Wonder and Thunder, those children of mine.I’ve been watching my two precious ones a lot lately and observing how uniquely God has fashioned them.Amy and I speak of them each evening when they go to bed and her softness rests more towards Landon while my own is drawn to Alicia.I don’t worry about the boy: it seems quite obvious that he’ll conquer the world some day, so what’s to worry over?My little girl, however, is a different story.She’s the sweet and innocent child, naïve and easily bruised.She’ll need a protector all of her days and I am in severe doubt that there is anyone on God’s green earth that will be able to love and protect her more than me.Lord help the first geeky lad who musters up enough courage to ask her on a date!I have already drawn up the application and on the 38th page there is a section of questions on how he might be better suited to be her heroic knight than I.She’s my princess and I’ll not let her run off with a court jester.Alicia asks questions about everything.She asks multiple questions about everything.We’ve done the math and have determined that 91% of the words proceeding from her mouth end with a question mark. She reaaaaaalllllly wants to know the whole story, no matter what it involves.For a simple, bottom-line guy like me, it is intriguing to know how her mind works.Sometimes when I wake her up, she will slowly open her eyes, focus on me and ask a question like, “If we lived on Mars, how long would our driveway be and why does Landon need a helmet if he only rides a tricycle?”Then, before I can answer (as if there was an answer) she will demand to know what we are going to do that day and with whom and at what time.I reply to her, “Good morning, baby.”She's been awake for ten seconds and I'm reminded again that, in our house, Alicia is Wonder.
Landon is not as complicated.He is our Thunder.Upon awakening, Alicia greets me with a myriad of hypotheticals and postulations.Landon slugs me in the gut and declares (not questions) “We’re gonna do rough stuff!”He’s only four years old but he has a fairly impressive right jab and is working on a left hook to accompany it.The women who read this blog may wish to note that the male DNA really is a factor in how men behave.Even at four years old Landon prefers to roam the house in his underwear.He leaves his socks anywhere but where they belong (it is my understanding that there is a place where socks ultimately are to be.I am unsure of where exactly this is but I will assent that there is such a place).He stands at the bottom of the stairs and communicates his need for nourishment in three words:“Mom, SNACK PLATE!!!!”.Somehow it works for the little guy.Realizing he may be on to something, I decided to borrow his technique and use it for myself:“AMY, SWEET TEA!”I don’t think she heard me… "AMY, SWEET TEA!”Hmmmmmm….. "Amy?AAAAAAAmmmmy?”After I got up and got my own sweet tea I checked on Landon and found him perched upon a mountain of miscellaneous cushions with a small blue blanket around his neck serving as a cape.I approached the Mount Of Thunder and the boy growled at me and made sure I saw his imaginary claws.The indication seemed to be that he would gut me like a deer if I touched his carefully crafted mountain.I took a cookie from his snack plate which was procured through a three-word-command to the lady of the house and I went back upstairs to pour myself another glass of tea.Clearly, the little lad has his own domain and a rival king would not be tolerated there.In our house, Landon is our Thunder.
As I sit here on a Monday morning, avoiding the long list of administrative tasks awaiting me, I find myself warmed by the thought that God has so blessed me with my wife and children.They are my ultimate reality, my safe-place, my mirror which reminds me of who I am.God has been good to bless me this way.I just wanted to write Him a thank you this morning for a precious measure of Wonder and Thunder which await my arrival home today after work. This Monday, I’ve got nothing to complain about.
“Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you.”- 1 Samuel 12:24
Faith.Commitment.Remembrance.This threefold cord is not easily broken in the lives of those who would live in excellence.I must honestly confess that I’ve never lived out a more complicated series of months than I have been living for the last year and a half.An incredibly humbling experience is easily discerned to have also been an extremely edifying experience as I sense regularly the Potter’s hand upon His clay.Each day is another course in God’s education plan for me and how I wish I could proclaim that I have scored well on each test.In allowing me to live in complication, He also revived a hunger in me for the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 11:3).The above verse in 1st Samuel has helped me this week as I lay for nearly 48 hours on my couch recovering from a nasty cold; there were no great works to be done, no deep pondering of sublime truth, no needs for me to rise and meet.There was only Kleenex, antibiotics, and Baptist bourbon (Nyquil).And occasionally there was an opportunity to reclaim some simplicity in a life that has felt, at times, somewhat chaotic.
