By faith, Abraham believed God.

I want to have the faith that believes God will take the meager that I see with physical eyes and do the immeasurably more.  I want to have the spiritual eyes while on this earth to see the reality behind that kind of faith.

Jesus’ hometown people saw Him only as the carpenter son of Mary and Joseph.  Nicodemus saw only a young Rabbi who spoke of impossible things.  The woman at the well saw a Jewish prophet without a cup to draw water and drink.

We see only those things that our brains have past associations.  We live by sight.  That’s why we ask such silly questions and pray such weak prayers.

Nicodemus asked if a man could reenter his mother’s womb while the woman in John 4 asked how Jesus was going to draw living water when He didn’t even have a jug.  Later His disciples asked if someone else had brought him food cause He didn’t seem to need what they were offering.  All man has to offer in response to an encounter with God is ridiculous nonsense.

We live on planet earth and are satisfied with the atmosphere we see around us while we marvel at the sun, moon, and stars.  When we want an awe boost, we watch a documentary on the vastness of the universe or the intricacies of the human body.  We’re wowed by what we have already discovered.   Still that’s faith by sight.

There is so much more to behold.  Everything God gives is abundantly more than we could ever imagine.  That tells me that we have yet to see the smallest glimpse of the glory of His creation.  Our impressive discoveries of the universe are nothing compared to what is out there all around us in the spirit realm concealed because we refuse to live by spiritual faith.

We would worship in spirit if we ever saw the Truth.  We’re no better than the generation who saw the incarnate God walking among them and not recognize Him.

Their feeble minds couldn’t conceive of Yahweh humbly walking among them willing to die for their sins.  We now know that was reality.  Do you ever wonder what other realities should be evident to us today?  What would happen if we lived as spiritual beings instead of living immersed in the natural, consumed by the temporal, and diseased by the flesh?

I believe we’d never cease to worship.

We’d be daily astounded by wonder upon wonder.

We’d boldly go where no man has gone before.

We’d live like Jesus lived…just like He promised we could.

Here’s my plan.  It’s simple but with God all things are possible.

I plan to make a list of all I see around me in the natural life.  Next, I’ll ask God to give me faith to see with spiritual eyes.  Finally, I’ll pray to walk in this revealed reality.

Care to join me?  Maybe then we’ll be added to Hebrews 11 Hall of Faith.

By faith, Shelia believed God and jumped…

I’ve heard it said that for believers, no bad things happen to them.  Yes, sad things will happen, but there are never bad things from God’s sovereign hand.  This has been a week that challenged my faith in those words.

Some seasons of life require more faith in the goodness and power of our Lord.  For me, each day this week was a constant need to recite Romans 8:28.  And we know that in all things God works for the good for those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

When that verse didn’t work, I’d go for a worship walk:  Trust and obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Yes, it’s been one of those weeks full of good news and sad news.

Sad news:  Andrew and Morgan caught this awful flu bug just days before they were scheduled to leave on their much anticipated New Zealand vacation.

Good news:  The medicines worked and they are well enough to travel.  Please pray for strong bodies, great adventures, and safe travel.

My new kitchen

Good news:  We bought a second home on the lake at Dobson Ranch.  It is perfectly situation between our kids’ homes and the community offers plenty of water fun for the grandchildren.  Our plan is to spend half of each week in this home so that Mike can begin to grow the ministry in downtown Phoenix.  For me, it’s the Gramma’s house I’ve always dreamed of having.

Sad news:  The appraisal on the house came in much higher than we hoped.  It seems we always have to pay top dollar.  But then again, it’s all God’s money and if He wants to give extra to the seller then who am I to argue.

Good news:  I aced the heart scan!  Yes, after being told I showed signs of heart disease, I settled the matter at the AZ Heart Institute.  With a grateful heart, I can report a perfect score for a healthy heart.

Sad news:  Our son-in-law Dustin has been ill for some months.  He’s lost 25 pounds since November and can’t recover from pneumonia.  These red flags convinced everyone it was time for more testing.  The PET scan showed 90% change he has lymphoma.  Our hearts are sad.  We never want our children to be sick.  He will have a biopsy on Monday to determine the exact type and stage, if it is indeed cancer.

