Where I've Been

It's been a while since I spouted my opinions here. In that time, we in the USA have experienced much. Hurricane Sandy, many heinous crimes (and many acts of charity that are never reported), a presidential election, and... and... some other stuff. And I've had opinions on all of it.

But I haven't viewed much from the perspective of a traveler through a strange land; an alien to this world.

To be honest, I think I've been more focused on "stuff" than I have on the God who has saved me. You know, the God who flung the stars into space and stretched the universe out. The God who imagined and placed the duck-billed platypus and the giraffe and the cuddly little puppy on this planet (also the dinosaur and the carnivorous saber-toothed cat). The God who put the laws of physics in place. The God who set -- and sets -- the standard for truth.

That God.

The one who did all those things but has time and enough interest to interact with me. The one who wrote a book that I have the unfathomable privilege to read.

It truly boggles my mind how I could take God for granted.

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As God Is My Witness

"As God is my witness [insert something you're terribly determined to do]." Some reserve this saying for those very special occasions when a simple declaration just won't cut it. Maybe the most well-known version was when Scarlet O'Hara announced (to herself, I think) that she'd never be hungry again. And she meant it, darn it. Paul the Apostle even used the phrase in the beginning of his letter to the church in Rome.

While it appeals to the all-seeing, all-knowing characteristics of God, we use that reference to call on the nature of the One who is supremely trustworthy, otherwise it makes little sense. It's like a first cousin of the phrase "May God strike me dead if..." It promises that no matter the odds or the difficulty, we are going to do this particular thing.

Has it occurred to you that God essentially says this of His followers every single day? The statement of Jesus in Acts 1:8 -- "you will be My witnesses" -- indicates that He is saying to the world, for instance, "As Dean is my witness, anyone who believes in Me has eternal life," or to the Church, "As Dean is my witness, the world will know you're My followers by the love you have for each other."

That's a very tall order. But it's not only possible for us to be that kind of witness, it is reasonable and it is even expected of every follower of Jesus Christ. This is how much God has entrusted to us. The Church is His body on earth. I am His witness. You are His witness. He gives enough of Himself to us to expect us to be supremely trustworthy; to be carriers of His name and guardians of His character.

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When God Says, "Gotcha!"

You may be familiar with the true story from 2005 about a radio show listener who thought she'd won $100,000 in a radio contest. She called in at the correct time and was told she'd won "100 grand." After she exploded with joy and eventually calmed down enough from her excitement to listen, the DJ informed her that she had, indeed, won the prize -- a "100 Grand candy bar." Gotcha!

The DJ was sued.

Then there's the similarly-zany account of the Hummer that a listener won in another contest. When the caller gave the correct answer in the contest and went to pick up her brand-new Hummer H2, she unpleasantly found that it was a toy. Gotcha!

She sued the radio station.

How many times have you heard it said, "You'd better not ask God for patience because He might just give you what you ask for"? The implication is that we'll be thrown into trials during which God will prolong difficult situations, cause our children to go astray, make it impossible for us to pay our bills, or any of a number of circumstances which will teach us to be patient.

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IDFLC Syndrome

My daughter and I geared up for the Christmas season moderately early this year. Lights were on the edge of the roof of the house and in the yard before Thanksgiving, and the Christmas tree went up Thanksgiving night.
Christmas music was in effect by then, too. My wife even called me "Clark Griswold" two or three times. Really.

The month has been rushing by so quickly, though, with the standard amount of December stuff happening, that I seem to have acquired the dreaded IDFLC Syndrome.

It Doesn't Feel Like Christmas.

Nevertheless, the Christmas season is upon us whether it feels like it to me or not. I know this. My personal perspective in no way impacts the truth that our special celebration of Jesus' birth will happen on December 25 and festivities and music and decorations will bookend it, but it would be nice to "feel" it throughout the season.

This general sensation isn't something new or isolated to blue Christmases. Removing the festive holiday setting and thinking about day-in, day-out life throughout the year, God is always at work around us (hat-tip to Henry Blackaby) but from my perspective it sometimes seems like He's forgotten about something or isn't working in my idea of a God-like way; usually regarding my special concern or situation at the time.

