Submitting To God

Acts 3:19
“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus.”

In my last blog entry, I laid out a path to follow when you find yourself going in the wrong direction and have begun to wake up from the seduction of sin to see that you are no longer following the Lord. I plan to take the next 4 weeks to explore each of the milestones along this journey to health and wholeness. Our first stop is quite possibly one of the most difficult—submitting our problems to God. I am not speaking of only a desperate prayer as you are sitting there in the waves of guilt. Many of us have run to God and asked forgiveness only to find ourselves returning to the sin as if it is a drug that controls us. This submission I am referring to has to more to do with allowing Him to begin leading your desires and decisions, than the emotions of anger and guilt that arrive after a sin is committed. If you are not ready to submit your life to God, then, I am sorry to say, you are not ready for change. Scripture is very clear regarding the idea of us being a slave to sin or to the Lord:

Romans 6:16-18
Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

Here are a few very practical steps to take to submit your life to the Lord.
1. Give Him Your Daily Schedule
This may sound like a strange way to begin, but most of us are ruled by what others believe we should be doing, or by all of the commitments we have that should not have been piled on top of each other in the first place. If Satan, the enemy of your soul, can keep you so busy that your life is spinning faster than you can run, then he has access to wreak havoc in any area of your life that suits him.

2. Give Him Your Words
Focus on what you are saying to others. Listen to the jokes that are shared, the tone of your voice, your attitude, and all of those moments of complaining. Our mouths become poison for the rest of our being once it has been corrupted.

3. Find a Daily Devotional
The one mistake that many people make is in deciding to submit their lives to God, but never feeding that desire with the Word of God. Don’t feel like you have to go and join a Bible study that requires hours of study to keep up with it. Simply find a daily devotional that you can easily read on a daily basis and make it a priority.

4. Be Careful What You Are Feeding Your Sinful Nature
This is probably one of the most difficult things for each of us to know where to draw a line in the sand. We can not hide ourselves away in a cave and avoid everything that might tempt us in the wrong direction; yet we must separate ourselves from the ongoing ideas of sin. You will need to run to the Lord and ask Him for daily guidance on what areas of temptation should be avoided.

This week we discussed the importance of submitting to the Lord. Next week we will discuss the importance of making a personal decision to change. My encouragement to you is to not get frustrated and give up. It is too easy to feel overwhelmed by the chasm of where you are and where you know you need to be. In those times of desperation, instead of running to the vices that have created your dilemma, I pray that you will run to the Lord and His truth.

So What Now?!?!?!?

Let’s say I have walked the wrong way. I have chosen the wrong friends. I have spoken the wrong words. I have made the wrong decisions and taken the advice that led me down paths that do not honor my God and His sacrifices. What do I do when God is calling me to Himself but I am too ashamed to go, because He knows who and what I really am?

It would make sense to stop and repent. In a real and practical sense, simply make a u-turn and never return to that path again! Doesn’t that sound so easy on paper? To listen to someone tell me that I am going the wrong way certainly makes sense, but to take my daily life and just change overnight feels like an impossible task. Especially when those wrong choices have given me an escape from some of the consequences I fear. I mean, to be honest, as much as I hate the guilt and emptiness that comes with these life style patterns-- facing them seems even scarier. The last thing I want to do is to look into my friends’ eyes and apologize for lying to them, or sit in a counselor’s office and let my wife know what really goes on in my mind, or have an honest moment with my children and show them that their father was mistaken, or sit in a worship service and let my God see the rotten mold that has grown while I thought He wasn’t watching. I am sure that you have your own examples that you could place in this paragraph. No matter what situation you face, it requires the same type of attention--God’s presence and grace, and a whole lot of integrity and honesty.

