From Him, Through me, to You

I’ve known for quite some time now that one of my spiritual gifts is intercessory prayer. I don’t know why God chooses me to pray for the people He lays on my heart. I just know it happens. I also know there are 2 things I could do with these random urges to pray for people:

     1.  I could drive myself to the brink of insanity trying to figure out why OR

     2.  I could simply enjoy the fun of watching the Holy Sprit urge me into prayer

Like the time I was lead to pray for someone in Tennessee.

It was wing night at a pub; me and my buddy Cliff decided to meet there and chow down a pound or 2 of wings. Earlier in the day, Cliff managed to cross paths with an MRI repairman from California. After some small talk, cliff invited the man to join us and make it a trio. As I got to know the guy, he told me he was sent by an MRI company to tinker with one of their machines at the university.

For some reason, meeting this MRI repairman immediately brought to mind a friend and her husband living in Tennessee. What an odd connection, I thought. Why is an MRI repairman from California reminding me of friends I have in Tennessee? WeIrD!!!

I didn’t understand the connection, but I still prayed for my friend’s husband.

The next day, while talking to them over Facebook, my friend Michelle tells me her husband needs to get an MRI done on his shoulder and asks me to pray that things will go well when he’s at the appointment. A bit shocked, I tell her about what happened at the pub and the Lord’s already got me praying and will have a better prayer time now that know more about their situation.

Recently the editor of my book went to Russia on a short, 6 week mission trip. Prior to her leaving we built a rapport and she shared some details about her going. I told her if the Lord lays it on my heart/mind to pray for her while in the land of borscht I would.

I recall one time The Holy Spirit did so through the mouth of a barista in a Second Cup.

While filling an order for a French Vanilla Latte, the barista makes an interesting observation:

“What’s the deal with French vanilla? Is it any different then regular vanilla? Why does all the fancy stuff have to be named French, what’s wrong with calling it Russian Vanilla?”

The word "Russian" triggered a memory of that promise of prayer support for Jeanette, my book editor. this lead me to prayer on that occasion and many others during her 6 week adventure. The prompting to pray often accompanied her requests for prayer via her blog or Facebook page. As a thank you,  Jeanette sent me a fridge magnet and a picture from the time she spent there with a note saying that my prayers often lifted her spirits during that time.

I responded in an email saying it was a pleasure, and that my prayers are merely a blessing from God, through me, to you; and that He deserves some credit too.

Maybe that’s (in part) the point of a spiritual gift. Whatever the gift may be, prayer, hospitality, an edifying word, it is God’s way of blessing someone through you.

So if your befuddled with the “why me?” question, remember this simple little phrase. It’s a blessing from Him to someone else through you.

Survey Says: Prayer is Like Superglue

I thought this was an interesting article and a good follow-up to my last post, as it compliments and reinforces some of the ideas I previously mentioned. The original article can be found here.

Fourteen days -- 336 hours. That's how long Eddie Murphy's latest marriage lasted to film producer, Tracey Edmonds. David Letterman quipped: "They started to drift apart during the ceremony. The legal question now is who gets custody of the cake."

The star-struck couple entered the New Year with a flourish, exchanging vows on a private island off Bora Bora in French Polynesia on Jan. 1. They were the picture of perfection; dapperly dressed, sunshiny smiles and bodacious bodies honed by exercise and diet. Probing paparazzi captured faces aglow with the radiance of love. Or was it merely the beginning of sunstroke? That at least would explain the insane antics that followed.

The marriage headed south faster than a Canadian snowbird in November and they pulled the plug just days into the adventure. Apparently "till death do us part" is translated differently in French Polynesia. Eddie and Tracey discovered what most people instinctively know: enduring marriages require more than picturesque beginnings, fame or even fortune.

Flourishing relationships grow in the greenhouse of commitment, nourished by copious communication and persistent prayer. Traditional wedding vows are meant to usher in delightful devotion to a spouse. Stubborn commitment is pledged: "For better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, and faithful to you alone, till death do us part."

The Bible calls this a covenant and it was never meant to be broken. To sever such a relationship is the equivalent of ripping our tongue off on the playground slide in the middle of a Canadian winter. Not pleasant and downright bloody. No wonder God says He hates divorce. He is the outstanding Father of all time; watching His children experience such pain is nothing less than heart-wrenching.