“Only fear the Lord {FAITH}… and serve him in truth with all your heart {COMMITMENT}…for consider how great things he hath done for you {REMEMBRANCE}.”- 1 Samuel 12:24.
I pray that each of us will remember our limitations in the upcoming week.People are not in your control.Circumstances are mainly to be responded to, not dictated by us.You have a certain amount of proactive involvement that God has entrusted to you – do well with it.As Matthew Henry once taught, “When you cannot do the good that you would, do the good that you can.”Look to Father as a dependent child with an outstretched hand; make sure that there is no agenda in that hand – let it be empty that He may fill it with what He deems best.Don’t forget that everything you purposely consecrate to Him is equated as acceptable service, and that you must do it with all of your heart.Whether you are closing a deal in a private office, instructing a child in how to tie her shoes, praying over a sick loved one, digging a ditch, changing a diaper, or contemplating on the course of your life . . . please welcome your King into the process.And finally, if your days also feel a little suffocating, pinching you when you wish to stretch out, then be aware of the temptation to forget the goodness of Jesus Christ in your life.Samuel told the people to consider what great things God had done for them.Don’t get spiritual amnesia.He is always good and He has been very, very good to you.This is easy to forget so take the time to get still and get small and get silent.When you do this, take as much time as necessary to remember.You’ll find the peace you lack will soon begin to find its way back into your heart.Memory by memory, it will ride in on a simple smile of gratitude.
“The human soul wasn’t created for boredom.” – Sam Storms, One Thing
I’ve maintained for quite some time that there is something that God and Satan have in common.At the risk of sounding heretical or blasphemous, I want to suggest that your Creator and your adversary both desire you to be thrilled.God Almighty desires for you to be thrilled with Him.Satan wants you to be thrilled with anything else.
When Christian author, Sam Storms, tells us that our soul was not created for boredom he is highlighting the reality that all humans have a hunger for something big.We are born with this.A small infant is amazingly impressed with her hands once she finds them.Pots and pans are pure delight to a two year old boy.By the time children reach grade school they pulse with the desire to be entertained by something – video games, movies, books, sports, or songs all move our children.We should never seek to squelch their desire to be thrilled as we proactively steer them to appropriate sources of pleasure.A sad reality is that, more often than not, the thrill seeking child becomes a lusting adult who never quite got their longings channeled God-ward.Man will find his pleasure satisfied somewhere.The Gospel of Christ beckons us to delight ourselves in the Lord.
What makes you smile the broadest?What flicks your adrenal gland into overdrive? Can you think of the one things that so moves your heart that tears seep out from the blessed swelling in your soul?I’m so grateful that God gave us the capacity for pleasure and that we can satiate that drive with holy things.Paul told us that God has provided all things for us richly to enjoy (1 Tim. 6:17).True Christianity is not established to rob us of our thrills but, rather, to legitimize them.Is it not the chief aim of the Spirit of God to bring us to an ecstasy rooted only in Christ?For many, that will sound too fanatical and impractical.For others, it will serve as a catalyst for spiritual salivating.
I hope you have an awesome week.I hope your week is filled with joy and laughter.I would love to discover that you are so abundantly blessed that you hyper-extend the pleasure portion of your brain.I want God to pour it on you.The preacher in me wishes to add a footnote:I want your pleasure this week to be straight from God and easily discernible from counterfeit blessings that the enemy might send you.Please trace down your blessings to the very end and know that, if you are able to share them with Jesus – thanking Him for the blessing, releasing the blessing back to Him, giving away the blessing, and rejoicing to see it thrill another more than it ever could have thrilled you – then you will be assured that your thrill is in Him.
If you are afraid to give it away then it probably came with the carnal adhesive that all of Satan’s blessings come with.They stick to your hand and you have to keep them for yourself.
Let’s aim to enjoy Jesus today.Let’s sing to Him.Let us pray first with thanksgiving and then later with requests.Tell somebody about what He has done for you.Turn it up a notch and bring it into the present tense by telling somebody else what He is doing for you today.Pour it on and pour it out – leave the results to Him.Let your work be turned into worship and your ministry into majesty.Time’s getting short.Choose your thrills wisely.
