A change of heart

“But by forgiving . . . I had a change of heart- I got myself back.”- Raul

June Hunt discusses the lasts four benefits experienced when we forgive as she concludes Chapter 13 of How to Forgive.

2.  Forgiveness brings improved potential.  Ms. Hunt states forgiveness has the power to set you free from the prisons of bitterness, anger, and revenge.  Forgiveness frees you to pursue your life with renewed passion and purpose.  You get yourself back.  June summarizes:

“Energy spent on anger and revenge is energy lost.  Forgiveness reclaims that energy and redirects it to make your life better than ever.”

3.  Forgiveness leads to greater Christlikeness.  Allow the Holy Spirit to produce His fruit in you- joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-25).

4.  Forgiveness points others to God.  Forgiveness is never the same when you experience it (in practice) for yourself.  Forgiveness will never again be theoretical.

5.  Forgiveness brings change to the world.  June beautifully explains this transformation:

“True forgiveness always begins in the privacy of a wounded heart as unseen yieldedness to God.  . . . The smallest act of forgiveness radiates outward, like ripples in a pond, and can change the destructive course of families, churches, communities, and even whole societies.”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. understood forgiveness was far more than a political strategy.  In his book Strength to Love, Dr. King wrote:

“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive.  Whoever is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love . . .”

Today’s question: Which benefit(s) of forgiving had the most impact on you?  Please share.

Coming Monday: the new Short Meditation, “Every falling tear”

Tomorrow’s blog: the latest addition to the Annotated Bibliography, How to Forgive

A change of heart

Like little children

And he said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”- Matthew 18:3

“Every child is an artist.  The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”- Pablo Picasso

I completed my elementary/secondary student teaching practicum during the winter quarter of my senior year at Concordia Teachers College in River Forest, Illinois.  My elementary experience was with Diane Stuhlmacher’s first and second graders at Zion Lutheran School in Chicago.  Toward the end of my five week internship, Miss Stuhlmacher instructed each student to “secretly” draw a picture of me, often approaching their subject to take a closer look.  Completed impressions then were assembled into a class portfolio. It was presented to me on my last day with them.  While most drawings were typical of six and seven year olds, one picture stood out.  Georgette’s 7+ inch high figure didn’t miss a detail- from my brown hair and glasses to the distinctive pattern in my belt (my hands were behind my back).

Young children bring exuberance and a sense of wonder to learning.  John Ortberg (The Life You’ve Always Wanted) writes that preoccupation with self keeps adults from experiencing joy.  The minutes of life are divided into two categories: living and waiting to live.  We literally are killing time, unable to pour ourselves out for the joy of others or delighting in the infinite variety of small gifts God daily offers us.  Yet, the joy the happiest child shows is but a fraction of the joy that resides in God’s heart, as G. K. Chesterton speaks of in Orthodoxy:

“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged.  They always say ‘Do it again’; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead.  For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony.  But perhaps God is . . . . It is possible that God says every morning, ‘Do it again’ to the sun; and every evening, ‘Do it again’ to the moon.”

Compatibility with pain is one test of authentic joy. Worldly joy always is joy “in spite of” something. Theologian Karl Barth characterized joy as a “defiant nevertheless” slamming the door against bitterness and resentment.  It is an illusion to believe that joy will come someday when conditions change.  Today is the day to know joy. We, like little children, can be joy-carriers!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJxmy9QvcbQ

 

 

 

Like little children

God fights for you

“God Fights for You” is the concluding chapter (16) of Glory Days.  Max Lucado describes how Joshua was in dire need of God’s protection as the children of Israel ventured into the Promised Land.  Brutal and bloodthirsty enemies inhabited Canaan.  Joshua’s men were untested in battle and his leadership was unproven.  Despite those odds, God guaranteed the conquest.

Pastor Lucado writes that God gives us the same promise.  The writer of Hebrews quotes the words of Joshua 1:15 in his epistle:

“For [God] has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’ So we can say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.  What can anyone do to me?” “- Hebrews 13:5-6 (NRSV)

Max notes that the last question, by itself, is a troubling one. What can anyone do to me?  We know the answers- lie, deceive, downsize, etc.

Scripture, however, asks a different question, prefacing “What can man . . .” with the words “The Lord is your helper . . .”  The Greek word for “helper” in this passage, Max states, is boetheia, from boe (which means “a shout”) and theo (which means “to run”).  In other words, when you need help, God runs with a shout.  And God not only stays with you, he fights for you so you can live the Promised Land life.

