I matter!

If you look closely, my glasses are asking, “Do I matter to you? Really?”

 

Day 10

I stepped on them accidentally while stumbling out of bed in the morning.

Paul in Acts 27 is on his way to Rome when he experiences a huge tornado of a storm. Two hundred seventy-six people on board are facing death as he’s a prisoner on his way to Roman trial. While it was Paul’s desire to go to Rome, I can’t imagine anyone wanting to be handcuffed and face near-drowning to get their dream. He and his fellow shipmates including prisoners and centurions reach the end of hope when God shows up and shows out (verse 24-25).  Against all odds, their vessel manages to find the tiny dot of an island of modern-day Malta.

God’s providence pulls through. Paul sees everyone freaking out, God tells Him directly that it’s going to be ok, and Paul tells everyone. So he goes: “Sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told to me.” We’re going to be safe because God has promised safety to me, and not just to me, but everyone else here. Paul’s presence assured everyone else’s survival.

It’s like the show Prison Break, sort of. (Well Paul didn’t kill any more people after his conversion; however he was actually innocent of their false claims just like Michael was.) He takes everyone out from the ordeal with him. In the end though, Paul remains a prisoner, and does die for the sake of Christ, in chains, under Nero’s rule in Rome.

So this man saves all 275 people who are with him, who are daily coming to understand the power of the God whom Paul serves simply because they were in the same ship. Imagine if Paul had never taken the journey. In the last 2 verses of the chapter it states:

“And the soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape. But the centurion, willing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose; and commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land: and the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship.

And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land.”   

All safe and sound. We’re safe and sound in God as well. We’re on a journey for a reason. I’m reaffirmed in the fact that Christ’s presence in His believers is a shield over the community that we’re involved in. You are a protection to your co-workers! Your presence is like a balm from the day’s exhaustion. As ”little Christs” our life literally blesses others who don’t yet know the Christ who died for them. It’s a blessing AND a responsibility. We matter!  

Note: Bible study help from Grace to You ministries.

Strange Dichotomy!

Fridays are always slow at work. I guess there are less fires being set?  So I read online. Staring at an unchanging computer screen for long hours at a time may be hard for most people to do, but luckily I’m gifted.

I wanted to get more ’study’ in my Bible study, so I had googled ‘Bible podcasts.’ (Genius!) And with that, eventually came across Grace to You’s website, headed by John MacArthur. While we have some differing viewpoints, this guy knows his Bible. That’s all his sermons are about. Since my church is covering the book of Acts, I’ve been listening to podcasts on Paul’s journey and luckily, Paul is his favorite character. He’s becoming mine too.

But when he speaks, there are practically no jokes, no practical applications, just references to other Bible verses, and it’s really interesting. So I was reading some of his sermons – free, mind you – on How to Study the Bible because from how he speaks, he could back it up.

From what I’m reading, a rich Bible study means several hours meditating and studying and praying. A helpful idea that he suggests is getting a book of the Bible, separating it into 5 or 6 chapters (or 3 or 4), and then just re-reading 1 section over and over again for 30 days. The next 30 days, move to the next section. That way, the theme becomes very familiar, and you can’t help but think about it as you go. And, while it isn’t necessary, it helps to know Hebrew, or to have a Hebrew reference Bible. And Greek, a very complicated language, which he’s studied since a freshman in college. It’s also useful to have several different commentaries on a passage to get the historical context. Secular authors have good information to help close the culture gap. In fact, one of the books he recommended, Daily Life in Ancient Rome, is available through the Harris County Public Library, and now on reserve. Geography helps too. 

As a nerd, I love soaking up this information. I was there at work googling where I could take Hebrew classes in Houston. I’d LOVE to be an expert on the Bible.

And then I get home and pick up “Tortured for Christ” and continue reading about persecution in the Underground Church behind the Iron Curtain. Some of the pastors have little biblical training as Bibles aren’t allowed in prisons. Many of the devout Christian ‘bishops’ lack formal ordination because their pastors would turn them in to the government. One group of young men went to the grave of a Christian saint (saint as in great soul for Christ) and laid their hands and prayed to God for blessings on their ministry. No formal training whatsoever. Some of the most avid soul-winners are day-old converts. But they have passion. They have conviction. They have faith through persecution. And again, I’m blown away. I want to have a love like that.