“Now there was no water for the congregation. And they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people quarreled with Moses and said, "Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord! Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink." Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them, and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle." And Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he commanded him. Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, "Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?" And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them." These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and through them he showed himself holy.” {ESV}
Let’s learn a little from the mistakes of others today.Though we should never rejoice in the failures of another, we absolutely must learn from them.God’s intention was not simply for us to understand factually what took place 1450 years before Christ in the lives of Moses and the people of Israel.He wants us to take note and be instructed.Let’s cooperate with some simple thoughts concerning God’s expectation and man’s response.
“Now there was no water for the congregation. And they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people quarreled with Moses…”Simply put, the people were foolish.They had been miraculously delivered from generations of cruel slavery by God through Moses.The drama of the Red Sea crossing had passed and they now entered into a journey of unglamorous toil.Reaching the Promised Land would be difficult as they crossed some arid territory.Somebody called a committee meeting and “shared their feelings” with Moses and Aaron.There words were not only indignant but showed an incredible lack of gratitude.They wanted waters of convenience and fruits of Egypt.Their demands suggested that they believed Moses was responsible for the climate in the desert and that he must quickly remedy the situation.They seemed not to note that Moses was thirsty too.
“Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them…”PRAYER TIME!Impossible demands from disgruntled followers drove the two leaders to fall before God in humble helplessness.Moses is portrayed in Scripture in a very transparent manner.Frankly, he seems to have had some anger management issues.Before this situation got the best of him, he takes Aaron and they prostrate themselves before God.A very wise move indeed.God honored them with His own presence and gave some easy-to-understand-instructions; He told them to stand before the rock and speak to it which would result in a miraculous supply of water.Moses leaves that meeting with God with a sense of justification, a reaffirmation of himself as being the appointed leader of Israel, and a set of simple instructions which would alleviate the problem and silence the grumblers.Problem solved.Oh, by the way, Moses also left that meeting with God rather angry with the people.
"Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?" And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock.”Wow, he almost made it.So close, yet so far away.The leader with God’s plan, God’s blessing, God’s authority stood before God’s people with God’s solution… and let his flesh dictate the meeting.Bummer.I’ve stood in Moses’ sandals before and done the exact same thing.His addressing of them opens up in a manner laced with venom and biting sarcasm:“So you rebels want some water, do ya?Well get a load of this!!!!”WHACK-WHACK…GUSH.That will show them!
And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them." Ouch!Moses felt the piercing sting of rapid regret.He had done it.He let his temper get the best of him and now he had forfeited the best from God.Here we have an illustration of the teaching from James 3:1 which decrees that leaders will endure a stricter judgment than those who follow them.The people were undoubtedly out of line with their groaning, accusations, unreasonable demands and rebellion against their leader.They got water.They got what they demanded.Moses made one mistake – sin – and lost his privilege to enter into the very land that God promised Israel.The people got refreshment while Moses got refused.What was his sin?He did not uphold the holiness of God.He intruded upon the way of God by striking the rock when God told him to speak to it.Gushing water needed to be seen as a result of God’s grace to the people.Moses’ angry striking of the rock clouded the issue so that the blessing might have been seen as a bitter acquiescence to an impossible people from a miracle working leader.In a moment of anger, Moses eclipsed in the flesh what God had ordained in His grace.Moses took the preeminence and suffered greatly. God is a jealous God and will not share His glory with another. Not a fraction of it. Not even for a moment. Moses reacted in the flesh and lost the prize.
We need to slow down today and think about what we do and say.God is not merely interested that we live good lives – He wants us to live good days.He does not only desire a life characterized by obedience, he wants us to live out obedient hours.With whom are you angry today?Are you speaking grace or whacking a rock?Maybe we should see Deuteronomy 20 as a loud warning that our anger is about to open a door which leads to a room of regret. Are you a leader frustrated with those who follow you?You better take caution because God will never allow you to get by with what they get by – that’s why He entrusted you to be out front.Are you a thirsty follower?Chances are, the ones leading you are thirsty too.Quit kicking up sand and join them on their faces at the door of the tabernacle.God meets with those who bow there and He has lots of water to gush.