One of the personal issues that I dealt with as a young man came in the form of deception. I was insecure about who I was and, to be fully honest, I didn’t like who I was. I remember being in church and listening to someone share their wonderful testimony about how they were saved from drugs and alcohol. Everyone cheered for them, and I was jealous! Why couldn’t God save me from drugs and alcohol? Well, without ever touching a drug or becoming an alcoholic, I decided to tell everyone about the drugs and alcohol that were destroying my life, and how God saved me. It was a blatant lie, and one that I am sure everyone saw right through. Yet it began a habit in my life of trying to appear to be something different than I was. The lies grew and grew, and the truth became more and more confusing. Then one day the Lord truly dealt with me and I had to confess my lies to all of the people who were close to me. They must have thought I was crazy. It was a very difficult habit to break, as the lines between truth and lie were so intertwined that I honestly didn’t know one from the other. I remember when I begin dating my wife, I would tell her stories of my past and then have to be honest and confess that I was unsure of whether or not that story actually happened. I am happy to say that the Lord has taken this horrible weakness and has turned it fully around. Most people who know me would probably say, in fact, that I am too honest. So how did this weakness become a strength? What steps did I have to personally go through to allow the Lord to fix this problem that would have led me down dangerous paths?

1. Submit the problem to God
Acts 3:19
“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus.”

2. Make a personal decision to change
1 Corinthians 15:34
“Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.”

3. Tell someone of your problem
James 5:16
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

4. Ask for forgiveness to those you have wronged
Matthew 5:23
"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.”

5. When you feel the problem re-growing quickly expose it for others to see
John 3:21
“But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

6. Make it a point to tell others about what God is doing to repair the brokenness
Acts 20:24
“However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.”

7. Be available for God to use your weakness as a strength
Hebrews 11: 32
“And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, 33who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.”

I know that taking these steps may seem more dangerous than the sin that holds you. But I am here to stand in the gap for you. I beg you to not believe that lie. It is only through trusting Jesus and allowing Him to get you on the right path will you find health, wholeness, and maturity. Every other promise that you have heard from this world and the corruption it offers will only lead to destruction and death. The Lord personally gave all that He is to come and give you a chance at life. This life can begin for you today if you are willing to start submitting your daily habits, attitudes, and decisions to Him.

Beyond the Surface

It is incomprehensible that so many people, including myself, have such a difficult time having faith in the Lord and His plans, yet have no problem talking ourselves into whatever lie we want to believe. I was sitting with my wife and kids the other day watching American Idol and was amazed at all of these horrible singers who think they sound great. It was just bad! There were times that I was so embarrassed for the person that I had to stop watching. I then told my wife that at least I am aware that I don’t sing well. If you have been watching American Idol, you are very aware of the pain that is caused by watching these people who are looking in the mirror and not seeing the truth of their situation. The more I have thought about this dilemma, the more I am reminded that each of us do the same thing in different areas of life. Maybe it does not get televised for the whole world to see but do not be misled—the world is watching.

Here are some examples that I have seen in my own life and watched in others, and at times, am still tempted to believe today.

1. “That person needed to hear what I said! They deserved for me to treat them that way!”
How many times do we say things to people out of anger, pride, jealousy, and/or pain and then try to rationalize why it was OK? We have been mandated to not let unwholesome talk come out of our mouths and it seems that, instead of holding to what we have been asked, we find reasons to believe our excuses.

Ephesians 4:29
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

2. “I would forgive them if they just proved to me they are sorry and worthy of forgiveness!”
This is the most unscriptural statement in regards to forgiveness that can be found, but it is a thought that seems to haunt me every day of my life. The Bible is clear that we forgive because Christ forgave us. Not because the other person is deserving, or they have groveled enough, or they have bled enough. Granting forgiveness to others is only possible by someone who truly believes that they have sinned themselves. Once this need for forgiveness is realized it is natural to become thankful for the pardon received and it would be incomprehensible to stand in the way of that same grace and mercy for another. Ouch! I hate writing this stuff sometimes because it is truth but it hurts and I don’t like it…

Mark 11:25
And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.

3. “I don’t need to do it. I can stop whenever I want to!”
One of the first lies that Satan wants you to believe is that you’re strong enough on your own. You can do it and can handle the whole thing because of your amazing strength and skill. What a load of crap! Forgive the French but it makes me angry to see people make these decisions about life on a daily basis and slowly poison themselves to the place of depression and disparity. You cannot stop visiting that Internet site on your own! You will not stop smoking, drinking, or whatever vice you are dealing with because you are a good person and can quit when you want to. If you do not open your heart and get help, you will slowly poison your life, your family, and your relationship with God to the point where the trespass will become your master! No one wants to hear this but it is true.

