Tag Archives: faith

June 17, 2013 · 7:51 AM

Tethered by Faith

A few years ago, some friends and I were in Dallas when we decided to visit an amusement park. This park had things like bungee jumps instead of roller coasters. There was one that took you up in a crane and dropped you several stories into a net. I was dared to do it because we were all scared of that one. Not being someone who backs down from a date, I paid the money, put on the harness and got in the cage. As the crane got higher, I started second guessing my decision.

We got as high as the crane would go and the guy running it asked if I was ready. I got to the door of the cage, my harness was strapped to a wire to keep me from falling and he said, “Just lean out of the cage and the wire will hold you. You won’t fall until I release you.” Even though I knew that wire would hold me, it was hard to get out of that cage. I had to fall out backwards with my face to the sky. I struggled with how to do it. I thought about laying on the floor and rolling out. I even told him to push me out.

I finally succumbed to my fear and decided to trust the wire. I fell backwards out of the cage and sure enough the wire held me. Now I was dangling upside down with no turning back. I thought I was afraid before. Now I was terrified. I was no longer in control. As I spun around I could see Dallas, the highways, houses and more. The guy in the crane said, “Look at me.” I looked up at him and he said, “You can do this. I’m going to count to three and then release you to fall into the net.” I begged for mercy!

He said, “One.” I said, “Hey, let’s talk about this for a minute. Can’t we work something out?” He smiled and said, “Two.” That’s the last thing I heard because he pulled the cord and released me. I was free falling for about 10 stories now. At one point I remember telling myself, “Breathe!” I took in a deep breathe and then I hit the net. My adrenaline was pumping, my friends were cheering and I had a huge smile on my face. I did it.

In my life right now, I’m in that cage tethered to it. God is asking me to fall backwards out of the cage. It’s just as scary now as it was then. I’ve tried bargaining with Him like I did with the guy in Dallas. He smiles and says, “Trust me. I’ll hold you and keep you from falling.” While I struggle with what the best way out of the cage is, I ask, “Can’t you just push me?” Patient as ever, God says, “Faith is not me pushing you out, but you getting out willfully and trusting that I’ll catch you.”

It’s a struggle any of us who walk in faith deal with. We become more secure in the tools He uses than in Him. We are harnessed with the breastplate of righteousness and are tethered by faith yet we are afraid to trust Him to hold us when we step out. When we do step out and we’re dangling, He has us facing upward to remind us to look at Him. If our eyes are on the world spinning below us, we’ll be terrified. If our eyes are on Him, we’ll find peace even if we’re dangling out of the cage and can’t see the net.

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June 14, 2013 · 8:07 AM

Keep Running

I got to hear Kirk Franklin share his testimony last year. It was the first time I had seen him in person. He told the story of how he grew up without a father and how he always wanted to be there for his son. He told how his son ran track and he was watching him run a relay race. When the second guy on their team went to hand the baton to number three, he dropped the baton. The third guy picked it up and started heading for Kirk’s son.

When Kirk looked ahead at his son, who was now at a disadvantage, he didn’t see him give up. Instead he saw him readjusting his stance, timing the space between he and the other runners and preparing to receive that baton. When he finally got the baton, he ran as if he had a chance to win the race. He ran as fast as he could all the way to the finish line knowing he wouldn’t win.

That took character. Many of us would have jogged to the finish line. If we can’t win, what’s the point in trying that hard? No one in the crowd expected him to run that hard to the finish line. Well no one except his dad. His dad had instilled in him the value of never giving up. In a time when running fast didn’t really matter, the character that was taught to him came shining through.

You and I are in a race. I’m not talking about the race to the top of the corporate ladder. We’re in a race of faith. Paul likened our lives as Christians to race a few times. In 1 Corinthians 9:24, Paul said we should run to win the prize. You shouldn’t slow to a jog just because someone you looked up to dropped the baton. You shouldn’t slow down because you may have dropped it.

