This morning while listening to an online sermon, I heard a phrase that I was not familiar with, and that phrase is “prisoners of hope.” On the surface, it seems like an oxymoron. One might be captivated by hope, but it seems like an odd phrase to say “prisoners of hope.” A verse found in Zechariah 9:12 was the topic of the sermon, and that verse states (ESV):
“Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double.”
This verse [Zach. 9:12] was written by Zechariah to the Jews who had just returned fromBabylonian captivity [which lasted 70 years]. Since they had just returned, were they not free? From the world’s point of view the situation the Jews faced at that time was pretty hopeless, since their city was in ruins. They were an impoverished people, yet God calls them “prisoners of hope”.
The returned exiles thought themselves to be the prisoners of circumstance, but God gave them something to hope for. He promised deliverance from their seemingly hopeless situation if they would diligently obey His voice. They seemed hopeless and helpless from the world’s point of view, but they were “prisoners of hope” from God’s perspective. They were promised double if they would hold on with hope to the promise that God had given them.
Hope means: a confident and eager expectation of something good, while prisoner means: a person that is deprived of liberty. They seem so opposite. No freedom, but confident, expecting something good from something that does not appear so good. How can we be a prisoner of something good? People like hope; the word has a positive connotation. However, the word prisoner has a negative connotation. How can we reconcile the two ideas?…(Quote source and full article at this link. The author provides extensive details in her article.)
“Prison” can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Most of us will never actually experience time in jail, but we can be held captive by many things. Situations. People. Debt. Sin. Our past. In all of this, we can certainly be prisoners WITH hope, which is how some versions translate this verse. But I prefer to be a prisoner OF hope.
Sometimes when I am in a situation that causes me to feel trapped, and my emotions are spiraling out of control, and my thoughts are chasing right after them like an umbrella on a windy day, and I think to myself, “I cannot bear this one more minute,” somehow a supernatural Hope reaches down and grabs hold of my heart and says to me sternly, “Nope, you are mine, and I am not letting go.”….
Because we are prisoners OF hope. Hope itself holds us captive, tethers us to Jesus, and ties us down to a solid place when otherwise we would take flight like a helium balloon. Hope says, “I will not let you go, no matter how hard you beg, no matter how feeble your fight, no matter how loose your grip. You are stuck with me. I am your constant companion for this journey.” (Quote source and complete article at this link.)
How often have we found ourselves in circumstances or situations where we think, “I cannot bear this for one more minute,” as the author states above. Sometimes those circumstances can last days, weeks, months, years, and even decades–with no end in sight. “Hanging in there” for one more day, one more week, and sometimes year after year after year, can bring about a sense of hopelessness. Is God there? Does He care? Is there a point to all of this? The questions can seem endless.
The Bible has quite a lot to say about hope. Biblical hope has as its foundation faith in God. The word hope in English often conveys doubt. For instance,“I hope it will not rain tomorrow.”In addition, the word hope is often followed by the word so. This is the answer that some may give when asked if they think that they will go to heaven when they die. They say, “I hope so.”However, that is not the meaning of the words usually translated“hope”in the Bible.
In the Old Testament the Hebrew word “batah” and its cognates has the meaning of confidence, security, and being without care; therefore, the concept of doubt is not part of this word. We find that meaning inJob 6:20; Psalm 16:9; Psalm 22:9; andEcclesiastes 9:4. In most instances in the New Testament, the word hope is the Greek“elpis/elpizo.”Again, there is no doubt attached to this word. Therefore, biblical hope is a confident expectation or assurance based upon a sure foundation for which we wait with joy and full confidence. In other words,“There is no doubt about it!”
One of the verses in which we find the word hope isHebrews 11:1.“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”This verse at the beginning of the faith chapter (Hebrews 11) carries with it all of the confidence that comes with knowing for sure, with no question, what we have been promised by God in His Word. Our faith is confident assurance, for it is founded upon the Rock of our salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ. All of the actions of the heroes of the faith recorded inHebrews 11were made possible because they had this faith based in their confident assurance or hope in God. As believers, we are also called to give an answer for the hope that is within us to any who would ask (1 Peter 3:15).
Therefore, biblical hope is a reality and not a feeling. Biblical hope carries no doubt. Biblical hope is a sure foundation upon which we base our lives, believing that God always keeps His promises. Hope or confident assurance can be ours when we trust the words, “He who believes on Me has everlasting life” (John 6:47, NKJV). Accepting that gift of eternal life means our hope is no longer filled with doubt but, rather, has at its sure foundation the whole of God’s Word, the entirety of God’s character, and the finished work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (Quote source here.)
If you don’t get the thing you desire most, will you still believe God is good? Will you continue to believe He is faithful if His timeline never matches yours or His will for your life is completely different than the one you dreamed up years ago?
There may come a time when your faith is challenged. You’ll feel that you did all the right things. You were faithful and trusted God yet you’ll find yourself in a place you don’t want to be (and maybe never thought you’d be). I found myself there a couple of times. There are promises I waited years for, and promises I’m still waiting on. The wait can begin to feel like a weight–a burden. In those times, I’ve not always had perfect faith. I said I trusted God but in reality, I was filled with doubt. I knew God could, but I doubted if He would. In all honesty, my hope had died.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. —Proverbs 3:5-6
When your faith is dry and your hope is waning, it’s not time to quit. On the contrary, this is where your roots have to grow deep. A friend of mine equated it to a well. There are times when wells run dry. The water source is no longer available at the current state. The water is there, but in order to find it, you have to dig deeper… (Quote source and complete post at this link.)
When things seems hopeless, we need to turn to, or return to, our stronghold who is Jesus, and never let go. I’ll end this post with these words from Jesus found in Matthew 28:20…
And surely I am with you always . . .
To the very end . . .
Of the age . . . .
YouTube Video: “You Keep Hope Alive” by Mandisa and Jon Reddick:
We have now entered the Season of Advent leading up to Christmas Dayon December 25th. Each of the four Sundays of Advent represent a different theme. The 1st Sunday is “Hope”; the 2nd Sunday is “Peace”; the 3rd Sunday is “Joy”; and the 4th Sunday is “Love”. Here is a short two-minute YouTube video on the meaning of Advent:
The four candles of Advent represent the four Sundays of Advent, and they respectively symbolize hope, peace,joy, and love. In some homes and parishes, people will also light a fifth candle on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day to represent the birth of Jesus; this candle, when added to the Advent wreath, is typically white and larger than the other candles and is placed in the center of the wreath.
Advent candle weeks, names & colors
Advent week 1 –Hope: Prophecy Candle (purple)
Advent week 2 –Peace: Bethlehem Candle (purple)
Advent week 3 –Joy: Shepherd’s Candle (pink)
Advent week 4 – Love: Angel’s Candle (purple)
First Advent Candle/Sunday: Hope
“Once in our world, a stable had something in it that was bigger than our whole world.” – C.S. Lewis
It is only fitting that the first candle on the Advent wreath representsHope—the first Sunday of Advent not only leads us to anticipate the birth of Christ but celebrate the beginning of a new liturgical season as well. The first candle ispurple, the primary color of Advent and a color symbolizing royalty. Sometimes called the“Prophecy Candle,”the first candle harkens us back to Isaiah’s foretelling of the birth of Christ and all of the promises God gave us in the Old Testament that would be fulfilled by the birth of Jesus. This Advent, light the first candle onSunday, December 3, 2023.
Second Advent Candle/Sunday: Peace
“May we be in this world a ray of that light which shone forth from Bethlehem, bringing joy and peace to the hearts of all men and women.” – Pope Francis
The second candle on the Advent wreath representsPeace.Like the first candle, it is also purple. Often called the“Bethlehem Candle,” the second Advent candle reminds us of Mary and Joseph’s journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem before Mary gave birth to Jesus. Building on the meaning of the Prophecy Candle, this second candle recalls that after all of the division, destruction, and dispersion of the kingdom in the Old Testament, there might finally be peace on Earth–Jesus is coming, and so is his Kingdom of Peace. As we read in the quote from Pope Francis, this light of peace shone forth from Bethlehem for all the world. This Advent, light the second candle onSunday, December 10, 2023.
Third Advent Candle/Sunday: Joy – “Gaudete Sunday”
“But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’” (Luke 2:10-12)
The third candle of Advent symbolizesJoy.As we continue to approach Christmas Day, our joy grows more and more. The third candle takes us back to the joyful anticipation of the shepherds who journeyed to see Jesus in Bethlehem, even before the wise men. On this third Sunday of Advent, which the Church calls “Gaudete Sunday,” meaning rejoice or praise, we light the third candle and rejoice like the shepherds. For this reason, the third candle of Advent is called the“Shepherd’s Candle,”and its color ispink,the liturgical color for joy. This Advent, light the third candle onSunday, December 17, 2023.
Fourth Advent Candle/Sunday: Love
“And in the end, everything else will turn out to be unimportant and inessential, except for this: Father, Child, and Love.” – Pope John Paul II
The fourth candle of Advent representsLove,the ultimate love of God that He might send His only Son for us. Called the“Angel’s Candle,”the fourth candle of Advent is lit the Sunday before Christmas, and it is the colorpurple,leading us to eagerly await the new Kingdom of God on earth. This Advent, light the fourth candle onSunday, December 24, 2023. (Quote source here.)
The first Sunday of Advent in 2023 [is] Sunday, December 3rd. After a tumultuous year, there is comfort to be found when we pause to read, pray, and reflect over the course of the Advent season in which believers eagerly anticipate the celebration of Christ’s birth.
The first Sunday of Advent gives us the opportunity to center our thoughts onhope.
It’s a beautiful chance to remember the hope God offers to our lost and dying world, and that He’s given us through Jesus.
But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.
Paul, the writer of Galatians, articulates so perfectly the great hope we celebrate atChristmas! Without God’s intervention, we were all slaves…bound up by our sin nature and hopelessly headed to the grave. Because of God’s great love for us, He came down and rescued humanity by sending his Son as a sacrifice for our sin—so we could be free from the chains of sin and become fully part of God’s glorious eternal family.
On this first Sunday of Advent, as we prepare our hearts to celebrate Jesus’ arrival as a gift to all humanity; let’s stir up in our hearts and homes a sense of anticipation. Over this Advent, we pray thathopewould rise up in our spirits in a tangible and life-giving way. (Quote source and complete articlehere.)
Here are seven scriptures of hope to fill you this week with the hope Christ brings us daily through His Word.
Psalm 31:24: “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.”
Isaiah 40:31: “but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength”
Ephesians 1:18: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people.”
Romans 15:13: “May the God of hope fill you will all joy and peace. as you trust him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Psalm 119:114: “You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word.”
Hebrews 10:23: “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”
Psalm 130:5: “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.”
[Prayer] Heavenly Father you are the God of Hope. Walk with us on this Advent Journey as we prepare to celebrate the birth of your son Jesus. Father during this time of Advent let us remember to fix our eyes on the only reason for this season that is your son who is the hope for a broken world. May you fill our spirits with the hope and joy of Christ’s coming. In Jesus name I pray, Amen. (Quote source here.)
I’ll end this post with the words found in Jude v. 24-25: To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority…
Through Jesus Christ our Lord . . .
Before all ages . . .
Now and forevermore! Amen….
YouTube Video: “Then Christ Came” by MercyMe:
Photo #1 credit is mine Photo #2 credit here
Photo #3 credit here
Today is the first day of Spring 2023, and we are now past the midpoint of the 40 days of Lent leading up to Easter Sunday on April 9, 2023. Lent is a time of reflection, repentance, and fasting; and “the first day of spring is often associated with the renewal of nature, as the winter frost melts away and new life begins to sprout. Similarly, Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is a symbol of new life and spiritual rebirth” (quote source here).
Of all the teachings of Christianity, no doctrine is more central than the bodilyresurrectionof Jesus Christ from the dead. The truth of the resurrection has been attacked from every angle. New books and television media regularly appear questioning the resurrection, re-hashing old theories about what happened to Jesus’ body. Since the resurrection is crucial to Christianity, Christians ought to be able to give answers to these inevitable questions with proof and evidence. (Quote source and his complete article are at this link.)
The resurrection of Jesus is at the heart of the Christian message. How unfortunate that church services may stress the empty tomb only on Easter Sunday, or even just through the Eastertide season. Another concern is the common way Christians summarize the gospel by mentioning only Jesus’ death. Without the resurrection, Jesus’ ministry ends in defeat and disillusionment (Luke 24:21). But everything changes if“He is not here! He has risen from the dead, just as he said” (Matthew 28:6).