Getting to the Promised Land is a delicate thing.Let’s trod with care and quietness. Leave sandstorms for the Egyptians...we are the people of God. When we thirst, He will slake it. When we are weary He will carry us. When leading is difficult we can bow before the God who never slumbers. When following others is demanding we can honor God with our quiet cooperation. Remember, it can be done. God has ordained some milk and honey at the end of the journey. The hot, dry sand is only temporary...as long as we keep our cool.
Which one is better?When you read the above title to this blog you will be quickly inclined to believe that one of these is better than the other.Next question:which one characterizes you more so than the other?Don’t be neutral, what is your gut reaction?Are you more of a bird-song or a dog-bark?
I like to hear birds sing.When we relocated the church offices to Lawrenceville in February I was pleased to discover that each morning, right around the time I was finishing morning prayers, the birds would begin to sing.My previous office was at an intersection of two busy roads and I would frequently hear horns blaring, diesel trucks roaring, and an occasional sound of metal on metal as vehicles collided.It was more than once that my meditation and prayer was interrupted by my flight out of my office to see if there were injuries accompanying the sounds of car crashes early in the morning.Here, it is different;there is no traffic noise, no lights entering my office, and then – just as I am soon to close out my prayers – some little bird begins his little tweety version of “Here Comes The Sun”.I like it.I like it a lot.
Most of us don’t feel as inclined to the bark of a dog as we do the song of a bird.Dog barks are loud, potentially frightening, and at times incessant (they see a cat on the other side of the fence which is gloating over them so they do what they can –BARK!).Several months back a large pit-bull/Rottweiler mix took up barking in our neighborhood.This beast eventually got out of the fence and came charging at me and Landon with a pretty intimidating bark.I threw my boy in the back of my truck and faced down the dog who might have easily dined upon my leg had he been so minded.Dogs can be frightening and their barks are not really something we would normally consider pleasant.
But what if the dog barks to warn you of danger?
I want to suggest today that as calming as a bird’s song is, equally important is the dark of a bog – err, the bark of a dog.Dog barks tell us when we are approaching a boundary that we weren’t meant to cross.Dog barks let us know that something unexpected may be approaching.Dog barks can also convey to an owner that the dog is really excited to see him or her.Dog barks frighten away our enemies, those who may do us harm.Simply put, a dog bark is always purposeful.Bird songs are pleasant, calming, pretty and reassuring but I’ve never been warned of impending danger by a yellow-backed American Goldfinch.So maybe I better rethink my answer to the question of which is better- a bird song or a dog bark?
We need both.You that know me can easily discern that my life is more akin to a barking dog.I rather fancy myself as a big, puffy-furred, red-coated Chow {see image below!}.I’ve got no issues with the fact that I bark more than I sing.Yet, I must confess that I long to add a little song of adoration to my bark of alarm.Could I gently suggest that you who are given to sweet bird-songs may need to ratchet it up a notch from time to time and give a voice of warning in a day of waywardness?Let’s sing together for the glory of God but let’s also disturb the peace from time to time and let folks know that the enemy is approaching.You who bark, don’t look down on those who tweet – they keep us hopeful.Are you a tweeter? Please allow the dogs to bark – they help keep us safe.
“I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.” – Psalm 102:7
“For He hath looked down from the height of His sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth.” – Psalm 102:19
When we think of victorious Christian living we may tend to see in our mind the image of a lion more so than the image of a sparrow.Scripture teaches us that we are hyper-conquerors, overcomers, always triumphing in Jesus Christ.We are instructed that we have overcome the world, are heirs with Jesus Christ, and have put to death the deeds of the flesh.God’s Word gives us glimpses into the future and we see crowns, thrones, might and dominion.Glorified bodies? Indeed!No more crying?You betcha!Eternal bliss in the presence of the Almighty?It must be thus!So we lift up our mighty heads, filled with the fire of faith and bellow out…
"Tweet-tweet."
“I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.” – Psalm 102:7
The farther I walk with Christ the more convinced I become of the reality of our smallness.We are jars of clay filled with the treasure of Christ.We are rustic, brittle, and hardly worthy of admiration.We are sparrows in a vast plain filled with wild beasts.We are fashioned by God to experience flight in the heights but we are, more often than not, sitting alone, perched on a roof, watching for what will happen next. That hissing sound you hear is your pride escaping from you via the pinhole of reality.In and of ourselves we are more akin to pitiful birds than mighty beasts.My Bible tells me so.
