Unwavering Faith

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Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. Hebrews 11:1-3 NIV

What does faith really look like for you? We often say we have faith, yet we cling to something that we hope will ensure the outcome we want. “There is a significant difference between amazement and faith. You can be amazed by God while not actually putting your faith in him.”  (Paul David Tripp)

Faith may look like the classic illustration of the Little League baseball game when a man walking past asked one of the players what the score was. The boy brightly smiled and said, 18 to 0, we’re behind. The man replied, You must be very discouraged. No, sir, said the young player, we haven’t even been up to bat yet! Unless the young player knew his team was loaded with a lineup of star hitters, the chance of victory was slim.

Unfortunately, many will say they have faith but will “hedge their bet” by holding onto something else in the hope of ensuring the outcome they want. I have faith Google Maps will get me to my destination until it takes me into the middle of nowhere, and we are entirely lost. I have faith that my airline will get me to my destination on time, until all the planes are grounded because the company declared bankruptcy. (Which happened when flying Braniff years ago.) I have faith that I will ace my finals, yet I will not put in the time to study the materials that will be on the exam.

You expect to find stories of unwavering faith in the Bible, and you do. Joseph was sold into slavery, falsely accused and imprisoned, yet at the end he could say, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Gen 50:20) Daniel’s three friends would be handed a “get out of jail” pass if only they bowed down in worship to King Nebuchadnezzar. They chose the furnace and possibly death with the declaration that though God could save them, “But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:18) Mark tells us of a nameless woman who had nothing but faith that she would be healed. “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” (Mark 5:28)

Faith is only as reliable as the foundation on which it exists. Airlines do go bankrupt, Google Maps may be reliable, but not infallible, and typically, effort precedes success. Unwavering faith built on anything other than God will leave you stranded. “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23)

The writer of Hebrews left us the beautiful gift of chapter 11 as a monument of unwavering faith. Verse after verse beginning with “By faith” followed by names of men and women who lived a life of unwavering faith, even though I am sure life did not turn out the way they envisioned. “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised.” (Heb 11:39)

“The life of faith is about standing at the intersection of brokenness and longing, not questioning God’s presence, power, or goodness, but continuing to trust and obey, assured that he still rules and is marching his world toward the fullness of all he has promised. Do you struggle to wait? God meets you with empowering grace.” (Paul David Tripp)

Scripture is alive with stories of unwavering faith, yet God never intended it to be in the past tense only, but lived out daily by His followers. I had the joy of experiencing this truth over the last couple of weeks in Kenya during a mission trip to Eldoret’s Glory Baptist Church.

Traveling over rough roads, sleeping on 4” mats on the church floor, women came from Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda to be part of Glory Baptist Church’s women’s conference. These ladies came with a hunger for God’s word. Each morning, they would get up at 3:30 to be ready for a 4:30 time of prayer and worship, seeking God with all their hearts, minds, and souls. No pretense, simply unwavering faith.

Ethnic violence broke out after the disputed presidential election in December 2007, resulting in the death of many Kenyans. Yet as violence raged around the church, Pastor Martin Sikuku created a safe haven at the church, praying and trusting God to place a hedge around the church. Though every structure, including his own house, surrounding the church was destroyed, Glory Baptist remained untouched, providing that safe haven for many as Pastor Martin provided care to any who came, regardless of tribe or political allegiance,  as a testimony of unwavering faith.

Unwavering faith defines the story of Bernard Wafula. This gentle giant of faith was falsely accused and imprisoned. Though despair and hopelessness could be understood, he trusted in God’s faithfulness and served diligently, sharing the Gospel with other inmates and guards. The words of a song came to him one night based on Deut. 1:4-8, when God told Israel, You have stayed long enough, I have given you this land. Imetosha is Swahili for “It is enough.”  For Pastor Bernard, “God is enough,” and he would sing this song until He became known as Pastor Imetosha throughout the prison.

Imetosha x2 (It is enough)

Yesu Asema Mwanangu Imetosha (Jesus says it is enough, my child)

Geuka sasa uelekee Kanani (Turn around now towards Canaan)

Ukazione Baraka zake Mungu (So that you see the blessings of God)

Finally, the courts overturned his wrongful conviction and released him from prison after ten years of imprisonment. He now serves as a pastor.

Unwavering faith will be the key to changing the course of our world. Faith that allows you to reach across ethnic barriers, economic disparity, political disagreements, and social status because your trust is found in the One who is the source of faith. “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the LORD’s praise, for he has been good to me.” Psalm 13:5-6

God is great!

God, the Master Rebuilder

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And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. I Peter 5:10-11 NIV

Crowds quickly flock to the scene when they hear fire engine sirens. Curiosity or concern draws people toward the flames, neighbors and passersby watch as the flames destroy, and firemen fight to contain the fire. How much more is this true when the fire involves a historic building or monument? Such was the scene on April 15, 2019, when fire alarms were sounded at the 860-year-old Gothic Notre-Dame Cathedral as flames engulfed the cathedral. Firefighters worked hard over the next 15 hours fighting to contain the fire that left the once magnificent structure scarred and unusable.

The easy, and probably economical decision would have been to salvage what you could, demolish the structure, and rebuild from the ground up. However, French President Emmanuel Macron made the bold statement that the cathedral would be rebuilt within five years, and the painstaking task of rebuilding this world treasure began with over 1,300 skilled artisans working on the project.  Pres. Macron addressed the workers on a final site visit before the inaugural reopening with the words, “You are the alchemists of this project, and you transformed coal into artistry. The furnace of Notre-Dame was a national scar, and you were its healing balm.”

