Tag: prayer

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Day 17 Goodness of God

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And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
    for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,  Luke 1:76
The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,  Lamentations 3:25

In one of my Bible study groups I asked what in our lives do we struggle to completely turn over to God.  Being all women, it wasn’t surprising that most answered our children.  We worry, we fear, we hover, we protect.  We lay away at night thinking of their future.  We pray continuously for those who aren’t yet saved.  

For so many of us, however, that role becomes overwhelming and overbearing.  It puts our relationships with our children and maybe even our spouses in peril.  The solution?  To see God as not only our father but the good father who loves our children even more than we do, which seems impossible.  When I finally turned my adult children over to God, I first had to trust Him and know Him.  I had to realize how good He is and how much He loves me too.

Now imagine the parents of John the Baptist.  His father, Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied the enormous responsibility his just born son would be required to put on his shoulders.  Both his mother and father seemed to understand the weight of the role in announcing the coming Messiah.  A role I don’t think most parents would want for their children.  A nice quiet life as a fisherman with a wife who bears him many children – yes, that’s what Elizabeth probably wanted for John. 

But no.  John became a bit odd.  He wore strange clothes and ate bugs.  He spoke to anyone who would listen about the Messiah.  His message was sometimes confusing and almost heretical.  Yet we don’t see in scripture his parents lamenting.  They probably did.  But I would surmise based on the prophecy and Elizabeth’s faithfulness that they lamented to God.

They lifted their son up to the God Most High for protection and direction.  They trusted in His goodness.  I’m sure if they were still alive when John sat in his final jail cell they wept.  But they also knew their son had been faithful to God and the Messiah had been faithful to him.  And as a parent, what more, truly should we ask. 

Click here to listen to today’s song: Goodness of God 

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Day 16 Come Jesus Come

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You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For, “In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.”  Hebrews 10:36-37
Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.  Isaiah 40: 30-31

I wonder how many times the apostles and the other disciples just fell to their knees in desperation and cried out for Jesus to return?  I can only imagine over the last 2,000 years there’s been hundreds and hundreds of the faithful that have done the same.  

It’s a sad truth that modern Christians come from a long line of faithful martyrs who were put to death by rulers afraid of losing power.  Men who have felt threatened by people who proclaim, “I am Christian.”  

In the United States, we have enjoyed a long run of a majority Christian society.  Never facing the intense persecution so many who founded the country faced  As we watch our societies across the world transform into a minority who would state in front of a mob, “I am Christian,” we too may be tempted to cry out for Jesus to come.

There’s so much in this song, “Come Jesus Come” that I love.  The truth of the world when Jesus does return – no more war, no more pain — is something I too long for.  On the other hand, my eldest daughter is yet to be saved.  All my Christian friends have at least one child of whom their prayers for salvation are constant.  I want one more day to pray that the Lord shake the scales from their eyes.

It’s a conundrum which Paul faced in his letters to the Philippians.  He longed to see the face of Jesus yet he also knew he was commissioned to bring as many to Christ as possible while still breathing.  

It’s a romantic thought to want Jesus to come today when we are facing terrible trials – sickness, death, financial loss, feelings of abandonment, being a victim of a crime.  We want Him to come and provide the salve that erases it all.  Until then, however, we are encouraged to persevere.  To grow in faith through our adversity.  To be an example to our unsaved loved ones who need to see the light of Jesus on our faces.  

Deep down we long for Him, to take us home or to come and make this place home.  Until then, we live in the hope of the glory to come.

Click here to listen to today’s song: Come Jesus Come

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Day 12 Rattle!

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Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.  All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 2 Corinthians 5:17-18
This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’  Ezekiel 37:5-6

Sometime last year I began a new morning routine.  I had heard a great podcast from White Horse Inn about how each morning we are faced with the return of our old self like a mummy at the foot of our bed rising up. Each day we need to call on the Holy Spirit to help us kill off that old self and instead dress our minds, hearts and bodies with the new self which Christ has bestowed upon us.  

So, each morning before my feet hit the floor, before I pick up my phone, I lay in bed picturing that old me that seems to so easily want to rear its ugly head.  I pray to my Father to do the seemingly impossible – bring the new me to life.  To guide me in the fruits of the Spirit in order to serve Him to the fullest.  It’s His resurrection power that brings that new me to life.

I have to laugh when unbelievers (and some believers) say the truths in the Bible are lies because the miracles and events defy logic and “laws of nature.”  Folks, He created the cosmos.  He brought us and every living thing seen and unseen into existence.  That sounds like a being that can do absolutely anything.  Heal blind men with spit and dirt, darken the sun, make a woman from a rib, and yes, resurrect the dead.