Just as the Beach Boys sang in one of my non-preferred Christmas songs (but one my daughter loves), "Christmas comes this time each year."

And just as the Word says:

I look up to the mountains-
does my help come from there?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth!
He will not let you stumble;
the one who watches over you will not slumber.
Indeed, he who watches over Israel
never slumbers or sleeps.
- Psalm 121:1-4 (NLT) (emphasis mine)

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So You Think God Is Through With You...

I'd like for you to invent an excuse for me to explain why I haven't written anything lately. I just don't want to offer the usual, "Blogging has been pretty light lately because life has been heavy," or something. I'm tired of making excuses and I'm betting some of you are also grand at it.

Once you've done that, read the rest of the post, but don't read on until you've given me my excuse. Please leave it in the comments here, even if you're a lurker who never puts comments on blogs, only on Facebook.

Done? Great. We'll move on, then.

To shoot from the hip, lately I've felt a bit like God was finished with me. Not "finished with me" in that He was so put out with me that He flopped back in His chair and said, "Okay, that's it. I'm done with that Lusk boy," but almost as though I'd done whatever it was that I was intended to do from the day I was born, and from here on out I should just expect to watch what He would be doing in the lives of other people.

He seems to have shattered that idea, though, and I have to admit that I'm rather glad I was completely wrong. I've learned over the years that God tends to work within time frames that don't make much sense to me until after they've passed, and usually in ones that stretch out longer than I'd have suggested to Him if He'd asked me in the first place. I say that I've "learned" that, but I can also say that I regularly forget it. It's like learning something in geometry class in whatever grade it is that one takes geometry class. Years later you may remember some general principles, but you don't remember a specific formula until you have to put it into use. Then you have to learn it all over again, but this time it makes sense because you actually had to use it in the real world. (Okay, maybe geometry was a terrible example.)

That's where I am today and I wanted to share it with every single one of my adoring fans. (Hi, Mom & Dad!!!)

I've not forgotten that I haven't finished the series on hermeneutics. You should read the first three parts. They're here, here, and here. I promise to get back on track immediately unless one of you provides me with the Mother of All Excuses in the comments.

Until then...

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Get Out of My Face!

As nutty as it sounds, my son has occasionally had issues with disobedience. Nothing extraordinary, but standard types of lunacy that tend to plague kids and teens (though I'm mostly positive this never affected me when I was growing up). I won't name the issues; you can use your imagination and you'll probably be close.

Sometimes he's repeated the same screw-up multiple times. No, really. On occasion he feels he was justified in what he did and is less than sorry for it, but every so often he's genuinely apologetic, asks for forgiveness, and fully intends to avoid repeating that same error again.

When he comes to me and is truly repentant, you know what my response is? I say through clenched teeth, "Get out of my face. You disgust me! You're not worthy to be a Lusk."

Okay, I don't really say that. If I were more of... I don't know... a rotten dad, I'd do that.

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When God Sounds Like a Charlie Brown Grown-Up

Yes, yes, Charles Schulz' comic strip is called "Peanuts", not "Charlie Brown", but I figured the latter would be most familiar for a title.

Most people of my generation are familiar with the voices of Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, and the rest of the "Peanuts" entourage. Those who are younger have surely seen the Christmas special, if nothing else.

I'm not sure if it's the most enjoyable or most annoying feature of the animated shows, but adults in Charlie Brown's world talk like this: "Wa-WAUGH-wuh-wauh-waw." The kids on the cartoon understand what the adults are saying. I don't.

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When Life Gives You Poop

One idea about which I seem to disagree with many brothers and sisters is that when something tragic happens, "God had a reason for it."

Many people have discussed this at length, and I don't particularly want to change anyone's opinion (although a wrong idea of this can severely undermine who we understand God to be). Just want to give some thoughts on it.

To be sure, the Word teaches that God is in complete control of His creation; that He is the Author and continual Sustainor of life. I see both in Scripture and day-to-day life where He allows, and sometimes causes, things to occur that we might call "evil."