Scars will always remain on the cathedral from the fire, but people will again visit and worship because of the workers’ loving efforts. Nehemiah faced opposition and ridicule as he undertook the massive challenge of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. “Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are?” Nehemiah 4:2. Nehemiah understood the challenge, but he also believed God was able to overcome any opposition. He could have looked at the crumbling walls and given up on the task, but he rallied the people to begin the work: “So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height for the people worked with all their heart.” (4:6)

God has been in the business of turning ashes into art since the beginning of time. I imagine a conversation in the hallways of heaven going something like this, “That person is a total loss, why bother restoring him, just start over.” Thankfully, God doesn’t listen, but out of his grace, He reaches into the broken rubble of our lives caused by our mistakes, failures, and sin. He then takes the remnants, begins to rebuild until we hear the words, “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here.” (2 Cor 5:17).

I am sure you have walked past once beautiful old houses that now stand in various stages of decay. These grand old houses are dilapidated because of time and neglect, broken windowpanes, peeling paint, and overgrown grass. These are houses that were once filled with laughter from children playing in the yard, family get-togethers, and simple daily activities of life.

One day, you walk past and see white panel vans parked out front. Workers are busy unloading and assembling scaffolding, new windows are being installed, and painters are scraping off old, peeling paint and applying a fresh coat. The grass has been cut, flower beds cleaned out, hedges trimmed, and roses planted. You can hear workers inside the house tearing down walls, rebuilding staircases, and hauling out trash and debris. Soon, a moving truck is parked at the house, and a new family is moving into the once-decaying home, now restored to its former glory. The sounds of laughter and joy will once again drift out of the front door.

C.S. Lewis beautifully illustrated God’s restoration business in Mere Christianity. “Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”

Throughout Scripture, God does not leave humanity to rot but continually seeks to redeem and restore. God’s redemption, his rescue plan of grace, is always far greater than the brokenness and sin from which He seeks to save us. “Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain” Psalm 127:1. “From the time of Noah, through the time of Christ, right up to this present moment, the promises of God are the surest foundation in all of history” (Pete Greig)

One of the walking paths that Connie and I take is past an old, abandoned farmhouse. Over the years, we have watched it slowly deteriorate a little more each year. There is no attempt to salvage the house, letting time take its toll. Gratefully, God has other plans for our lives. Paul David Tripp says it well, “Your Lord begins by restoring you so that you can live as he designed you to live. But there will be a day when he will make all things new. In almighty mercy, he will reverse every bit of damage sin has done, and we will live forever in peace and righteousness, in a totally new world. This broken-down house that we call home will not be broken forever.”

“For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.” 2 Corinthians 5:1

So maybe that conversation in heaven sounds more like this, Wow, look what God did in that person’s life. Can you believe the amazing transformation! I am thankful God is a Master Rebuilder. How about you?

God is great!

 

 

Surprise!

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The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. John 3:8 NIV

Surprise! Undoubtedly, this one simple word has been shouted millions upon millions of times throughout the years to birthday recipients. Normally, the unsuspecting person walks into a dark room, and then the lights come on with family and friends shouting, Surprise! Now, for some folks, like me, they were truly surprised; others were half-expecting something.

Connie truly surprised me on my 40th birthday when we were living in Johannesburg. We had gone out for dinner with a few friends. Coming home, under the pretense of coffee and cake, we walked into the room filled with American and South African friends shouting, Surprise! I am sure somewhere in my Myers-Briggs personality profile, there is something about not wanting to be surprised; I prefer knowing what is happening. That night caught me off guard, but what a memory to have special people in my life as part of the surprise.

God has a long history of standing at the door, shouting surprise. We are often caught off guard since we were expecting one thing to happen, and a different action takes place. We pray one way for something, only to see a completely different answer. We make decisions expecting one thing, only to get a completely different result. The longer we live, the more surprised we will be at what happens.

A lot of people are confident that the end of religion has finally arrived. They have watched over the last couple of decades the declining number of people identifying as Christians, read the statistics of declining church attendance, and the weakening of the church’s role in society. If you read only the reports, looked at the numbers, and watched the declining number of people in church, your thoughts would also be gloom and despair.

Yet the God of Surprises is hard at work if we are ready to be surprised. Paul wrote in Ephesians, “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…” (Eph 1:18). As we open the eyes of our heart, we get to be surprised at what God is doing. Pastor and writer Joshua Luke Smith writes, “I’ve heard it said that familiarity breeds contempt, and I’ve found this to be true. At times, I’ve grown indifferent, even numb, to the reality of Christ in my life. But these words from Paul awaken my dimming zeal. Oh, that the eyes of my heart may be enlightened. My dream is to be an old man who still hasn’t got over the hope to which he has called me, living on the edge of tears, moved by his grace in my life.”

Time magazine cover on April 8, 1996, was “Is God Dead?” Yet within a few short years, their June 21, 1971 cover had the words, “Jesus Revolution”. From dead to revolution in five years, or as Pastor Greg Laurie commented, “What a difference a few years can make, especially when God intervenes.” It has been five decades since the Jesus Revolution, the last great spiritual awakening, but the God of surprises is blowing new fires around the world. Is the world ready for another Great Awakening?