Max concludes:

“This is your inheritance: more victory than defeat, more joy than sadness, more hope than despair.  These days are Glory Days.”

Today’s question:(from the study guide): In what ways is God already pulling you out of a wilderness and helping you cross over to your Promised Land life?  Please share.

Coming Monday: the new Short Meditation, “Back in the box”

Tomorrow’s blog: the Annotated Bibliography of Glory Days

 

God fights for you

A landscape of joy

“Anyone who can be in a landscape of joy while maintaining immunity to it hasn’t come to the end of himself.”- Kyle Idleman

Kyle Idleman concludes Chapter 6 of The End of Me by observing that the miracle of the paralyzed man’s healing should have a happy ending.  The Pharisees, however, make sure this miracle story ends on a sour note.

Even though the Pharisees had just witnessed a miraculous cure, their shortsightedness causes them to nitpick the fact that the man lifted his mat on a day of rest.  As Kyle quips, “the Pharisees wanted to make a citizen’s arrest for unauthorized use of a bedroll.”

Pastor Idleman encourages us to experience how good the good news really is.  He states we:

“. . . should see that someone else’s victory over hopelessness is our own victory, because Christ has brought the same liberation to every single one of us willing to say yes, to stand, to walk.”

God’s favorite time for us to ask for help is . . . now!  God not only has no time limits, He has no limits at all.  No matter how long our desert, land between time, God’s favorite time is now.  Kyle concludes:

“It’s not too late and never has been.  And there’s never been a better time, a more perfect time, than the present moment.  That’s always the one in which he wants to meet you.”

Today’s question (from Kyle): What are your thoughts on the idea that the more helpless you are, the better?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Disqualified to be chosen”

 

 

 

 

A landscape of joy

Fear of change

“Fear of change can be highly motivating- and ultimately limiting.”- Kyle Idleman

Kyle Idleman continues Chapter 6 of The End of Me as he discusses two reasons people lay down “roots in a place of quiet desperation and low expectations” rather than accept help.

1.  Fear of change.  The man at the Bethesda Pool had been crippled for almost four decades.  His mat was his home, the pool his community.  He was who he was.  As Pastor Idleman notes, it’s amazing what people can learn to endure in the face of positive alternatives:

“We accept a lot of things we know could be better. . . . We decide God must want us to be here, because if he didn’t, he’d make something else happen.  In other words, we blame God. . . . After a while we get used to things, and a limited life is less frightening than the thought of change.  Resignation is better than disappointment.”

If we believe God is at fault for the situation we find ourselves in, why would we ask God for help?

2.  Denial of reality.  The man at the pool no longer had any concept of what a healthy life should be like.  As Kyle notes, his environment was compressed to the boundary of Bethesda’s five colonnades.  The man was around hurting people 24/7.  His view of reality as skewed- unhealthy had become the new normal.  The reality was he needed help.  Jesus was this man’s only hope, just as He is ours.

Today’s question: How has fear of change limited you on your desert, transitional journey?  Please share.

Coming Monday: the Christmas Short Meditation- “Arise, shine!”

Tomorrow’s blog: “A landscape of joy”

Fear of change

Try the other side!

As Mark Batterson concludes Chapter 15 of The Grave Robber, he comments on an eighth miracle, the miraculous catch of fish (John 21:1-14) , tucked away at the end of John’s gospel.  This miracle followed Jesus’ resurrection.

The disciples had been fishing all night without luck.  Then Jesus told them to try the other side of the boat.  Pastor Batterson notes that first-century fishing boats were seven and a half feet wide.  What possible difference could ninety inches make?  One hundred fifty-three fish!  Mark describes the object lesson: “You may only be seven and a half feet from a miracle, but you have to try the other side!”

Mark wonders if miracles involving fish could be the one sphere where the disciples might have been tempted to assert superiority.  After all, fishing was their domain, their strong suit.  Similarly, our areas of perceived strength or expertise often are where it’s hardest for us to trust God.  We tend to rely on our God-given talents instead of the God who gave them to us.

Despite their fishing knowledge, the disciples obeyed Jesus because He told them what they needed to do.  And the quantified the miracle- they counted the fish.  Applying this to us, Mark adds:

“We need to count miracles the way we count blessings.  The latter amplifies joy while the former fortifies faith.”

Today’s question: In what area(s) of your life do you find it most difficult to try the other side?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Believe it to see it”

Try the other side!

