Posted on Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Finding God’s Will

Reflect:
Proverbs 3:5-6

“Trust in the lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight”

One of the most fundamental questions we ask in life is how to discern God’s specific will in the decisions we face. In his book, Take Another Look At Guidance, author Bob Mumford offers this helpful illustration,

“A certain harbor in Italy can be reached only by sailing up a narrow channel between dangerous rocks and shoals. Over the years, many ships have been wrecked, and navigation is hazardous. To guide the ships safely into port, three lights have been mounted on three huge poles in the harbor. When the three lights are perfectly lined up and seen as one, the ship can safely proceed up the narrow channel. If the pilot sees two or three lights, he knows he’s off course and in danger. God has also provided beacons to guide us…these lights must be lined up before it is safe for us to proceed. Together they assure us that the directions we’ve received are from God and will lead us safely along his way.”

Allow me to give you some harbor lights, as it were, that I believe should become a litmus test for determining if the decisions you are making, the guidance you are receiving and the direction you are taking is really God’s specific will for our lives:

The first guiding light is the teaching of Scripture in its entirety. Honestly ask yourself, “does my decision line up with the will of God as revealed in his Word? Does it align with Scripture? What does the Bible say about this?”

The second guiding light is the inner promptings of the Holy Spirit that come through prayer. Not only should you align your thinking process and decisions with God’s Word, but you must also ask, “have I adequately devoted myself to prayer regarding this issue? Have I asked God about this—and listened?”

The third guiding light is the God-shaped circumstances of life. Ask yourself, “do the events, circumstances, open doors and closed doors I am currently experiencing indicate this desire or direction is of God? Is God at work here?”

The fourth guiding light is the counsel of wise, godly people. You need to ask, “have I submitted this plan to people to whom I’m accountable? Have I given permission to someone I trust to speak truth into my life about this?”

And the fifth guiding light is congruity with God’s unique design for my life. Here is where you ask quite frankly, “is this consistent with my unique spiritual thumbprint—my spiritual gifts, my God-given temperament, my natural talents, and my spiritual passion?”

If you are to find God’s specific will for your life, then each of those harbor lights need to align. If they do, you can be confident that a Greater Hand is guiding your steps. If they don’t, pause!

But in the end, pursuing God’s will is not so much about a technique, a method or a litmus test. The will of God is not about a formula; it’s about a friendship. God’s will is not to be found in not a rule, but in a relationship where you invite the Creator of the universe to walk with you side-by-side, moment-by-moment, opportunity-by-opportunity to show you what he wants for your life at each step of the way.

And that is where life gets really exciting!

“To know the will of God is the greatest knowledge! To do the will of God is the greatest achievement!” ~George W. Truett

Reflect & Apply: Are you facing an important decision? Go back and think through these harbor lights—and make sure they’ve aligned before you take the next step. Most of all, do it in relationship with the One whose will for you means a bright and successful future.

Posted on Monday, March 10, 2014

Everyone Wants A Testimony, Until…

Reflect:
Exodus 14:10-11

As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?”

So you want a testimony, do you? I do too! But are you willing to go through the circumstances that precede the testimony? Are you willing to have your back against the wall, to know that unless God comes through you’ll go down in flames, to despair even of life? Those are the conditions out of which great testimonies are born.

Joseph had to spend some time in the pit before God lifted him up as the “prince” of Egypt—next to Pharaoh, second most powerful figure in all of Egypt. David had to actually go out onto the battlefield and stand before Goliath before he became a giant-slayer. Daniel had to literally get tossed into a den full of protein-loving lions for the angel of the Lord to come and clamp their canines. Paul had to cruise into the midst of a deadly storm in order to survive an otherwise deadly shipwreck. Jesus had to go through the ordeal of the cross in order to overcome the grave.

