Saturation: Changing Your Trajectory

If we only heard and saw and experienced a small portion of what God was doing, we would be like the guy here...and loving it. Better is one day in his house than a thousand elsewhere....

I don't speak Greek, but I bet the original language version of "awesome" is very close to what my friend Elom describes...a take-your-breath-away kind of feeling. Scott and I talked about this morning in this old commercial (think God instead of Maxell)....

In his message today Scott started with a true story about the greyhound race where the dogs are trying to catch the mechanical bunny. They are dumbstruck when the machine fails and the bunny stops. They have been chasing a false image of success. They lay down, howl, run all over the place but none finish the race.

People chase after possessions, Freedom, fame, power, money, spouse, and reputation even God. But the rabbit affects the trajectory of life. What is success? Like Tom Brady, sometimes we catch the rabbit and find it's not what we expected, its leaves us wondering "Why do I have three Superbowl rings and still think I have something coming?"

The answer, Scott says is that we DO have more coming, and the "formula for success" is in a character who symbolizes Jesus (the Lord saves) ....Joshua, son of Nun. Joshua 1:1-9 helps us anticipate...Don't turn to the right or left, God is in it, meditate on it. Be a sponge...Meditate day and night. We are sponges, but as sponges we can soak up water or poison. Pursue God first, then let the benefits flow. He gave examples of Talking to God first thing in the morning, reading, listening in the car, but also through the day.

• REMAIN on the Vine (John 15: 1-8)
• Asking "God give me the words, show me what to do.
• After a hard day's work, "God I have nothing right now, help me to be a husband. Fill me up. "
• Success by God's standards does not mean an absence of "failure". Jesus knows what failure looks like and who else could help us through that better? A lot of failure is what we view through the expectations of others. Joseph in Egypt is a perfect example of how God can take a failure and reveal in it success overnight.
• To get there will require faith and surrender

My God is not a computer program...if you do "this" then you get "that"....but separate conversations with two brothers today reminded me that if our sponge is already full, there is not room for Jesus, and likewise, if we are filling up the tank with His Word, His passion, and the unseen things that are beautiful to Him...there will be no room for anything else.

That is something I fall to, and consequently don't experience the fullness of Him or become what I was meant to be. Another way I think about it is taking my identity from those other things (work, possessions, even friends and family), instead of being His child and letting God be my Father.

A song we sang was written by TJs friend, but one line was clear to me, "I give you my heart". I pictured the scene in "The Last Mohican" where the bad guy's heart was cut out, and the corpse lay on the ground. In our case God restores it, and puts it back in (Ezekiel 36:26).

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you;
I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. " Ezekiel 36:26

Is there anything I missed here?

A Concert: Spiritual or Secular?

I don't even remember the last concert I went to....if you take out the piano recitals, and Joyce Meyer.  Tonight I went to my first Christian concert, a fundraiser by the Vineyard for Costa Rica.

The power went out (literally) so we waited in line for an hour while things got put back in order...it was a wonderful time to get to know Danny, Courtney and Tim Golden...a wonderful and divine surprise.  Tim and I had dinner afterward, and it was amazing how much I had to learn about someone I thought I knew. 

Later in the concert it was a thrill to be reminded about how BIG God is.   Seeing people I don't know worshiping in ways I have not seen before. Jeremy Riddle is someone I hadn't heard of, but he seemed to be genuinely  talking to God as he sang, with little theatrics or special effects.  His focus was getting closer to God, and seemed to marry well with the message earlier in the day to rejoin our "secular" and "spiritual" worlds into one world where God really does have our full attention.

How did I get here? Spiritual or Secular Disappointment

Tony told the story about Joseph (the coat of many colors), who grew from a seeming arrogant boy who could interpret dreams into someone who recognized only God can interpret dreams...who grew to trusted God despite all the seeming injustices of life, so that when the day would come (and it did), he could be taken from the prison into the throne room of the palace, to rule justly with mercy. 

The message turned to ask "Are you discouraged"?  Everything is spiritual....you are where you are so so He can work in your life.  He wants us to flourish, we can't fall in the trap of cursing the darkness, he has you in that place to to bring Life.  

Am I backed into a corner?  If so, that's where I realize all I have is you...and then realizing that you are all I need.  Until then some think they can still work things out when they just need to surrender. Your environment can change you, then you  can change your environment.  It all begins with that relationship with him.

The 1st thing in the morning should be "Father I am yours, I am working for you"  (not just me, my boss or my family)

Gal 1:10Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Full Attention (Jeremy Riddle) ....

May Your voice be louder
May Your voice be clearer
Than all the others, than all the others
May Your face be dearer
May Your words be sweeter
Than all the others
Than all the others in my life
Please keep my eyes fixed on You
Please root my heart so deep in You
Keep me abiding, keep me abiding
Keep me abiding that I
Oh, that I might bear fruit
May Your presence be truer
May Your presence be nearer
Than all the others, than all the others
May Your light burn brighter
May Your love go deeper
Than all the others
Than all the others in my life

sweetly broken

 

Share in the Joy and Celebration of their Marriage

John and Jamie were married today, a good reminder for me in my own marriage about the nature of covenant, the role we have in marriage and the marriage of others, and the promise God offers if we will. 

