Early this week, as I was doing my daily devotions through the book of 1 Chronicles, I was struck with this insight and wanted to share. I will preface this by saying, that as I read, I was having a pretty difficult week, and therefore had a pretty down attitude. We’ve all been there: our week was going alright, and then something happens to make us really get off track. So we get down and start acting and feeling like “Eeyore”, we have the “Pooooor me” syndrome. In the midst of that place, the Lord reminded me of something through two passages of scripture: he reminded me that I need to trust in Him.

Be strong, and let us use our strength for our people and for the cities of our God, and may the Lord do what seems good to him.” -1 Chronicles 19:13 (ESV)

Joab addresses his brother Abishai as they prepare to face a mighty army of men poised to destroy the people of God. Joab and his men are surrounded by thousands of men and over 32,000 chariots of war (both in front and behind them), and are hopelessly overwhelmed, under-equipped, and outnumbered. (Don’t we feel like that sometimes?)

In this statement to his brother, Joab is not ignoring the challenge and obstacle that is before Him, but he is choosing to trust the Lord (by Faith). And it took giant faith to trust God during this battle, but that is exactly what Joab did. Joab understood that his level of faith (or disbelief) would either enable or short-circuit God’s purposes for that battle. As he completely trusted in the sovereign plan of God, and walked by faith, others were encouraged to likewise trust in the Lord. His faith was a catalyst for an entire army of men to trust God. I believe His actions are in-line with David’s psalm:

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright. -Psalm 20:7-8 (ESV)

When calamity strikes, I do have a tendency to stand on faith, however there are seasons (like the first part of this week) when I fall into places of hopelessness and quiet desperation because I lack faith. We all have these moments of insecurity: at their root they stem from a lack of faith in God’s purposes and plans for our lives. We must not ignore the situations or battles that rage around us: but we must draw near to God, and trust in His plans for our lives.

Sometimes we will be like Joab, and be a shining example of faith, and other times we will need to borrow some faith from another brother or friend. We must look at our challenges with eyes of faith-filled expectancy that the Lord can bring victory despite what it “looks like” in the natural. We must stand upright on the promises and faithfulness of the Lord and trust completely in His sufficiency and plans. When we stand in that place of faithfulness, others will see and be strengthened in their faith as well.

I choose to stand in faith.

Others may fall, others may collapse, but I will rise and stand upright on the promises and calling of the Lord God Almighty. Amen.

And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. 3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.
-1 John 2:28-3:1a

This evening as I read through the above text for this Sunday’s message, I remembered an event that transpired just last week as Rebecca and I visited my parents down in Monterey. I couldn’t help but draw a parallel between the two, and was encouraged as I meditated on this passage.

We drove down to visit with my parents who were down in Monterey for a convention: my dad was working, and mom was just along for the ride. As we went, we ended up having lunch at a table with a bunch of men that are from the same hospital as my father. Specifically, they work for my father as he is their boss. As I sat at the table, I was perfectly comfortable and relaxed: I was dining with my father and mother. These men were dining with their boss. They weren’t living in fear or trembling at His sight (now that would be a funny sight), but they were in a different state of mind than I was. To them, he was their boss. To me, he was my father.

We can walk with Bold Confidence…we are now children of God

So often we approach God with a sense of shame and worry. Am I good enough to come to God with my problems? Am I worthy to approach a Holy and Just God? The truth is, you aren’t. Our sin causes us to be unworthy to approach a Holy God. The good news? God’s fatherly love for us is unquenchable: Though we deserve it not, He provided a way through Jesus for us to be made right. When we abide in Jesus, and are born again (through an act of faith in Jesus), we are made right in the sight of the father. Instantly, we move from a place of sinful and unworthy, to a place of Righteousness and Worth. That is not to say that we won’t need to make some changes to our lifestyles, but in the eyes of our Father, we are now His children.

So many of us walk in timidity. We quake and doubt weather we can be used by God for anything of substance. The truth is spending time with the Father, though it once might have led us to have fear and doubt, should now lead us to have confidence and boldness. In Jesus, we have been made sons and daughters of God. We don’t have to fear His presence, but instead can walk in boldness as we approach our Father God.

We are children of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We can walk in boldness: He accepts us not because of what we have done, but because of what Jesus did for us. God is for us, and not against us. Let us walk in the boldness of God’s great love for us.

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
-1 John 4:9-10

Several years ago I decided to make the habit of regular journaling. I have to admit, that I am not one that is very interested in writing down all of life’s issues or chronicling my life like some do…but I began the discipline of journaling in an effort to help me retain those little pieces of wisdom that I stumbled upon. Long ago, I heard someone tell me that learning is a life-long process: it’s not something that is done for a few years in school, and then you graduate. That charge to be a Life-Long learner, has been one that I have taken and really tried to live out.

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“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
-Jeremiah 17:7-8 (ESV)

This week as I read this passage of from the book of Jeremiah, I was really struck by the simplicity that God calls us to as humans. He tells us clearly, that in life there will be seasons of drought and lack that for some will seem unbearable. He says that he wants us to develop deep roots to sustain us during those tumultuous times. He tells us that during those seasons of “dryness” he has an abounding source of refreshing that is available to us: and we gain access to it by Faith.