Great Awakenings have been in times when a nation was in transition, grappling with rapid social, economic, and cultural changes. Awakenings happen when people are spiritually hungry and are searching. Does this sound familiar?  Laurie, who was a product of the Jesus Revolution, writes, “While we can’t plan or manufacture a revival, we can prepare the ground for one. Or, as I like to say, we can “pre-prayer” the ground. Our job is to rebuild; God’s job is to pour out His Spirit.”

The God of surprises is moving in the United States. According to Barna, nearly thirty million more US adults are following Jesus today than was the case just four years ago. Barna CEO, David Kinnaman, called this “the clearest trend we’ve seen in more than a decade pointing to spiritual renewal…this movement is being led especially by younger generations.”

The God of surprises is moving in places where the death of the church has long been predicted. Jim Denison writes that in France, 10,384 adults were baptized on Easter Sunday; the number of teenagers following Jesus was ten times higher than in 2019. Bible sales in the UK increased by 87 percent between 2019 and 2024. According to the UK Bible Society, churchgoing increased from 8% in 2018 to 12% in 2024. “That means for every two people in England and Wales who went to church back in 2018, there are now three.”

What are hungry people wanting? I found Carey Nieuwhof’s thoughts helpful in one of his recent podcasts. Here are some of his highlights: Pray with boldness — people want a powerful God. Preach deeper –assume they are starving and don’t want entertainment. Cut the fluff — be real. Assume intelligence, not background. Avoid Christian insider language – define your words and meanings. Don’t ignore felt needs, talk to people – connect people to Scripture.

God is moving. Are we ready to be surprised? May this prayer from the Book of Common Prayer open the eyes of our hearts and “pre-prayer” us for what can be.

Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated unto you; and then use us, we pray you, as you will, and always to your glory and the welfare of your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen

“Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29: 12-13

Happy 4th of July on Friday. Pray that the United States will again experience a nationwide spiritual awakening, beginning with each one of us.

God is great!

Power on Display

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When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit…Acts 2:1-4

Who pushed your buttons? It is so easy to get cross with someone because of what they said, maybe how they said it, or even how they looked at you, yet be totally oblivious to why we reacted.  Pete Docter’s animated film, Inside Out, takes viewers inside the mind of a young girl named Riley Andersen. Five little characters within Riley’s brain argue over who gets to drive her emotional console. Joy and Anger, Fear and Disgust, and Sadness are the personified versions within Riley, all vying for the right to be in control. Life is going great for Riley until she turns 11 and her family moves from Minnesota to San Francisco for her dad’s new job.

Joy has acted as the leader until now, always trying to keep little Sadness from taking control at the emotions console, but for the first time, Sadness can plant a core memory within Riley’s mind. The story then unfolds with drama for Riley as Joy can no longer be the sole driver of her emotions, and their adventures try to correct problems they caused with Riley’s memory storage. There is now a sequel adding more emotional characters, all trying to take control of a teenager, Riley’s emotional console.

Yesterday marked Pentecost Sunday, when the church celebrates the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the church. I don’t equate the Holy Spirit’s indwelling with the five little emotional Inside Out characters, but without a doubt, nothing has been the same since that eventful Sunday morning for Believers after Pentecost. Dr. Michael Milton writes of Pentecost, “It was Inauguration Day as the Holy Spirit demonstrated the provision of God, the prophecy of the Old Testament, the promises of Christ, faith in the prophecy of the Old Testament, and the words of Jesus. This Pentecost and every day, is a day to reorient our lives to the mission of God.”

Pentecost marked the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit’s coming. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— (John 14:16), “But I tell you the truth; It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” (John 16:7) “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

Jesus understood the physical restraints of his body, being in one place at one time, but with the coming of the Holy Spirit, everything changed. There would no longer be the limitations of place or time, but His ever-present presence.

Jesus understood the importance of going to the ends of the world. The followers in that room worshipped that morning when Pentecost came, but immediately they left the comfort of their gathering and went into the streets proclaiming the message of Jesus Christ. By the end of the day, over 3,000 had followed Jesus and were baptized.

The coming of the Holy Spirit was in keeping with prophecy, promise, and provision. Yet that morning, God shook the foundations of expectations. An event of this magnitude was not going to be a quiet unveiling but one that shook the earth. An earthquake that is still reverberating and will continue until the final day.

Writer and pastor, Frederick Buechner, wrote of the unexpected when it comes to God. “Those who believe in God can never in a way be sure of him again. Once they have seen him in a stable, they can never be sure where he will appear or to what lengths he will go or to what ludicrous depths of self-humiliation he will descend in his wild pursuit of (us). If holiness and the awful power and majesty of God were present in the least auspicious of all events, this birth of a peasant’s child, then there is no place or time so lowly and earthbound, but that holiness can be present there too. And this means that we are never safe, that there is no place where we can hide from God, no place where we are safe from his power to break in two and recreate the human heart because it is just where he seems most helpless that he is most strong, and just where we least expect him that he comes most fully.”

Pentecost changed everything. The timid message of Peter and John was transformed as they confronted the religious leaders. Barnabas set the standard for generosity and encouragement. Stephen was known as a man full of God’s grace and power and stood boldly for Christ even as he was martyred. Though Philip was deeply involved in a highly effective ministry, he was sent to one stranger out in the wilderness to share the truth of Jesus, and this stranger would be pivotal in carrying the message of salvation to Africa. Saul, or better known as Paul, was on a mission to Damascus to defend the religious traditions, only to come face to face with Jesus.