The LORD God can bring the worst sinner back to life, back into sync with His plan.  I know, I’ve got quite a few sins in my own past.  And that’s exactly where I want to keep them.  I want to live refreshed, renewed, reborn. 

Click here to listen: Rattle!

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Day 11 The Goodness

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I am the bread of life.  John 6:48
Whoever fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for their children it will be a refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning a person from the snares of death.  Proverbs 14:26-27

I was talking with a young woman recently who was raised in the Christian faith and at 18 went off to Bible college for a few semesters.  At 19, she dropped out, got married, and was soon pregnant.  At 21, her husband abandoned their family.  Soon after, she abandoned Jesus.

You see when calamity hit, her faith was revealed to be built on the sand Jesus warns us about in Matthew 7:24-27.  Her house fell after the windy, stormy beating.  How could that be?  She was surrounded by the faithful for all her life up until then.  Isn’t that enough?

Let’s look at our faith this way.  If I hung around a bunch of people who loved baking and I enjoyed eating what they made, it wouldn’t make me a baker.  It’d make me fat, however!  I would have knowledge of baking, the process, the ingredients, the do’s and don’ts.  Without the love of baking and actually getting my hands covered in flour I’d just be an observer.  

It’s not the doing that makes us Christians it’s the surrendered belief that Jesus loves us so much He died for our sins, was buried, and rose again in the witnessed resurrection.  He becomes our secure fortress, our daily provision, and fountain of life.  He holds us tight through every tragedy and every windfall in our life.  We soon find Him at work everywhere. He keeps showing up.

When Toby Mac wrote this song it was after the death of his adult son from an overdose.  Of course, it was tragic.  Of course, he was full of tears and heartache.  But he had built his house on solid ground.  He sought refuge in the Lord.  The wind blew and the storm enveloped him.  Eventually, the sun came out and he was able to walk out his door into the warm sunlight of God’s love.

As for that young woman?  She is now happily married and I’m so glad to say she wants to know about Jesus and this Bread of Life.  She wants to learn how to build her life so she too can withstand what this world throws at us.  My prayer is that she will begin to see Jesus at work everywhere.

Click here to listen: The Goodness

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Day 10 Jireh

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I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.  I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. John 10:9-11
For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our king; he will save us. Isaiah 33:22

Have you ever wondered why we need a constant intercessor in our lives if Jesus came and did the work of forgiveness for sins on the cross?  Why, if I’ve been forgiven, do I need someone to keep taking my repentance to God?  I’ve been reading Dane Ortlund’s book, Gentle and Lowly: The heart of Christ for sinners and sufferers.  In the margin on one page about intercession I wrote, “Good question!”  The answer, written out in subsequent pages was beautiful and revealing.  But it’s these short examples which solidified the answer:

Think of an older brother cheering on his younger brother in a track meet. Even if, in that final stretch, the younger brother is well out ahead and will certainly win the race, does the older brother sit back, quiet, complacently satisfied? Not at all — he’s yelling at the top of his lungs exclamations of encouragement, of affirmations, of celebration, of victory, of solidarity. He cannot be quieted. “

Picture a glider, pulled up into the sky by an airplane, soon to be released to float down to earth.  We are that glider; Christ is the plane.  But He never disengages.  He never lets go, wishing us well, hoping we can glide the rest of the way into heaven.  He carries us all the way.”

When Jesus calls himself our shepherd He means it for life.  Once He gathers us up into His flock he doesn’t stop caring for us, feeding us, protecting us, and cheering us on.  We go astray from God’s Law looking for better grass and He calls us back.  He provides everything we need until the sun goes down on our life and we are united in heaven.  He is continuously bringing us before the Father with joy.

This is a love more than most of us can imagine.  He loved us while we were still sinners – because that’s what we still are every single day.  And He keeps rinsing us off and standing beside us before a Holy God.  He is enough for us.   Because He is all we need to stand before God, we can believe we are enough too. 

Click here to listen: Jireh

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Enjoying Life’s Possibilities

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It’s been a great adventure studying Ecclesiastes with you! I hope you have enjoyed it — please share the series with your friends or catch up on what you missed. Click here for all of the Enjoy Life: from Meaningless to Meaningful posts!

I’m going to be completely honest with you, my friend.  Today’s post was to be what the British call “a bit of a fob off.”  You see, I had always planned to write the last look at Ecclesiastes after I returned from a 10 day trip to see my daughter and grandkids.  With a five month old infant and a two-year old who is obsessed with every sport, it’s now too difficult to continue writing when I visit and take care of them for eight hours.  Let’s just say this 59-year old grandma (Guga as I’m affectionately called) passes out from exhaustion about 8:30pm each night after a day of bottles, diapers, up and down the stairs, laundry, baseball, football, golf, hockey, and little bits of quiet snuggling in between.  I love every single bit of it.

