How Long You Gonna Be In There?

We find in the Bible that a wilderness season had a specifically determined time.

The wilderness period when God’s covenant people – Jacob and his family – left Canaan and went to Egypt was 400 years. Yet, God had promised a release.

God’s covenant people wandered in the wilderness 40 years. However, God had a time of release.

When God’s people left His purpose to follow after idols, they went into a Babylonian wilderness for 70 years. Again, God promised a release.

Jesus was baptized to fulfill all righteousness and then entered into a 40-day wilderness period. Then the Father had a release. The wilderness wasn’t His ministry.

We help determine the length of time we stay in our wilderness. The wilderness is not your ministry. It can be a training time for ministry but not your ministry.

Wilderness wanderings are complex. Many times people cannot understand what you are going through. It is difficult to understand. Yet when we realize God is God in the wilderness as well as God in the green pastures, we will be strengthened for the work.

“I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me. Evening, and morning, and at noon, I will pray, and cry aloud: and He shall hear my voice” Psalm 55:16-17.

Where The Wild Things Are (with respect to Maurice Sendak)

We all can be certain that we will have wilderness seasons. This is no doubt a Biblical principle.

We do see that Biblical wilderness seasons had a specifically defined time period. We usually think of the wilderness in the context of our word for desert. In Biblical times the wilderness was usually a rocky, dry wasteland. A place in which people did not desire to be.

We also find in the Bible that wildernesses included places of refuge or sanctuary – an oasis if you will. Even though we may at times find ourselves in a wilderness season, in the midst of this season we can usually find a time of revitalization and a refreshing cool drink from the Lord.

Biblically, the wilderness could also be a place of refuge. Remember, David was forced to flee Saul and then entered a wilderness time and place. Even though his promise (from God) was not fulfilled during this time in the wilderness, the call of God on his life was not removed. It was protected. Saul did not and could not define who was David was or was to be.

You may be facing the wilderness. Remember this, God has not removed His hand from your life.

Albert and Me

Last night I went to the Cardinals - Phillies game. The Cards lost 13-11. In the top of the fifth inning the Phillies scored their seventh run (zip for the Birds). Most of these were on homeruns - the Phils hit five on the night. Immediately after Philadelphia scored their seventh run, there was a mass exodus of Cardinal red from Boosch Stadium. I heard some of these fans groan and say "we're not really baseball fans anyway".

My point: the Cardinals will probably not play in the NLCS this year. But the fans bailed after only half the game. Half the game. Four and a half innings is only half a game. It really did get much worse in the top of the next inning. One fan said as he left: "they have a ten run rule in little league".

But the Cardinals started hitting back in the bottom of the sixth. They scored three in the sixth, six in the seventh, and two in the eighth. It actually became a ball game.

Question: Do we as Christians bail out in the fifth inning? If I could mix metaphors, I would say that this walk of faith is not a sprint. It is a marathon. Gordon MacDonald said it doesn't matter how fast you can run 100 meters if the race is 400 meters long.

Press on, keep it up, persevere, don't quit now.

BTW, the picture above is Albert Pujols and me in the bottom of the seventh inning. Albert is the guy in the red helmet toward the lower left.

Inquiring Minds

Today I had the honor of preaching the Word of God. My text was 2 Kings 3 - the story of the revolt of Moab against Israel and the subsequent attack mounted by the kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom against Moab. In the desert of Edom, the three kings have found themselves stranded with no water for their troops or their animals.

Jehoshaphat wisely asks "Is there no prophet that we might inquire of the Lord?"

It is always the right thing to do to inquire of the Lord. See what God thinks about the situation. Ask Him if He has a specific perspective to give to you. Go ahead, ask the Lord.

Thanks to Pastor Rich for allowing me to share his pulpit today. He is building a great church.

Are You Standing?

In Ezekiel 22:30-31, the prophet warns us of what happens when God cannot find true men and women of broken-hearted prayer and obedience.

“So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found no one.”

“Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads, says the Lord God.”

Who among us will stand in the gap and pray, and then pray again until heaven comes down to earth?

Why Pray?

John Preston, the Puritan, spells it out very plainly:

"Prayer is a privilege purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ. Christ died for this end, it cost him the shedding of his blood, so that we, through him, might have entrance to the throne of grace. And will you let such a privilege as this lie still? If you do, so far as is in you, you cause his blood to be shed in vain. For if you neglect the privileges gotten by that blood, you neglect the blood that procured them." [The Puritans on Prayer p.17]

Painting by Ecuadorian artist Oswaldo Guayasamin

Do You Know?

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of Him" 1 John 5:14-15.