The resurrection culminates the passion narrative in all four Gospels because it is at the center of redemption itself. Without it, one can only pity Jesus as a dead martyr whose lofty ideals were sadly misunderstood. With it, one must stand in awe of the exalted Messiah, the Son of the living God, who gave His life as a ransom for many, who presently reigns at God’s right hand, and who will one day return in glory to fix this broken world.
Paul bluntly stated that apart from the resurrection our faith and message are in vain (1 Corinthians 15:12-19). Thinking about how absolutely bleak and pointless any so-called “Christian” life would be without the resurrection should spur us to ponder it all the more: (click here for quote source and to read his five points concerning the resurrection, and the rest of his article).
In our culture at this time of the year, our stores are filled with Easter bunnies and baskets and candy and decorated Easter eggs, so what does the Easter bunny have to do with Jesus? In an article titled, “The Easter Bunny and Jesus,” by David Capps, Ph.D., staff writer at ExploreGod.com, he writes:
Walk into almost any retail store right after Valentine’s Day and you’ll be greeted by a wall of pastel-colored baskets, plastic eggs, jelly beans, and—perhaps most famous of all—chocolate bunnies. You know Easter is coming.
Since the 1840s, the Christian holiday of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, has gained secular acceptance in America. There are parades, parties, and elaborate egg hunts—even the White House gets in on the action with its own annual egg hunt on the lawn.
While Easter traditions vary, one account says that the Easter bunny brings lucky children treats before dawn on Easter morning. So for children in the West—particularly in the United States—the Easter bunny has become one of the most recognized symbols of this Christian holiday.
How did this happen? What in the world does the Easter bunny have to do with Jesus?
Easter is a Christian festival or holy-day that commemorates theresurrection of Jesuson the third day after his crucifixion. Taken together, the crucifixion and resurrection form the central events of the Christian faith. It is not too far-fetched to say that without the resurrection there is no Christianity, so it’s no wonder that Christ-followers began to celebrate the event early on.
As with all things human, there were debates about the best way and the best time to celebrate Easter. Some wanted to continue to associate it with the Jewish Passover on Nisan 14 of the Hebrew calendar. But that date could fall on any day of the week, whereas Jesus’ resurrection took place on Sunday. As such, Western Christians decided to make sure that the holiday occurred on a Sunday.
So church leaders came up with a specific formula: Easter is observed on the first Sunday following the full moon after the vernal equinox—that is, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. Consequently, Easter in the West can be as early as March 22 or as late as April 25.
The significance of Easter in the Christian calendar grew with the addition of other days of great importance. Good Friday marks the day Jesus was crucified.Holy Week commemorates the events in Jesus’ lifeleading up to his crucifixion and resurrection.The season of Lentestablishes a forty-day preparation period of prayer, fasting, and reflection prior to the Easter celebration.
Because of Easter, Christians believe that death is not the final word. Ultimately, all who belong to Jesus will one day break the shackles of death and live again in glory.
So if Easter is a celebration of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and its significance, how did the Easter bunny become associated with it? (Click here to find out the answer to that question and to read the rest of the article.)
The resurrection of Jesus Christ provides hope and renewal for all who seek him. In a blog post published on April 22, 2017, titled, “Embrace New Life at Easter with a New Mindset” (author’s name not mentioned), at Geneva College, the author writes:
Have you ever found yourself wishing you could just start over? Have you wished for a restart button that would let you put aside all of your anxiety, fear, painful memories and concern for the future and start anew? Easter is a great time to reflect on what Jesus did for you on the cross to redeem you. God made a way for you to restart by freeing you of the burdens that weigh you down. This transformation happens by the renewing of your mind (Rom. 12:2).
Easter reminds us that we have a living Savior who can heal your brokenness and despair and replace it with hope. This new life starts with the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus on the first Easter. After embracing that grace, you should allow the Holy Spirit to begin transforming you from the inside– renewing your mind. Here are some strategies you can use for self-reflection and prayer during this Lenten and Easter season that will allow you to move forward with hope, forgiveness and happiness.
Pinpoint the Change Needed
First, figure out what you need to change, specifically. Are you stuck in a fixed mindset or as scripture says“conformed to the pattern of this world?” Psychology Centralwarns that a fixed mindset seriously limits your growth and focuses on your shortcomings or failure. Think about what you can do to fuel your growth instead. Do you have a negative attitude because you’re feeling lonely? Use your energy to make some friends. Find the source of the problem, the underlying attitude or issue, and start praying that God will guide you to wise counsel and a solution to the problem. Keep an open mind about what the source might be – it is often a “heart problem” rather than a behavior problem or situation.
Learn to Laugh
Sometimes, all it takes to change from a negative mindset to a positive one is a little bit of laughter. Grab your favorite comedy movie, or look up some funny videos on YouTube. Spend some time laughing, and you will see your mindset grow from negative to positive.
Grab a New Perspective
Sometimes we face a problem with a negative mindset because we only think about it one way. Looking at the problem from a new point of view can greatly change our mindset.
For instance, if you are dealing with work and school deadlines that feel impossible to attain, you may be tempted to complain and wish it would all just go away. Instead, view the deadlines as a challenge, and imagine the rewarding feeling of finishing the deadline on time. That simple change in perspective may be all you need to do to get yourself back on track.
Count Your Blessings
Everyone has challenges, but everyone has blessings too. Take time now to count those blessings. Your life is pretty amazing if you are able to find those things to be grateful for. Make a list of those blessings, and you will find yourself in a more positive mindset.
Change Your Way of Talking
Is your speech negative? Is it focused on your failures instead of your accomplishments? Is it filled with “can’ts” rather than on “cans?” Start changing the way you speak and you can be rewarded with greater joy and be an encouragement (salt and light) to others. Speak of hope, certainty and accomplishments rather than fear, worry and failure. To paraphrase the lyrics of the popular song by Christian musician TobyMac, “Speak hope–speak love–speak life!” Your words have a huge impact on your attitude and emotions, so this is a great way to change your mindset as you focus on a new life this Easter.
Easter is the time remember that our God is a God of second chances. Even if things look bleak and you’ve been knocked down, God can renew your hope and transform you through the renewing of your mind. (Quote source here.)
I’ll end this post with the words from 1 Peter 1:3-5 (NIV): Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation…
That is ready . . .
To be revealed . . .
In the last time . . . .
YouTube Video: “Easter Medley : Living Hope/Because He Lives/O Praise the Name/Forever” by The Movement Worship:
Today as a major Category 4 hurricane—Ian–is hitting the west coast of Florida, I’m reminded of the fact that it is very important to listen to the officials and their warnings to take all necessary precautions and stay inside and safe while the hurricane is going through Florida for the next 18-24 hours.
I lived in Central Florida and for a short time in South Florida for over 20 years, and during that time I experienced going through six hurricanes and several tropical storms. As I watch the latest updates on Hurricane Ian today, it brought back memories of some of those past hurricanes.
My very first hurricane experience goes back to August 24-25, 1992, when Hurricane Andrew, a tightly packed Category 5 hurricane, blew threw South Florida causing massive damage and destruction. I had arrived in South Florida at the end of June 1992 to start a one-year doctoral fellowship at a private university located there, and I arrived from the Midwest where I had lived all of my life. I had never experienced a storm on a scale remotely close to a hurricane although I had been through tornados and severe thunderstorms, and blizzards in the winter living in the Midwest.
The apartment where I stayed during Hurricane Andrew was rented by a new friend whom I met at the university where I had my doctoral fellowship. She was a new professor in my program, and she was as terrified as I was going through a hurricane for the first time, and she asked me to come over to her apartment so we could at least go through it together. I remember how eerie it was hearing the howling wind blowing outside for hours without ever letting up through the closed windows and glass patio door, and the snapping of trees in the middle of the night. We lost electricity at some point and in the worst of the storm we both huddled in her small windowless bathroom with a couple of candles for light which was the safest place to be. In the middle of the night during the height of the storm I fell asleep on the bathroom floor from sheer exhaustion as we both had been awake for at least the past 24 hours if not longer. She fell asleep in the empty bathtub. We were grateful to have each other’s company and to not have had to go through that experience alone.
As it turned out over those 20 years I lived in Florida, Hurricane Andrew was not only the first hurricane I experienced, but the worst of the six hurricanes I experienced. It’s been 30 years now since I lived through Hurricane Andrew, and despite going through several more hurricanes since that time, it is the hurricane I remember the most.
Any kind of natural disaster can leave us feeling helpless and out of control. And one question that comes to mind regarding natural disasters is why does God allow them to happen? GotQuestions.org provides us with the following answer:
Why does God allow earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, tsunamis, typhoons, cyclones, mudslides, wildfires, and other natural disasters? Tragedies cause many people to question God’s goodness. It is distressing that natural disasters are often termed“acts of God”while no“credit”is given to God for years, decades, or even centuries of peaceful weather. God created the whole universe and the laws of nature (Genesis 1:1). Most natural disasters are a result of these laws at work. Hurricanes, typhoons, and tornados are the results of divergent weather patterns colliding. Earthquakes are the result of the earth’s plate structure shifting. A tsunami is caused by an underwater earthquake.
The Bible proclaims that Jesus Christ holds all of nature together (Colossians 1:16-17). Could God prevent natural disasters? Absolutely! Does God sometimes influence the weather? Yes, as we see inDeuteronomy 11:17andJames 5:17. Numbers 16:30-34shows us that God sometimes causes natural disasters as a judgment against sin. The book of Revelation describes many events which could definitely be described as natural disasters (Revelation chapters 6, 8, and 16). Is every natural disaster a punishment from God? Absolutely not.
In much the same way that God allows evil people to commit evil acts, God allows the earth to reflect the consequences sin has had on creation.Romans 8:19-21tells us,“The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.”The fall of humanity into sin had effects on everything, including the world we inhabit. Everything in creation is subject to “frustration” and “decay.” Sin is the ultimate cause of natural disasters just as it is the cause of death, disease, and suffering.
We can understand why natural disasters occur. What we do not understand is why God allows them to occur. Why did God allow a tsunami to kill over 225,000 people in Asia? Why does God allow hurricanes to destroy the homes of thousands of people? For one thing, such events shake our confidence in this life and force us to think about eternity. Churches are usually filled after disasters as people realize how tenuous their lives really are and how life can be taken away in an instant. What we do know is this: God is good! Many amazing miracles occurred during the course of natural disasters that prevented even greater loss of life. Natural disasters cause millions of people to reevaluate their priorities in life. Hundreds of millions of dollars in aid is sent to help the people who are suffering.Christian ministrieshave the opportunity to help, minister, counsel, pray, and lead people to saving faith in Christ! God can, and does, bring great good out of terrible tragedies (Romans 8:28). (Quote source here.)
Last Sunday, with Hurricane Irma bearing down on the state of Florida, my wife, Jill Beck, and I gathered in the fellowship hall of Wildwood United Methodist Church, to “Facebook Live” a makeshift service to our people at Wildwood and Webster United Methodist Churches. Services were cancelled, as our primary concern was the safety of our congregations, and the outer bands of the storm were already buffeting our communities. Over 1,200 people tuned in to the feed that day and almost 200 posted comments, far more folks than either of our congregations gathered in our sanctuaries on most Sunday mornings.
The fear was tangible. People were looking for hope. Much of the state had been evacuated and news reporters relentlessly warned of the dangers of this massive category 4 storm. The significance of the moment was not lost on us. Our goal was to offer a word of comfort and hope in the face of the impending disaster. We realized as we walked the empty church campus that Sunday morning, in strange silence, that this was the first time in many year— potentially in the 130 plus years of the church’s history—that no songs of praise would be sung, prayers offered, or sermon preached. We refused to break that legacy, and began re-thinking what kind of worship needed to happen in that moment by harnessing the latest technology.
Oddly enough, I had just returned from Portland, Oregon, where fires raged up and down the west coast. Smoke blotted out the sun there, casting an eerie red apocalyptic glow over the area. The day before, a horrible earthquake ravaged Mexico. I flew back to Florida just in time to escape the fire, right into the oncoming flood. Weeks before: Charlottesville, violence, civil unrest, and massive political upheaval.
