinary day but "this is the day which the Lord has made." (Psalm 118:24) This is a day that was divinely ordained for your life. This is a day that God planned for you before you even woke up this morning. Don't make the mistake of writing this day off as just another ordinary day. Today is full of promise. Today is full of opportunity. God has good things in store for you today.
I can't help but wonder today what kind of fruit tomorrow will bear from what happened in our lives today. How will this single, simple, ordinary day shape the coming weeks and months of our lives? Who will you talk to today? Who will watch you from a distance? Who will be touched by your example today? What open door will god place in your life today? What opportunity will present itself in the disguise of a day where nothing of any importance happened?
Indeed, this IS the day that God has made for you. Don't waste it, don't over look it and don't underestimate it. God has a purpose for this simple ordinary day...
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Trust in the Lord...
Solomon, in his profound wisdom instructed us to trust in the Lord. (Proverbs 3:5) Trust is a very difficult thing to truly exhibit. To trust someone else you must first relinquish your trust in yourself. This is exceedingly difficult for us humans. Many times the lessons that life has taught us have led us to the conclusion that the only person we can truly trust is ourselves.
However, as it is with many of our carnal conclusions, nothing could be further from the truth. The Lord is the only one that we can truly trust, even above ourselves. The problem is that true trust in him is often a last resort for us. Like the woman with the issue of blood, we tend to exhaust every possible avenue available to us before we finally place our full trust in the Lord.
Why is this? Mainly because we have a predisposition to trust in what we can see and feel. We have been conditioned to trust our natural senses. We use them to define our world as well as our possibilities and impossibilities. In many cases we have simply learned that it is safest to walk by sight. We have learned that we can trust what we see and understand. We have learned that it is safest to sail in waters that allow us to keep the shore in sight.
However, the wisdom of Proverbs declares, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding." (Proverbs 3:5 ESV) What a difficult piece of instruction! Not only are we commanded to trust the Lord rather than our own ability, we are also admonished not to trust our own understanding.
Solomon has directed us to subjugate our senses to our faith in God. Trust the Lord, he declares, beyond, or even in spite of, your own understanding. Ignore what you can see, or understand, and trust in the Lord. Ignore what the balance sheet says and trust God. Ignore what the doctor says and trust God. Ignore what the lawyers may say and trust in the Lord. Ignore what the economy declares and place your trust in God. What a powerful admonition. It's much easier to write it, however, than it is to live it.
The bottom line is that the instruction to trust the Lord is very difficult to assimilate into our own realities. However, the record of both history and the scriptures bear evidence to the fact that when we ignore this simple wisdom bad things are prone to happen. Trust is not an easy thing. But it is a necessary part of our walk with God. Only by trust can we truly walk in the places that he has determined for our lives.
Abraham was promised a child after his own understanding told him it was too late for he and Sarah to have children. Abraham fell prey to the tendency to trust our own understanding over the word of the Lord. He came to the conclusion that he needed to help God out. The next move that Abraham made caused him to father a problem instead of a promise. Because he failed to trust the Lord, he set in motion a struggle that continues to plague our world even to this day. All because he trusted what he could understand instead of trusting the Lord.
Perhaps that's why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:7 that "we walk by faith, not by sight." This is the key to following God's will and way in your life. Sometimes he's going to take us in directions that, if we heeded our own understanding, we would never choose to go. Sometimes he's going to lead us into things that we, according to our own understanding, would do all that we could to avoid. However, the simple truth of the matter is that the road that leads us into God's will for our lives sometimes leads through dry wells and barren wildernesses. How will we ever survive those journeys unless we learn, perhaps somewhere along the way, to trust in the Lord with all of our hearts, and not to lean on our own understanding.
That's where I find myself today. Trusting in the Lord. Walking by faith. Knowing in my heart that "the steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD." (Psalm 37:23 ESV) So, today, I press on...
However, as it is with many of our carnal conclusions, nothing could be further from the truth. The Lord is the only one that we can truly trust, even above ourselves. The problem is that true trust in him is often a last resort for us. Like the woman with the issue of blood, we tend to exhaust every possible avenue available to us before we finally place our full trust in the Lord.
Why is this? Mainly because we have a predisposition to trust in what we can see and feel. We have been conditioned to trust our natural senses. We use them to define our world as well as our possibilities and impossibilities. In many cases we have simply learned that it is safest to walk by sight. We have learned that we can trust what we see and understand. We have learned that it is safest to sail in waters that allow us to keep the shore in sight.
However, the wisdom of Proverbs declares, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding." (Proverbs 3:5 ESV) What a difficult piece of instruction! Not only are we commanded to trust the Lord rather than our own ability, we are also admonished not to trust our own understanding.
Solomon has directed us to subjugate our senses to our faith in God. Trust the Lord, he declares, beyond, or even in spite of, your own understanding. Ignore what you can see, or understand, and trust in the Lord. Ignore what the balance sheet says and trust God. Ignore what the doctor says and trust God. Ignore what the lawyers may say and trust in the Lord. Ignore what the economy declares and place your trust in God. What a powerful admonition. It's much easier to write it, however, than it is to live it.
The bottom line is that the instruction to trust the Lord is very difficult to assimilate into our own realities. However, the record of both history and the scriptures bear evidence to the fact that when we ignore this simple wisdom bad things are prone to happen. Trust is not an easy thing. But it is a necessary part of our walk with God. Only by trust can we truly walk in the places that he has determined for our lives.
Abraham was promised a child after his own understanding told him it was too late for he and Sarah to have children. Abraham fell prey to the tendency to trust our own understanding over the word of the Lord. He came to the conclusion that he needed to help God out. The next move that Abraham made caused him to father a problem instead of a promise. Because he failed to trust the Lord, he set in motion a struggle that continues to plague our world even to this day. All because he trusted what he could understand instead of trusting the Lord.
Perhaps that's why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:7 that "we walk by faith, not by sight." This is the key to following God's will and way in your life. Sometimes he's going to take us in directions that, if we heeded our own understanding, we would never choose to go. Sometimes he's going to lead us into things that we, according to our own understanding, would do all that we could to avoid. However, the simple truth of the matter is that the road that leads us into God's will for our lives sometimes leads through dry wells and barren wildernesses. How will we ever survive those journeys unless we learn, perhaps somewhere along the way, to trust in the Lord with all of our hearts, and not to lean on our own understanding.
That's where I find myself today. Trusting in the Lord. Walking by faith. Knowing in my heart that "the steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD." (Psalm 37:23 ESV) So, today, I press on...
Thursday, May 14, 2009
What Manner Of Man Was He?