So here I was back home ready to jump in to the wise words of King Solomon.  And I started feeling ill.  After just a few days home I became so delirious and short of breath that I caused myself a full blown panic attack one night thinking I was dying.  My husband managed to get me to the doctor where I tested positive for Influenza.  I can’t remember the last time I had the actual flu.  A flu that then turned into pneumonia — which is why I didn’t seem to be getting better. My hopes of feeling up to writing even a few lines were put way, way back on the burner.

But through the blessings of the Lord, I was put on new medications just yesterday.  I now have a veritable neighborhood pharmacy on my counter.  And although walking from one room to the next still seems a bit like I’ve tried tackling the 213.7 mile John Muir Trail with my friend Betsy, I can feel my body recovering.  So instead of “fobbing off” and writing a placeholder, here I am through God’s providence, jumping into wisdom and life and the wonderful meaning of it all.

However, many years anyone may live, let them enjoy them all. But let them remember the days of darkness,for there will be many. Ecclesiastes 11:8

You see, even in my darkest moments when I was really sick I was remembering some important things about this life.  That I don’t know how it all works but God does.  Ecclesiastes 1 reminded us that although we are made in God’s image, He still is the ultimate creator and has more power and knowledge than we can ever hope to amass.

Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.  Ecclesiastes 1:10

I also allowed myself to ask why God doesn’t fix things immediately at my whim or even pleading?  Which, of course, reminded me of the famous Ecclesiastes 3 scripture:

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens … a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3  a time to kill and a time to heal, Ecclesiastes 3: 1 & 2-3

After my 4am panic attack and my husband had calmed my breathing, I laid back in bed thinking, “Is this what it will be like in the end?  At my final moments?  Worried and panicked?  Clawing to hold on to one more day of this life?”  

When we looked at Ecclesiastes 9, we ran head first into the only truth no one can deny, no matter how hard they try.  “The same destiny overtakes us all.” (vs 3).  And yet we cling so hard and forget about the other truth the people of this world want to deny – we have hope for those who believe.  We have an eternal place where God has a plan for justice.  Where He has brought every single one of our loved ones, who also believe, to live with us forever and ever.  Nothing left behind but sin and strife and pain and death.

My friends, if we accept that death is our future and as Solomon told us in verse 9:12, “No one knows when their hour will come,” we must take all that he says in wisdom in his last chapters 11 and 12 to heart.

As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things. 6 Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well. Ecclesiastes 11:5-6

It’s a message repeated throughout the New Testament.  Know God, love God, trust God, obey God.  We are not God and we can only know what is happening this very moment (and we can barely remember what happened yesterday!)  

There’s a trend on Instagram where very talented photographers stop every day looking strangers on the street and ask to take their picture.  The people (usually women) tell the photographer all the reasons why they are not worthy of having a photo taken of them.  One adult woman with fairly new braces said she would start smiling once her braces came off.  In what — two or three years?  And yet her braces-filled pictures were gorgeous! 

Are you waiting to smile until something better happens in your life?  Until the right person comes along?  The right job?  The right bank account?  That “happiness” seeking roller coaster that Solomon warned us about in Ecclesiastes 6.  It’s a joy killer.  It may look like seeking meaning but it all becomes so meaningless.

Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. 10 So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body, Ecclesiastes 11:9-10

Solomon tells us, “go!”  Try that new hobby or skill.  Actively seek out new friendships and opportunities.  Tell your friend or family member how much God loves them – today.  Stop waiting until you get to the point where there’s no longer time, but also remembering all along who you belong to – our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Not hedonism as we looked at chapter 10 and the Right Side of Life.  That’s meaningless folly.  True joy, true enjoyment comes from knowing and listening to the Lord and stepping onto the narrow path.

I read a quote recently that went something like this:

Trusting God is like being married to adventure but if you are looking for an excuse, you will find one.”

In other words, if you truly trust in the Lord for His love and provision.  If you truly believe you are a beloved and beautiful daughter or son of God then He wants you to enjoy this short life He’s given you on this little blue planet.  

This ancient book of wisdom on the surface seems like the last place to go to for this inspiration.  I mean reminding us from beginning to end we will all die…a real party conversation killer.  But sprinkled throughout this truth are the six reminders to “Enjoy Life.”  Enjoy life while fearing the Lord and keeping His commands (Ecc 12:13).  King Solomon did a bit too much of the first and forgot the second until towards the end of his life.  He’s pleading with you hear his God-given words now.

