Ah, Perspective!

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"Many, O Lord my God, are the wonderful works which You have done, and Your thoughts toward us; no one can compare with You! If I should declare and speak of them, they are too many to be numbered." (Psalm 40:5, Amplified Bible)

It is easy to think about ways we feel slighted, things we have to complain about, things that irritate and disappoint us. If we were to begin listing those things, we would find ourselves becoming more and more dissatisfied and miserable.

But what if we began listing the ways God has blessed us? What if we began considering the disappointments and frustrations that have NOT come to us because of unseen blessings?

I remember a time over 25 years ago that I was on the edge of spiritual and emotional burnout. I went away for a couple of days to be alone with God. One of the things I did was to simply walk through the woods and thank God for every blessing I could think of. That walk lasted for hours.

That night, in the camper shell on the back of my truck, in a pouring rain, I wrote a song called "These are the Good Days." Ah, perspective!

Question: What kind of "perspective shift" do you need today?

Leave a comment below.  I'd love to hear YOUR perspective.

How do I choose the right words?

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I said, “I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin;I will put a muzzle on my mouth while in the presence of the wicked.” (Psalm 39:1, New international Version)

Sometimes our best witness for Christ may be in what we do NOT say ... or tweet ... or post on Facebook.

However, silence should not necessarily be our last word (no pun intended). The Psalm continues:

"So I remained utterly silent, not even saying anything good. But my anguish increased; my heart grew hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue" (verses 2-3)

It is a very good thing to determine not to sin with our words, but to not even say anything good does not accomplish the purposes of God.

Let's pray today for wisdom, grace, and self-control as we speak and reveal the character of Jesus in each circumstance.

Question: What is your biggest challenge when it comes to your words (spoken or written)?

Leave a comment below.  I'd love to hear your thoughts.

He's got you in His hands

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"This is the plan, planned for the whole earth, And this is the hand that will do it, reaching into every nation. God-of-the-Angel-Armies has planned it. Who could ever cancel such plans? His is the hand that's reached out. Who could brush it aside?" (Isaiah 14:26-27, The Message)

Like many of you, I learned a song when I was a child: "He's got the whole world in His hands".

It is a little harder to believe when you are grown up and the world seems spinning out of control. Wars, earthquakes, tsunamis, vicious dictators, political gridlock, economic stresses, illness ... You get the point.

We are left to draw the conclusion that either: (1) God is not really in control or (2) God is uncaring or unkind or (3) God loves us and He is orchestrating all these things as a part of His plan for the world.

I am not satisfied with any of those options. 

So, here's my take: God loves us abundantly and the world is ultimately and completely in His hands. He has established boundaries that we cannot cross without consequences. Within those boundaries, He has given us the gift of choosing how we will respond to Him. None of our choices will ever take us beyond the reaches of His love, but they can take us to a place where He will allow us to live with the consequences of our choices. He is in control, but His purpose is not controlling us. He gives freedom to choose and desires that we would choose to live in loving and grateful obedience to Him.

Question: How will you choose to live in His hands today?

Leave a comment below.  I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Is it well with your soul today?

(Horatio G. Spafford, photo credit: wikipedia)

"It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul."

Those words, written by Horatio Gates Spafford in the 1870's, may ring hollow for us today. Easy for you to say, H! You don't know what I'm going through. You don't know what life is like in 2014.

There is some truth to that. Certainly we deal with some things that Mr. Spafford never even considered 150 years ago. But we also may not understand him. Within a few months time, he lost his son to illness, his property in the Great Chicago fire of 1871, and his four daughters in a shipwreck. It was out of that incredible time of trial and pain that he wrote,

"When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, 'It is well, it is well with my soul.'"  

Click here to listen

The condition (wellness) of our souls is not dependent on our circumstances. Praise the Lord for that! The condition of our souls is dependent upon the presence of Jesus in our lives.

"Therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love." (Romans 5:1-5, New Living Translation)

Question: How can you express the wellness of your soul today?

Leave a comment below.  I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Praying for Rain

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"You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike." (Matthew 5:43-45, New Living Translation)

As I sit by my window this morning, I am seeing the evidence of overnight rain that has lingered into this morning, bringing desperately needed moisture to our drought-stricken land. Could it be that God has responded to the prayers of His people? 

But you know what bugs me? There are people benefitting from this moisture who don't deserve it! They care nothing for God, His people, or His purposes, and still God let His rain fall on their yards, too.

You know what else bugs me? God wants me to pray for them. He wants me to pray that He would bless and provide for them. He wants me to pray that they would be drawn to Him, not so they would be better neighbors or citizens, but for His glory and pleasure and for their good. Does He not know how they have treated us?

Probably most of us are better at praying AT our enemies than we are at praying FOR them. We are often tempted to pray that they would get what they deserve, that they would see the error of their ways, that they would be made better.

Yet, these words of Jesus echo, "LOVE your enemies and PRAY FOR those who persecute you." When we do that, we look a lot more like Jesus.

Question: Can you think of someone you need to pray FOR instead of AT today?
Pray for that person right now.

What's In Your Mouth?

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"I WILL bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth." (Psalm 34:1, Amplified Bible)

I wrote somewhere else early this morning that a mouth filled with praise has less room for criticism (or a foot).

In continuing to ponder that thought, and the verse that inspired it, I have identified a few things to help us be sure that our words are God-honoring.

It begins with choice: I WILL.

It continues with consistency: at all times & continually.

It involves continuity of life: from how we live (bless The Lord at all times) to what we say (his praise continually in my mouth).

It originates in God: HIS praise (not only the praise OF Him, but the praise He inspires).

Question: How might our words be different today if we spoke out of that framework?

Leave a comment below.  I'd love to hear your perspective.

Draw Deeply, Friends

Good morning, friends. I have missed sharing with you these past few mornings. Glad to be back today.

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"Joyfully you'll pull up buckets of water from the wells of salvation. And as you do it, you'll say, 'Give thanks to God.'" (Isaiah 12:3-4, The Message)

I fear that we are often guilty of what has been termed as a "scarcity mentality." We look at the balance in our checking account and are acutely aware of our limited financial resources. We look at our calendars and are aware of our limited time resources. There is nothing at all wrong with accurately assessing, or "counting the cost" as Jesus talked about in Luke 14:28-31.

"But don't begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. They would say, 'There's the person who started that building and couldn't afford to finish it!'  

Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him?"(New Living Translation) 

The problem comes when we begin rationing grace or generosity or compassion, fearing that there might not be enough to go around-- or that we might run out ourselves.

We WILL run out if we are only focused on what we can supply, but there is a deep bottomless well of God's grace that is available to those who belong to Him. Jesus talked about this well in John 4:7-14.

Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Please give me a drink." He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.

The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, "You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?"

Jesus replied, "If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water." 

"But sir, you don't have a rope or a bucket," she said, "and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? And besides, do you think you're greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?"

Jesus replied, "Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life." (New Living Translation)

I remembered a couple of songs this morning that were favorites of mine during my college days when the Lord was focusing me on a life of ministry.

Question: How will you dip your bucket today?

Leave a comment below.  I'd love to hear your thoughts.