Isaiah 40:30-31
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

4. “What is wrong with flirting? It doesn’t mean anything. And it makes me feel good about myself.”
I am convinced that flirting with sin in any fashion is like playing Russian roulette. You place the bullet in the chamber and are hoping that this time the adrenaline rush feels as good as last time, but pray that the bullet of consequence never shows up to collect its payment for playing the game. I was speaking to a woman the other day about marriage and she was telling me that both her and her husband flirt with people all the time and it is just a fun game they play. The truth of what they are doing is opening their heart up to allow other thoughts and feelings to be planted into the core of who they are, and all it will take is for one of those seeds to take root and the game they play will quickly turn into a nightmare. This flirting problem is not just with the people that surround us but it is with each temptation that we allow into the door of our heart.

Galatians 6:7-8
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

5. “I’m a Christian. I mean, I am a good person and I don’t too many bad things.”
This statement has been made by more people than any of us would like to admit. First of all, being a Christian has nothing to do with being the “good person” the world pictures. These days, it seems most people think a good person is one who is open and accepting of whatever lifestyle someone chooses to be. The goodness that scripture refers to has more to do with having the character of God than with getting along with everyone. If you claim to know Jesus and profess that He is your Lord and Savior, then He has commanded that we are His ambassadors-- this is not just a good idea--it is the only idea.

Matthew 19:16-17
Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?" "Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only one who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."

Each of these examples gives insight into how easily our hearts can be misled and cause catastrophic damage. We must stop taking deceptive ideas about our lives and our situations and attempt to present them as uncompromised truth. We must drill deeper than the surface of what we have tried to paint ourselves to be and find out what is at the core of our being. Are we truly serving the Lord? Are we walking in forgiveness? Are we protecting our families? Are we being true to what God has called us to be? Or have we taken the ugly truth and rewrapped it with a warped sense of reality to a place that we have personally begun to believe the lies?

If you are not careful, you may find yourself standing before an audience, believing with your whole heart that you are something that you are not. Be true to yourself and what God has made you to be. You will be amazed how fulfilling it is to live a life that has been grounded in a foundation of truth.

Wait.

Psalm 27:13-14
I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.

Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.

I am finding that there is no other word in our English language that has as much frustration and protection built in to its foundational meaning. For example: It is 7:00 PM and you are hungry! As a family you decide to go out and eat your favorite food at your favorite restaurant. However, when you arrive, you’re faced with a dilemma. They have a 45-minute wait time. Your stomach lurches and groans as you know that if you don’t eat soon then you might fall over and die. You consider going to a different restaurant but your brain kicks in and says you want your favorite and so you will wait. What is 45 minutes anyway? So you sit there looking at your watch waiting for your name to be called. Have you ever noticed that time slows down when you pay too much attention to it? Those 45 minutes seem to be an eternity. You get impatient enough that you even get up after 25 minutes to talk to the host and make sure they have not forgotten about you. You see, we have all been through the waiting game, and we will all have the opportunity to walk through it many more times in this life. But what happens to us when the stakes are larger than just a dinner? What if you are waiting to hear back from a doctor’s test and they say that they will call you next week to let you know if the cancer treatment was a success or not? What if you have been waiting for your child to get home and they are over an hour late and you are unable to get a hold of them? What if that thing you were waiting to hear, to see, or to know could alter your life as you know it? Then we want it now! NOW! NOW! NOW!


Is it me or did I just sound like a child? There is only one being that I have met that seems to enjoy the process of waiting. He is the One that I have entrusted my whole life to and agree to submit to His schedule daily. He is my Lord and Savior. I assure you that His lack of expediency is not meant to frustrate, but it is instead full of teaching and wisdom. So many times He makes us wait because He is protecting us from ourselves. Other times, He is trying to prepare us for what He knows is in our future. I also believe that many times, He is allowing our example of living out life to be a witness for those around us. When those around us see that we have the ability to walk in patience, it gives validity to the faith we profess. It also gives the Lord glory as He unfolds His purposes and plans. How many times have you crossed the street holding a child’s hand and have had to make them wait because it was not yet time to cross the street? If they were to cross when their impulses told them to, it may be the last time they were to ever run again. Well, that is the picture of our Father in Heaven. The next time you are told to wait, don’t get mad and run. Don’t rebel against time and force your way across the street. Simply hold on tight to the hand of your Father, He will guide and protect you.


wait
verb- to stay in one place or do nothing for a period of time until something happens or in the expectation or hope that something will happen
noun- a period of time spent while expecting something to happen


A simple prayer,
Lord help me spend more time worried about holding on to your hand and listening to your voice than trying to figure out why you will not allow me to cross the street. I want my faith to grow but that will only happen if and when I stop trying lead the way. I am called to have faith in you not to talk you into having faith in me. Please forgive my ignorance.

