Not Your Ordinary Fortress

I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust. Psalm 91:21 (NIV)

Ever have one of those problems that seems to get stuck in your brain. No matter how hard you try to push it out, the problem keeps snapping back into the forefront of your thoughts. It's like the song you can't get out of your head. It plays over and over and over again.

It is especially bothersome if there is nothing you can do about it and you know there is nothing you can do about it. Very frustrating.

I have one of those problems right now. I think about it, realize there is nothing I can do to fix it so I pray about it, ask God to take it and try to move on. Next thing I know, there is is again. What do you do?

I started imagining what it would be like to actually make God my fortress. A place I could go into to be safe or at least be at peace. How do you do that?

The dictionary says that a fortress is "a fortified place :stronghold; especially :a large and permanent fortification." It also says "a person or thing not susceptible to outside influence or disturbance." Then I wondered, how do you fortify something and one of the answerd to that question came up as "strengthening or improvement, as by addition of or intensification with another ingredient."

Humor me for a minute. If I want to get rid of something that is harassing me and I want to fortify myself, all I have to do is add another ingredient that will strengthen or improve my situation. Right?

How about an intense focus on Jesus using prayer, music and the Bible. If I am being intensely harassed, wouldn't it make sense to intensely counter with something soothing and peaceful? I am going to try it. Going forward every time I think about the thing that I can't do anything about, I am going to pray, sing and read my Bible. 

How about you?  What methods do you use to get your head on straight when it's being led down the wrong path? 

A Minute In It - The First Step

A minute in God's word will change your life. Take a minute to read the passage below. Then, ask yourself the questions at the bottom of the post.

7 The Lord told Joshua, “Today I will begin to make you a great leader in the eyes of all the Israelites. They will know that I am with you, just as I was with Moses. 8 Give this command to the priests who carry the Ark of the Covenant: ‘When you reach the banks of the Jordan River, take a few steps into the river and stop there.’”

9 So Joshua told the Israelites, “Come and listen to what the Lord your God says. 10 Today you will know that the living God is among you. He will surely drive out the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites ahead of you. 11 Look, the Ark of the Covenant, which belongs to the Lord of the whole earth, will lead you across the Jordan River! 12 Now choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. 13 The priests will carry the Ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth. As soon as their feet touch the water, the flow of water will be cut off upstream, and the river will stand up like a wall.”

14 So the people left their camp to cross the Jordan, and the priests who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant went ahead of them. 15 It was the harvest season, and the Jordan was overflowing its banks. But as soon as the feet of the priests who were carrying the Ark touched the water at the river’s edge, 16 the water above that point began backing up a great distance away at a town called Adam, which is near Zarethan. And the water below that point flowed on to the Dead Sea until the riverbed was dry. Then all the people crossed over near the town of Jericho.

17 Meanwhile, the priests who were carrying the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant stood on dry ground in the middle of the riverbed as the people passed by. They waited there until the whole nation of Israel had crossed the Jordan on dry ground.
Joshua 3:7-17 (NLT)

Who did Joshua say gave the command to cross the Jordan? At what water level was the river? When did God say the Jordan would stop flowing? Did it happen? How long did the bed of the Jordan stay dry? What step is God asking you to take trusting he will follow through?

Are You Human?

Then Jesus turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman?" Luke 7:44 (NCV)

Recently, I started taking walks every day. As I walk along, I pass people who are walking. Some have their ear buds in and are not paying attention. Even if you look at them, they don't look back. Some look at you and smile. Some wave. Some say hello. You never know what you are going to get.

But then, I pass by people with dogs.  And the people still don't always look at me but the dogs always do.  They look at your face, tilt their heads as if to say "Hello, are you friendly?" They invite you into their space. They put one step forward toward you as if extending an invitation of friendship. There is so much eagerness in their body language and mannerisms.

When Simon was using his body language and his thoughts to criticize the woman who came to worship Jesus, Jesus could see it and he knew what he was thinking. His response? Simon, do you really see her? Do you really know her heart and know who she is.  Look at her. Really look at her.

What if we were more like dogs? Seriously. What if when we are passing each other on the street or checking out at the store or if we are walking down the hall at work.....what if we actually looked at each other, smiled and with our body language extended an invitation of friendship. What if we stopped being so busy that we tried to see each other's hearts.

I bet Jesus would be super happy with that.

Your One Life

Whatever work you do, do your best, because you are going to the grave, where there is no working, no planning, no knowledge, and no wisdom. Ecclesiastes 9:10 (NCV)

Recently, I got to attend a church planting event. The presenters were people who God had called in some way to share who He is with people.  Any people.  People in their community, people in their town, state, and yes, world....whatever!  I was truly blessed by the men and women whose passion is doing whatever it is God puts in their path. 

One of the presenters asked "What is God going to say happened with your one life?"

Made me think a minute......or actually for many minutes. God may not be calling me to be involved with a world-wide movement. He may not even be calling me to be a city-wide movement. But he is calling me.  He is calling every single one of us to something.

Everyone's calling is unique to them. God does not call any two people to the same thing. You know why? Because he uses you in your own skin. He uses you where you are. So let me ask you....