Good news:  We serve a good and loving Heavenly Father who has promised to care for our every need   Dustin is a young man of strong faith which we know God will refine to purest form during this trial.  Their marriage is strong and blessed with little Eli.  We now have a home near them to be of service if needed.

I wake every day singing and praying:  “Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so.  Little ones to Him belong.  They are weak but He is strong.”

My Strong Lord and Savior, we feel weak and out of control right now but I KNOW this is the perfect place to see Your mighty hand move in miraculous ways.  Show us Your glory as we rest in Your love. 

Good news:  He heard and He answered.

I thought you might enjoy a few recent pictures of Eli.

holding tight to his Valentine balloon 

too tired to play

Waiting for Winnie the Pooh

picnic with Gramma

Answer:  “It’s butt.”

Okay, forgive my crude humor but I bet you snickered.

The first time I was asked that question, I started analyzing an answer.  I assumed the bug would be human and have fear of death, or sadness for leaving loved ones, or higher thinking skills to try evasive measures.

When given the punch line, I laughed.  It was a good ‘gotcha’ moment for my friend and it taught me yet another lesson.

Don’t always overthink things.  God keeps things simple so even a child can obey.

So now let me ask, “What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word ‘worship’?”

Don’t overthink.

Did any of these words pop into your head?

Church, Christians, traditional, contemporary, choruses, hymns, praise band, musical instruments.

These are the most common synonyms to worship.

But maybe you are more poetic by nature and these images formed in your mind.

Sunrise, sunset, rainbow, rushing waters, ocean breezes, baby’s laughter,

Though all or some of those things may help you in worship, there is only one word synonymous with worship.

God

The only component necessary for true worship is God.  When The Almighty is present every responsive heart will worship.

Too often believers argue about worship style.  One group loves the hymns of old while another group can only ‘worship’ with modern choruses.  Many churches try to offer both to appease the desires of the people.  These churches are destined to inhibit worship.

Yes, I truly meant to say that church leaders with intent on making people happy have instantly squashed any hope of true worship.  Sadly they don’t even know it.  In these churches everyone leaves humming their favorite tunes, satisfied that their needs were met, and therefore assume that true worship transpired.

But scripture teaches that worship is a response to God.  Therefore without God’s presence there is no worship.  So you say, well God is always at my church.  God is always in my heart.  God meets me everyday when I have my devotions.  Oh how I hope that is true.

But for most, it is not.

In the coming weeks, I will share scriptural examples of worship, how to know God is in your presence, how to prepare our hearts to respond to Him, and the effects of true worship in our lives.  Along the way, I hope we’ll all learn the mistakes we make to hinder His presence.  In other words, I hope we’ll learn to quickly discern false worship.

To a believer, worship is paramount.

True worship is a sign that God is truly in our midst.

The Samaritans were limited in their understanding of the coming Messiah.  They read only the Torah consisting of the first five books of the Bible.  Genesis 3 announced that a coming victor would crush the head of the serpent that bruised His heel.  But other than that, most of the details of Messianic prophecies were contained in the books of the prophets, all unknown by the Samaritans.

Contrast their lack of knowledge with the Pharisees and Sadducees who knew the writings of their forefathers by memory.  They debated and analyzed scripture as a hobby.  Their existence was based on the strict following of the Law.  They searched the scriptures but missed their God.

Then you have the average layperson of Jesus’ time.  They were taught about the coming Messiah by their teachers yet they were still considered unschooled.  They had just enough knowledge to question the details of His birthplace and His mission.  The masses followed Jesus more for His miracles than for His truths.

Could it be the lack of preconceived ideals of the Messiah allowed the Samaritans to see Jesus as the Savior of the world, when His own people received Him not?  There are no recordings of Him performing authenticating miracles among them.  He simply told the woman at the well who He was, she told the townspeople, they spent a couple days with Jesus, and well, they all believed Him.