Just as Pentecost Sunday changed the course of these early Christian believers, Pentecost Sunday is still changing our day-to-day lives. We are confronted and convicted, causing us to change course, seeing events impacted but always part of the truth being shared.

May this ancient prayer of St. Augustine be an encouragement to you today as Pentecost Sunday comes to a close.

“Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may be holy.

Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work may be holy.

Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, to love what is holy.”

God is great!

 

Facing A New World

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Give thanks to him who led his people through the wilderness. His faithful love endures forever. Psalm 136:16 NLT

Have you ever considered whether a person who takes an AI date to the movie should have to buy a ticket for them? Should you file a joint or single tax return? These may sound like weird questions, yet we are entering into some uncharted territories of life. We are in the dawning of a new cultural shift related to Artificial Intelligence, or AI.

In a recent article, the Institute of Family Studies wrote, “1% of young adults claim to already have an AI friend, yet 10% are open to an AI friendship. A much higher share of young adults (25%) believe that AI has the potential to replace real-life romantic relationships.” In a recent NBC Today morning episode, Morgan Radford covered the new area of AI relationships. One of the interviewees shared how his AI relationship has made a difference in his emotional state. He admitted that the relationship is not real life, but the feelings are, since humans need connections.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, in a podcast interview with Dwarkesh Patel, suggested that artificial intelligence personas could help fight the loneliness epidemic. “Zuckerberg suggested his company’s increasingly integrated AI assistants and chatbots could help Americans make up for the friends they wish they had in their lives.” (Josh Marcus)

Vaile Wright with the American Psychological Association said one of the problems with AI relationships comes down to give and take. All relationships have a give-and-take element, but in an AI relationship, it is all take, all the time.

AI relationships are just a minor part of the exploding world of AI. Though the world of artificial intelligence, or AI, seems to be unfolding as if it is a recent development, the groundwork for AI has been developing for decades, dating back to the early 1900s. The word, artificial intelligence, was first coined in 1955 by John McCarthy at a Dartmouth workshop.

AI can feel overwhelming at times and even scary, especially when a major technology leader such as Bill Gates makes the statement that artificial intelligence will ultimately render humans unnecessary “for most things.” Gates continued in the interview to say, “The machine will probably be superior to humans, because the breadth of knowledge that you need to make some of these (diagnostic) decisions really goes beyond individual human cognition.” (William Allen)

AI will continue to challenge the way we relate to others, change the way we do things, and impact our daily lives. Fear and panic may become a part of the future for some, but others will be excited at the new possibilities. We have already invited AI into our homes as we watch our little AI-powered Roomba running around our house collecting dust and scraps, asking Google to turn on our lights, our spell-checker changing our words in our text, or asking how to cook brownies.

Our world, even from the beginning of creation, has experienced multi-cultural shifts, whether through inventions, globalization, or cultural norms being uprooted. Johannes Gutenberg changed the education and religious landscape in the 1500s with his invention of the printing press. For the first time, books and especially the Bible would be affordable for the common person, increasing knowledge and literacy.

The Industrial Revolution’s technological innovations changed the agrarian and handicraft economy to one dominated by industry and manufacturing. People moved from the villages and small towns into urban areas. The French and American Revolutions brought political changes that created new social orders and involvement by the general populations.

Those who lived through these changes saw unprecedented adjustments to their lives, worldview, and ultimately, their culture. No one was untouched by these changes, just as those of us now living will not be untouched by AI. How will we handle the change? How will we help our world cope with the change?

Followers of Jesus will have a unique opportunity to carry hope, vision, and healing into the world. Though our lives and especially our children’s lives will face upheaval, we can help in this cultural shift because of our faith foundation.

I don’t have any tattoos, but if I did, I think it would be the Latin phrase post tenebras lux: “after darkness, light.” The church has always been essential during and after every major cultural shift, doing what it was called to do: offer hope, minister to those hurting, carry the light of God into the darkness, and be Jesus’s hands and feet.

Paul David Tripp, in his book Everyday Gospel, writes, “A rallying cry for the Protestant Reformers was the Latin phrase post tenebras lux: “after darkness, light.” Spiritual darkness had blanketed Europe, and the light and glory of the grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ seemed like a tiny flickering flame. But out of the darkness God raised up Martin Luther, John Calvin, and other gospel lights. The flames of the gospel burned bright in Europe, spread throughout the world, and burn brightly still today. Between the “already” and the “not yet,” post tenebras lux is and has always been the hope of God’s people.”

How will our society adjust to the workplace changes? What of the increasing loss of jobs? Where will people experience fulfillment that comes from work and creativity? Do we have the moral foundation as a society to cope with the changes?

The changes coming related to AI will place a heavy demand upon us as the Church to pray for moral, ethical, and economic wisdom for our business and government leaders. We will be called upon to pray especially for a spiritual revival, even as we may pray with a “spiritual candle” in our hands because we are in the middle of the darkness ourselves. “Pray hardest when it is hardest to pray.” (Bishop Charles Henry Brent)

“Then God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.” Genesis 1:27-28 NLT

God is great!