I couldn’t help but to ask myself during all this, are these the “signs” that Jesus spoke of? Is this the end of the world as we know it? That anxiety was further fueled by Social Media doomsday prophets, trumpeting proclamations that God had abandoned us in anger because human sin had come to an apex. Some of those statements were to the effect of “God is punishing us with multiple natural disasters.”
I struggle with this kind of world view in which God is deterministically micromanaging creation, using fires, earthquakes, and hurricanes to teach humanity a lesson. I was truly pressed in my faith to share my belief in an ultimately good and loving God, amid devastating natural disasters that claim human life.
While I don’t have a sufficient theological explanation for why there are natural disasters in this world, I can share how I have experienced God’s sustaining presence when in their midst, how God uses these destructive forces, and how, as the church, we are sometimes God’s answer to them. Although I don’t believe God causes suffering or natural disasters to “punish us,” they are undeniably pervading forces in our world. Throughout my ministry, I have been brought to the understanding that there are questions to which no answer will suffice, and we must live in the mystery…. (Quote source and the rest of his article are available here).
In this story, Jesus is in the boat asleep in the middle of the storm. He’s sleeping “on the cushion” meaning he’s not just dozing off, he’s sound asleep! Exhausted from his work among the crowds, the “do not disturb sign” is out. The disciples freak out and wake him up. Even in his sheer exhaustion, with no Starbucks for miles, Jesus then tells the storm to shush and it obeys him. When Jesus says, “peace be still” there is a “dead calm.” He then criticizes their lack faith, which makes me wonder what he expected them to do during a storm when the boat was sinking? Should they have stilled the storm themselves? Or was Jesus going to use this as a group water-walking 101 class?
Now we know that Jesus doesn’t calm every storm. In this case, I get the sense that just having him in the boat should have been enough. If only one of the disciples would have said “hey guys, we have the carpenter of the universe in the boat with us, seriously, everything is going to be okay.”
Can we have “peace” and “dead calm” even during a hurricane? I think we can, if we know Jesus is in the boat. Where is God amidst the storm? The short answer is “with us”. This passage shows us that God is not manipulating the wind, sending the tempest tossed sea to flood the boat, Jesus is in the boat with us. If Jesus is in our boat, the hurricane can do its worst, and we are going to be okay. (Quote source and the rest of his article are available here).
It seems we cannot pass a day without hearing of a natural disaster destroying homes, taking lives, and devastating entire cities or lands. Being at the mercy of natural forces, we can often feel scared or distraught when facing natural disaster.
In the midst ofstressful stormsand natural disasters—and the fear that grips us—we can still rely on a God who has been in the middle of storms before when he walked the earth (Matthew 8:23–27).
No matter what natural disasters wesee on the news, how much our family or friends have been affected, or whether we’re weathering the phenomena of nature ourselves—we can turn to the Lord and pray for restoration and hope during these times of upheaval and anxiety.
For courage during disaster, or peace to withstand disasters to come, we can lift these four following prayers to heaven:
1. Prayer for those we don’t know who are experiencing or recovering from a natural disaster (she offers a personal prayer and includes Luke 8:22-25 at this link).
2. Prayer for those experiencing anxiety due to a natural isdaster(she offers a personal prayer and includes Isaiah 54:10 at this link).
3. Prayer for family and close loved ones experiencing a natural disaster (she offers a personal prayer and includes Psalm 57:1-2 at this link).
4. Prayer for personally experiencing a natural disaster (she offers a personal prayer and includes Isaiah 54:11-12 at this link).
God does not forget us in the midst of great tragedy. Instead, he sits with us during the most difficult moments and helps us to rise again.
Whether you have a friend, a family member, or even have experienced a natural disaster yourself, turn to the Almighty who holds you in his arms and protects you underneath the shadow of his wings.
In the end, the earth will experience no natural disasters and God will make everything right. But for now, we rest in the comfort of knowing God still has a wonderful plan for our lives, and no natural disaster can even come close to matching the power of our powerful God. (Quote source here.)
I’ll end this post with Jesus’ words found in John 16:33 (NIV): In this world you will have trouble [trials and tribulations like hurricanes and natural disasters, too]…
But take heart . . .
I have overcome . . .
The world . . . .
YouTube Video: “Hope in Front of Me” by Danny Gokey:
Merriam-Webster defines discernment as “the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure;skill in discerning; an act of perceiving or discerning something” (quote source here).
2020 has certainly been an interesting year so far–a year unlike any other in recent history thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic and everything else that has come from it. While pandemics are nothing new in the history of the World (see this link for the 20 top pandemics in history), most of us have never experienced a pandemic on the level of this particular pandemic known as Coronavirus or Covid-19.
And, in a few short days, another presidential election is taking place here in the USA, and it is one of the most fiercely contentious elections of our time, capable of fracturing friendships, relationships (social, church, familial, and work/business related), and every other social unit in our society. As volatile as it has been you might even be convinced that Armageddon (and no, not the 1998 movie starring Bruce Willis) is right around the corner.
However, in the midst of all of this “stuff” that 2020 has thrown our way, the good news is this: Stop watching the news on TV (I can almost guarantee that you’ll start feeling better), and wear a mask when around others at a close distance (whether you believe wearing a mask helps or not), and things will start looking brighter… I say that “tongue in cheek” as recently I went without a TV for almost three weeks after I moved from a hotel room that supplied a 42″ wall mounted TV in the room to an unfurnished apartment where I needed to buy my own TV, and it took almost three weeks before I got to the point where I bought a small 32″ flatscreen TV. And during those “no TV” three weeks I discovered a tranquility of sorts that I had not felt in a long time because I was no longer getting a daily dose of “news” from the TV.
The title of this post (it is not meant to sound ominous) has more to do with discerning the times in our own personal lives then in world events, so scratch off “Armageddon” as the main theme. It’s hard enough discerning our own place and time in history without taking it to a global level. What made me think about it is due to how suddenly my life changed back at the beginning of October when I found this apartment to rent after six years of hotel room living while trying to find an affordable income based senior apartment in a senior apartment complex. None ever opened up to me in all that time, and when I decided in late September that I was done searching for it, I found this apartment (not in a senior complex) practically “overnight.” I’m still shocked at just how fast it happened. I’m very happy about it, too. However, it has been an adjustment going from living in a hotel room to living back in an apartment after six plus years.
It also reminds me of something stated in James 4:13-14:
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
None of us knows what tomorrow will bring, even with all of our plans and assumptions. As I look back on my six years of hotel room living that I never thought would last so long, I’ve lost count of the number of times I prayed for God to open another door and provide me with an apartment in an income-based senior apartment complex, but it never happened. However, I never had a clue that I would end up finding an apartment where I am now living as it seemed out of the realm of possibility. It wasn’t even on my radar screen, but it feels exactly like this is where I am supposed to live for now. And after six very long years of looking, suddenly this opportunity opened up to me.
I’ve written previous blog posts on the topic of the “bigger picture” that is always going on all around us on a daily basis, and in God’s economy that “bigger picture” that He sees and orchestrates that we do not see is always at work (see Isaiah 55:8-9). He sees the entire tapestry of history in the making, and we are all pieces in it but we cannot see the whole picture.
In my last blog post published 12 days ago titled, “Never Too Late,” in an article titled, “God’s Waiting Room,” by Dr. Duane Durst, he stated, “Waiting on God requires us to put aside our way of doing things and trust His timing and plan.” While God is always working on the “bigger picture,” He is also always working on us individually and especially during prolonged times of waiting.
As I look back on my six years of hotel room living and even previous to that going back to when I lost my last job in my career field over 11 years ago that started me down this path I have taken for the past dozen years, I can look back on that time and see some major changes in my life that evolved over time–positive changes–and my whole world opened up in ways I never would have experienced or understood had my life kept going down the “status quo” career path it had been taking. I became aware of a lot of things going on in our society and around the world that I never would have known had it not been for these past 11 plus years. And in the process I’ve learned a lot about myself that has widened my world and given me some life experiences I never would have had, and yes, that includes hotel living. You’d be amazed at how many people in our society have no other housing option other then living in hotel rooms.
Clay is not easy to work with. One day my son returned from school with a white substance on his clothes. When I asked about it he replied,“Sorry mom, my clay was too wet.”His class was attempting to make cups as gifts, but someone put too much water in the clay mixture. Instead of a firm sturdy, pliable clay that could molded, what they had to work with was a sticky, gooey, weak mixture that refused to conform to the desired shape.
Before clay can be put upon the wheel, it has to be properly prepared. It has to be supple enough to adapt to change, yet firm enough to not collapse under pressure. Just like clay, before God can begin remaking and changing us, there are some preparations that have to occur.
“Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was making something at the wheel. Yet the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make it” (Jer. 18:3-4).
God sent Jeremiah down to the potter’s house to reveal more of Himself in a very tangible way. God still uses life as a classroom, guiding us into His truths. Every event, hardship, failure, sin, and success is a part of our personalized lesson plan. Learning the lesson will require being able to see the situation through God’s eyes. His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts (Isaiah 58:8). Seeing life through a heavenly lens puts it in a new perspective. Spending time in His presence can open the door to God revealing to you what type of vessel He wants to make you into. Once you get a glimpse of God’s vision for your life, you have to then be willing to go through His process for change. No vessel is so flawed that it cannot be made new. Each can be reworked into a useful vessel in the hands of the Potter.
The 5 Stages of Godly Change
Broken
Brokenness is a prerequisite for a life change. It is a state of complete yielding to doing things God’s way. You no longer desire for there to be any distance between you and God. You can feel the disconnection that comes from unconfessed sin in your life. Your desire is to turn away from whatever has marred you. You want nothing more than to be restored. I love how the Scripture states it“marred in the hand of the potter.”Even when you mess up the worst you can imagine, He still has not left you alone. Your life and destiny were always in the palm of His hands.
Crushed
Ironically, the journey to being remade, restored and renewed starts with being crushed. The NLT states, “But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.”Isaiah 53:5 (NLT)says,“He was crushed for our sins.”Jesus shows us that being crushed is not a sign of defeat, but a part of God’s plan for redemption. Accept God’s invitation to take all past sins to the cross, nail them there and leave them. Then allow him to place you on the potter’s wheel.
Molded
Once reduced to the point of wanting nothing more than the potter’s touch, you are ready to be molded. You have come to the end of yourself and what you feel you can do to change your situation. You now know that only His touch can mend the broken and crushed places in your life.“Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” (Isaiah 64:8) He knows the right amount of pressure to apply to your life and when to loosen His grasp, as He molds you into a useable vessel.
Refined
Once your new characteristics begin to take form, you are moved into a season of intense heat. God’s loving fire comes to strengthen you leading to permanent change. This fire may not feel loving during the process, but as impurities are pushed out you are drawn closer and closer to God.“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) It is during this stage that God adorns you with the glaze of His glory, and you become a living reflection of Christ.
Filled
Once taken off the potter’s wheel, you are never alone. Rather than simply sending you off to fulfill your purpose, the potter deposits a part of Himself inside of you.“Be filled with the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:18) He fills you with Living Water so that you may pour out His love and truth into the lives of others. It is not something that you can do on your own, but is a gift from the potter. It is a sign that He is ready for you to be put into service. It does not suggest that you have reached perfection, but rather that you are now useable for the purpose for which He created you. He has never been interested in perfect vessels, only usable vessels. Do not be afraid of failure. If you become marred, He can make you over again. (Quote source here.)
While my living situation dramatically and totally changed three weeks ago, I still take life one day at a time. There are new people to meet and encounter, and new things to learn, and I’m looking forward to seeing what each new day brings in my new surroundings.
I’ll end this post with the words from Proverbs 3:5-6 that have played a key role in my life (and they still do, too): Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him…
And He . . .
Shall direct . . .
Your paths . . . .
YouTube Video: “Canvas and Clay (Live)” by Pat Barrett ft. Ben Smith:
I don’t need to tell you that 2020 has been a challenging year so far here in America, and to top off everything else that has already occurred and is still ongoing, a very heated and divisive Presidential Election is only 62 days away.
Three words keep coming to mind when I think about all that has already transpired this year. Those three words have very similar meanings, and they are: (1) resilience (the ability to withstand adversity and bounce back and grow despite life’s downturns); (2) perseverance (continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition); and (3) persistence (the act or fact of stubbornly continuing to do something; the act or fact of continuing to exist longer than usual).