People who really trust in God’s promises, and put their trust in the Lord: they are blessed with the Fruit of God’s promises. It is only those who live by faith in those promises that will be sustained during those seasons of drought. The droughts will be faithful in coming during the course of ones life, and some seasons feel unbearable. God tells us that believers have a different source, Jesus tells us that we will have access to the source of “living water” (John 7:38). That living water can be tapped into anytime we are thirsty and in need: and His water of life will be refreshing and sustaining. He says “The water that I will give him will become in (You) a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14)

It all comes by Faith. Before the drought comes we must first cultivate deep roots: learn to tap into God’s provision and life-sustaining presence. The man who trusts in the Lord has those deep penetrating roots that can sustain him during seasons of drought.

With all the “heat” and difficulty surrounding our current economic situation and the world that we live in, it is vital that we cultivate and strengthen our roots. Our faith, like the roots of a tree, must grow deep: towards a sustaining supply that can continue to produce fruit in our lives regardless of life’s conditions.

The Divine Mentor

As a staff at Lighthouse we are reading through Wayne Cordeiro’s Book The Divine Mentor. This morning we had a discussion about the importance of daily devotions in the life of every believer. Daily devotions are our opportunity to daily glean from God’s wisdom and actually apply those things to our lives. Many believers fail to understand how important this is to their faith, and simply read the bible, and walk away unchanged.

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
-James 1:23-25 (ESV)

We likened the personal & daily study of God’s word to eating. None of us would go a week without eating a good meal, but some of us spiritually nourish ourselves only once per week. As Christ followers, as the light of the world, we must constantly return to the fountainhead of life, that source that fuels, ignites, guides, sustains and empowers us for life: God’s word. We cannot afford to be spiritually malnourished.

One of my favorite quotes we discussed from the book this morning is this: “Everyday of my life, I want to do everything I can to draw God’s thoughts from the Scriptures’ ink and paper and imprint them on my soul.”

What are you doing to imprint God’s thoughts and words onto your soul today?

As a staff, today we are reading and journaling on: 1Corinthians 5:9-6:20, Psalm 102-103:22. Join in.

Barna is at it again: this time polling American’s to find out what their ideal “American Dream” would look like. The whole idea is interesting: they asked American’s what their ideal life would include. The findings were actually pretty interesting.

Those included having good physical health (listed by 85%), living with a high degree of integrity (also 85%), having one marriage partner for life (80%), having a clear purpose for living (77%), having a close relationship with God (75%), and having close, personal friendships (74%).

That 75% of all people surveyed said having a close relationship with God as a major priority to having an ‘ideal life’ is quite surprising. What is more interesting is that this statistic jumped 5% in the past 8 years. American’s are more interested in having a relationship with God than they were a decade ago. On the other hand: while 75% of people (3 in 4) said being close to God was important, less than half (45%) said being personally active in church was important. I would be interested to ask that remaining 30% how they intend to get close to God without having meaningful relationship with other like-minded people.

All-in-all the trends are positive…check it out yourself

“Would the community weep if your church were to pull out of the city? Would anybody notice if you left?”

This is an interesting question that I doubt many churches consider when evaluating their effectiveness. Does your city even know what you are doing, feel the impact you are making in your community, or notice your role as a church? Many churches are known more for what they disagree with than what they believe or do.

Over the past decade the church has moved from being a practical group of people meeting the needs of their community ( physical and spiritual ) to a more introverted group, focused on its own agenda and projects. When the church loses its ability to impact its community in practical ways, it loses its effectiveness in reaching it in spiritual ways. As the old adage goes: ‘they will never care how much you know, until they know how much you care’.

From the article:

A growing number of churches have realized that church has got to be more than growing attendance, seeker sensitivity, and small groups. They’re fighting the perception that churches are isolated, insulated, and uninvolved with the life of the neighborhood. Seeking to be transformational salt, light, and leaven, they’re taking ministry outside their four walls, and thinking about themselves and their neighborhoods differently.

Read the article

There is a great article over at Relevant called Faith No More

It asks the question: Why is it that twentysomethings are not going to church? Many would argue (including myself) it is because they are not being engaged by people. The preponderance of online social networks is fueled in part by a generation crying out for relationship and connectedness, but our cold, hard 1950’s method of church simply doesn’t personalize the message of Jesus in culturally relevant ways. What the church needs is to go back to the drawing board and begin to reach the world the way Jesus did: one person at a time, through loving, caring relationships.

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Using twitter at a church service? Revolutionary.

What an interesting concept: using Twitter and other live social connection services to actually bring dynamic feedback from a church. This church decided they would live tweet a church service, and actually had a large screen in the church dedicated to show people’s live tweet’s during a sermon. They even, Get this, encouraged church members to bring their laptops and cell phones to tweet with during the service.

Sort of a crazy idea, but I love the concept: Get live feedback during a sermon or church service. Just think of the possibilities of doing a live survey during a church service using TXT or Twitter. Crazy.

Check it out for more info

Logos bible software is hands-down the most comprehensive and complete and thorough digital library software available hands down, not to mention the best bible software available. the only problem? it was windows only until today. sure logos jumped the gun and announced they would be developing a mac version, like 5 years ago…and generally has done nothing to show they were serious about it until today. today logos released their first alpha test of the Libronix Digital library system today. WOW. It’s like Christmas morning.

check it out.