Defeating Daily Despair Through Fellowship

As I’ve made a commitment to search for joy in Christ, I have tried to keep my eyes open to what could help lead to this end.  A scripture I used in my Sunday School lesson last week, John 15:9-12, and the demonstraion of a dear friend leads me to a conclusion today.  Certainly not the end all, be all conclusion of finding joy, but another step in a direction that I think the Lord may use to help me be a happier, more joyful person.

Discouragement happens when we least expect it.  Life throws us curve balls that we aren’t expecting.  It’s amazing how often we attempt to make plans and they are turned upside down and we have to be “flexible.”  I have found that life is less stressful when I “roll with the punches” instead of fighting against it.  Yet I am often prone to do so…to become engrossed in my own situations and often times fret, worry, and freeze.  I absolutely become paralized in fear if a situation can’t be beat into submission with my fists or mind.  I get trapped in my own absorbed thoughts.  Yet today, a brother in Christ gave me an example of what Christ told us to do in the scripture I mentioned before.   “Abide in my love, keep my commandments…These things I have spoken to you that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full….This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.“ 

Wes Ramsey, a good friend but someone I rarely talk to, called me today while I was at work just to say that he had been thinking about me and that he had a suspicion I may be feeling discouraged, but he also wanted to let me know to hang on, God is a big God, no matter what.  Wait on the Lord through these discouragements.  It was funny, I asked how he knew I was feeling this way, and I didn’t know who he was talking to.  He said he was just talking to the Holy Spirit.  Wow.  I have no doubts he was listening to the Holy Spirit, I was indeed feeling pretty discouraged, but he didn’t have to call.  He could have went right on praying for me without me ever knowing it, but he took it a step further.  He took some more action, and he called me to encourage me.  “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.“ 

Jesus says that my joy will be full when His joy remains in me.  And in order for His joy to remain in me, I have to remain in His love.  And to remain in His love I have to obey His commands.  And He commands us to love one another.  Like Wes loved me today.  So I got to thinking, it’s amazing how little I think about myself and my troubles when I’m doing for others, whether it be praying for them, helping them, calling them, getting fellowships together for them or just giving a word of encouragement to them.  I appreciate Wes, his Sunday School class who prays for EHBC in their search for a pastor, and I appreciate my brothers and sisters in Christ.  I believe I will make it more of a habit to tell them so more often.

Defeating Daily Despair….

The holiday season has ended….
The Christmas tree still stands without it’s trimmings because we just haven’t quite finished taking it down. The gingerbread house sits in an empty trashcan because Karen was sweet enough to take out the trash this morning. Otherwise it would have balanced precariously on an overflowing trashcan. I probably should have taken the whole colorful mess to the bin outside, but why? The kitchen trash was empty and was right there. Now the trashcan is full…because of the gingerbread house…sigh….I’ll take it out later.  These are the half made decisions of someone who is lazy, but in my head, I’m not lazy, I’m not this person that I see, not in my spirit, am I?

“Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” – James 5:16.  I want to be a righteous man who’s prayers avail much, so I confess my sins to my brothers and sisters in Christ. 

Since the holidays have ended, nearly every day I remember feeling dread when I wake up. That’s not right. As a Christian, that’s not the way it should be. The Word of God commands us to “rejoice always.” Jesus Himself says, “come to Me you who are weak and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”  Well I feel heavy laden A LOT. I wear a lot of responsibility…at least I think I do.  I’m a manager over a warehouse, a leader in my church, I volunteer quite a bit, I do a lot for God, I love Him, He loves me and that’s why I do it.  So why do I dread?  Why do I fear?  It’s not right, something’s off and I know it.  Does this sound familiar?

This year I made quite a few resolutions and have absolutely not done a single one that I’ve said I would.  “Lose weight,” nope, thinking I may be going the opposite direction, but still working on it.  “Get organized,” my office looks like it has exploded.  Really, it’s embarrassing.  “Eat at the dinner table with the kids,” it’s the 10th, maybe I’ve eaten once with the family, hey I’m a busy guy.  Sound depressing?  It does to me. 

One new year resolution I want to keep:  STOP waking up afraid.  STOP dreading the life that is mine and that the Lord has blessed me with.  It isn’t right, and my fear is sin.  So I want to repent of that sin, I want to take steps to fix it, some might work, some might not, but the kingdom of God is at hand and I want to show works that show my repentance. 

Here’s just a few things I plan on doing to help accomplish this goal.

