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A fierce unpredicted storm paraded across the horizon  up-rooting trees, breaking large branches off trees and all that goes with a powerful storm.  From my perspective, storms that stop traffic and wreak destruction are easier to handle when I have been forewarned .

The Bible warns us of a major life-changing storm will come in the last days that will separate the wanna-be or artificial Christ-follower from the authentic one.   In the midst of that, while Jesus warned this time would come and generations of people have talked of it and thought it was about to come — so far nothing has happened.  It seems obvious that God is far more concerned about the process of waiting for the end than in providing us a comfortable trip to our destination.   

Paul wrote, to the believers in Thessalonica, …[people] even report how you turned away from false gods to serve the real, living God 10  and to wait for his Son to come from heaven. His Son is Jesus, whom he brought back to life. Jesus is the one who rescues us from {God’s} coming anger (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10, GW)  But what does wait for His Son look like today?  What is wrong with this picture—or does waiting look different than we imagine?  The truth is the waiting process reveals more about the belief and commitment of the person who waits than it does about the person for whom they wait.  It exposes how much the anticipating person believes and loves the person for whom they are waiting.   Books and movies are made of those possessing a deep, inner conviction who had to patiently endure all forms of pain before seeing their reward.  We honor prisoners of war for that reason.  Those listed in Hebrews 11 whom we highly esteem made that list not because of great achievements but because they modeled the pedigree of conviction of those who possess authentic faith.  The Bible says, But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6, NKJV).   Jesus said Everyone will hate you because you are committed to me. But the person who patiently endures to the end will be saved  (Matthew 10:22, GW)  

There is an old saying, When the going gets tough, the tough get going – meaning when the situation becomes difficult, the strong will work harder to meet the challenge.  Those God intends to be in His Heaven are those who have tenaciously maintained their love and faith in Him long after the multitudes dropped out. The Old Testament Bible character named Job was a prime example of that.  Please remember, the New Testament Apostle Paul warned, Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons (1 Timothy 4:1, NLT2)  We all know that a track race is not won by the first one out of the starting blocks. It is won by the person who gives all he/she possess to break the tape at the finish line.

So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised. “For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay. And my righteous ones will live by faith. But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away.” But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved (Hebrews 10:35-39, NLT2)

When watching a movie of a runaway train picking up momentum as it rushed towards disaster for all the passengers, I felt panic even though I was restfully sitting at home.  It sounds crazy having two contrasting emotions going simultaneously but it has happened for me and maybe you as well.   

I feel somewhat like that this these days as momentum builds for our nation rushing towards certain economic, social and infrastructural disaster unless God intervenes.  On one hand I’m feeling increasingly anxious about what is ahead, yet I sense a profound peace that God is working out His plan for the church, our nation and world. 

Abraham must have experienced something similar when God tested him (Gen. 22:1).  What would it feel like to genuinely encounter God then to have Him say to you as He said to Abraham, “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you” (Genesis 22:2, NLT2)  God had proven His love and faithfulness to Abraham but until this point God had never asked him to sacrifice God’s priceless promised gift, Isacc, his son.  He must have experienced a torrent of mixed emotions!  We can talk about being profoundly tested but really going through it is a whole different matter.

Perhaps you can identify with Abraham’s deeply mixed emotions because all the wheels have fallen off your tricycle and your world feels like a frenzied mess.  I can only imagine when God looked at the earth as a shapeless, chaotic mass (Genesis 1:2, TLB), it was worse than what you are looking or the disaster I see us racing towards.  In God’s case, the encouraging fact was, and is also today, God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above [that] watery abyss (Genesis 1:2, MSG).  And when He (the Spirit) began to intervene, in time it came out looking like perfection—the Garden of Eden.

It is essential for us to fix in our sight that the very same Spirit that worked on that mass of chaos is the very same Spirit who is alive and well and brooding over your chaos and that which I see the United States headed towards.  Yes, what we see can cause anxiety to rise but at the same time we can have the assurance the Holy Spirit is in total control even when it does not look like it. 

