Monthly Archives: January 2013

January 17, 2013 · 7:57 AM

Wrongfully Arrested

My wife told me a joke last week that got me to thinking. There was a lady who was in a hurry to get where she was going. She was tailgating people and weaving in and out of traffic. She was riding the bumper of a truck when the light turned yellow. Instead of speeding through it, the truck stopped. She was furious! She started banging her steering wheel, screaming and making hand gestures that showed she was upset.

About that time, there was a knock on her window. She hadn’t noticed the police lights behind her. He arrested her and took her to jail. About an hour later, they came and got her out of jail to release her. While they were processing her, the arresting cop was there. He said, “Im sorry, ma’am for arresting you. When I saw how you were driving and acting and then read your bumper stickers that said, ‘WWJD, Follow me to Sunday School, My boss is a Jewish carpenter and God is my co-pilot’ I assumed you had stolen the car.”

Now that’s funny, but it’s also true of how most of us act. We advertise Christianity to everyone around us through bumper stickers, the Bible we carry, the tracts we leave laying around and telling others that we’re believers. But what about our actions? I’ve always heard it said that actions speak louder than words. How do we act when we think no one is looking? How do we respond when nothing goes our way? What do we do when we are hit with one trial after another?

I know we’re still human and we will respond like that lady did from time to time. I know have been guilty on several occasions. What message does that send when we behave that way? We are called to be different. To live different, to act different and to respond differently than others. When we tell others we are Christians, it feels like they’re waiting on us to mess up. Guess what, you will at some point. Why? Because we’re still human and have that nature in us. It’s what we do after we mess up that makes the difference.

I wonder how the lady in the joke responded after she left the station. Did she remove the bumper stickers from her car? Did she repent and ask God to give her the strength to be a better witness? I know that’s what I would have done in that situation. I would have gone crawling to God, begging for His forgiveness and looking for ways to be a better light in this dark place. That’s the beauty of Christianity. That’s the unfathomable thing about God’s grace. That’s what gives me hope.

We all mess up. We all deny Christ with our lives at times. The witness to others is that even when I royally mess up, I can find mercy, grace and forgiveness in Christ. While others may not forget what I did, God can. No one can live a completely righteous life, but we can live a life dominated by God’s grace and make that our witness. People know you can’t be perfect, but they want to know they can be forgiven. They want to know if there is enough grace for what they’ve done. There is.

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January 16, 2013 · 8:06 AM

Victory of the Mind

I was reading Romans chapters 7 and 8 this morning. In Romans 7, Paul is very transparent with us. He shares the struggles he faced in wrestling with sin in his life. I always like to think of Paul as a super Christian. The man wrote most of the New Testament in the Bible. But here in chapter 7, he is sharing the inner struggle we all face. It is summed up in verses 19 and 21 that say, “I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway… I have discovered this principle of life – that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.”

Does that sound like you? I know it sums me up perfectly. We all struggle with sin because our sin nature still lives in us. We all succumb to it when it rears its head in our lives. In verse 24, Paul used the word “dominate” to describe what his sinful nature was doing to him. It isn’t until we get to chapter 8 until he tells us how to overcome. One of the first paths to victory he mentions is in verse 6. It says, “So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.”

That leads me to the question, “How do I stop my mind from being controlled by my sinful nature and start letting it be controlled by the Spirit?” I think it starts with what you choose to put in your mind. What movies, TV shows, books and magazines are you looking at? Are they things that cause you to think about sin? Then you need to watch or read something else so that those seeds won’t be planted in your mind. Controlling what goes in will help control your actions. Switch to watching or reading something more wholesome. Plant good, godly things in your mind.

The next thing you can do is take control over those thoughts. Don’t entertain the thoughts that walk you down the path to sin. II Corinthians 10:5 tells us to bring “into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” If that thought doesn’t belong, take it captive and cast it out. Last week my pastor said when those thoughts enter his head, he says out loud, “You have no right to invade my mind.” That’s how you take it captive and cast it out.