You get the point, don’t you? Sadly, too many Christians don’t! They want the testimony without the trial. Sorry, it doesn’t work that way. You cannot separate the crown from the cross. In the Christian faith, the road to glory is along the path of suffering. Now I realize that is not the greatest slogan for a recruitment campaign, but it’s true. Not because God is some kind of celestial masochist, but the reality is this present world is under the dominion of sin. And the Bible clearly warns that it takes warfare to bring it back and put it under the dominion of its rightful Ruler—and along the way, soldiers will get wounded.

Though it doesn’t make for an attractive recruitment campaign to Christianity, there is no testimony without a trial. The Bible clearly promises that the path to the crown is by way of the cross. However, it also promises that whatever discomfort, discouragement and pain Christians experience for the sake of their faith will pale in comparison to the story they receive and the glory God receives.

The children of Israel desperately wanted God to deliver them from their bondage in Egypt, but they complained bitterly when it caused them discomfort. On more than one occasion they whined at Moses and complained about God because they weren’t consulted about the Divine deliverance plan.

Now God graciously put up with their moaning, but he came really close to losing his cool on occasion. Ultimately God delivered them, in spite of their bellyaching, and they ended up with a terrific testimony. But they were forever tagged with the whiner label.

Here’s the deal: Don’t be that way! If you want a testimony—and I think you do—trust God to bring it to you in anyway he sees fit. Just trust, don’t complain—even with the not-so-pleasant stuff that precedes the testimony. Later on, whatever discomfort, discouragement and pain you experienced will pale in comparison to the story you end up with—and the glory that goes to God. As Charles Spurgeon rightly observed,

“Many men owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties.”

Prayer… Sovereign God, thank you for every difficult, disappointment and delay you have allowed in my life. In your love, grace and wisdom you have used those very trials to shape me for greater things and eternal usefulness.

Posted on Friday, March 7, 2014

Thou Shalt Remember!

Reflect:
Exodus 12:1-42

“This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance.” ~Exodus 12:14’”

I have always been intrigued with the number of times throughout Scripture that God called his people to remember his mighty acts of deliverance by prescribing for them various kinds of memorial observances. In some cases, the memorial came in the form of an altar of remembrance (Joshua 4:1-7), at other times it involved the symbolism of the priestly garments (Exodus 28:12), while some of the time it was to happen through a regular sacrifice (Leviticus 2:16), a festival (Numbers 10:10), or a high, holy day (Exodus 12:14). Most importantly, for the New Testament community, the regular observance of Holy Communion (I Corinthians 11:23-26) replaced all other official observances that were mnemonically related.

Apparently, God was concerned that his people would remember who he is, what he had done for them, and why he had called them to specific acts of remembrance. So why such concern? We’ve got a memory problem, that’s why! We tend to get fuzzy on the important things we ought to be very clear about. People forget the covenant promise to be faithful to their spouse and begin to drift in their marriage. Parents forget how much their kids need both a mom and a dad, and instead follow their selfish desires by pursuing divorce…at a horrible cost to their children. We get sidetracked from our primary purposes in life because we fail to remember our core values. We drift spiritually because we get busy with spiritual-sounding activities, but forget to love the Lord.

That’s why Jesus said : “Remember your first love…remember the heights from which you have fallen and return…remember, every time you do this, my blood, my body. Remember.” Over and over the Bible calls us to remember lest we forget. You can’t read too far into God’s Word before noticing that a strong theology of remembrance is woven into the fabric of the chosen community.

God understood the power of memory and how visible representations would evoke powerful emotions that would reconnect us to defining events in our lives. He knew how symbols of memory could arrest our tendency to drift spiritually and refocus us on the core experience of loving him. That is exactly why he instituted the Passover in the Old Testament and replaced it with Holy Communion in the New. God doesn’t want us to forget him.

Perhaps that should be the Eleventh Commandment: Thou Shalt Remember!