Commitment can prevent much of that pain, forming the banks in which the marital river freely flows. If commitment forms the banks, then communication is the current. It ensures the relationship retains freshness and vigour, combating the staleness that grows in quiet waters.

Relational silence is not golden -- it is an eerily accurate forecaster of dark storm clouds gathering on the horizon. Wise couples dispel these clouds in three ways:

- They expose secrets. Alcoholics Anonymous suggests that we are as sick as the secrets we keep. Marital secrets need to be dragged kicking and screaming into the light, where they die of exposure. The heart of marriage is meant to be transparent.

- Healthy couples deal with their disagreements. They follow St. Paul's advice and "do not let the sun go down while (they) are still angry." The right time to humble ourselves and ask forgiveness is always the present. An oft forgotten bonus is that making up can be a whole lot of fun.

Perceptive spouses frequently express their love. Spoken sentiment is a gentle breeze refreshing the soul. It is a spring rain watering seeds of love sown deep within. Couples who excel in the language of love need never fear failure.

A 1997 Gallup Poll unearthed a noteworthy nugget of marital insight. It discovered that when a couple consistently prays together its chances of divorce plunges from one-in-three to one-in-1,152.

Wise couples pay attention to such findings. Fools alone discount a practice that increases the odds of success this dramatically.

The poll issues a clarion, if unconventional challenge to all. According to these findings, marriage counsellors should be clambering to arm clients with prayer manuals, couples should be flocking to churches and enterprising employers wishing to maximize employee emotional health should consider initiating prayer workshops.

You don't have to be religious to pray -- just smart. Don't worry about a formula, God appreciates simple sincerity. Try the "sorry, thank you, please" format. Express what you are sorry for. Thank God for the multitude of received blessings, including your spouse. Then discuss requests with the Divine.

Magazines littering the grocery checkout aisles proclaimed the tragedy of the Eddie and Tracey breakup. But the greatest tragedy is unheralded; that two mature individuals have yet to grasp the keys that will unlock an enduring and fulfilling relationship.

Perhaps the one redeeming factor in the entire sordid affair is the opportunity we have to glean and grow from their marital mishap.We can choose to stay true to commitments made. We can open our hearts and mouths, rejecting the lure of silence when communication is desperately needed. Persistent prayer can bind us to the One who is an artesian well of wisdom and an unending source of love.

When we live in such a way we rise above a myriad of gifted individuals who choose a lesser pathway, including two rich but lonely movie moguls who left their hearts in Bora Bora.

Denied

“A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” he said.” (Mark 1:40) NLT.

As I read this verse a few weeks ago, something struck me. Here the leper asks Jesus to make him clean, but only if He wants to. The following verse tells us that Jesus is willing, so He reaches out His hand touches and heals the man. The Leper is overflowing with joy. He then spreads the word about the great and mighty work that Jesus had done and he’s possibly praising God because of it. But Jesus only healed the man because He was willing to do so. What if the leper asked Jesus to heal him and He said no?

This is a reality I am faced with daily. Born with a disability I find myself echoing the words of the leper. “Jesus, I know that you can heal me, so please take this disability away.” In the face of my plea I wake up each morning with the Lord denying my request; and living life the same as yesterday. Limited in my physical abilities and having to navigate my daily functions with an unwanted challange.

I take comfort knowing that I don’t face this alone. Scripture calms my mood when God refuses to heal my legs; especially these words from the apostle Paul: “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness. ” Here, Paul confesses to having a thorn embedded in his flesh. Not wanting to deal with this ailment, he too gives voice to the plea of the leper. “Jesus, if you are willing you can make me clean.” Yet Jesus withholds His healing touch. The leper praised God and spread the news of his healing, but Paul’s testimony tells a different story.

In 2 Corinthians 12:8, Paul tells us that he cried out to God, pleading three times to make his life easier by removing the thorn from his side. The Lord hears his cry and responds by saying no. Paul doesn’t need to be healed. As the thorn remains, God is shown to be bigger then healings and miracles. By keeping the thorn in his flesh, anything Paul does to advance God’s Kingdom is merely God’s Holy Spirit using Paul’s weakness to His advantage.