 

The Road to Easter – Packing the Essentials for the Journey

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When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” Luke 22:45-46 NIV

What do you need for your trip to the beach? You have a general idea that you will need swimming suits, shorts, and flip-flops. More than likely, you wouldn’t pack your snow skis, gloves, or heavy jacket. You normally pack for a specific journey, not for all the various possibilities you might encounter. That is, unless you are Lewis and Clark.

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson to undertake a precarious journey that would eventually take them on an 8,000-mile, two-year trek through the recently acquired Louisiana Purchase. So, what do you pack since Walmart will not be where you are going? Starting out in the spring of 1804, the two intrepid explorers had spent a year accumulating what they thought would be needed. According to original packing lists, over 180 items were purchased, such as coats, weapons, food, and survey instruments. Yet like all good travelers, they still forgot a few things.

We all know the challenge of getting ready for a trip. It takes lots of planning and preparation to get everything together. That is true for a vacation but even more so for a spiritual journey such as the Road to Easter. Jesus had spent years teaching his disciples, sharing what truth looked like, healing and restoring people. Every step along this road we have everything we need because of Jesus’ preparations. One of the most critical pieces we have is prayer.

“Prayer is one of life’s great mysteries. Most people pray at least sometimes; some people, in many very different religious traditions, pray a great deal. At its lowest, prayer is shouting into a void on the off-chance there may be someone out there listening. At its highest, prayer merges into love, as the presence of God becomes so real that we pass beyond words and into a sense of his reality, generosity, delight and grace.” N. T. Wright

Jesus fully knew how desperate we would get and would need to make prayer a central component of our lives. Nestled in the middle of his life-giving, life-changing Sermon on the Mount, he gave us a beautiful framework for praying out of intimacy with God. “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:9-13)

Jesus knew we could get lost if we failed to keep God as the focal point. “Following Jesus is not just a matter of skill and grit; it is made possible through a life of being with God in prayer.” (Rich Villodas) There are lots of religions that focus on the repetition of words, believing that the number of words said over and over is the only way God can hear. Jesus laid the groundwork of praying by saying, “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen…And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words…For your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6:6-9)

Throughout the four Gospels, we get brief pictures of Jesus’ prayer life. We get little of his dialogue, but enough to show us the importance of prayer. We can see the gift of prayer as Jesus prayed. Each of the Gospel writers invites us into the final days of Jesus’ road to Easter and his intimate encounter with the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane. “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”

Jesus knew that his earthly ministry was ending. Unlike most leaders who would spend the days strategizing on how to increase the ministry, naming who would fill key positions, and how to ensure a smooth transition, he spent the time in worship and prayer. The road forward would not be conventional but super-natural.

There was a vulnerability in how Jesus prayed when he tells his disciples, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” (Matthew 26:38) Somehow, we think we are not being spiritual if we allow God to see our pain and hear our hurts, but Jesus prayed out of a soulful vulnerability. “By enduring our trials with our eyes fixed on Jesus, we submit our trials to Him. He is with us through our trials, one painful step, one ragged breath at a time.” (Megan Fate Marshman)

There was an openness in how Jesus prayed. “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.” Jesus prayed honestly and what He desired to be the outcome. We don’t have to play a form of spin-praying, praying words that we think a good Christian should pray. We pray what we desire to the One who hears and wants to hear us. However, if our only desire is to get something out of God, then we miss the beauty and intimacy of being with God.

There was submission in how Jesus prayed. “Yet not as I will, but as you will…My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” (Mt.26:39b,42) Submission is never easy when we must give up control or do something we don’t want. Yet Jesus prayed one thing, that His Father’s will be done. “As His disciples, our lives must be a holy example of the reality of our message. It takes a heart broken by conviction of sin, baptized by the Holy Spirit, and crushed into submission to God’s purpose before a person’s life becomes a holy example of God’s message.” (Oswald Chambers)

God is great!

 

Thank you for subscribing to Prayer Safari. I pray each post will be an encouragement to you in your walk of faith.

Blessed Are You When People Revile and Persecute You

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You are blessed when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of me. Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:11-12 CSB

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God,” Corrie ten Boom’s quote exemplifies her life. Corrie and her devout Christian family are best known for their courageous acts of hiding and assisting Jews to escape the brutal terror of the Nazi regime in The Netherlands. Through their effort, over 800 lives were saved from the Holocaust in World War II. The family’s effort to help others resulted in all the family being arrested and imprisoned with Corrie’s father and sister dying in the concentration camps.

Betsie could not survive the horrors of Ravensbruck but left a message with Corrie to share with the world. “Tell everyone who will listen that Jesus is a reality and that he is stronger than the powers of darkness. Tell them He is our greatest friend, our hiding place. Only prisoners can know how desperate this life is. We can tell from experience that no pit is too deep, because God’s everlasting arms always sustain us. Even in Ravensbruck, God’s love still stands when all else has fallen.”

Betsie and the generations of Christians who have been martyrs for their faith would understand what Jonathan Pennington wrote. “If you are slandered for the name of Christ you are flourishing, because the glorious and divine Spirit rests upon you.”

