Peace

Peace.

Where is peace?

The longer I focus on the concept of peace this year, the more convicted I become that peace in Christian living hinges on one decision—taking God at His Word.

He says, “I am the Lord, your God.”

You and I are invited to bow under His sovereignty.

He says, “If with all your heart you truly seek me, you shall every truly find me.”

We are invited to be lifelong, committed seekers of His heart, His ways, His holiness.

As we take God at His Word continually, the Holy Spirit empowers and compels us, believers, to be effective witnesses for the gospel, graciously telling and living out God's truth.

"Lord, You establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished You have done for us. O Lord, our God, other lords besides You have ruled over us, but Your name alone do we honor." (Isaiah 26:12-13, NIV84)

Lord,

I, for one,

acknowledge that You have established peace for me

and that all I have achieved on this earth

has been the work of Your hands.

I also admit that other lords besides You

 have indeed ruled over me.

You know my heart.

You know deep down

there are other names that I insolently honor above Your own,

from time to time.

I confess my sin

and, by Your grace, repent of it.

Enlighten me more and more each day

that I may swim in the ocean of Your grace

and reject the folly of embracing pitiful lords.

Thank You for loving me and paying for my sin.

In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen!

I Am Willing

I crave peace.
I really, really do.

As I pray and meditate, I am learning to remember and accept this truth: whatever form my battle takes, it is NOT my deal.

Certainly not.
The battle, as it were, does not belong to me. It is God's deal -- all of it!

Consequently, I am learning to turn my tight fists into open hands that can receive untold blessings from the Giver. I am learning to turn my combative stance into a prayerful position -- glorifying and thanking God, and awaiting His generous hand. I am learning to turn my complaints into songs of praise.

Lord, I am willing.

I am willing to watch You perform.
I am willing to watch You deal with the battle.
I am willing to watch Your everlasting arms hard at work.

I am taking my hands off the wheel.
Learning to be still and know You are God.
I am removing myself from the seat of honor.
Learning to find my seat at the foot of the Cross.

Yes, Lord.
Grant me Your peace!

Need

I am grateful for the gift of need.

I need God.
I need people.
I need true love.

Without God, I am a car with no engine.
Without people, I am a piano with no pianist.
Without true love, I am a garden with no water.

I need God.
He is . . .

the breath my lungs crave
the wind my boat hungers for
the blood my veins imbibe and store

I need people.
They are . . .

the family that defines kinship
the friends who stick closer than family
the foes who send me reeling and looking for my divine anchor

I need true love.
It is . . .

the spouse who forgives yet challenges my crazy life and schedule
the fireproof bestie who hugs me, sits me down, and tells me about my messed up priorities
the amazing and sinless High Priest who challenges every single one of my flaws and failures yet defends me and intercedes on my behalf every second of every day

Thank You, O Christ, for showing me my need!

"Lord, I need You, O I need You

Every hour I need You

My one defense, my righteousness

O God, I need You."

Faith and Work

Life on this earth is akin to having a full-time job.

A full-time job requires you to go to work; earthly life demands that you live -- living is work. You clock in and clock out every work day; you wake up in the morning and go to bed at night every day of your life. You are forced to face both pleasant and unpleasant situations in the workplace; life on this earth is equally littered with both euphoric and depressing circumstances.

A full-time job pays you a salary with benefits supposedly befitting your rank and output. On this side of the grave, life hands you a paycheck of sorts -- a clear inventory of results and/or consequences emanating from past and present choices -- that carries with it a "benefits package" holding you hostage to . . .

fear
pride
shame
despair
loneliness

and any other emotion that keeps you wallowing in self-pity and misery.

Are you afraid of what's ahead?
Are you too prideful to admit your wrongs?
Are you ashamed of past and present choices?
Are you stuck in a pit of despair and despondency?
Are you feeling unloved, unappreciated, and unnoticed?

I write today with good news for you:

Earthly life (chronos or chronological time) is not all there is.
Abundant life (kairos or quality/divine time) exists and is offered to you.

Yes, abundant life is bought for you through Christ's death on that gruesome tree which affords you a benefits package of greatest worth -- hope, peace, freedom.

How does His death do that?
Christ's death offers you a job: to believe on the One the Father has sent (John 6:29).