In Matthew 8 Jesus and his disciples get on a boat to travel to the other side of the sea. When they got out to sea tragedy struck, a great storm arose on the sea and the boat was being swamped by waves. The disciples, many of whom were skilled fishermen and veterans of the sea, became afraid for their live. However, in the middle of the storm that was terrorizing them, Jesus was asleep. He who was peace found peace even in a stormy situation.
They went to him and woke him saying, “Save us Lord; we are going to die.” He promptly responded, “Why are you afraid, O ye of little faith?” He rose and rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm. Everything fell still at the sound of his voice and peace settled in where only moments before a storm had raged. Shocked and no doubt somewhat surprised, the disciples, according to scripture marveled and said, “What manner of man is this? Even the winds and the seas obey him!”
I find it somewhat interesting that those who would eventually know him best were faced with the same question that would later haunt the minds of the multitudes who would come into contact with him and those in authority that would condemn him. A Roman soldier would one day stand at the foot of his cross and marvel that this, without a doubt, was surely the son of God. But here we find the disciples, those that will learn the answer to the question much better than anyone else, asking among themselves, “What manner of Man is this?”
I find a challenge in that question because the manner of man that he was is the manner of man that I must strive to be. I think it would be a good exercise for every man to measure themselves against the answer to that question. What manner of man was he? When I formulate an answer to that question I set a goal to strive for. Because, the manner of man that he was is the manner of man that I must strive to be!
They went to him and woke him saying, “Save us Lord; we are going to die.” He promptly responded, “Why are you afraid, O ye of little faith?” He rose and rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm. Everything fell still at the sound of his voice and peace settled in where only moments before a storm had raged. Shocked and no doubt somewhat surprised, the disciples, according to scripture marveled and said, “What manner of man is this? Even the winds and the seas obey him!”
I find it somewhat interesting that those who would eventually know him best were faced with the same question that would later haunt the minds of the multitudes who would come into contact with him and those in authority that would condemn him. A Roman soldier would one day stand at the foot of his cross and marvel that this, without a doubt, was surely the son of God. But here we find the disciples, those that will learn the answer to the question much better than anyone else, asking among themselves, “What manner of Man is this?”
I find a challenge in that question because the manner of man that he was is the manner of man that I must strive to be. I think it would be a good exercise for every man to measure themselves against the answer to that question. What manner of man was he? When I formulate an answer to that question I set a goal to strive for. Because, the manner of man that he was is the manner of man that I must strive to be!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
A Timely Anointing
Timing. So many times in our lives the difference between success and failure is timing. In the grand scheme of things there is no consolation prize for doing the right thing at the wrong time. Therefore, it is absolutely critical in our lives that we not only walk in sync with the will of God but that we maintain step with the timing of God. The fact remains that it is one thing to know the will of God but it is another thing, altogether, to know the timing of God. And I believe that when you get the two in sync there exists a special, powerful anointing that comes upon you when you are pursuing the will of God and are in tune with the timing of God.
If you stop to consider it you will quickly come to the conclusion that God is precise and timely. When he created all that is he measured a span of time to operate in and designated specific creative moves for specific days in his time line. Creation was in tune with a timing ordained by God. Jesus, who was God manifest in the flesh, told his own mother at the wedding in Canaan, "My hour is not yet come." (John 2:4) His ministry was in tune with a timing. There was a plan and a purpose to what he was doing. When the time was right he would stand in the tabernacle and read from the book of Isaiah. When he finished he would state, with all the authority of heaven, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." (Luke 4:21)
This day. Not yesterday. Not tomorrow. This day. The time was finally right, this was the day that was ordained in the plan of God. I don't believe we can overstate the importance of timing. Many people miss God’s timing and as a result they miss God's anointing on their life. I believe that when you are in step with God's will and God's timing that there is a special anointing to accomplish the task at hand.
Jesus told his disciples to go to Jerusalem and wait. Waiting is one of the hardest things to do. None of us likes to wait. But, when God says wait, you better wait. We mess things up when we try to rush God. If you don't believe me, go ask Abraham. The waiting was incredibly important because the promise wasn't going to come until God's timetable was fulfilled.
He told them in Acts 1:8 you shall receive power. I’m gonna do it -- at a specific time. Jesus could have said, get ready, here it is. I’m going to empower you now. Have a prayer meeting right here and I’ll pour out the Holy Ghost. Here it is. It’s yours. Now go change the world. But instead he said, "Wait."
Acts 2 starts with the declaration that the day of Pentecost was fully come. God's timetable was built around the foreshadowing of the Old Testament. God was waiting for a specific day during which to pour out the promise. And, when the time was right, God opened the windows of heaven. Perhaps you have been waiting a long time for a promise of God to be fulfilled in your life. Perhaps you've labored a long time without seeing the results that your faith declares that you are going to see. I want to remind you this morning that God's going to come through when his time is right.
I hear the words of Galatians 6:9 echoing through the eons of time: "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." In due season. When the time is right we are going to reap the harvest that God has promised. The time is coming and if we don't faint from the waiting we will reap with rejoicing!
If you stop to consider it you will quickly come to the conclusion that God is precise and timely. When he created all that is he measured a span of time to operate in and designated specific creative moves for specific days in his time line. Creation was in tune with a timing ordained by God. Jesus, who was God manifest in the flesh, told his own mother at the wedding in Canaan, "My hour is not yet come." (John 2:4) His ministry was in tune with a timing. There was a plan and a purpose to what he was doing. When the time was right he would stand in the tabernacle and read from the book of Isaiah. When he finished he would state, with all the authority of heaven, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." (Luke 4:21)
This day. Not yesterday. Not tomorrow. This day. The time was finally right, this was the day that was ordained in the plan of God. I don't believe we can overstate the importance of timing. Many people miss God’s timing and as a result they miss God's anointing on their life. I believe that when you are in step with God's will and God's timing that there is a special anointing to accomplish the task at hand.
Jesus told his disciples to go to Jerusalem and wait. Waiting is one of the hardest things to do. None of us likes to wait. But, when God says wait, you better wait. We mess things up when we try to rush God. If you don't believe me, go ask Abraham. The waiting was incredibly important because the promise wasn't going to come until God's timetable was fulfilled.
He told them in Acts 1:8 you shall receive power. I’m gonna do it -- at a specific time. Jesus could have said, get ready, here it is. I’m going to empower you now. Have a prayer meeting right here and I’ll pour out the Holy Ghost. Here it is. It’s yours. Now go change the world. But instead he said, "Wait."