Lastly, we need to have the mind of Christ. Philippians 2:5 says, “Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus.” We can have the mind of Christ. It’s not easy to get or maintain. It takes a conscious effort to ask for it and then maintain it by thinking good things. Philippians 4:8 tells us to think on things that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely and admirable. If your thoughts don’t line up with these, take them captive when they come in and then consciously force yourself to think on these things.

The battle of the mind isn’t easy. We’ll fight it our entire lives until we are made perfect. Just because we have the sinful nature living in us doesn’t mean we have to be dominated by. We can have victory. These are three things I have found to help me win the battles. I’m curious to know what ways you have found victory in the battle of the mind. Leave me a comment as to what you’ve found and let’s help each other win.

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January 15, 2013 · 7:59 AM

Volun-told

Have you ever been in the situation where someone asked for a volunteer and no one offered? Or have you ever seen someone in need and said, “Someone should help them”? It happens all the time. When that happens at work and someone gets chosen for the job, we say, “You just got volun-told!” When someone gets volun-told, they usually aren’t happy about it and rarely put their best effort forward.

Have you ever been volun-told by God? I have a few times. I start to pray for someone and God says, “You go help.” I start looking for excuses why I can’t help. I don’t know if it’s humorous to God or if it frustrates Him. I’m willing to pray for someone, but I’m not ready to be the answer to that prayer. Why? It’s the same reason any of don’t want to. It means we have to get involved.

What we don’t think about is that the moment we pray for someone else, we get involved. We are asking God to move on their behalf and are putting ourself in service. At work we also say that you can’t point out a problem unless you come up with a solution. It doesn’t have to be the right solution, but it needs to show that you are looking for a way to make it better. I don’t know that God needs our solutions to problems, but He does need us to be a part of the solution.

We are not here just to take and keep the good things God gives to us. We are to take those things and reinvest them. What God gives us is not our own. We are merely stewards of it. Whatever God has given you, it is to be used to be the solution for someone else, not just for your benefit. Our faith requires action. Yes, prayer is action. Yes, God can do the miraculous and provide supernaturally. Why would I want Him to do that and rob myself of the blessing of being used by Him to provide?

God doesn’t need you or I to do things in this world. He chooses to offer us opportunities to volunteer though. Are we too busy to be Jesus to someone today? Are we so caught up doing things for ourselves that we fail to do things for someone else? Jesus said when we do things for others, we’re doing it to Him, even if it is a cup of water. We get blinded into thinking that volunteering means long term commitment. Sometimes it is, but other times it’s just handing a cup of water to someone.

James 2:16 asks what good is it if you tell someone to stay warm and eat well and then don’t give that person any food or clothes. In essence that is what we are doing when we are willing to pray for someone without being willing to be that answer to prayer. Who is it in your path that needs you to be their answer? What can you do to give a “cup of water” to someone today? Are you waiting to be volun-told or will you receive the blessing by saying “Here am I, send me” like Isaiah?

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January 14, 2013 · 8:09 AM

Busses, Borders and Bombs

I love to tell the story of my bus ride from Cairo to Tel Aviv. I arrived in downtown Cairo early in the morning to catch my bus. This would be my second trip to Israel and this time I was taking friends with me. As we got on the outskirts of town, we met up with about 20 other busses and headed as a caravan through the Sinai peninsula. As soon as we arrived at the border, we had to walk through customs and then meet an Israeli bus on the other side to go the rest of the way.

After standing in line for a long time to get through customs, we walked out the door, through about 10 yards of what I call “no man’s land”, walked through a gate and then we were officially in Israel. There were about 20 busses on the other side waiting. All we had to do was find our bus and then the adventure would continue. The problem was we couldn’t find our bus.

All of the busses left and there were about 30 of us standing around. To say we weren’t happy would be an understatement. I was looking bad for having organized the trip. Finally, after a long 10 minutes, we see a bus come speeding up. The driver and his helper apologized and quickly loaded our belongings. When we got going, they apologized again and explained that things had happened that prevented them from arriving on time.