“As I would cast my mind over the day, I would see evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the busy moments of the day. As that happened, and it happened often, I realized that trying to remember had allowed God to show me what He had done.” ~Henry B. Eyring

Reflect and Apply: The next time you partake of the Lord’s Table with your spiritual community, make a special and strategic effort to remember what the communion represents: the mightiest act of God ever expressed—the sacrifice of his Son on the cross. Call to mind God’s grace and mercy, and express heartfelt gratitude for his gift. And then consider what such wondrous love now demands of you. And don’t forget!

Posted on Wednesday, March 5, 2014

The Cost Of Discipleship

Reflect:
Matthew 16:24

“Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “Salvation is free…but discipleship will cost you your life.” I’m pretty sure he was quoting Jesus on that one.

Does Christ’s call to self-denying, cross-bearing discipleship seem a little extreme in comparison to the “easy believism” that passes for some brands of discipleship today? You will likely hear a lot more about a life of comfort, security and success these days from spiritual leaders than the straight talk Jesus laid on his would-be followers.

Jesus made no promises of an easy, breezy, carefree Christianity. Rather, he demanded complete obedience, costly sacrifice, and selfless servanthood from those who wanted to be on his team. He told them that they would have to “eat his flesh and drink his blood” if they wanted a part in him. (John 6:53) He said people would hate them, misunderstand them, reject them, persecute them, and put them out of the synagogues. And he even promised that people would kill them, believing that in so doing they were helping God out. (John 16:2)

Yet the eleven disciples (one of them, Judas, got cold feet) fully bought into Christ’s call to costly discipleship. They gave up everything they had and left everything they knew for a life that promised nothing except a chance to advance God’s kingdom in a resistant, hostile world. They fully understood that the overwhelming bulk of their rewards would come only afterwards, in the afterlife.

Despite Christ’s less than appealing recruitment campaign, however, these first disciples, followed in the years to come by countless thousands of other hungry seekers, flocked to this self-denying, cross-bearing brand of Christianity. Jesus was a tough act to follow, to say the least, but these disciples eagerly signed up—and they changed the world.

How? Simply by doing what Jesus had asked: They denied themselves, took up their crosses, followed his way daily and laid down their lives for his sake— literally in many cases. Without a political voice, financial resources, social standing, and military might, this unlikely ragtag band of followers conquered the Roman Empire in less than three hundred years.

Such was the radical power of this brand of fully committed discipleship.

Do you worry, as I do, that Christ’s call to costly discipleship would empty most churches of its people in our day? Though most believers give mental assent to cross-bearing and self-denial, in reality there is very little evidence of it in their lives, or in their churches.

A.W. Tozer commented that “it has become popular to preach a painless Christianity and automatic saintliness. It has become part of our ‘instant’ culture. ‘Just pour a little water on it, stir mildly, pick up a gospel tract, and you are on your Christian way.’”

If Jesus rebuked Peter (Matthew 16:23) — “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men” — for suggesting Christianity without a cross, what do you suppose he would say to us who have suggested Christian discipleship without cross-bearing?

If Jesus rebuked Peter — “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men” (Matthew 16:23) — for suggesting Christianity without a cross, what do you suppose he would say to those today who have suggested Christian discipleship without cross-bearing? Jesus made no promises of an easy, breezy, carefree Christianity. Rather, he demanded complete obedience, costly sacrifice, and selfless servanthood from those who wanted to be on his team—and with that, a chance to change the world now and unending, indescribably joy in the world to come.

We must aggressively and boldly reject that brand of faith, because that is not the discipleship to which Jesus has called us. And that is not the discipleship that I want for my life.

How about you?

“The first mark of a disciple is not a profession of faith, but an act of obedience.” ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

Reflect & Apply: Bonhoeffer once remarked, “Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.” No matter how long you have been a Christian, Jesus is calling you to a more ruthless brand of discipleship. Are you ready to follow?

Posted on Monday, March 3, 2014

Can God Do That?

Reflect:
Exodus 7:3-4

“But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites.” ~Exodus 7:3-4

This isn’t the first, nor will it be the last instance in the Bible that doesn’t fit neatly within our theological box. That God would harden Pharaoh’s heart messes with our sophisticated sensibilities about God, namely that he is a safe, kind, benevolent and loving Deity who would never raise someone up just to throw them down.