The truth is, if you reflect through the whole of the Bible, whatever the Spirit touches is eventually reshaped into something absolutely stunning.  Case in point, what did He do with all the tragedies in Jesus’ passion week?  Yes, Jesus died but three days later the most astonishing and magnificent thing happened.  Jesus arose and walked out of His tomb.  From that point forward He worked on earth through other humans who bled red blood just as you and me, to turn the world upside down.  To be sure, He continues to bring authentic, radical and total life-change to rebels just as He has done through the last couple millenniums.     

Paul tells us in the midst of our chaos, Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven [God’s total authority to reign], where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.  Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory (Colossians 3:1-4, NLT2).  This truth is what we can find experiential rest in while watching the terrifying chaos around us.      

I am going to take a risk to do something I have never done before.  I want to share a good sample of a classic daily devotional, My Utmost for His Highest, written by Oswald Chambers.  I’m doing it because 1) my writing skills are not advanced enough to clearly describe what he has written or how I feel about this book.  2) I know that some today may not be familiar with these writings and I want everyone I connect with to at least know about it. 

What he writes in this book has proven over 9 decades to be a ‘must read’ for all serious Christ-followers.  More than 13 million copies have been sold worldwide.  It oozes with wisdom and the passion of his heart for God and grabs the heart of a person hungry for knowing and following God.

SERVICE OF PASSIONATE DEVOTION

“Lovest thou Me?… Feed My sheep” (John 21:16).

Jesus did not say—Make converts to your way of thinking, but look after My sheep, see that they get nourished in the knowledge of Me. We count as service what we do in the way of Christian work; Jesus Christ calls service what we are to Him, not what we do for Him. Discipleship is based on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on adherence to a belief or a creed. “If any man come to Me and hate not…. he cannot be My disciple.” There is no argument and no compulsion, but simply—If you would be My disciple, you must be devoted to Me. A man touched by the Spirit of God suddenly says—”Now I see Who Jesus is,” and that is the source of devotion.

Today we have substituted credal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many are devoted to causes and so few devoted to Jesus Christ. People do not want to be devoted to Jesus, but only to the cause He started. Jesus Christ is a source of deep offence to the educated mind of today that does not want Him in any other way than as a Comrade. Our Lord’s first obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of men; the saving of men was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father. If I am devoted to the cause of humanity only, I will soon be exhausted and come to the place where my love will falter; but if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity though men treat me as a door-mat. The secret of a disciple’s life is devotion to Jesus Christ, and the characteristic of the life is its unobtrusiveness. It is like a corn of wheat, which falls into the ground and dies, but presently it will spring up and alter the whole landscape John 12:24).

My prayer is that the Holy Spirit has caused what you just have just read to resonate deep within you as it has within me.  The truth he communicates in this is timeless and offers a variety of insights.  Oswald’s devotional is available to be borrowed or purchased on-line and most likely is in your local library or Christian bookstore.  

Enjoy the blessings God’s Spirit plans to give you today.

Many things in life are most important.  For a businessman, the most important often is what is referred to as the bottom-line profit.  For an athlete, the most important often is if they achieve their goal.  For a couple getting married, the most important often is whether they have true love.  For a Christian, the most important thing in the world is growing in their knowledge of God.  John 17:3 (GW)  This is eternal life: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent.

We often miss the fact that the birth and ministry of Jesus, His passion week including the resurrection all were specifically designed to enable us to know God in a personal way.  Becoming a Christian is not just a mindless spiritual experience but includes a personal experience with knowledge and understanding of God.  Unless there is a growing desire to know about God and follow His truths, there is something amiss in one’s spiritual health.  Ezekiel 36:27 (NLT2)  And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.  To be careful is to always be alert, in this case, to anything that would distract you from wanting to know more of who God is and follow His laws of life.

Consider what is at the core of what the Bible says.   Writing of the future Jeremiah 24:7 (GW)  I will give them the desire to know that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, because they will wholeheartedly come back to me.  Jeremiah 31:34 (GW)  No longer will each person teach his neighbors or his relatives by saying, ‘Know the LORD.’ All of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” declares the LORD, “because I will forgive their wickedness and I will no longer hold their sins against them.”  Isaiah 11:9b (GW) The world will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD like water covering the sea.