Thank God for water

“Joy is not getting what you want.  It’s fully appreciating what you have.”- Mark Batterson

In Chapter 5 (“Six Stone Jars”) of The Grave Robber, Mark Batterson begins with the observation that water is the most basic chemical compound on earth.  Yet it also is the most vital.  But when is the last time we thought to thank God for water?

Pastor Batterson tells of the time he was on a trail in the Grand Canyon, about two miles from Phantom Ranch on the canyon floor.  His group ran out of water.  The temperature was 110 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade!  When Mark finally reached a water supply, he savored every sip of the tasteless liquid.  For the first time in his life, he saw water as a miracle from God.

Mark states we don’t appreciate God’s day-to-day miracles because “God is so good at what He does we take it for granted! What God does best . . . we often appreciate least.”  If we recognized these miracles, we’d live in constant wonderment and crack the joy code.

As we pray to God for a miracle, He hears our heart more than the words we choose.  Faith, not vocabulary, elicits His response.  Verbosity is not an indicator of trust.  In fact, Mark states, the more trust we have the fewer words we need:

“You don’t need to know what to say.  You just need to know where to turn.”

If we seek God first, before we need a miracle, He won’t be our last resort.

Today’s question: How would recognizing God’s day-to-day miracles during your desert, land between journey help you break the joy code?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Miracle within a miracle”

Thank God for water

My Lifesong

“He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God.  Many will see what he has done and be amazed.  hey will put their trust in the Lord.”- Psalm 40:3 (NLT)

“God is never a God of discouragement.  When you have a discouraging spirit or train of thought in your mind, you can be sure it is not from God.”- John Ortberg

My seventh-grade teacher at Timothy Lutheran School in Chicago was Mr. Werner von Behren, who also ministered as Timothy’s organist and choir director.  One morning, quite unexpectedly, Mr. von Behren called me to his desk.  Knowing my piano-playing skills from school talent shows, he popped the question: “David, the school band needs a tuba player.  Are you interested?”  I eagerly accepted and was introduced to Mr. Richard Daugherty, the band director and expert “teach a seventh-grader how to tie a Windsor knot” instructor.  The anaconda-like sousaphone he brought in could’ve swallowed me whole!  Eventually he found a dented, E-flat tuba with a tarnished brass finish- case not included.  I dubbed it my “Civil War relic”.  After grade school I took a twenty-two year sabbatical, until I joined Divine Shepherd’s (Milwaukee) brass band.  The director opened the case to reveal a gleaming, silver tuba!

Playing the tuba created a Lifesong that led to many joyful experiences, like being in the kid’s band in Luther South’s production of “The Music Man” as an eighth-grader.  Yet this pales in comparison to God’s joy.  John Ortberg (The Life You’ve Always Wanted) writes that God’s basic character is joy.  He is the happiest being in the universe- and since we are made in His image, we are to reflect that “fierce joy” in our life.

Satan, however, desires that we live in sorrow and despondency, a state he’ll live in for all eternity.  Misery loves company.  We cannot buy into the deception that our joy is dependent on your circumstances.  We must take responsibility for our joyfulness, exulting in monotony:

” . . . perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. . . . It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike, it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them.”- G. K. Chesterton (Orthodoxy)

May we sign Jesus’ name to the end of each day, knowing that we’ve been faithful to Him, trusting in His promises and provision.  Let my Lifesong sing to you!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEwB0pkes7U

 

 

 

My Lifesong

Ways to seek God"s guidance

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”- Psalm 119:105

“You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever.”- Psalm 16:11

In Chapter 4 of Waiting on God, Charles Stanley presents four ways to seek God’s guidance, know Him better, and become who He created us to be.  The first two ways are discussed today.

1.  Through God’s Word.  Dr. Stanley states Scripture is the main way God reveals His purposes for us.  Through meditation on God’s Word, we receive His counsel- and God’s chosen path is illuminated.  Dr. Stanley adds that we should not only read the Bible, we also should ask questions.

God also helps us understand the reality of our circumstances and how to handle them in a way that honors Him.  Dr. Stanley notes with absolute certainty that when we ask the Lord what we’re supposed to learn and to teach us the way we should go, He’s always happy to fulfill that request.

2.  Through prayer.  Scripture and prayer are inseparably linked.  Prayer involves not only talking with God, but listening to what the Father is saying.  God isn’t simply taking our list of requests.   He’s actively communicating His desires for us as He aligns us with His will.