I want to be on fire, where not even beatings and hunger would shake my faith. I want to be versed in the Bible so that I can encourage others to know the Greatest-of-all-things-that-ever-existed.

I want to have this crazy understanding of the Bible, and I want to be a “sold-out” believer and I don’t think I should consider myself bipolar for having such a crazy change in mood. They can go together. God’s in it all. If at least 1 person can be saved from my having a better understanding of the Bible, and at least 1 person can be saved from a bold, authentic Christian life, they’re both possible. 

It’s strange, but in some moments, I regret not having formal Biblical training. Or I’ll regret not being a guy called to preach where God just dropped down a mate to help him out in his ministry. Or I’ll regret being a Christian in a free country where I understand that a lot of my actions and thoughts are enslaved to society. Just being very honest. I regret parts of my life, but I know God doesn’t want us living with unholy discontent. He works through it.

Somewhere, God wants us to understand His omniscience, His purpose in everything. Paul dreamed of going to Rome where he could be in the pulse of civilazation and be with the Christians there, and God’s providence moves him there. Situations fall together in Acts that give Paul his desire. Just as Christ desired to spend some time preaching to those leaders in Jerusalem who would eventually crucify Him. His desire to speak truth to Jerusalem was fulfilled ultimately in his death, burial, and resurrection. God made a way. Similarly, Rev. Wurmbrand’s desire to spread the news of the atrocities occurring to Christian martyrs  in Communist prisons, allowed him to suffer terrible persecution, survive, consider it all joy, and be the voice that allowed Western civilization to become aware of the truth. God always makes a way for your joy to be filled, when our joy is in Him. 

Even though I sit behind a desk, He doesn’t forget my passion. Even when I feel like I’ve wasted a lot of time, God doesn’t count it against me. What I lack in education, behavior, or my cultural background, God makes up for. And I know my hope isn’t lost in Him. I can have it all if I consider Christ’s glory my foremost desire.

Link: http://www.gty.org/Shop/Audio+Lessons/1382

David and Bath Mats

 (David)                    (bath mat)

I was reading 1 Samuel 22 earlier this week thanks to a little Bible study that makes reading a little less daunting. 1 Samuel has been pretty interesting. To begin, you have a man who is clearly set out to be God’s prophet since his birth from an infertile woman, Samuel. God moves in the characters in a very obvious way. Later, God will answer the Israelite’s pleas by giving them a king who will blatantly go against explicit commands in war. And He will still answer. 

But one of the things I found pretty interesting as of late is the character of David before he takes the throne. Saul has already proven himself ineffective, and Samuel has anointed David as God’s next chosen king. Before David can have this right, he has to wait for Saul’s death. Saul, the guy who David would play music for to calm his headaches. Saul, the guy who has thrown spears at David in broad daylight to kill him. He’s the same guy who allowed David to fight a giant after seeing God’s heart in the boy. No wonder we see such a conflicted David in the Psalms – content in one scene, then angry and confused at God in another. He’s had poor emotional leadership to follow.    

Anyway, God allowed David to spend time waiting for his promise as king. He had to run away, even hide his family while waiting for Saul’s anger to calm down and the time when he would finally take the throne. Like Moses, Abraham, Noah, all the patriarchs of the Bible, David had some serious waiting to do. What did he do in the meantime?

He fought. The man who protected his sheep from lions and decapitated a giant was fighting to protect his people while waiting for God’s promise to come to fruition. He physically fought against tribes: the Geshurites, Gezrites, Amalekites (1 Samuel 27:8). He didn’t slow down or back away. He literally fought the good fight. He sought God’s wisdom, and David waited for his answers actively.

Application? If we want to live according to God’s plan, we’ve got to wait. And, we’ve got to be active. Actually moving around and seeing this life as a blessing from God requires me to fight against everything that says it’s not.