What are we to do with this difficult part of the Bible? It would be so much easier to deal with if it just appeared once, a vague Scriptural anomaly, but it doesn’t. Not just once and then swept under the rug, this statement about God hardening Pharaoh’s heart appears ten times here in Exodus and yet again in Romans 9:16-18? Obviously, the Bible doesn’t try to hide this just because it is difficult to explain or because it makes us uncomfortable. No, it is unavoidably here for us to grapple with.

On the one hand, there are some that would have it that God was simply responding to what was already in Pharaoh’s heart, thus relieving God of any responsibility in the matter of hardening the king’s heart in order to justify destroying him. On the other hand, there are those who would quite bluntly declare that God created Pharaoh exactly for the express purpose of destroying him in order to bring glory to himself.

Perhaps the truth lies somewhere between. The fact is, God does involve himself in the details of man’s affairs in order to bring about his sovereign plan, and he is well within his unimpeachable righteousness to align those who are his enemies for utter judgment so that his great power might be displayed in all the earth. Pharaoh is Example A of this. Yet at the same time, we must note that Pharaoh was duly warned that his stubborn refusal to obey God would result in judgment. (Exodus 4:23) We also find that the hardening God brought about in Pharaoh’s heart was, interestingly, matched by Pharaoh hardening his own heart: Ten times God hardened Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 7:3; 9:12; 10:1,20, 27; 11:10; 14:4,8,17) and ten times Pharaoh hardened his own heart (Exodus 7:13,14,22; 8:15,19,32; 9:7,34,35; 13:15).

Ten times God hardened Pharaoh’s heart and ten times Pharaoh hardened his own heart. God, whose will and whose ways are inscrutable, is within his absolute sovereignty to bring about what he desires in human affairs—including hardening a ruler’s heart; yet man is never without personal responsibility in surrendering to the sovereign rulership of God.

What does that tell us? Simply that God, whose will and whose ways are inscrutable, is within his absolute sovereignty to bring about what he desires in human affairs—including hardening a ruler’s heart; yet man is never without personal responsibility in surrendering to the sovereign rulership of God.

Does that make this uncomfortable piece of Scripture any easier to swallow? No—and yes. No, it will always shake that comforting image of a loving, safe God. Yes, we can lean into the track record of God’s loving omniscience and righteous omnipotence, and along with the Apostle Paul in Romans 11:33-36, declare with utter certainty in the face of mysterious passages like this,

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?
Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Yes indeed, glory to God forever. Soli Deo Gloria!

“Man is a responsible moral agent, though he is also divinely controlled; man is divinely controlled, though he is also a responsible moral agent.” ~J.I. Packer

Reflect and Apply: Jonathan Edwards, considered to be America’s greatest theologian, wrote, “In efficacious grace we are not merely passive, nor yet does God do some and we do the rest. But God does all, and we do all. God produces all, we act all. For that is what produces, viz. our own acts. God is the only proper author and fountain; we only are the proper actors. We are in different respects, wholly passive and wholly active.” Reflect on that statement; then ask yourself, “How am I doing in my part?”

Posted on Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Giants!

Reflect:
Numbers 13:33

“There we saw giants.”

That’s a common experience for all of us at some point along the way in life. Like the little boy in the movie The Sixth Sense says to the psychologist, “I see dead people,” we open our eyes and there we see giants—BHAG’s: big hairy, audacious giants.

I remember the first time I saw a giant—a literal one. I was in seventh grade, playing a football game against Fleming Jr. High in Grants Pass, Oregon. I was all of about five foot, two inches tall, 120 pounds and they had a guy on their team who was a walking pituitary gland. He stood six foot, four inches tall and weighed in at a whopping 230 pounds—in the seventh grade for crying out loud.

Furthermore, he was their running back! This guy was a freak; he was huge—a man among boys, a giant among grasshoppers. And we were going to have to tackle this behemoth.

