Gideon’s Wonderful Weakness

May 22, 2013 Categories: view of self by 0 Comments

Baby in army fatigues

The Gift of Weakness

I love the story of Gideon, a man filled with insecurity and doubt, who delivers his people from an exceedingly strong enemy by the empowerment and direction of God.  In case the story is new to you, here is a brief synopsis:  Israel turned away from God to follow the idols of the Amorites, and so God removed his protection over them.  They were oppressed for seven years by the Midianites who destroyed their livestock and crops; Judges 6:5 says that the Midianite tents were as numerous as a swarm of locusts. The Israelites were so oppressed by them that they subsisted in caves, mountain clefts, any hiding places they could find.

Finally, they cried out to God for deliverance, and God sent the angel of the Lord to Gideon, the weakest and least significant member of his clan.  I love that.  It is a great comfort to me that God has a different set of criteria than our culture for choosing a person to carry out his will.  We naturally gravitate to those with beauty, strength, intelligence, charisma, wealth, popularity, but God chooses ones from among the overlooked and rejected, and he makes them great.  In 1 Samuel 2:8-9, Hannah declares, “He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor.”  In Luke 1:53, Mary says, “He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.”

God’s Graciousness

Is it surprising to you that one of God’s greatest desires for you is that you simply and freely be yourself?  No more, no less. So what does this have to do with our life of prayer?  God shows us through his response to Gideon that:

What Is the Full Extent of Jesus’ Love?

May 14, 2013 Categories: view of God by 0 Comments

picture of sister love

“Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world
and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world,
he now showed them the full extent of his love.” – John 13:1

What was the greatest sign of Jesus’ love for us?

Naturally we would think of the cross. It was there that Jesus took on our sins as His own and died so we would not have to. “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). It is the greatest gift that can ever be given. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

However, in John 13:1 the Bible tells us that washing the disciples feet was the sign revealing the full extent of Jesus’ love. How is this possible? The New Testament gives little record of the account, especially in comparison to the cross.

What is so great about the feet washing?

This line of reasoning has caught me off guard, as I also would have thought the cross would show the full extent. However, I have thought of some potential reasons. I invite you to leave comments below on your thoughts.

1. The number of times to show His love.

The cross was a one-time event. Never again does Jesus have to go to the cross for our sins. Washing our feet is a regular occurrence. When Peter encouraged Jesus to wash his whole body, Jesus hinted that we would have to get regular foot washings.

I Have Stilled and Quieted My Soul

May 8, 2013 Categories: personal prayers by 0 Comments

secure as a baby

But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother,
like a weaned child is my soul within me. - Psalm 131:2

I grew up meditating on Psalm 131.  A friend gave me a copy of John Michael Talbot’s album, Come to the Quiet, when I was a teenager, and I listened to that album until I’d memorized every song.  It was an enormous comfort to me, and I realized later that almost all of the songs were simply arrangements of a selection of Psalms.

As a person who was once prone to anxiety, I have sung Psalm 131 often.  Consequently, it is a passage of scripture I felt I fully understood.  Yet, this morning I gained new insight.  I suppose that is the way of all scripture; revelation comes degree by degree over a lifetime.

The Context of Psalm 131

David wrote Psalm 131 while enduring Saul’s persecution.  David knew he was anointed to be king; it was not hidden from him that he was destined to be a great man.  He could easily have given in to the temptation to take for himself what was promised; a person of any pride and ambition would be hard pressed not to do so.  Instead, David fully entrusted himself and his future to God.  Rather than rising up, he humbly bowed down in patient submission.

In Matthew 18:3 Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” A weaned child no longer frets for the comfort and nourishment of the breast.  In fact, within a few weeks, she forgets what the breast was to her.  In the same way, we can fret and long for the world’s comfort– approval, position, money, an endless array of vices.  But God has called us to be weaned of these, and to trust him humbly and completely as little children at peace in the laps of their mothers and fathers.

Choosing a Life of Child-like Trust and Delight

May 1, 2013 Categories: view of God by 3 Comments

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And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  - Ephesians 3:17b-18

Sometimes, when we pursue God in prayer, we can become exhausted by our own earnestness, and by the anxiety that we aren’t praying well enough, often enough.  We can believe God’s love is meted out to us according to our performance.  We forget his grace.  When I was praying about what to write this week, I felt like the Lord longs to establish in each of us a child-like trust and delight in his person.

Embracing the Truth of God’s Delight in Us

I have a two-year-old who, each morning, rises at dawn and comes running through the house shouting my name.  When she sees me she runs even faster to get to me, a look of delight on her face.  This ritual fills me with happiness and makes my delight in her even greater.  She trusts me, and right now, I am her world.  As she grows and becomes more independent, that will change, but for us as believers, we are called to be children in our hearts our whole lives.  We are called to a relationship with a God of infinite kindness and compassion who calls us to run to him at any time with complete freedom and joy, even when we’ve made a mess of things.  There is no condemnation in Christ, and so there is no fear of punishment.