Dr. Stanley unequivocally states that we can know “beyond a shadow of a doubt that if you are asking God for direction and are truly willing to listen to Him and obey Him, then you are praying ‘according to His will.’ ”

Today’s question: How have meditation and prayer helped you discern God’s direction for your life?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Godly counsel”

Ways to seek God"s guidance

Draw near to God

“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hearts, you sinners,  and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  Be wretched and mourn and weep.  Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.   Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”- James 4:8-10

Today Sara Horn completes her presentation of Six Steps to Overcoming Discord, based on James 4:7-10.

3.  Draw near to God.  Sara exhorts us to step away from the enemy and to step close to experience God’s presence.  This means spending time in God’s Word.  When we feel frustrated or defeated, as if our hurt is too big for us to handle, we need to reach out to God, asking Him to draw near.

4.  Cleanse your hands and purify your heart.  In other words, Sara states, start over: “Clean out the junk in your heart and mind about that person or that situation you need to forgive.  Let it go, and don’t let it come back.

5.  Be miserable.  Sara observes that this verse might seem a bit odd.  Do we need to become miserable in order to forgive?  James is saying that we must be mindful of our own sinfulness, even if it’s only that we’ve allowed our hurt to build up and turn into resentment or anger.  Since God is gracious to us, we are able to extend grace and forgiveness to those who’ve hurt us.

6.  Humble yourself.  Sara notes that Jesus never defended Himself when others attacked.  He defended God.  When we humble ourselves before God, our joy and sense of well-being dwells with Him, not other people.

Today’s question: Which of the six steps do you need to address?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: the new Short Meditation, “Entertaining angels unawares”

Draw near to God

Soul Keeping

Soul Keeping (Zondervan, 2014)

Soul Keeping: Caring for the Most Important Part of You by John Ortberg was published in April, 2014.  Based on John’s conversations with Dallas Willard, Soul Keeping expands our understanding of the human soul by discussing what the soul is, what the soul needs, and the soul restored.

The search for the would always begins with our great hurt.  We want to know that our soul is not alone, that our Father’s face is turned toward our soul.  Our soul’s health is important because the soul integrates our mind, body, and will into a single whole.  The presence of sin, however, causes the soul to malfunction, to dis-integrate.  Since sin breaks the connection with God, the basic human problem is at the soul level.  Yet we live in a world that does not teach us to pay attention to what matters.  Despite everything in our world being all wrong, the soul can be all right.

John’s definition of the spiritual life is “to place the soul each moment in the presence of God.”  Our soul needs to be with God in order to be well. As we walk with God, our soul thrives when we deliberately look for Him in the ordinary moments of everyday life.  Sustaining spiritual practices connect us to God’s grace, energy, and joy- filling us with grace for our life.  Ultimately, though, the soul craves rest.  John states: “The soul was made to rest in God the way a tree rests in soil.”

It is paradoxical to note that while the soul is incapable of satisfying itself, it also is incapable of living without satisfaction.  The only way for the soul to find satisfaction is in God.  Thus the fundamental mind-set of the soul is gratitude.  This gratitude will not come from acquiring more things or from our experiences.  Gratitude comes from an awareness of God’s presence and goodness.  Dallas Willard stresses that even the dark night of the soul is a “test of your joyful confidence in God.”  Since God is worthy, we can give our situation and feelings joyfully into His hands.  God is the anchor our soul needs.

 

 

 

Soul Keeping

Joyful confidence in God

As John Ortberg concludes Chapter 16 of Soul Keeping, he notes that Walter Brueggeman speaks of “psalms of disorientation.”  The are psalms in which the soul is disoriented, God appears to be absent, and darkness is winning.  The psalmist vents and boils over at God rather than demonstrating a polite piety- an honest faith.

John speaks of his own darkest time some years ago, when his greatest disappointment was deep and unfixable.  He questioned his calling.  John contacted Dallas Willard, eager for his answer.  Dallas responded:

“This will be a test of your joyful confidence in God.”

Pastor Ortberg cites nineteenth-century writer Frederick Ferber (Growth in Holiness, 1854), who described the patience that leads to joyful confidence:

“In the spiritual life God chooses to try our patience first of all by His slowness.  He is slow; we are swift and precipitate (rushing headlong or rapidly onward).  It is because we are but for a time, and He has been for eternity. . . . Wait and He will come.  He never comes to those who do not wait.  He does not go their road.  When He comes, go with Him, but go slowly; fall a little behind; when He quickens His pace, be sure of it, before you quicken yours.  But when He slackens, slacken at once; and do not be slow only, but silent, very silent, for He is God.”

As John concludes, “the soul is a ship that needs an anchor.”

Today’s question: How have you developed joyful confidence in God following your vocation loss?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Dealing with conflict”

Joyful confidence in God