We looked over at him during pre-game warm ups and lost the game right there! We were intimidated. All except for one guy: the smallest guy on our team, a boy by the name of Lee. He was fired up and ready to go after this big lug. Lee figured that even though he was big, he’d be slow and easy to tackle if you hit him low. Sure enough, during the game, Lee was all over this guy, and he gained a testimony that day. He “made his bones” as a hard-hitting tackler and fierce competitor.

Lee went on to become a state champion wrestler, though he never weighed more than 120 pounds all through high school. I always wanted Lee around in a tight squeeze because he refused to be intimidated by anything!

Well, sure enough, during that game, the giant came running to my side of the field. I was a defensive end, and here came Goliath lumbering my way on an end sweep. I took Lee’s advice and hit him low. The guy didn’t have a chance. The bigger they are…

That was my first giant, but certainly not my last. Throughout my ministry I’ve seen them take the form of a medical diagnosis that sucks the wind out of you, as turmoil that threatens to destroy a marriage, as a family crisis, as an overwhelming financial challenge and as open hostility to ministry. Everywhere there are giants!

What I’ve learned is that giants never get any smaller, nicer or less intimidating.

As we move forward in the journey of faith, giants never get any smaller, nicer or less intimidating.

Everywhere you look, there are giants. But that’s not what’s important. The important thing is what you are going to do about them.

The context for this verse comes from the story of the twelve Israelites that Moses sent in to spy out the Promised Land. The writer points out that ten of the twelve were afraid when they saw these giants and retreated from possessing the land. They lost the game before it even began. They never gave God a chance! And they wandered in mediocrity for 40 years because they gave into intimidation and fear.

But the other two, Joshua and Caleb, had a different spirit. They were like my friend Lee. They saw the same giants, but their response was, “Let’s go take the land.” They made their testimony that day and they got to go into the Promised Land while the others wandered in mediocrity.

They gave God a chance—and the rest is history!

I think this story is really interesting not just because it explains the Israelites’ forty years wilderness wandering, but because giants are just as real today for you and me as they were back then. Giants still stand between you and God’s promises for your life. You and I face giants every day in our family, relationships, job, church, physical bodies, emotions and even in our own hearts.

And we face the same two choices that these twelve men faced: Fear or faith.

We can either be consumed by fear and retreat—and wander in mediocrity, missing out on what God has for us, or step forward in faith and give God a chance. We can trust God for great things, experience the mighty hand of God that brings victory in our lives and get a testimony to boot!

Here’s something interesting: When Israel moved forward, they faced giants. When they retreated, they faced no giants. The fact is, the life of faith means facing giants, but that’s okay, because it means you are just one giant away from a spectacular testimony of faith. David would have no testimony without Goliath! Joshua and Caleb would have no testimony without their giants! And you will have no testimony without your giant.

When Israel moved forward, they faced giants. When they retreated, they faced no giants. The fact is, the life of faith means facing giants, but that’s okay, because it means you are just one giant away from a spectacular testimony of faith.

Charles Spurgeon said, “Many men owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties.” Take heart in that because it is likely you are facing a giant today as a challenge at work or a difficulty in your marriage or a crisis in your family, or as a war with fear, doubt or perhaps sin in your personal life.

Just remember, God always goes before the one who steps forward in faith to face their giant—and a testimony gets born!

Prayer… God, there are giants along the journey of faith I’ve been called to walk. But I choose not to see giants. Instead, I look to the God who goes before me, the One who gives strength to the weak and turns them into giant-slayers. So as I face my giants, I will do so with courage. And I pray that the result will bring great glory to you and a testimony of faith from my life.

Posted on Monday, February 10, 2014

The Purpose For Which You Exist

Reflect:
Exodus 33:11

The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.

If I could choose an epitaph that described my life, it would be this: “The Lord would speak to Ray Noah face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.”