But quite often, these "evils" are the direct results of our decisions as beings who have been given the freedom to choose path A, B, C, etc. That could be something as crazy as driving your car headlong into oncoming traffic and getting into an accident, as unsuspecting as purchasing a house on a geographic fault line and wondering how God could allow an earthquake to destroy it, or telling a lie and having your girlfriend break up with you.

I'm just touching on some random ideas here, but one of our favorite verses to recite to comfort one another in desperate times is Romans 8:28, "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." (NASB)

Look at it again. Note that this passage doesn't say that God causes bad things to happen so that some good will come of them. Rather, it says that for those who love the Lord and have been called out for His purposes (which immediately takes the focus off of us; He is the reason and knowing Him is the prize for our efforts), He can and will take every situation and use it as a stepping stone, or even a massive bridge, to accomplish something good.

A friend at work gave this excellent summary, and I'll paraphrase (with a little warning about what some may consider slang):

"When life seems like a piece of crap, remember that God uses that stuff as fertilizer."

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Solomon Was a Bullfrog

I don't know what "Jeremiah was a bullfrog" means, but since it was used in a now-classic song, I think I can hijack the phrase, act like I know what it means, and use it here. But I digress.

Solomon wrote this in Proverbs 2:3-5 (NASB): "For if you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding; if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will discern the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God."

Good stuff. If you want discernment, then you need to have to have understading, as well. Often I'll ask God to give me knowledge so that I can have the wisdom to know what to do with it.

I thought about the fact that this was written by a guy who wound up having hundreds of concubines (a Biblical word for permanent ladies of the evening) later in life, and he eventually drifted away from the Lord. It's noteworthy that this wasn't just written by Solomon; it was given to him by inspiration of God (2 Timothy 3:16). It was "God-breathed," as one translation puts it.

Now, if I were in God's place, I'd probably have avoided speaking through a guy that I knew would wind up like Solomon did. And I probably would have given David a miss, too, given the fact that he had an affair that led to murder. Moses killed a man out of rage before God used him in a historically huge way. Paul had a violent history, Peter swore that he never knew Christ, and Matthew the Apostle probably constantly swindled people out of money before he met Christ.

Apply, lather, rinse, and repeat.

Wouldn't it have made sense -- I mean, if God really wanted His Word to be taken seriously -- for Him to have chosen only men and women of spotless, impeccable reputation to deliver it? I mean, surely there were some Billy Graham-types in those days, like Enoch, who never wrote Scripture, or maybe Noah. (But Noah wound up getting really drunk at one point, and the story gets worse from there...)

But the fact is that God chose people who were flawed, many times even more flawed than those around them, to deliver His eternal Words. This gives me great hope!

When these men had a right relationship with God, He spoke to them and through them. Of course I'm not suggesting that God is going to use me to write some new Scripture, but I can see that regardless of what I've done in the past (or even what I might do in the future), I have the opportunity to hear God speak. I have the opportunity for Him to use me to be His hands and feet. I have the opportunity to speak His words to someone who needs to hear them.

Don't get caught up in wishing that you had been a better person, or maybe that you'd been "sold out to God" earlier in life. Be grateful that God is willing to start fresh with you -- to speak to you and even to use your life -- right where you are at the moment you surrender to Him.

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Forgiveness Teaches Fear

I came across a verse in Psalm 130 this morning that popped out at me. I've read it before but it never made me stop and think like this. Here's the passage:

Lord, if You kept a record of our sins,
     who, O Lord, could ever survive?
But You offer forgiveness,
     that we might learn to fear You.
- Psalm 130:3-4 (NLT)

Verse three is one that is incredibly comforting to me: "Lord, if You kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive?" God's grace and forgiveness are huge, and if it weren't for His mercy I'd have no hope at all but to be crushed.