The truth is that none of us have been handed a perfect baton in this race. None of us are capable of running with it without dropping it. It’s what we do when we receive a dropped baton or drop it ourselves that matters. The easy thing is to give up and say, “I tried, but there’s no use now. If they can’t carry it without dropping it, how can I?” The hard thing to do is to pick up that dirty baton, wipe it off and keep running like you will win.

I played a lot of sports in high school. One school we used to play had a banner up that said, “Sports don’t build character, they reveal it.” The same is true in the faith. What you do when you or so done else messes up reveals your faith. You have the ability to get forgiveness for your mistakes, to start running again and to do your best to not do that again. Being a Christian isn’t about being perfect, it’s about getting back up and continuing to run after you’ve fallen or have been knocked down.

Proverbs 24:16 says, “The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again.” What about you? Have you tripped recently? Are you jogging and taking it easy to the finish line? I want to encourage you to get up, pick up your baton and sprint towards the finish line. Run like you’re going to win, trust God for the victory. Don’t stay down when you trip. Get back up and join the race. The body of Christ is here to help you and your father is in the stands watching and cheering you on.

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June 11, 2013 · 8:30 AM

Opening Doors

Yesterday my son was trying to open a door that was too heavy for him. He grabbed the handle and pulled back. He was trying so hard that he was squinting his eyes. He readjusted his feet and pulled with both hands. The door wouldn’t budge. He knocked on it, moved the handle some more and started pulling again. He turned his body away from the door and pulled trying to use his leg strength. Finally he said, “Dada” and gave me a come help me look.

I walked over, pulled on the door and opened it. He smiled and said, “Thank you, dada.” He’s learned what so many of us still haven’t. He’s learned to call out for help when he can’t get the next door open. He knows who has the strength when he doesn’t. He gave it a valiant effort in his own strength, but when he realized he couldn’t, he called out to the one who could.

I find myself trying to open doors in my life that I feel God wants me to walk through. In my own strength and ability, I’m not able to. Sometimes I’ll stand at that door knock, pull and readjust trying to open it. In the end, I have two choices. I can say, “God must not want me to walk through this door”, or I can say, “God, can you open this door please?” Too many times I choose the first option and miss a lot of blessings God has.

When I can’t open it in my own strength, I reason that God is somehow not wanting me to go through that door. Jesus told the parable of the man who had someone show up to his house late at night. He needed to feed them, but had not food. He went to his neighbor’s house to get food. The neighbor told him the door was locked and he should go away. Instead of leaving, he continued to knock and asked for help. The man finally relented and opened the door.

Prayer is the power in your life to opening the doors that God wants you to walk through. A life of faith isn’t walking through all open doors or doors that you can personally open. A life of faith is recognizing you don’t have the power and then praying to the one who does. God watches as we struggle and pull on the knobs of the doors in our paths. He’s waiting for us to call out to Him in our weakness. He wants to help, but He’s waiting for us to recognize we can’t do it on our own. We need His help. Then we can truly depend on Him.

What doors are you trying to open right now but don’t have the strength? How long have you been trying to open it? Admit your weakness to God and ask Him to open it. While there is power in prayer, there is more power in fasting and praying. If you’ve tried praying and it’s not opening, go to the next level. Jesus showed us that there is more power when we combine the two. Don’t give up on opening your door, knock harder on Heaven’s door.

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June 5, 2013 · 7:45 AM

Action vs Inaction

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I mentioned a couple of days ago that my uncle and I built a swing set for my son. What I didn’t tell you was that we did it without instructions. I downloaded the picture you see above here thinking there were instructions involved. This turned out to be a material and cut list. There were no instructions included. We were able to take that picture and create what you see just below this sentence.

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Walking in faith is a lot like that. God gives us a picture of where He’s taking us, but doesn’t provide the step by step instructions on how to get there. It’s hard to know where to begin, what’s next and how to make it happen. We feel overwhelmed. When I looked at that drawing of what could be, I got excited. When I looked at my driveway full of cut lumber with no instructions, I got worried.