If you accept this job offer, you will come to work for the Employer par excellence who defines faith and work as one. This job calls you to exercise faith in and obey the One the Father has sent through mundane and serious tasks, in sickness and in health, in plenty and in want, through disappointments and joys, in enmity and in friendship, in trials and triumphs.

In other words, it matters not what you're wired or designed or hired to do. You get to do it while believing in the Son. If it is singing, gardening, accounting, writing, or whatever, do it well while believing in Christ.

The benefits package of this job -- believing on Christ -- is wonderful. It grants you more than chronos; it provides true kairos, the abundant life that is eternal. And that is faith, a precious faith that energizes every bit of work you are called to do on this earth. Believing on Christ positionally removes the tight grip habitual sins seek to have on you; obeying Christ practically reminds you of the hope, freedom, and peace faith offers. Believing on the One the Father has sent says you don't have to go back to making decisions that keep you imprisoned to fear, pride, shame, despair, loneliness, and the like.

Would you go to work today, tomorrow, and every remaining day of your life?
Believe on Christ then through every conversation, interaction, and transaction.

We Welcome You, 2015!

We welcome you, 2015.

2014 having exited the ages, you come to us as a brand new year pregnant with new milestones, new challenges, new opportunities, new discoveries, new regrets, new successes, new failures, etc.

The Lord has spoken:

"For I am about to do something new. 

See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? 

I will make a pathway through the wilderness. 

I will create rivers in the dry wasteland." 

Isaiah 43:19, NLT

As we begin partaking of your fares, dear 2015, we have much to consider:

1) We get to live prayerfully. Storms and crises will rock our boat. As they do, the words of this familiar hymn still remain true:

"What a Friend we have in Jesus

All our sins and griefs to bear

What a privilege to carry

Everything to God in prayer

Oh! What peace we often forfeit

Oh! What needless pain we bear

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in prayer."

2) We get to live gratefully. Offenses and insults will come our way; bad news will also be thrown into the mix. And sometimes, the rewards for our hard labor will come not in fat portions but in their meager versions. However, the will of God remains true:

"Give thanks in all circumstances, 

for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 

1 Thessalonians 5:18, NIV

3) We get to live humbly. Opportunities and achievements will tempt us to be proud, conceited, and entitled. Prestige and human praise will cajole our hearts to think of ourselves higher or better than others. The truth, however, resides in another approach:

"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." 

James 4:6, NIV

4) We get to live openly. Self-centeredness and shame will flare and counsel us to hide behind masks of self-sufficiency or hypocrisy. True wisdom tells us:

"Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, 

but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy." 

Proverbs 28:13, NIV

Indeed, His mercy bids us to grow more loving, gracious, ethical, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, generous, modest, forgiving, temperate, vulnerable, honest, excited, passionate, restored, committed, laborious, encouraging, accountable, dependable . . .

. . . as well as more contrite, mocked, teary, grieved, broken, torn, sorrowful, lampooned, enduring, mistreated, persevering, battered, abandoned, attacked, rebuked, persecuted, ridiculed, rejected, slapped, afflicted, tried, tested, made to see hard things . . .

We get to partake of Christ's joys and sufferings even more in 2015 because the loving Father has graced us with one more invitation to rely solely on the HAND of Christ and not upon our own whims or preferences.

Come what may -- triumphs or trials, ups or downs, births or deaths, plenty or want, health or illness, friendship or enmity -- may 2015 teach us that the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases and that His mercies never come to an end; in fact, they are mercies renewed to us every morning the Lord awakens us to see!

"Let It Go"

The ultra popular Disney song "Let It Go" has consumed the minds and hearts of millions if not billions of people. Everybody sings it, covers it, refers to it . . . or hates it. For me, I find it interesting that its fame coincided with my 2014 pursuit or theme.

"Let it go."
Easier 'sung' than done.
Trust me; I spent a whole year trying.

I am alive, awake, and sincerely thankful to have breath in my lungs and nostrils as I pen these words on this final day of 2014. I do not take it for granted because untold numbers breathed their last in the course of this past year, including two precious siblings. It will take quite a while to let go fully of such painful memories.