What is God calling you to do?  What Big Dream has he put on your heart? What will you do with the one life you have? My prayer is that I use this one life in such a way that when I see God face to face that he will say "Well Done!"

Because I AM

Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him, so he stepped forward to meet them. “Who are you looking for?” he asked. “Jesus the Nazarene,” they replied. “I am he*,” Jesus said. (Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.) As Jesus said “I am he,” they all drew back and fell to the ground! John 18:4-6 (NLT)
*Or “The ‘I am’ is here”; or “I am the Lord”; Greek reads I am; also in 18:6, 8. See Exod 3:14.

When Moses ran into God in the wilderness and God said "I am sending you to Egypt." Moses argued. Can't say I blame him. This was totally out of the ordinary. It didn't look like what he was used to. It was bigger than where his mind could take him. 

We might be tempted, like Moses, to say "God, this is too hard. I can't do that. I don't have what it takes. That's a different spiritual gift than I have." And my guess is all these things were popping around in Moses' head....well, except the spiritual gift thing....that's a new excuse for us but he basically said the same thing when he said "I am just a shepherd." What came out of his mouth though was "They will ask me your name. Who should I say sent me?" 

And what did God say? He said "I AM."

Many centuries pass and the same thing happens again. Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane and the mob is looking for him to arrest him. They ask "Which one of you is Jesus of Nazareth?." Except, unlike Moses, Jesus doesn't offer excuses. He knows who he is and he says "I AM"

Do you know Jesus is saying the same thing to us today.....every single time we cry out to him?

Lord, I can't walk through another day of pain. I AM
Lord, we need help with our finances. I AM
Jesus, I feel so lonely. I need more to my life. I AM
Please, please help my children. I AM
I don't know what to do next. I AM

In those words, Jesus offered the solution to everything we will ever need. He offered himself. He knew that no matter how big the task seemed, no matter how hopeless it looked, he was enough. He knew that because of those words we would be able to take another step. With just those two small syllables we could be brave. 

Jesus knew we could walk one more day with assurance that no matter what was happening, we would be OK because not only was he the great I AM, HE STILL IS. 

Construction Time

You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:5 (ESV)

I was watching an interview with Tim Allen.  He was talking about this life and the dark places he went through and how God is a big part of who he is. He calls God "The Builder." How appropriate.

Whether we have walked through something dark and life altering or we are just walking......God is always growing us. He started with forming us (Jeremiah 1:5) and continues with his plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11) all the way to the end and he will not stop until Jesus comes (Philippians 1:6).

God is always working. He is growing us, building us to be his people. A people that will follow him no matter what the cost. We each have a specific role to play in his neighborhood. Each of us is designed, shaped and polished to be exactly the piece that is needed to fit in his plan.

I agree with Tim Allen. God is "The Builder." I am excited to see what I turn out to be.

How Should I Love You?

This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. John 15:12 (NLT)

After reading this text, I have to ask "Jesus, how did you love us?"

• You gave up something better to come here for us.
• While you were here, you relinquished owning everything to own nothing.
• You gave up security, the security of heaven for the chaos of earth.
• You gave up love and adoration for ridicule and hatred.
• You gave up being 100% God to live in a human body.
• You gave up angels who would fight to their death for fickle human friends who ran away at the first sign of trouble.
• You gave up being surrounded by the wisdom of the ages to be surrounded by people who after three years still didn't get it.
• You experienced immense pain, both physically and emotionally, that lead to death so you could take the imperfect home to perfection.

Jesus loves us sacrificially. After thinking about this I need to ask myself, "How often do we love each other the way Jesus loved us? and What does it look like for us to do that?"

Getting My Courage On

Some times life delivers a blow that comes out of the blue and knocks you to the ground. Have you ever experienced this?  While you may be left standing you don't necessarily feel like you are on solid footing and you are left searching for some meaning - some reason.

This is especially true when you are a Christian. You are tempted to look up and say "Hey! I thought you were in charge!" And some of us do just that. After you do that, what then? Where do you go when you are not sure where to go?  What do you hold on to when the very basis for life seems intangible?

There are two things that have helped me get through these kind of things.  One is to remember who I know God to be. I go through (either in my head or in a journal) and list the character traits of God. Here are a few:

• I know he is Ruler of Everything.
• I know nothing happens to me that he has not allowed.
• I know that he loves me.
• I know that no matter what happens, he will use it for my good and his glory (not necessarily in that order).
• I know he is good.
• I know that he is stronger than Satan.

The next thing I do is go find words of encouragement. Here are some that I've found recently that have inspired me to not give up.

This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9 (NLT)

So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do. Then the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored because of the way you live, and you will be honored along with him. This is all made possible because of the grace of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 1:11-12 (NLT)

I have called you back from the ends of the earth,
    saying, ‘You are my servant.’
For I have chosen you
    and will not throw you away.
Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
    Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
    I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
Isaiah 41:9-10 (NLT)

My prayer is that as you walk through life's difficult journeys (and we all do at some point), that you will remember how deeply God loves you and that he is always there for you.