Time Out! Get Still, Get Quiet...Listen. (Part 4)

Okay, so after some prayer and consideration I think this is the last lesson I'm going to be sharing from that particular retreat I went on a couple weeks ago.  However, I'm sure that there will be more (hopefully shorter) things to share in the near future and I look forward to seeing what God is working on.  He is always working on something and working in our lives and I can't wait to write about it.  Meanwhile, lets dive right into it!

By the way, if you missed the any of the previous posts they can be found at: Time Out! Get Still, Get Quiet...Listen.

LESSON 6: Whatever You Desire the Most is Likely What God is Going to Ask You To Trust Him With the Most.

     What do you want more than anything else in the world?  I'm not talking about something from a Christmas list, I am talking about that thing brings you to your knees before God.  I'm talking about the one desire (other than God Himself of course, for those of you who need it to be specified) that seems to be the missing piece to your life.  That one thing that you have not achieved or that one thing that burdens you so strongly that you can't seem to find peace without it.  I am talking about the thing that can sometimes even cause us to turn from God and do it ourselves.  For some people its a job; for others it's a spouse, or kids, or friends, or a house, or a repaired relationship, or healing of some sort, or  maybe an educational opportunity.  Sometimes, more than one of these can be applicable.  It can go on for so long that no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try and no matter how much you work for it, things just don't seem to work out.  What if... just what if... God is asking you to trust Him with it?  I mean, really, truly trust Him with it.  I want you to pause for just a minute and think about that thing in your life you want the most.  Get it in your mind and keep it there, then read on ahead as we go to the book of Genesis to take a look at one of my favorite stories in the whole Bible.
   
Genesis 15 begins:
     After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:  “Do not be afraid, Abram.  I am your shield, your very great reward.”  But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?”  And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”  Then the word of the Lord came to him:“This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.”  He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring  be.”  Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.  He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”  But Abram said, “Sovereign  Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it? So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”” 
     God then makes a promise to Abram (later renamed Abraham) and even goes so far as to go through the covenant ceremony with him.  Now there is a ton in this chapter that we can learn from, but I am going to let you read the rest of it on your own if you want to dive in further.  I will, however, explain the basics of the covenant ceremony.  When two people would make a covenant or a business agreement, they would take animals, cut them in half (unless they were too small as was the case with the birds) and arrange the halves opposite one another to create a gruesome aisle.  The two parties would walk down this path between the animal pieces as a way of saying "If I don't hold up my end of the promise, may what happened to these animals happen to me".  It's kind of a big deal when something like this happened and God just entered into a covenant with Abram.  Now when I went and read closely, I noticed for the first time just what God was entering a covenant about.
 
     Abram and his wife were quite wealthy, were quite well known, and highly respected even among the kings of the region and even though they were sorta nomads, they had everything they needed for a good life in the wilderness.  What they didn't have, however, was an heir; they didn't have a son.  After reading Abram's whole story, considering where he was in life, what he had, what he valued, I would go ahead and speculate that what Abram and his wife wanted more than anything else was a son.  They wanted a child more than anything else and I believe that Abram would have traded most anything they had for one.  Have you ever been to that point?  Have you ever gotten to the point where you prayed: "God, I would trade almost all these blessings you have given me for this one thing".  I think Abram wanted a son THAT badly.  But if you look closely, it says that when God told Abram that he would have a son "Abram believed The Lord and it was credited to him as righteousness"  It wasn't the child that Abram asked God to confirm, it was the promise of the land that Abram asked God to confirm.  The land mattered to Abram, sure, but probably not nearly as much as the child.

     I am going to start speculating here, so take what I am about to say with a grain of salt.  I think God loved the fact that Abram trusted Him with the thing that mattered most to him.  Abram didn't ask God to prove to him that He would give him a son, He took God at His word.  What if God offered the covenant ceremony to Abram because Abram trusted God with what mattered most to him.  What if God gave Abram exactly what he asked for, what he wanted most, because Abram had faith that God would come through for him for his greatest desire.