SURRENDER has been my word for the past 365 days. I learned and learned. One of the lessons that challenged me the most in 2014 was the alphabet of surrender God enabled me to draft in January:

"Acquiesce

Back down

Concede

Defer

Empty

Forswear

Give up

Hand over

Incline

Jettison

Knuckle under

Lay down one's arms

Mete out one's holdings

Nullify one's preferences

Obey the Word

Pray to the Lord

Quit a life of rebellion

Relinquish control

Submit to Christ

Turn over

Unveil each thought, word, and action

Vacate the dungeon of mire

Waive the white flag

X-radiate one's pride

Yield one's rights

Zero in on renouncing . . .

. . . anything and everything that stands in the way of a completely surrendered, cross-centered life."

I did not surrender 100%, dear friends.

Not even close.

I cried.

I panted.

I debated.

I connived.

Perhaps this is one more reason for me to be grateful for grace: at the end of 2014, I find my performance wanting. I find myself still clinging to control in far too many areas. Yet, as the Father looks at me, it is Christ's performance He evaluates -- not my own.

True, 2014 was my hardest year thus far, and if I live through 2015 I'm sure it will be my hardest year yet. So, I look forward to the day, the hour, the minute, the second I will truly "let it go" and surrender all control to Christ.

Thank you, 2014, for all you have taught me thus far.

May I learn even more in the remaining hours prior to your exit!

How Will This Be?

"How will this be," Mary asked the angel,

"since I am a virgin?"

The angel answered,

"The Holy Spirit will come on you,

and the power of the Most High will overshadow you."

Lk 1:34-35, NIV

Hundreds of times (if not well over a thousand) I have read or heard the above passage. Today, however, it strikes my eardrums in a new way and beckons me to linger for a while in thought. 

I am no woman but I can relate to Mary completely as a person. 

Who wouldn't fret upon seeing an angel?

Who wouldn't wonder about their shortcomings?

Who wouldn't question the impossibility of the task?

Indeed, I find myself asking God over and over again, "How will this be since I am a 'virgin'?" Spiritually speaking, I am a 'virgin' because I do not consider myself intimately acquainted with the monumental tasks the Lord has set before me. I feel woefully deficient, or even laughable, when contemplating the paths God has called me to take. Every new corner reveals yet again to my heart that I am too little, too weak, too poor, too scant, too limited, too incompetent to accomplish anything truly worthwhile, anything that will withstand the test of time.

I find that I am nothing . . . 

                                      . . . yet the Lord is my everything!

And because He is my everything, the angel's response to Mary overwhelms my senses with joy:

"The Holy Spirit will come on you . . ."

It is not my spirit that can do anything for God; it is Christ's Spirit that strengthens my weak heart to do anything and everything He has prepared in advance for me to do. 

" . . . and the power of the Most High will overshadow you."

It is not the power of my diminutive self that can effect lasting change; it is the omnipotence of my Heavenly King that empowers my surrendered tongue to be a witness for Christ in my own Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and the ends of the earth.

Of course, looking at things from an earthly perspective, I cannot pull off on my own all the things the Father has called me to do:

I cannot love Him with all I am, all I have, and all I hope to be. I cannot love my fellow human being as I truly love myself. I cannot be the perfect Christ-follower, husband, father, son, brother, friend, teacher, singer, pianist, writer, speaker, gardener, etc. that I desire to be. 

Apart from Him I can do nothing.

And so I appreciate the angel's response. 

His words resonate with my life so tangibly. 

As I face the worries and fears accompanying the heavenly tasks set before me, it is reassuring to be reminded of the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit." (Zech 4:6, NIV)

What joy!
What peace!

It is not my job to achieve anything in my own power.
It is my calling to receive the power that enables me to bear fruit in Christ.

I need to lean my weakness on the Father's omnipotence. I need to surrender my inadequacies to His perfection. I need to be reminded of His Spirit coming upon me. I need to rehearse daily that the Lord stands poised and ready to overshadow me, to take over the reins of my heart, and to perform wonders in the world through me.

No fear in my heart
No frailty in my being
No frustration in my mind

No feebleness attached to me at all can hamper or hinder God's sure work in the world. His Spirit will come upon me and overshadow me, through thick and thin, plenty and want, to advance His Kingdom.

Thank You, Father!