John Foxe died in 1587 but his monumental work, “Foxe’s Book of Martyrs” has endured as a legacy of inspiration for the persecuted church to remain faithful and as a challenge to all the church to remain steadfast in the face of persecution. Sabina Wurmbrand, co-founder of The Voice of the Martyrs, is quoted in an updated version of this classic book. “Leprosy is a disease without pain. No remedy is found because the nerves don’t work. Lepers lose their fingers and toes in accidents because they cannot feel any pain. When the Church does not feel pain with those that are part of them, the Church’s nerves also become dead. Then the Church loses parts of its body. It loses power to touch souls. The Church loses its credibility before the world. On the other side, the suffering church gives the whole Church strength to fight for Christ. Suffering makes the soul to cry out and look for help, to draw strength from the source of help—Jesus Christ.”

Jesus concluded his introductory remarks before launching into his transforming teachings commonly known as the Sermon on the Mount. Biblical scholars differ on whether verses 11 and 12 constitute a stand-alone 9th Beatitude or a continuation of the Beatitude in verse 10, “Blessed are those who are persecuted.” Regardless of whether 8 or 9, each Beatitude serves as a powerful bridge to Jesus’ teachings that followed on how his followers were to live life.

Jesus uses the Beatitudes in much the same way a caring hostess prepares for her guests. The table is meticulously set, each dish and cutlery item placed in its proper place and each detail of the table arranged correctly. Yet the table setting is not the main focus, it serves only as the container for the delicious food that is about to be served.

Servais Pinckaers writes, “We can compare the work of the beatitudes to that of a plow in the field. Drawn along with determination, it drives the sharp edge of the plowshare into the earth and carves out, as the poets say, a deep wound, a broad furrow…In the same way the word of the Beatitudes penetrates us with the power of the Holy Spirit in order to break up our interior soil. It cuts through us with the sharp edge of trials and with the struggles it provokes. It overturns our ideas and projects, reverses the obvious, thwarts our desires, and bewilders us, leaving us poor and naked before God. All this, in order to prepare a place within us for the seed of new life. “(from Pursuit of Happiness}

You are more familiar with Corrie ten Boom and her family’s effort on behalf of those persecuted and for their own imprisonment. What is not generally known about the Ten Boom family is their 100-year prayer legacy. Corrie’s grandfather, Willem gathered his family around the dining room table to pray on behalf of the Jewish people and “for the peace of Jerusalem” from 1844 to 1944 until the Nazis arrested the family and sent them to concentration camps. She saw a connection between the prayer century for the Jews and the role her family played in World War II.

“In a divine way which is beyond our understanding, God answered those prayers. One hundred years after Willem began his prayer meetings, his son, four grandchildren, and a great-grandchild were arrested in the same house where the prayer meetings started, because they had saved Jewish people from Adolph Hitler’s plans to kill them.” (from an article by Mark Ellis)

I can’t remember a time when Jesus wasn’t a central part of my life yet as I began writing on each Beatitude over these last nine weeks I came away with a fresh perspective of a flourishing and blessed life. Yet these last Beatitudes challenged me in so many ways. How do I respond to Jesus’ words, “Blessed are you when they insult you”? Am I able to “be glad and rejoice”? John Stott powerfully gave words to some of what I was thinking. “Since all the beatitudes describe what every Christian disciple is intended to be, we conclude that the condition of being despised and rejected, slandered and persecuted, is as much a normal mark of Christian discipleship as being pure in heart or merciful.”

Together we can pray for the persecuted church, for each other, and the church’s impact on our culture. “He who rescued us from so deadly a peril will continue to rescue us; on him we have set our hope that he will rescue us again, as you also join in helping us by your prayers, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.” 2 Cor 1:10-11 (NRSV)

God is great!

Planting Spiritual Trees

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He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It’s the smallest of all the seeds, but when grown, it’s taller than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches.” Matt 13:31-32 (CSB)

“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”  This well-known Greek proverb could easily describe Dr. William Leslie’s life as a medical missionary to a remote corner of the Congo in 1912. Dr. Leslie and his wife, Clara cleared land along the Kwilu River at Vanga for a new mission station but after 17 years of intense labor, they returned to the United States discouraged. Dr. Leslie believed he had failed to make an impact for Christ and died seven years later thinking his mission had failed.

A team led by Eric Ramsey in 2010 hiked into the jungle to where the Yansi people lived. Ramsey’s research led him to believe there was some exposure to the name of Jesus. What he discovered was a thriving network of reproducing churches throughout the area. They found a church in each of the eight villages they visited scattered across 34 miles. “Each village had its own gospel choir, although they wouldn’t call it that. They wrote their own songs and would have sing-offs from village to village.”

Ramsey was able to piece together the story of how Dr. Leslie would cross the Kwilu River from Vanga and spend a month traveling throughout the area teaching the Bible, teaching the children how to read and write, and telling Bible stories. Ramsey writes of Dr. Leslie, “His goal was to spread Christianity. He felt like he was there for 17 years and he never really made a big impact, but the legacy he left is huge.” (Mark Ellis, God Reports)

There is just something rewarding about planting seeds or small seedlings in the ground and watching them grow to maturity. Though I haven’t had much experience planting mustard seeds, I have planted trees wherever we lived, leaving a place for others to sit. The trees brought enjoyment but I always knew, those that followed would enjoy even more.

Jeremiah Lanphier planted a spiritual tree that would bear fruit for years to come. Lanphier, a New York City merchant, in 1857 gave up his trade position to accept a position with a dying church to visit people in the area. The work was slow, seeing very little success and he would return to his room in the evening and “spread out his sorrows before the Lord.”