In a word search on Google using these three words, one of the first links I came across was this short devotion published on December 28, 2017 titled, “Faith Produces Persistence,” by Rick Warren, founder and senior pastor of Saddleback Church, an evangelical megachurch affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention that is the sixth-largest megachurch in the United States (source here). Here is that devotion (note: all three of those words stated above show up in this devotion):
“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9NLT).
Faith unlocks the promises of God, it shows us the power of God, it turns dreams into reality, and it gives us the power to hold on in tough times.
God doesn’t always take you out of the problem. He stretches your faith by taking you through the problem. He doesn’t always take away the pain. He gives you faith-filled ability to handle the pain. And God doesn’t always take you out of the storm because he wants you to trust him in the midst of the storm.
I remember reading the stories ofCorrie ten Boom, a young Dutch Christian who helped many Jews escape the Holocaust before being sent to Nazi concentration camps. After World War II ended, she said that the people who lived through those camps were those who had the deepest faith. Why? Because faith gives you the power to hold on in tough times. It produces persistence.
Study after study has shown that probably the most important characteristic you could teach a child (and that you need in your own life) is resilience. It’s the ability to bounce back. It’s the ability to keep going. Nobody goes through life with an unbroken chain of successes. Everybody has failures and mistakes. We all embarrass ourselves. We all have pain. We all have problems. We all have pressures. The people who make it in life have resilience.
Do you know how many times I’ve wanted to resign as pastor at Saddleback Church? Just about every Monday morning! I say, “God, it’s too big. It’s too many people, too much responsibility. I’m not smart enough. What am I supposed to say to that many people? Get somebody else who can do a better job than this.”
Yet God says, “Keep going.”
Where do you get the resilience to keep going? Faith. It’s believing God could do something at any moment that could change the direction of your life, and you don’t want to miss it, so you keep moving forward. It’s believing that God will give you exactly what you need when you need it as you learn to rely on him to accomplish his purpose in you.
This is the testimony of Paul, a great man of faith:“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9NLT).
What is God’s purpose of adversity in your life?
How has faith helped you persevere through a difficult time in your life?
Faith doesn’t always take you out of the problem. Faith often takes youthroughthe problem. How will this truth shape the way you respond to the problems you face right now? (Quote source here.)
In Luke 18:1-8, Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should “always pray and never give up” in the form of a parable titled, “The Parable of the Persistent Widow.” Here is that parable from the NLT:
One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. “There was a judge in a certain city,”he said,“who neither feared God nor cared about people. A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’”
Then the Lord said,“Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?”
GotQuestion.org states the following regarding this parable:
The parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge (Luke 18:1–8) is part of a series of illustrative lessons Jesus Christ used to teach His disciples about prayer. Luke introduces this lesson as a parable meant to show the disciples“that they should always pray and never give up”(verse 1, NLT).
The parable of the widow and the judge is set in an unnamed town. Over that town presides an unjust judge who has no fear of God and no compassion for the people under his jurisdiction. In the Jewish community, a judge was expected to be impartial, to judge righteously, and to recognize that judgment ultimately belongs to God (Deuteronomy 1:16–17). Thus, the judge in this story is incompetent and unqualified for the job. Justice was not being served.
A needy widow repeatedly comes before the judge to plead her case. According to Jewish law, widows deserve special protection under the justice system (Deuteronomy 10:18; 24:17–21; James 1:27). But this unjust judge ignores her. Nevertheless, she refuses to give up.
Eventually, the judge says to himself,“I don’t fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!” (Luke 18:4–5, NLT). The widow gets the justice she was seeking. Then Jesus explains His point: if an uncaring, unfit, ungodly judge answers with justice in the end, how much more will a loving and holy Father give what is right to His children?
We do not always get immediate results when we pray. Our definition of swift justice is not the same as the Lord’s definition. The parable of the persistent widow demonstrates that effective prayer requires tenacity and faithfulness. A genuine disciple must learn that prayer never gives up and is based on absolute trust and faith in God. We can fully count on the Lord to answer when, where, and how He chooses. God expects us to keep on asking, seeking, knocking, and praying until the answers come (Matthew 7:7–8). Disciples of Jesus are people of persistent faith.
The parable of the persistent widow and unjust judge is similar to theparable of the persistent neighbor (Luke 11:5–10), another lesson in Jesus’ teachings on prayer. While both parables teach the importance of persistence in prayer, the story of the widow and the judge adds the message of continued faithfulness in prayer.
Jesus presents a final quiz on the matter at the end of the parable of the persistent widow and unjust judge. He asks,“But when the Son of Man returns, how many will He find on the earth who have faith?” (Luke 18:8, NLT). Just as Paul stresses in1 Thessalonians 5:17, continual devotion to prayer should be a way of life. The Lord wants to know if He will find any faithful prayer warriors left on the earth when He returns. Will we be among God’s people still praying at Christ’s second coming,“Your Kingdom come, your will be done” (Matthew 6:10)?
Faithful,never-ceasing, persistent prayeris the permanent calling of every true disciple of Christ who is dedicated to living for the Kingdom of God. Like the persistent widow, we are needy, dependent sinners who trust in our gracious, loving, and merciful God alone to supply what we need. (Quote source here.)
2020 has been a year like no other in living memory.
It started as 1973, with the impeachment proceedings. Then it became 1918 with the coronavirus pandemic. It added 2008 (and maybe 1929) with the recession. Then it added 1968 with racial issues. None of the last three will end any time soon, and we can add the election this fall.
Psychologists distinguish between acute stress, something we experience in the face of immediate but short-term challenges, and chronic stress, which is ongoing and debilitating. Of the two, chronic stress can especially lead to depression and other physical and psychological challenges.
If you’re like me, the chronic nature of our challenges is becoming discouraging and worse. Your congregation probably feels the same way.
In this context, I wanted to share a reminder that has been encouraging me in recent days, one drawn from what is perhaps Jesus’ most misunderstood parable.
A rude neighbor
You know his story inLuke 11about the persistent neighbor who knocks at a friend’s door at midnight to ask for bread he can serve a guest. The man’s reluctance is understandable: Common homes in Jesus’ day were one room, with one window and a door. The first two-thirds of the room was a dirt floor where the animals slept for the night. The back one-third was a raised wooden platform with a charcoal stove around which the entire family slept. For this man to get up at midnight he must awaken his family and then his animals just to get to the door.
In Jesus’ story, the neighbor gets up despite all this—the rudeness, the inconvenience, the breach of social custom—because of the man’s “impudence.” The Greek word means “shameless refusal to quit.” He simply will not go away until the man gives him what he wants. And so he does.
So Jesus concludes:“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (v. 9). The Greek could be translated literally,“ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking.”Practice persistence with God.
A loving father
Now, what does Jesus’ parable mean for us? First, let’s dismiss what it doesn’t mean.
Jesus is not teaching that we can wear God out if we ask for something enough. That God is the man inside the house asleep, but if we come and bang on his door loud enough and long enough, he will give us what we want. Even if he doesn’t want to, if we keep asking, eventually we’ll receive what we want.
Unfortunately, I’ve heard that very theology preached: if you have enough faith, God will give you whatever you ask for. Whether you want to be healed, or be wealthy, or anything at all, just ask in enough faith and it’s yours.
That is absolutely not the point here. Jesus is using a very common rabbinic teaching technique known in the Hebrew as the “qal wahomer.” Literally,“from the light to the heavy.”Applied here, the point is this: if a neighbor at midnight would give you what you ask if you ask him, how much more will God answer our requests when we bring them to him.
They must be in his will, for his purposes and glory. This is no guarantee that enough faith will ever obligate God. It is a promise that if this man would hear his neighbor, how much more does God wish to do the same.
Why persistent prayer is so powerful
How does Jesus’ story relate to our need for persistent prayer in these challenging days?
Let’s admit that persistence in prayer is difficult for our fallen culture. Many in our secularized society are convinced that the spiritual is superstitious fiction. To them, praying to God is like praying to Zeus. If it makes you feel better, go ahead. But don’t persist in your prayers as though they make any real difference.
Our materialistic culture is also convinced that the material is what matters. Seeing is believing. You cannot see beyond the immediate, so why would you persist in doing something that doesn’t bring immediate results? If God doesn’t answer your prayer now, why keep praying it?
In the face of such skepticism, why do what Jesus taught us to do? Because persistent prayer positions us to experience God’s best.
Praying to God does not inform him of our need or change his character. Rather, it positions us to receive what his grace intends to give.
Persistent prayer does something else as well: it keeps us connected to God so his Spirit can mold us into the image of Christ. When we pray, the Holy Spirit is able to work in our lives in ways he cannot otherwise. The more we pray, continuing to trust our problems and needs to the Lord, the more he makes us the people he intends us to be and empowers us for the challenges we face.
An invitation from God
Jesus’ story invites us to define our greatest challenge as a pastor in these days. Name it before your Father. Continue to pray about it, knowing that persistent prayer connects you with his power and wisdom. Know that as you knock, the door will be opened, by the grace of God.
I walk in our Dallas neighborhood early each morning. This week, I came across a yard sign that impressed me greatly. It proclaimed: “Hope is alive. Jesus is alive!” The first is true because the second is true.
There is hope for our past because Jesus died for us (Romans 5:8) and then rose from our grave. There is hope for our present because the living Christ is praying for us right now (Romans 8:34). There is hope for our future because Jesus will come for us one day and is building our home in paradise right now (John 14:1–3).
Hope is alive because Jesus is alive. Why do you need to practice persistent prayer to him today?
It is always too soon to give up on God. (Quote source here.)
I’ll end this post with the words that Jesus spoke to his disciples (and that includes his followers today) in Luke 18:1…
A vivid critique of American life today and a guide to how Christians–and particularly Catholics–can live their faith vigorously, and even with hope, in a post-Christian public square.
From Charles J. Chaput, author ofLiving the Catholic FaithandRender unto CaesarcomesStrangers in a Strange Land, a fresh, urgent, and ultimately hopeful treatise on the state of Catholicism and Christianity in the United States. America today is different in kind, not just in degree, from the past. And this new reality is unlikely to be reversed. The reasons include, but aren’t limited to, economic changes that widen the gulf between rich and poor; problems in the content and execution of the education system; the decline of traditional religious belief among young people; the shift from organized religion among adults to unbelief or individualized spiritualities; changes in legal theory and erosion in respect for civil and natural law; significant demographic shifts; profound new patterns in sexual behavior and identity; the growth of federal power and its disregard for religious rights; the growing isolation and elitism of the leadership classes; and the decline of a sustaining sense of family and community. (Quote source here.)
I was raised in a non-denominational church in the Midwest most closely aligned with Baptists, so my knowledge of the Catholic Church is minimal. However, as I looked through this book, the information it contains is clearly relevant to all Christians regarding the seismic changes going on in our society today and how they have unfolded over the past several decades since the 1950’s and 1960’s. In Chapter 1 titled, “Resident Aliens,” he writes the following on page 7:
Judges 2:6-15is the story of what happens after the Exodus and after Joshua wins the Promised Land for God’s people. Verse 10 says that Joshua“and all that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them, who did not know the Lord or the work which he had done for Israel.”
It’s a Bible passage worth pondering. Every generation leaves a legacy of achievement and failure. In my lifetime, many good men and women have made the world better by the gift of their lives to others. But the biggest failure of so many people of my–baby boomer–generation, including parents, teachers, and leaders in the Church, has been our failure to pass along our faith in a compelling way to the generation now taking our place.
The reason the Christian faith doesn’t matter to so many of our young people is that–too often–it didn’t really matter to us. Not enough to shape our lives. Not enough for us to suffer for it. As Catholic Christians, we may have come to a point today where we feel like foreigners in our own country–“strangers in a strange land,”in the beautiful English of the King James Bible (Exodus 2:22). But the deeper problem in America isn’t that we believers are “foreigners.” It’s that our children and grandchildren aren’t. (Quote source: “Strangers in a Strange Land,” page 7.)
The number of Christians and cultural strength of Christianity are both declining in the United States. This decline is noticeable and is affecting church life, culture, and politics. It is also deeply disturbing to most Christians, including me.
These descriptive claims are found in my new book,A Letter to My Anxious Christian Friends, just out with Westminster John Knox Press. I will be reflecting on themes from that new book in my blog posts over the next few weeks. This is the first, exploring Christian decline in the United States.