When I look at the plan God has for me, the big picture, I get excited. When it comes down to taking the next step in the process, I get nervous. I start to wonder, “Is this really the next step? What if I mess up? How do I know this will work?” Question after question fills my mind until I question myself out of the next move. Fear of messing up or taking the wrong step paralyzes me.

My uncle and I must have gone back to the initial drawing a hundred times. I’d ask, “What do think is next? What cuts of lumber go there? How many of those do we have?” He’d say, “Just grab it and let’s go. If it’s not right, we’ll unscrew it and try something else.” When God says, “Move”, our fear of inaction should be greater than our fear of incorrect action. God is more than capable of correcting our wrong actions.

When we fail to move or fail to act, we aren’t just holding ourselves up, we are holding someone else up. My son was watching us through the window the whole time. He was anticipating and hoping to play on his new swing set, but he needed us to do our part first. The same thing happens in faith. Someone else, who you may never meet, is praying for God to answer them. God is asking you to act on their behalf even though you don’t know it.

What you do in faith isn’t just for you. There’s a ripple effect going on and your action is their answer. Someone else’s action is your answer to prayer. God could do all of it on His own, but He chooses to allow us to participate with Him in faith. He chooses to use you and me to accomplish His will. It’s a big job when you think about it. It can be scary. Your mind tells you that you don’t want to mess things up for God or someone else. But God can’t use your inaction. He can only do something with your action.

What is the next step in what He’s asked you to do? What excuses have you been using to keep from doing it? What can you do today to start acting in faith and moving towards that complete picture of what He’s shown you? Don’t be scared and don’t be upset if your next step is small. It’s a series of small steps that create the greatest works of faith.

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May 31, 2013 · 8:50 AM

Faith and Fear

One of the things I’m teaching people in the business world is that fear comes from a lack of knowledge. We are often afraid of those things we don’t understand or have little knowledge about. When our knowledge is low, so is our confidence. When our confidence is low, our fear goes up. That fear causes our demeanor to change and then our actions reflect it. We begin to act out of fear than out of a confident faith.

To act out of confidence, we need to increase our faith. There are a couple of times in scripture that I can think of off the top of my head that tell us about that. The first was in Mark 9:23-25 when a father brought his son to Jesus for help. He told Jesus, “Have mercy on him if you can.” Jesus said, “What do you mean, ‘If I can?’ Anything is possible if a person believes.” The father replied, “Lord I believe, but help my unbelief.”

When is the last time we’ve prayed that prayer? I believe God honors prayers that grow our faith. Some people are afraid to pray a prayer like that because they think it’s like asking God to help you be more patient: you’ll get a lot of opportunities to grow it! God always desires that our faith and trust in Him will increase.

Another instance that talks about growing our faith comes from Romans 10:17. That says, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” Are we taking time each day to fill our hearts and minds with the Word of God. I don’t mean just reading a chapter to check off a box. I mean really getting into God’s Word and reading it to search for Him and what He says to us personally through it.

Jeremiah 17:7 says, “Blessed are those who trust in The Lord and have made The Lord their hope and confidence.” You may not have much confidence on your own, but you can have it in God. You can have a boldness like you’ve never had before in Christ. It comes when you’ve learned to trust Him. That trust is learned when you’ve done all you can do in a situation and finally say, “God, I can’t do it. I need your help.”

I think that sometimes God sits back and waits on us to get to that point before He steps in. He needs us to understand that we weren’t made to do everything on our own. If we could, there would be no need for faith. Our confidence would be in ourselves and not in Him. That’s not what God desires. He told Paul in II Corinthians 12:9, “My strength and power are made perfect and show themselves most effective in your weakness.”

It’s in our weakness that we begin to allow our faith, trust and confidence in God arise. It’s not so He can have an ego boost. It’s so we can learn dependence on Him in our lives. It’s so we can have confidence in Him and His ability to supply our needs. It’s so when an impossible situation arises, we don’t have to ask Him if He can, we will know that He can. You can act out of a confident faith rather than fear today.

