Day VIII ~ Forgiveness

Tags

cancelled sin, Charles Wesley, forgiveness, Lent, mercy, Psalm 32, sin, the blood

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit. Psalm 32:1, 2

There is usually only one reason why people come to faith in Jesus. Namely, we need help. We’ve made a mess of our lives with drugs, alcohol, anger, murder, adultery, immorality, depression, greed, selfishness, fear, and numberless other ways. Some have even dug themselves into a grave by using spirituality to cover their dark secrets, with no hope of escape.

Jesus comes to us in this state and shows us that we have killed ourselves because we have not kept the commandments of God. He reveals to our shocked hearts that we are not good people. In those moments of desperation we heartily agree. “It’s true, Lord. I am not good. I really messed things up this time. Help me. Forgive me.”

Jesus reaches down and picks us up.

We were morally estranged from God. Our morals were deficient, if they existed at all, our conscience testifying against us. When we needed help we came to Jesus and realized that things weren’t messed up because we got caught, things were messed up because we were wrong. This utter “wrongness” of our being made us miserable while promising us happiness.

We still go there. We still choose to act according to the “wrongness.” It still makes us unhappy. It makes us more unhappy than before because we see we are scorning the love of God who gave his blood for our forgiveness and deliverance. Many people are struggling with addictions and other sins that they are unable to be free from. What is the secret?

The mercy of God.
The blood of Jesus.

Are you struggling? Are you depressed because you can’t be free? Do you feel like you are in a dark room with no hope of escape because you continue to get angry, continually get drunk or high, continually look at others lustfully? Is your prayerlessness or lack of interest in the Word troubling you?

Come to Jesus.

His promise is that he will forgive you. Don’t hide from him. That will keep you in the dark and you will grow worse. Come to the light of Jesus and confess your sins to him openly. Don’t make excuses. Just admit. He will set you free.

On the first anniversary of his conversion, Charles Wesley wrote these powerful words in a hymn:

He breaks the power of cancelled sin,
He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean,
His blood availed for me.

 

The promise of God found in Psalm 32 is God’s commitment to teach you how to live before him. More than that, he promises to keep his eye on you, not in condemnation or waiting for you to fail again. He watches you to help you along the way. He promises immovable and experienced love to those who trust him for forgiveness.

The word “blessed” means happy. As we trust him for and experience his forgiveness we will find that we are indeed happy. God wants us to be happy, not in things of this life that pass away, but in the fellowship of his love. He is offering it. Come and receive.

Jesus, I come to you today, a little bit ashamed. Ashamed of the way I live, ashamed of the way I act. I confess my sin to you. I have no excuses. I do wrong because I still want to live my life for myself. Forgive me, Jesus, I pray.
I trust you now for forgiveness. I trust you now for love. I trust you to break the power of cancelled sin. I love you, Jesus, and I don’t want to scorn your love or your grace. Wash me in your mercy and blood. Let me feel your mercy, let me feel forgiven, let me live in the happiness of being clean and near to you.
Amen. 

Day VII ~ Δευτε οπισω μου (Come, Follow Me)

Tags

altar calls, carrying the cross, Cross, cross of jesus, disciple, follow me, Jesus, Lent, the cross

The cry that sounds from heaven during the season of Lent is Jesus’ invitation and command, “Come, follow me.” That was the invitation he gave to those who desired to follow him. It was what he told his disciples while giving them the option to leave. It was what he told Peter shortly before he ascended into heaven. At first, while calling his first apostles, he told them that in following him they would become fishers of men. Later he told them that following him would require their lives. When he spoke to Peter by the sea he was telling him that, one day, he too would be crucified.

To follow Jesus to the cross is the ultimate meaning of that invitation, “Come and follow me.”

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
Matthew 16:24

This is Jesus’ requirement for discipleship. Tragically, this invitation has been left out of most altar calls and decisions for Christ. It has gone unmentioned in church membership classes. Because of this many have entered into Christianity with no thought of what it might require of them later on. For many, getting saved meant endless comfort, not eternal life; for the biblical reality of eternal life is synonymous with resurrection, and resurrection only comes after death. Because of this omission, many Christians have lived in defeat and without deep communion with Jesus.

But Jesus has given us an invitation, “Take up your cross. Follow me.”  I think most have a deficient understanding of what carrying the cross means.It’s not a morbid understanding of life nor is it sadism. In following Jesus we follow him in his same motive. Jesus took up his cross to suffer and die so that we might have life. He carried his cross and died because he loved us. The cross of Jesus is single-handedly the greatest expression of the love of God. When he invites us to carry our crosses, he’s inviting us into the deepest pathos of his heart.