1.  Wake up and pray.  Pray for those who may feel like me when they wake up, my loving friends who right now find it hard to get up.  Let my first thoughts be GOD.  That’s GOD as in LORD GOD, not using his name in vain…even though I’m not a morning person.  Don’t forget the coffee.  Stop being so down on myself for not getting up earlier than I would have ever got up…I can start doing that when I’m old enough that my body just does it naturally.

2.  Remember to take my medicine.  The Lord blessed us with doctors for a reason, use what they recommend.  Luke was a doctor…I like Luke.  Lexapro is my friend.

3.  Read a devotion every day before I start work.  I have found “My Utmost For His Highest” to be perfect for this.  It doesn’t take long, but man, is it profound.  It MUST be done.

4.  Exercise more, ride the stationary bike when I get home for 20 minutes.  I asked the doctor once if there were any foods I could eat that would give the same chemical to my body that my antidepressants provide.  Remarkably, he said that exercise is really the only thing that releases seratonin, the chemical that the brain needs.  Wow!  Exercise!  I hate exercise!  But I don’t think God made our bodies to sit around all day long, so exercise it will be.

5.  Write this stuff down.  Someone told me I was pretty good at writing once, I think I’ll start doing it more.  Maybe write some progress in “defeating daily despair…”  I have a couple more thoughts about yesterday’s devotion on Psalm 139.  I’m so thankful the Lord knows me like He does.

6.  Read an uplifting devotional just before bed.  I firmly believe that Jesus Christ more than likely did a ton of laughing as a person, not like looney toon mind you, but as a person who people were comfortable around.  People followed him by the droves, would children have loved him if he was the sullen, quiet guy we see in the paintings all the time?

Well, it’s not a perfect list, but it’s there, and it’s a start.  Jesus said we could have life more abundantly.  I don’t think our wallets will be fat because of that verse, but I think our mental health should be.  I love the Lord so much, along with my family and my church family.  Life is to short to dread every day.  It is time to overcome and conquer.  To be a “glass half full” kind of guy – Deuteronomy 31:6.

Off With Their Heads! Or Maybe Just Slaves…Which is Worse?

If the giants came out of the camp and drew the battle lines yesterday, they crossed the line and brought their army to fight alongside them today.  People say “it’s gonna get worse before it gets better…” and that phrase drives me crazy; probably because it often proves to be true.  And so it seems that James, the brother of Jesus, one of the first of the twelve to be martyred, decided to address this issue – “count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”  I’ve heard many think that just when they couldn’t take anymore-BAM!!!   Something else knocks them flat on their rear.  I personally pray for a couple that I wonder sometimes how they continue on….

Still, I wrestle with this idea of having joy in suffering, joy because of suffering, joy with suffering or anything else that combines the word joy and suffering.  Today I was reading a story in 2 Chronicles 12, where Rehoboam, the son of Solomon chose against serving the Lord and gave his service to other gods and other kingdoms.  As judgement, God sent Shishak, king of Egypt, against  Rehoboam with twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen.  God sends the prophet Shemaiah to Rehoboam in mercy with the message: “you abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak.”  Rehoboam repents, as he should, and God says with amazing mercy and grace, “they have humbled themselves, so I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some measure of deliverance, and My wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by means of Shishak, they will instead become his slaves so that they may learn the difference between my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.”  So…in mercy, after repentence, after they see the error of their ways before God, punishment is still coming….how would I feel if I were Rehoboam and the people of Jerusalem?

We fail to recognize how great a mercy that God showed us when he sent us Jesus Christ, and how now he considers us heirs with Him when we repent of our sins.

How would I feel?  At first, I would probably feel, “that’s not fair.”  And I would be right, God would have every right to destroy me, humble repentence or not – I sinned, and that’s justice.  Second thoughts?  Rehoboam was having a BAD day – A REALLY BAD DAY!  Nevertheless, God was merciful to him and his people.  In the end, God was setting out to work in Rehoboam’s life, he wanted Rehoboam to learn something, that there is a difference between serving God and serving others, and he will learn the joy between the two.   Rehoboam was eventually going to learn joy through suffering and God would be glorified through destruction of people or slaves of people, justice would be served or mercy would be given.

So when I look at my life, the giants that have risen about me, the problems that never seem to stop and there seems very little rest; have I considered if God has been glorified someway through it?  Has my attitude been humble towards Him?  Glory belongs to the Lord – whether I’ve had a bad day or a good day – problems or not.  I love the Lord, and I want Him to be glorified in my life…even with the suffering.