In his first letter to the Corinthians Paul wrote:

“…God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.”

Yet in his next letter to the Corinthian church, Paul is boasting about his weaknesses. This is an act of God’s grace. The fact that people are praising God in lieu of Paul’s weaknesses gives testimony to God’s power. No one can say that they are the only reason Paul’s ministry is thriving. Paul’s weakness is so debilitating that the ministry would suffer if he didn’t depend on God to give him his daily needs. This is why he boasts in his weaknesses. For when he is weak, God is strong. Without the thorn, Paul would rely on his own strength to see the ministry to survive. Giving him this thorn keeps Paul humbled. By solely relying on God’s strength, He gets all the credit. When someone praises Paul for his success in ministry, all the apostle can do is thank God for being an instrument of God’s grace.

Every day I wake up and realize that God denied my request to walk on my own. Consequently I’m forced to answer this question: what benefit does today’s challenge bring me? Most often the answer is humility and encouragement to those around me. When people see what I go through in a day they are humbled. Putting on socks is an example of little things that most people take for granted. Because of my disability I struggle with this task. Four or five attempts later, those socks are warming my toes. When people watch me do it with a smile, they are blown away. I’m not frustrated or beating myself up because I can’t do it or is so hard. It puts them in a place of humility.

In this example, all I’m doing is putting on a pair of socks. But some people see God in what I do. People see me struggle yet I’m not depressed or getting sad about it. I have joy! I’ve been told on countless occasions people are inspired by the joy in my heart and the smile on my face. Jesus gave me that smile. As I wake each morning, I receive the grace I need to face my challenges head on. Bringing glory to God in the midst of my weakness; praising God for His grace that is sufficient.

Earlier I shared about answering the question: what benefit does today’s challenge bring me? Think about some of your own challenges for a moment. What might some of them be? How might this approach to the challenges you face change your attitude about it? How does it help you see God in the situation?

A Deep Cleansing

Matthew 6:6 encourages us to pray behind closed doors. This is something I do quite regularly. When I pray in private, it’s usually at the end of my day as I lay in bed ready for sleep. Sometimes I think about my day and share my thoughts and feelings or reactions with God. Lying awake at night, the Holy Spirit will put people on my heart. Without knowing a thing, I’ll pray for them during the night, and then hear about their struggles the morning after. Still, there are times I can’t sleep because the Lord has brought some unconfessed sin to my attention and don’t feel at ease until I deal with it through prayer. After I’ve spent the night confessing my sins to God, I usually wake up the next morning feeling guilty and beating myself up over the previous night’s prayer of forgiveness. King David reminds us that doing so isn’t necessary. In Psalm 103 he writes:

The Lord is compassionate and merciful,

slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.

He will not constantly accuse us,

nor remain angry forever.

He does not punish us for all our sins;

he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.

For his unfailing love toward those who fear him

is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.

He has removed our sins as far from us

as the east is from the west.

Psalm 103:8-12 NLT

Here, we learn how God treats someone with a truly repentant heart. Verse 8 says He is compassionate and shows us mercy. Charles Finney describes mercy as an act that frees a guilty party. Its exercise consists in arresting and setting aside the penalty of law, when that penalty has been incurred by transgression. What this means is, when the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin and we bring it to God asking for His forgiveness, having compassion on us, He withholds the punishment we would have received for disappointing Him.

The psalm continues by reminding us when we confess our sins, the Lord doesn’t bring it up again. After we deal with our sin in prayer, He forgets about it. 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 says that love is patient and kind. True love doesn’t annoy us by bringing up our past sins. It won’t because true love doesn’t keep a record of our mistakes. When we ask God to forgive us He wipes the slate clean. David knew this and reminds us by saying just how far God removes our sins. Verse 12 tells us that God removes our sin as far as the east is from the west. David uses this as a metaphor. An aspect of God’s forgiveness includes having our sin permanently gone. Cast away, never to be found again.