Whatever gain I had, I counted loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered…that I may gain Christ and be found in him…that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death…
Philippians 3:7-11

This is a reality the apostle Paul lived in. He suffered willingly, not because of some twisted fascination with pain, but because he knew it was an avenue to fellowship. He taught us that baptism was an entry into the death of Jesus. He counted persecution as a “filling up what is lacking in Christ’s affliction.” In that place of passion (Greek word for suffering) he drew close to Jesus as Jesus was drawing close to him. His letter of Second Corinthians is all commentary on how the apostolic life is a life of suffering and weakness, of bearing in his body the marks of Jesus, of showing forth the death of Jesus in all things. Yet it was in the place of weakness that Jesus met with him, loved him, and talked with him.

Most Americans live with little or no persecution. How do we carry our cross in this peaceful country and in this leisurely age? Fasting is a great start. By fasting we enter into weakness and make a place for Jesus to come meet us. All the great leaders of the Christian past utilized fasting as a voluntary means of weakness, of dying to the flesh, that they might meet Jesus in new and powerful ways.

Another way to carry our cross is simply by obeying the commandments of Jesus. If we look at the Sermon on the Mount again (Matthew 5, 6, 7) or the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6), and earnestly follow those commands, we will find that the world, and even many Christians around us, will become agitated at our lifestyles. To be unashamed of the name of Jesus in public and to hold your convictions, no matter how friendly you are in holding them, will be an abrasion to those around you. Soon the comments and criticism will start. What will you do then? Back down? Water down the Gospel? Or will you hold fast the faith you have confessed from the beginning? Saying that Jesus is the only truth and the only God will immediately get you into trouble. Will you stand?

Taking up your cross and following Jesus is your offering of love. The cross of Jesus was foremost a covenant action. He was pledging all of himself to you in love, first in forgiveness, then in justification, then in resurrection life, which is to know him in fellowship. His invitation to take up your cross is to effectually receive the wedding band on your finger and say, “I do.”

If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
John 14:15

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.  Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.
John 15:9, 10

You are my friends if you do what I command you.
John 15:14

And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments…whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected.
1 John 2:3, 5

Jesus, today I commit to following you. I hear your call, “Come, follow me.” Dying to self may be the most difficult thing I will ever do, but I know there is great reward in doing it. My reward is to know you. Help me to lay down my self-life, my selfishness in all areas so that I may have you in all areas. 

I take up my cross today. I love you and I want to follow you all the days of my life. You laid your life down for me because you loved me. I will lay down my life as well because I love you. I pledge myself to you in love, and I take up my cross as the token of my covenant. Lead me in the way of death that I may find the newness of resurrection life. Lead me into fellowship, even if that means i must get there through the cross. 

Day VI~ The Father

Tags

forgiveness, John Owen, Lent, love, the Father

A common “subtitle” for Lent has often been, “A Walk to the Cross,” or “Journey to the Cross.” One of the main purposes of Lent is to bring us right to the feet of the Cross upon which Jesus was crucified. Our fasting during Lent is a mourning for the agony, betrayal, abuse, and death of our Lord. It is even more a mourning of the truth that we have placed him there by our sin.

There’s more to this story, though. Our sin created the need for Jesus’ crucifixion, but the question must be asked, “Who put Jesus on the Cross?”
Was it the Jews?
The Romans?
You and me?

In a sense, yes, we all participated in the crucifixion. But there was something greater moving along in the Passion of Jesus. There was Someone greater acting in the death of Jesus.

…we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
Yet, it was the will of the Lord to crush him: he has put him to grief…
Isaiah 53:4, 10 

So we ask, “Why was it the will of God the Father to crush Jesus, his own Son?

We often think that God is waving an angry hand over us, ready to punish us for our sin and send us eternally into hell. We then picture Jesus running between him and us and yelling, “Stop! I will take their punishment. Just don’t kill them.” While this is almost the truth, it is not quite the truth, and the image we have of the Father in this situation is entirely false.

