I See You As.....

Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Philippians 2:3 (NLT)

Sometimes the hardest thing about my day is dealing with people. They can be so annoying. I know that doesn’t sound very Christlike; but hear me out.

A little while ago I was sitting in a meeting and honestly, when I left I was just so bothered. There was the person who snorted disapprovingly after I said something. There was the other attendee who was super kind but I wasn’t sure grasped what we were trying to do. There was the woman who wanted to reschedule a meeting we’d had on the calendar for months because she schedule a conflict.

I sit in these meetings and all of these thoughts pop into my head….which I cannot say out loud because that would really NOT be Christlike. We work through the issues and everything gets settled but I leave bothered. On this particular occasion, every time I thought about it I was bothered again. So I decided to bring in the big guns and I prayed about it.

As I did, I remembered a conversation we recently had in Bible Study about humility. Learning humility is hard and it is a life-long lesson. You see, being humble isn’t about plastering a smile on your face, saying what is politically correct and moving on. It’s about the state of your heart.

Do I believe in my core that others are better than me? WOW! That goes against all that we are taught in western society doesn’t it? But it was Christ’s way. Philippians 2 says:

6 Though he was God,
    he did not think of equality with God
    as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
    he took the humble position of a slave
    and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
8     he humbled himself in obedience to God
    and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

If I want to be like Jesus, this is the example I have to follow. I fully admit it is going to take some work. In a lot of situations I am fine with this but there are days where I am terrible at it. So what am I going to do about it? I am going to try to refrain from saying things out loud, put a smile on my face and pray right then and there that God will change me. I am going to ask him to help me see everyone as he sees them and to soften my heart to be like Jesus.

I may not fully get there until Jesus comes but I just have to do it today. Every day I try to be like Jesus, that day will be a success.

A Minute In It - I'll Keep This

A minute in God’s Word will change your life. Take a moment to read the texts below and then ponder the questions at the bottom of the post.

15 Hearing this, a man sitting at the table with Jesus exclaimed, “What a blessing it will be to attend a banquet in the Kingdom of God!”

16 Jesus replied with this story: “A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. 17 When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come, the banquet is ready.’ 18 But they all began making excuses. One said, ‘I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’ 19 Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’ 20 Another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’

21 “The servant returned and told his master what they had said. His master was furious and said, ‘Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’22 After the servant had done this, he reported, ‘There is still room for more.’ 23 So his master said, ‘Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full. 24 For none of those I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet.’” Luke 14:15-24 (NLT)

What in your life would you struggle to walk away from to follow Christ?
Now, take a few moments in prayer and ask God what he thinks.

Liar! Liar!

But now I’m afraid that as that serpent tricked Eve with his wiles, so your hearts and minds will be tricked and you will stray from the single-minded love and pure devotion to Him. 2 Corinthians 11:3 (VOICE)

In Genesis 3, Satan starts up a conversation with Eve. In it, he suggests things about God and Eve that are not true. He uses overt lies and innuendos. She falls for it. I have to admit, I sometimes wonder how you can walk with God and then believe Satan’s lies. And as I type that, I realize how ridiculous it sounds.

I do that all the time! I bet it happens in your life too.

You might have thoughts like:

You can’t do that. You are not __________ (fill in the blank.)
If you were doing something different you would be __________ (happy, rich, successful, loved.)
Look at all the mistakes you make. What is wrong with you?
You deserve ______________.
God isn’t listening to your prayers. If he was he would ____________.
This bad thing is your fault. You should have _______________.

The reason there are so many blanks is because each of these lies is customized for individual use. Satan’s tactic is to get us to believe them and like Eve, take our minds off of Jesus. He wants us to turn from looking at the One who can change our story to ourselves. He wants us to think we are in this by ourselves.

Satan is a Liar!

I have developed some tactics to help me deal with these lies. One is when they pop into my head I yell “Liar!” (Think of the wife yelling at the husband in Princess Bride.) I also ROAR. Out loud. This reminds me that the Lion of Judah has conquered the lion who seeks to devour. Another tool is to recall Bible verses. For example, when you think “You can’t do that. You are not __________.” I counter with I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13) Or “God isn’t listening to your prayers” For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer. (1 Peter 3:12) Another thing I do is call a friend who knows Jesus and I talk it through and let them speak truth into my life.

Your methods of countering these lies will be different than mine. Not everyone wants to walk around shouting things out loud and roaring. Go figure. Whatever you decide, let it be based on the one truth you know. You are loved. God’s intentions for you are pure. He has not abandoned you but is walking with you through this life. However you do it……remind yourself of that. Every. Single. Day.