I could now spend several paragraphs inviting a debate over whether and in what sense Christianityreally can be said to be in declinein the U.S. But I won’t. Suffice it to say that when one percent fewer Americans each year claim a Christian affiliation, that marks decline. When most denominations and congregations report declining membership and attendance, that marks decline. When more and more congregations close their doors forever, that marks decline. And when the youngest generation shows the greatest disaffiliation trend, that marks a decline likely to have lasting impact.
No, the more interesting question at this point is why. Why this disaffiliation trend? What are its causes?
An interesting problem in recent conversations about Christian decline is that many who weigh in appear to be defending their side in internal Christian conflicts and controversies. Undoubtedly there is some truth to their respective claims, but their polemic purposes must be considered.
For example, many conservative evangelicals have for a long time pinned Christian decline on the mainline liberals, stating that if they had held firmly to a more robust and orthodox Christianity, they would have done better.
On the other hand, many mainliners, not to mention disaffected evangelicals and ex-evangelicals, have made quite the opposite claim. For them, Christian decline is due to the excesses and rigidities of conservative religion.
Having experienced both kinds of churches, I have witnessed both kinds of disaffiliation: ex-mainliners leaving because their churches were so insipid, and ex-evangelicals leaving because they could not reconcile conservative faith with science, critical thinking, or the contemporary world.
So let’s count both of those as reasons why some are disaffiliating. Here is my very tentative proposal for eight other reasons:
–Prosperity and affluence distract people from regular church attendance and reduce a strong sense of need to be in church, gradually eroding not just church attendance but Christian identity.
–The pre-modern claims of traditional Christian faith appear increasingly incredible to postmodern Americans. It has been a very long time since a majority of cultural elites found Christianity’s supernatural claims, for example, to be credible. These elites dominate our culture.
–Hypocrisies and conflicts in church, when they (inevitably) erupt, don’t just drive people to other churches, as in the past, but sometimes take them out of Christianity altogether.
–The fading of cultural Christianity means that fewer and fewer Americans feel any cultural or familial expectation to be in church or practice Christianity. “It was good enough for grandpa” just doesn’t cut it anymore.
–American Christianity is not producing many compelling leaders, and thus the average church (as well as the Church writ large) is not especially inspiring or visionary. Many ministers play it safe in order to keep their jobs, or are simply not that talented.
–The collapse of any protection of Sunday from recreation and work, together with the gig economy, means many people are working or otherwise engaged on Sunday.
–It is harder for parents to pass the faith onto their children in a wired world in which parental influence is in decline.
–Evangelism is dead. No one really knows how to “share the Christian faith” any more in a way that connects with people, and many Christians have stopped trying.
So that’s ten proposed reasons why Christianity is declining in the United States. I invite you to add your own reasons for this significant trend. In a later post I will reflect on what might be done to redress the problems the churches now face. (Quote source here.)
One has to wonder, too, if part of the reason Christianity is declining in America is because it was just something many of us especially in the Baby Boomer generation grew up doing because our parents did–attending church services and being involved in church activities–and as the culture around us became more secular, we didn’t really have any “roots” that kept us in church other then maybe feeling an obligation to go as it was “expected” for us to go. Or, it is mainly just a part of something we did or still do every Sunday (attending church), but the faith that is required to believe in God and Jesus Christ wasn’t or isn’t really there or it has no depth. Hebrews 11:6 states, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
So, what are the signs of genuine saving faith? GotQuestions.org answers that question as follows:
This is one of the most important questions in the Christian life. Many believers doubt their salvation because they don’t see signs of genuine faith in their lives. There are those who say we should never doubt our decision to follow Christ, but the Bible encourages us to examine ourselves to see if we are truly “in the faith” (2 Corinthians 13:5). Thankfully, God has given us ample instruction for how we can know for sure that we have eternal life. The first epistle of John was actually written for that purpose, as it states in1 John 5:13, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
There is a series of tests in1 Johnthat we can use to examine ourselves and our faith. As we look at them, remember that no one will perfectly fulfill all of them all the time, but they should reveal a consistent trend that characterizes our lives as we grow in grace.
1. Do you enjoy having fellowship with Christ and His redeemed people? (1 John 1:3) 2. Would people say you walk in the light, or walk in the darkness? (1 John 1:6-7) 3. Do you admit and confess your sin? (1 John 1:8) 4. Are you obedient to God’s Word? (1 John 2:3-5) 5. Does your life indicate you love God rather than the world? (1 John 2:15) 6. Is your life characterized by “doing what is right”? (1 John 2:29) 7. Do you seek to maintain a pure life? (1 John 3:3) 8. Do you see a decreasing pattern of sin in your life? (1 John 3:5-6) [Note: this refers to not continuing in sin as a way of life, not a total absence of sin.] 9. Do you demonstrate love for other Christians? (1 John 3:14) 10. Do you “walk the walk,” versus just “talking the talk”? (1 John 3:18-19) 11. Do you maintain a clear conscience? (1 John 3:21) 12. Do you experience victory in your Christian walk? (1 John 5:4)
If you are able to truthfully answer“Yes”to these questions (or a majority of them, and are working on the others), then your life is bearing the fruit of true salvation. Jesus said that it is by our fruits that we are known as His disciples (Matthew 7:20). Fruitless branches—professing believers who do not display the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) are cut off and thrown into the fire (John 15:6). A genuine faith is one that not only believes in God (the demons themselves do that –James 2:19), but leads to open confession of sin and obedience to Christ’s commands. Remember, we are saved by grace through faith, not by our works (Ephesians 2:8-9), but our works should display the reality of our salvation (James 2:17-18). Genuine saving faith will always produce works; a faith that is perpetually without works is no faith at all and saves no one.
In addition to these confirmations, we need to remember God’s promises and the reality of the war we are in. Satan is just as real as Jesus Christ, and he is a formidable enemy of our souls. When we turn to Christ, Satan will look for every opportunity to deceive and defeat us. He will try to convince us that we are unworthy failures or that God has given up on us. When we are in Christ, we have the assurance that we are kept by Him. Jesus Himself prayed for us inJohn 17:11that the Father would“protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one.”Again in verse 15, He prayed,“keep them from the evil one.”
InJohn 10:27-29, Jesus said,“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.”If you hear and obey the voice of Jesus, then you are one of His sheep, and He will never let you go. Jesus gave a wonderful word picture here of Christians securely held within His loving hands and the Father’s almighty hands wrapping themselves around His, giving us a double assurance of eternal security. (Quote source here.)
In John 7:37-39, Jesus is attending the Feast of Tabernacles, and he refers to the “rivers of living water” that would flow from within those who believe in him. Here are those three verses:
On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice,“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
Jesus uses the phrase “living water” in two instances in the Bible. The first instance is found inJohn chapter 4. Jesus was tired and sat at a well while His disciples went into town to buy food. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus asked her for a drink. The Samaritan woman was quite shocked because Jesus was a Jew, and Jews simply hated the Samaritans. Of course, she had no idea who Jesus was and asked Him how He could ask her for water since He was a Jew.
Jesus ignored the question and went right to the point,“If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water” (John 4:10). Notice that He does not say that He is the living water, but that He would give living water to her, and when she received it, she would never thirst again. Of course, that does not tell us what the living water is! For that, we must go to another passage of Scripture. In this case, Jesus is in the temple surrounded by a throng of worshipers. He suddenly cried out,“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scriptures said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:37–39).
Here Jesus refers to theHoly Spiritas the living water. External influence of the Spirit had always been given in the conversion and sanctification of the Old Testament saints and prophets, but the gift of the Spirit who would indwell believers had not yet been received (Acts 10:44–45). So, though many people say that Jesus is the living water, Jesus Himself intended the phrase to mean the Holy Spirit who dwells in believers and seals them for salvation (Ephesians 1:13–14). It is the ministry of the Spirit, flowing out of a heart redeemed by God, that blesses believers and, through them, brings life and light to the world. (Quote source here.)
I’ll end this post with the words of Jesus from John 7:37b-38—Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said…
Rivers of living water . . .
Will flow . . .
From within them . . . .
YouTube Video: “Rivers of Living Water” by Karen Marrolli:
We live in an “anything goes” society today. Postmodernism has given way to post-postmodernism. Some of the “salient features of postmodernism are normally thought to include the ironic play with styles, citations and narrative levels, a metaphysical skepticism or nihilism towards a grand narrative of Western culture, a preference for the virtual at the expense of the real (or more accurately, a fundamental questioning of what ‘the real’ constitutes) and a ‘waning of affect’ on the part of the subject, who is caught up in the free interplay of virtual, endlessly reproducible signs inducing a state of consciousness similar to schizophrenia.” (Quote source here.)
Another term for post-postmodernism has been coined as “metamodernism.”“Metamodernism is the literary movement that is defined by being in a constant state of flux between modernist and postmodernist ideals. This essentially means holding both states of hopelessness and hope, sincerity and irony, knowingness and naivete, deconstruction and reconstruction in one’s head and then producing something out that liminal, fluctuating space. It’s all about being in a state where you know you’re on the edge, but could be saved. You just don’t know. Critics say that metamodernism bloomed out of a reaction to climate change—the idea that we are destroying our planet, that we are doing this to ourselves, and the idea that maybe this is a good thing. Humans are essentially a bad influence on this planet. So we’re simultaneously rooting for our demise but at the same time, want to live. This is the state of flux metamodernism puts us in. With this kind of mindset, how do you think you would act?…” (Quote source here.)
That’s a very good question. I realize I am now an official member of the older generation, but when we anchor our lives on nothing more solid then what is written above, where will it lead to and where will it all end? It’s like building a house on shifting sand. When truth becomes relative (which started with postmodernism), does that now mean we can destroy in some way (as in character, reputation, career and/or livelihood) our neighbor or a stranger without any consequences whatsoever? Does it mean we think we should get a paycheck regardless of whether we do the work our employer hired us to do or not? Does it mean that it is really no big deal to cheat on our spouse, or abuse a friendship, or hurt someone behind their back? Does it mean we can be callous to anyone we don’t like? And hiding any of these behaviors behind a “nice” facade and lies doesn’t change what we are actually doing even if the recipient is not aware of it. Do we believe there are never any consequences to our actions?
This is where conscience comes into play. Conscience is that built-in part of us that really does know right from wrong. Dictionary.com defines “conscience“ as “the inner sense of what is right or wrong in one’s conduct or motives, impelling one toward right action” (quote source here).
When God made you, He gave you a built-in “firewall” to protect you from making destructive decisions. Without this firewall, man is prone to destroy his life and the lives of others by choices that go against God’s will. This firewall is known as the human conscience.
Your conscience is a gift from your Creator. He gave it to you because He loves you and He wants to help you do the right things. He wants you to feel guilty about your sin, and to feel good about His love and forgiveness. When there is no guilt over sin, there is no awareness of the danger you are facing and the harm you are causing.
You can thank God whenever you sense your built-in firewall working for you. Whenever you refuse to do what is wrong, you can be reminded of how God made you. Whenever you resist hurting someone else by your words or actions, you can thank God He made you to sense that preferable path. Whenever you choose not to lie or cheat or steal, you can thank God for giving you a conscience.
Your conscience acts in a way as your “prosecuting attorney.” Whenever you go against what is good, your conscience will accuse you and seek to convict you of your “crime.” It is a blessing to sense that corrective conviction. We all need that in our lives. Young people need it and so do adults. Without it, we are operating a highly advanced “computer” of sorts without any firewall and without any protection against destructive behavior.
When you first go against your conscience in some area of your life, you feel it. It is a nagging feeling that what you did was wrong. At that point, you will either submit to your conscience and do the right thing, or you will resist your conscience and prepare once again to go against it. That is a critical mistake. By going against our conscience, we risk losing our bearings and reaping a whirlwind of consequences due to wrong choices.
A person who continually goes against his conscience is in danger of “searing” his conscience. This dulls the work of your conscience and its ability to help you make good decisions. A seared conscience is a very dangerous thing. It provides its owner with a false sense of comfort over wrong behavior, and an unhealthy outlook which will continue to cause major problems.
The Bible explains how a person’s conscience can actually go from being your prosecuting attorney to your defense attorney. That progression is lethal. Paul writes,“The requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.” (Romans 2:15) This describes the process whereby man’s conscience stops accusing him, and actually begins defending his bad behavior. That my friend is a seared conscience.
To be seared means to make callous or unfeeling. This is exactly what happens to the human conscience when it gets repeatedly and deliberately violated. It stops working, at least in a helpful manner. It begins to justify the bad behavior and even comes up with excuses. After all, it has now become your defense attorney. (Quote source here.)