As the young lady took our tickets, she recognized me from my previous trip. I remembered her name and we began chatting. She asked where we were staying in Tel Aviv and what our plans were. I told her where we were staying and explained that since there had been a bus bomb in Jerusalem the day before, we planned on starting in Tel Aviv and would work our way to Jerusalem later in the week. She said where we were staying was on the way to the bus terminal and she’d be happy to drop us off at a shopping area near it.

As we made our way into Tel Aviv, the music on the radio stopped and the news came on. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, but I could understand the urgency in the reporters voice and the sirens coming through his microphone. I looked into the big mirror that bus drivers have and could see tears rolling down his face. I looked over and saw my friend. She was crying too. After a couple of minutes, I said, “Segal, is that from yesterday’s bombing?” She shook her head no. She then said, “We’re going to have to drop you off at the bus station instead of that shopping plaza.”

I said, “No problem. That’s what we had planned anyway. We’re good.” She then looked me in the eye and said, “You don’t understand. I have to drop you off at the bus station because someone just blew themselves up in the shopping plaza where we were going to drop you. They had a backpack full of explosives and pellets that shot out and killed many people.” It hit me that if that bus had been on time, we would have been standing in that shopping plaza at the time of the explosion. I then prayed, thanked God for protection and asked for forgiveness for complaining.

We may not always understand why things are preventing us from getting somewhere on time. We may never know why it seems like no matter how hard we try to do something it doesn’t work. What I’ve learned is that God is in control and I should be patient. God is either keeping me from something that is happening or is using me to prevent someone else from being somewhere at a certain time.

Whether it’s physically going somewhere or wanting something to happen in our lives, it’s easy to get impatient. We want things to happen in our timing and rarely want to wait for His timing. I’m not someone who likes to be patient, but I’m learning to. When God plants a dream in you, calls you to something or has made a promise to you have patience. He is working things together to line things up for His timing not yours. Philippians 1:6 says, “And I am certain that God, who began a good work within you, will continue His work until it is finished.”

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January 11, 2013 · 8:18 AM

From Defeat to Victory

I used to worry a lot. There were things going on in my life that I couldn’t control. Things were happening faster than I could react to them. That worry lead to stress. That stress then lead to high blood pressure. My doctor put me on blood pressure meds, but they didn’t work. I’m thinking she probably should have put me on anxiety meds. I’m glad she didn’t because medicine wasn’t the answer I needed. My answer came through a friend who wasn’t scared to say something.

She asked me some questions that got me to thinking. She asked, “Are the things that are happening to you a surprise to God? Is God worried about them? Or is He still on His throne and in control?” Well I knew the answers to those questions, but didn’t want to say it. They did make me think about how I was looking at things. I had gotten so caught up in the problems and things popping up in my life that I allowed God to be taken out of the equation.

I don’t think I’m alone in this. I think many of us get caught up in our daily life and the problems that catch us unaware. We allow them to consume us to the point that it dominates how and what we think. When that happens to us, it’s easy to make our problems bigger than the God we serve. It doesn’t happen over night either. It comes from a constant bombardment of things that attack us. It’s a war technique that is happening to you.

Think back to Desert Storm. Our initial operations there had a code name of “Shock and Awe”. Most war plans, game plans and plans of attack begin with some type of shock and awe. They do it because if you aren’t expecting it, it will throw you off course, force you to make poor decisions and it gives the attacker the upper hand. It is designed to break your will and to keep you from fighting back. Submission is its goal.

I had submitted to the things that were coming at me faster than I could handle. I left the fundamentals that I had been taught. Once I did that, I began to be defeated. Defeat is the ultimate goal of our attacker. Once we are defeated, we are no longer a threat. Defeat breeds worry and depression which are cyclical and keep you from fighting. They take our mind out of the war that is going on and eventually remove the thought that God still cares and is our path to victory.