We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. 2 Corinthians 10:4 (NLT)

Steps of Faith

Today you will know that the living God is among you. Joshua 3:10 (NLT)

Joshua had led the people of Israel to the Jordan River. They were going to enter the land of Canaan. The river was at flood stage and all of the people had to cross. That was surely a dangerous proposition. Not only was the river dangerous but after they crossed it, they were going to be venturing into the unknown. On the other side of the river were lots of different enemy peoples.

As Joshua came to relay the instructions to the people that God had relayed to him, he said “Today you will know that the Living God is among you.” The Living God was among them in the way of the Ark of the Covenant. God spoke to Moses from the Ark. It was known that this was his presence in their midst.

The Ark would lead the way making the path clear. God would go before. But I think what Joshua meant was “Today you will experience God.” As the people walked to the swollen river, I wonder what they thought. Did it seem impossible to cross that especially with woman and children? Did they look ahead and say “We can’t get there from here?”

We do that don’t we? We look at where God is leading and say “WOW! That looks like more than I can handle.” We stop and say things like “I have to pray about it” or “Maybe now is not the right time for this.” What if the Israelites had done that? “Lord, we can’t step out now because we have to pray about this and well, we’ve been wondering for 40 years, surely a few more days won’t matter.”

We don’t have a physical Ark to follow now but we do have God’s presence. He promises it to us in the form of the Holy Spirit. He is leading us and telling us to take the next step. He is telling us to trust that he has prepared the way.

The priests, who were carrying the Ark, went to the river’s edge and stepped in. The Bible says the water stopped a distance away and became a wall of water. Below where they were standing, the rest of the water drained into the sea.

What if? What if we trusted that God was going before us? What if we walked to the water’s edge even though it looked too scary to cross? What if we stepped in (even when we were afraid) to see what God would do? Would we, like the people of Israel, know who God really was?

Meanwhile.....

Meanwhile, the word of God continued to spread, and there were many new believers. Acts 12:24 (NLT)

I have always had an adverse reaction to the word meanwhile. Mostly, around cooking. I like to cook (unless I feel like I have to.) I am also not a fancy cook. My food tastes good and is served with lots of love but Martha Stewart I am not. And I am really okay with that.

So when I go and look for a new recipe I want simple. If there are too many steps, I pass. If it has some steps and one of them starts with Meanwhile, I move on. Meanwhile to me means while you are trying to get all this done over here, do this as well. Too many complications makes my brain want to move on. My brain does too many complications by itself without the help of instructions.

The other day though I was thinking about God and how with him there is always a meanwhile.

In Genesis 19:12 it says Meanwhile, the angels questioned Lot. “Do you have any other relatives here in the city?” they asked. “Get them out of this place—your sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone else.” While the angels were trying to save Lot, they were also trying to save his family.

In Joshua 3:17 it reads ‘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.’ God held back the waters of the Jordan so the people could safely cross.

And in Matthew 26:69 the Bible says ‘Meanwhile, Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A servant girl came over and said to him, “You were one of those with Jesus the Galilean.”’ As Peter was protecting himself, Jesus was protecting us.

There are a lot of meanwhiles in the Bible. And there are a lot of meanwhiles in our lives. As we are walking through really difficult situations, God is at work. He is not like me when I give up on a recipe because it has too many steps. No matter how complicated it seems, he is in the middle of it. He sticks with us and keeps at it. We may not see all the meanwhiles in our lives until we get to Heaven but I know when we see them, we will know anew how much we were loved.

Meanwhile God is at work on your behalf to finish the work he started in you. Philippians 1:6

A Minute In It - The Door

A minute in God’s Word will change your life. Take a moment to read the texts below and then ponder the questions at the bottom of the post.

23 Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?”

He replied, 24 “Work hard to enter the narrow door to God’s Kingdom, for many will try to enter but will fail. 25 When the master of the house has locked the door, it will be too late. You will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Lord, open the door for us!’ But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ 26 Then you will say, ‘But we ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 And he will reply, ‘I tell you, I don’t know you or where you come from. Get away from me, all you who do evil.’

28 “There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for you will see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God, but you will be thrown out. 29 And people will come from all over the world—from east and west, north and south—to take their places in the Kingdom of God. 30 And note this: Some who seem least important now will be the greatest then, and some who are the greatest now will be least important then. Luke 13

If we know that we can receive salvation only through Jesus, what does he mean when he says “Work hard to enter the narrow door?”
What do you have to do to be able to walk through the door?

Now read this same passage (below) in the Message.

23-25 A bystander said, “Master, will only a few be saved?”

