Every few nights the past weeks my 4-year-old has been waking up with bad dreams. She doesn't wake up screaming, she doesn't lose all sense of composure from terror. She simply wakes up, finds me (sometimes I'm still awake, sometimes she ends up scaring ME awake), says "I had a bad dream," and then stays with me until her peace returns and she can go back to bed. Sometimes I only have to say, "It's ok, daddy's here and God is watching over us" and she goes right back down. Sometimes she lays with me for a while until she drifts off and I can put her back (don't judge me, but I can't sleep with kids in the bed!).
Every single time she ends up sleeping the rest of the night and then wakes up fine. She doesn't dwell on what happened, she doesn't let it sit with her. She trusts me and lets it go.
In this she shows that she understands better than most adults what trust is, and what God is like.
When I was about 20 years old I was reading Matthew 6 and Jesus' words hit me like a freight train.
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown in the fire, will he not much more clothe you-- you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." - Matthew 6: 25-34|
Something in these words stuck with me, and I knew that in these words was a key to life. Something that at the time I couldn't even put words to. So from that moment on I decided that I was going to make it a point in my life to not worry about things. It was one of the most empowering decisions I have ever made.
As a result I was able to make decisions that were scary and never feel the weight of them. Something, just by making that decision, switched in me and I grew in confidence and saw some amazing things happen in my life as a result of not being fearful.
But to be honest, it didn't last. Anyone who knows me knows that for a few years I didn't really walk with the Lord. I never stopped believing, but I wasn't pursuing God either. And while I appeared to be "worry-free" to many people, the truth was I had simply moved my fear. I didn't fear much for my own health or success, but I feared a lot about where my country was headed, if people liked me, etc... I had a lot of worry and fear, but I was adept at disguising it.
So what's the point? The point is that it's impossible to fully live a life without fear unless you have Christ and you are constantly going back to Him.
Simple right? Yup.
So why are we so dominated by fear? Church, I'm talking to YOU.
One of the amazing things about fear is that when you are fearful you become so good at disguising it. Scared about where the country is headed? Nah, I'm PASSIONATE for change. Fearful that famous Christian who disagrees with you on a small theological point is leading others astray? Nope, I'm "defending the Gospel." Terrified your grown kid is making a bad decision so you try to control them? Not at all! I'm "doing what's best for them." Afraid to take risk in life so you belittle the successes of others? Of course not! I'm "just a realist." Petrified you're going to get sick so you try to control every single aspect of your diet? Whatever, I'm just "choosing a healthy lifestyle."
Heard that before or something similar? Of course you have. It's come out of your own mouth. Don't lie to yourself and deny it, because you know it's true. Look, I'm just as guilty as you! I've excused my fear so many times it's sickening, especially because I truly believed the words coming out of my mouth in my denial.
But then a few years ago something happened. That Jesus I'd been reading about and occasionally hearing from led me straight on into encounter with Him. He gave me a choice, and when I said yes He led me to know Him in an intimate way I never imagined possible. He showed me how I could find Him every day and live near Him every moment. He made Himself more real to me than I ever believed possible on earth, and as that realization grew and continues growing I found something amazing: Fear gets further and further away.
On top of that, it becomes so much easier to spot. Want a fear-fest? Spend 10 minutes on Facebook. People terrified for our country will post their political fears. People afraid for health will share their health tips. And the list goes on. Are most of these good people? Absolutely! Are they wrong? Most of the time no. But it doesn't always matter what is being said but how it's being said.
Signs of fear:
"{Blank} causes cancer!"
"{Blank} is ruining the country!"
"{Blank} is preaching heresy!"
"{Blank} will happen to you if you don't {blank}"
Signs of healthy thinking:
"{Blank} helps your health!"
"{Blank} will help our country get back on track!"
"{Blank} in the Bible is amazing truth!"
"{Blank} is helping all kinds of people!
The truth is that almost all negativity is a sign of fear. Why? Because negativity promotes hopelessness. Negativity breeds hate. Negativity tries to destroy in order to set things right. Hopelessness is the exact opposite of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13). Hate is the opposite of Love (God, 1 John 4:8)). Destruction is a characteristic of the devil (John 10:10). You cannot go to God and walk away discouraged (Rom. 15:5). It is impossible. So any idea that discourages is NEVER from Him.
Church, we have ignoring the command of Jesus to not worry for far too long! And it IS a command, not wishful thinking. We have taken our trust away from God and given it to the devil. By fearing we are putting our faith in brokenness and not in the healer. This does not mean we ignore the world's problems, which are very real, but that we filter them through the perspective of God.