There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear… -  1 John 4:18a

An Easy Way to Grow Your Friendships

April 22, 2013 Categories: power in prayer by 0 Comments

Friendship in Spirit

“There is nothing that makes us love a man so much
as praying for him.” - William Law

Several years ago when I lived in Turkey, I started hanging out with a college student there who spoke English. We had some common interests which made it enjoyable to spend time him. The more we would do things together; the more I would pray for him. One particular prayer time, I felt God showed me that God created this student to be a leader of people and that he leads with his heart. People would see his love for them and would naturally follow him.

I didn’t listen as much what the Spirit was saying about others at that time, but this really stood out to me. I made note of what I felt God saying and continued to pray into it. The more I prayed, the more I loved this man and wanted to spend time with him. I believe his love for me grew because I focused on the greatness in him and spoke to him of who I saw him becoming.

It has now been over 10 years since I was in Turkey, and I still love him. We still keep in contact, though not as often as I would like, which is my fault. Connecting to how God sees people creates a strong bond of friendship.

God Loves Everyone – So Should We

God loves each person, and if we are to be like the One we love, then we also will love them. The great thing is He will help us with this. We can ask God what He loves about others.

Origin of a Vibrant Prayer Life

April 17, 2013 Categories: power in prayer by 1 Comment

partnershipcropped

I led them with the cords of human kindness, with ties of love;
I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them.  Hosea 11:4

I’ve been thinking about what has encouraged me most in my prayer life, and I would have to say that the most powerful generator of consistent, faith-filled prayer in my life has been the presence of a prayer partner. When I look back, I realize that I have never been without one since discovering God anew twenty years ago.  That wasn’t a deliberate decision, but rather the result of my own hunger for help in navigating this mysterious, joyful, and challenging life with God.

My first partner was an office mate named Charlotte.  We prayed together three to five days a week for several years.  We would take our lunch hour and go to the empty sanctuary of the Methodist church next door.  After three years of praying for her husband, he came to Christ.  There were endless answers to prayer, small and large, revelation of the scriptures on which we meditated, etc.  We learned that God listens, cares deeply for us even in the smallest things, and guides us in our prayers.

The Gospel in Action

Though we weren’t conscious of it at the time, we were putting the gospel into action on a one-one basis.  Consistently praying together led to a deep friendship.  Jesus says in John 13:35, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  Each time we came together to pray, we practiced listening to the Holy Spirit, praying with a generous and compassionate heart for the other, and receiving encouragement, love, and gentle exhortation in return.  Our times of prayer were life-giving, and we would return to work full of joy.  God taught us about his character through each other.  We learned a great deal about true friendship; we developed a deep love for each other.

The Fear of the Lord is Just the Beginning

April 10, 2013 Categories: view of God by 0 Comments

Child on the Street

The Wisest Man to Ever Live

King Solomon is known as the wisest man who has ever lived. He took Israel from a war-time culture to the greatest time of peace it ever knew. He established the culture to enhance the life and experience of the people.

Solomon gave insight into the wisdom he received in the book of Proverbs. Through little pearls of insight, Proverbs gives guidance to common sense. Wisdom, Solomon says, begins with the fear of the Lord.

What is the Beginning of Wisdom?

Does it surmise that if you want more wisdom, then you need more fear of the Lord? I will like to propose that the fear of the Lord is just the beginning. And, if we don’t move past this level, you will either create a set of rules for your relationship with God or give up entirely.

Why is the fear of the Lord the beginning? The fear of the Lord gets us to believe that God knows what is best even when we think we might know better. The fear of the Lord puts us into a place of humility before the Lord. The fear of the Lord puts perspective on our lives.

Teaching Obedience to Your Children

As a parent, there are times when I need my children to obey. It may be not to hit their sister. It may be not to run out into the road. It may be not to say offensive things to others. Fear is the beginning of wisdom.

Still, obedience should never be the end goal of parenting. Our goal is love. I don’t want my kids to live out of a set of rules, but I want them to be so full of love for themselves and others that they naturally overflow in love to others.

Anticipating Good Things

March 27, 2013 Categories: worldview by 1 Comment

Good Things Will Come

There is nothing more satisfying to a giver than a gracious receiver. Hardships are inevitable, but gifts and blessings from God are abundant even in the midst of them. As lovers of God we are called to know Him to such a degree that we would stake our lives on the truth of His goodness, kindness, love and power. To know God intimately is to be full of hope for a bright future and full of faith to see it realized. It means the death of fear as a guiding force in your life.

Mastering Fear

God calls us to “fear not”, to be “strong and courageous” (Joshua 1:9). Zephaniah 3:16b-17 says, “Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you. He will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”

It is very important to God that we master our fear in order to take hold of his gifts and blessings. When you surrender your life to Christ and run after him with all your determination and love, God’s gifts are truly enormous in scope. He never gives to just one. The gifts to the one are meant for the many. Everything you are given will feed and sustain others, as well. The most important thing to prepare for is not hardship but blessing.

Preparing for the Wave

Often, when preachers talk about past experiences of revival, they use the metaphor of a wave. Waves shake things up, sweep some things away and deposit others. The release of God’s presence and power among the people flows very much like a wave.

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