He said, “Whether few or many is none of your business. Put your mind on your life with God. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires your total attention. A lot of you are going to assume that you’ll sit down to God’s salvation banquet just because you’ve been hanging around the neighborhood all your lives. Well, one day you’re going to be banging on the door, wanting to get in, but you’ll find the door locked and the Master saying, ‘Sorry, you’re not on my guest list.’

26-27 “You’ll protest, ‘But we’ve known you all our lives!’ only to be interrupted with his abrupt, ‘Your kind of knowing can hardly be called knowing. You don’t know the first thing about me.’

28-30 “That’s when you’ll find yourselves out in the cold, strangers to grace. You’ll watch Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets march into God’s kingdom. You’ll watch outsiders stream in from east, west, north, and south and sit down at the table of God’s kingdom. And all the time you’ll be outside looking in—and wondering what happened. This is the Great Reversal: the last in line put at the head of the line, and the so-called first ending up last.”

And again the question, what do you have to do to walk through the narrow door?

Moving Mountains

I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible. Matthew 17:20 (NLT)

I often read this passage and wondered if you really could move a mountain if you had enough faith. You know, one minute you are looking at it and the next minute it’s gone…..moved to the right or the left. I had (okay, have) my doubts that I could physically move a mountain.

Recently, I decided to do a fast one day a week. There are three types of fasts. A food fast where you abstain from food totally, a modified food fast where you give up some food like sugar or coffee and a soul fast where you give up something in your life that you do a lot. All of these are done to spend more time in prayer with emphasized dependence on Jesus. I chose not to do a food fast for a lot of reasons that are too complicated to explain here so I do a soul fast. I gave up noise. Noise on my fast days are fasting from social media, TV, radio, audio books or anything that makes noise in my head. I fast for 24 hours each week.

Now that you have the background, when I started the fast I decided to make a list of things I wanted to especially pray for. You know, like when I went to look at Facebook and realized I was fasting so I’d pray. I came up with a list of 10 things that were really important to me. And the thought popped into my head “This is a mountain of things to pray for.” And it was. Each thing on the list are huge God things. God has to move for them to become what he wants them to become. They are all big audacious prayers (BAPs).

I realized as I looked at my mountain that it would take some faith to move them. And I realized that some days my faith was super, duper small…..like a mustard seed. But Jesus said “If your faith is teeny weeny like a mustard seed, you can still apply it to the mountain.” So I do.

I have lovingly come to call my list “The Mountain.” When praying I often say Lord, please move the mountain. And you know what, there has been and is tiny movement on the mountain. The entire mountain has not yet gotten up and moved (maybe that’s because I put some BAPs on there) but there is crumbling here and there. Some things shifted to a different spot. Some parts have fallen away all together. God is at work on my mountain.

I know he’s at work on yours too. Take all of those things that you are staring at that seem so overwhelming and put them on the mountain. Then, apply the tiniest amount of faith and keep at it. Every day pray for the mountain in your life and watch God move it.

You Are Cordially Invited To Invite

Should you be jealous because I am kind to others? Matthew 20:15 (NLT)

The parable of the workers (Matthew 20:1-16) is about a landowner who goes out and invites people to work in his fields. They agree on payment and go off to work. He does out again at various times of the day and does the same. When payment time comes, the folks who worked longer complained that their pay wasn’t fair. The landowner replies that they were given what they were promised.

In our Western society we read this parable and think “Well, that’s not fair.” The workers should have gotten paid their wages according to what they worked. That’s fair. In our world today, there would have been law suits, accusations of discrimination and all sorts of news stories.

But if we put on our Jesus hats, we would have the exact opposite response. We would say “Everyone come! The reward is the same for all! It doesn’t matter if you’ve worked your whole life or just entered into the banquet as the party was ending. Everyone gets to hear ‘Well done good and faithful servant!’”

We would want as many people to be invited as possible. We would be out there in the fields checking to make sure everyone was. I would venture to say that the Kingdom of Heaven is not fair…..really. Everyone who calls on Jesus as their Savior can get in. Doesn’t matter what you did or didn’t do. Doesn’t matter if you come in late to the game. Doesn’t matter what you look like, where you are from, what you do or don’t do for a living. The only thing that matters if you say “Yes” to the invitation.

And since Jesus has asked us all to extend the invitation, we should be out there in the fields, on the streets, where ever we live, work and play being disciples. We should be inviting people in and when they say “I can’t I haven’t ___________________ (fill in the blank), let them know that all are welcome. Let them know that there is no entrance fee. Let them know how kind Jesus is to anyone that wants to come in.

And then, treat them like you mean it. Today, put on your Jesus hat and start inviting. And remember the Kingdom of Heaven is about not about who is first….it’s really about who is last.