As Delzell stated, defending our bad behavior to the point where we don’t even care anymore–that is a seared conscience. In another article published on August 20, 2016, titled “A Seared Conscience,” by Ally Portee, contributor at seelemag.com, she writes:
The Bible talks about the conscience in good terms and bad terms. I believe, one of the worst things that can happen to a person is to have a seared conscience, or as Paul calls it in his letter to Timothy in1 Timothy 4:2, a dead conscience.When the heart becomes calloused, each and every ungodly thing a person does will get easier, until that person feels no remorse or their ungodly actions become normal to them. In this situation there is a problem. It’s best to not be around people with calloused, seared, or dead consciousness.
Dictators, embezzlers, mass murderers, and those who have carried out some of the worst atrocities in life would fit into this category. As we have seen from history and from experiences in our own personal lives, some people are so far gone into themselves, where it is as if their consciences are broken, and they feel no conviction for how they treat others or how they act/react in situations.
But we can’t control other people. And all we can do is make sure our hearts and actions are right before God, and that our consciousness are clean before Him. When our consciousness are seared then it means we have become insensitive to Godly living; perhaps insensitive to knowing how to treat our fellow man; and perhaps insensitive to moral pangs. Lying, stealing, cheating, adultery, idolatry, mistreatment of others are all okay–in some shape or form–to people like this. But one who has a good conscience and who is upright doesn’t have that calloused heart where they’ve become so insensitive to wrongdoing. These types of people can tell right from wrong, they are free from guilt and they maintain their integrity. And these people don’t get entangled in the lies of the devil, but rather they“fight the battle well, holding on to faith and a good conscience” (1 Timothy 1:18-19). (Quote source here.)
This brings us to the other side of the coin on the topic of conscience–a clear conscience. The following information is taken from a biblical perspective from an article titled, “How Can I Get a Clear Conscience?” written by the staff at GotQuestions.org:
Humans have tried a variety of things to clear their consciences, from charity work to self-mutilation. History is replete with examples of mankind’s efforts to appease his conscience, but nothing works. So he often turns to other means of drowning out that inner voice that declares him guilty. Addictions, immorality, violence, and greed are often deeply rooted in the fertile soil of a guilty conscience.
However, sinceall sin is ultimately a sin against God, only God can redeem a violated conscience. Just as He did in the Garden of Eden, God provides us a covering through the sacrifice of something perfect and blameless (Exodus 12:5; Leviticus 9:3; 1 Peter 1:18–19). God sent His own Son, Jesus, into the world for the purpose of being the final, perfect sacrifice for the sins of the whole world (John 3:16; 1 John 2:2). When Jesus went to the cross, He took upon Himself every sin we would ever commit. Every violated conscience, every sinful thought, and every evil act was placed upon Him (1 Peter 2:24). All the righteous wrath that God has for our sin was poured out on His own Son (Isaiah 53:6; John 3:36). Just as an innocent animal was sacrificed to cover Adam’s sin, so the perfect Son was sacrificed to cover ours. God Himself chooses to make us right with Him and pronounce us forgiven.
We can have our consciences cleansed when we bring our sin, our failures, and our miserable attempts to appease God to the foot of the cross. The atonement of Christ forgives our sin and cleanses our conscience (Hebrews 10:22). We acknowledge our inability to cleanse our own hearts and ask Him to do it for us. We trust that Jesus’ death and resurrection are sufficient to pay the price we owe God. When we accept Jesus’ payment for our personal sin, God promises to cast our sins away from us“as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12; cf.Hebrews 8:12).
In Christ, we are freed from the stranglehold of sin. We are set free to pursue righteousness and purity and become the men and women God created us to be (Romans 6:18). As followers of Christ, we will still commit occasional sin. But, even then, God provides a way for us to have our consciences cleared.First John 1:9says that,“if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”Often, with that confession comes the knowledge that we must make things right with the ones we have offended. We can take that step with the people we have hurt, knowing that God has already forgiven us.
Our consciences can remain clear as we continually confess our sin to God and trust that the blood of Jesus is sufficient to make us right with Him. We continue to“seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). We trust that, in spite of our imperfections, God delights in us and in His transforming work in our lives (Philippians 2:13; Romans 8:29). Jesus said,“So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). We live with a clear conscience by refusing to wallow in the failures that God has forgiven. We stand confident in His promise that,“if God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). (Quote source here.)
Today we will look at the disarming power of a clear conscience. Webster’s Dictionary defines conscience as,“the sense of the moral goodness or blameworthiness of one’s own conduct, intentions, or character together with a feeling of obligation to do right or be good.”I likeDictionary.com’s version,“the inner sense of what is right or wrong in one’s conduct or motives, impelling one toward right action, the complex of ethical and moral principles that controls or inhibits the actions or thoughts of an individual.”
God created us with a conscience and, under the control of the Holy Spirit, He can use it to guide us as we make the decisions that mark our path and define our character. This ‘complex of ethical and moral principles’ can be instructed by Scripture and empowered by prayer to provide us with a reliable resource for the choices that confront us daily. For the Apostle Paul, speaking truth comes from the conscience that is under the control of the Holy Spirit,
“I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 9:1)
It is not surprising that Paul would state,
“I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.” (Acts 24:16)
God values a clear conscience. When Abram lied to the king, telling him Sarah was his sister, the King took her as his wife. When he found out about Abram’s deception he cried out to God, and, “God said to him in the dream, ‘Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her’” (Genesis 20:6). God spared the King because his actions were done with a clear conscience.
The danger we face is that our conscience can also be numbed, muted and silenced. Paul charges that some followers of Jesus will abandon the faith and follow deceptive teachings.
“Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.” (I Timothy 4:2)
He warns that idolatry is a sign that our conscience is compromised.
“Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.” (1 Corinthians 8:7)
The enemy delights in weakening and searing our conscience. The weapons he uses are unholy attitudes, unresolved conflict, and unconfessed sin. He has victory in our lives whenever we hold grudges, harbor resentment, withhold forgiveness, justify sin or wallow in cynicism. The fruit of a seared conscience include prejudice, greed, divisiveness, anger, malice and arrogance. The amazing truth is that, with our consciences becoming weak and calcified, we will not recognize that these cancers have taken root in our souls. We become both self-deceived and self-righteous. And we wonder why we never experience God’s abundant life–the life of contentment and joy in Him. Such is the power of a compromised conscience.
So how is your conscience? Is it clear or conflicted? Is it Holy Spirit guided or weak… even seared?
There are signs that can help you with this answer. When you lay on your pillow tonight and look up into the darkness, examine your heart. Listen to your inner voice as you survey the terrain of your life. Bring to mind images of the people and relationships that surround you. What does your heart say? Pray to God to make you sensitive to what you hear and feel. Is your heart at rest? Is your spirit at peace? This is not about being sinless, or living without conflict or dysfunction or disappointment or frustration. This is not a measure of whether or not you are experiencing the storms of life, but whether your heart testifies that God is your captain and you are seeking to be faithful as He guides you through. It does not require perfect relationships, but only the assurance that you are seeking peace and healing in the midst of strife.
If your conscience is not clear, take heart. A clear conscience is the fruit of repentance, humility and faithfulness. They are yours through Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Claim them in His name. Submit to His authority and be willing to be made clean under the scouring power of His hand. Let Him create in you a clean heart and put a right spirit within you. He can put to death in you those things that disturb your spirit and eat away at your peace. Let Him demolish those strongholds and replace them with a humble and faithful heart. In their presence, the enemy is powerless. (Quote source here.)
I’ll end this post with the words from 1 Peter 3:16 (MSG): Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people…
We are currently several months into the “Covid Chronicles,” (the Covid-19 pandemic) here in America from when the first “stay-at-home” orders and lock downs started back in mid-March 2020. Wearing a face mask has become a regular part of our attire when dressing and going out for the day as well as social distancing (a term that will be forever etched into our collective memories).
Of course, there are other significant issues going on in America right now, too, caused by racial unrest and rioting that has been occurring since May 25, 2020, when George Floyd was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis. And all of this (the pandemic, the killing of George Floyd and the following rioting, racial tensions, and outrage) is occurring during an extremely heated Presidential election year (see this link to an article published on August 4, 2020, titled, “2020: The Thelma and Louise Election,” by John Zmirak, Senior Editor of The Stream, to get his perspective on what is going on during this election cycle).
The year 2020 will go down in history as the year of national outrage. While a virus is spreading across the United States, peaceful protests for racial justice morphed intovandalism, arson and anarchy. Angry marchers in Seattle took over several city blocks while protesters in Portland tried to burn down a federal courthouse. I’ve never known my country to be so hateful.
Anger has reached a boiling point. Passengers are being removed from planes because they started fistfights over leg room. Store customers are going ballistic because other customers aren’t wearing masks. Entitled Americans, always ready to record a cellphone video, are ready to blow the whistle on each other.
We don’t care how our words hurt people anymore. We have become a vicious culture. Jesus warned this would happen when He said that in the last days,“Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold” (Matt. 24:12, NASB).
We are naïve if we don’t recognize this cold-hearted hatefulness affecting Christians. I’ve noticed that people today get offended more easily and are much quicker to storm out of a church when something goes wrong.
The world tells us that ending a relationship is as easy as hitting the unfriend button. But when I read the Bible, I don’t see any room for outrage, resentment, intolerance or “unfriending.” Jesus calls us to love—and He gives us the supernatural power to do it.
Have you considered ending a relationship recently because of politics? Did you already walk out of a church or break a close friendship because of a disagreement? If so, examine your heart and ask these probing questions first:
Am I giving up too soon?The apostle Paul told the Ephesians they should“always demonstrate gentleness and generous love toward one another, especially toward those who try your patience” (Eph. 4:2b, TPT). Your love will never grow unless it is stretched—and the best way to stretch your love is to show kindness when you feel like slamming a door in a person’s face.
The truth is that we often give up on relationships because we just don’t want to exert the energy to improve them. Relationships require a lot of work. When you unfriend someone just because they hurt you, you are missing an opportunity to become more like Christ.
Show some patience. Choose to love even when you don’t get anything in return.
Ephesians 4:3 (NLT)says we must“make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.”The Greek word for “make every effort” means “to be diligent; to use speed; to be prompt or earnest; to labor.” That means you shouldn’t let wounds fester. Act quickly to repair the relationship before it gets worse!
Would Jesus end this relationship?When you end a friendship because of an offense, you are doing the exact opposite of what Jesus did for you.Ephesians 4:32says“be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.”You will never understand God’s merciful love if you don’t show it to others.
Jesus doesn’t flippantly write people off. He loved us even when we were sinners, and He patiently drew us to Himself using“ropes of kindness and love” (Hosea 11:4b). Before you end a friendship, judge a pastor, storm out of a church or give someone the cold shoulder, remember how aggressively Jesus pursued a relationship with you. Let His ropes of kindness pull you out of your bad attitude.
When Peter asked Jesus how many times we are required to forgive a person, Jesus answered“seventy times seven” (seeMatt. 18:22b). Taken literally, that means 490 times—but Jesus wasn’t putting a limit on forgiveness. He was using the number seven to imply infinity. Stop counting how many times you have been offended and instead thank God for all the times He has overlooked your mistakes.
Am I nursing a grudge?Our divisive political climate encourages people to get up mad in the morning, fuel their anger with hot political rhetoric throughout the day and then go to bed after listening to more arguments on news broadcasts. We are literally poisoning ourselves.
Many Christians have allowed similar poison in their lives because of church drama. They are mad that a pastor slighted them. They are jealous of someone who took a position they wanted. They are angry because a Christian did something hypocritical.
Resentment is deadly. It actually makes people sick. It also makes us ugly and unpleasant. Unforgiveness puts a frown on your face, wrinkles around your eyes and a sour tone in your voice.
Don’t let today’s culture of outrage infect you. Go against the flow of toxic hate. Make a decision today to work harder at maintaining your relationships. Forgive those who hurt you so your love doesn’t grow cold. (Quote source here.)
In an opinion piece published in The RecordHearld.com on October 1, 2019, Bill Tinsley, columnist, author, pastor, and missions leader, writes the following in his post titled, “Age of Outrage”:
Ours has been called the “age of outrage.” Perhaps it began with news anchor Howard Beale throwing open his window in the 1975 movie “Network” and screaming into the crowded streets, “I’m mad as h— and I’m not going to take it anymore!” Whatever Beale was mad about seemed to simmer for decades until the 2016 election. Name calling, finger pointing, screaming and yelling soared to new heights and hasn’t seemed to diminish since.