     More speculation here: God wants us to trust Him with what we want most because it'll be just that much harder to make an idol out of something that we are having to completely trust God for.

    Next speculation: Why God was so willing to answer Abram's prayers:

"Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness." Genesis 15:6

So what?

• "The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous." Proverbs 15:29

• "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." James 5:16b

I'm just going to leave that one with just the verses and let you figure it out.  As I've said before... you're smart so I'm sure you'll be able to pick up on it.

Okay, so do you still have that thing in your mind from earlier?  That's okay, take a second to get it back.  Think of that thing that you want more than anything else in the world, that thing that would be the biggest answer to prayer ever.  Got it back?  Good.  Now, give it to God.  Tell Him that you are trusting Him with it.  Tell God that if it's going to happen it's because HE is going to make it happen.  Now, let go. Let go and let God work on it.  He'll give you exactly what He knows you need and when you trust Him, when you have faith.  How can we know that God will hear your prayer?  Remember the verses from just a minute ago?  Add this one to the mix:

"This righteousness is given through faith in  Jesus Christ to all who believe." Romans 3:22

We have been made righteous because Jesus made us righteous.  Trust in Him for your eternity, but trust in Him for other things too. God wants you to trust Him.  God wants to bless you, but He wants you to trust Him for those blessings.  Go ahead and give it a shot but remember that God knows what's best, and He loves you very much.

-The Sailing Preacher

Time Out! Get Still, Get Quiet...Listen. (Part 2)

Welcome back!  I wanted to start of by thanking everyone who has been praying for me as I attempt to communicate some of the things God has shared with me.  If you missed the first part of all this, you can catch up at  Time Out! Get Still, Get Quiet...Listen. (Part 1). Anyway, let's jump right back into it shall we?

LESSON 2:  Heated Seats In the Car On a Cold and Snowy Day Are A Gift From God!

     I really don't even need to get into this one.  Anyone who has experienced these delightful upgrades knows what I'm talking about.  Sunday afternoon, a snowstorm hit Dexter, MO.  We had gone out to lunch after church and by the time we exited the restaurant there was a good three inches of white powder on the ground.  When I hopped in Steve's truck and mentally prepared myself for the heater to warm up and deliver me from the cold, he looked over at me and said "Oh by the way, these seats are heated."  At that moment, I wanted to hug that man!  For the duration of the ride back to his place, I sat in blissful warmth and a new found appreciation for whoever it was that first had the idea to put something in car seats to warm up your backside!

LESSON 3: Mountain Dew + Middle School Boys = Insanity!
 
     After spending Friday evening with a group of the 8th grade boys from the Disciple Now conference at their host home I have come to the belief that Pepsi Co has discovered the ultimate source for limitless energy:  caffeinated middle school boys!  All we need to do to cure the world's energy problems is find a way to hook up a group of about a hundred middle school boys to some sort of generator, give them each a 2 liter bottle of Mountain Dew and BOOM... an almost inexhaustible supply of energy.  There are two drawbacks to this though that would make it hard to replace our current sources:
              1) It's not cheap.
     The cost of feeding those boys would certainly erase any costs saved by switching to "Dew-Energy" and in fact might actually require the bulk of the revenue for an entire city to provide enough fuel for these .
              2) It's not clean.
     If you've ever seen the bedroom of a middle school boy, chances are you wished that you had a hazmat suit upon entry.  Between the clothing on the floor that may be clean or may be dirty, the odd smell drifting from the closet and under the bed that might actually be the result of a new species of mold growing, and the pair of tennis shoes in the corner that has some sort of earthen material caked on the soles that is hopefully from a soccer game played months ago... there is no way this new energy source would pass environmental regulations.
     So much for solving the world's energy woes with mountain dew and teenagers.  Instead, I think we should just pull out video cameras and make some memories of the hilarity that will certainly ensue.
   