The idea of a mid-day prayer meeting came to him and he invited people to come but the first day, he was the only one on hand. After thirty minutes another six businessmen did show up to pray. “That small meeting was in no way extraordinary. There was no great outpouring of the Spirit of God. Lanphier had no way of knowing that it was the beginning of a great national revival which would sweep an estimated one million persons into the kingdom of God.”

“Early in 1858, the revival power poured over the Appalachian Mountains and into the West. Every major town fell before it—Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Chicago, St. Louis, Omaha—and on to the Pacific Coast.” “And everywhere, it was a revival of prayer. There was no hysteria, no unusual disturbances. Just prayer.” (from the C. S. Lewis Institute)

We may never get to know the full outcome of planting spiritual trees but often God gives us a peek at some of the green leaves. Our team returned last week from Kenya with full hearts and thankful souls. The spiritual tenderness of Kenyans was such a joy as we gathered in times of training, teaching, participating, and sharing. We had the privilege of walking with 85 different individuals in their spiritual journey as they said yes to Jesus’ invitation to life.

One young man living on the streets said yes to Jesus’ invitation of hope. Homelessness and discouragement marked the future of this young man until one of our team members took the time to talk with him. For the first time in a long time, he felt loved and accepted. After we had left Kenya, the pastor of the church we were working with wrote to tell us that he had taken the young man back home to his parents. The pastor wrote, “He had left home two and a half years ago. The family knew that he had died and even did a burial ritual for him. At the arrival of their son, it was just like that of the prodigal son in the Bible.” One “chance” encounter that changed a young man’s life and family.

Last week the United States marked the 23rd anniversary of 9-11 and most of us can remember that fateful day and probably even recall the very place you heard the news. Yet for a growing number of people, it is simply a page in a history book. The vast majority of recent college graduates were not even born when the attacks took place. For them, 9-11 will only be a historical occurrence, not a shared experience.

I wish I could tell them that we planted a spiritual tree for them to sit under. I remember going to our church that night and it was filled with people praying and worshipping. Across the nation, churches were filled to capacity for several weeks but then life returned to normal. Unfortunately, the passion and fervor of those days lost its glow and the hope for another national spiritual awakening soon vanished. What could have been a great awakening turned into multiple wars around the globe, a divided nation, social unrest, spiritual dryness, school shootings, and political disunity.

Yet we keep on praying! Planting physical trees definitely brings a lot of satisfaction but even more so are the spiritual trees we plant throughout our lifetime. We may go through life thinking, what have I done to make a difference, yet little do we know what impact these spiritual trees will have on others. We plant on this journey of life so that someday others will enjoy the shade.

“But they delight in the law of the LORD, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.” –Psalm 1:2-3 NLT

God is great!

Life in the Wilderness

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Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. Deuteronomy 8:2 NIV

What do you do when you find yourself in a wilderness? Lesly, Soleiny, Tien, and Cristin literally found themselves in a jungle wilderness. Along with their mother, they had fled warring factions in Colombia’s rural area who were forcibly recruiting children by threatening violence.  The children, ages 13, 9, 5, and 1 survived a five-week ordeal in the Amazon jungle after being the sole survivors of an airplane crash. The plane crashed killed their mother and two other adults and began their journey of survival in the wilderness.

A united search team of Colombian army personnel and volunteers from several indigenous tribes combed the dense jungle in search of the children. “Brig. Gen. Pedro Sanchez, who led Operation Hope, said that in the jungle, trees can grow 100 feet or taller, blocking light and making it hard to see someone just a few meters away.” Lesly and her siblings were found in a small clearing after 40 days, surviving on cassava flour, seeds, and the rainforest’s fruit. They were hungry but alive.  (from an AP news article and Julie Turkewitz and Genevieve Glatsky)

“The desert is not remote in southern tropics,

The desert is not only around the corner,

The desert is squeezed in the tube-train next to you.

The desert is in the heart of your brother.” (T.S. Eliot, Choruses from the Rock)

Life in the wilderness can be a frightening and challenging place. You may find yourself there through an accident, from a poor decision, or no fault of your own. It doesn’t matter how you get to the wilderness, you have to find a way to survive until you can find your way home.

“When in the wilderness you are one blink of an eye from being fully awake.” I have no idea the context in which nature photographer Robbie George said this quote, but I believe there is a spiritual lesson in it. When you find yourself in the wilderness, remember it can be a place of growth, change, and reflection.

Life in the wilderness can be a place of preparation. Moses was a future leader. He had been miraculously rescued as a baby, brought up among the elite of society, provided the best education possible, and yet failed to meet God’s standard. Moses escaped to the wilderness and ended up tending sheep. Life in the wilderness prepared him for God’s assignment. “So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt. “(Ex 3:10) Finally he was ready for leadership.

Life in the wilderness can be a place of testing. I don’t know too many people who enjoy times of testing, yet it is in this season that you can grow stronger. Jesus experienced the wilderness of testing before beginning his ministry. “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted (tested) by the devil.” (Matt 4:1) “The devil tries to seduce him with instant power, authority, and wealth apart from the way of the cross…Jesus’s three temptations represent the three great potential vulnerabilities of those who would truly follow God: the need to be relevant; the need to be significant; the need to be powerful.” (Daniel McGregor) As we know, Jesus passed the wilderness test.