When explaining spiritual maturity Paul does not refer to religious words, Bible memorization, religious deeds or miraculous deeds.  Rather he writes that believers are to help each other continue to grow until all of us are united in our faith and in our knowledge about God’s Son, until we become mature, until we measure up to Christ, who is the standard (Ephesians 4:13, GW).    

We can go to church, dutifully read our Bible in a cursory way, give tithe and offerings, be active in church ministries and still fall short of growing in the knowledge of our God.  (1 Tim 6:20-21)  Take a moment and look back on what you have learned about God, His truth, His ways, His values in the last 30 days.  What have truths have you come to understand or gain greater or fresh clarity on regarding the Bible God?  Or have you inadvertently lost your hunger and thirst and have become content with what knowledge you do have of God?  Remember God is far too vast and great to know all there is to know about Him in your lifetime.  The most important thing you can do in this life is to deliberately press to know God in a more intimate and complete way.  This increased knowledge of Him will naturally result in greater love and faith in Him.  (Ps. 9.10)

The part that most of us forget is the fact God desires for you to experience His joy not dull routine.  Jesus said John 10:10b (NLT2) My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.  The Bible teaches He rewards those who sincerely seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)  With those promises on the table, why not pull up a chair and learn to feast on what can be discovered as you study more deeply in God’s word to gain more knowledge about Him?  Jesus promised Matthew 5:6 (GW) Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for God’s approval. They will be satisfied.  

I was in high school when Alan Shepard was launched into space.  It was too much for my mind to comprehend, maybe to even believe.  The launch was shown on TV in one of our classrooms so that day I saw the rocket, space capsule on top, all launch equipment and watched the lift-off.  I remember questioning if they were making all this up as a public relations stunt just to keep up with the Russians who had sent a man into space the month earlier.  It obviously required a massive amount of power to lift one man in a small module that far into space. 

Eight years and nearly three months later Neil Armstrong was launched by even more power into space and was able to walk on the moon.  Even though by then I had accepted the fact men were being launched into space, walking on the moon stretched my mind even farther.  I remember looking at the moon that night wondering if it were possible to see him and the disappointment that I could not. 

I have recently been reflecting on Ephesians 1:16-21, which is Paul’s audacious prayer for believers, especially for those in Ephesus but also for those who would later read it in Laodicea as well as those of us today.  The part that struck me most as I meditated on it this time was his prayer for our eyes to be enlightened so that we would know what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, [especially the power] that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:19-20, ESV)  Paul was ecstatically describing two specific expressions of God’s power, one when Jesus was raised from the dead and the other when he ascended into heaven. 

I was reminded of how stunned I was with the amount of power it took to launch one man into space.  Now here I am reflecting on how much controlled power it took to not only resurrect a dead man from the sealed tomb but to also cause him to ascend through space where He entered God’s heaven.  Take a moment to meditate on that kind of power!  That is far above any amount of power man can generate.

Paul was asking God to grant us a revelation, not only the immeasurable greatness of his power but also that it is toward us who believe!  First, he is not talking about such power we can utilize at our discretion for any whimsical fantasy, but rather about God’s desire to direct the flow this divine power through us in order to work His purpose in our world today—both private and public world. 

To be very honest, the more I meditated on that truth the more humbled and ashamed I felt.  God is not only willing but desiring for each of us to allow this level of power to flow through us to fulfill His purposes in our world today.  I’m ashamed to think of how many times, for whatever reason, I failed to release as much of this kind of divine power as He made available.  It immediately motivated me to begin to pray for God to breathe this kind of power into the lives of those in in my world experiencing difficult situations.  I have sensed a new level of faith rise up within me that the Holy Spirit is breathing this power into those who are blind to this truth or otherwise incapable of crying out to God for His deliverance or empowerment to become all He wants them to become.

I urge you to meditate on Paul’s words in this passage and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal its truth in your inner being.  Who knows what God will do through you when that divine revelation breaks upon you?  God certainly knows if ever there is a day the world needs to experience His divine power it is today. 