Acts 2 starts with the declaration that the day of Pentecost was fully come. God's timetable was built around the foreshadowing of the Old Testament. God was waiting for a specific day during which to pour out the promise. And, when the time was right, God opened the windows of heaven. Perhaps you have been waiting a long time for a promise of God to be fulfilled in your life. Perhaps you've labored a long time without seeing the results that your faith declares that you are going to see. I want to remind you this morning that God's going to come through when his time is right.
I hear the words of Galatians 6:9 echoing through the eons of time: "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." In due season. When the time is right we are going to reap the harvest that God has promised. The time is coming and if we don't faint from the waiting we will reap with rejoicing!
Straining Toward the Goal: I Press...
Paul said, in one of his most memorable declarations (Philippians 3:14), "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." I press on, towards the the goal, he said. I press for a mark that I have not yet obtained. I press for some promise, some blessing, some prize that I have seen on the distant horizon but haven't yet obtained.
As a matter of fact if we back up a few verses we will find the author of much of the New Testament declaring, with passion, that he has not yet obtained that which he is pressing for. Brethren, he says, "I do not count myself as having obtained what I'm striving for. But this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press..." (Philippians 3:13 ESV)
I press. I believe this forward driven stance, this perpetual straining towards some future promise, is a biblical trait of an apostolic church. Paul said, I'm straining forward. I'm reaching. I'm striving. I'm pressing. I'm putting some effort into this thing. I'm straining towards my promise. We wonder, sometimes, why revival tarries. We wonder sometimes why we aren't seeing a breakthrough. I'm afraid that we spend too much time waiting for it and not enough effort straining towards it.
Jesus told his disciples to go to Jerusalem and wait. Wait for the promise. Wait for God to pour out an apostolic anointing. The disciples did exactly what they were instructed to do. They went to the upper room to wait. But there is some defining characteristic of that book of Acts church that always turns a waiting room into a birthing room. They didn't sit back on their haunches and talk about the weather. They didn't kick around the various political issues of the day. They found a place of prayer and they pressed.
This is their idea of waiting for the promise. They pressed their way into it. They strained towards the thing that God had promised he would do. When the day of Pentecost was fully come they were found reaching for the promise. They were found pressing their way into the presence of God. They were found straining towards the prize.
The prophet declared in Isaiah 66:8 that "as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children." This my friend has long been recognized as the barrier to revival, but let me restate it once more. It will be the travailing, the pressing, the straining, the pushing that produces the results that the church is hungry for. It will be that insatiable desire to obtain the promises of God, to reap the harvest that God has promised, to experience the end time revival that scripture declares.
It is the pressing that will produce the promise. In light of that, I have made up my mind to press like I have never pressed before!
I press...
As a matter of fact if we back up a few verses we will find the author of much of the New Testament declaring, with passion, that he has not yet obtained that which he is pressing for. Brethren, he says, "I do not count myself as having obtained what I'm striving for. But this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press..." (Philippians 3:13 ESV)
I press. I believe this forward driven stance, this perpetual straining towards some future promise, is a biblical trait of an apostolic church. Paul said, I'm straining forward. I'm reaching. I'm striving. I'm pressing. I'm putting some effort into this thing. I'm straining towards my promise. We wonder, sometimes, why revival tarries. We wonder sometimes why we aren't seeing a breakthrough. I'm afraid that we spend too much time waiting for it and not enough effort straining towards it.
Jesus told his disciples to go to Jerusalem and wait. Wait for the promise. Wait for God to pour out an apostolic anointing. The disciples did exactly what they were instructed to do. They went to the upper room to wait. But there is some defining characteristic of that book of Acts church that always turns a waiting room into a birthing room. They didn't sit back on their haunches and talk about the weather. They didn't kick around the various political issues of the day. They found a place of prayer and they pressed.
This is their idea of waiting for the promise. They pressed their way into it. They strained towards the thing that God had promised he would do. When the day of Pentecost was fully come they were found reaching for the promise. They were found pressing their way into the presence of God. They were found straining towards the prize.
The prophet declared in Isaiah 66:8 that "as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children." This my friend has long been recognized as the barrier to revival, but let me restate it once more. It will be the travailing, the pressing, the straining, the pushing that produces the results that the church is hungry for. It will be that insatiable desire to obtain the promises of God, to reap the harvest that God has promised, to experience the end time revival that scripture declares.
It is the pressing that will produce the promise. In light of that, I have made up my mind to press like I have never pressed before!
I press...
Friday, May 8, 2009
Forward Facing Faith: Simeon
The second chapter of Luke contains an often overlooked story about a man named Simeon. We don't know a lot about Simeon but we do know that he spent his days in the temple in prayer, worship and humble expectation that one day he would see what he had only perceived in his faith. His passionate pursuit of a promise was fueled by the fact that the Holy Ghost had revealed to him that he would not see death before he first beheld the Christ.
I wonder, this morning, how many times do fail to listen as the Holy Ghost whispers promises to us of things that are yet to come. I wonder how many times in our lives do we allow all the background noise of our lives to drown out the small still voice of the spirit that speaks of better things to our souls? How many times do we actually hear the voice of the spirit trying to persuade us that God is going to bring a promise to pass but, instead of pursuing the promise, we allow doubt to rob us of the promise?
Today I want to place the spotlight on Simeon. He's a relatively small player in the grand scheme of the New Testament. He has a bit role and only a few verses are used to sum up his whole contribution to the story of the life and death of Jesus Christ. But Simeon was a man of great faith. He was a man who heard a promise in his spirit and he saw it through eyes of faith. He was a man who possessed a faith that pressed for a promise that had not yet come to pass. A faith that compelled him to spend his days in the temple in prayer and worship, watching and waiting for the promise to be fulfilled. I don't believe he was shocked when Mary and Jesus came into the temple. While he was overtaken by joy, I don't believe that he was overtaken by surprise.
I believe that, as he took the Christ from his mother's arms, he was going through motions that he had rehearsed many times over in his mind's eye. I believe that the moment when Jesus was carried into his life was a moment that he had already recognized because of the perception of his faith. Because of a tenacity of faith that refused to relinquish hope in what the spirit had promised, he saw his promise come to pass. I submit to you that it was this forward facing faith that compelled him to heed the directing of the spirit to be in the temple on that particular day.
I want to cultivate that kind of faith in my life. Faith that will recognize the fulfillment of the promises of God in my life as something that has already been seen and recognized through the perception of faith. I want to have the kind of faith that looks beyond the current circumstance and physical distractions and see, inhope, what god is getting ready to do. Even as Simeon saw what he had only perceived in his spirit become a reality, the spirit continued to speak to Simeon and through his eyes of faith he saw things that would never come to pass in his life time.