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May 30, 2013 · 8:13 AM

Flight Attendants and Preachers

I’m sitting on an airplane this morning as I travel for business. I’ve been flying for years and over the last few, I couldn’t count how many times I’ve flown. As we all sit here, the flight attendant is giving safety instructions should anything bad happen. I’ve always noticed how few people pay attention. Maybe because it’s a canned speech. Maybe because it’s something they’ve heard before. Maybe because they don’t care.

It’s got me to thinking how many of us go to church and do the same thing. Many of us have been going to church for years. As we sit in the pews, the preacher gives spiritual safety instructions. Like the people on the plane, we sit there, eyes glazed over and we rarely pay attention. Maybe because they aren’t a dynamic speaker. Maybe because you’ve heard this before. Maybe because you don’t care.

A pastor is a shepherd. Their job is to protect the flock that has been given to them. They preach, not because they have to, but because the safety of your soul compels them to. They are called to watch over you and give you what you need for spiritual protection and to show you the path to Heaven. Yet many of us sit there and play on our phones, talk to our neighbor or sleep. I say, “us” because I’m guilty too. I look at my watch and wonder how long it is until noon too.

Are we going to church because “it’s the right thing to do”? Are we going to be seen by others? Are we going to church because we want our kids to know this stuff? Or are we going so that we can adopt the culture of the kingdom? I realize that the building itself, while we call it “church” is not the church. You and I are the church. The Bible says that we should not forsake the assembling of the brethren. That means we should not treat being with other believers lightly.

Whether you go to a Mega church like Lakewood, a home church in someone’s home or anywhere in between, we are to go and get as much out of it as we can. It’s not the preacher’s job to feed you. When you go, expect to learn something. Expect to gain wisdom. Expect to build relationships with other believers. Expect God to move in your life. Expect to leave different than when you showed up. God’s desire is to meet with us daily, but most of us only give him a couple of hours on a Sunday. Even then, we aren’t giving Him much because we’d rather be doing something else.

What I tell people every day is that you will get out of this meeting what you put into it. The same is true for going to church. Are you there to participate or are you there to observe? Participate in worship. Participate in the sermon by taking notes and writing down your own thoughts of how what’s being said applies directly to your life. Don’t just go to church to go. Go to receive and to participate. Go to meet God and be prepared to be met by Him.

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May 29, 2013 · 7:08 AM

God Ideas

Tonight my church will host one of my favorite event that we do. We will have an outreach for the youth of our community that will draw hundreds of kids to the church. We will feed them, give away door prizes, an iPad mini and a car. The kids at the church get excited about the event and invite their friends from school. It presents them an opportunity to share their faith and to invite someone to church who they might otherwise not invite.

This event started a few years ago when our youth pastor was praying. He was seeking God on a way to impact more youth than he thought possible. While praying, he said out loud, “God, I’m going to give away a car!” After saying the words, he thought, “How am I going to get a car to give away?” He recognized it as a God idea and began to ask God to provide. He knew that God ideas require faith beyond our ability.

God took him to Habakkuk 2:2 that says, “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it.” So he wrote letters to several dealerships telling them his vision of giving away a car so that many kids who wouldn’t normally go to church would come and he would have the opportunity to share Jesus with them. A local used car dealer responded and gave him a car.

It wasn’t long before a more prominent dealership responded and said that’d love to help. They said, “As long as you hold this event, we’ll give you a car to give away.” They had caught the vision and have supplied the need for several years now. It’s amazing to see how many kids this brings into our church and gives us the opportunity to plant seeds, water seeds and harvest them. It all started with a vision and a God idea.

What idea has God placed in your heart? Are you struggling while trying to figure out how to accomplish it? Let me save you some time, you can’t. If its a God idea, it will take supernatural provisioning to accomplish it. Write the vision down. Let others know about it. What God births in you is accomplished through others. He needs visionaries, dreamers, planners, financiers and doers. It takes all of us working together to bring about his plans.