I read this article by editor and founder Joanna Gaines in my most recent copy of Magnolia magazine.  I realized it was a great way to end this series studying Ecclesiastes and the meaning of life.  Especially for those of you who struggle with life’s changes, the good and the frequently not so good.  We may want to retreat, go back to the old.  We pray for God to remove the struggle and the pain.  And it might get us stuck.  Stuck in bad habits and bad relationships.  Stuck in not believing the God who created the heavens and the earth also has a plan and blessings waiting for you.  Stuck in the lie that your personal cycle of life will just keep plugging away, never changing and never ending.  Which keeps us far from the concept of joy and enjoyment.  Listen to this excerpt from Mrs. Gaines’ essay titled, “Space to See Possibility” (spring 2024).

When life swung, for the first time I didn’t hold my breath.  I stood tall.  I looked around.  I worried less what was changing now and instead looked forward to what it could give way to the next.  I asked myself, “What beautiful thing can come from this?  What did I learn that can carry me forward?  And I came to realize that it’s the aftermath that’s the most formative.  It was how we landed, how we let what was different be its own kind of beautiful.  It was how we reset, changed course, and believed in the goodness to come.”

As my head has started to clear from my illnesses – my dizziness is dissipating and my vision is clearing – I look back over how often I sought the Lord.  How often I thanked Him for seemingly endless boxes of Kleenex, soft sheets, a comfortable bed, doctors, pharmacists, drug inventors and scientists, friends, clean water, my husband and daughters, and more.  I pleaded but I didn’t know if I would be healed or when. I felt terrible yet, still I knew my life is good.  A life to enjoy even in the least enjoyable moments.  Because that’s what our faith gives us.  Head scratching, oppositeness from the world.  A life of meaning.

My friend, I hold out my hand to you asking you to join me on this great adventure called Jehovah, God, Jesus, Elohim, Holy Spirit.  Ask Him today, “What’s next?” and go enjoy.

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Enjoying Life With Gladness

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At this point in your life, you’ve probably been asked one or both of these questions:

  1. If you were told you were to die tomorrow, what would you do?
  2. If the world were to end tomorrow, what would you do tonight?

They are two different scenarios.  The first sees life moving forward for the rest of the world without you in it.  The second is a complete destruction of all we know.  For me, however, the answers are both the same.  I would gather my family and others that I love.  We would spend time in prayer asking God to sustain us through the trial so that we would see His face at our end.  I would want us to gather in laughter, remembering all the wonderful times God has provided us throughout our time together.  We would eat a scrumptious meal, most likely prepared by my husband, enjoy good wine, and pray some more.

Here’s the thing, we should always assume these two questions are a distinct possibility.  That is, if we truly believe the message of the Bible.  First, we will all die, just as we have seen in earlier chapters of Ecclesiastes.  It’s not if but when.  For every single one of us.  Secondly, if it’s not the rapture coming upon us then we should be honest that the world is now filled with weapons that could easily kill us all.  Does this mean we live every day in fear of these two truths?  No, but truth can and should set us free to live in reality.

“All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.” Ecclesiastes 9:2

That “common destiny” is the evil we call death.  So, what do we do with this truth?  We live each day serving the one true God and live in gladness.

“Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do.8Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil.” Ecclesiastes 9:7-8

Gladness is not hedonism.  Gladness is not escapism.  Gladness isn’t folly.  You could easily imagine, in fact movies and books have taken the “if the end were tomorrow what would we do” topic and shown us the possibilities the unrighteous might take.  Some might go on drug, alcohol or sexual benders.  Getting blotto to ease their fears or pain.  The age-old “eat and drink because tomorrow we might die” path toward annihilation.  It’s a twisting of the message found throughout Ecclesiastes.  Other might go on a theft and destruction rampage.  That thinking shines the light on people who live without wisdom or God.

Why shouldn’t we think this way?  I mean your life is about to end, right?  Let’s remember the times when Moses and Abraham negotiated with God to save their people.   

“Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”  Genesis 18:23-26
“ But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people.” Exodus 32:11-12

So here you are, you’ve committed every sin possible against man and God the night before you are to die and suddenly a righteous person pleads for mercy on the world’s behalf.  The ungodly will surely find themselves on the wrong side of that historical moment.  Or maybe that person is praying for your healing because you have been personally given that death sentence.  Will God abide or will He see justice done?  

That’s what the “fear of God” is about.  Knowing there is a presence higher than us who will one day serve justice to all.  Do we love God and therefore want to live our lives in service to Him?  Or do we grieve the Holy Spirit daily, hourly even, and turn our backs on Him?

“For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten. 6Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 9:5-6

Until the day we actually die we still have time.  Time to submit ourselves over to the Lord Most High.  Time to reconcile with loved ones.  Time to give out mercy and forgiveness in abundance.  Time to enjoy our lives with gladness.  Because once your time is up, the dead have no such chances.