As he held the culmination of his promise in his hands, he gazed into the eyes of his savior and peered, once again, into the future through eyes of faith. When Simeon held Jesus his natural eyes saw a baby being presented at the temple in accordance with the law. But his faith saw salvation! When Simeon said, in Luke 2:30, "My eyes have seen your salvation" he was talking about more than what his natural eyes had perceived. Forward facing faith perceived what could only be seen through the prism of promise. He looked upon that baby Jesus through the lens of the prophet Isaiah's words. Faith looked forward to a day when the bondage of sin would be broken. Faith proclaimed what the spirit had spoken to him, this child I hold is the Christ!
As Simeon held Jesus in his arms his faith perceived what John would later declare. He saw a light that had shined in the darkness. He saw more than a child, he saw the light that would bring revelation to the Gentiles. This forward facing faith of Simeon looked beyond even the salvation of his own and saw a salvation that was to be extended to whosoever will! That's the kind of faith I'm talking about, a faith that is always looking forward to the better things that God is getting ready to do.
Simeon's whole life, up to that moment, had been lived in pursuit of the promise that he would see the Christ. However, as he held his promise, his faith looked forward to a greater future and latched onto a promise that would outlive him. I believe that Simeon died in faith, looking forward to a promise that was yet to be fulfilled. I am reminded of Hebrews 1:13 which declares that, "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth."
This is the kind of faith I'm talking about. Faith that sees the promise afar off. Faith that is fully persuaded of a promise that has only been seen on the distant horizon of hope. Faith that embraces and clings to the promise of better things that are yet to come. This, my friend, is the quality of faith that I want to cultivate in my life. It's a continual expectancy that God still has better things in store for my life, for my family, for my church, and for my city. I don't know about you this morning but I am persuaded to embrace what my heart has only seen through faith and press towards the promise with all that I have!
I wonder, this morning, how many times do fail to listen as the Holy Ghost whispers promises to us of things that are yet to come. I wonder how many times in our lives do we allow all the background noise of our lives to drown out the small still voice of the spirit that speaks of better things to our souls? How many times do we actually hear the voice of the spirit trying to persuade us that God is going to bring a promise to pass but, instead of pursuing the promise, we allow doubt to rob us of the promise?
Today I want to place the spotlight on Simeon. He's a relatively small player in the grand scheme of the New Testament. He has a bit role and only a few verses are used to sum up his whole contribution to the story of the life and death of Jesus Christ. But Simeon was a man of great faith. He was a man who heard a promise in his spirit and he saw it through eyes of faith. He was a man who possessed a faith that pressed for a promise that had not yet come to pass. A faith that compelled him to spend his days in the temple in prayer and worship, watching and waiting for the promise to be fulfilled. I don't believe he was shocked when Mary and Jesus came into the temple. While he was overtaken by joy, I don't believe that he was overtaken by surprise.
I believe that, as he took the Christ from his mother's arms, he was going through motions that he had rehearsed many times over in his mind's eye. I believe that the moment when Jesus was carried into his life was a moment that he had already recognized because of the perception of his faith. Because of a tenacity of faith that refused to relinquish hope in what the spirit had promised, he saw his promise come to pass. I submit to you that it was this forward facing faith that compelled him to heed the directing of the spirit to be in the temple on that particular day.
I want to cultivate that kind of faith in my life. Faith that will recognize the fulfillment of the promises of God in my life as something that has already been seen and recognized through the perception of faith. I want to have the kind of faith that looks beyond the current circumstance and physical distractions and see, inhope, what god is getting ready to do. Even as Simeon saw what he had only perceived in his spirit become a reality, the spirit continued to speak to Simeon and through his eyes of faith he saw things that would never come to pass in his life time.
As he held the culmination of his promise in his hands, he gazed into the eyes of his savior and peered, once again, into the future through eyes of faith. When Simeon held Jesus his natural eyes saw a baby being presented at the temple in accordance with the law. But his faith saw salvation! When Simeon said, in Luke 2:30, "My eyes have seen your salvation" he was talking about more than what his natural eyes had perceived. Forward facing faith perceived what could only be seen through the prism of promise. He looked upon that baby Jesus through the lens of the prophet Isaiah's words. Faith looked forward to a day when the bondage of sin would be broken. Faith proclaimed what the spirit had spoken to him, this child I hold is the Christ!
As Simeon held Jesus in his arms his faith perceived what John would later declare. He saw a light that had shined in the darkness. He saw more than a child, he saw the light that would bring revelation to the Gentiles. This forward facing faith of Simeon looked beyond even the salvation of his own and saw a salvation that was to be extended to whosoever will! That's the kind of faith I'm talking about, a faith that is always looking forward to the better things that God is getting ready to do.
Simeon's whole life, up to that moment, had been lived in pursuit of the promise that he would see the Christ. However, as he held his promise, his faith looked forward to a greater future and latched onto a promise that would outlive him. I believe that Simeon died in faith, looking forward to a promise that was yet to be fulfilled. I am reminded of Hebrews 1:13 which declares that, "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth."
This is the kind of faith I'm talking about. Faith that sees the promise afar off. Faith that is fully persuaded of a promise that has only been seen on the distant horizon of hope. Faith that embraces and clings to the promise of better things that are yet to come. This, my friend, is the quality of faith that I want to cultivate in my life. It's a continual expectancy that God still has better things in store for my life, for my family, for my church, and for my city. I don't know about you this morning but I am persuaded to embrace what my heart has only seen through faith and press towards the promise with all that I have!
Forward Facing Faith: Part 3 -- BlindSight
The visual cortex is responsible for processing visual information. In the 1960s, Cambridge psychologists removed this part of the brain from a monkey named Helen. Amazingly, they found that Helen was able to gradually develop her visual response until her “sight” was nearly as good that of a healthy monkey. The phenomenon was later confirmed in humans: A patient with a damaged visual cortex “could still guess the position and shape of objects,” although strangely, he insisted he couldn’t see. His eyes still worked, but only on an unconscious level. The researchers termed this unconscious vision “BlindSight.”
BlindSight is defined by the Oxford Concise Dictionary as "a condition in which the sufferer responds to visual stimuli without consciously perceiving them." It describes a phenomenon where a person who has lost the part of the brain that interprets vision and is, by their own acknowledgment completely blind, responds to visual stimulation that is, apparently, perceived on a subconscious level. It describes a vision that responds to things it can't see.
This, my friend, is the core of forward facing faith. It is a faith that seeks results beyond what it can see and understand. It is a faith that, because it dares to seek what it can't see, brings into being that which was only hoped for. Perhaps this is what Paul meant when he said, in Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Faith provides substance to those things that are not seen, those things that are only hoped for.