We have to remember that Jesus is the perfect image of his Father, and the mirror of his character. So if Jesus is willing and yearning to die for us that we might be forgiven of our sin, it is because there is a Father God in heaven who wants to reconcile us with himself. Jesus is willing to die because the Father is willing to sacrifice. Jesus is willing to give his life for our redemption because God the Father wants to redeem us. Jesus loves us because God the Father loves us. It is the will of the Lord to crush Jesus because it is the will of the Lord for us to be cleansed. It wasn’t just Jesus pleading for our forgiveness, it was the Father pleading with us to come to him and be forgiven.

…the Father himself loves you.
John 16:27

This is why God wanted to crush Jesus; because he loved you. It wasn’t sadism. It wasn’t hatred. It wasn’t vengeance. He wasn’t trying to prove a point. He loved you. So he sent his Son to earth to be crushed and offered as a sacrifice so you could be forgiven, brought near to God, and experience that love. God didn’t only love us after Jesus died, he loved us before Jesus died, which was the cause of his crushing.

I close with a quote from one of my favorite authors:
This is the will of God, that he may always be eyed as benign, kind, tender, loving, and unchangeable therein; and that peculiarly as the Father, as the great fountain and spring of all gracious communications and fruits of love. This is that which Christ came to reveal–God as a Father (John 1:18); that name which he declares to those who are given him out of the world (John 17:6). And this is that which he effectually leads to us to by himself, as he is the only way of going to God as a Father (John 14:5-6); that is, as love: and by doing so, gives us the rest  which he promises; for the love of the Father is the only rest of the soul…[we find out] that he is love, as having a design, a purpose of love, a good pleasure toward us from eternity–a delight, a complacency, a goodwill in Christ…
John Owen; Communion with the Triune God (emphasis mine) 

Father, please forgive me for thinking that you are harsh and unloving. I’ve had such a false vision of you in my heart. You are not vengeful, you are full of compassion, ready to forgive me even when I want to do anything but obey you. 
Thank you for sending Jesus. Thank you for crushing him. Help me to see that as your supreme act of love for me and for a broken and lost humanity. I don’t have much to say when I look at the bloody tragedy on the Cross. I bow my head in reverence and thankfulness, and whisper through tears, “I love you too.”

Day III ~ Let’s Do Something

Tags

fasting, First Commandment, Great Commandment, Lent, love

Most think of fasting as giving something up. While this is true there is more to fasting then just not eating, not participating, or not doing something you normally like to do. Fasting is also about taking something up, likely something you’re not normally inclined to.

In the commandments that God has given us, in both New and Old Testaments, there are things that he has called us to do and not only things not to do. Jesus has given us the most wonderful of all commands. It would be like moving to a desert city full of thirsty people and making it a law to drink water. Who wouldn’t drink? Only those who hated the law-giver more than they loved their own lives.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.
Matthew 22:37

In all the repenting that we do during Lent, this is the great cry of God. He’s not only trying to get us to stop doing bad things. He is trying to get us to turn to him, to love him, to be loved by him, to glorify him, and to receive his glory (which means to receive his beauty).

Most Christians know that the greatest purpose of humanity is to glorify God. Ask most Christians how to glorify him most and they will say things like,
“Go to church.”
“Tithe.”
“Keep the Ten Commandments.”
“Evangelize, fulfill the Great Commission.”
“Read your Bible.”
“Feed the hungry, clothe the poor, help widows and orphans.”

While all these things do glorify God, they are not the greatest way to glorify him. The greatest way to glorify God is to keep the greatest commandment, which is to love him with all we are. How do we fall in love with God?

When i fell in love with my wife, Katrina, it happened gradually and suddenly. I don’t really know how or when i fell in love with her, yet, i know exactly how and when. I was with her. I talked to her. I admired, and looked at, and reflected on how beautiful she is. I listened to her. I found out what she loved and did those things. I let her love me.

I venture to say it is a very similar process falling in love with God. When Jesus commanded us to love God he was simultaneously telling us, “Let God capture your heart.” He was extending the invitation to come and see the beauty of God. He was saying, “Let God bless you, keep you, shine on you. Let him provide for you. Let him talk to you. Let him heal you, touch you, move you. Let him forgive you. Let him remove all that keeps you away from him. Let him take away your shame.”

“Let him love you.”