Turn the page. So what have I been actively doing? Watching HGTV. Yeah, home decorating, home buying, home selling, home renovating, houses, houses, and more houses. I watched how you can completely change the style of your living room with just a few dollars by sewing bath mats together to make a floor rug. Do you know what it looked like? Like bath mats sewn together to make a floor rug…

What are we actively doing with our lives? Two completely different cultures - one of kings and prophets, one of a Do-It-Yourself economy – yet we have the same promise: God is with us and shows himself in amazing ways for those who will wait on Him. Actively fight the good fight. I got rid of my remote control (not because I had the brilliant idea), but I’ve gotten off of my bed and I’m not just getting up to change stations. We are expected to be deliberate in our decisions, in our actions, in what we say and don’t say, what we do and don’t do. I’m getting up and seeing how God looks when I wait on Him and commit to fighting those concepts that sneak in and tell me that waiting isn’t worthwhile.

Thought from CSI (Miami)

Seriously, C.S.I. is the best unbelievable TV show. Have you seen it? The situations are overblown, the timing is completely unrealistic, and the expectations on justice much too high. Still I watch as if the sky will fall inside the TV screen.

I was reading a devotional this morning that stated in some way how God was sufficient enough for the example and still is sufficient enough for our lives. When we live our lives apart from Him, we’re showing that He actually is not enough. I didn’t need someone else to tell me this but the timing was wonderful.

And so that’s what CSI is – insufficient. And lately it’s just inappropriate. Realistic and improper. But it’s attractive so I stay and watch it when really I’m saying that my God isn’t enough and somehow, this unbelievable, impossible presentation can cut it. This can be my escape and my rest and I’m good to go. I do that with so many things - expect enough from things not based on reality, not based on God.

I really don’t want my life to be telling God He’s not enough. Isn’t that what Christ refuted when He came down? He gave a truth we could hope in. He met an expectation that was out of this world. I am more than enough for you. I am all and more. He said it on the cross, hands stretched out. Human form. It was reality we could believe in.

Hebrews 5:8-9

“Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered. And being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him.”

Amen

The Son of God, Emanuel, is Here With Me.

Romans 8:24a-25 “For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.”

What’s the deal with living water?

I wish I could remember where I saw this connection, but when the Israelites were in the wilderness on their way to the promised land, the words Massah and Meribah would bring bitter memories as they wandered. In Exodus 17:7, the Israelites are recorded for doubting God and thinking Him insufficient to provide for their needs as He lead them on a journey to what was called the promised land.

In the land of Massah and Meribah God came through and met their needs making water spring from a rock. This was right before the Israelites complained that they had been brought to the desert out of slavery to die. Much earlier, God had caused ten plagues to cover Egypt and show His desire to let the Israelites be free. They named the place after their moaning.

Every time the Israelites would hear the name of that place in the wilderness, it’d be a reminder of their faithlessness in God to provide. It’d be a reminder of those who never made it to the promised land because of their decision to walk without God rather than trust in Him.

Still, God provided. For the woman at the well in John 4, Jesus leads her to a living water that she could only imagine. The living water was an allusion to the safety and salvation in Christ, our hope and life spring. She would find out that He provided more than what she would ever find at a well, in a rock, in anything made by man or even God unless it was God Himself. We are energized and relaxed by a water that will never run out, even when faith wavers. His waters are too deep.  

Foto found here: http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/viewtopic_archives.php?TopicID=182731&page=0

This issue’s Discipleship Journal is in!

So I subscribed for a year to Discipleship Journal, left it for a year, and now just started it up again. It’s a great resource and magazine. This bimonthly issue’s cover topic is “Thinking Biblically about Politics,” only a huge concern right now for upcoming elections. But what I’m really excited about is page 62: “Between Here and There: Help for navigating life’s transitions.” I’m totally in transition! I just have no idea where it is exactly that I’m going. For anyone interested, the magazine is a Christian resource with honestly impressive art which complements the thoughtful Biblical commentaries and sections. In an effort to get my work done, I’m tyring to use it as my reward and actually start writing a paper. Instead, I’m blogging. Aghhhh….

But hey, if you’re not procrastinating, check out www.discipleshipjournal.com!