Joy is the serious business of heaven.”  

C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcom

Rejoicing our lives in gladness means we make the most of every moment.  We make as many everyday moments special.  Because they are special.  That moment right now, you will never have back.  The moments pass by so quickly in our short lives.  Do you want to live them in bitterness and anger?  In the fog of folly and hedonism?  Or in joyfulness and with endurance?  

I saw a great example of taking everyday moments and making them full of gladness.  Once a month a mom of four young children creates “Fancy Dinner Night.”  The children all dress in their finest clothing.  She makes picture menus of the meal she has planned.  There’s candles and cloth napkins and the fancy china.  She plays the role of waitress and hands out the menus as though she is serving clients at a 5 star Michelin restaurant.  Even the toddler has a picture menu from which to choose his meal.  She is training them not only to enjoy an everyday moment but how to act with character at mealtimes.  It was so sweet and beautiful!

Console yourself, dear Battos.  Things may be better tomorrow.  While there’s life, there’s hope.  Only the dead have none.”  

Greek Poet Theokritos

There is always hope for tomorrow; a tomorrow filled with gladness.  Why? Because we have the life and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  He suffered the most gruesome of deaths to take on our sins.  He sacrificed not only His human body but His heavenly one when he came to earth to live among us.  He showed us what the citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven will look like – ones who fully rely on God, they forgive and are forgiven, they put others ahead of themselves, they mourn over their sin.  And when He was resurrected, He proved that those Kingdom Citizens will also be raised from the dead and be given yet another new life.  What amazing hope we have for our eternal lives after this short time here on earth.

When we live in gladness and joy, we seek to serve others in His Holy Name.  We love others well in His name.  We take every moment, even in the trials and tribulations, and thank Him for providing for us, for healing us, and being our guiding light.  So why oh, why would we want to miss out on that hope?  Why would we not want to share that hope with those around us who choose daily leaning toward something less?

It’s not by searching for special things that we find joy, but by making the everyday things special.” 

Warren Wiersbe

Friends, our time here is truly short so consider well your answers to the first two questions I presented.  Because eternity is forever.  A forever spent in the presence of the glory of God or of the pain of hell.

"So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them.” Ecclesiastes 9:1 

King Solomon eventually, in his study of the meaningless life, discovers that we do, in fact, know what awaits us.  If we take the narrow path set before us by Jesus we are greeted with unmeasurable love.  Our knowledge of that truth should give us the endurance to live each day in gladness.  And to spread that truth to so many others.

Are you the type that tells your family and friends that your best china is sitting locked away in some dusty cupboard?  “It’s for special times.”  And those times never seem to come?  Break out that china, the linen napkins, the candles, even if it’s just you enjoying it or grab a few neighbors you’ve always wanted to meet.  Make your everyday special in some way and rejoice with gladness!

You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”

C.S. Lewis
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Enjoying A Wisdom-Filled Life Part Two

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Did you miss part one? Click here!

I knew the mistake as soon as I made it.  But it was too late.  I gave my consent and the ball began to roll.  I knew the mistake I had made because for the last few years I’d heard the advice I disregarded over and over in my church home group.  Ask God first.  Not during, not after, but first.  And here I was doing the exact opposite of that good advice.  I kicked myself for still being what is called a “baby Christian.”  Knowing the Word and knowing the wisdom dispensed therein but not living it out. 

I’ve mentioned this unwise situation in which I placed myself in past posts.  However, when I was pondering the “most unwise decision I ever made” this kept coming to mind.  Mostly because of the pain and suffering it caused me and my family, even to this day.  

You see, about 11 years ago, I begrudgingly agreed to be my kids’ elementary school PTA president.  For a year prior, I told the PTA board I would not be president.  It wasn’t my lack of ability that held me back because I knew I could do the job.  No, instead I warned the board that they weren’t ready for my leadership style.  Big changes were ahead for the school which meant big changes for the parent-teacher association.  We would need to adapt and change in ways I knew would make people very uncomfortable. 

At the time my Christian faith consisted of going to church occasionally, hosting a home group, and not much else.  I wasn’t closely tethered to the Lord.  I hadn’t gained the wisdom necessary to handle political and interpersonal conflict graciously and with self-control.  On the other hand, I was organized, comfortable with leading, and skilled at creative solutions.  I knew how to get things done.

As that year wound down and the nominating committee kept pestering me, I found myself resigned to being the only one willing to step into the role of president.  So, late one evening I heard my voice telling a person over the phone, “Yes.”  As soon as I hung up, I realized I hadn’t sought out the one opinion I needed most, God’s.