I recently heard an amazing story about a man who was born blind. He lived his whole life blind. He grew up and fell in love. He and his sweetheart got married and had children. He lived a completely normal life with the one exception: He was blind.
Late in life his doctor read some developing research and performed some tests on the man. To make a long process short, they learned what was causing the blindness. And they told the man that they could perform an operation that would restore his sight. After a life lived in complete blindness he agreed to allow them to perform the somewhat experimental surgery.
The day came and the doctors performed wonders in their surgical procedure. When it was finished and they unwrapped his eyes, to the surprise of both the man and his wife, he was able to see. For the first time in his life, he could really see. However, the more astonishing fact was that he immediately recognized his wife. He knew who she was without being told. When his kids came into the room he knew them before they spoke, without any form of identification. Even though he had never seen them in his life.
When the doctors became curious and began to ask questions he told them that he recognized them because over the years, even though he couldn't see them, he had perceived what they looked like. Countless times he had used his hands to memorize the facial features of those that he loved until he developed a perception in his mind of what they looked like.
The phenomenon wasn't limited to his children. When they walked out of the hospital he was able to identify things he had never seen before. That's a fire hydrant he said, because he had stopped to rest many times next to a fire hydrant and felt of it with his hands. As he was walking there were things that he saw that he recognized because he had stopped along the way before, when he was blind, and felt of those things. Now he was able to recognize them when he saw them. He recognized things because he had perceived them in his mind. All along he had been extending his imagination to perceive what he had not yet seen.
This is what faith is all about, extending your vision beyond what your eyes can see. Paul said, in 2 Corinthians 5:7, "We walk by faith, not by sight." The problem with sight is that it tends to obscure faith. If we aren't careful we will allow the vision of faith to be blocked by what we see with our natural eyes. If we aren't careful we will allow what the doctor says to rob us of our promise. If we aren't careful we will allow what the newspaper says to rob us of our faith. If we aren't careful we will allow the naysayers around us to convince us that this is as good as it gets. Friend, can I tell you this morning, that it is time to extend your vision beyond what you can see. It is time for BlindSight, that vision that reaches for something that is yet unseen.
It's the vision of faith that compels us to reach for what we haven't yet obtained. This is the source from which forward facing faith flows. This is the vision that keeps hope in our heart and turns away the negative report of our enemy. This is the vision that allows a child of God in the darkest of times to cling to the hope that Joy comes in the morning. This is the vision that compels a struggling church to stand fast in faith and declare that better things are yet to come. This my friend is forward facing faith, a faith that looks beyond what it can see and strives for what has only been perceived by the eyes of faith.
St. Louis Cardinal’s announcer Mike Shannon is well known for his mishandling of the English language. Fans that listen to the Cardinals on the radio have come to call his most outrageous errors of speech Shannonisms. They are many and they are often funny. Comments like, “This big standing-room only crowd is settling into their seats"; "Our next homestand follows this road trip"; or "That ball was hit high sky." My personal favorite is a misspoken cliché that speaks volumes to my soul. After an incredible play Mike will bellow in his excitement, “I wouldn’t have seen it if I hadn’t believed it.”
I wouldn't have seen it if I hadn't first believed it. There is an incredible truth in that simple statement. There are things in your walk with God that you will never see if you don't first believe in them. That's what forward facing faith does for you. It extends your faith until you are able to perceive what you've never seen. It extends your faith to the point that it compels you into the promise that you have been given. I wonder what there is in your life, today, that you will never see if you don't first loose your faith to believe in it...
BlindSight is defined by the Oxford Concise Dictionary as "a condition in which the sufferer responds to visual stimuli without consciously perceiving them." It describes a phenomenon where a person who has lost the part of the brain that interprets vision and is, by their own acknowledgment completely blind, responds to visual stimulation that is, apparently, perceived on a subconscious level. It describes a vision that responds to things it can't see.
This, my friend, is the core of forward facing faith. It is a faith that seeks results beyond what it can see and understand. It is a faith that, because it dares to seek what it can't see, brings into being that which was only hoped for. Perhaps this is what Paul meant when he said, in Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Faith provides substance to those things that are not seen, those things that are only hoped for.
I recently heard an amazing story about a man who was born blind. He lived his whole life blind. He grew up and fell in love. He and his sweetheart got married and had children. He lived a completely normal life with the one exception: He was blind.
Late in life his doctor read some developing research and performed some tests on the man. To make a long process short, they learned what was causing the blindness. And they told the man that they could perform an operation that would restore his sight. After a life lived in complete blindness he agreed to allow them to perform the somewhat experimental surgery.
The day came and the doctors performed wonders in their surgical procedure. When it was finished and they unwrapped his eyes, to the surprise of both the man and his wife, he was able to see. For the first time in his life, he could really see. However, the more astonishing fact was that he immediately recognized his wife. He knew who she was without being told. When his kids came into the room he knew them before they spoke, without any form of identification. Even though he had never seen them in his life.
When the doctors became curious and began to ask questions he told them that he recognized them because over the years, even though he couldn't see them, he had perceived what they looked like. Countless times he had used his hands to memorize the facial features of those that he loved until he developed a perception in his mind of what they looked like.
The phenomenon wasn't limited to his children. When they walked out of the hospital he was able to identify things he had never seen before. That's a fire hydrant he said, because he had stopped to rest many times next to a fire hydrant and felt of it with his hands. As he was walking there were things that he saw that he recognized because he had stopped along the way before, when he was blind, and felt of those things. Now he was able to recognize them when he saw them. He recognized things because he had perceived them in his mind. All along he had been extending his imagination to perceive what he had not yet seen.
This is what faith is all about, extending your vision beyond what your eyes can see. Paul said, in 2 Corinthians 5:7, "We walk by faith, not by sight." The problem with sight is that it tends to obscure faith. If we aren't careful we will allow the vision of faith to be blocked by what we see with our natural eyes. If we aren't careful we will allow what the doctor says to rob us of our promise. If we aren't careful we will allow what the newspaper says to rob us of our faith. If we aren't careful we will allow the naysayers around us to convince us that this is as good as it gets. Friend, can I tell you this morning, that it is time to extend your vision beyond what you can see. It is time for BlindSight, that vision that reaches for something that is yet unseen.
It's the vision of faith that compels us to reach for what we haven't yet obtained. This is the source from which forward facing faith flows. This is the vision that keeps hope in our heart and turns away the negative report of our enemy. This is the vision that allows a child of God in the darkest of times to cling to the hope that Joy comes in the morning. This is the vision that compels a struggling church to stand fast in faith and declare that better things are yet to come. This my friend is forward facing faith, a faith that looks beyond what it can see and strives for what has only been perceived by the eyes of faith.