Real Men Want Faithfulness…So Does God

“And when all Jabesh Gilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul, all the valiant men arose and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons; and they brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.  So Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he committed against the Lord…But he did not inquire of the Lord; therefore He killed him…” - 1 Chronicles 10:11-14

On this day, valiant men not only risked their lives to bury their king, but they buried who he was, and the direction that their nation had taken because of his actions.  So much had gone bad for Saul up to this point:  Jealousy absolutely drove Saul mad, he hunted David down like a dog to do him harm, he consulted a medium for advice rather than going to the Lord for council and he had not kept the word of the Lord. 

Everyone had such high hopes for Saul, he was tall, dark, handsome, and even a bit bashful when Israel chose him as king.  He even had the prophet Samuel, but Saul thought he knew better than God, better than God’s prophet.  Before we get too hard on Saul though, it’s probably a good idea to look at ourselves and how much promise we have, but we go our own direction.  We sacrifice for God, rather than obey Him.  We allow so much to pull us from His Word and Prayer.  Feast days (Christmas, Easter and Sunday) are observed but God is not on our minds and hearts.  Faithfulness is far from us as we are an unrepentant people.  We are so bent toward sin and run towards it with open arms.  We live in a society that says “follow your heart” while God says, “the heart is deceitful above all things, who can know it?”  Distractions pull us toward spiritual apathy and we try to convince ourselves that God is not displeased.  The bible says that Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he had committed AGAINST the Lord.  So according to this, it’s possible to be unfaithful not just toward the Lord, like ignoring Him, but AGAINST Him.  This puts a new fear in my heart when I think of all the time I go to bed and have barely acknowledged the Lord or His people.

Thank God for Jesus and the fact that we put faith in Him!  Valiant men fast for this!  They bury that sin which Christ died for and desire for that newness of life.  The life of faithfulness which Saul had forsaken is now ours because Jesus is not dead and buried, but ALIVE!  Why would we desire anything less?  Why would we fast for that sin of complacency, apathy, distraction, and pleasure when Jesus says, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life?”  What more could we possibly want?  So my question is for men – are we valiant?  Will we bury our sin?  Will we fast and desire more for Christ or for sin?  For unfaithfulness and apathy, or faithfulness and obedience?  It’s one or the other.  Which one are you?

What happened?

Lately I’ve been asking myself how effective I am in impacting my own community for the Lord.  I wonder what people my age in my circle see when they look at me.  I wonder if I have any influence at all with anyone for Jesus Christ.  I’ve been thinking of ways I can show more love to more people.  I’ve been wondering if I shouldn’t be coming out of my comfort zone more.  I do the same thing day in and day out and nothing seems to change.  Why expect different results when you just do the same thing over and over, right?  

Can I do a better job leading my Sunday School class?   Can I do a better job of reaching out to my neighbors? 

What happened?  It’s really starting to bug me.  Where is the world’s love; even the church’s love for Jesus Christ?  What more can I do?  Or maybe the bigger question or the most troubling, am I doing anything?

Praying for healing….

This weekend I just learned a good friend’s young son has lost his sight in one eye and is quickly losing sight in his other.  He isn’t much older than my oldest son, who will be 10 in July.  His young boy is a sweet kid and I can’t imagine him having to go through his life blind.  Nonetheless, there it is, and I am praying for healing for our young friend.

My father in law is also inching closer to eternity as cancer is overtaking him. 

I love both of these guys, they are wonderful people.  They have the heart of a servant and are so dear to their families and mine.  Healing is on my mind, whether in Heaven or on Earth, and I pray for their blessing.  Christ is on His throne and He will use these two apparent tragedies for victory in eternity.  Love you Jim and my young friend.

Hanuman, the monkey idol…

During our most recent trip to India.  We encountered one of the strangest idols yet.  It’s name is Hanuman, he is said to protect those who worship him from evil.  If myths were real, this guy would be on the “hero” side, rather than “villains.”  He is said to be conceived by a cursed water nymph  named Anjana (I’m thinking something like “Tinkerbell”) who was turned into a monkey form herself.  While worshipping one day, Anjana was blessed with a piece of cake which fell from the sky which came from a crow that was blown away by Vayu, the wind god.  Vayu went away and Shiva came along and told Anjana to eat the piece of cake, and from this she conceived a child from the wind god.

The child grew to have a voracious appetite and at one time threatend the earth by nearly eating the sun.  The sun god would have none of it according to legend and the sun was saved.  There’s a bigger story than that, but I digress.  He is also accredited with helping Rama defeat the demon king, Ravana, through his adjustable size and monkey/bear army.  Ravana was defeated after setting Hanuman’s tail on fire and Hanuman decided to grow to giant proportions, setting the entire city on fire.  To this day, Hanuman is depicted with a black tipped tail for his trouble.  Hindus see him as a loyal kind God who defends against evil.

