Forgiveness

I want to remind you about God's forgiveness. God wants us to recognize when what we have done is wrong and that we don't want to do it again. That's called repentence. When we repent, He forgives us! He doesn't just sometimes forgive us, nor does he just forgive us when He's in a good mood, He forgives us! Totally and completely. He "remembers our sins no more!" It doesn't matter how often we do the same sin, if we truly want to stop doing this sin, He forgives us every time. He forgives you every time you ask! HE LOVES YOU! Say it, "God loves me totally!" No, really, say it! It is the one truth in our lives we can KNOW is true - all the time, in every way.

On Grief

"I don't know how someone gets through grief when they don't know God." Have you ever heard this statement? It is a recognition of the help God gives us as we walk through the difficult journey after the death of a loved one. We recently have lost 3 young people in our church. Over the last couple of months, a young father died suddenly after surgery, a young newlywed died of leukemia, and a baby died of heart problems. Each death was difficult in it's own way and there are many people at our church who are hurting.

Over the years I have had the experience of walking through the grief process with many people. It is clear to me that those who know God traverse the journey in a more healthy manner than those who don't. For a non-Christian, the death of a close loved one leaves a hole that doesn't heal and can breed bitterness and anger which lasts a long time. For a Christian, grief is still painful but as God heals us, we are left with a scar that is actually stronger than the original. I can attest to this in my own life, as well as other's lives. It is the fact that we have trusted God through the difficult times that we can help others through their difficult times.

Grief is not something anyone wants to have to go through but be assured, my friend, that if you have to go through it, God will be there. You will look back and see His healing presence at every turn, in every step. It is truly easier to go through holding His hand. If you don't know God already, ask Him for the help you need to get through whatever you are gong through. He loves you!

We ARE the church

Today I saw a t-shirt with a message that was insightful. On the front it said, "I don't go to church." On the back it said, "I AM the church." It reminded me of the statement of a pastor who was being interviewed by the media after his church burned down. The newsperson asked what he was going to do now that the church was burned. The pastor's responce was an incredulous, "All the church people were in the building?" The newsperson was confused until the pastor said something like, "that was just a building. The real church is the people. My church is just fine."

We go to the church building to worship, learn and be in the presence of the people of God. But we don't live there. We go out into the world where we are usually the only "church" people ever see. When we think the church is the building, it gives us permission to be one way at church and another way when we are not there. It lets us put forward a "church" face on Sundays and fit into the world the rest of the days. A Christian, by definition, is one who is a follower of God. That isn't something we can put on and take off. We ARE the church.

I know some folks who won't put a Christian sticker on their car because they don't want the way they drive to cast a bad light on Christians. Would you be willing to identify yourself as a Christian in such a visible way - with a bumper sticker on your car, or a t-shirt that proclaimed you as a Christian? If you did, would it change how you lived your life?

On Temptation

It's a well known verse: "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." (1 Cor 10:13). But I'm amazed at how often it is misapplied. This verse is talking about how He helps us handle the temptations that come at us, not at the events that cause the temptations.

The events that happen in this life are many: financial ups and downs, deaths, betrayals, physical disasters, and on and on and on. The temptations are also frequent. A temptation is that thought we have that makes us want to to abandon our reliance on God - it is when we are being lured away from God. Everyone has those thoughts - they are common to man. The question is what do we do with them when they come? Do we allow them to draw us away from God?

When we are faced with difficult events, we are tempted to respond as most people do - with anger, fear, or even a sense that God has abandoned us or even that God is testing us or trying to teach us something and until we can learn it the bad things will continue to happen.

God's 'way out' is not to stop the events that are behind the temptations. He doesn't always make the bad stuff go away. His 'way out' is that He is there and will walk with us through the events. It isn't about the events at all. It's about our response to everything that comes our way. It is our continued reliance on God.

To Be Wholly God's

"What folly to fear to be too entirely God's! It is to fear to be too happy. It is to fear to love God's will in all things. It is to fear to have too much courage in the crosses which are inevitable, too much comfort in God's love, and too much detachment from the passions which make us miserable.

So let us scorn earthly things, to be wholly God's. There would be only this difference, that instead of being devoured by our pride, by our overbearing passions, and by the malicious criticism of the world, we shall act instead with liberty, courage and hope in God. Confidence will animate us.