The simple things in life are often the most profound.  I wonder what would’ve happened if the Sanhedrin had simply spent a few days with Jesus and just listened to Him.  Isn’t that what God wants of us?  He did say, “This is my beloved Son, listen to Him.”

Listen to Him pray and marvel at His intimacy with the Father.

Listen to Him teach and tremble at His authority.

Listen to His compassion as He touches the lepers, hugs the children, and weeps with the brokenhearted.

Listen to His majesty as He commands the seas, raises the dead, and casts out demons.

Listen to His joy as He reveals His Father’s glory.

Listen to His suffering and know His amazing grace.

Take the time to just listen.  Be still and you will know that He is God.

Could it be nonbelievers are desperate and the only hope they have is to connect with God?

We had yet another example of this phenomena this week.

I was home alone, after dark.  The ring of the doorbell invaded my quiet house.  Through the front window, I catch a glimpse of someone at the door while another walks up the sidewalk.  It’s not unusual for neighbors or church people to stop by unannounced so I fling open the door expecting a familiar face.

Instead, I find a distraught stranger, no I think a better description would be agitated, disturbed, and panic stricken woman.

“Is this where the pastor lives?”

Before I could explain he wasn’t home, the crazed woman is in my house and a man is quickly approaching the door.  Now, I’m panicked.

My heart raced as fast as my visitor talked.  All I managed to comprehend came repeatedly, “I need prayer.  God told me to come here for prayer.”

Most of you know me; I can’t pass up a prayer meeting even if it does promise to become an exorcism.

She told the man to wait outside, I closed the door, and for the next eternity, yes, it felt that long.  I tried to catch some sanity among insanity.  There was a point that I tried to convince her to allow me to call 911.  Nothing I said made a dent in her ramblings.

I finally called my own 911.  “Mike, come home NOW, immediately, NOW.”  Fortunately he was smart enough to not ask why.

The evening ended with rousing, loud, and powerful prayer.  As Mike’s voice roared to drown out her shouts, I kept the melody with a constant flow of pleas in Jesus name.  It wasn’t the norm home prayer meeting but it was effective.  The lady who left and came to church the next morning was not the same woman who barged in my home.

We don’t have a sign in our front yard that reads, “Pastor lives here, broken people welcome.”  But somehow God broadcasts that info.

A nonbeliever doesn’t know enough to ask about the Bible, but they are broken enough to seek prayer.  They know that God responds when His children pray.  People who can’t pray find those who can.

Now this makes me wonder, why is it that church prayer meetings are so poorly attended?  I don’t have one answer but in a multiple-choice test, the answers might read something like this:

1. Believers are ashamed to admit they don’t know how to pray so they just avoid prayer meetings.
2. Believers don’t want to disturb their comfort zones to hear what God wants.
3. Believers really don’t care to commune with God.   Bible studies satisfy their knowledge of God but keeps them a safe distance from God.
4. Believers don’t believe God will hear or answer prayer.
5. Believers just aren’t desperate enough to pray.
6. All of the above.

How would you answer?

Crazy as it may sound, I learned a lesson from a crazed lady.  God is powerful and just waiting to show off.   I think I might put a sign in our yard,

Enter in if you dare.

Prayer brings the power of God.

In her study on John entitled The Beloved Disciple; Beth Moore made the following points:

• John served in biblical obscurity for much longer than the other apostles served, period
• How do we know that John didn’t start doubting his identity and his significance somewhere along the way?
• During John’s interim years of obscurity, one of the most intense relationships in the entire Word of God developed.
• Somewhere along the way God built a man to whom He could entrust some of the most profound words ever recorded on parchment.

After caring for Mary in Jerusalem, it is commonly believed that John served most of his years in Ephesus.  His wasn’t a life of missionary journeys.  His name isn’t even mentioned after the early chapters of Acts and Luke never quotes him.  Beth wonders how he felt to be obscure?

I don’t have to wonder.  I know.  I live in Morristown.  Since moving here, I’ve lost tract of most of the global ministries where I once thrived.  I’ve fallen off their radar screen and live obscurely among an obscure people.