Now that we are approaching 2020, the noise is escalating. With the advent of social media all accountability seems to be thrown to the wind. In this age of outrage, people say things they shouldn’t say including prejudicial bullying, ridicule and false accusations.
Even Christians seem to be outraged. It seems that Christians are primarily outraged because they sense they are losing control of their “Christian” culture. Step by step over my lifetime the cultural advantages for Christians have been curtailed. There is a sense that Christians are losing the battle as America becomes increasingly secular.
Last yearEd Stetzerwrote a book entitled, “Christians in the Age of Outrage.” In his introduction, he writes,“Terrorism, sex trafficking and exploitation, systemic racism, illegal immigration, child poverty, opioid addiction… the list goes on. These issues deserve a measure of outrage, don’t they? They certainly deserve our anger. And this is part of the problem. What do we do when the anger becomes too much? When our righteous indignation at injustice morphs into something completely different? How do we know when righteous anger has made the turn into unbridled outrage?”
In March of this year he wrote,“The comments sections on YouTube are a greater testament to human depravity than all the reformers’ doctrines combined. Arguments, bullying, conspiracy theories, vitriol and irrational cesspools of misinformation and misdirection abound in our digital communication and marketplace. There is outrage everywhere–sometimes targeting Christians, but unfortunately, often coming from Christians.” [Quote source for this paragraph is located here.]
Outrage has never been the means by which the Christian faith has flourished at any time. In fact, the Bible outlines a very different path if we want to influence the culture in which we live.
Jesus said,“But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:27-28). The Apostle Paul echoed these instructions,“Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse” (Romans 12:14).
The Psalmist writes,“Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it” (Psalm 34:13-14). “I said, ’Lord I will guard my ways that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth as with a muzzle” (Psalm 39:1).
Does this mean Christians should never speak up? Of course not. Paul clearly spoke up and defended himself when he was falsely accused at Philippi, Jerusalem, Caesarea and Rome. But, for the Christian, there is no place for name calling, ridicule, misinformation and outrage. (Quote source here.)
In Bill Tinsley’s post above, he quoted Ed Stetzer from an article Stetzer published on April 24, 2019, titled “Staying on Mission in the Age of Outrage.” The following excerpt is taken from that article:
We live in a world where our beliefs are increasingly odd and even offensive. But, as Christians, we must allow the Holy Spirit to guide our response. You see, Christians are indeed on the receiving end of this outrage machine. However, I also see churchgoers contributing to and participating in much of the online hostility and misinformation. Our digital outrage damages our witness to the world daily. It seems like people who claim to be Christians are often the worst at spreading false or inaccurate information.
There is indeed much to be concerned about in our world, and some issues deserve our indignation, even anger. Christ followers should grieve and mourn over suffering and injustice, even as we advocate and strive for change in the world.
But when is Christian anger warranted? And when does outrage defame the name of Jesus and undermine our witness? When are we righteously overturning the tables of the money changers, and when are we just wreaking havoc concerning our pet peeves? These questions do not have easy answers, but they deserve our consideration if we want to be faithful disciples of Christ.
Much of our world seems awash in division and hostility. Outrage surrounds us, and we must decide how to navigate these new and often-dangerous waters. We don’t get to pick the time we are born or the issues we face in our day. While conflict is universal to all generations, we live and minister in a unique time. Outrage spreads like a disease across our digital platforms, and Christians are not immune. How do we respond in a way that honors Jesus? We can begin by acknowledging three realities.
Drawn to Outrage
First, people have a natural inclination toward outrage.Christians are no exception; in fact, we often contribute to it.
In “Christians in the Age of Outrage,” I highlight the story of Caleb Kaltenbach, who in 2013 tweeted a picture of a Bible displayed at a Costco store. He found it funny and ironic that the Bible was apparently mistakenly displayed in the store’s fiction section. After the photo received hundreds of retweets, major news sources picked up the story. As I explain in the book:
Leading with the headline “Costco—The Bible Is Fiction,” Fox News promoted the idea that Kaltenbach had uncovered a conspiracy against Christians and the Bible. Kaltenbach was even quoted as characterizing the store’s decision to group the Bible with fiction as “bizarre.”
In minutes, “The Drudge Report” picked up the story and Christians worked themselves into an outrage over the perception of this insult with cries of boycott in the air. Suddenly, a labeling error that listed Bibles as fiction had become a covert theological statement on the very nature of Scripture. What likely happens hundreds of times in bookstores every day had become an insidious spark that unleashed Christian outrage against Costco.
Kaltenbach was not outraged. He believed, and Costco confirmed, it was a shelving error. But his story—caught up in an outrage cycle—is much more complex. You see, Kaltenbach was raised by a same-sex couple. He became a Christian, changed his views, was eventually disowned, and years later saw his biological father and mother eventually come to Christ. I’ve had Kaltenbach in my home, and found him far from being an outraged Christian. He is generous, caring and kind. His book, “Messy Grace: How a Pastor With Gay Parents Learned to Love Others Without Sacrificing Conviction,” is filled with wisdom and—you guessed it—grace!
Nevertheless, Kaltenbach’s conversion and family did not make the news. His Costco tweet did, because people are drawn to outrage. It was primarily Christians who drove that outrage—outrage based on misinformation. But who cares about facts when you can have outrage? We like the fire.
It seems someone is always fanning the flames of outrage somewhere. Why? Because offense attracts our interest. It’s human nature. We like to think of ourselves as the offended party in need of receiving forgiveness or the party able to exact an apology on behalf of someone else.
A Better Way
Second, most outrage is not righteous anger.Many people harbor outrage they think is righteous anger, because our culture often confuses the two. This is harmful for Christians and the world alike.
My wife and daughter recently became stranded in an airport parking garage at 2 A.M. when a car rental staff refused to acknowledge their reservation or offer even a modicum of accommodation. My anxiety rose as I tried, from hundreds of miles away, to get someone to help my family. I wanted to blast my outrage across the web to my quarter of a million Twitter followers.
But the Holy Spirit helped me focus on what would be productive rather than instantly gratifying. The car rental agency’s poor customer service was frustrating, rude and inexplicable. Yet I had to admit that it didn’t warrant righteous anger. So, I politely reached out online, and the folks at their Twitter account helped—perhaps in part because I did so rationally.
Righteous anger is directing our emotions and our passion of angst toward the things that make God angry. God is completely perfect, holy and separate from sin and brokenness. In short, God is righteous by his very nature and character. Whoever God is, and whatever God does, is right. What goes against the nature and character of God is unrighteous. And anger over those things that violate the nature and character of God is righteous, because it longs for the things God longs for in His righteousness.
While remaining perfectly in control, Jesus addressed brokenness, suffering and injustice with boldness, always with a righteous indignation and anger against sin. Being the perfect Son of God, he hates anything that goes against his character and the character of his Father. This is the same Jesus who cleansed the temple:“He made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts” (John 2:14).
Often, we trade this God-focused anger for a self-focused or other-focused outrage. We may direct it toward a political candidate, a pastor or even an individual we encounter in an online comments space. Angst and aggression toward a person are cheap, quick, and sinful knockoffs of righteous anger.
Righteous anger is humble and aware of our own propensity toward sin. As we focus on the nature and character of God, it changes the way we see ourselves and others. Consider Jesus’ powerful words inMatthew 7:5: “You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
Jesus instructs us to look inward first and see our own gaping and overt deficiencies. As we work on these, we will have a clearer view and personal experience of the righteousness of God. Then we’ll be in a better place to help others in a loving and Christlike manner. One is dependent on the other.
Conversely, outrage arises from pride, arrogance and a lack of self-awareness that always cries,“But what about … ?”There’s nothing wrong with taking the speck out of someone’s eye—and the Bible is clear that we should do it—but only after seeing to ourselves. Outrage silences the voice of nuance and self-reflection with the cries of hate and vehement reaction. Attempting to address the sin in other people’s lives without first addressing our own is hypocrisy.
God’s anger is always in the context of His kindness, drawing others toward repentance and faith. Outrage forgets or ignores this grace of Jesus. It seeks to drown out the possibility of mercy or grace, demanding retribution instead. It’s unapologetic, quick and severe. It is a shame Christians often follow this cultural pattern of reacting vengefully instead of mercifully.
Building Bridges
Third, outrage divides, but mission engages.“Culture war” is not a term I like to use, because it is hard to war with a people and love them at the same time. But it is demonstrably true that the culture has turned against many Christian values. In other words, in many ways, this came to us. We did not always create it. There is the redefinition of marriage, the denial of universal truth and the false accusation that Christianity has made the world worse instead of better. The fact is, Christians are right to reject such ideas. But we can stand up for truth without reacting hatefully toward those with whom we disagree.
How we respond when someone triggers us can help or hurt our Christian testimony. Jesus calls us to demonstrate his love and kindness, even when others unjustly accuse or malign us. I’m concerned that in this age of outrage—an age in which a personal response to an offense does not require a personal interaction—our character often reflects the world, not Jesus.
Our response matters. You see, we have a better way. Christians have the gospel, the best news ever. And the gospel brings us somber joy—the joy that comes from knowing we have salvation through Christ, and a sense of somberness because we see the wages of sin and know that many people still reject the only means of redemption. And how can we ever expect or hope that an unbelieving world will trust that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life if we treat them with disdain?
So, the question is this: How should we respond now? Of course, the answer is multifaceted. Some will, and must, defend religious liberty. Some will work to create a culture that draws others to the beauty of the gospel. Most of us will engage culture on a person-by-person basis rather than waging a culture war.
To accomplish the mission to which God is calling us, we need to stop contributing to the outrage and start engaging the outrage of others with the good news of Jesus. If Christians concentrated on loving others instead expressing outrage at our differences with them, if we showed people mercy instead of condemnation, they would see Jesus in a different light. I’m convinced this is, indeed, one of the greatest challenges of our day.
Now to be fair, our challenges are less threatening than those many faced in previous centuries. Most of us aren’t worried about impalement on stakes. But the stakes we face are still high. We must engage this moment well for the cause of Christ and his kingdom.
Salt and Light
It’s time to let go of outrage and find another way, a better way. Modeling Christ’s love isn’t just for pastors and church leaders. It’s what the Holy Spirit empowers every Christ follower to do. Jesus calls his followers to be the“salt of the earth”and the“light of the world.”In the Sermon on the Mount, he says,“Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).
Most people love darkness rather than light. As Christians, we need a steady diet of Jesus and the gospel to resist the pull toward darkness. Unfortunately, many of our churches lack biblical engagement outside of Sunday morning, and have no plan for discipling members. And many pastors are hesitant to address the inappropriate online interactions of congregants.
But Jesus does not shy away from these things. Where he sees a gap, he fills it. Where there is a problem, he lovingly tends to it. He rolls up his sleeves and gets to work in the hard and dark places of our hearts to bring wholeness, healing, redemption, and grace.
Jesus provides the ultimate example of how to live righteously in a hostile world. As Peter describes it,“When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23).
While we humbly work on this in our own lives, we can also point other believers toward kindness instead of rage. The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead lives in us (Rom. 8:11). He will empower us to rise above outrage and respond with temperance.
Kaltenbach has received some pushback for promoting a message of respectful dialogue. But he doesn’t worry about the naysayers. After all, changing hearts is God’s job; ours is to share his truth boldly and graciously.
Scripture reminds us that those who cause division“do not have the Spirit” (Jude 1:19). Those who walk in step with the Spirit produce his fruit:“love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal. 5:22–23). Noticeably absent from the apostle Paul’s list is outrage. So let us be filled with the Spirit and walk in step with him, instead of spewing vitriol through our keyboards and smartphones.
Jesus calls us to build bridges, not unnecessarily burn them. (Quote source here.)
After reading what the three authors wrote above, I’m starting to feel the weight of weariness drop off from everything going on in our culture right now. After all, the burden is too heavy for any one person to carry, and Jesus never intended for us to carry that burden anyway. After all, he told us in Matthew 11:28-30:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
I hope the words by the authors above will be of comfort to all of us who struggle to get through these particularly challenging days right now. I’ll end this post with these words from the apostle Paul found in Phil. 4:6-7: Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding…
Will guard your hearts . . .
And your minds . . .
In Christ Jesus . . . .