My friends questions caused me to put God back in the equation. When God is added in to the battles in your life, victories are multiplied. God cares deeply about where you are. He is not unaware of the things that are plaguing your mind right now. He is silently waiting for you to remember Him and to get back to the fundamentals which are praying and reading His Word. Romans 10:17 says that faith comes from hearing and hearing by the Word of God. If you need a faith boost this morning, get into God’s Word. Read it out loud. Speak the promises of God and reclaim your mind. Victory is at stake.

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January 10, 2013 · 7:25 AM

Hope for Your Dream

I have been thinking a lot about Joseph, the son of Jacob. I have committed to do a study on him to see what I can glean from his life. We know how his father gave him a coat of many colors and how his brothers despised him, but I want to know who he really was and how we can apply things from his life to ours. I’m sure you’ll be seeing more posts about him soon. His story is found in Genesis 37-45.

Today, I want to focus on him in prison. Many years had passed since God had given him a dream that his family would bow down to him. I can imagine Joseph sitting in that prison wondering about that dream. I wonder if he wished he had never told his brothers about the dream God gave him. After he told them, they threw him into a pit, sold him into slavery where he was falsely accused and now sitting in a prison to rot.

I think a lot of us are at that point right now. God birthed a dream in you and you began to share it. You then noticed that when you shared it, things in your life began to fall apart. When things in our lives fall apart, we begin to seclude ourselves. We pull back from others. It may be because you don’t want them to catch your bad luck, because you want to protect them from anything bad coming your way or you could just be embarrassed from everything that’s happening.

When we seclude ourselves, we build walls. When we build walls, we find ourselves in prison like Joseph. You may not be in a physical prison like he was, but you are still secluded and alone making you feel like you’re in prison. It’s easy to sit in that prison and think that the dream is dead. It is not! Just like a seed planted in the earth grows dormant so that it can grow, the dream God placed in you may be dormant before it can grow.

I personally know the pain of thinking that a dream is dead due to circumstances. God’s promises are not bound by the circumstances in your life. He is not unaware of what you are facing today. You cannot let your circumstances dictate that the dream is dead. If God has planted it, He will grow it no matter where you are or what you’re going through. His Word never returns void. It’s in the depths of our prisons that our dreams can grow. In those dark places where we think there is no life, God is there cultivating you and that dream.

It often takes us getting to the end of our rope before the dream comes back alive so that we will always know that the dream was realized not by our own strength or doing, but by God alone. He is the one who gave it to you and He is the one who will fulfill it. You, like Joseph, are simply being put into position for the realization of your dream. If Joseph had never been in prison, no one would have known he could interpret the Pharaoh’s dream and his family would have been lost.

If you’re in that dark prison today, don’t despair. Keep hope with you. Know that God is putting you into position so that dream can be realized. God is working in your life through the good and the bad to bring about what He promised. He works all things together for your good. You are not alone. You are not forgotten in your prison. You have a God who sees you, loves you and is working for your good. Continue to trust Him and be patient.

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January 9, 2013 · 6:53 AM

Forgiveness

How do you forgive the unforgivable? How do you come to the place where you can forgive someone for the ultimate betrayal? When you’ve trusted someone with everything and they stab you in the back as they take it all away, it’s hard to come to that place. It’s even more difficult when you have daily reminders. It’s like someone is just twisting the knife in you. The pain becomes unbearable. Not understanding why just makes it more difficult.

For me, I’ve had to let go of that last question to come to a place of forgiveness. The question of why will eat you up like a cancer. It causes you to hold on to the pain, the depression and it keeps the wounds open. I tried to drown my pain. I tried to run from it too. I did anything and everything I could to find a way to get rid of the constant reminders. I eventually covered up the wound and just pretended that it didn’t exist.

If I could forget it happened, I could numb the pain. If I could pretend it was a bad dream, somehow it would make me forget. Over time, that seemed to work. It sat there though dormant waiting in the dark. I would never be able to forget or make the scars go away though. It wasn’t until I confronted the pain, the hurt and the scars that I found forgiveness.