I still clearly remember when my dad bought a rusted-out 1914 Model T Ford Touring sitting in a farmer’s tree grove.  Many parts were missing but to him it was a treasure.  He then set out to take the body off the frame as well as locate and purchase the missing brass sidelights, headlamps, radiator and all the other missing parts.  He invested a great deal of his spare time and money he could scrounge up restoring that car.  He took me with him to pick up the parts as well as sand the rust off the parts we did have.  He did not do all that because of the value of the car nor because of me.  He invested in that car because of the dream he had in his mind of how it would look and feel like to drive when it was finished.  He was so proud of that antique car when it was finished.  He had to show anyone who came to our house, take friends for a ride in it and drive it in parades.  You might say the finished product was his inheritance related to all he (and I) invested in it.

In a recent quiet time with God, I was reflecting on the prayer Paul recorded for the believers at Ephesus, Laodicea and other surrounding communities where it would be read, as well as for you and I today.  The part of the prayer that captured my attention were the words, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints (Ephesians 1:18, ESV)  Given our predisposition to interpret the Bible to be all about us, we typically interpret these words to mean Paul wanted all believers to be able to grasp the hope to which God has called us, that being our glorious eternal inheritance as believers.  Certainly, this is partially true but only in an incidental way.  The more crucial thing this is saying is, like my dad investing so much in that 1914 Model T Ford, God has been investing to restore each of us because of His dream of His own glorious inheritance.  As Paul wrote when describing how husbands should love their wife, For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. He did this to present her TO HIMSELF as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault (Ephesians 5:25-27, NLT2). 

Please understand, each of us is a VERY PRIVILEGED person, a trophy of God’s workmanship, shaped to be able to do the work He purposed for each of us to do (Eph. 2:10).  But all that He is doing in and through us is NOT just to give us a sense of comfort, pleasure or elevated ego.  Paul clarifies the real reason by declaring So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:7, NLT2). 

When I look at myself as the rusted out 1914 Model T Ford and God restoring me to the beauty He had designed me to be in order to bring honor and praise to Himself, it deeply humbles, encourages as well as challenges me.  Our God wants each of us to grow up to the measure of the full stature of Christ (Eph. 4:13).  If I am lollygagging, caught up with myself and my circumstances, I will never reach Christ’s full stature and be an example of the incredible wealth of His grace and kindness He has shown me.  That thought compels me to dismiss my disappointments, discomfort, disappointments in Him not doing for me what I want done; and press on to the mark of full spiritual maturity of loving Him as Jesus so incredibly modeled in His love for His Father.  That is my personal life goal.  What is your goal in life?  Consider with me what the Spirit might be saying is the next step you might need to take in order to bring God great pleasure when exhibiting His craftmanship in your life.  A believer’s life is all about glorifying our incredible King.

Not long ago I encountered a person who spoke very respectfully to me which I appreciated.  Albeit based upon this person’s past behavior towards me, I also felt mixed thoughts and feelings swirling furiously within me.  No doubt you have also experienced that type of thing.  In my case I chose to believe there had been a change of heart and the kind words spoken were authentically heart-felt.  Yet skepticism continued lurking in the shadows. 

Jesus must have experienced something very similar.  The Pharisees and teachers of the law challenged Him about His disciples failing to follow the traditions of the elders.  He responded saying, These people [Jewish leaders] honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me (Matthew 15:8, NIV)   Isaiah also witnessed the same.  Ironically, the outward religious activities the Jews who he was addressing appeared to be stellar if considered today.  Isaiah 1:11-15 records the people were practicing the very things we would identify to be signs of authentic spirituality:

• offering multitudes of sacrifices
• appearing faithfully to worship before the Lord
• keeping the special traditional religious days of worship
• spreading out their hands [the Hebrew indicates a classic act of humility] as they prayed
• offering many prayers.

Through Isaiah God called out their empty rhetoric saying stop it, these things are detestable to me, I’m sick and tired of them, I will not listen to you.  What? These people were following God’s instructions for worship and now He is saying stop all this vain and empty activity.  Why?  “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men (Isaiah 29:13, NIV). 

Writing a prophetic letter, John called out one of the more reputable churches having believers doing many good things by saying, I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent (Revelation 2:2-5, ESV)

Like me, I believe God wanted to believe the best in believers, yet His righteous character motivated Him to flash a warning light calling them to reexamine the condition of love in their inner being towards Him.  Spiritually adulterous thoughts had slowly been contaminating their pure, loving worship towards Him.  