About James

Our class is covering the book of James in the Bible and I’m being asked if it’s more challenging to deal with a problem I’ve gotten myself into, or to deal with something that’s beyond my control. Is it easier to deal with a relationship I’ve botched or a job I’ve been fired from? Hmm…I don’t really think any problem is easy to handle unless I have money that’ll fix the problem or fly me out of there =) So…life’s tough. I’m starting to hear a lot of that. BUT the one who’s persevered through it all receives a crown of life (James 1:12). My first reaction is, what good is a crown of life? If I endure something, I’d like a huge payback. It seems the promise here is in the afterlife. You’ll be given a greater reward in heaven. Again, another hard concept. I can’t really appreciate what I don’t have – especially when it’s a promise after I’m gone. The passage sounds hopeful, but all I can think of is Dory in Little Nemo: “Just keep swimming.” I’m trying to hold on to something more than a cartoon character to help me figure out how to buckle down and roll with the punches.

All Rain and No Sunshine Make a Desert

This was a wonderful devotional I was reading this morning. Lately I’ve been feeling like I’m not getting what I want – kinda like a child who’s being corrected. I don’t like the idea, but Proverbs 3:11-12 help: “My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be wary of his correction: for whom the Lord loves, he corrects, even as a father the son in whom he delights.” At least God isn’t hiding – he’s clearly working in a lot of things I’m going through (he got me through a semester of graduate school without filing for bankruptcy). But I’m definitely not being spoon-fed the ‘desires of my heart’ like I’m expecting. Anyway, the devotion is taken from RBC Ministries, Our Daily Bread: http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/our-daily-bread/2008/04/07/devotion.aspx.

“April 7, 2008

Why? Why? Oh, Why?

If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. —Hebrews 12:7

Why must I suffer disappointment, sorrow, and tribulation? What have I done that God should send me trials? Is He displeased with me? These questions are constantly asked by God’s dear children.

Much of this fear and questioning is due to our misunderstanding of God’s dealings with His own. He has His good reasons. And one of those reasons is for our spiritual discipline. We should be far more afraid of being left alone than of God’s chastening, for He wastes no time on worthless objects that give no promise of fruitfulness.

On the shores of Lake Michigan are great barren sand dunes that have never felt the point of a plow. But in the rich lowlands beyond them, the farmer is constantly cultivating the soil. The farmer knows what he is doing, so he keeps on breaking up the soil. The deeper the plow works and the more the sharp harrow, the more precious the crop will be when harvest time comes.

God’s plow goes deep, but it is only that in the end we may forget the plowing and rejoice in the blessing of bearing much fruit for Him. “No chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Heb. 12:11).  — M.R. De Haan

When blades of distress cut deep in the soul,
Breaking up ground that was untouched before,
The Lord is preparing soil to bear fruit
Fit for the harvest to feed many more. —Hess

All sunshine and no rain make a desert.”

Morning Habit

This is actually about morning devotionals. But the goal is to encourage a daily habit of study. Cute, right?!

Continuing with my teaching class on the effective self-regulated learner, I’m giving a couple of tools that have helped me for daily Bible study. I find it easiest to get up in the morning, (reach for my glasses,) pick up my Bible, and read the devotional for the day along with some Scripture. It’s a great way to start your day because it requires some planning ahead of time to get up a little earlier and have everything else in order, and it puts you in the proper mindset (you really aren’t that self-focused after you’ve spent some time with God).  

My recommendations:

• “Called & Accountable” by Henry and Norman Blackaby is a 52-week devotional that’s good if you have another Bible reading plan in between the days. The subject as the rest of the title states is, “Discovering your place in God’s eternal purpose.” Who wouldn’t want that?
• Our Daily Bread Daily devotionals from RBC Ministries 
• “Mealtime Habits of the Messiah” by Conrad Gempf – Not a devotional, but with 40 sections on the encounters with Jesus in the Bible, it makes for a great quick morning study
• For a more comprehensive study, Discipleship Journal magazine has provided their bi-monthly ‘Easy-to-fill-out-Bible-studies’ online for you to print out and use: http://www.navpress.com/Magazines/DiscipleshipJournal/BibleStudyResources/.
• For Bible reading, Discipleship Journal also has a reading plan for the New Testament called 5×5x5. Feel free to print it out. (It stands for 5 minutes a day, 5 days a week, with 5 ways to dig deeper.)

Suggested reading for spiritual discipline: “The Best Question Ever” by Andy Stanley – check out parts of it at Amazon, http://www.amazon.com/Best-Question-Ever-Andy-Stanley/dp/1590523903 - and no, you won’t find out the question unless you read it  =)

Please comment on other devotionals you recommend!