Easy to Say and Hard to Do

It is easy to talk the talk and harder to walk the walk. Most of us want to have a fruitful prayer life. Yet sometimes it's really hard to pray. Here are some practical suggestions to help you see greater effeciveness in your prayers.

1) Set aside a specific time for prayer. Get up early. Block off a certain time. Find a quiet place. Give prayer a place of priority in your schedule.

2) Discuss your life with the Father. Too many times we say our prayers and then move on. We have taken care of our guilt but we have never really gone into the throne room. Make your prayer time personal. Talk honestly about your struggles, your fears, your days and weeks. And then listen carefully when He answers.

3) Start with the Bible - God's Word. Read through a portion of Scripture and then make an effort to apply that specific Scripture to your life. When you read a command to “forgive others” ask God to help you release the bitterness and the hurt that makes you resist that command. Forgive them. When you read about the importance of “thinking pure thoughts” confess the areas where your thinking is polluted and ask God for help to think better. This practice will help you focus on the deeper issues rather than the superficial.

4) Keep a prayer list. Write a list of the people for whom you pray (you can add me). Be specific. What needs do you want to help carry for your friend? When someone asks you to pray for them add them to your list. Then make it a point to connect with those people and tell them you are praying for them regularly. This is important because the next time you are tempted to skip your prayer time you will remember that you told someone you were praying for them and then hopefully in your desire to be faithful you will make time to pray.

5) Remember to notice God’s answers to prayer. God answers in many ways. Sometimes He gives us what we expected. Sometimes He answers in unexpected ways. Sometimes He removes a burden. Other times He gives strength to bear up under the burden. Sometimes He gives to us the things we want. Other times He changes our wants by teaching us to be content. Sometimes He answers right away. And then other times He waits until we are ready. Notice the answers and when you notice His answers take the time and energy to thank Him.

6) Read some books on prayer and the biographies of people who prayed Prayer Hyde or Hudson Taylor are good). I don't mean that you should do this instead of praying, do it as an encouragement to prayer. These books and resources remind us of the things the Devil hopes we forget. They will as Hebrews says, spur us on.

What I don't want to do is to make you feel guilty or condemn you about your lack of a prayer life, rather, I want you to feel hungry for a greater prayer life. I don’t want to beat you up spiritually, I want to spur you on. I want you to see prayer as a chore that you dutifully peform every day but as an awesome privilege to spend time with the Father.

Keep going, you can do it.

Who Are You, Who, Who, Who, Who

I heard Peter Townshend and his WHO buddies howling that out that this morning on the 50,000 Watt Voice of St. Louis - KMOX. I changed the words in my mind.

"Who are you? Who, who, who, who are you praying for?"

Not very good grammer, but a very good question. Jesus told us to pray. The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. Paul told us to pray. He also asked his readers to pray for him.

So the question is still: For whom are you praying?

Today is the Day

Jesus said: "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

In a similar vein, Charles Schultz said, "Don't worry about the world ending tomorrow, it's already tomorrow in Australia."

With that in mind, another quote whose author I am unable to acknowledge goes like this: "In case today is all I get, I'd like to say how much I love you and I hope you never forget."

Consider It Pure Joy

We already know that James wants us to consider it pure joy when we face trials of various kinds. This was thrown at me in a little different way yesterday. Sam is in the second grade. He has been in school now for three weeks. Incidentally, he is at the same grade school his mom attended more than a few years ago. I love to pick him up after school. He is probobly the smallest second grader and he comes happily out of the schoolhouse door with his SpiderMan backpack on his shoulders and a smile on his face. That's great to see.

Anyway, yesterday we were talking and I asked him, "what is your favorite part of school?" He never missed a beat and piped right up, "the tests!" he said.

Whoa. First I thought, "that's weird".

Then I thought, "that's what we are supposed to say".

I hope he never changes his perspective.

Cross Over

I don't have a credit line for this. Thanks to friends Glen and Karen for sending it to me.

Living For the Lord in Times of Temptation

Would you like a blessing? There is a blessing for those who endure temptation. James writes:

Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

Perseverance brings blessing. This sounds like Jesus when He was giving what we call the Beatitudes (blessings) from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). In those pronouncements of blessing, Jesus didn’t give an all inclusive blessing list. Here in James we learn we can also be blessed as we endure temptation.

Temptation is one of the various trials (James 1:2) we face as Christians. As we keep on in faith all the way through temptation, we are approved by God, and we will be rewarded as the work of God in us is evident through our struggle with temptation.

It really is worth it to stay faithful and strong under the temptations we face because James says we will receive a crown of life. This is not a small incentive. Our steadfastness will be rewarded as we live out our love for Jesus by resisting temptation.

Don't quit. Don't back down. Keep running.