If we have a hard time believing this, experience will convince us. "Come, see and taste," said Daivd, "how sweet is the Lord." - Francois Fenelon ~1700

The True Meaning of Joy

Last Friday and Saturday we had the privilege of going to Seattle and visiting some friends of ours who are facing a serious illness in their family. As a family, they have been walking together through circumstances that must sometimes seem like black holes - sucking all the emotional and spiritual life out of people. This family, however, proves that God can fill that black hole faster than anything can suck it out and leave us absolutely certain of His love, power and holiness. We went to minister to them but, as usual, they ministered to us.

If you want to know the true meaning of joy as only God can provide, go to Matt's blog at http://www.fmcna.typepad.com/thomas/ and look for the entry on August 11. There is no one who can say it clearer than someone who is in the midst of the kind of trail that only God can get us through.

The next time you feel like GOD can't use you, just remember...
Noah was a drunk
Abraham was too old
Isaac was a daydreamer
Jacob was a liar
Leah was ugly
Joseph was abused
Moses had a stuttering problem
Gideon was afraid
Samson had long hair and was a womanizer

Rahab was a prostitute
Jeremiah and Timothy were too young
David had an affair and was a murderer
Elijah was suicidal
Isaiah preached naked
Jonah ran from God
Naomi was a widow

Job went bankrupt
Peter denied Christ
The Disciples fell asleep while praying
Martha worried about everything
The Samaritan woman was divorced, more than once
Zaccheus was too small
Paul was too religious
Timothy had an ulcer
...AND Lazarus was dead!

Now! No more excuses! God can use you to your full potential...Besides you aren't the message, you are just the messenger.

Did I fail?

It's amazing how many people feel bad about failing at something. We think we have failed ourselves, others, or even God. However we describe it - disappointment, letdown, fiasco, insecurity, insufficient - there always seems to be a standard out there we can't reach. Why is that? Did God set the goal too high? Do we just not try hard enough?

Let's define failure as when reality does not meet expectations. It is particularly distressing if this 'not meeting expectations' causes hurt, discomfort or pain for ourselves or others. In our culture, we spend a lot of energy trying to figure out who's to blaim and some folks end up either carrying around the weight of the guilt themselves, or they carry around anger at others for their short comings.

Most of the time, I find the expectations are too high. We have to first look to see if we are aiming for a target that can actually be hit. Expectations that are too low are usually caused by fear of failure - so we still need to look for appropriate standards.

But Jesus died on the cross so we could have forgiveness for sins. There is no glory in carrying around the sin of guilt, shame, and anger. All we have to do is to ask Him to forgive us and ask Him to help us not do that sin again. Which He will do - over and over.

But in reality, the bottom line is this: if we are walking with Jesus as best we can, He helps us do what He has asked us to do. There is no failure. It may not look like you thought it might, but if God is in charge, how can we fail? He knows our capabilities, our likes, our knowledge and he would not ask us to do something we could not do! The reality then fits God's expectations and it's not a failure regardless of what the world would see. What a joy we have when we finally realize we can trust God in all things.

Be Thou My Vision

The dictionary defines 'Vision' this way:
1. the act or power of sensing with the eyes; sight.
2. the act or power of anticipating that which will or may come to be: prophetic vision; the vision of an entrepreneur.
3. an experience in which a personage, thing, or event appears vividly or credibly to the mind, although not actually present, often under the influence of a divine or other agency: a heavenly messenger appearing in a vision.
4. something seen or otherwise perceived during such an experience: The vision revealed its message.
5. a vivid, imaginative conception or anticipation: visions of wealth and glory.
6. something seen; an object of sight.
7. a scene, person, etc., of extraordinary beauty: The sky was a vision of red and pink.

I love this old Irish hymn. Read it (or sing it), thinking of each meaning of the word vision. What a richness of meaning.

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys,
O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

Do you know Jesus?

Oswald Chambers says, "being saved and seeing Jesus are not the same thing." We can intellectually and even by faith accept the salvation Jesus gives us, but not have really experienced His power in our lives. Once we see His strength, love, and wisdom (and so many others) truly at work nothing will be the same. Before we really see Jesus, we try to follow Him but after we see Him, we want to follow Him. Sometimes these two things happen at the same time, but often there is a time period between being saved and seeing Him for who He truly is - in a close and personal way. (see John 9:25)

"When you see Him, you must tell, even if they don't believe.
O could I tell, you surely would believe it!
O could I only say what I have seen!
How should I tell or how can you receive it?
How, till He bringeth you where I have been?"

How I pray for you that you truly see Jesus!