Yes, I suspect John did question why.  Yet, I don’t believe he ever lost a night’s sleep over it.  A servant of the Most High just obeys where placed.  It’s really that simple.

Beth implied that his years in Ephesus were the preparation years for his ultimate purpose as an inspired writer.  Though I’m sure these years did mature him, I think there’s more to his call.

John was sent to Ephesus because only a strong pillar of the church that had walked alongside Jesus and knew the power of His resurrection could do the ministry in this pagan city.   John wasn’t sent to a cushy job or to a job anyone else could’ve done.  He was placed on the front lines of the battlefield.

Ephesus housed the temple of the Roman goddess Diana, it was a hotbed for demonic activity, and the church needed a wise persevering leader to grow these new believers to Christlikeness.   This was no easy task.  John wasn’t missing out on all the adventures of Paul and Peter.  He had an adventurous life and unlike the others, he couldn’t trot off to another location.

John has always been my favorite New Testament saint.  Now I like him even more.  I can relate to serving on the front lines.  Morristown may be a spot in the desert compared to the city of Ephesus but I can assure you, we deal firsthand with the demonic forces of Satan.  I may not have the life I dreamed I’d have by this age but I have not been bored.

Writing profound works that cause hearts to hunger for Jesus consumes the passion of my heart.  I want to write stories that cause people to lose sleep.  Oh how I pray that this is the second thing I have in common with John.  Only God knows for sure.

Until He makes it clear, I’ll live in obscurity, battle the darkness, and love the people.  Who could ask for more?

By faith Jacob, when he was dying blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.  Hebrews 11:21

Once strong masculine hands are now twisted around his staff unable to loosen its grip.

Unable or unwilling?

As long as Jacob had breath and his heart still beat, he would grasp that staff and worship His God.

As a young man Jacob fled his home with only his staff.  His staff was in his hand when he wooed his beloved Rachel.  I imagine they carved their initials deep into its bark to symbolize their undying love.

I wonder how many times Jacob bashed his staff against the boulders of afflictions hurled at him from Laben or pounded the earth over his frustrations at the injustice of Leah.

That staff staved off danger from the beasts that threatened his family and his flocks.  It supported little hands as his children and then grandchildren wobbled to walk.

After an all-night angelic wrestling match, I wonder how much that staff bent to hold his limped weight for the rest of his steps on this earth?

Somehow I suspect that after his beloved Rachel died, that staff shortened in stature as Jacob drug it along side his broken-hearted body.

I imagine the notches marking the growth of his blessed Joseph covered by hideous indentions as he bit hard into that wood in hopeless attempts to silence his sorrows when Joseph was lost to him.

That staff told his life.  That staff was a symbol of the faithfulness of God.

In Genesis 32:9-12  we hear Jacob pray, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O LORD, who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant,  I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become….

Now at the end of his life, his eyes beheld a resurrected Joseph.  His feeble gnarly hands blessed his descendants.  His grasped tightened as he replayed every chip, notch and bend of his life engrained in his staff.

Absent from the stage were choirs, instrumentalists, priests, or Bibles.  In this scene, there is a man grasping as tight to his cherished staff as his dying body grasped his adoring heart.

One other was there.  His God.

Worship is the response of an adoring heart to the magnificence of God.  In the highest sense of the word, it is the occupation of the created with the Creator Himself.  It is the pure joy of magnifying the One whose name is above every other name.  Dr. Henry Blackaby

Jacob worshiped because his God was there with Him in every memory of his past and in every promise of his future.  He could worship for he had the assurance of the mighty hand of God holding him tight.  His staff was proof God had never left him or forsaken him.

What in your life is equivalent to Jacob’s staff?  What bears the bends of bruises of your life?  What reminds you of His faithfulness through the years?

For me it is my Bible.  I bought it over 20 years ago, the day after God revived my heart.  He took an arrogant selfish heart and created in it an undying passion for Him and His holiness.  Through the years, I have recorded personal messages in the margins, crinkled the pages with my tears, and wore the book ragged until it nearly falls apart in my hands.