Have you figured out what part of God’s plan you are? If you’re the dreamer or the vision caster, write it down so that it’s plain to others. If you’re a planner, sync up with a dreamer or a vision caster to help them create a plan for others to follow. If you’re able to help finance, ask God where He’d like you to invest in His kingdom. If you’re a doer, look around you and see where you can put your skills to use. Each of us play a part in building the kingdom. We just have to learn to work together.

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May 23, 2013 · 1:47 PM

Stepping Out of Your Boat

Sorry for the delay today. My schedule has not been cooperative. This is a repost from one of my earlier posts.

Have you been in that place where you felt like God wanted you to do something, but were unsure? Maybe you felt the timing was off or the conditions weren’t right. God often calls us to do things in His timing, not ours. If we wait for things to be just right, we will never get them done. He is looking for obedience.

In my life, when I’ve felt that tug, I have stepped out in faith at times and done what was asked. There were other times where I missed the mark and immediately felt the regret of not doing it. I let that opportunity pass me by without acting.

In Matthew 14, Peter had an opportunity to step out in faith. His opportunity shows us three things that we can do when we are asked to step out.

1. Make sure it’s God asking

In the middle of a storm, Jesus came walking to the disciples on the water to comfort them. When they saw him coming, it scared them. Peter said, “Lord, if it’s you, ask me to join you.” When the Lord told him to come, Peter did as he was told.

Life often presents opportunities for us to step out in faith. Many of us recognize them, but won’t act without checking with God first. I’m a firm believer that it is scriptural to ask God to show you if something is His will. Gideon set mats outside his tent to test if he was hearing God. If you are unsure if God is asking you to do something, ask Him to prove it.

2. He stepped out of the boat

If we wait for the right time to step out of the boat, we will never move. When Peter got out of the boat, the waves were crashing against the boat and it was raining hard. Conditions were not ideal for him to step out. God doesn’t wait for things to be perfect to ask us to step out. It’s when we are in a storm or someone else is that we are asked to step out of the familiar and into the unknown.

A minute before Peter stepped out, he wasn’t even sure that it was Jesus who was asking. As a seasoned fisherman, he knew that his survival rate was minimal if he wasn’t able to walk on water. He took the step anyway. If your faith doesn’t defeat your logic, you will never get out of the boat. There were 11 others in the boat who listened to fear and logic. They will never know what it’s like to walk on water.

3. Stepping out doesn’t mean things will go perfectly

After getting completely out of the boat, Peter began to sink. Even in our greatest acts of faith, we still run the risk of failure. It is not one step Jesus asked Peter to make. It was multiple. Getting out of the boat was step one. We have to understand that while taking that first step is important, it’s not the last step of faith you are to make.

When Peter began to sink, he knew what to do. He called out for Jesus to help him. Jesus reached down and lifted him up. If you are sinking on step two wondering what is going on, call out for help. Jesus is there waiting to help you accomplish what He asked you to do.

What is it that God is asking you to do? If you can accomplish it on your own will and strength, it is not an act of faith. What is keeping you in the boat? Don’t let fear and logic keep you in the boat. First, make sure it is what God has asked you to do, then step out in faith.

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May 21, 2013 · 9:07 AM

An Uncontrollable Fire

There are some lyrics to a song we sing at church that keep burning inside me. They say, “Set a fire down in my soul that I can’t contain and I can’t control. I want more of you, God.” We had sang that song at church many times before, but on a balcony in Haiti, it became my prayer. As we were having a time of worship in Gonaives, we sang that song and I started listening to the words. I began to internalize what they meant. I began to sing the song with more of a passion than a compulsion.

What does that look like to have a fire set in your soul? What does that feel like to have it burn without being able to control it? What would happen to me if I truly wanted more of God in my life? Do I really, truly want that and what is the cost? We sing songs and read scriptures a lot without giving much thought to the words we are saying or reading. We rarely dig down deep and plant those words in our heart and mind.