I heard Dave Roever speak about a year ago. His body is riddled with physical scars from having a phosphorous grenade blow up by his head as he was throwing it. His words pierced me. He said, “Don’t hide your scars. In them lies healing for you and for others.” Could it be that by hiding the scars and withholding forgiveness I was preventing myself and others from healing? I now know he was right. By looking at what happened and uncovering the layers of things I used to cover up the pain, I was able to find forgiveness.

Jesus gave the best example of forgiveness as He was on the cross. He was able to look the men in the eye who beat Him, mocked Him and betrayed Him. He was able to find forgiveness while the nails were still in His hands. He was able to find peace while the blood was pouring out of His body and say, “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they’re doing.” He was able to see the whole plan of what was happening. You and I aren’t afforded that luxury.

It took years to see the plan and the reasons why. The betrayal in my life knocked me completely off the path I was on and put me on another one. It changed my outlook, the way I think and ultimately who I am. If it hadn’t been for that one act, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Being able to have that perspective this far away is what helped me find forgiveness. I know that what happened, while it hurt deeply and still does, was a course correction that God used to get me where He wanted me.

If they were the tool that God used to get me here, how can I withhold forgiveness? When I withhold forgiveness, I can’t be who I am supposed to be. It will keep me in a prison of pain and bitterness and I will miss what God has for me. I knew the day would come when I would have to forgive because Jesus also said, “If you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Were the sins committed against me any worse than my sins against God? No. He found a way to forgive me, I have to find a way to forgive others.

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January 7, 2013 · 8:28 AM

Make Today Count

Several years ago, a guy I worked with would get on the store intercom each morning before we opened. He would give a motivational speech with some great quotes and remind us about why we work. He would always close his speeches the same way. You could hear him take a breath and then slowly say, “Make…. today…. count.” He signed off on all of his emails with it too.

All of these years later, I don’t remember each speech he gave, but I still remember those words: make today count. I believe we are to live purposeful lives. We are to be proactive not reactive. Jesus said, “Ask and it shall be given. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened.” These are all proactive steps that require you to act. The Bible is full of things we are to be proactive at.

A proactive person sees a need and helps. They look for ways to get involved. They don’t just want to do something for God, they do it. A reactive person responds to things that happen. They wait until there is no other choice but to act. It s not done out of willfulness, but out of obligation. As a manager, I can tell you that those who do things willfully are more successful and do better work than those who do things out of obligation.

It’s simple really. Proactive, willing people put their hearts into whatever they do. Ecclesiastes 9:10 says what my coworker used to say, “Each day is God’s gift. It’s all you get in exchange for the hard work of staying alive. Make the most of each one! (MSG)” I don’t know if he knew if what he was saying came from the Bible or not, but there it is. We are commanded to make the most out of each day. They are gifts from God in which we are to be proactive and do something for others.

Colossians 3:23 in the Message also says, “Don’t just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from your heart for your real master, for God.” God knows that if you work from your heart, what you do will cause others to be motivated to do better. Our job is not simply to do things on our own, it’s to get others motivated to do things better too. When each of us in the body of Christ start working with all of our potential and are living a life of purpose, the Kingdom of God will grow.

I know many people are going back to work today after having been off for the holidays. Don’t go back with a sour attitude. That is infectious too. That is not what you want others to catch or to think about you as a Christian. Choose to go to work with a great attitude. Choose to find someone in need today and be the hands and feet of Jesus to them. Choose to make today count.

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January 4, 2013 · 8:06 AM

Friends in Need

I have several friends going through some difficult times right now. Some have lost a parent, others have been given news that one of their parents has a terminal disease, one is fighting for her life in ICU and another going through a painful divorce. I’m sure there are others who have kept their struggles private not wanting to bother anyone else. This year has started off very difficult for a lot of people I know.