YouTube Video: “I Will Fear No More” by The Afters:
“When you come to a fork in the road, take it” is a quote attributed to Baseball Hall-of-Famer,Yogi Berra (1925-2015), who was a brilliant baseball player and manager widely regarded as one of the greatest catchers in baseball history. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972. (Quote source here and here).
Who among us hasn’t had to face “a fork in the road” when making a decision that could totally alter the direction of our lives? Nobody can see into the future, yet a decision still needs to be made.
Life is a series of forks in the road. Some of those forks are big decisions regarding positive moments (e.g. should I marry, move, have a child), while others face us in our darkest times. In those dark times, we have to remember that what feels horrible and insurmountable today will not be there forever. Whether that “horrible” is an unhappy marriage, a feeling of loneliness, the pain of an injustice, a tragic loss or a seemingly unforgivable mistake—recognize that there are many options to choose from in terms of making things better. Do not blindly, impulsively or unconsciously go down the wrong path. The consequences of any fork in the road can be monumental, so take the time to choose the path that honors, rather than harms, humanity—your own or others. (Quote source here.)
For those of us who are Christians, we know that this life is not just about what we want, and that our beliefs impact our decisions. In an article published on February 22, 2011, in “Insights for Living Canada” titled, “When You Come to a Fork in the Road,” by Robyn Roste, writer, editor, and broadcast producer, she writes:
“I don’t know what to do with my life!”
How many times have you said or heard this?
These words were cried in frustration most memorably when I was moving home, after several years away. While in the midst of adventuring, discovering, and exploring, I rarely thought about what was next. But once it was over I found I was unprepared to deal with the choices in front of me.
Questions gnawed at my mind, making me wonder if I had missed God’s plan for my life. Did I get it wrong? Where was I supposed to be? What was I meant to do? Why didn’t anything make sense anymore?
In reality I wasn’t failing at life, I was at a crossroads. Along the bumpy path of life’s road we all inevitably encounter forks, and deciding which direction to turn is a part of life. But how do you decide which way to go? Without knowing the big picture or where the road will take you, how do you know which direction is right?
Sometimes the choices and options keep us up at night. And rightly so! Major life decisions like where to go to school, whether to marry, or what career path to follow should be taken seriously. However, losing sleep and anxious thoughts will only make things worse.
As Christians, we believe this world is temporary and Christ’s return is imminent. Our life choices, then, become that much more important—we want to live lives of meaning, yet know there’s so much more to come. It can be difficult to balance the here and now with what’s to come but the good news is God has already given us the tools we need to make wise decisions.
Here are some ways I’ve learned to focus on what really matters when decisions threaten to keep me up at night:
Relax.Sometimes we get so focused on “the plan” and fearful of missing out on God’s best that we miss the point. Instead of stressing over the plan, focus on developing your relationship with Him. Trust that God will let you know what to do in His time.“Though the Lord gave you adversity for food and suffering for drink, he will still be with you to teach you. You will see your teacher with your own eyes. Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, ‘This is the way you should go,’ whether to the right or to the left.” (Isaiah 30:20-21).
Remember.When a big decision is looming it’s easy to become overwhelmed to the point of paralysis. To break this cycle, remember God’s faithfulness to you in your life, and of His unchanging trustworthiness throughout history. He will remain faithful even if it’s difficult to see His hand in your current situation.“He guards the paths of the just and protects those who are faithful to him. Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair, and you will find the right way to go.” (Proverbs 2:8-9).
Rest.When we’re struggling, this is no easy task. Give God your burden and believe He will give you what you need. Find His promises in the Bible and choose to hope in them.“Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
My story at this particular crossroad has an interesting conclusion. At one point I wrote down my interests, dreams, and hopes. After listing everything I could think of, I put them in order of importance. Then I glued them to a poster board and started drawing circles and lines to connect related topics. After a while all I could see was a giant, sticky mess and I cried in desperation, “Lord you are the only one who can make sense of this! I need you to take over!”
Three years later I look back and can clearly see the Lord’s hand on my life, although at the time it just seemed like chaos. Step-by-step He has proven to be faithful and has shown me, in His perfect timing, how my seemingly random hopes and dreams connect in a way that makes me uniquely capable of serving Him in this time and place, with the ever-present hope of what’s to come. (Quote source here.)
In an article published on September 14, 2018, titled, “The Proverbial Fork in the Road,” by Michael Griego, Silicon Valley businessman, consultant, author and speaker, he offers the following six steps when facing a fork in the road:
This week I advised my laid-off friend to take the following 6 steps over the coming months. [Note: the complete article is available at this link for the background story.] I believe this advice applies to any believer facing that proverbial fork in the road:
Thank God–We’re told to be grateful in all things (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). Thank God for your circumstances, even when painful. Acknowledge and invite God into your situation.
Determine your Choice Options–Take wise consideration of your options. Include what makes sense, what may be a dream, and what may even not be reasonable. Reduce these alternatives into a few broad categories.
Surrender them to God—If you believe that God is God Almighty, then why hold onto anything? Take your job/career alternatives and humbly lay them before God to take them and turn them inside out or blossom them as He desires.
Conduct your Due Diligence—Do the work it takes to pray, study, research, consult others, etc., in order to best evaluate all of your options. (Incidentally, this is when I discovered that not all advice is God-led or inspired, even from well-intended Christians.) With discernment, seek wise, Holy Spirit-led counsel.
Take Forward Steps—You can’t expect the solution to merely drop in your lap. It could, but don’t bet on it. Take proactive action steps in response to opportunities and leads. The good news here is that with God’s full invitation into your life/process, He will open and shut doors in uncanny ways.
Repeat Steps 1-6 Daily—This whole plan of action is actually for daily practice. Come to God in thankful prayer every day with new highs and lows and adjusted opportunities. Surrender them all to God and continue your appropriate homework and action steps.
The epiphany for me, and hopefully for my friend, is in the realization that it’s a daily process. It drives us to our knees in submission and allows God to draw us closer to Him. Is God the Lord of your decision-making? (Quote source here.)
I have encountered many forks in the road throughout my years of struggling to conceive a child. One way tells me to wait, one way tells me to move forward in treatment. One way points to parenthood no matter the method, one way points to contentment in childlessness. The list can go on and on. Some days the pressure of choosing the “right” way is overwhelming, and the burden of these decisions can cloud my vision.
When these decisions tempt me to despair, I do nothing else but pray and seek the Lord in his Word. So friend, no matter what decision you are facing today, seek the Lord above all else and pray scripture fervently. May these prayers lead and bless you. [Meredith offers five very specific prayers at this link which is also the source for the above information].
Are you in a season of feeling that you are directionless, lost, or stuck? Perhaps you need direction for today, or maybe you need direction for grander decisions. My hope for you is that this Scripture-led prayer will guide you as you seek the Lord for direction.
My Father and my God,
It’s unclear to me where I am to be going, but my desire is for you to lead me in your truths. Remind me not to lean on my own limited understanding; make my paths straight, Lord (Prov. 3:5-6).
Father, protect my mind from distraction and confusion as I determine what my next steps are. I admit that I cannot do life within my own strength, Lord; I need you. Please give me godly direction for my life. Grant me peace, contentment, and clarity through this process. I ask that you direct my steps by your word, and that no iniquity I’m experiencing would have power over me (Psalm 119:133).
My hope is in you all day long, Lord. Thank you for your divine provision over my life. Amen. (Quote source here.)
In an article dated June 5, 2014, titled, “Forks in the Road,” by Billy Graham (1918-2018), international Christian evangelist, ordained Southern Baptist minister, and considered to be “among the most influential Christian leaders” of the 20th Century (source here), he wrote:
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.” –Psalm 32:8
We can’t change the past, but we can change the future.
Tragically, many people spend their lives trapped in an endless cycle of bad choices–and bad choices always have bad results. The Bible is right:“A man reaps what he sows” (Galatians 6:7). It also warns, “He who sows wickedness reaps trouble” (Proverbs 22:8). Even Christians aren’t immune from making wrong choices.
The journey God has set before us isn’t a freeway; we are constantly encountering forks and junctions and crossroads. Which way will we go when we meet them? Life is filled with decisions, and we can’t avoid them. But others are major (even if we don’t realize it at the time) and can literally change our lives.
How can we discover God’s will when we face a major decision? Let me give you six guidelines I have found helpful.
First, commit your decision to God.Make it a matter of regular prayer, asking God to guide you and make His will known to you.
Second, read the Scriptures.Does the Bible give any direct guidance about the decision you are facing? Does any principle in the Bible apply to your situation? Did anyone in the Bible ever face a similar decision, and, if so, how did they deal with it? (We can even learn from the wrong decisions some of them made.)
Third, understand your circumstances.God isn’t only working in us; He also is working around us. Often God guides us through our circumstances.
Fourth, seek godly advice.God has given some people a special gift of wisdom, and when we face a decision, it’s often helpful to seek their counsel.
Fifth, trust the Holy Spirit’s guidance.When we honestly seek His will, God often gives us an inner conviction or prompting to confirm which way He wants us to go. The Bible says,“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear the voice behind you saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it” (Isaiah 30:21).
Finally, trust God for the outcome.Once God leads you to make a decision, don’t draw back. Instead, trust His leading, and believe He goes before you – for He does. The Bible says,“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Remember:God loves you, and He wants you to know His will. Seek it . . . discover it . . . and then do it. His way is always best. (Quote source here.)
The year 2020 has presented us with many challenges so far, and if you happen to be at a fork in the road whether the decision you need to make is big or small, the above advice is a very good place to start. I’ll end this post with the words from Psalm 19:21 (NLT)…
You can make many plans . . .
But the Lord’s purpose . . .
Will prevail . . .
YouTube Video: “Which Way the Wind Blows” (1974) by The 2nd Chapter of Acts:
This morning while listening to an online sermon, I heard a phrase that I was not familiar with, and that phrase is “prisoners of hope.” On the surface, it seems like an oxymoron. One might be captivated by hope, but it seems like an odd phrase to say “prisoners of hope.” A verse found in Zechariah 9:12 was the topic of the sermon, and that verse states (ESV):
How often have we found ourselves in circumstances or situations where we think, “I cannot bear this for one more minute,” as the author states above. Sometimes those circumstances can last days, weeks, months, years, and even decades–with no end in sight. “Hanging in there” for one more day, one more week, and sometimes year after year after year, can bring about a sense of hopelessness. Is God there? Does He care? Is there a point to all of this? The questions can seem endless.
We have now entered the 
Here are seven scriptures of hope to fill you this week with the hope Christ brings us daily through His Word.
Today is the first day of Spring 2023, and we are now 
The resurrection of Jesus Christ provides hope and renewal for all who seek him. In a blog post published on April 22, 2017, titled, “
Today as a major 
Oddly enough, I had just returned from Portland, Oregon, where fires raged up and down the west coast. Smoke blotted out the sun there, casting an eerie red apocalyptic glow over the area. The day before, a horrible earthquake ravaged Mexico. I flew back to Florida just in time to escape the fire, right into the oncoming flood. Weeks before: Charlottesville, violence, civil unrest, and massive political upheaval.
I say that “
Clay is not easy to work with. One day my son returned from school with a white substance on his clothes. When I asked about it he replied,
I don’t need to tell you that 2020 has been a challenging year so far here in America, and to top off everything else that has already occurred and is still ongoing, a very heated and divisive Presidential Election is only 62 days away.
We do not always get immediate results when we pray. Our definition of swift justice is not the same as the Lord’s definition. The parable of the persistent widow demonstrates that effective prayer requires tenacity and faithfulness. A genuine disciple must learn that prayer never gives up and is based on absolute trust and faith in God. We can fully count on the Lord to answer when, where, and how He chooses. God expects us to keep on asking, seeking, knocking, and praying until the answers come
Last week I came across a book published in 2017 titled, “
One has to wonder, too, if part of the reason Christianity is declining in America is because it was just something many of us especially in the Baby Boomer generation grew up doing because our parents did–attending church services and being involved in church activities–and as the culture around us became more secular, we didn’t really have any “roots” that kept us in church other then maybe feeling an obligation to go as it was “expected” for us to go. Or, it is mainly just a part of something we did or still do every Sunday (attending church), but the faith that is required to believe in God and 
We live in an “anything goes” society today. 
This brings us to the other side of the coin on the topic of conscience–
We are currently several months into the “
Thank God
Sara's Musings 
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