I see him as a big rock with neither thoughts nor feelings for the sacrifices or poor families that pay him homage.  Here’s some pictures from my point of view that we encountered on our last adventure, and interesting article I found about our president.  Who’d have thunk it! 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7468662.stm

Giant Hanuman IdolSacrifices for idols

God Restoring our Vision

Freedom Sunday is over. Eastern Hills Baptist Church’s building is paid off as God’s people worked together to remove the remaining debt. Some gave sacrificially, some gave up their indulgences, and some just gave faithfully every Sunday. It’s a time of celebration, but also a time to reset our sites on our Lord’s perspectives. Ultimately we realize this is not so much new programs, new buildings, new parking lots, or updating old facilities, but setting our sites on those things that are not as tangibly evident.  Those things that can’t be measured on a spreadsheet somewhere but matter just the same if not more.  Tonight during our fellowship we discussed Christ “likeness”, love and light.

I am part of  Jesus’ Church, so I realize if any change or refocusing is going to be made, it is going to start with me.  Not that I will be responsible for any transformations, only the Lord can be responsible for that.  I’m just trying to acknowledge that I’m not going to sit on the sidelines while others do what God reveals to us.  I wish to see where the Father is working and join him. 

Likeness

Certainly the Father’s will is to conform us to the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ.  (Romans 8:29)  We often hear that we should be “Christ-like” in Christian circles; but how exactly was Christ?  Too many times we get this idea of a really nice guy who walked around Galilee in robes and sandals.  He healed everyone he touched, hugged all the kids he could get his hands on and taught in whatever synagog he came across.  Well I personally don’t know if I’m capable of healing anyone, I don’t hug other people’s kids (unless I really know them) and I sure don’t teach everywhere I go.  Plus a robe isn’t the most fashionable thing in the world to wear these days.  So now what?  No wonder I’m so stinkin’ frustrated in my walk with Christ!  We could have  possibly set up a false image of Jesus in our imaginations and accepted it as fact.  Often times Jesus called religious leaders hypocrites, tombs full of dead men’s bones, and cups clean on the outside but filthy on the inside (I picture a really scummy coffee cup, blech!).  This certainly goes against the Mr. Rogers image we have of Him and will certainly do away with any guilt the first time we fall short of our own thoughts of Him, true or not.  We must search the scripture to see who He truly was and what He truly did.  There was time He invested in people and taught those people to invest in other people and help them in their walk with God.  We should conform to this true image that we have available to us through the gospel.

Love

Love must often be pursued.  It takes work to love people, especially those around you.  I love the Banjara people.  I can tell many stories of Sush, Damodar, Nageesh, Samir and others from India who we work annually with, but I honestly have to work to remember my next door neighbor’s name.  I have trouble recalling it now.  We could invite them to dinner one night, just to serve them, but I personally have never made the effort.  That’s the point, how much effort is being made to reach out to strangers so that they might not be strangers to Jesus.  How can one reach a world for Christ when not one person is reached by me?  Love…not my strong suit…no excuses, it must be pursued, effort must be made.

Light

Darkness is ALWAYS vanquished by light.  Light is never diminished by darkness as long as a source is giving off light.  We do not turn on dark.  We turn on the lights and where there is light there is no darkness.  For a world that is in spiritual darkness we as the Church must be a Light to them.  We must help them see to walk with Jesus, to not stumble and to reflect Jesus to them, just as a moon reflects the sun’s light to a world in darkness.  As a church we must be consumed with this purpose, as a fire consumes it’s fuel.  

I’m hoping as a church we will see God’s vision as it is revealed.  We will continue to pray that God will reveal specifics to us as we strive to do His will and put these three things into real people’s lives.

Waking Up

Recently my wife and I have been talking about losing weight.  We both would like to look better, but I personally feel like I lack any real discipline to look the way I would actually like to.  I know that doesn’t sound very positive, and hey I said we’ve been TALKING about it, not that we were committed to anything just yet.  Meditating upon these thoughts and attitudes though, I wonder, when would I ever look or feel my best if not now?  Why not start?  A person only lives once, and it’s not like I’m going to feel like doing this kind of thing when I’m any older.

I think for the past 8 to 9 months my brain has been on auto pilot.  I haven’t thought much about anything besides work, and when I’m home I just veg out.  I am happy to say though, that God is graceful and patient.  He has always been there, nudging me through hard times (and in my mind it seems that’s all there has been in the past year).  There’s been different thoughts forming in my mind though, thoughts once again of India, and missions, discipleship  and writing again!  LIFE!