And through that perspective, we will always be encouraged, always find joy, always be strengthened, and always focus on solutions.
If we are to regain our influence in the world we must learn to be the most hopeful people alive yet again. We must take Jesus at His words! His words tell us that we will be fine and that God is working in the world to take care of us (Rom. 8:28).
It's time to put fear in its place, once and for all, and in doing so find greater freedom and joy than we've ever known! The good news is that it is so EASY too. The grace of Christ made it easy. He sent us His Spirit and says, "If you get scared, there's my door. Come get me."
To be honest, sure, it still pops its ugly head up and I have to squash it. Sure sometimes I let it hang around a little too long. But I'm learning how to notice it, wake myself up, go to my Daddy and tell Him, "Daddy I'm scared." And when I go to Him, He tells me, "It's ok, everything will be alright." Then He invites me to stay there until I get my peace back. I'm learning all over again what my daughter already knows, and it's a wonderful thing. I invite you to embrace Him too. He's warm, He's loving, He's safe, and the closer we get to Him the easier it is to say, "What on earth was I ever afraid for?"
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Monday, March 2, 2015
The Hammer (Or, "Why We Aren't Making a Difference")
The other day we were preparing for my son's birthday party. Being good hosts is important to us, so we were working hard to get our house in the best shape it can possibly be. This meant also making some repairs that needed to be made, which specifically meant to repair the curtains that our giant labrador had torn down while barking at the (choose one of the following: mail man, utility man, neighbors, squirrels, deer, guests, etc...).
So out I brought my modest toolset and started getting to work putting the third batch of holes into our rented wall (fairwell security deposit!) and making my wife a happy woman (hello happy marriage!).
In all the noise of hammering and drilling my son became very excited and decided he was going to "help" as well. He proceeded to find his small wooden hammer and went around looking for anything loose in the house that he could hammer back into place. In short, he was helping in spirit only.
Of course, usually we wouldn't mind. We love to encourage any good traits being displayed in our kids, even if the actions of those traits are about as fruitful as me staring at a wall. Unfortunately for our son this time he continued hammering well after I had finished making my noise and my wife had put the baby down for a nap. Those with newborns will understand, but nap time is a sacred time in the house, and that sacred time was on the verge of being ruined.
We asked our son to stop, and he did for about a minute. We asked him again and the words went in one ear and out the other. So now it was time for action. We sat him down in the kitchen and gave him an ultimatum: hold onto your hammer and stay seated, or give us your hammer and get up.
Now it seems easy right? I mean, why wouldn't you just give up the hammer? But that's not how it works with 7-year-olds. He doth protested, and protested much.
"I'm only trying to help!"
"Why are you so mean!?"
"I don't want to give up my hammer!"
"I don't want to sit down!"
On and on it went and it baffled me (although it shouldn't have, because this is what kids do). So he sat there, very upset. And I actually felt sad for him. I knew that his heart was only to help, but unfortunately because he wouldn't listen his "helping" was actually a problem. As this emotion of pity hit me I heard the Lord say, "Now you know what it's like."
Whoa. No sooner did He say that to me then I was flooded with a revelation. I got a flash vision of many people, myself included, who had held ourselves back. We had such good intentions but our intentions were outside of what God was doing in the moment, and it held us back.
In that moment I got an insight into how God sees many of us at various times in our lives. We are the children holding onto our hammer, crying out "We just want to help!" but God can't use us. Because we want to help on our own terms and not on His, and that makes us more harmful to His plans than helpful. We aren't listening to His voice calmly saying "Here's how you can help" and giving us directions. Instead we're taking tools that helped us before and trying to use our limited understanding to do things our own way. As a result we just mess up until finally God has to say "sit this one out, you're not ready."
It reminds me of when Jesus told Peter, "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith would not fail; and when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren."
'But he (Peter) said to Him, "Lord, I am ready to go with you, both to prison and to death."
'Then He said, "I tell you Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you deny me three times." - Luke 22:31-34
Peter was so ready to HELP. He was so ready to go down fighting alongside his Savior. Yet Jesus knew he wasn't ready. Jesus knew that Peter didn't yet understand. Peter wanted to help but he didn't want to help the way Jesus needed him to. So Jesus had to have him stay behind, and let Peter grow in understanding before he was ready to really be a part of what Jesus was doing on earth.
Between Jesus and the disciples there are many interactions like this. Interactions where the disciples think to do one thing but Jesus tells them to do another. Interactions where Jesus has to step in and make up for their lack of faith or knowledge. It's all over the gospels.