Suppose you wanted to find the exact point that east turns into west. So you begin by traveling east, hoping to pinpoint the very moment your compass tells you you’re now traveling west. You could continue in that direction forever. The truth is at no point in that journey would you be traveling west. The same thing would happen if you traveled east. You wouldn’t be able to pinpoint the moment you travel west. You won’t find it because no such point exists. God does the same thing with our sin. When we confess our sins to God, He takes our convictions and throws them away. From that point on they are impossible to find.

I’d like to say every time the Holy Spirit convicts me of my sins, I deal with it right away. Sadly, that’s not always true. Sometimes I ignore the Holy Spirit’s nudging. When I do, I wake up the next morning still prompted to spend time before God asking Him to cleanse me of the sin that separates us. This usually continues until I seek the Lord’s forgiveness.

1 John 1:8-9 says: “If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” How have the last few days been for you? Do you have an overwhelming sense of guilt you can never escape? If so, please spend some time before God in prayer. It could be the Holy Spirit convicting you of an unforgiven sin.

Begin Again by Susan Coolidge

Every day is a fresh beginning,

Every day is the world made new;

You who are weary of sorrow and sinning,

Here is a beautiful hope for you-

A hope for me and a hope for you.

All the past things are past and over,

The tasks are done and the tears are shed;

Yesterday’s errors let yesterday cover;

Yesterday’s wounds, which smarted and bled,

Are healed with the healing which night has shed.

Yesterday now is a part of forever,

Bound up in a sheaf, which God holds tight;

With glad days, and sad days and bad days which never

Shall visit us more with their bloom and their blight,

Their fullness of sunshine or sorrowful night.

Let them go, since we cannot relieve them,

Cannot undo and cannot atone;

God in His mercy, receive, forgive them;

Only the new days are our own,

Today is ours, and today alone.

Here are the skies all burnished brightly,

Here is the spent earth all reborn,

Here are the tired limbs springing lightly

To face the sun and to share the morn,

In the chrism of dew and the cool of dawn.

Every day is a fresh beginning;

Listen, my soul, to the glad refrain,

And, spite of old sorrow and older sinning,

And puzzles forecasted and possible pain

Take heart with the day, and begin again.

When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.  But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.

Galatians 5:19-25 NLT

A Key To Longevity In Youth… [Err, um ALL] Ministry

It’s said there’s 52 weeks in a calendar year…which accounts for 13 months instead of 12 by the way, but I digress…

So by that count, I’ll be celebrating a rather unique anniversary in the next week or two. The end of July is when I first moved into my own place. Since that time life has been a whirlwind of adventure. Without getting into too much detail, I can in retrospect say there were times when I was so busy I very nearly experienced burnout. I can recall at least three times this past year, if not four, I’ve had to put the breaks on, isolate myself, and recharge my batteries. There’s nothing wrong with that; Jesus modeled it during his ministry.

He directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children. Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone… Matt 14:19-23 NIV

This time, I decided to turn off my phone, lock my door and read through a selection of psalms. I open the book and begin reading the first psalm when my eyes come across this:

His delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Psalm 1:2-3 NIV

In college we were told the longevity and sustainability of your ministry, what ever it may be, is directly connected to your relationship with God. If you’re feeding that relationship by spending time with the Lord in prayer and reading the scriptures, then your ministry will flourish. If that relationship is stagnant, and you’re not including the use of scripture and/or prayer in your daily activity, your ministry will suffer; and even become stagnant itself.

Whenever I read that in a book or heard someone else say that, I would make time to read my bible and pray. Unfortunately it wouldn’t be too long before that discipline would taper off and I’d be doing things in my own strength, treating my prayer and bible reading as a panic button or a glass case containing a fire extinguisher. In case of emergency break glass!

Now that I’m out of college and been in ministry for approximately a year. I can say without a doubt that taking time to nourish your relationship with God is a key to a successful ministry. I would even venture to say any activity suffers if you neglect to “… delight in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

I have to admit though I do feel like a hypocrite saying this as its not something I continually practice. So if you come across this, I would ask that you pray for me. That I would regularly take time to read the word of God and pray, so I don’t experience burnout as much, and can have the strength to face the day for the many moons ahead of me.

Running Together

This winter I joined a racing team. Once a week we would do laps at an indoor track in preparation for a series of road races during the spring and summer months. A few weeks ago, I competed in my first road race since joining the team. I was amazed at the amount of people cheering me on as I approached the finish line.