St. Louis Cardinal’s announcer Mike Shannon is well known for his mishandling of the English language. Fans that listen to the Cardinals on the radio have come to call his most outrageous errors of speech Shannonisms. They are many and they are often funny. Comments like, “This big standing-room only crowd is settling into their seats"; "Our next homestand follows this road trip"; or "That ball was hit high sky." My personal favorite is a misspoken cliché that speaks volumes to my soul. After an incredible play Mike will bellow in his excitement, “I wouldn’t have seen it if I hadn’t believed it.”
I wouldn't have seen it if I hadn't first believed it. There is an incredible truth in that simple statement. There are things in your walk with God that you will never see if you don't first believe in them. That's what forward facing faith does for you. It extends your faith until you are able to perceive what you've never seen. It extends your faith to the point that it compels you into the promise that you have been given. I wonder what there is in your life, today, that you will never see if you don't first loose your faith to believe in it...
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Forward Facing Faith, Part 2
Today I have been stirred by a verse of scripture that has, once again, challenged my faith to look through the prism of promise into the hope of what God can bring to pass. Luke 16:16 say, "The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it." Another version (ESV) says that "... everyone forces his way into it." The ESV also offers in a footnote this alternative translation, "...everyone is forcefully urged into it."
I read that today and felt something stirring deep down on the inside. Everyone that wants to be a part of God's promises, presses his way into it, or forces his way into it. Not everyone gets the message of the Kingdom of God. Not everyone grasps the promises and blessings of the good news of the Kingdom of God. But, without exception, those that do get it have a deep seated faith that forcefully urges them into the promise of God. There is something within them that becomes so stirred that it absolutely refuses to accept the current condition as the end of the story!
Forward facing faith presses its way into the promise of God. This is the common characteristic of every man that receives God's promises. They abandon the anchors of their past and the constraints of the present to press, by force, into the promise of the future. This is the one thing that every seeker of God must have in order to receive the blessings of God in their life.
The past will endeavor to tell you that you can't change. The past will endeavor to tell you that everything has to stay the way that it always has been. The past will do its best to hold you down and hold you back, it will remind you of all the other times you've tried and failed. It will remind you of your inconsistencies, of all your past faults and failures. But there's something in forward facing faith that refuses to be anchored to the past. It forcefully compels you to reach out to the promise of a brand new life. It forcefully compels you to invest your hope in the precious blood of Christ. It compels you to cast off the hold of your past and believe that you CAN change; that you can be different; that there can and will be a better day in your life.
Your present will endeavor to entangle you and snare you to try to keep you from realizing God's plan and God's will for your life. It will distract you with the problems and cares of the day. It will bog you down with the tedious details that must be taken care of. It will endeavor to tie up every waking moment with the effort to solve the present problems that are around you. But there is something about forward facing faith that forcefully compels you to set aside these present concerns and pleasures in the pursuit of a much greater blessing that has yet to be revealed.
This was the attitude of that little lady with the issue of blood. Her past said you've been sick a long, long time. You've spent all your living on doctors and remedies. You've proven over and over again that your circumstance is hopeless, the story has no happy ending. But she refused to listen to the voice of the past. Forward facing faith said, if I can just get to where Jesus is, there is still hope.
The bible tells us that there was a great multitude pressing in on Jesus that day. I can just here the voice of her present circumstances declaring to her that this is useless, there's no way you are ever going to get the attention of the master. He's so busy and he's surrounded by so many people. There's no sense in even trying. But forward facing faith said, "If I can only touch the hem of his garment..."
The scripture tells us that she pressed her way through the crowd to obtain the healing that she longed for. She pressed. Can I tell you this morning that the only way to loose God's promise in your life is to press. You've got to press for this thing, it doesn't come by accident and it doesn't happen by chance. The promise is yours but you must determine to pursue it.
The Psalmist said, "One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after." That's the voice of forward facing faith. It is a singular faith that has a single desire for the promise of God. It says, "I will seek it as long as I live, and I will not give up until I obtain it." Its a strength of desire that outweighs all the things of this present world. It compels us, it forces us, it presses us into the promise that God has for our life. It is a faith that says that I won't be satisfied, there must be something better for my life!
Luke 16:16 declares to us that everyone that obtains the Kingdom of God possess that kind of faith. Its the faith that it takes to move the sinner from the pew to the alter. But it is the same faith that pushes a man of God beyond the mediocre and into the promise of God. It's a faith that we must have in order to even become a part of the kingdom of God. But it is also a faith that we must maintain if we hope to grow in the kingdom.
I'm afraid that this is where many miss out on God's promise for their life. They taste the fervency of forward facing faith at an alter of repentance, but discard that passionate pursuit somewhere along the way and settle for less than God's best for their life. It is my desire, this morning, to challenge you to pick back up that fervent forward facing faith and pursue, again, the promises of God in your life. He's not finished with you yet. As long as there's faith, there's hope. Peer through the prism of promise this morning and press for what you have not yet obtained.
I read that today and felt something stirring deep down on the inside. Everyone that wants to be a part of God's promises, presses his way into it, or forces his way into it. Not everyone gets the message of the Kingdom of God. Not everyone grasps the promises and blessings of the good news of the Kingdom of God. But, without exception, those that do get it have a deep seated faith that forcefully urges them into the promise of God. There is something within them that becomes so stirred that it absolutely refuses to accept the current condition as the end of the story!
Forward facing faith presses its way into the promise of God. This is the common characteristic of every man that receives God's promises. They abandon the anchors of their past and the constraints of the present to press, by force, into the promise of the future. This is the one thing that every seeker of God must have in order to receive the blessings of God in their life.
The past will endeavor to tell you that you can't change. The past will endeavor to tell you that everything has to stay the way that it always has been. The past will do its best to hold you down and hold you back, it will remind you of all the other times you've tried and failed. It will remind you of your inconsistencies, of all your past faults and failures. But there's something in forward facing faith that refuses to be anchored to the past. It forcefully compels you to reach out to the promise of a brand new life. It forcefully compels you to invest your hope in the precious blood of Christ. It compels you to cast off the hold of your past and believe that you CAN change; that you can be different; that there can and will be a better day in your life.
Your present will endeavor to entangle you and snare you to try to keep you from realizing God's plan and God's will for your life. It will distract you with the problems and cares of the day. It will bog you down with the tedious details that must be taken care of. It will endeavor to tie up every waking moment with the effort to solve the present problems that are around you. But there is something about forward facing faith that forcefully compels you to set aside these present concerns and pleasures in the pursuit of a much greater blessing that has yet to be revealed.