But the verse that really hit me this morning was, "But You offer forgiveness, that we might learn to fear You." Strong's Hebrew dictionary defines "fear" (יראor "yârê'") this way: "to fear; morally to revere; causatively to frighten: - affright, be (make) afraid, dread (-ful), (put in) fear (-ful, -fully, -ing). (be had in) reverence (-end), X see, terrible (act, -ness, thing)."

"...That we might learn to fear You." Without consulting a commentary to get thoughts, how does God's forgiveness teach you to fear Him?

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Happy 20th Aniversary To Me (and Callie)!

Two days ago (April 6, 2011) my wife and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary! I sometimes think that I'd love to go back and change some of the stupid things I've done over the course of our lives together, but when I realize that even those things had a hand in bringing us to where we are today (keeping a correct reading of Romans 8:28 in mind; God didn't cause or tempt either of us to make mistakes, but as we've pursued and loved Him He's brought good out of them when they've come along), I decide that I wouldn't want to change a thing -- even the things that hurt badly at the time.

Together we've learned some very important facts over these often-strange yet ultimately fantastic years: 

• If you love (in actions as well as "in your heart") God before all else, your spouse next, and yourself last, even times that are horribly tough will be situations that you will weather.
• If it's just religious-speak to say that you love God before all else, your spouse next, and yourself last, your relationship is likely going to be very difficult.
• The best things (spiritual growth, relational growth, love, understanding of the other person, etc.) come if both of you are willing to (and do) love God before all else, your spouse next, and yourself last.

Do you see a common theme? If so, I think you should grab a highlighter and mark your screen so you'll never forget it.

On Wednesday I celebrated our anniversary publicly by posting to Twitter and Facebook 20 reasons that I love my wife. Without further ado, here is the list:

1. She loves Jesus Christ.

2. She loves me.

3. She is unfathomably forgiving.

4. She has incredibly amazing taste in men

5. She is not absent-minded like I am.

6. She likes almost all the same music I like.

7. She is beautiful (and not just that "internal beauty" thing people talk about).

8. She overlooks my faults and loves me in spite of them.

9. She doesn't let on that she's embarrassed when I wear white pants at age 41 (and prior to Easter).

10. She is a self-sacrificing mother.

11. She no longer gets visibly irritated when I forget stuff.

12. She will most likely forgive me for embarrassing her by posting "20 Things I Love About My Wife" one item at a time.

13. She is persistent about me building bookcases and an addition to the house. Wait, don't count this one...

13. She tolerates my hyper-uber-long-range contemplative phase prior to building bookcases and an addition to the house.

14. She got me Superman floor mats for our anniversary!

15. She likes big-budget sci-fi and action/adventure movies

16. She's happy with life even though we can't afford as much cool stuff as many of our friends.

17. She often reminds me of the heart of a Scripture whem I'm trying to go all philosophical (naah, this *never* happens).

18. She has a double-standard: she values my welfare above her own.

19. She didn't break up with me after I wrote that disuietingly-awful song (and played the tape) for her 22 years ago.

20. She knew me well and married me anyway, then got to know me *very* well and stayed with me anyway. Amazing!

Happy anniversary, Callie! I love you!

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2011

Happy New Year!

To recap the year with me, what did you see God do in 2010 that left the most lasting impact on you (for better or worse)?

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De-Powering the Name of Jesus

In the old days, Superman could move planets. As if that weren't enough, he could move multiple planets at once. Heck, he could even do this as a teenager! Somewhere along the line, the writers decided that this just wasn't believable enough, I guess, so they brought his powers down to a more realistic ensemble. You know, flying, heat vision, super-cold breath... the more normal things.

The other day I was headed out to lead music for a group of believers that's begun to meet under the name of Ignite City Church. God has given me a gift and He gave me the desire to cultivate it and use it for His sake. I can play guitar and sing with enough skill not to be terribly distracting, and it's a privilege to share that gift, because most of the time I don't have tangible things (like money) to share. But I can always freely share this gift of music and give the assembled body of Christ the avenue of music as an expression of worship.