Since then, the opening verse of Hebrews 12 has been on my mind.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Hebrews 12:1 NIV

The opening verse of chapter 12 is a continuation of what the writer pens in the previous chapter. Chapter 11 starts out with a definition of faith, then the writer lists a variety of people throughout the Old Testament who demonstrated great faith and commitment to God. Among those listed are Abraham, Moses, Rahab the prostitute, Samson, David, Samuel and the prophets. The list and the stories go on.

Trusting in the unknown is a tough thing to do, and all those listed in Hebrews 11 are people whose faith in God leads them into dangerous situations. Abraham gave up everything he had and followed God’s voice into an unknown land. Then he trusted that God would give him a son to pass on his inheritance; something that didn’t happen until Abraham passed his hundredth birthday. When Moses freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, he did so by leading God’s people in a revolt against his adopted father.

The Hebrew writer continues demonstrating the power of faith in God by telling the readers that faith conquers kingdoms, raises the dead, offers strength to those in need, and defeated whole armies (Heb 11:33-35). Great faith also leads to difficult times. Faith in God, the author says, cost many their lives as they fell victims to torture via jail time, being whipped with stones and public execution.

At this point Hebrews 12 opens with a word picture of running a marathon. Those listed in the previous chapter make up our “could of witness.” Those who have already finished a life of faith are cheering us on to follow in their footsteps. By providing us with examples of people who have completed a life of faithful commitment to God we the readers are encouraged to continue as the apostle Paul says “…toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called (us) heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 3:14)

Hebrews 12:1 encourages us to “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.” By doing so, we will successfully finish the life of faith that has been marked out for us. There is no clear indication as to what weighs us down in our race. But theologian Ray Stedman suggests what that excess weight may be. He says: “As Moses laid aside the prerogatives of royalty for the sake of his God-given mission, so we must throw off whatever may hinder faith even though it may be right for others… Each runner must honestly judge what hinders faith for him or her and resolutely lay it aside, even though others seem to be unhindered by the same thing.”

I don’t know what could be weighing you down in your relationship with God, but I do know that whatever slows us down differs for every person. For some it’s an addiction to alcohol. For others it could be an ongoing struggle to maintain sexually pure until after marriage. Anger, over eating, laziness, busyness, self mutilation, pride, racism, struggling with body image are all examples of the things that weigh us down and distract us from a commitment to God. The possibilities are endless. Struggling with sin can be a daunting task, sometimes draining our energy and needing all our focus.

Toward the end of my road race, I was tired and sore but still had a steep hill to climb. A few times it was too much. I had to stop to catch my breath and gain some strength. While I was stopped, people passed me, “don’t give up!! You’re almost there!! You can do it!!” were some of the ways my fellow racers gave me the strength I needed to keep going. Before I new it I was at the top of the hill. From that point the race was easy to finish.

The same principle can be applied to our relationship with the Lord.

Living with sin can be like carrying too much weight slowing us down, preventing us from accomplishing all the plans God has for us. Getting rid of the weight that slows us down isn’t always an easy task. That’s why these verses are an encouragement. It reminds us we don’t face the world alone. We have a community of believers to turn to for encouragement and support. One of the ways we get that encouragement and support is by sharing our lives with each other and asking for it.

The book of James tells us to confess our sins to each other (James 5:16). Gal 6:1-2 says: “… if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.” If you have been running the race on your own, and find there are a few things that you constantly stumble on (like maintaining sexual purity for example), let me encourage you to find an accountability partner.

Ideally this will be someone of the same sex you trust. The old adage honesty is the best policy applies here. An accountability relationship only works if the two of you can always be 100% honest with each other. The more vulnerable you can be with this person the better. When looking for an accountability partner try and find someone who has been through the same trial you are facing. As some one who has “been there,” they maybe able to offer tips and advice to help you avoid tempting situations.

With these things in mind, let me close by asking what is weighing you down in your relationship with God?

Do you have an accountability partner? Can you think of someone you can trust to be completely vulnerable with? If not, begin by asking God to put people in your life with whom you can be accountable. If you would like to, you can use the sample prayer below.