Kristopher

And What Do You Hope For?

“Our problem is not so much that God doesn’t give us what we hope for as it is that we don’t know the right thing for which to hope.” Max Lucado from his book God Came Near

When I first read this statement I did not think that it applied to me. What do I hope for that could be wrong? I pray and hope for good health, financial security, strong relationships with my wife, kids, family and friends. When it comes down to it I guess I hope and pray that I have no problems and anyone I know doesn’t have problems either. That we all can be nice to each other and our surroundings will be comfortable. Are you seeing the problem with what I have been hoping for? What kind of faith will grow inside of me, and those that surround me, if everything is easy and there no challenges that present themselves? I think my hope and prayers have been more of a statement that I would like to retire my faith and stop growing. Why do you think that in places like Sri Lanka that their faith is so strong and those who are Christians tend to see God in a much clearer way than those who live here in the USA? It is due to persecution and hardship! They have to face possible retribution for their faith on a daily basis. I do not know the answer here. No one in their right mind would request for pain and persecution but it also seems to be irresponsible to long for a life that has no personal faith challenges.

For those of you who think eating veal is a crime, I do apologize for this next portion of this weeks teaching but it is a great example of what we pray for, hope for and even sometimes fight for. You see the reason that veal is so tender and succulent to eat is that the cow has been living in a box since it was born and will not have the chance to develop its muscles. It will not have the chance to fall down or trip. Most cows that will be turned into veal will not even have the chance to stand. Don’t judge me but veal does taste good. But as far as cows go it has no strength and every part of its body is underdeveloped. We must make sure that we are taking our faith and getting it outside of the box. It must have a chance to stand, to run, to fall and to possibly trip. If we just leave it all packaged up nicely, like veal, then it will never grow strong.

So should we pray for hard times in this life? Like I said earlier! No one in their right mind would request for pain and persecution but it also seems to be irresponsible to long for a life that has no personal faith challenges.

I appreciate the way that Paul explains his outlook on living life.

Philippians 4:11-13 (New International Version)
I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

When it comes down to it they key to having a faith that is going to grow healthy, in God’s time and in His way, is to simply trust God with every detail of life journey and enjoy each part of it as it unfolds before our eyes. Sometimes what may unfold will make you scared, angry, hurt, happy, joyful, or even a mix of all of these emotions. Whatever it is that unfolds we must allow the Lord to use it to strengthen us and strengthen our faith!

Taming The Wild Emotions

Rogue emotions need to be kept firmly on a leash or even locked up. If we give way to any of them too much, we become their prisoners instead of their masters, and it’s essential we don’t end up trapped inside a cage with our untamed emotions!
Stefan Carey and Andrew Rooke

Over this last year, I have found myself awakened to emotions and feelings that have needed someone or something to tame them and bring them into submission to God’s truth and honest evaluation. It has been quite an amazing realization that all of these waves of emotions lived inside of me but were ignored for many years. Why was I not listening to them? How did this wild untamed stallion live inside of me, unknown for so long, and then one day wake up with such fierce control over my actions? I think that somehow, I believed that if I listened to them, they might make me weak as a leader and a pastor. Like it or not, I have discovered that I am a human, with a beating heart and with feelings about what God is doing in my life, how people in my life are living, and what is happening in my surroundings. As I have been adjusting to this new phenomenon of emotional pressure, it has become very clear that, if my emotions are given the freedom to run, they will run me right off of a cliff. So what do we do with these God-given emotional nerve-endings? How do i keep my heart alive and care for those around me when, not only are my own emotions unstable, but everyone I come in contact with has their own issues with instability?

