Hearing God

When I lived in New York, this guy joined the church. He had scraggly hair, and dressed and smelled like he had just left a mosh pit at an all day heavy metal festival. He was an admitted  alcoholic that was trying to battle his inner demons.

I befriended him, because that's the kind of thing that Jesus would have done. Many times he called me after he had gone on a bender and I sat with him, talked with him, prayed with him.

He had a sincere desire to stop, but the voice of God was washed out by the familiar voices that were calling him to drink and to self destruction.

That's the problem with hearing God... you have to really listen. The voices in the world are always far louder, far more demanding. This... had been the problem throughout history. God says

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. (John 10:27 ESV)

however, if you ask any truthful Christian, they will tell you that they've thought they've heard the voice of God on multiple occasions, but didn't act on it, or in some cases, missed it altogether! This is from people who are chasing after the heart of God!

I think the challenge is to listen and to do. The more you listen, the easier it will be to hear... to move... to act. During this Christmas season, when so many things are pulling for our attention, let's find God in the stillness of his voice.

And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:11-13 ESV) 

I use to curse like a sailor.

I am ashamed to admit it, but when I was younger I use to curse worse than a sailor. One of the guys in my neighborhood taught me how,  and I took that newly acquired skill to professional levels. I always had the right word at the right time. The way that I strung them together was masterful. I was seriously a pioneer in profanity.

When I was a junior in high school, I had a change of mind. I repented and realized that I needed to stop cursing. This was a real moment. I understood the need to stop. I changed my mind, my will, I had a desire to stop!

It took 2 years for me to completely stop cursing. 2 YEARS. I repented, but I did it wrong.

A lot of times, when we're faced with issues in our life, WE get convicted by the Spirit of God. WE  realize that we need to change. WE try to make this change happen by our own will. WE fail, so we either continue in our sin, or we stop trying.

Today, I believe that if I would have taken that conviction and prayed to God to help me stop. If I were truly sorry and realized that I was powerless over this and asked God to help, it would have taken far less time, and God would have gotten the glory.

As Christians, we don't change because we want to. We change because God called us to be Holy. He sent Jesus to be a sacrifice for us because we were incapable of making the changes necessary to live a holy life ourselves. Jesus told us that He needed to leave so he could send His Holy spirit what would teach us all things and bring all things to our remembrance. (John 14:26)

One of my favorite passages in the Bible is 1 Peter 5:6-7

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:6-7 ESV)

When God calls us to repentance, He doesn't expect us to figure out how to change ourselves. He wants to help us and mold us into the image of His son.

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:26-30 ESV)

God searches out hearts, He knows us. He wants to conform us to the image of his Son. He justifies and glorifies.

So... let us struggle to not try and fix ourselves on our own. Let us truly repent and take full benefit of what God offers us to we can truly be Christians... followers of Christ.

Understanding adoption

The high school pastor at our church along with his wife (not pictured above) were involved in an interracial adoption. They have a beautiful daughter. Sunday, he hold us a story that really made me think about adoption.

He took his daughter our for a Daddy/Daughter breakfast date on Thursday,  like they do every Thursday before school. This time, they were at McDonald's. After they ate and talked, she wanted to play in the play area. When it was time to leave, she was putting on her jacket - looked at him and said:

Are you my Daddy?

He got down on one knee, looked at her eye to eye and very solemnly said. "I will always be your father." Admittedly, he was a little hurt that she asked the question, but felt like he handled the situation as properly as you can.

Later on in the week, they were driving in the car and she asked:

Is God my Daddy?

He replied, "Yes, He is!"

"So, I have 2 Dad's?"

"YES! A perfect heavenly Father and an earthly Dad that makes mistakes!"

Sometimes, we take for granted what our relationship with God means. We are a part of His family. He chose us and has an inheritance for us.



This girl got it. She knows that she has a future. She knows that she has someone that loves her. And this will impact her entire life! She doesn't have to worry about her past. She doesn't have to worry about her family coming in and making her live with them... she has a new house, a new family, and a new future.

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
(Romans 8:12-17 ESV)

Let us struggle to remember that, and share this good news with others!

Swallow your pride, Jesus still wants to be in relationship with you...

I have a friend... well... I had a friend until "the events" happened. The events were really stupid, if you want to know the truth. We were planning on watching an MMA fight together at my house - and split the cost for the rental. He didn't show up.

Then, we planned a golf outing - never happened.

Finally, we planned to watch another MMA fight, and split the cost... and another no show.