In all these situations they are trying to do the right thing. Their intentions are good. But whenever Jesus corrects them it's because they didn't go to Him FIRST. They didn't find out what He was doing FIRST. Meanwhile Jesus lives perfectly, and why? Because "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner." - John 5:18
Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing. Before He did anything He checked in with Father to make sure He was partnering with God, and therefore able to move forward the will of God.
So many of us want to do the same, yet we are holding ourselves back by refusing to give up what we think we know, by holding on to what we are comfortable with.
It can be so many different things. We can be holding onto bad beliefs which are stunting our growth in God. We can be holding onto fear. We can be trying to use a principle which may be good, but is in the wrong timing. Or maybe we are simply trying to do something in our own strength while God is asking us to be patient so He can work. Maybe it's that we just don't understand what He's doing and so instead of pursuing understanding we try to frame it through our own little brains. Maybe it's that we have a sin in our lives that we are unwilling to step away from. Maybe it's a habit that isn't necessarily bad, but needs to be sacrificed for a season.
It can be a lot of things, but it comes down to one thing; are we listening to His voice? Some of the best Christians get stuck simply because they are afraid of trying new things after years of other things working. Moses was afraid to speak to the rock because he didn't want to be embarrassed, and because hitting the rock is what worked the first time (Numbers 20). His intentions were good, but He didn't trust God in the moment. As a result, God knew Moses wasn't ready to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. This was MOSES people. The greatest prophet to ever live! And even he had a moment when he held onto his "hammer", and as a result God had to sit him down and say "sorry Moses, not this time."
I believe that most of us want to do big things in this life and for God. I believe we all, after choosing Jesus, naturally have good intentions. But that's not enough. It's enough to be saved, but not enough to make a difference, it's not enough to change the world. Jesus showed us the perfect method, He gave us the secret. Looking to God and listening to His voice to find out what He's doing. Before stepping forward in anything we should always be finding what He's doing. Sometimes it's obvious. Sometimes we have the answer already. Some things are laid out perfectly clear in Scripture. Other things need His relational guidance. We should always be checking in with Him to find which is which.
God is always looking to promote us. He is always looking to bless us and reward us. He is also always looking to use us. He wants to partner with us in changing the world. He also wants to have a lot of fun with us and enjoy us. I believe most of us want that with Him too. In submitting to Him, in trusting Him, we will be able to accomplish more and enjoy life more than we ever dreamed possible. But it takes the sacrifice of giving our hopes, dreams, desires to Him.
My son, zealous to help and upset that he couldn't, sat there for a while clutching his hammer. Finally I got down to his level, looked him in the eyes and said, "Jacob, I just need you to give it to me for a little while. I will give it back later." He then decided to trust me and was able to get up and finish helping, this time in a way that made a difference. Sure enough, he ended up not even missing his hammer and found a whole lot of joy and pride in his work without it. And when it's needed, he'll get his hammer again.
God is ready to do the same with us, if we would just listen.
So out I brought my modest toolset and started getting to work putting the third batch of holes into our rented wall (fairwell security deposit!) and making my wife a happy woman (hello happy marriage!).
In all the noise of hammering and drilling my son became very excited and decided he was going to "help" as well. He proceeded to find his small wooden hammer and went around looking for anything loose in the house that he could hammer back into place. In short, he was helping in spirit only.
Of course, usually we wouldn't mind. We love to encourage any good traits being displayed in our kids, even if the actions of those traits are about as fruitful as me staring at a wall. Unfortunately for our son this time he continued hammering well after I had finished making my noise and my wife had put the baby down for a nap. Those with newborns will understand, but nap time is a sacred time in the house, and that sacred time was on the verge of being ruined.
We asked our son to stop, and he did for about a minute. We asked him again and the words went in one ear and out the other. So now it was time for action. We sat him down in the kitchen and gave him an ultimatum: hold onto your hammer and stay seated, or give us your hammer and get up.
Now it seems easy right? I mean, why wouldn't you just give up the hammer? But that's not how it works with 7-year-olds. He doth protested, and protested much.
"I'm only trying to help!"
"Why are you so mean!?"
"I don't want to give up my hammer!"
"I don't want to sit down!"
On and on it went and it baffled me (although it shouldn't have, because this is what kids do). So he sat there, very upset. And I actually felt sad for him. I knew that his heart was only to help, but unfortunately because he wouldn't listen his "helping" was actually a problem. As this emotion of pity hit me I heard the Lord say, "Now you know what it's like."