This is where discipline of the mind comes into play. In the daily devotional book I follow, the author has been focusing on different aspects of “disciplining the mind” and not allowing it to simply wander. The mind, in so many ways, becomes the boundaries for the heart’s emotions. If you just take a moment to watch people and how they respond to emotions, it is easy to see the truth of this statement. When we take these feelings of pain, sadness, anger--whatever the emotion--and place it into the guidelines of truth, then it will protect us and those we love. I was watching a group of people at work, just yesterday, as they allowed one person, who is a complainer by nature, take a situation, stir up everyone’s emotions and, before you knew it, there was anger and disappointment, with no real truth behind the emotions stirred. The few people in the situation who took the time to find out the truth remained at peace. This is the same scenario that happens in every one of our lives on a daily basis.

So now we come to the all-important question of, “what must happen for our mind to be the guiding boundary to the feelings that long to control us?”

1. Submit Your Heart, Mind and Body to the Lord
Too many times we trust our own understanding and, if we are sick and unhealthy, we will never come to truthful, godly answers. I was watching the show “House” a couple of nights ago, and there was a doctor who inadvertently caught the disease that he was trying to cure in a patient and he began to go crazy. Here we have an amazing and well-trained doctor who could no longer be trusted, because the disease was affecting his mind and his emotional responses took control. If we have not submitted our hearts, minds, and bodies to the Lord and allowed Him to cleanse us and heal us, then what makes any of us think that we are standing on stable enough ground to make judgments about what we are seeing, hearing, thinking or feeling?


2. Slow Down and Seek Truth
If you are finding that you have to respond to something immediately while the emotions are fresh, then you probably are not the one in control. There may be a time for those difficult conversations and quite possibly, even consequences delivered for those actions that have taken place, but until truth is sought out it is comparable to taking a person who is driving 100 miles per hour and asking them to be gentle as they go over the speed bumps. When I speak of truth, I am referring to the truth of God and His promises found in scripture when one is immersed with them and not just splashed with a few of the good ideas during a church service.

3. Invite the Holy Spirit to Give Guidance
The Bible is very clear that the Lord has given us free will. It is unclear how it all works out but He has promised to not force you to do anything. He will guide you when the guidance is invited. He will stand, waiting for an invitation, watching your life unfold and weep at the painful consequences of prideful decisions when you think you are wise enough to figure it out yourself. He has great plans for those who will seek Him with all of their hearts.

4. Follow Truth Even When You Don’t Feel Like It
Now this is the most difficult part of following the Lord. Too many of us have been lied to and quickly bought the lie that the Lord wants us to be comfortable. I have always believed that the Lord will stretch us and push us like a partner pushes someone who is exercising. But I have personally found that what the Lord has asked me to do and who he has asked me to be is far more intense than a work-out partner. God has asked me to take feelings and emotions that seem more real than His existence and lay them aside to follow His admonitions. This feels very unnatural, and I am finding that I am being asked to do things like forgive, trust, and be at peace, when my whole being is screaming for me to run the opposite direction. I am being asked to do things that can only be done if given strength and ability found outside of who I am--a strength and ability that is only found in the One who is doing the asking. I am learning that my faith will only grow when I am willing to trust God and walk through pain.

Dear Lord,
Please help me and anyone reading this blog submit our hearts and minds to you. Help us be disciplined and focused. Help us position our lives in a place where we are willing to walk through the fire as long as you are walking with us. We need your perspective more than we need our own understanding. Help us be content in hearing your perspective when our emotions begin to scream at us and we try to take control of our own lives instead of trusting in you and your great plan.
Amen

Luke 2:8-12
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

There is such a great promise that has been given to us in scripture. Not just a promise of a wise or good man, not just a healer or miracle worker but also a Savior! Just think the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings went through so much sacrifice to come and meet us, on our level, as a man so that He could offer us life. We have so much to be thankful for and so much to live for, but it seems that we get so easily distracted. Let’s not get distracted this week from what this season is about but instead embrace all of who Jesus is.

“Christ became what we are that He might make us what He is.” Athanasius of Alexandria

What is getting in the way of you allowing the Lord to transform you into His image and His likeness?

Yes, this season is a great time for you to spend time with your family and your loved ones but it is more important and more pertinent for you to spend time with your Savior. He is standing at the door of your heart knocking asking to be able to come and love you just the way you are. For those of us who have known the Lord for some time and have invited Him into our heart it is still a daily decision to allow Him to enter into the hidden chambers of our heart and transform every habit, attitude, and secret motive. Let this Christmas bring the greatest freedom in your life as you decide to trust in and follow Jesus Christ our Messiah.

Merry Christmas and Happy New year!