"Kinda like Peter and John," I briefly reasoned. Then I thought of the passage I'd learned as a kid in a song:

Peter and John went to pray.
They met a lame man on the way.
He asked for alms and held out his palms,
And this is what Peter did say:

"Silver and gold have I none;
But such as I have give I thee.
In the name of Jesus Christ
Of Nazareth, rise up and walk!"

The last half of that verse direcctly quotes the KJV in Acts 3:6. And I was inclined to think of a modern-day version of that Scripture, for some reason. This is what I might say if I were to talk with a crippled person in a similar situation: "Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, here's a little song I want to play for you that I know you'll find to be encouraging."

Hmm. Now, I believe that God still performs miraculous healing. At least, I think I do. But I realized that we often take a great, supernatural, holy God and put Him in our little box of de-powered expectations: impractical things we're pretty sure He won't actually do. Oh sure, God can heal, but He probably won't. God can miraculously provide funds in a desperate financial situation, but He probably won't. God can intervene in almost every situation, but He probably won't.

What faith!

Not sure of your stance on the miraculous; whether certain gifts of the Holy Spirit are no longer "necessary" in today's world (a dangerous place to begin one's thought processes) or whether there are charlatans who take advantage of people in the name of Jesus Christ (there certainly are!), but there's little doubt to me that many believers have de-powered God in our own minds. Just like what the editors did to Superman, it makes God a little more "believable," wouldn't you say?

I will continue to freely give and use the gifts I've been given for lifting up the Church and sharing the message of Christ, but I'm anxious to tear up my De-powered God Box.

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Regaining Amazement

On Saturday afternoon I posted this tweet:

If we saw, say, lanternfish every day, do you suppose we'd become unmoved by God's creativity the way we seem to [be] with "common" things?

Maybe a lanternfish wasn't the best animal for me to have used. Lanternfish look weirdly scary. But what about a giraffe or an aardvark or a star nosed mole? (Have a look here for some really interesting-looking creatures, but don't do it while you're eating.) Are dogs not amazing, or have we simply grown so used to seeing them that we don't even think of them as incredible products of God's ineffably creative mind?

It's unfortunately normal for familiarity to dull our amazement at things which truly are amazing. But when everything in our lives begins with, ends with, and finds its definition and fulfillment in our Creator, we're daily given the privilege of seeing our world through lenses of awe. Whether we open our front door to pouring rain or a spectacular sunrise, it won't be at all unusual for us to simply stare in astonished, speechless worship of Almighty God.

The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
    The skies display his craftsmanship.
Day after day they continue to speak;
    night after night they make him known.
They speak without a sound or word;
    their voice is never heard.
Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
    and their words to all the world.
- Psalm 19:1-4 (NLT)

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remembering what god has forgotten

A song that David sang, recorded in 2 Samuel 22:21-25:

The Lord rewarded me for doing right;
   he restored me because of my innocence.
For I have kept the ways of the Lord;
   I have not turned from my God to follow evil.
I have followed all his regulations;
   I have never abandoned his decrees.
I am blameless before God;
   I have kept myself from sin.
The Lord rewarded me for doing right.
   He has seen my innocence.

Changing gears slightly, I know what Jesus said about the greatest possible love that we can have: "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13, NLT) I also know what Whitney Houston sang about in 1986 as the greatest possible love we can ever have: "Learning to love yourself; it is the greatest love of all." Those two concepts don't exactly match up.

And here's how much God loves us: "But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners." (Romans 5:8, NLT) And as part of that love, God will forgive us for our sins if we confess and turn from them.

Have you ever done something for which you can't seem to forgive yourself, even after you've pleaded with God for forgiveness and have renounced and forsaken that sin? One reason I've struggled with this over certain things is that I don't want to embrace Whitney Houston's concept of great love. It feels like psychological babble to me to say to myself, "Dean, God has forgiven you; now you have to forgive yourself." But there's no indication in the Word that we're to hang onto past sins in an effort to do penance once God has forgiven us.

Just as I've been saved by God's grace, I'm also forgiven by God's grace alone. Putting myself through the paces of doing penance in an effort to buy back God's favor after my sin is pointless. But the thing is, if I don't put myself through those paces it makes me feel like I'm buying into the Whitney Houston gospel.