As we let him do all this for us by the sacrifice of Jesus having it’s perfect work in us, we begin to fall in love with him. We begin to see his goodness and his love and we’re drawn by his beauty. After all, “we love him because he first loved us (1 John 4:19)”

I also like the way John Piper says it in his book, Desiring God, “The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying him forever.” Desiring God Ministries has as their slogan, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”

Father, I come to you today with nothing to offer. I know I don’t deserve your love but you gave it anyway by crucifying Jesus for my forgiveness and raising him from the dead so that I, too, could live with you. Forgive me, I pray.
This season of Lent I want to do more than give things up. I want to take some things up. Most of all, I want to love you. Help me to love you with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind, and all my strength. Teach me what that means, because I don’t know. I glorify you today by loving you above all.
Come and love me today, Father. Let me feel your love. I confess that I’m afraid and slightly skeptical, but I want your love. So come and fascinate me with your beauty. Provide for me, bless me, protect me, keep me, amaze me, love me. Give me eyes to see all the ways you are loving me now. Come and be my ultimate satisfaction so that I can be your ultimate glorification.
Amen.

Day II~ Trusting Grace

Tags

fasting, grace, Lean, Lent, Sermon on the Mount, Sermon on the Plain, trust

A thing that i quickly come face to face with every time i enter a season of fasting is my inability to control my stomach. It doesn’t matter if it’s veggies only, strict Daniel, total, only certain times of day, or any other conceivable fast, I will cheat.

But that’s the beauty about fasting. It’s not meant to reveal how strong we are but how weak we are. Lent is not a time to reflect on how devoted we are but to recognize how far from devoted we are. I don’t believe that it is a time to convince ourselves that we’re terrible, but it is a time for honest reflection.

Lent is about realigning.
Realigning priorities, schedules, reading plans, work, family time, Bible time, etc. Most of all, it is a time to realign our hearts with God’s.

We come to him and say, “Father, i know that my life is not a stunning picture of perfection. But would you make it a stunning picture of grace?” We come to him with all our weaknesses, failing, cheating, and sin and nail them to the Cross of Jesus. We come believing, trusting that God is not angry with us, trusting that he loves giving mercy, and trusting that he will form us into the Christ-exalting people he wants us to be.

One of the best ways to realign ourselves with the heart and will of God is to read the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, 6, and 7 or the Sermon on the Plain from Luke 6:17-49. In these two similar sermons Jesus gives us the laws of the Kingdom of God. The difference between these laws and the laws of other kingdoms (including Israel) is that they are not followed by striving, but by trusting. This means that when we read the commandments of Jesus we don’t grit our teeth to follow through even when we don’t want to, rather, we trust the grace of God, we run into his presence, and he gives us the strength and ability to live them. We read them and say, “Holy Spirit, I commit to not returning evil for evil. I commit to keeping my eyes pure, not looking lustfully on anyone. I commit to be humble before you and before others. I cannot do this on my own. Help me.”

Take some time today and read either the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 6, 7) or the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6) or both and ask the Holy Spirit to shine his light on areas where he is calling you to greater obedience. Commit to obey in specific scenarios that he brings to your mind. Trust him for grace. He’s already forgiven you in Jesus and he will give you what it takes to be holy, which simply means to be 100% his. He is near to you.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
~ Philippians 2:12, 13

Father, today i recognize and admit that i am weak. I’m not very good at keeping your commandments. Thank you that you are close to those who are contrite in heart and humble. Thank you for drawing near to the needy ones. Today, i am the needy one because today i desperately need your grace. Thank you for forgiving me in Christ Jesus, for giving me a new start. Thank you for this time of reflection.
As i read the Sermons of Jesus, help me to realign my heart and life with yours. The ones who hunger to be righteous will be satiated by your righteousness. I trust you to bring me that grace today.
Amen.

Ash Wednesday (Day I)

Tags

Ash Wednesday, fasting, Lent, repent, repentance

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, a forty (six) day season of fasting and repentance. It is a time of reflection and an opportunity to ask the Holy Spirit to highlight areas where we can draw nearer to the Lord. It is also a commemoration of Jesus’ forty days of fasting and temptation in the wilderness, where he began his suffering for our redemption and where he resisted sin by the power of the Word of God.

Repentance is much more than being sorry that you’ve done something wrong, though that is included. It is to turn away from those things that hinder you from drawing near to God. It is to turn to God in faith, believing that there is forgiveness in the name and blood of Jesus.

As this Lenten season begins, I have Joel 2 in my mind and heart.
“Yet, even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.
~Joel 2:12, 13

Look at this scripture with me as well:
Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up…he will revive us…he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord.
~Hosea 6:1-3

Lent is a time of re-turning. As we go forward in the time of repentance, let us renew our covenant love with Jesus and turn to him. He is the one with the mercy we need for forgiveness and he is the one who offers the grace we need to live near him. His heart is for us and he loves us. When he commands us to repent, he is not saying, “Stop doing things that are pleasurable.” He is saying, “Give up those temporal pleasures inspired by wickedness that lead to torment. Turn to me and you will receive joy and pleasure in my love that far outweighs the pleasure of sin and it will last forever because you will know me.”