For the next two years my family’s life was filled with endless meetings, long phone calls, strife, and an absent mother.  When I wasn’t physically occupied with the details of this volunteer job, I was absent mentally.  At home, I cried frequently and raged about problem parents.  I’m sure there were some good times sprinkled in between.  But those memories have been squeezed out.

It’s not that I believe that had I prayed, the Lord would have told me “no.”  It’s that if I had gotten a “yes” after praying it would have put a completely different spin on the entire experience.  Had I taken all that wise advice I would have kept close to the Lord those two years and been at peace, even during times of trouble.

"Whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing, and the wise heart will know the proper time and the just way." Ecclesiastes 8:5

It’s one thing to seek wisdom, as we saw in the last post, but it’s another to actually use that wisdom every day in our lives.  What would it look like in your life to heed the advice of say a Christian whom you trust?  The advice of your pastor?  The advice given in your Bible study or devotional?  The advice spread throughout the Bible?

"Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' graves, that I may rebuild it.” Nehemiah 2:4-5

Nehemiah was desperate to see to the rebuilding of the second temple.  A noble venture for sure.  Just like me stepping up to lead our PTA.  But, he also knew if he went behind the king’s back there would surely be trouble.  You can see tucked in the verse the most important step he took – “So I prayed to the God of the heavens.”  And the right words came out of his mouth to the king.

Some sources suggest that the average person makes an eye-popping 35,000 choices per day. Assuming that most people spend around seven hours per day sleeping and thus blissfully choice-free, that makes roughly 2,000 decisions per hour or one decision every two seconds. 

 Eva M. Krockow Ph.D., Psychology Today

Is it possible to ask God to impart His wisdom for each and every one of those seemingly small decisions? Maybe not, but we can wake each day and ask Him to direct our steps through the Holy Spirit.  He gives us that nudge, that convicting tap on our shoulder, that encouragement throughout our day.

Too often, however, when we seek to make decisions about life, we seek only knowledge.  And knowledge is not wisdom.  Knowledge is data, facts, numbers.  Wisdom is experience and life.  

“Our knowledge is a receding mirage in an expanding desert of ignorance.”

Historian Will Durant, Store of Civilization

One thing I always admired about the disciples is how many questions they asked Jesus.  Although Peter seemed to rely on his own knowledge so often, we get to see him use not only his experiential wisdom and the wisdom imparted by Jesus as he grew more and more faithful.  From Peter thinking he needed to defend Jesus in the garden by attacking the soldier, to denying his association to Jesus, he reflected us all.  We know better than the Almighty God.  We know how best to defend ourselves, how to protect ourselves.  When it all fails, we become destitute and hopefully turn to the Lord.

How many times have you found yourself spiritually or emotionally destitute because you didn’t heed good advice or even seek it?   Wouldn’t it be nice to turn to God first?  To hear the Holy Spirit whisper to us and heed the good advice? 

“For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,
    though a person may be weighed down by misery.

7 Since no one knows the future,
    who can tell someone else what is to come? Ecclesiastes 8:6-7

Experiential wisdom is gained in its proper time and procedure.  Which is why we all should be leery when people say a young person has an “old soul.”  An “old soul” is one that has been on the battlefield of life and has come out with a few scars.  

I started paying attention to my own prayer life and the results thereof.  I went from praying after a decision for God to help it not be a bad one (like running the PTA) to praying in the midst of the process.  Finally, I’ve stopped myself so many times lately and said, “I need to pray first.”  It might be a quick prayer about something seemingly insignificant.  Or it might be a few days, seeking God’s counsel.  And surprisingly, this whole wisdom seeking works pretty good. I can now enjoy my decisions.

Friend, let’s be honest, we can never know all the “right answers.”  If we wait until we have them all you will never take any forward steps.  For some, that keeps them from putting their trust in God.  Because they haven’t gotten all the answers cleared up about the mysteries.  We have to be ok with trusting that God is the Almighty Creator and He hasn’t imparted us with all the facts He has about life.  We have to be ok with asking Him for help and being satisfied with what He gives us.

“.. then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out.” Ecclesiastes 8:17

Being ok with not knowing everything but acting wisely is not ignorance as some might accuse the Christian.  We can and should rest peacefully in knowing what we need to know.  And living our lives out with wisdom, peace, joy and goodness the information we do know — That God is a god who loves us and teaches us and will never leave us.  He is a god who seeks us and wants us to live forever in His Holy Kingdom!  

“Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with  those who fear God, because they fear before him.  13But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God.” Ecclesiastes 8:12-13

When we first, seek God, then seek His wisdom for our life, and finally live out that wisdom each and every day “it will be well.”  We can watch and be at peace when the unwise, godless people around us make bad or even evil decisions.  We pray for them that they would know God, who can give them a new life.  