That's where I'm wrong.

Apparently David had a firm grasp on the concept that when God forgives, He removes our sin from us "as far as the east is from the west." (David penned that, by the way.)

I'd like for you to go back and read the passage at the beginning of this post, this time bearing in mind that David sang this in his old age, not long before he died. David sang this; the guy who had lusted after a woman so much that he murdered her husband, committed adultery with her, and eventually fathered four sons as a result of that union.

Apparently David actually believed that God had completely forgiven him. I don't know that I'd feel the same if I were in David's shoes, and that bugs me.

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pleasing god

Here are three accounts from the Bible that show men making decisions which reflect their heart and their outlook on life:

First is David, after his son Absolom has crowned himself king and much of Israel supports him. Rather than put up a fight, David takes his advisors (and a contingent of foreign soldiers from Gath who want to follow him) and leaves Jerusalem in an effort to save lives, among other things.

Then the king instructed Zadok [a priest] to take the Ark of God back into the city. “If the Lord sees fit,” David said, “he will bring me back to see the Ark and the Tabernacle again. But if he is through with me, then let him do what seems best to him.” - 2 Samuel 15:25-26 (NLT)

Second is Job, after his sons and daughters have been killed in a catastrophe:

[Job] said,
“I came naked from my mother’s womb,

and I will be naked when I leave.

The Lord gave me what I had,
and the Lord has taken it away.
Praise the name of the Lord!”
- Job 1:21 (NLT)

Third is Jesus, as He's about to begin the worst physical time of His life:

He went on a little farther and fell to the ground. He prayed that, if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting him might pass him by. “Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” - Mark 14:35-36 (NLT)

Do you see a common theme?

God apparently saw something. Here's what was said about each of these men:

David: After removing Saul, [God] made David [Israel's] king. He testified concerning him: "I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do." - Acts 13:22 (NLT)

Job: Then the Lord asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil. And he has maintained his integrity, even though you urged me to harm him without cause.” - Job 2:3 (NLT)

Jesus: And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." - Matthew 3:17 (NLT)

I'm not suggesting that the only reason that God said this of His Son was because Jesus always resigned Himself to do His Father's will. I'm not going for a theological debate. I'm simply looking at some common threads in how each of these men (one more than simply a man) lived life, and the way God saw each of them. I'm also not suggesting that we can somehow purchase God's love by doing things. However, The Word clearly teaches that there is a direct connection between how how we live and how pleased God is with us (not how much He loves us).

If I truly want God to look at me and say, "I'm extremely pleased with Dean," then one of the things I can't miss is that I must resign myself to completely trust that God will lead me, and follow Him over each peak and through each valley, to not fight against every negative circumstance, but rather understand that He will bring about a purpose (or has already done so) in allowing me to go through it.

Incidentally, all of this certainly runs counter to prosperity theology, and I'm reminded of friend and commenter Preston's comment a couple of weeks ago where he referred to this eye-opening editorial-style cartoon:

I'm unfortunately unable to properly attribute this image. If you know its origin (other than being posted at a ton of other blogs), please let me know.

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didn't you get the memo?

I have some new propaganda... er, material that I've been working on. Upcoming posts are going to be exciting!

I think that it's a rite of passage for a blogger to make a post entitled "Changes," so I'm looking forward to that one. Timing will be somewhat of an issue, as will the organization of my thoughts. I want to give plenty of information, but not so much that you'll think I'm nuts. This happened at a meeting I had with my team last week, and I regret it. My talk should have been highly focused but I thought some brainstorming would be good. It really wasn't.

For today's post, I was reading an account of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, threatening Judah in Isaiah 37. God's message to Sennacherib says, "Yes, look at you... You've conquered surrounding kingdoms." He injects a stinging humorous comment at the end of the passage below.

Whom have you been defying and ridiculing?
Against whom did you raise your voice?
At whom did you look with such haughty eyes?
It was the Holy One of Israel!