     Okay all joking aside, I want to take a moment to share my heartfelt joy at the opportunity to watch these boys throughout the course of the weekend.  Coming from various backgrounds with significant differences in personality, interests, and...well...attention spans, these guys still rallied together to support one another and formed a comradery through the weekend that was reflective of the kind of community that God calls us all to have.  The strength, courage, and leadership that they demonstrated at the rally, the solidarity that they displayed in front of their peers, and the goofy fun that they all managed to have together tells me that they are going to be a dynamic group.  Yet, what set them apart in my mind as something different and unique was the absolute submission that they all displayed when the entire group of them ran forward during the worship set and fell on their knees at the alter of God, praying with and for one another.  They didn't care about what others thought of them, they didn't care who saw... They fell at the feet of Almighty God and laid it all out before Him.  When I witnessed that after everything else I had seen from these guys, I realized that this is going to be a group of boys that will grow up to become a group of men that will make a difference in their school and then wherever they find themselves in the world.




LESSON 4: If God Teaches You Something and Asks You to Share It, You Have A Responsibility to do so... Accurately
 
 This lesson is one that is based on something I noticed in some of the time I spent in the Bible on day one.

    Genesis 1 talks about God's creation of all things in a general sense.  Genesis 2 focuses specifically on God's creation of man and woman and describes the kind of life they're to live and their purpose.  Genesis 3 then talks about the fall of mankind and the first sin.  Now, I have been through more bible studies, read more books, and heard more sermons on lessons from these three chapters than I can even begin to count, but as I began my trip, I caught something in one of these chapters that I hadn't noticed before.

    Leaving St. Louis and having more than three hours in the car by myself left me with a lot of time on my hands and I wanted to make the most of it. I decided to use the feature of the YouVersion Bible app (which is both awesome as well as free, which makes it even more awesome...) that actually reads the bible to you to get into the Word from the start.  Since this weekend was about starting from scratch with God, I decided that a good place to start in the Bible was at the beginning!

     Genesis 1 went by and nothing new really stood out to me.  Then the man reading, began into Genesis 2 and I started to notice something that actually kinda caught me off guard.  

Here's the basic story found in Genesis 2 and 3 and I decided to just emphasize the points that got me thinking:   

     "... In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (2:9) 
...The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.  And the Lord God commanded the man, 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.' (2:15-17)
...Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. (2:22)..."  

Then Chapter 3 began.  

"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, 'Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?'  The woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” (3:1-2)

    Now I have been taught time and time again that Eve misquoting God (He never actually said they couldn't touch the tree) gave the devil a chance to twist things around and contributed to Eve's sin.  A lot of teachers/pastors/bible study leaders then used Eve's failure in that regard to emphasize the importance on correctly learning the word of God.  I would have to agree with them wholeheartedly and this passage definitely teaches exactly that, but I truly believe that if you read between the lines, there is ANOTHER lesson to be learned here.  If you read the passage carefully you'll notice the order of events: 

     First, God planted the garden. 

     Next, He created Adam and put him in the garden.  

     Then, God gave him the command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  

     Then God created Eve.  

The Bible never says that God repeated His command to not eat of the fruit of the tree.  God gives Adam the instructions and then expects Adam to share it with Eve.  

***(Before I continue I will include a disclaimer, if I hear of anyone using this commentary of mine to try and emphasize the superiority of men over women in the eyes of God, which is TOTALLY unbiblical,  I will find you, smack you upside your head, and then rub your nose on your computer screen like a bad bad doggy who just messed on the floor... in all Christian love of course!)***

    What I am seeing here instead of something that is clearly an instance of Eve misquoting God, it's possible that Eve is either just misquoting Adam, OR... quite possibly (and in my opinion much more likely) Adam misquoted God to his wife, adding the "don't touch it" part as an extra safeguard to make sure she stayed away from the tree.  His heart was in the right place because he loved his wife very much (Genesis 2:23) and probably just didn't want to live without her in the event she ate of the fruit and suffered the death that God told him they would.

