A Prayer of Praise

Lord, I praise You for Who You are. You are everything beautiful, everything good. Nothing exists apart from Your mercy. Your grace is evident in the entirety of the universe. Your glory is evident in the sunshine, Your tenderness in a kind word, Your love in a real embrace. You are so beautiful, Lord! Thank You that every good and perfect gift is from You! Thank You for being absolute goodness. Thank You for sharing that goodness with Your children. You are a redeemer! You delight in providing, in giving grace - undeserved favor - to Your children. I rest in You. I lean my head on Your chest. I take Your light burden, Your easy yoke and give You my worries and fears. You see every need and You care. Your love lifts me of my burdens. Your perfect love casts out all of my fears. I place all of my trust in You. Thank You for Who You are! You are good.

Amen.

Familiar Places

I wrote this while driving down Highway 81 a week or so ago…

“There is something so comforting about familiar places. It’s a peaceful feeling. A contented feeling. An assurance that a traveler does not always mean a stranger. These familiar places hold memories - good memories, funny memories, bad memories - and in this way these places become a home to us in their own unique way. We neglect them as we do our home. We pine for them as we do our home. When we return to them after a long respite our souls suddenly flood with warmth in much the same way they do when we return home. Familiar places scream in barely audible whispers reminding us that our past still exists in our present. Not in a way that chains us, but in a way that pulls back the curtain of the here and now to show us where we’ve come from and assure us that we really are going somewhere … to assure us that God really is faithful.”

What It Takes to Please God

What pleases God most? Is it giving every penny that we have to missions and trusting Him to provide for our personal needs? Is it quitting our jobs and moving to a third world country where no one’s ever heard the gospel? Is it praying all day long? Is it taking to the streets and preaching the gospel? Is it any of these?

I think it’s interesting that we always equate pleasing God the most with serving God the most. The problem with this thinking is that it presumes that God’s greatest desire for our lives is proper behavior. It’s not. Selah

So many of us live with the crippling presumption that to please God we have to constantly be doing. Certainly doing the work of the Lord is a great thing but is it really what God is after?

Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus‘ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. “But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” (emphasis mine)
Luke 10:38-42

What was Martha distracted from? Jesus. What was the one thing that was needed? Sitting at Jesus feet. Hearing Him speak. Getting to know Him. THIS is the pinnacle of pleasing God. Knowing Him. Loving Him. So while doing His work is certainly of great importance something else pleases Him more. Truly having a living, two-way relationship with Him. Not a cutesy, watered down phrase but a REAL friendship. A deep love.

So what pleases God most? Is it giving every penny that we have to missions and trusting Him to provide for our personal needs? Is it quitting our jobs and moving to a third world country where no one’s ever heard the gospel? Is it praying all day long? Is it taking to the streets and preaching the gospel?

I believe what truly pleases God the most is when we daily throw all of our energies into cultivating a living relationship with Him. The service will follow.
Jesus died so that we could know Him. Not so that we could serve Him. We serve Him because we love Him. Not because we have to.

Praise the Lord! :D

Overwhelmed

"It might be hard to find one in 10,000 or a million who will understand that half of the world has never heard the name Jesus and are plunging into eternal hell, and who will give their lives away to die and be unknown, unnoticed for their sake.” ~ George Verwer

I read this quote this morning and have been upset ever since. Not because I don’t agree with it. I do. In fact I desire this commitment - this faith. It’s just so overwhelming. Half the world dying without Christ? How many countries is that? How many languages is that? How much money for plane tickets is that? How much time is needed? What can I really do?

I just feel so helpless to really do anything and then, even if I do, does it matter? I know that it does but why does it never seem like it … feel like it? I long for those small, priceless moments when you see it - you see a tiny glimpse of what you’ve been working for, what you’ve been praying for.

At Lee we have this saying that we are in the “Lee Bubble”- referencing the fact that we are all so immersed in the the Lee University culture that we are in a bubble of sorts. I’ve been out of this bubble for around 2 weeks and I have to admit that I miss it. I miss the protective feeling that it provides. Yes, there is stress in the “Lee Bubble,” problems in the “Lee Bubble,” but they aren’t “half the world is dying and going to hell” problems. They aren’t “people with no homes due to a tsunami” problems. They look more like “I have 3 tests and a paper” problems.

It hurts when our bubble is popped.

Somedays I so desperately, SO desperately, wish that God would get “more involved in the world” (as if He weren’t already). Why does He often seem so distant and uninvolved in the places where we need Him most? Why aren’t more people healed? Why do we pray for years and never see our loved ones come to Christ (not yet, anyway). Perhaps it has something to do with how finite we are? How little we can really see?

I don’t have all the answers but I am convinced that God is still good. Still loving. Still working in deeper ways than we can fathom. I never want to lose faith in God’s character. In WHO He is.

May we be humbled by that fact that the Living God constantly chooses to work with such a broken people and planet. May our eyes be open to how much He is accomplishing daily. May we not be overwhelmed by the pain we see, but may our faith grow to meet the need. With each day may we trust more in the power of Jesus.