By your messengers you have defied the Lord.
You have said, ‘With my many chariots
I have conquered the highest mountains—
yes, the remotest peaks of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars
and its finest cypress trees.
I have reached its farthest heights
and explored its deepest forests.

I have dug wells in many foreign lands
and refreshed myself with their water.
With the sole of my foot,
I stopped up all the rivers of Egypt!’

But have you not heard?
I decided this long ago.
Long ago I planned it,
and now I am making it happen.
I planned for you to crush fortified cities
into heaps of rubble.
- Isaiah 37:23-26 (NLT)

I love the question in bold type above. I think a great modern paraphrase would be, "Didn't you get the memo?"

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Our Creator

I got up this morning, sat on the deck in the back yard, and fired up 1 Chronicles 11 at Biblegateway.com to start reading. I thanked God and prayed over a few people and situations, and was about to read, but before I could get started I looked at the trees and the field behind my house and saw the stunningly beautiful world that God made.

My mind zoomed back to a DVD my family watched last night; Louie Giglio speaking about the incomprehensible vastness of the universe, the amazingly microscopic intricacies of our bodies, and through it all, amazement at our Creator and His love for us.

I'm willing to bet that exactly zero of you will watch all five parts of the video below (they're a little over 40 minutes, total), but I think I'm going to have a get-together at my house to watch the DVD. I wasn't too enthralled at the very beginning, but like me, as you get past the first few minutes of the intro, I'm sure you'll begin to be amazed. (A note to those who have... distaste for Louie Giglio: you'll find no aberrant theology in these videos.)

Here's part two.

Here's part three.

Here's part four.

Here's part five.

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Prayer Wars

It's jaw-dropping and energizing to see Satan lose battles. That amazement is doubled when you've been praying over a situation and God says "yes" in an instant way rather than incrementally. (Humans are so limited by linear thinking.)

I was looking at God in amazement last night because of the way He'd seen fit to address several things I'd been praying over, and I woke up this morning and saw that another great thing had happened while I slept. I'm wide-eyed at how God has powerfully moved for His own fame and glory in response to prayer. My devotional this morning was called "Prayer Wars" and was based on Ephesians 6:10-24; a passage about equipping ourselves with the whole armor of God and spiritual warfare.

I can't help thinking that someone at InterVarsity Press is diligently following God. A couple of months ago I found their morning devotionals and instantly liked them because they're inductive. They use large passages of Scripture, there are no scripted answers to the many questions that are posed within the daily studies, and mercifully, there are usually no cute stories or illustrations that potentially distract from the point.

I bring up these particular devotionals because they uncannily seem to go step-for-step along with what's happening in my life from one day to the next. It's really eerie.

Have to admit, yesterday it was so good to see God at work around me that I'm slightly paranoid that today couldn't possibly match up to it. But then there's this passage...

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.
- Ephesians 3:20-21 (NLT)

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For the Sake of Your Reputation

I haven't forgotten about the rest of the church slogans. More coming up. I'll also be following up on the Agnosticism and the Church post soon. Greatly appreciate the comments there; I wish that there were more who were willing to get involved in that sort of thing. But on to today's post...

For the sake of your reputation, Lord, do not abandon us.
    Do not disgrace your own glorious throne.
Please remember us,
    and do not break your covenant with us.
- Jeremiah 14:21 (NLT) [emphasis mine]

I've found that this is a really difficult type of prayer to pray with a genuine heart. Most of the time, I think, our prayers asking for good stuff to happen are mostly centered in the fact that we want to experience good stuff -- not because we want to see God's fame increased.

Or maybe I'm just speaking from my own perspective and you've never had this problem.

Taking the correct perspective on this has been eye-opening for me, focusing on my real intentions and forcing me to change my thoughts and motives sometimes. "Lord, please give me the money to get that new plasma TV. Err... so that You will be glorified among the nations forevermore, amen." That kind of prayer doesn't get said anymore (not that I've ever prayed anything quite like that). I think that we'll find that, when we're focused on making the whole of our lives revolve around Jesus Christ, we will be unable to deeply desire "stuff" for ourselves.

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