It’s His Job

The best in life is not what is seen or heard; but what God is doing behind the scenes.

No matter how much I want to see those around me become more like Jesus, I can’t make it happen. Only Jesus’ can.

Israel had a King. They wanted a human king, instead, to lead them into battle. God was supposed to be that person, as modeled by Joshua. God would give Joshua the battle plan before and during the battle.

Joshua had to keep listening to and following the Lord for himself. It was the same for each tribe and family. Listen to and follow the Lord before and in the midst of the battle for victory.

Israel got tired of that methodology. They wanted a human king to do it all for them. Samuel tried to persuade them to change their minds to no avail. They wanted a human king, rather than God, to follow.

God finally told Samuel, “It’s My job. Leave it to Me.” What was Samuel to do? Pray. In fact, Samuel said it would be sin if he didn’t.

As we do church with other believers, we want to see them become more like Jesus. And, there will be times when, after lovingly sharing the truth with them, especially when we’ve been there and done that ourselves, they will still choose to go down the wrong path. What can we do?  

Don’t get frustrated with them. Keep praying for God to do His job, which is to change them. Don’t wash your hands of them. Keep praying for God to break through their fog by allowing Him to change them. Stay on your knees for them in this battle by asking God to do what only He can do, change their life.

Simply Hard

How His power works is a mystery; but, it works.

A few years back, I was flying home from Israel when I heard some guys talking about philosophy. After a few minutes, I chimed in, “You’re making it way too difficult. You can talk theory all day long, but how do you make choices in real life situations?”

They chuckled and said, “It’s not that easy.” So I continued to listen until the stewardess told us to take our seats as the conversation was becoming too lively.

Yet, one who chuckled told me he was struggling and wanted to know what to do about it. Instead of chuckling, we had a great talk.

Jesus made life simple, “Listen and follow Me.” What makes this simplicity so hard is a wonderful thing we all cherish, free will, which means we can make choices we wish we hadn’t.

David writes about this in Psalm 19. He starts by saying God is speaking to us through His creation, and, will hold us accountable for every choice we make.

Therefore, David writes, “Let the words that come out of my mouth and the thoughts that roll around in my head be pleasing to you, Lord.” He is filtering his words and thoughts through the Lord, making sure he’s got the listening part down pat.

He then goes on to say, “The Lord is my strength.” He needed supernatural power from above to actually do what he heard God say. Cool. He’s got the power to choose correctly. Fantastic, right?

Well, David didn’t stop there. He went on to say that the Lord was his redeemer. There would times David would mess up. (Man, did he ever!) Yet, the Lord can make it right if David choose to own his bad choice. Learn from the Lord as to why he went down that path…again. And then retrain his brain (Romans 12:2) with this new information to actually do what the Lord wanted done in the first place.

As we let this truth of Jesus being our redeemer sink deeper into our brains, and with each future choice we ask for His strength, we will do the hard thing, which makes us more Christ like, the ultimate fulfillment of any choice.

May you do the hard thing by actually asking why you chose poorly; rather than simply asking for His forgiveness again and again for the same poor choice.

Be redeemed to experience true freedom to live life to the fullest.

Present in the Present

“Anything under God’s control, is never out of control.” Charles Swindoll

I’m working through the “I don’t have time for this!” attitude, which causes my left leg to bounce. And sometimes, it bounces pretty fast! I’m actually stopping it as I type. Ugh!

This attitude is based in a lie. It says that I have a list of things to get done and can’t rest until they are; thus, I don’t have time to waste. So, let’s get ’em done!

Yet, Jesus is my rest. It’s not what I do for Him that’s important, but enjoying Him while I do what He wants done with Him in the moment, the present, is.

The Alter of Novordok, who strove to live each moment with greater trust in God, put it this way, “One must relinquish all of his tomorrows for one today. Lest he come to relinquish all of his todays for one tomorrow.”

Each right now is another opportunity to increase our trust in God. How? He is with us, right now. Put another way, if we’re doing what He wants us to do (could be anything on that list and in any order), why are we thinking about what must be done next?

If we do, we miss Him in the present because we are not present with Him in the present, at least in our minds anyway. And for me, my bouncing leg is simply reminding me of this fact.

Focus on what He has for you now, not what you’ve “got” to do next. I think this is what Jesus meant when He said, my paraphrase, “Don’t be anxious about the next moment as it will bring just as much anxiety when you get there. Instead, seek Me in this moment.”

Can we not have a running conversation with our God (aka pray without ceasing)? And if we are talking with Him, it means we are in His presence in the present, which means for me, no bouncing leg.

“Lord, quiet my bouncing leg by increasing my trust in You in the present!”

In or Out

Your Heavenly Father has all you’ll ever need right where you live.

Centuries ago in England, there existed a battle in the church between those who wanted to live out their faith on a daily basis right where they lived (pietists), those who just wanted to live with Jesus for certain hours on Sunday morning (secularists); and those who wanted to live out their faith away from those who didn’t (separatists).

This same battle exists today. Which one are you? Before you answer, keep in mind that Jesus never asked the Father to take His disciples out of an anti-Judeo-Christian worldview world/country/state/city. Instead, He asked the Father to keep them from the evil one while living right where He had them (Jn. 17:14-19).

Furthermore, Jesus came to put us into a relationship with the Father (Jn. 14:6) where the Father lived inside us right now! And, one day would take us home. BUT, it’s not about the location of the relationship, but the relationship itself.

Are you in with living with the Father each day, which allows the dark world around you to see His light in you and then want what He has given you, real life despite one’s circumstances?

Or, have you checked out by thinking that going to church is enough? (For those who have given up on the church, don’t fool yourself. You could still be in this camp. It just looks different.) Or, checked out by seeking to leave a dark state/city for greener pastures, like heaven?

All three thought they were right. Yet, only one was. Discover who the Father wants you to be.

Keep Getting Up

The biggest mistake we make as followers of Christ is staying on the ground!

Just like this little guy, I can’t count the number of times I’ve been knocked or fell down during my time playing sports.

Yet, unless I was hurt, where I was told to stay down, my coaches always told me to get up and keep competing. You can’t win unless you do.

Jesus knows we are going to fall down. Mind you, He does not want us to fall. He simply knows that we will until we see Him face to face (1 Jn. 3:2).

He does, though, expect us to get up. He even had Solomon write to remind us of this truth, “The righteous falls seven times and rises again.” (Proverbs 24:16) In Christ, we are righteous and are expected to keep getting up!

I love how one author put it, “Sleep on now, that opportunity is lost forever. You cannot alter it; but, you can arise and go to the next thing. Oh, let the past sleep on the bosom of Christ, and go out into the irresistible future with Him.”

Never let a fall determine your future. Let the next step you take with Jesus do. Keep getting up, my friend. Victory can only be had by doing so.