We all need wise people around us who fear the Lord first.  We all need to use their wisdom and our experiential wisdom each day so we can enjoy our life especially in times of trouble.  Let’s start by placing God as our most Holy Rabbi front and center. 

Bible, bible study, Christian, Christian Church, christian encouragement, christian men, christian parenting, Christian women, Faith, god, Jesus, Jesus Follower, prayer, proverbs, religion, Transformation Prayer, Uncategorized, wisdom

Enjoying The Gifted Life Part Two

krisshetter

Did you miss part one? Go to Enjoy Life: From Meaningless to Meaningful

I heard a pastor recently talking about our wants and needs related to our prayer life.  How we try to manipulate God into approving our behaviors.  We mask our sinful desires by praying for prosperity yet have no plans to serve the kingdom with gifts, or we do so meagerly.  We pray for the right house to purchase and won’t open our homes to our church needs.  A better car, a good vacation, a husband or wife, a job, or even children.  And all along we don’t ever plan to surrender all those over for God’s holy work.  Or we make a deal with God to get what we want knowing full well we won’t uphold our side of the bargain.  

" And he (Jesus) said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Luke 12:15

False “needs” and empty prayers.  They lead to greed and coveting.  It all comes down to not trusting in God for our provisions.  And not being good stewards of what we have been gifted.  We tell God over and over what He needs to do for us.  If He doesn’t perform that particular miracle then darn it, we are going to make it happen for our ourself.  Or worse, reject God.

"Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.  Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore, let your words be few.  For a dream comes with much business, and a fool's voice with many words. " Ecclesiastes 5:1-3

Let your words be few, King Solomon warns us.  With few words yes, but with listening ears.  The Bible tells us to come before the Lord with our requests.  However, night after night, morning after morning we roll out our list of wants and needs.  Do we ever ask God if those are what He wants for us?  Imagine a relationship here on earth like that.  Your friend is constantly complaining about what she or he doesn’t have and what they want.  And they never, ever stop talking (sounds like a toddler!). Our prayer life and quiet times with the Lord are supposed to be a two-way street!  Not a drive-through ordering system.

In prayer, it is better to have a heart without words, than words without a heart. 

 John Bunyan

A few weeks ago I read an account by Christian teacher Kay Arthur about the night, at 29 years of age, that she was truly saved.  “I’d been at a party.  The only thing I remember about that night was that a man named Jim looked at me and said, “Why don’t you quit telling God what you want and tell Him that Jesus Christ is all you need?”  His words irritated me.  “Jesus Christ is not all I need,” she replied.  My reply was curt.  “I need a husband, I need a…” and one by one I enumerated my needs.  I turned my heel and went home.”  

Her family was very religious but the Bible had not been a central part of her life.  She went to church but no one had ever asked her if she had been saved.  She hadn’t realized going to church and being a “good Christian” weren’t the keys to salvation.  She knew her sins were obvious and she was in deep spiritual and emotional pain.  The next day after that party, she couldn’t face going to work and called in sick.  She found herself at the edge of her bed crying out to God for a healing of peace.  She discovered the God who provides, the God who heals. She gave her wants and needs completely over to Him to purge and refine.

Are you constantly making a list of all the things you expect God to do for you?  Yet don’t plan on obeying and serving Him?  Are you usurping His authority over your life and building up all your stuff to fill yet another room or another storage unit rather than re-gifting your blessings to His Kingdom?  King Solomon starkly tells us this is all so meaningless.  In his study of this life, he ends chapter 5 reminding us everything we have is of God — gifts from heaven to be used and enjoyed accordingly.

“Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart."  Ecclesiastes 5:19-20

The apostle Paul carries this theme of God as our great provider throughout the epistles.  Setting our sights not on stuff but on the Lord.  More importantly, setting our hearts to the heavens.

“I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me." Philippians 4:12-13

Is it time to do your own room-by-room inventory? An inventory of your prayer life?  An inventory of the room of your heart?  Maybe it’s time to give, give, give.  And to quietly listen for His Word so He can set you on the path to enjoyment.  For when you do, our Lord and Savior has promised us, “for with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

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Enjoying A Gifted Life

krisshetter

Ecclesiastes Five Part One

About four years ago a few friends and I gathered together to start a new Bible study group.  We selected the book, Becoming the Woman God Wants Me to Be, by Donna Partow.  It was a 90-day study on the Proverbs 31 woman.  After tackling such topics as meditating on God’s Word, creating healthy, godly habits, and family relationships we were asked to declutter our lives.  The scriptures for Day 31 were from Luke 3:11; 6:38

"And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.”… (Jesus said) give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

It was the beginning of journey of freedom.  Freedom from clutter, freedom from hoarding, and freedom from stuff.  We were to sit in each room of our house and quietly meditate and pray about what the room spoke to us.  Was it chaos?  Was it peaceful?  Was it full of stuff that brought us joy or shame?  