A fire that burns uncontrollably takes out what it wants whereas a controlled burn only takes out what I want. Have I given God real control in my life to take out the things He wants to or do I have protected areas that I’ve not let Him touch because I’ve tried the control burn method? If I truly believe that my life is not my own, why do I try to control what God can and cannot do in my life? Why do I fight to keep the things I want instead of taking the things I need from Him?

It’s a struggle that many of us fight. We want to be used by God. We want to give Him our lives. We want to trust Him. Our actions show differently though. Our mouths say one thing, but our actions show something completely different. I don’t want that. I’m not content with that. I can’t be, not if I’m praying that He will set a fire in my soul. Not if I’m willing to let that fire burn out of my control. Not if I want more of Him. Not if He wants more of me.

God gives Himself to us to the extent that we allow room for Him. Too many Christians are like the inn keeper in Bethlehem. They have no room for Him, but they want Him, so they put Him in the stable of their lives. He doesn’t just want to be in your stable. He wants the entire inn of your life. He wants to come into every room you have locked up. He wants to fill you up, but He will go where you put Him. Are you only offering Him a room in the stable?

For me, I want more of Him than I have today. I want to give Him the keys to my inn. I want to kick out the guests of control, security, lack of faith and fear. I want to give Him those rooms in my life too. I want Him to set a fire in my life to burn the things He wants to burn. I want Him to use that fire to purify me, to cleanse me and to make me who He wants me to be. Will it hurt? Probably. Will it be easy to do? No. Will it be worth it? Absolutely!

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May 16, 2013 · 8:11 AM

A Deeper Answer

Yesterday at work I asked a question to a group of people. A lady answered, but it was only a surface level answer. I prodded her for more to think about what I was asking. I asked her to give me a deeper answer. She sat there with a blank stare for a minute. I offered the question in a different way, but still letting her know I was expecting her to answer. She gave me a “What are you doing” look. I explained, “I’m asking for more from you because what we’re currently doing is not working. If we are to change our results, we have to change how we think and approach the problem.”

I’m kind of in that place right now where God is asking for more from me. I’m the one sitting on the other side of the table with that blank stare saying, “What do you mean ‘more’?” It’s uncomfortable to sit here and not have the answer. To know that somewhere inside me lies the answer and not know how to get it can be disturbing. Knowing that God is waiting makes the situation even more intense.

I wonder if that’s how Peter felt when they were sitting on the shore of Galilee and Jesus asked him, “Do you love me?” Peter answered, “Yes. You know that I love you.” Jesus responded, “Feed my sheep.” He turned around and asked Peter the same question. I imagine Peter sitting there thinking, “Is He joking? Is this déjà vu?” He amused Jesus by answering a second time exactly as he had the first. Jesus wasn’t content with that. He wanted more. “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt that He asked him a third time, and again said yes.

There have been many sermons regarding this and I’m not about to preach another one to you. I just want to stop and look at the emotions of what was happening. Jesus was pushing Peter beyond a surface level love. He was ensuring Peter knew in His heart that he loved Jesus because He was about to ask for more. What Peter had done in the past was not going to be good enough for what he was going to do in the future.

If you skip down a couple of verses to John 21:19, Jesus did something I hadn’t noticed. He again called Peter to follow Him. Peter had been called three years earlier to follow Jesus, but this call was different. This “follow me” was into a deeper relationship. One where Peter would be given the responsibility of raising up the early church and leading thousands to Christ. The dynamic of their relationship just changed in that exchange.

That’s where I am right now. Where are you? What is God asking of you? Are you giving Him a surface level answer when He is calling for a deeper more meaningful answer? Are you scared of what “more” means? Me too, but I won’t let that fear keep me from answering His call. I won’t continue to give the answer I’ve always given. I don’t know the answer yet, but I’m willing to follow Him into that deeper commitment until I do.

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