A good cowboy friend once told me that anything good worth doing is never easy.  Jesus said that difficult and narrow is the path that leads to life.  I think I’m learning all over again that complacency, being comfortable is not the best thing.  Sometimes, we even have to determine in our hearts to sacrifice that we might have a little more of who we should be in the Lord.  I think I’m actually starting to wake up, and right now, life looks pretty good. 

Karen and I just might get creative with this weight thing…ultimately though, there will be discipline, spiritually and physically.

We’ve been learning a lot about the Holy Spirit in Sunday School class lately.  I believe for one of the first times in my life, that I’m sensing His hand here, working well in my family. 

Thank you Lord for your love and patience…

Marked in Jail in Claremore, OK

            Mark, Chad, Zach, Johnny, RJ, Pat, Phillip, and I all have an understanding of God that we may not have had until this past Monday.  As I sat with these seven men from all walks of life who ended up in the same place by no other fault but their own, I began to share the things the Lord has brought to my heart.  Through the zealousness of a guy who changes oil in a local car dealership here in Claremore, OK, I am reminded that I am a marked man.  I shared with these men how they too are marked men.  They are not in this predicament through anything that I have done, just as I am not by anything that they have done.

            The Bible tells us that God knows the very number of hairs on our heads (Luke 12:7).  Normally this is a comforting verse to read, a verse that brings reassurance that God will take care of everything; that we are more important than the birds that God does not forget, but given the context I was sharing with these guys, it brought a shudder to my spine.  As we read that scripture, which, preceding just a couple of verses before, Jesus tells us to “fear Him, who, after He has killed, has power to cast into Hell,” it drove home the point…God is paying attention.  Scripture teaches that not one sparrow falls to the ground that the LORD does not know about, and He knows the hairs on my head.  It was at this moment I felt “marked.”

            If God is paying attention enough to know the hairs on my head, than surely He must remember that small piece of candy I stole from a convenience store when I was just a boy, which from that moment on, labeled me a thief (whether I was caught or not).  If He knows the hairs of my head, then He knows also the countless lustful thoughts I’ve had towards a countless of number of women (dressed appropriately or not) I just passed by in the mall or on the street.  Jesus said if a man just looks at a woman with lust in his heart he is guilty of adultery already.  If He pays enough attention that He knows the exact number of hairs on my head right now than surely He’s paid enough attention to the number of lies I have told to people I don’t even remember lying to, whether I remember or not, found out or not, one lie makes a person a liar, and I’m sure I’ve told many more than one.  A lying, thieving, adulterer…sins I have committed in my life and am labeled for eternity.

            I Corinthians 6:8-10 says this, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortionists will inherit the kingdom of God.”  According to this verse, I cannot go to Heaven.  The Bible teaches God’s wrath is upon me…I am an unrighteous man who will meet a righteous God, who will meet justice, a marked man.  It is appointed once for a man to die, and after this, the judgment.  And I did it; I chose all of my sins, all by myself.  It was my free will that knows right from wrong that chose wrong. God would be absolutely right to give me Hell eternally as the deeds I chose marred my soul eternally. I am at His mercy.  

            But thank God there is mercy!  Praise His name that God would rather have a disposition of love than one of righteous judgment!  He alone provided a way for salvation.  Once I realize I’m a marked man and turn from the sins that made me that way and I believe in His Son – Jesus Christ, I am saved from judgment.  I am free from the penalty of sin, for Jesus, who knew no sin, endured the penalty and punishment and death for me upon an instrument of torture, the cross, and God sees that sacrifice as enough.  My fine is paid.  Praise God that Jesus meant what He said when He said, “It is finished.”  Praise God Jesus Christ is alive right now so I do not have to endure death and damnation that I deserve.  I am marked, but Jesus’ blood from His death covers my mark.  It covers that impurity which God cannot righteously look upon and I can be with Him.

            All of us this past Monday night, sitting in a little room in jail learned we were marked men, by our own special individual designs.  Some may have Jesus blood covering their marks, others sat, realizing they were enemies of God, realizing the truth of the Word and were forced to make a decision, repent and throw themselves at Jesus’ mercy, or wait a little while longer, remaining God’s enemy, with his wrath on their individual, hair-numbered heads.  Tonight I pray they have made the right decisions. 

 

Pray for these guys in the jail in Claremore OK.  They need it, they are everyday folks just like us who got caught doing wrong and they need salvation just like the rest of us.  Pray the justice they are receiving now will be an example to them of how swift justice will come upon them when they pass into eternity and they’ll have the brokenness to repent before it’s too late.