Worship is essentially recognizing God’s honor, gladly feeling the worth of it and ascribing such to Him in all ways appropriate to His character.  Yes, I’m ashamed to admit that while I express worship to Him, there are times when it is adulteress in that my mind is on the music (whether I like the song selection, how the worship leader is performing, what the musicians are wearing, the rhythm, level of performance, etc.), the speaker’s content and delivery, or who is or is not in church that day. You understand because I am sure this occasionally happens to all of us. 

Let’s not allow this to defeat us but rather to prompt us to take more deliberate initiative to prepare our mind and body before we come to worship so that we can JOYFULLY worship Him for who He is.

Some words we use mean very different things depending on the context in which they are being used.  We use the word love when we reference an idea, a friend, a picture or animal but also use it when referencing our feelings for our spouse, parent, or even a sexual experience. Obviously, the meaning of the word changes depending on how we use the word. 

I was in a discussion group where a person referenced a Bible verse of which the latter part reads this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith (1 John 5:4).  Great, encouraging words.  In my mind snapped the question, “Is this faith a cerebral or divine type faith”?  I asked the question and received a lot of puzzled looks which sort of caught me off-guard. 

You may believe a chair will hold you up, a gondola will carry you across a chasm, the sun will rise tomorrow, or God does exist.  Those all reference a belief that is based on how you think of any of those things.  But is that the same definition Jesus used when He said If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer (Matthew 21:22, NIV) or The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news! (Mark 1:15, NIV) or Paul used when he wrote That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9, NIV)?  Absolutely not!   

Whether you use any of the related terms like believe, faith or trust as the Bible primarily does, the words are intended to call for there being be an internal conviction, relying fully on, or having deep confidence in God.  Paul says this type of faith doesn’t come from a person’s mind, rather … God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith (Romans 12:3, KJV).  The Bible defines this type of faith as … the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1, ESV).  John’s use of the word faith referred to earlier (1 John 5:4) is the type of faith that brings about the victory that has overcome the world. 

You can identify the source of your faith by pausing for a moment and considering if it came from your mind or emotions (soul) or from your intuition (spirit).  We often think because Jesus was also God that His knowledge came from His deity.  However, He chose to set aside His deity (Phil. 2:7) in order to limit Himself to live with the very same tools you and I have available to us.  Notice how He operated.  And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? (Mark 2:8, ESV).  His spirit had a direct link to the very same spirit that is within each believer.  This Holy Spirit gives us His faith and knowledge just as the Holy Spirit did with Jesus.  I’m currently taking a step of faith to do what I intuitively sense may be the Spirit urging me to take.  I am fully confident if I step in the wrong direction, He will let me know and will not chide me.  He will do the same for you.  That is kind of Heavenly Father we serve! 

This begs the question: Is the faith you possess and knowledge you practice based on the same divinely revealed source Jesus depended upon, or, could it be your faith and knowledge of God is based on cerebral indoctrination?  I sense that all believers do want to receive supernatural faith and knowledge as Jesus did through divine revelation.  If you sense deep within that the Spirit is urging your intuition to do something, step out and take a chance.  At least test the water as Peter did.  He won’t chide you or let you sink but instead move you forward in your faith journey. 

A test I once took classified me as a strategic leader.  That is an asset as well a liability.   My default has been to first assess what I perceive to be the current reality in front of me then begin to formulate a strategy to either solve the apparent problem or, if things are working inefficiently, try to find ways to improve them.  Unfortunately, it is not until I am overwhelmed with too many variables that are totally out of my control, does it occur to me to seek God for His direction.  While this pattern is also true of both genders, it is generally thought to be more typical of a male.  We instinctively feel a need to fix things while females tend to feel a need to nurture. 

Beyond all that the bigger question arises.  What is our real motive for seeking God?  Do we seek Him only to satisfy our felt need to fix or nurture or maybe provide us a soft cushioned landing in our tomorrow?  We all in some measure share in the human anxiety about the future.  In this point in time, the anxiety is certainly at higher a higher level as we try to stare into our pandemic filled tomorrow.   