This was the attitude of that little lady with the issue of blood. Her past said you've been sick a long, long time. You've spent all your living on doctors and remedies. You've proven over and over again that your circumstance is hopeless, the story has no happy ending. But she refused to listen to the voice of the past. Forward facing faith said, if I can just get to where Jesus is, there is still hope.
The bible tells us that there was a great multitude pressing in on Jesus that day. I can just here the voice of her present circumstances declaring to her that this is useless, there's no way you are ever going to get the attention of the master. He's so busy and he's surrounded by so many people. There's no sense in even trying. But forward facing faith said, "If I can only touch the hem of his garment..."
The scripture tells us that she pressed her way through the crowd to obtain the healing that she longed for. She pressed. Can I tell you this morning that the only way to loose God's promise in your life is to press. You've got to press for this thing, it doesn't come by accident and it doesn't happen by chance. The promise is yours but you must determine to pursue it.
The Psalmist said, "One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after." That's the voice of forward facing faith. It is a singular faith that has a single desire for the promise of God. It says, "I will seek it as long as I live, and I will not give up until I obtain it." Its a strength of desire that outweighs all the things of this present world. It compels us, it forces us, it presses us into the promise that God has for our life. It is a faith that says that I won't be satisfied, there must be something better for my life!
Luke 16:16 declares to us that everyone that obtains the Kingdom of God possess that kind of faith. Its the faith that it takes to move the sinner from the pew to the alter. But it is the same faith that pushes a man of God beyond the mediocre and into the promise of God. It's a faith that we must have in order to even become a part of the kingdom of God. But it is also a faith that we must maintain if we hope to grow in the kingdom.
I'm afraid that this is where many miss out on God's promise for their life. They taste the fervency of forward facing faith at an alter of repentance, but discard that passionate pursuit somewhere along the way and settle for less than God's best for their life. It is my desire, this morning, to challenge you to pick back up that fervent forward facing faith and pursue, again, the promises of God in your life. He's not finished with you yet. As long as there's faith, there's hope. Peer through the prism of promise this morning and press for what you have not yet obtained.
Forward Facing Faith
There is something to be said for faith that neither gets bogged down in the present nor anchors itself to the past but rather looks forward to the future with longing and desire for something more. It is that forward facing faith that, while holding fast to the foundations of past blessing and past experience, presses through the difficulties of the present and reaches for the promise of the future. Forward looking faith peers into tomorrow to catch a glimpse of promises fulfilled.
This is the faith that God has been dealing with my heart about today. A faith that refuses to believe that our best is behind us. A faith that refuses to accept that our present circumstances are as good as it gets. A faith that longs for and desires after the future. A faith that enables the mind to believe that there is a better day ahead, that the best is yet to come. This is the kind of faith that I must cultivate in my life.
The foundations that we've been given are great. Our glorious past is wonderful. The heritage that we continue is a priceless treasure. But I must extend my faith to believe that God isn't finished with us yet! The past is to be saluted and honored but I still believe that the end of this thing will be better than its beginnings. I hear the words of my master echoing in my ears, "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do..." (John 14:12) Greater works and better things are still before us.
The present circumstance is often overwhelming. It requires, even demands the majority of our time and attention. The details; the circumstances; the struggles; the battles; even the mundane tasks; our present demands our attention and attempts to dominate us. But forward looking faith says, "I refuse to accept things as they are." I may have to endure the present, but my hope is in the future. Forward facing faith refuses to be constrained within the limits of what can be seen and understood at this present time. It refuses to define tomorrow in the terms of today's abilities or inabilities. It refuses to trade the warmth of hope for the stark coldness of reality.
With a boldness that can only be drawn from hope, forward facing faith embraces a promise that has not yet been fulfilled. It sees the future, not through the lens of the present, but, rather, trough the prism of promise. Its a faith that invests itself in a hope for a better tomorrow. A faith that yearns for the better things that have been spoken but haven't yet been fulfilled. It's David with a king's anointing and a shepherds staff. Its the little old lady looking at the prophet and saying all is well when her son lies dead in his bed. Its that inexhaustible faith that is fully vested in the possibilities that exist only as mirages on the horizon.
This is the kind of faith that looses the promises of God. This is the kind of faith that isn't content to grow comfortable in the present but reaches into the future and pulls itself into a promise. It's the kind of faith that believes, without compromise, that if God said it, he's gonna bring it to pass. It's the kind of faith that acknowledges that God is sovereign, he's in control, and it places its trust fully in Him to open the doors that no man can open and to make a way where no man can make a way.
I find myself, more and more, being challenged to exercise this kind of unwavering forward facing faith...
This is the faith that God has been dealing with my heart about today. A faith that refuses to believe that our best is behind us. A faith that refuses to accept that our present circumstances are as good as it gets. A faith that longs for and desires after the future. A faith that enables the mind to believe that there is a better day ahead, that the best is yet to come. This is the kind of faith that I must cultivate in my life.
The foundations that we've been given are great. Our glorious past is wonderful. The heritage that we continue is a priceless treasure. But I must extend my faith to believe that God isn't finished with us yet! The past is to be saluted and honored but I still believe that the end of this thing will be better than its beginnings. I hear the words of my master echoing in my ears, "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do..." (John 14:12) Greater works and better things are still before us.
The present circumstance is often overwhelming. It requires, even demands the majority of our time and attention. The details; the circumstances; the struggles; the battles; even the mundane tasks; our present demands our attention and attempts to dominate us. But forward looking faith says, "I refuse to accept things as they are." I may have to endure the present, but my hope is in the future. Forward facing faith refuses to be constrained within the limits of what can be seen and understood at this present time. It refuses to define tomorrow in the terms of today's abilities or inabilities. It refuses to trade the warmth of hope for the stark coldness of reality.
With a boldness that can only be drawn from hope, forward facing faith embraces a promise that has not yet been fulfilled. It sees the future, not through the lens of the present, but, rather, trough the prism of promise. Its a faith that invests itself in a hope for a better tomorrow. A faith that yearns for the better things that have been spoken but haven't yet been fulfilled. It's David with a king's anointing and a shepherds staff. Its the little old lady looking at the prophet and saying all is well when her son lies dead in his bed. Its that inexhaustible faith that is fully vested in the possibilities that exist only as mirages on the horizon.
This is the kind of faith that looses the promises of God. This is the kind of faith that isn't content to grow comfortable in the present but reaches into the future and pulls itself into a promise. It's the kind of faith that believes, without compromise, that if God said it, he's gonna bring it to pass. It's the kind of faith that acknowledges that God is sovereign, he's in control, and it places its trust fully in Him to open the doors that no man can open and to make a way where no man can make a way.