“The key to minimizing clutter and keeping an orderly home is a resolute commitment to give away everything you can.  Give, give, give!  Give until it hurts.”  

Donna Partow, Becoming the Woman God Wants Me to Be

This sentiment is echoed by John Wesley’s sage advice to “Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can.”  Why? Because as King Solomon reminds us all in Ecclesiastes 5, you can’t take it with you.

"As he came from his mother's womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand." Ecclesiastes 5:15

And we can’t forget from Ecclesiastes 3, there’s “a time to keep and a time to throw away…” (v 6)

According to Pew Research, in 2013 the average global annual household income was $9,733.  In the United States that number was $51,939.  Poor Americans were actually classified as global middle class.  And only 2% of all Americans could classify as “globally poor.”  The good news in 2019 however, was that the United States, according to the World Giving Index, ranks first in charitable giving.  But the second ranked?  It was Myanmar, considered to be on the lower-middle income scale.  Researchers surmise this stark difference in income to charitable giving is due to the large population of Theravada Buddhists for whom frequent acts of giving are the norm.

So yes, the majority of Americans are wealthy from a global perspective and we give and give.  But we also hoard.  About 10% of US households are currently renting a storage unit filled with stuff.  In 2019, a survey found the average American spent $18,000 per year on non-essential goods.  That’s twice the annual income on average globally! One unconfirmed statistic said we have more than 300,000 items in our home by average.  That’s a lot of stuff.  And you have to ask, why?

"But godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.  But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.  Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." 1 Timothy 6: 6-10

And while many of our bank accounts don’t show a lot of money, our homes sure do.  So, when we were asked to sit in each room and evaluate the atmosphere, it brought out a number of uncomfortable feelings.  The stuff that had accumulated was embarrassing and not bringing my family much enjoyment.  It reminded me of when I would visit my husband’s grandmother’s house and think, “When she’s gone who is going to have to go through all this stuff?”  She hoarded all manner of paper goods and supplies.  When my mother-in-law was in her last days, I truly appreciated one of her last requests of me and my eldest daughter – to start cleaning out clothes closets and freezers before she was gone.  She didn’t want her husband to have to deal with it all later.

There is more than one way to be rich and more than one way to be poor.  If we accept His gifts, but complain about them we are guilty of ingratitude.  If we hoard His gifts and will not share them with others, we are guilty of indulgence.  But if we yield to His will and use what He gives us for His glory, then we can enjoy life and be satisfied.  

Warren Wiersbe, Be Satisfied

Our ability to have an income and even a “disposable” income are gifts from God.  We turn so much of what we buy into “needs.”  I’m just as guilty.  Because even though I did a great job de-cluttering my home during that study I’ve noticed the stuff has gathered steam again in my house.  

What is this need we have, especially those of us in wealthy western countries, to turn to stuff to satisfy?  To find our joy in hoarding money and possessions?  To build up bank accounts for the distant future?  We need to feel secure that the nest egg is the right size – even though the right size never seems big enough.  We need our freezers and refrigerators full, our garages and closets stuffed.  We need, we need.  Once while driving through our neighborhood my eldest daughter, who was about 8 years old, commented on an open, three-car garage.  “I’m glad we don’t have two garage doors,” she said.  And I asked, “Why?”  “Because that would mean we would need more junk,” she sagely replied.  Oh, the wisdom of innocence.

I believe one reason so many Christians in America are apathetic is they don’t really believe they need God. They have replaced Him with their estate planner and retirement fund. I’m not implying we should ignore planning for the future and, in effect, presume on God. But when you cling to your possessions and live in fear of not having them, you ignore the Holy Spirit’s leading and put your confidence in your wealth instead of God.

John MacArthur

Ouch!  Imagine if you would, before buying anything — and I mean anything – we have a short chat with the Lord.  “Do I truly need this?”  “Will this help me live in the fruit of the spirit?”  “Am I buying this because I think I deserve it?”  “Is this financial decision made in trusting You?”  I would probably buy less potato chips and therefore be treating my body as a better steward!  I believe this is what it means to pray without ceasing.  We are in constant contact with the Lord even in the grocery store, but especially when it comes to bigger wants and needs. A prayer life rich in listening and trusting God so that we can be good stewards of our blessings and gifts. Asking God to help us truly enjoy the riches He bestows on us — that’s what I want to seek each and every day.

Join me on Wednesday for Part Two of our look at Ecclesiastes 5, Enjoying The Gifted Life! Click here for part two.