While every circumstance is unique, their pains and fears can be empathized with. When I went through a difficult period in my life, I was the one who didn’t want to bother others with my pain. People didn’t know how to respond. Some would say, “Time heals all wounds.” Others would say, “What doesn’t kill you will only make you stronger.” Then there were those who would not know what to say and simply say, “I’m sorry.” I’ve often thought about what could someone have said to ease the pain.

For me, I think there was nothing anyone could have said. Pain, loss and suffering are part of the furnace of life. It’s what molds us, strengthens us and pushes us onto other paths. There were no words that could have brought the healing I desperately needed. Looking back, I simply wanted someone to love me enough to stand by me in the hard times. Someone who would put their arm around me and say, “You’re not alone in this.”

One of my friends, who is going through one of these situations right now, once said, “When you have someone to stand with you through thick and thin, pain is divided and joy is multiplied.” While I can’t take the hurt, fears or questions away, I can stand with my friends to help divide their pain. Platitudes don’t bring much relief, but actions do. One action each of these friends can use right now is prayer.

When you struggle through difficult times like these, you need others who will lift you up and pray for you. When you don’t have the strength or words to pray for yourself, it helps to know that other believers are standing in the gap and fighting on your behalf. Psalm 28:7 says the Lord is our strength and shield. That’s what these people need. They need strength to make it through each day. They need protection from other things that would come against them when they’re down. They need peace that passes all understanding to come into their lives.

When there are no answers to the question of “Why”, God can still give peace in the midst of a storm. We may not understand why each of us experience these difficult times, but we can rest in the peace of knowing our God walks with us in difficult times. We can find comfort in knowing that God is still on His throne and He sees us in our dark times. He still heals. He still comforts. He still answers prayers. He still comes to those in need. May He do all of these to my friends in need and anyone reading this in need.

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January 3, 2013 · 8:35 AM

Do What Matters

I heard the story of a Christian who died and went to Heaven. When he got there, Peter met him at the pearly gates. Peter greeted him and welcomed him to Heaven. He then said, “I’ll have Gabriel take you to your home in glory now.” As Gabriel and the man walked down the streets of gold, he was in awe of all the mansions. There were some enormous ones and the man asked who lived in those. Gabriel said, “Well that one belongs to Mother Teresa, that one belongs to Jonathan Edwards and that one is being built for Billy Graham.

As the continued to walk through the city, the man noticed the mansions were getting smaller. They walked and they walked for what seemed like hours. They started getting the point where houses were not only smaller, but they were few and far between. They walked up to what appeared to be a shack in comparison to earlier mansions. Gabriel said, “Welcome home.” The man was upset and confused. He asked, “Why does my mansion look like this and others look so amazing.” Gabriel simply replied, “This is all you sent us to work with.”

I’m not one who believes that we are saved by our works. I believe we are saved by the grace of God through Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins. I also believe that James says that faith without works is dead. We are to live our lives in a way that reflects what God has done for us. We are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus to others. We are to help the weak, take care of widows and orphans, clothe and feed the poor and to defend those without a voice.

I Corinthians 3:13-15 says, “On judgement day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.” The above story to me is a reflection of this scripture. We can be busy “doing things for God” and not be doing the right things that are of value.

Many of us live our lives as Christians having only accepted what Christ has done and then have never done anything with that grace. As I mentioned on my previous post about my theme for 2013, I want to do things this year that will matter. I want to make sure that what I do increases Him and decreases me. Not all of us can be a Mother Teresa, a Jonathan Edwards or a Billy Graham, but each of us can do things that matter just as much for the Kingdom.

When I was seven, I painted a poem in Sunday School. I remember being so proud of it. I painted it brown and then painted the letters in gold. It was perfect, at least in my seven year old mind it was! It said, “Only one life, ’twill soon be passed. Only what’s done for Christ will last.” Each of us has one life. Each of us have opportunities to do lots of things, but only certain things will survive that fire on judgement day. My prayer is that you and I find and do the things that matter.

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