Our pastor Tony described marriage as the clearest picture we have of our relationship with God. Although covenant is very much like a contract, it is actually the opposite in one important way....a contract is written because there is no trust, while a covenant is an expression of trust.  Marriage is a declaration that after God, you are the most important person in my life, an agreement I want to bless you. 

Tony went on to explain how Jewish weddings deliberately had the brides family on one side, and the groom's on the other:  marriage was the act of joining the two with God at the center. As a witness of the seal we have the responsibility to pray for the couple, point them to God, and each other.  I mentioned the obvious to Jamie's mother; weddings are not just for the bride and groom.

2Cor 1:21

Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Eccl 4:9

Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor.

Duet 15, 28

In his last address to the  Jewish people, Moses tells of the blessings that go to those who fully obey God, blessed when you go in, and blessed when you go out. 

You Raise me up

 

What is Fellowship?

Thinking about the weekend ahead, especially a breakfeast with some of the men. It could easily be the high point of my week. Why.....?

I wondered, what is Fellowship? Here is what I found without too much trouble, see if it works:

Fellowship is a devotion, about strengthening from humility in real relationships of the highest purpose.

(....a devotion...) Acts 2:42
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

(... about strengthening...) 1Cor1-8-9
He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

(...from humility...) Phil 2:1
If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

(...in real relationships...)

1 John 1:3-7
3We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4We write this to make our joy complete. 5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

(...of the highest purpose. ) 2 Cor 13:14
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

What do you think?

Here is a pretty good look at fellowship....
http://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=437

LifeChange - Not all Blogs are created equal

I don't usually make endorsements, but I have to point this out because I believe God is working here, and that others will find help at this blog.

Scott Himes has a way of mixing the ordinary things of Life and the fresh breath of God. I never miss a post. It helps to know he is personally the kind of person that I can trust. Many days, like today, it has been a place where I have been reminded that God works through others to speak to me....that our stories may overlap. Yours does too.

http://lifechange.typepad.com/lifechange/

9/11: When we are weak we are strong 2Cor 12:8

Hi Guys,

 

This morning of 9/11 my sons and I read from Corinthians about being weak, and remembered the world's compassion on America, and our own compassion for NYC at that time.  That may have been our country's greatest moment of strength.

 

Later this morning I received the encouragement in the devotional below about sharing our weaknesses with others, and how our faith in God love is strengthed as a result. 

 

Then Scott Himes called, and I told him about my back pain that is making this a really painful day, and the encouragement I had recieved from God about His power being made perfect in weakness (2 Cor12:8).   He prayed for me on the phone (I love when people do that) and completed God's promise of grace.  Thanks Scott. 

 

Thought you all would want to be reminded (again)....God is for us. Jeremiah 29:11-14

 

Your brother

Brad

 

 

"Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

 

2Cor12:8

 

Connie G Beery/AM/LLY

                   09/11/2008 08:41 AM                                                        
Subject    Daily Devotion for 9/11/08

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper
you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then you
will call upon me and come to pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You
will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.  I will be
found by you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you back...to the place
from which I carried you into exile."  Jeremiah 29:11-14

The above scriptures were written by Jeremiah to the surviving elders among
the exiles.  The powerful words spoken then still pertain to us today.  I
love the word, declares!  That means it must have very important for God to
get His message across.  Do you declare the power of God by receiving it as
a precious gift?  Do you declare His presence by seeking Him with all your
heart or with just the little bit you are willing to share?  Do you declare
He has brought your through many trials?  Do you declare the testimony of
your salvation to others?

I feel strongly this morning that we need to declare more often what God
has done is our lives.  We tend to keep things to ourselves.  I encourage
you to share your burdens, your triumphs, your love for God to someone
today.  Don't try to prepare the "right" words, just tell them what God has
done or is doing.  Sharing your trials is powerful.  It allows believers to
pray for you and your situation.  It allows others to see God working in
your life.  It allows others to understand that you are struggling, but
have faith that God knows the plan.  Open your heart to seek God and allow
Him to use you today.  God bless.
 

The Cross: Light and Momentary Afflictions?

 

We complain about the cross we bear but don't realize it is preparing us for the dip in the road that God can see and we cannot.

• Whatever your cross, whatever your pain,
• There will always be sunshine, after the rain....
• Perhaps you may stumble, perhaps even fall;
• But God's always ready, to answer your call....
• He knows every heartache, sees every tear,
• A word from His lips, can calm every fear...
• Your sorrows may linger, throughout the night,
• But suddenly vanish, by dawn's early light...
• The Savior is waiting, somewhere above,
• To give you His grace, and send you His love.
• May God fill your day with blessings!!

Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle!

Written by somebody else, but I liked it.  Brad