One Minute Each Night

In WWII, there was an advisor to Prime Minister Churchill who organized a group of people who dropped what they were doing every night at a prescribed hour for one minute to collectively pray for the safety of England, its people and peace. This had an amazing effect as bombing stopped.

There is now a group of people organizing the same thing here in America. If you would like to participate: Each evening at 9:00 PM Eastern Time (8:00 PM Central, 7:00 PM Mountain, 6:00 PM Pacific), stop whatever you are doing and spend one minute praying for the safety of the United States, our troops, our citizens, and for peace in the world.

Someone said if people really understood the full extent of the power we have available through prayer, we might be speechless, but our prayers are the most powerful asset we have.

If you know anyone who would like to participate, please pass this along.

Cattle, Not Camels

No, I am not currently reading any Howard Hendricks books (but I am reading a Gordon MacDonald book - A Resilient Life if you care). The earlier story about Mel reminded me of another that I wanted to check the reference on before posting. Here's another Howard Hendricks story.

Shortly after [Dallas Theological] Seminary was founded in 1924, it almost folded. It came to the point of bankruptcy. All the creditors were ready to foreclose at twelve noon on a particular day. That morning, the founders of the school met in the president’s office to pray that God would provide. In that prayer meeting was Harry Ironside. When it was his turn to pray, he said in his refreshingly candid way, “Lord we know that the cattle on a thousand hills are Thine. Please sell some of them and send us the money.”

Just about that time, a tall Texan in boots and an open-collar shirt strolled into the business office. “Howdy!” he said to the secretary. “I just sold two carloads of cattle over in Fort Worth. I’ve been trying to make a business deal go through, but it just won’t work. I feel God wants me to give this money to the seminary. I don’t know if you need it or not, but here’s the check,” and he handed it over.

The secretary took the check and, knowing something of the critical nature of the hour, went to the door of the prayer meeting and timidly tapped. Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer, the founder and president of the school, answered the door and took the check from her hand. When he looked at the amount, it was for the exact sum of the debt. Then he recognized the name on the check as that of the cattleman. Turning to Dr. Ironside, he said, “Harry, God sold the cattle.”

Howard Hendricks
Stories for the Heart compiled by Alice Gray (Portland: Multnomah Press, 1996), p. 272.

Exaltation and Humilation: Two Good Things

Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits - James 1:9-11.

Let the lowly – or poor or simple or common – brother glory in his exaltation. Just as it is proper for this lowly man (or woman) to rejoice when he (or she) is lifted up by God, so it is fitting (but extremely more difficult) for the high – the rich or elevated – to rejoice when they are humbled by trials and difficulties.

I think we could find Biblical evidence to prove that the poor brother will in heaven forget his earthly poverty and the rich brother in heaven will not remember his material wealth. Faith in Christ and stepping over into eternity seems to be a great equalizer.

James says “as a flower of the field he will pass away.” Trials serve to remind the rich that though they are comfortable in this life, it is just that – this life, which soon fades away just like the grass that turns brown and the flowers that dry up and fall from their stems.

For nine years we lived Oregon. There were amazing flowers in the Beaver State. Local nurseries would send bulbs around the world. In the Willamette Valley, there are a variety of beautiful flowers that seem to explode to life when the spring rains come. The irises are probably some of the most remarkable; acres of rows upon rows of multi-colored flowers standing at attention. But they don’t last forever. After a while they begin withering away. On the scale of eternity, this is how quickly the rich man also will fade away in his fiscal pursuits.

The riches of this world will undoubtedly fade away – but James takes the picture to a whole new perspective when he says that the rich man himself (not just his riches) also will fade away. If we foolishly put who we are into things that fade away, we will eventually fade away also. It is so much better to put our life into those eternal things that will never fade. If a man is only rich on this ball of dirt, when he dies, he leaves his riches behind – to end up in the dirt. But if a man is rich before God, when he dies he goes to where his riches have been waiting. That, my friend, is a good thing.

Thus Thou Hast . . .

Have you ever heard the story Howard Hendricks tells of a young man who met Christ after many years of life in the world? After his conversion he went to his first prayer meeting. Everyone was getting up and uttering their flowery (and maybe showy) prayers.

Finally, this new convert stood to pray and said, “Lord, this is Mel. I’m not sure whether you remember me or not . . . I met you last Tuesday night. I just wanted to say . . . well . . . Thank-you for changing my life.” And then he sat down.

The simplicity and honesty of that prayer brought tears to the eyes of many.

I suspect it brought a smile to the face of the Father. What do you think?

How Do You Feel?

I heard the following today:

People will forget what you said.
People will forget what you did.
But people will never forget how you made them feel.

Interesting. I will think about that.