Jesus, today, I turn to you. I confess that I have been drinking from broken wells that hold no water. There is no lasting satisfaction in them. Forgive me, Jesus, for looking for everlasting satisfaction and joy in other things. Today, I turn to you. Once again I commit to live my live in you and for your glory. May my life be holy. May my life bring you pleasure. Help me, I pray, to find satisfaction in knowing you. 

An Open Letter to Joshua Bocanegra

Tags

Open Letter, Letter, Crucified, Cross, jealousy

Dear Mr. Bocanegra,

I want to open my letter by asking you a simple question:
Are you burning?

I encourage you to sit back for a few seconds and let the question sink in. Don’t read the rest of this letter until you can answer that question with honesty.

I’m writing this letter to you because i know the struggles you go through. I know the ups and downs of your heart. I know that you are fairly good at keeping your composure in the eyes of others and in the eyes of God. But i’ve seen past all that. I see that you hunger for something that you don’t know how to reach, that you’re searching for something you don’t know how to find.

I was there, if you remember, while you drove through Leawood and Overland Park and found yourself drawn to those riches. You asked me, “Man, don’t you wish you could have a house like that?” For the first time you felt comfortable driving through those neighborhoods because your car didn’t “look like a piece,” to use your own words. The houses, the cars, the artwork, the lawns, the prospect of doing and buying what you wanted all drew your heart away, even if only for a moment. That moment scares me, Joshua. I don’t know that we ever get completely free from the drawing, but that doesn’t mean it’s okay.

The world draws you, Joshua. You need to know that. You need to be aware of that. You must be on your guard always. You must be watchful because in those moments when you are not paying attention, the spirit of the age will leap on you like the cougar stalking her limping prey. She’s stalking you. She’s stalking those you love. There is no way for you to be a place of safety, to be an “ark”, as it were, for those you love, if you yourself are not safe and free from that wicked spirit.

Another thing, Jesus said that it wasn’t what went into a man that made him unclean, but what came out of him. The reason that so much of the world still attracts you is because so much of it is still in you. I know that might come as a shock, but if you’re ever going to get free from the spirit of this age, you have to get it out of you. I’m not trying to condemn or depress you. Sometimes you just need to be told the truth.

You know it’s true, don’t you? You still feel the reeling and rebellion of the self-life, don’t you? Jealousy, strife, anger, pride, hatred, that “need” to assert yourself and your manhood, the desire for position and credence and influence. It’s all in there.

Know this, Joshua, God is not leaving you alone. You don’t have to be left in this state. You may not be burning, but your heart still moves. That’s a really good sign. Just don’t let your heart stop with movement. Let it burn. Let your self-life burn. Take all that stuff in you and put it in the center of God’s blazing heart. Let the whole damn thing burn. Take that old man to the cross, but don’t stop at laying him at the feet of it. Lay him on the cross, nail him to it, and raise it up until he suffocates, until all the blood is let out, until he convulses and dies.

Remember what the Lord told you? “A consecrated life is more than not watching movies or TV, more than not listening to secular music.” That’s the easy part, Joshua, “A consecrated life is to keep your eyes pure, your mouth pure, and to be unashamed of my Son in public.” He’ll take you there, if you want him to, if you let him. Jesus couldn’t nail himself to the cross, but only he could carry it up the hill. You can’t nail yourself to it either, that’s God’s business, but only you can carry your cross. No one can do it for you.

I promise you if you mortify your flesh, if you run from Jezebel, if you separate yourself from the spirit of the age, if you live humbly, walk meekly, love, if you carry your cross and die, there is a resurrection life in Christ that you never dreamed of.

God wants to send revival, but he can only send it through crucified vessels. God yearns to pour out his Spirit without measure, but he can only do it through those without mixture. Remember, he didn’t say those without weakness. He said those without mixture.

God can only raise dead men from the grave.
Only dead wood burns.

Are you burning?

Sincerely Yours,
……………………………

Laptops and Vans; Humility and Pride Pt. 1

Tags

answers, car shopping, laptop, prayer, van

Not long ago, while working at Station Coffee, as a regular was walking out after his weekend mocha-breve, he quipped, “Josh, black, grey, or pink?” Looking at him with a bit of hesitancy i responded, “Umm, black.”  He nodded with a smirk and walked out the door. I didn’t know what to make of it so i kept grinding, tamping, and pulling.