Whoa. No sooner did He say that to me then I was flooded with a revelation. I got a flash vision of many people, myself included, who had held ourselves back. We had such good intentions but our intentions were outside of what God was doing in the moment, and it held us back.
In that moment I got an insight into how God sees many of us at various times in our lives. We are the children holding onto our hammer, crying out "We just want to help!" but God can't use us. Because we want to help on our own terms and not on His, and that makes us more harmful to His plans than helpful. We aren't listening to His voice calmly saying "Here's how you can help" and giving us directions. Instead we're taking tools that helped us before and trying to use our limited understanding to do things our own way. As a result we just mess up until finally God has to say "sit this one out, you're not ready."
It reminds me of when Jesus told Peter, "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith would not fail; and when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren."
'But he (Peter) said to Him, "Lord, I am ready to go with you, both to prison and to death."
'Then He said, "I tell you Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you deny me three times." - Luke 22:31-34
Peter was so ready to HELP. He was so ready to go down fighting alongside his Savior. Yet Jesus knew he wasn't ready. Jesus knew that Peter didn't yet understand. Peter wanted to help but he didn't want to help the way Jesus needed him to. So Jesus had to have him stay behind, and let Peter grow in understanding before he was ready to really be a part of what Jesus was doing on earth.
Between Jesus and the disciples there are many interactions like this. Interactions where the disciples think to do one thing but Jesus tells them to do another. Interactions where Jesus has to step in and make up for their lack of faith or knowledge. It's all over the gospels.
In all these situations they are trying to do the right thing. Their intentions are good. But whenever Jesus corrects them it's because they didn't go to Him FIRST. They didn't find out what He was doing FIRST. Meanwhile Jesus lives perfectly, and why? Because "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner." - John 5:18
Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing. Before He did anything He checked in with Father to make sure He was partnering with God, and therefore able to move forward the will of God.
So many of us want to do the same, yet we are holding ourselves back by refusing to give up what we think we know, by holding on to what we are comfortable with.
It can be so many different things. We can be holding onto bad beliefs which are stunting our growth in God. We can be holding onto fear. We can be trying to use a principle which may be good, but is in the wrong timing. Or maybe we are simply trying to do something in our own strength while God is asking us to be patient so He can work. Maybe it's that we just don't understand what He's doing and so instead of pursuing understanding we try to frame it through our own little brains. Maybe it's that we have a sin in our lives that we are unwilling to step away from. Maybe it's a habit that isn't necessarily bad, but needs to be sacrificed for a season.
It can be a lot of things, but it comes down to one thing; are we listening to His voice? Some of the best Christians get stuck simply because they are afraid of trying new things after years of other things working. Moses was afraid to speak to the rock because he didn't want to be embarrassed, and because hitting the rock is what worked the first time (Numbers 20). His intentions were good, but He didn't trust God in the moment. As a result, God knew Moses wasn't ready to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. This was MOSES people. The greatest prophet to ever live! And even he had a moment when he held onto his "hammer", and as a result God had to sit him down and say "sorry Moses, not this time."
I believe that most of us want to do big things in this life and for God. I believe we all, after choosing Jesus, naturally have good intentions. But that's not enough. It's enough to be saved, but not enough to make a difference, it's not enough to change the world. Jesus showed us the perfect method, He gave us the secret. Looking to God and listening to His voice to find out what He's doing. Before stepping forward in anything we should always be finding what He's doing. Sometimes it's obvious. Sometimes we have the answer already. Some things are laid out perfectly clear in Scripture. Other things need His relational guidance. We should always be checking in with Him to find which is which.
God is always looking to promote us. He is always looking to bless us and reward us. He is also always looking to use us. He wants to partner with us in changing the world. He also wants to have a lot of fun with us and enjoy us. I believe most of us want that with Him too. In submitting to Him, in trusting Him, we will be able to accomplish more and enjoy life more than we ever dreamed possible. But it takes the sacrifice of giving our hopes, dreams, desires to Him.
My son, zealous to help and upset that he couldn't, sat there for a while clutching his hammer. Finally I got down to his level, looked him in the eyes and said, "Jacob, I just need you to give it to me for a little while. I will give it back later." He then decided to trust me and was able to get up and finish helping, this time in a way that made a difference. Sure enough, he ended up not even missing his hammer and found a whole lot of joy and pride in his work without it. And when it's needed, he'll get his hammer again.
God is ready to do the same with us, if we would just listen.
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