I fear that many of us seek to hear God solely as a device for securing our own safety, comfort, and righteousness.  If you and I drill down to discover what our fundamental motives are for seeking God, do we find something closer to a form of fear of our future (or that of our children), or is it closer to genuinely longing to know God Himself, His ways, character or truth.  If it’s the earlier, such motives reveal we are overly concerned about our self/ego in contrast to having a passion for greater experiential knowledge of the Almighty God.  It reminds me of a suiter pursuing a marriage relationship based on how the other person’s wealth, power, prestige or social position would benefit them instead of having a heart-felt love for that person.    

Frederick B. Meyer wrote, “So long as there is some thought of personal advantage, some idea of acquiring the praise and commendation of men, some aim of self-aggrandizement, it will be simply impossible to find out God’s purpose concerning us.” Nothing will go right in our effort to hear God if this false motivation is its foundation. God will not cooperate. We must discover a different motivation for seeking God’s will or help in solving our problems—or hearing His  frequent whispers.

Frequently, we are our own worst enemy.  I’ve learned the quicker I can recognize that I stumbled in this area, and humble myself by confessing that failure to God, the sooner the self-induced pressure to perform subsides allowing me to enjoy His peace.  I remember playing a classical song and envisioning myself dancing as a child chasing butterflies in a meadow.  I can’t describe the relief and pleasure I experienced.  The load of fear of my tomorrow robs me of the childlike trust in God—life most abundant.  As you reflect on your current inner thoughts and feelings, do you find yourself anxious or at peace, stressed or like a child chasing butterflies.  If it is the earlier, remember that God has provided you a preferable alternative that comes by seeking Him, not His gifts or life insurance, simply His presence. 

I was serving as a Music/Youth Pastor in Oregon when I experienced one of my most discouraging times.  I looked at other ministers who led more significant ministries and asked God many times why He had put me on His proverbial shelf.  This memory represented scores of similar frustrating times, especially in the earlier decades of my ministry.  I know this has been a common inner battle many have fought.  We fantasize that our capacity is great enough to perform at a much greater level than we have been serving. 

Looking back I’m reminded of Peter’s exaggerated confidence of his capacity to serve Jesus.  Peter said, “Lord, I am ready to go to prison with you, and even to die with you” (Luke 22:33, NLT2).  We’ve all been guilty of similar thoughts.  It comes out very early in the fantasy of children who imagine themselves doing far more than they are physically, mentally or emotionally capable of doing. 

God knows us far better than we know ourselves.  Jesus responded to Peter by saying, “Peter, let me tell you something. Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me” (Luke 22:34, NLT2).  There are so many variables of our self that only God can see and understand, including the limits of our faith.  He alone knows what we can handle.  He is never misled by our imaginations or exaggerated promises. 

The Psalmist wrote No one from the east or the west or from the desert can exalt a man. But it is God who judges: He brings one down, he exalts another (Psalm 75:6-7, NIV).  We must remind our self that God is far more interested in accomplishing His kingdom purposes than you or I.  He will move us into every assignment He knows we are ready to take on.  It may be that a dream we receive will be fulfilled in the future, but not as soon as we envision.  God gave Joseph a dream of his family bowing before him.  However, when he prematurely told it to his brothers, it sent him into a series of one dark experience after another.  After he had gone through the Spirit school of hard knocks, He was elevated to do just as he had dreamed—but with a humility and tenderness towards God he did not have when he received the dream.  I am unable to imagine how badly things would have gone if the Spirit would have allowed him to become such a ruler in the early days after receiving his dream.

So much comes down to the level of trust we have in God knowing us and ordering our steps.  In our pride, like a child we arrogantly think we are ready to do whatever we dream of doing with or without God’s empowerment or guidance.  In such a case, we expect God to bless our timing, our foolish pride and underdeveloped knowledge or skill set.  We even become frustrated with God when He doesn’t do what, when or how we schedule for Him to perform His assigned task.

Each of us can experience the faith and level of trust that resulted in the spiritual success Paul attained when as an individual we can honestly say with the apostle Paul, I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t (Romans 7:18, NLT2).  Authentic trust increases in me when I am genuinely humble before God and man.  Let us commit to helping each other resist the culture’s pressure to build and protect our ego and pursue greater knowledge of our Lord.  The more we know Him the more we will trust Him.