A few hours later he walked back in while i was reaching in the refrigerator for some milk. I turned around to greet him and he said, “Merry Christmas,” while putting a still-in-the-box laptop on the counter. I thanked and thanked him while he shrugged it off in his usual style. As he handed it to me, he said with rolling eyes, “Now you can write all that Christian propaganda for Youth for Christ or whatever it is you work for.” I received it with a smile.

I had been praying for weeks for a laptop because i was feeling strongly that i needed to write.

My laptop was stolen just before my wedding and our cat broke Katrina’s soon after we came home from our honeymoon.

While working at Higher Grounds one day, a not so regular customer walked up to me and asked how life was and what i had been up to. I told him, “Oh, you know, working and car shopping.” Squinting his eyes he asked, “Do you need a car?”

“Yes, we need a car.”

“Do you really need a car?”

“Yes, we do. Katrina and i work on opposite sides of the Metro.”

“Okay, well, I have a friend who just gave us a van this morning and asked us to look for someone to give it to.”

Two weeks later we were at their house getting prayed for, prophesied to, and a set of keys and a title were put in my hands.

The Lord has truly shown himself as our Provider. There was a moment when we were feeling anxious and curious about our next steps. We knew we could barely afford a car, and we needed two. With the need of transportation the idea of getting a new laptop was entirely out of the question.

Katrina and i said short prayers and did the only thing we knew to do at that point. We gave away money. It’s easy for me to talk about giving money away, but when the moment comes and life is asking, “Where is your God?” that is the true test of faith. My wife and i locked fingers and jumped into the dark. We landed safely with feet planted.

God has been good to us and we’ve only been married nine months. I have a suspicion that God will continue to lead us this way through out life. It’s scary because there is always the opportunity to give way to anxiety. But it’s also exciting because answered prayer never gets old. The euphoria, no matter how small, of knowing that God is watching and knows specifically what we need never gets dull.

I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.
Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.
~Psalm 116:1,2, 12  

Revival Prayer

Tags

prayer, revival

I don’t know if this question was prompted by the Lord, but i remember praying one evening about revival and a provoking question came to me.

“If revival coming to your city depended on your prayers, how hard would you pray?”

Now, i know that revival, like salvation, is a sovereign movement by God to visit his people. But, like salvation, there is a small but crucial point where our “yes” means everything. An individual can deny salvation. A people can deny revival.

God, the great Pursuer, loves to be pursued. He loves being loved. He loves being needed. So he restrains himself to see who will seek him.

If revival coming to your city depended on your prayers, how hard would you pray?

Clean

Tags

clean, forgiveness, Jesus, pharisee, sin

I spent this morning thinking about the forgiveness of God. Sometimes when i think about it, i cry.

How can he be so kind?

Everyone has their story. Mine isn’t filled with homeless nights, drug induced convulsions, alcoholic explosions, or blasphemous arguments. I don’t see it as the kind you use at missionary outreaches to show that God “can even save me.”

But my story is important to someone, namely, me. My story does entail two-faced living. I was teaching the scripture and looking at pornography, leading worship and carrying a bloated pride, prophetic and condescending. I was a modern day Pharisee critiquing everyone else’s life while living my own behind closed doors and closed heart.

It was in that condition that Jesus saved me. It is for that salvation that i am grateful. I don’t know that any sin blinds like the religion of the hypocrite, deafens like the life of a Pharisee.

But he forgave me.
He forgave me.
After making others feel stupid and second-class, after refusing to walk inside the door of grace and keeping others out, he forgave me. He saw my defiled soul and eyes and he cleaned them. Literally. I have no idea how he took those images away, but he did. I will always be grateful for that.

Having a name that i was alive, and being dead, he raised me from death and gave me real life.

Those who are forgiven much, love much. Though my life seems little to many, it’s engulfing to me. He has forgiven me so much. He forgave me of the entirety of my life. I don’t have much to give, but i know that he takes little and makes it into much. He raises us from the ashes and seats us with princes. He takes dust and turns it into gold. He took my dead existence and raised me to glorious life.

I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.
Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live…
Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
Our God is merciful.
The Lord preserves the simple;
When I was brought low, he saved me.
What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord…
Psalm 116 

How can he be so kind?