I find myself, more and more, being challenged to exercise this kind of unwavering forward facing faith...
A Greater Generation
When Tom Brokaw’s book, The Greatest Generation, was released in 2004 it gave voice to a rising sentiment that America’s greatest moments were in it’s past. That the greatest victories have already been won, that the greatest sacrifices have already been made and that the many of the greatest heroes have already died. From that time to this, the cry has only amplified. The prevalent message seems to be that only in some generation in the distant past were there genuine heroes that were willing to stand against tanks and tyranny. The comparisons have been made and many have lamented the loss of a generation of young people who were willing to lay down the comforts and convenience of life in order to pursue a greater good.
While I have a great amount of respect for that generation and the very real sacrifices that they made to preserve our freedoms, I’m not sure I agree with the message that this wave of nostalgia sends to the current generation. It seems that we, as a nation, have already written off the young people of this and future generations. It seems as if we are declaring to them that they will never equal the dedication, sacrifice and victories of that past generation. Even more tragic, it feels as if many in the church have adopted this same sentiment. I don’t believe we could be any further from the truth.
When I survey the young people of this current generation I see a group of young people that are looking for a challenge to which to rise. I see a group of young people that are willing to make sacrifices and hungry for a cause to believe in. I don’t believe for a moment that the age of heroes is limited to the past. I believe that our greatest heroes have yet to take the stage. I believe that our greatest heroes have yet to distinguish themselves in battle. I still believe that the best is yet to come!
I am, relatively speaking, a young man. However, when I look at the generation that is coming up behind me I see a tremendous group of capable young men and women who have a genuine burden to reach their world with the gospel. I understand that, by and large, they haven’t gained the wisdom of experience and the vibrant energy of their youth hasn’t yet been tempered by the cold hard realities of life. However, I believe that their desire is genuine and that their faith is real. I believe, with all that is in me, that they are about to distinguish themselves, like no other generation, on the spiritual battlefield of life.
The word is on their side in this matter. My bible tells me that the latter rain is going to be greater than the former. Faith tells me that the end of this thing will far outshine the beginning. We are not a part of a lineage of heroes that diminishes with time. Rather, the lineage of the faithful grows stronger and more powerful with the passing of time. With every generation this message is amplified and apostolic authority is multiplied.
Perilous times are upon us. All that can be shaken will. Even the elect, if they aren’t careful, will fall away in these last days. The darkness of night has made itself prevalent even on the brightest of our days. But, in the midst of an immoral, godless, and humanistic generation there echoes a promise from the word of God that “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.” (Romans 5:20 ESV) I believe that there are genuine heroes of the faith in the upcoming generations that are about to arise and confront the spirits of this end time. I believe that there are anointed young men and young women of God that are about to experience the greatest revival that has ever occurred. I believe that our apostolic heritage is in good hands!
I simply want to extend myself this morning and express my faith in the Godly young people that are taking up the mantle of apostolic authority in their generation. I understand that they are young; I understand that they will make mistakes; and I understand that they will have their struggles. However, I believe that, just as a past generation found their courage on the distant battlefields of history and distinguished themselves with honor and sacrifice, heroes are about to emerge from this generation as well.
This morning I applaud you. To all of the young men, to all of those that are yet unproven, I applaud your faith and zeal for the things of God and I challenge you to take this message of hope to a lost world and make your mark on your generation. I truly believe that you are the generation upon whom the ends of the world have come. And I believe that you are uniquely anointed to meet that challenge and overcome it by the blood of the lamb and the word of your testimony.
This morning I applaud a greater generation… Let the heroes arise!
While I have a great amount of respect for that generation and the very real sacrifices that they made to preserve our freedoms, I’m not sure I agree with the message that this wave of nostalgia sends to the current generation. It seems that we, as a nation, have already written off the young people of this and future generations. It seems as if we are declaring to them that they will never equal the dedication, sacrifice and victories of that past generation. Even more tragic, it feels as if many in the church have adopted this same sentiment. I don’t believe we could be any further from the truth.
When I survey the young people of this current generation I see a group of young people that are looking for a challenge to which to rise. I see a group of young people that are willing to make sacrifices and hungry for a cause to believe in. I don’t believe for a moment that the age of heroes is limited to the past. I believe that our greatest heroes have yet to take the stage. I believe that our greatest heroes have yet to distinguish themselves in battle. I still believe that the best is yet to come!
I am, relatively speaking, a young man. However, when I look at the generation that is coming up behind me I see a tremendous group of capable young men and women who have a genuine burden to reach their world with the gospel. I understand that, by and large, they haven’t gained the wisdom of experience and the vibrant energy of their youth hasn’t yet been tempered by the cold hard realities of life. However, I believe that their desire is genuine and that their faith is real. I believe, with all that is in me, that they are about to distinguish themselves, like no other generation, on the spiritual battlefield of life.
The word is on their side in this matter. My bible tells me that the latter rain is going to be greater than the former. Faith tells me that the end of this thing will far outshine the beginning. We are not a part of a lineage of heroes that diminishes with time. Rather, the lineage of the faithful grows stronger and more powerful with the passing of time. With every generation this message is amplified and apostolic authority is multiplied.
Perilous times are upon us. All that can be shaken will. Even the elect, if they aren’t careful, will fall away in these last days. The darkness of night has made itself prevalent even on the brightest of our days. But, in the midst of an immoral, godless, and humanistic generation there echoes a promise from the word of God that “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.” (Romans 5:20 ESV) I believe that there are genuine heroes of the faith in the upcoming generations that are about to arise and confront the spirits of this end time. I believe that there are anointed young men and young women of God that are about to experience the greatest revival that has ever occurred. I believe that our apostolic heritage is in good hands!
I simply want to extend myself this morning and express my faith in the Godly young people that are taking up the mantle of apostolic authority in their generation. I understand that they are young; I understand that they will make mistakes; and I understand that they will have their struggles. However, I believe that, just as a past generation found their courage on the distant battlefields of history and distinguished themselves with honor and sacrifice, heroes are about to emerge from this generation as well.
This morning I applaud you. To all of the young men, to all of those that are yet unproven, I applaud your faith and zeal for the things of God and I challenge you to take this message of hope to a lost world and make your mark on your generation. I truly believe that you are the generation upon whom the ends of the world have come. And I believe that you are uniquely anointed to meet that challenge and overcome it by the blood of the lamb and the word of your testimony.
This morning I applaud a greater generation… Let the heroes arise!
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