But every time I open it and read, God is there, and I worship.

Did Jesus ever get His drink of water?

In John 4, Jesus asked the Samarian woman for two things and as far as recorded scripture goes, He didn’t receive either.  He didn’t get a drink nor was He introduced to the current man in her life.

It intrigues me that neither denial hampered His work in her life.  Hmmm, why He asked in the first place?

Maybe to prove He is approachable and desires intimate conversation.  Asking for a drink would be a logical lead in since the midday heat would quickly parch a throat.

I don’t hear Him simply asking for a drink.  I see Him saying something like this,

“Shalom, I am not like all the Jewish men you know.  You can approach me without fear. Will you trust Me enough to give Me your firstfruit?”

Drawing water in the midday heat was hard work.  Her parched throat was ready for a cool relief.  Therefore, Jesus was asking her to meet His need before her own.

He asks us to do the same.  Everyday as we approach Him in prayer, He desires for us to give Him the first and the best of all we are and all we have.

“Will you give Me the first hour of your day?”

“Will you turn off the TV and focus only on me?”

“Will you love Me more than anything else?”

“Will you give Me everything you own?”

“Will you give Me …”

How does He most often start this conversation with you?  (I hope you’ll share your answers with me.)

Either this woman was incredibly bold or Jesus was entirely approachable.  She ignores His request and begins an argument.  I smile because I see myself in her.

Instead of giving up what she had, she demands more from Him.   Ouch, now that is the most common error we make in prayer.  Can’t we hear ourselves praying for living water or anything else He’ll give just to make our lives more comfortable?

We spend most of our side of the prayer conversation with the demands of our hearts until He interrupts us with something like this,

“Not only do I wish to know you but I want to give to you all I that I have.  I’ll take the water from your defiled cup then offer you living water that will cleanse your life.  All you have to do is bring that defiled life here to Me.”

The second request far exceeds the first.  Having our sinful ways brought into the light of day is painful.  Can’t you just see her head drop in shame as she cringes out her answer?

What is the one thing you never want anyone to ask you about? What is the one thing that would make you cringe?

Let’s you and I make a pact that the next time Jesus interrupts our day with a request, we’ll just do it.  We’ll walk down the steps into that well and give Him everything He asks of us.

And then while we’re enjoying His presence, when He brings up our sin, we’ll immediately repent in humble adoration of His grace.   For grace is what He offered this woman.

She refused Him what He asked yet He did not refuse to reveal Himself to her anyway.  I know He is good, all the time.  But I just once want to see His face when I respond to Him in obedience to everything He asks.

“Yes, Lord.  You are God, I am not.  That’s all I need to say.”

The desert is what happens when you remove water from a rainforest.  Without water, life dies.  The same is true of humans.

Our bodies are about 60 percent water.  Water regulates our body temperature, moves nutrients through our cells, keeps our mucous membranes moist and flushes waste from our bodies. Our lungs are 90 percent water, our brains are 70 percent water and our blood is more than 80 percent water. Simply put, we can’t function without it

Arizonans know the value of water. I greet my out-of-town guests with a bottle of water and tube of Chap Stick.  They laugh until they step out of the airport into 120-degree temperatures.

As precious as natural water is, it’s nothing compared to the living water offered by Jesus in John 4.

There are a few conclusions to be made from this conversation.

1. We have to ask for the living water.
2. Only God can give it.
3. He will give it when asked.
4. God gives in abundance.  His well of living water makes Niagara Falls look like a drippy faucet.

Let’s combine verses 10 and 26 of John 4 with John 3:16 and read it like this:

“If you knew the gift of God

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son

and who it is that asks you for a drink;

I who speak to you am He,

you would have asked him

whoever believes in him

and he would have given you living water.

shall not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus spoke the same truth to this Samaritan woman that He spoke to Nicodemus.  His message is always the same.  Life comes only through Jesus.