I eventually had to walk away from the friendship, but the truth is, he's a good Christian brother. If he ever came by and apologized, I'm sure we could pick up where we left off.

I think this is interesting because our relationship with God is pretty much the same way. We go to church, we read our Bible, we pray... then all of a sudden life gets in the way and we become ashamed and we become afraid to approach God again, so we drift away.

But... God has demonstrated that He is willing to reach out to use if we just swallow our pride.

Look at Peter. When Jesus was going to be crucified, Peter denied knowing Him. 3 times!

What did Jesus do? Jesus approached Peter - here's the dialog:


When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”
(John 21:15-19 ESV)

In the end, Jesus wants us to follow Him. Let us struggle to embrace this message in our own lives, and share it with others. After all, we are entering the season when Jesus came down to prepare to be a sacrifice for our sins. Let's share this with those around us.

Faith is a tricky thing...

I remember when I was younger reading about how Peter saw Jesus walking on the water, and how he stepped out of the boat and walked with Jesus until he "saw the wind" became scared and started to sink. I remember thinking to myself how surely I had more faith than Peter and that I would never sink if that were me.

The next time I was at a pool. I looked at the water, summoned all the faith that I had, walked towards the edge of the water and without wavering, I firmly placed my foot through the water, falling forward into the pool.

True story.

I was thinking about this because I was talking with the 9th graders that I work with at church. For weeks they had been talking about a new video game that was coming out - HALO 4. I went around and asked them to tell me something exciting about HALO, and their enthusiasm was evident.

We went around the circle again, but the question was "tell me something that you find exciting about Jesus. I barely got a line out of them. When asked why, the open/honest ones replied "You can see HALO 4, and interact with it."

These aren't kids who just came off the street. These are kids who have been in church most of their life and are struggling with a crisis of faith.

Faith is more than a mental understanding of what the Bible says, and it can't be poured into you from someone else. For years we've heard people say:

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God Romans 8:17

But if you read further, you see that Israel heard AND they saw, but they still turned out to be a rebellious people.

And that... is the tricky thing about faith. Faith does come by hearing... hearing the word of God and hearing from God. God has a way of making his word come alive.

So, let us struggle to read the word of God. Not just our favorite verses... read as much as possible... and share it with others.

Oatmeal cookies aren't sinful...

I love cookies. There is nothing better than the smell of a hot cookie baking in the oven. I CANNOT WAIT for them to cool... I love grabbing a hot cookie... with 2 hands because it droops under its own weight because it hasn't cooled yet. It's too hot and burns my tongue a little... but it is soooooo good.

The truth is, if you put an oatmeal raisin cookie in front of me, I am almost powerless.   I am drawn to them... and I can't eat just one.

If I say to myself "Don't eat them, don't touch them... don't even think about them!" It doesn't work. It really just makes me want them more!

Sin is the same way - "Don't handle! Don't taste! Don't touch! Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe body discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person's evil desires." Colossians 2:21-23

Colossians 2:20 starts off by saying "You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world."

Colossians 2:12-15   says "For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all your sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

I know people who have adult onset diabetes. This realization, for them, means that they cannot eat oatmeal cookies anymore. This truth outweighs their desires. Christianity is the same way. the truth that Jesus died for our sins should outweigh our desire to sin.

What if your "right" is wrong?

A friend of mine performed an outdoor wedding yesterday. For November, the weather was beautiful. The setting was gorgeous, there was a tranquil pasture, a babbling brook feeding into a pond. A gracious hawk circling the event. It all looked so beautiful. Except... there was a pig farm up the field and there was a horrible stench!

Interestingly enough, once you out of your car, and survived the original shock, eventually - you no longer can tell that the smell is there.

It's odd how that works. I once coached soccer at this field where you had to drive by a sewage treatment plant to get to the fields. Within a few minutes - you no longer can tell that there's this bad smell in the air.

Sin is the same way. When you fall into sin, at first, you are sensitized to it. You feel bad about it. Then... it can become a normal way of life - so that you don't even notice it.

Jesus described it this way: 

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (Matthew 6:22-24 ESV)

Are there areas in your life that have become so routine that you don't even think about it as wrong anymore? I know, even in my life, there are some areas that I've become calloused. Let's start this week off by taking a look at our own lives and seeing if there are areas where we need to re-submit them to God. Let is struggle not to become so comfortable in this world that we forget that we are citizens of a Holy Kingdom where Christ is King!