Life in the wilderness can be a holy place. The wilderness strips away all the comfort and ease of life, allowing you to see with clarity and understanding. It was in the wilderness that Abraham “called on the name of the LORD.” (Gen 13:4) It was in the wilderness that Moses was told, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” (Gen 3:5). It was out of the wilderness that John the Baptist appeared, “preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (Mark 1:4) God’s presence changed the wilderness to holy ground.

Life in the wilderness can be a place of prayer and intimacy. “The silence of tranquility can be found in the sanctuary of the wilderness.” (Robbie George) In the wilderness, Jesus would escape the noise and pressures of ministry to be with God. “Yet He frequently withdrew to the wilderness to pray.” (Luke 5:16) “In those days Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and He spent the night in prayer to God.” (Luke 6:12)

In the early centuries of church history, groups of men and women left the cities to move into the wilderness, not to escape persecution but to avoid losing a deeper life with Jesus. When Roman Emperor Constantine embraced Christianity, elevating it to a favored status, there was a major shift among Christians. Though it made Christianity acceptable, it also opened the door to nominalism, accommodation, and compromise. It would be in the wilderness that this group of men and women would go to pray, witness, and encourage the church to stay strong for God.

David was a man who spent a lot of time in the wilderness. You find him in the wilderness as a shepherd protecting his flock, running from a king who wanted him dead, and ultimately running from God because of his sinful actions. Yet it was in the wilderness that he found forgiveness, restoration, and renewal. Only someone who has been in the wilderness can write, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4) Frederick Tiffany writes, “God provides a way through the desert. The chaos of the wilderness poses no real threat; neither does it need to be the occasion of struggle. The Lord is in control, and a people has been formed. With the defeat of chaos comes the creation of a new people.”

Your wilderness experience will look totally different from my wilderness. Yet it is in the wilderness that each of us can find God’s grace to keep going, His mercy to endure, and His love that holds us tight.

God is great!

 

2024 A Year of Radical Amazement!

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This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24 NLT

Did you get what you wanted for Christmas? After a few well-placed hints, maybe you unwrapped the gift with excitement and there it was, the exact sweater you wanted, one size too small! No problem, you see the printed gift receipt and it can be returned. Maybe this is why for the past decade, the gift card has been the number one gift given and preferred. This would guarantee the right size, color, and style.

All is well unless you forget that you put the gift card in a drawer, or the store goes bankrupt in  January, or you use part of the value and never use the balance. Gift cards are great except according to experts, at any given time, as much as 19% of gift card balances remain un-redeemed, with 6% never getting used representing billions of dollars. Is this a windfall for the merchants? Not really, since they would prefer you to use the cards. Seventy-five percent of people who redeem their cards end up spending more than the value of the cards. Shoppers using gift cards are two and a half times more likely to pay full price for an item and they shop at stores they don’t normally visit. (facts from the article, The Economics of Unused Gift Cards)

What do un-redeemed gift cards have to do with the New Year? Everything, if you think of each day ahead is a gift from God. A precious gift worth redeeming every day. You are getting ready to be given 366 days (it is a leap year), will you redeem each day or forget to use them? “The priceless lesson in the New Year is that endings birth beginnings and beginnings birth endings. And in this elegantly choreographed dance of life neither ever find an end in the others.” (Craig Lounsbrough)

Treat each day as the gift it is from God. Isaiah and Peter both remind us, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” (I Peter 1:24, Isaiah 40:6) A great reminder to find and enjoy the beauty of the day. As poet Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.”

Enjoy more and worry less. The great philosopher and sage Charlie Brown once said, “You know how I always dread the whole year? Well, this time I’m only going to dread one day at a time.” Jesus fully understands our concerns and worries about life. Jesus asked his followers, “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” To make sure they answered correctly, He gave them the answer, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (complete dialogue in Matthew 6:25-34)

Let worship replace fear. David stirred his inner being time after time through worship. He wrote the Psalms out of worship and praise. Psalm 77 says, “I recall all you have done, O Lord,’ Psalm 103 says, “Praise the LORD, my soul” or Psalm 104, “LORD my God, you are very great.” The word ‘remember’ in its various forms occurs over 250 times. This is a good thing for someone like me who can be forgetful. “Remembering is the key to rejoicing, and rejoicing is the key to finding faith for the coming year.” (Pete Greig)

What if I don’t know what’s ahead? No problem, God does! The same assurance that Moses gave Joshua is still valid for us today, “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” (Deut 31:8) Jesus’ final assurance in Matthew is, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (28:20b)

“I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: ‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’ And he replied: ‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.’ So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.” (The Gate of the Year, published in 1912 by Minnie Louise Haskins)

Choose to live in 2024 in radical amazement. Granted we can’t know what is ahead in 2024 but we can choose what we will do with each day. I came across the phrase ‘radical amazement’ which I thought sums up well how to live each day. Abraham Joshua Heschel writes, “Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement because everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.”

We get to live each day in radical amazement because of who we are in Christ. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Cor 5:17 NIV)

God, we can rejoice even in the most difficult days knowing Your love and grace overflows. Though we do not know what will happen in 2024, we can trust you in the journey. When fear grips us, give us calmness. When doubt pulls us down, let us look to your faithfulness. When crisis moves into our lives, give us peace to handle the situation. When each new day dawns, give us insight and wisdom to write our stories that will honor and glorify you.

Connie and I wish you the very best for this coming year. May each day be lived in the fullness, joy, and hope of who you are in Christ.

Happy New Year

God is great!