The pious law-keeper was told he had to be born again.  His sin was pride and unbelief in the LawGiver.   The immoral Samaritan woman was told to call her husband and come back here.  Both learned that His gift comes with holiness.

They had to give up their old lives and believe in the LifeGiver.

It’s an offer that can’t be refused when staring in the face of the Son of God.  Once you see Jesus, you will savor Him.

His presence causes an unquenchable thirst in our bodies.  Then He does the impossible.   He crushes every pretense, prejudice, lie, and deceit.  He quenches our dry and parched souls with a flood of His grace.

He washes us clean as snow.

I love to visit Niagara Falls and ride the Maid of Mist.  The immense power of tons of water plummeting over that cliff is overwhelming and terrifying.  Very few things compare to this force of nature.

I often feel like I deserve to be one of those rocks at the base of the falls.  Only that enormous crushing force could flush away the filth of my life.  But that’s not God’s way.

His way is for sinners to stand at the foot of His cross and look up.  One drop of blood from His brow is all it takes.  Our sins are washed away.

Amazing isn’t it?  A drop of His blood is more powerful than all the waterfalls on this globe.  Yet, He offers something far more astounding.

The power of that drop of blood can multiply until it becomes the force of mighty rushing water flowing out of a believer.  A drop of grace from God grows into Niagara Falls grace to others.

Now that’s what I call living water.

What do we do when we have more than one great option set before us?

It’s only January 2012 and we’re already inundated with offers for new and exciting things.   Some are small, others huge life changing choices.

We’ve not solicited any of them.  We’ve continued on our daily path doing the daily duties and then one after another, offers come in.

All of them are good things.

All could be God honoring.

All are exciting.

But we have to choice one.

How do we determine the good from God’s best?  The teachings of George Mueller are the most effective in these situations.

In a little tract entitled “how to ascertain the will of God” Mueller wrote:

I seek at the beginning to get my heart in such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter.  Nine tenths of the trouble with people generally is just here.  Nine tenths of the difficulties are overcome when our hearts are ready to do the Lord’s will, whatever it may be.  When one is truly in this state, it is usually but a little way to the knowledge of what His will is.

Having done this, I do not leave the result to feeling or simple impression.  If so, I make myself liable to great delusions.

I seek the will of the Spirit of God through, or in connection with, the Word of God.  The Spirit and the Word must be combined.  If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word, I lay myself open to great delusions also.  If the Holy Spirit guides us at all, He will do it according to the Scriptures and never contrary to them.

Next I take into account providential circumstances.  These often plainly indicate God’s will in connection with His Word and Spirit.

I ask God in prayer to reveal His will to me aright.

Thus through prayer to God, the study of the Word, and reflection, I come to a deliberate judgment according to the best of my ability and knowledge; and if my mind is thus at peace, and continues so after two or three more petitions, I proceed accordingly.  In trivial matters, and in transactions involving most important issues, I have found this method always effective.

I do not wish to diminish anyone’s struggles for I have endured countless seasons of pit dwelling pain.  But in those times, the decision was simple.  There was only one way out and it was up.

But what do we do when life is good, His blessings abound, and then out of nowhere He speaks of a new thing coming?  That in itself is thrilling.  Until the coming weeks bring option upon option and you have to discern which is His best.

Does God give you lots of options and you get to choose?  Will He bless whatever choice is made?  Once a believer is fully devoted to the Lord, can he/she then make a mistake when choosing between good options?

Or does the enemy take advantage of these times to throw his tempting distractions in your path in hopes you will miss God’s perfect will?  Satan doesn’t play fair and nothing would delight him more than to see believers falling into a pit of despair.

Anyone else relate?

I’ve decided I can’t choose.  I can’t even die to self as Mueller suggested.  Therefore I have only one option left.  I can worship God Almighty.

Somehow, I know that’s the right choice.

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth,

Worship the LORD with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs.

Know that the LORD is God,

It is He who made us, and we are His.

We are His people, the sheep of His pasture.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise;

Give thanks to Him and praise His name.

For the LORD is good and His love endures forever;

His faithfulness continues through all generations.

Psalm 100