Let Your Light Shine

In Matthew, Jesus says to "let your light shine before men." What does that mean? To me, it means to live our lives in relationship with God and not be ashamed of it. People will notice there is something different about us - something better than what they see elsewhere - and it becomes a beacon for them to find God. We become like a lighthouse showing the way to safe harbor.

But when I see people who I admire for how their light shines and I ask how they do it, the almost universal answer is that they don't think they have a light, or it doesn't shine very much. I wonder if we can't ever see our own light. Like when we carry a flashlight, others can see the source of the light better than we can. That doesn't negate the fact that we "are the light of the world." Not 'should be', not 'could be', not 'can be if we work hard enough' and not 'will be if we see the results of our efforts.' We ARE the light of the world because of Jesus. We are the only Jesus many people will see and all we have to do is have a close relationship with Jesus and live with courage and integrity. After all, it's not about us - it's about pointing people to God and "connecting people's God dots." (from yesterday's sermon by Glenn Teal). See his blog at fullydevoted.com.

With All My Being

Luke tells us to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind." In the Message, it reads this way: "love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence." So, with everything you have.

How do we do that? With God's help! When we pray, we enlist the power of the universe to help us. Then we can do what seems impossible. God gives us His love and strength and He shows us how to love him back.

He also gently shows us where we are holding back from him: our passion is going somewhere it shouldn't, we aren't praying about something we should, we are spending our time and energy in unhealthy ways, or we are not paying attention to what we are allowing in our thoughts. Don't be afraid - God loves you more than you could know. He has a plan for you and IT IS GOOD!

How Big Is Your God?

A few days ago, I talked about our priorities and how that priority becomes our 'god'. It doesn't hurt to question that periodically. Something else we do, though, is limit that 'god'. If our priority is money or relationships, limiting it is good. If our priority is the God who created us and the universe and who loves us, limiting Him is not good. Whatever good you think God can do in your life, He can do more. However much you think God loves you, He loves you more. Whatever you trust Him with, you can trust Him with more. Whatever wisdom and help you think God can give you, He can give you more. Don't limit God. He will always surprise you with His ability to amaze you.

Food for Thought

I read a quote - "One can't achieve the impossible without attempting the absurd."

What do you think about it? Do you agree with it? If so, what does it mean to you? If not, how would you rewrite it?

Memorial Day

Looking at the history of mankind one would guess that we require conflict to survive - like it's inbred into our genes. Some are wars that are large and in the world's face like the one in Iraq. Some have a smaller footprint like the one between the police and the felons in the meth house next door. There always seems to be someone doing the wrong thing and fortunately someone else willing to put their lives on the line to stop them.

The affect of these wars on those who are fighting them is tremendous. They are killed, permanently injured, get post traumatic stress disorder, get divorced, and so much more. Putting their lives on the line affects them in every aspect of their lives. Every soldier, seaman, policeman and fireman knows the risk yet they do it anyway. Today is the day to honor them.

I pray you speak kindly to someone who has been affected by conflict. Listen to their story. Honor their commitment to do the right thing. You will be richer for it.

Who do you know in that position? What is their story?

Value

It seems one of the major rocks that clog our path is a lack of sense of value or purpose.

All people have a basic need to find meaning. Without it we have what I have had described to me as a hole in their life. We can try to fill that with material things, relationships, power, position, control and a hundred other things - all of which don't fill the hole. These things just try to distract us from the fact there is a hole there.

The only true value we can have comes from the God who created us and loves us just like we are. And it's a value we don't have to earn - He gives it to us without reservation and without limitation. We only have to accept it.

What gives you value?

Focus on Health

Health is sometimes defined as the absence of disease. While that seems like an oversimplification, it is the essence of the content for this blog. I am a registered nurse, a master's level counselor and an ordained pastor. My ministry is helping people be healthy: physically, emotionally and spiritually. When I visualize our lives, I see us on a path. We naturally are moving toward health but there are rocks in the way. Those rocks might be poor nutrition, disease, poverty, poor self esteem, traumatic memories, sin, or a hundred other things. If we can get those rocks out of the way, we can move closer to being healthy in every aspect of our lives.

What do you see as rocks in your life? What do you do with them?

Why Another Blog?

I have finally come in contact with someone who blogs intelligently, consistently, and actually still enjoys it after several years. He handed me the challenge of blogging, insisting that I have something to say that would be interesting to more folks than I think. I have taken up the challenge although it seems wise to wait to advertise the fact until I see if I enjoy it enough to be consistent (the intelligent part will have to wait to be proven).

How many blogs do you actually read a week?