Is that really possible for a human being? It was for Moses! If anyone ever really knew God, if a human being ever experienced an extraordinarily intimate revelation of God, if a man ever truly had a close personal friendship with God, it was Moses.

But Moses didn’t always have this kind of relationship with God. If you were to review Moses’ life, you would be reminded that in his first forty years, Moses knew a lot about God. He was born to Hebrew parents, but raised in the lap of luxury in the Egyptian palace as one of Pharaoh’s sons—he was a prince of Egypt. Moses knew about God through his heritage, but there is no indication of a walk with God characterized by love and obedience. In fact, it appears Moses was somewhat indifferent to God.

But then Moses tried to play God by killing an Egyptian, and he had to flee the palace to the backside of the Sinai Desert, where he lived as a fugitive for the next forty years until he met God at the burning bush. And during these four decades, Moses unlearned everything he knew about God in the first forty years. It was a desert experience—literally and spiritually—where Moses knew nothing but the silence of God. God had enrolled Moses in the University of the Desert—the Graduate School of Sinai—where he trained Moses in the curricula of solitude, monotony and failure.

But then came the burning bush, which marked the beginning of the final forty years of Moses’ life. And in this period, he came to know and experience God the way we want to know and experience him: In his power and glory. Moses, unlike any other man, experienced first hand every attribute of God a human being could possibly experience: God’s omnipotence—that he is all-powerful; God’s omniscience—that he is all-wise and knowing; God’s omnipresence—that he is everywhere at all times; God’s Divine nature—that is, his justice, righteousness, holiness, and incomparable greatness.

What more could a human want? Yet that wasn’t enough. Moses didn’t just want to know about God, he wasn’t satisfied with seeing the evidence of God’s activity. He wanted more:

“If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so that I may know you and continue to find favor with you…Now show me your glory.” (Exodus 33:13,18)

You’ve got to admire Moses’ boldness, audacity and greediness for God! Here is what he’s really asking: “God, I want to know you…your character…your nature…what makes you tick. I want to enter into the deepest dimension of intimacy with the Almighty that’s possible for one human being.”

Amazingly, God obliged this big, audacious request—he revealed himself fully to Moses. (Exodus 33:14-23) Now this doesn’t simply tell us something about Moses, it mostly reveals something vitally important about God: God wants us to know how much he wants to be known.

God wants us to know how much he wants to be known.

He has made himself knowable. He is not some unapproachable deity way out there in a galaxy far, far away. He is the God who is there, the God who is near, the God who will reveal himself to those who long to know him: “What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him.” (Deuteronomy 4:7)

God want us to know that he’s near and that he is knowable: “I will cause my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence.” (Exodus 33:19) In other words, I’ll let you know me.

To ask to know him is a request that pleases the heart of God! You see, that’s what we were made for: To know God. That’s what he desires from us. God himself says in Hosea 6:6, “For I desire…the knowledge of God [from you] more than burnt offerings.” J.I. Packer said, “Once you become aware that the main business that you are here for is to know God, most of life’s problems fall into place of their own accord.”

That should be our chief aim in life—to know God—because that is truly the sweetest nectar of life. Jeremiah 9:23-24 says,

“This is what the LORD says: ‘Let not the wise man gloat in his wisdom, or the mighty man in his might, or the rich man in his riches. Let them boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the LORD who is just and righteous, whose love is unfailing, and that I delight in these things. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

Knowing God is the best thing in life. In fact, it is eternal life. Jesus said in John 17:3, “This is eternal life: That they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

Knowing God is the best thing in life. It is life. In fact, it is eternal life.

God has offered to let you know him—really know him. It’s the best offer you’ll ever get! I would take him up on it if I were you.

Prayer… God, I don’t want you just to know about you, I want to intimately know your person. As Moses, I want to speak to you face to face. I want to see your glory. I want to bask in your presence. I want your goodness to be upon me. I am greedy for you! So I humbly ask that you prepare me, cleanse me and bring me to the place where I can truly, fully know you!