   At this point we could start going into things like: ways people can be overprotective.  Or, maybe we could talk about being controlling.  Maybe about how sometimes we can't trust God and feel like we have to do some things ourselves.  Regardless of what else this implies, ultimately what we see here is that God gave Adam a message to share and at some point that message was not accurately communicated.

    

     Normally this is the part where I would suggest some sort of action or offer suggestions as to how to apply what I shared, or go deeper into the topic, but I'm going to let you figure out for yourself what this means to you and in your specific situation.  You're a smart person.  I will finish this though with two thoughts:  

 
     First, God might put it on your heart to share something with someone, and if He does, you should probably do what He tells you.  It's called obedience.  Not doing so is called sin.  

    Secondly, James 3:1 says that anyone who teaches the Word of God (or shares a message from Him) will be judged more strictly because they are representing God.  I have seen too many people use the classic "Well God told me (fill in the blank)" to achieve their own purposes, win an argument, or manipulate people to what they want. 

 
I'm not going to say anything else on this matter but I will caution you in light of what I shared: if/when you DO get a message from God and you ARE representing Him, be sure to do so accurately.


Re-Read Lesson 1 in Time Out! Get Still, Get Quiet... Listen. (Part 1)
To be continued with Lessons 5 in Time Out! Get Still, Get Quiet...Listen. (Part 3) 

Telling Your Story

Lately I have been finding myself being obsessed with the idea of stories.  I realized that I absolutely LOVE stories.  I love hearing them, I love telling them, I love reading them!  Stories are the most basic way we communicate things about ourselves to others, to share our experiences, to share our lives.  Before written language, stories were the only way information got passed along in a culture.  So I started asking the question: "what makes the difference between a good story and a GREAT story?" I have had a lot of people tell me their perspective over the years, I've read a lot of books by a lot of experienced storytellers, AND I have heard a LOT of really good stories from people.  Now, before I get too far into this, I am going to tell you that this is not going to be a typical "Here's how to be a better storyteller" essay nor will it be a "I'm going to tell you how to be a better public speaker" lesson.  That can be attained by reading books or going to seminars.  No, this is going to be something different altogether.  I want to talk about the story you will tell about your life, more specifically the story we tell when faced with tough decisions.

Every day we are faced with decisions that may or may not directly impact our lives.  From where we decide to go to lunch, to whether we come home right away or swing by the gym after work, to whether or not we say hello to the coworker we pass in the parking lot on the way home at the end of the day.  Each decision leads to a different story we tell.  Our story reflects who we are, but keep in mind it's only that: a story.  It does not define us.  BOY do I wish I had learned about this long ago.  I guarantee, had I thought about decisions in terms of the story I would forever tell, I would have most definitely done things differently in quite a few areas of my life.  I wouldn't have taken some things as seriously as I did just as I would have taken other things more seriously.  I would have paid closer attention to the still small voice inside of me when it whispered "bad idea, don't do that" or "don't go there".  You see, when we tell our story we don't want to have to lie about any of it or be ashamed of any of it.  I truly think there is something freeing about being able to tell our entire story.  When life is easy, its easy to tell our whole story but when circumstances get difficult and decisions become harder and harder to make, it takes a lot more discipline to make the right decision... to be able to keep your story whole.  Take, for example, Joseph in the Old Testament of the bible.

The story can be found in Genesis chapters 37 then 39-45.  Joseph was envied by his brothers who, because of their jealousy, sold him into slavery.  God was with Joseph through it all and Joseph was quickly put in charge of the household of a wealthy Egyptian named Potiphar (prounced "Pot-eh-fur").  Joseph was faithful to God and did what was right and before long, Potiphar's wife took notice of him.  The bible describes Joseph, as a young man, as "well built and handsome".  That means he was a young stud and she wanted him.  She approached him time after time trying to get him to go to bed with her.  He kept doing what was right each time.  He even explained to her why he was not going to.  He said in Genesis 39:8:

'"With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care.  No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife." How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?"'