Lord Jesus thank you for loving me, despite the stumbling block I have in my life. Please help me find someone I can be accountable to so I can be a better servant for you and finally be able to put {name your stumbling block} behind me. Thank you Jesus in your name I pray, Amen!

Blessings to you as begin the journey toward accountability my friend!

If this message touched you in any way please leave a comment sharing your story.

John Calvin and Calling: An Absolute Truth?

Theologian John Calvin once wrote: “And surely we may then safely triumph over our enemies when we are assured of having the call of God to the office which we hold, or the work in which we are engaged."

I don’t claim to be a Calvinist but as I was reading this (as difficult and wordy as his writings are); it leapt off the page at me. As far as I can remember, I’ve always struggled with God’s call in my life. When I entered college I was dead set on graduating with a youth ministry degree. This became my goal due to an influence by my own youth pastor. Prior to entering college my youth pastor told me she received a word from God regarding my future. Now she never claimed to be a prophet, or have the gift of prophecy enabling her to speak a word into lives, having it unequivocally come to pass 100% of the time. One of the things she shared was God wanting me to graduate with a youth ministry degree.

Fortunately, that part came to pass – but with some struggle. More then once, I questioned God’s call on my life to go into youth ministry. Every time that calling came into question, God confirmed that I was in the right place completing an appropriate call on my life. As I continue to follow God’s leading, I question Calvin’s above statement.

In a recent job interview, I was asked by the potential employer, after spending nearly a decade getting my degree, why I’m not pursuing a career as a youth minister. I responded by saying, since graduating, I feel a need to work within the disability community. Expanding on that thought I feel the need to use my gifts to bless them, and help usher them into God’s kingdom.

With this “change in calling,” on my mind I wonder if Calvin’s statement is absolutely true. That is, 100% true 100% of the time. Evaluating my current place in life, I find myself in a place where Calvin’s thoughts on God’s calling could be true. I’m currently involved in two churches. One works with the disability community helping to Guide them into God’s Kingdom. The other place of worship is in need of a youth minister and is a venue to exercise my years in Bible College and training in youth ministry.

After much prayer and considering where my walk with the Lord has led me, to date I don’t have an answer and wonder if I ever will. One thing is certain. I do feel a need to work with both churches and that I have the blessing of God to do both. Still doubt occasionally creeps in and I wonder if I’m double dipping running the risk of burning the candle of both ends, or if this is INDEED God’s way of saying: “Hey Tim, do both!” If experience has taught me anything this struggle with my calling will be ongoing.

What If: In The Steps Of A First Century Disciple

With it being easter weekend, i thought it would be appropriate to share one of my newest devotionals on the night of Jesus betrayal...So please enjoy one of my devotionals titled What If: In The Steps Of A First Century Disciple I hope it inspires you, Tim bits


What if…

• You discovered a new island, what would you name it and why?
• A classmate asked you for the answer to a question during an exam while the teacher was not looking? Would you give them the answer?
• You were in the bank and somebody started to hold up the bank, what would you do? How would you react?
• You had only 48 hours to live, what would you do?

Jesus told them, “Tonight all of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say, ‘God will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I have been raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.” Peter declared, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I will never desert you.” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, Peter—this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.” “No!” Peter insisted. “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!” And all the other disciples vowed the same.

MATT 26:31-35 NLT

After having a feast with his disciples, Jesus takes them on a walk to the Mount of Olives. Along the way, Jesus tells them he will be captured by the end of the night. The disciples will then run away in fear, and deny any association with Christ. Shocked by this news, Peter pledges to die with Jesus if he has too; and he proves his readiness to die by drawing a sword and hacking off someone’s ear when confronted by the mob that would take Jesus away (John 18:10). Unfortunately for Peter, Jesus was right. Peter denied ever knowing Jesus and ran like the dickens when the rubber met the road. (Matt 26:69-75).

Perhaps you’ve read the same story agreeing with Peter. If you heard Jesus say he was going to be arrested and abandoned by his closest friends, you would promise to die with Him too. Only this time it would be different. You would confirm your alliance with Christ, stand your ground and not run like the coward Peter was at that moment.