Basically he was saying "Listen, I've got a story to tell and what you're asking me to do isn't consistent with the story I want to tell because I want my story to be honoring to God. Oh, and by the way... you've got a story too ma'am.  What you're about to do is going to be a part of your story forever."  Well, Potiphar's wife was not too happy about that so she managed to frame Joseph and get him thrown in prison.  While down there, he met a couple guys and told them his story... his WHOLE story... the WHOLE TRUTHFUL story.  He tells them he's innocent and asks if there's anything they can do to help him out of there he'd be really grateful.  YEARS go by and Joseph, still faithful to God, is finally released.  He warns Pharaoh of a massive famine on the way and then gets made prime minister of Egypt to help prepare for it.  Fast forward, the famine hits and Egypt is the only nation that has food... in fact, has it in surplus. Other nations have to come to Egypt to buy food from them, including Joseph's brothers.  

See, Joseph's brother's had a story too.  When they sold Joseph into slavery they had to tell their father SOMETHING, so they lied and said he was eaten by a wild animal.  It absolutely broke their father's heart (37:35), and every day after that, they had see their father's broken heart, live with their lie, and the knowledge that their jealousy was the cause of his pain.  That was part of THEIR story.  So, when they came to Egypt, Joseph was faced with another decision... another choice that would affect the story he would tell.  He could choose to use his new position of power and exact his revenge, OR he could write his story in a different way by treating his brothers not like they deserved to be treated.  (Spoiler alert) Joesph decided to be consistent with his story. He forgave his brothers and the whole family reconciled.  They brought their father into Egypt and lived out the rest of their days together happily ever after.  
So why would I share that particular story?  There were a lot of examples of how each decision we make affects our story.  We can either choose to write our story consistent with our faith in God, or we could try and write our story apart from Him.  I've tried both and let me tell you... when I try to write my own story it turns ugly fast.  

Something that I realized (and the real reason that I am so interested in the idea of my story) is that because I am a single guy, every choice I make as a single man will eventually become part of my married story.  I will have to tell my wife my whole story and I really don't want to have to hide anything.  I want to be able to tell her my WHOLE story without changing anything or hiding anything.  Truth be told, (and I am being kinda vulnerable here guys, so please be kind) I am extremely unhappy that I cannot tell her certain things like "honey, I never dated anyone but you" or "you were my only love" or "you were my first kiss" or other things like that.  There's something incredibly special about being able to say it and not have to LIE about it!  I have a couple friends who CAN say those things and Oh how I envy them!  Just because you learn from things in your past and they helped make you who you are doesn't take away from the fact that they happened in the first place and will forever be part of your story.  

In addition to my story as a single affecting my MARRIED story, one day I hope to become a parent  When that happens my KIDS' stories will begin with me too!  The decisions I make will influence THEIR story, much like my parents' choices influenced MY story, and their parents' influenced theirs, and so on.  

Your story is not just made up of decisions in relationships... it can be from what church you choose, the reasons WHY you chose a certain church... what JOB you take... what you do if you LOSE a job... how you face difficulty and hardship, how you lean on God in the tough times AND the good... See not only will your decisions affect your story but others will SEE your story too:  your friends... your family.... your spouse.... your kids... as private a person as you might be, SOMEONE will still know your story.  SOMEONE will still know, even if that someone is God.  Chances are though, He's not the only one.

All I know is I am going to be MUCH more mindful of the fact that the choices I make today will be part of the story I will tell forever.  I know that I want to tell a story that will be honoring to God, that will be honoring to my future wife, and that will give my kids the ability to tell a much better story than I can.

-The Sailing Preacher