The Gospel of Luke says Jesus came to fulfill everything that the Old Testament ever spoke of concerning a coming Messiah or Savior (Luke 24:44). The first century Jews were looking for a Savior that the Old Testament referred to, and Matthew wrote his gospel to show the Israelites that Jesus is the long awaited Messiah the Old Testament spoke of. So when Matthew wrote his Gospel, he mentioned things in Jesus’ life that matched the Old Testament prophecies which spoke of a coming Messiah or Savior. The disciples scattering at the time of Jesus’ arrest is a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy proving Jesus to be the chosen one. The disciples abandoning Jesus was one of these fulfilled prophecies. So the likelihood of everyone deserting Jesus at this time is not only definite but certain.

I don’t know what your relationship with God is like today, but maybe this story is tugging at your heart. Maybe you find yourself in the same situation as Peter; feeling remorse for a stupid decision you made recently. If you do, let me say all hope is not lost. Three days after his crucifixion, Jesus rises from the dead and has a heart to heart talk with Peter during breakfast by the Sea of Galilee (John 21:1-17). After this, Peter’s hope was restored and his faith rekindled. Despite his many mistakes as a disciple, Peter became a great leader in the church. He even became a contributing author to the New Testament as he wrote 1 and 2 Peter. Being restored that morning near the Sea of Galilee, Peter had no idea how God was going to bless his life. All it took was a heart to heart conversation with Jesus. If you find yourself needing the same thing as Peter did, be encouraged to know that Jesus is waiting to hear from you.

Here I am waiting

Abide in me I pray

Here I am longing

For You

Hide me in Your love

Bring me to my knees

May I know Jesus

More and more

Come live in me

All my life

Take over

Come breathe in me

I will rise

On eagle's wings

On The Discovery Channel

If you read any portion of my blog, it doesn’t take much to see that I’ve been on a journey of discovery as of late. Although I shudder at the thought, its definitely true that its been almost a full calendar year of asking, poking and prodding God to find out what He wants me to so with this next leg of my life. I must say so far it feels like I’ve been on a rollercoaster with plenty of dead ends/locked doors, u-turns and loop da loops. Parts of the journey have felt like dragging my legs through mud. Why can change be such a drag? This change isn’t wholly a stick in the mud though, for I have seen many grow ops (that’s my "word" for growth opportunities). I’ve experienced freedom from things that have kept me disabled, rediscovered that the kingdom of God is not only tangible but it is something that I can actually take part in. I also have a newfound joy for worship.

However, it still feels like life (for me at least) is still on the discovery channel. My good friends Erik and Bonnie popped by for a visit this week in response to an email I sent them a few weeks ago. I had asked them a question about leadership as it pertains to my involvement with the Expressions Community. In addition to vision casting about things ahead for expressions, they encouraged me to put feet to the new mission God seems to have called me to: encouraging people with disabilities. I felt deeply encouraged as we dreamed about the possibilities and wrestled with what my new mission looks like.

Together, the three of us figured that encouraging people with disabilities would need to include investing in them somehow. What does that look like? I don’t know, maybe I could buy them all some stock with their maturity date being April 1st. To what extent do invest in these people? No comprende mi amigo, but I do know I want it to be a long lasting one. So if you come across this and feel the urge to pray, feel free to do so. Until next time, this is Tim bits saying over and out!

tools of the trade

I’m reading through another book once recommended by a friend called This Beautiful Mess. In the opening pages, the Author tells he is a pastor. He says the primary tools are a bible, prayer, a crowd of people and a dinner platter filled with bread and wine. He then compares his process to that of gardening. The soul is his soil and he gets his hands dirty by sifting natural fertilizer (AKA manure) into the dirt. Pulling weeds and watering the crop is added to his profile of gardener for the Kingdom of God as his thinks about the best ways to yield a full harvest at the right time. I thought it was an interesting metaphor for the "job" as a pastor. (It definitely takes away from the age old theory that the church needs no volunteers because the pastor can do everything... but I digress); especially when Adam's primary role before the fall was that of a gardener. I’ve yet to be a pastor somewhere so I can’t speak to the truth behind the analogy... but I wonder if there is any truth in the comparison... what do you think?