Yet this same Psalm gives me great hope when it declares of God, ‘He hath looked down from the height of His sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth.'Herein is where we experience the exalted view of things.Sparrows can fly, but their capacity for the heights is limited.Our heights are beneath His soles.Sparrows were meant to experience safety in the numbers in their flocks.God dwells without a peer and views time as one constant present tense.He places us, at times, alone in our perch with eyes wide open, incapable of comprehending all that could be seen.We scarcely can discern what’s going on with our own private housetop, much less what is taking place in the context of God being God.You don’t wish to be a pitiful sparrow?What would you be then?With each degree of outward power that we seek after also comes a further degree of the unknown.The sparrow has no clue what goes on in the world of a lion, or a whale, or a grizzly.These may be more impressive, but is their existence any better?
My point is this:sparrows ought not to long to be lions.Sparrows must cultivate trust and contentment that God alone is entitled to the exalted view.The sparrow is not to comprehend its entire world; sparrows are called to live in the constant care of God.Leave the orchestrating of your world to the King as you sit alone perched on the rooftop watching.See what He will do.Turn your advising of Him into prayers to Him.Confess that you are just a sparrow and have a sparrow’s perspective on the world.Quit hastily threading your own mane and pretending to be a lion.Stop disguising your tweet as a roar and your pitiful little bird legs as trunks of lion-power. We see your feathers, friend, and we have them too. Today, be a content little sparrow and see what happens.By the way, it may be good to remember something today that Jesus said:
Luke 12:6-7 – “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God.Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (ESV)
“And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.” – Ephesians 5:18
Here’s a verse which is spoken about quite often.Christians have been known to quarrel over exactly what this verse means.Some people pray for this verse to be a reality in their lives when, in actuality, it is a command to be obeyed rather than an event to be sought after.Have you thought recently about what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Are you obeying this command?Let’s think about it for a moment.
The verse begins by teaching us that there is something that can be a substitute for being Spirit-filled.In this case it is being drunk with alcohol.I’m not going to lecture on the ills of alcohol consumption but, rather, I’m going to point out that one of the reasons Christians are not Spirit-filled is because they are full of something – anything – else.You see, we only have a certain capacity in life with which to be full.My life can only consist of so many things, and those things will occupy my thoughts, motivate my decisions, determine my actions, originate my words, influence my emotions, determine my priorities, and characterize my entire life.We are all objects of influence.The solution to the riddle is in discovering the truth that whatever fills my life defines my life.So I submit that if a person does not live a life empowered by/filled with the Holy Spirit it is because there is something else that has been welcomed to fill that life.
I’m not a big fan of spiritual formulas – you know…do this and experience a dynamic change of life quality, attend our conference and unlock the secret to what you’ve been missing, here are 4 simple steps to spiritual breakthrough, learn how to master your flesh in 30 days, etc.Instead of pitchman promises may I suggest that there is really only one thing that is essential for you to “do” before experiencing the filling of God’s Spirit?Here it is:
Make room for Him.
Astounding, right?Perhaps it isn’t earth shattering but I believe that the reality of living the Spirit-filled life is founded upon this decision to become empty of all lesser things so that you may be filled by Him.My friends, we need to remember that God wants to fill us.He must fill us.His manifested glory through us is dependent upon His filling us.There need be no begging, bargaining, or bleeding to get God to see how bad we wish to be filled.You just need to do one thing.
Make room for Him.
What is occupying your life?Could it be that you have learned to treasure those things more than God Himself?One of the saddest indictments in all of God’s Word is that Samson had no idea that God had departed from him (Judges 16:20).How could he not notice that God went away?Because he so little treasured His presence that he felt no difference once His “touch” left his life.This is not a matter of our lives being filled with immoral sin and dastardly deeds so that God, horrified at our carnality, whisks Himself away to a more honorable soul to fill.This is much worse.This is our potential to be so unmoved at the thought of being entrusted with the full deposit of God’s lavish presence and power that we relegate it to some muddled Option B of the Christian life and never throw out the stops to find out what being filled with God by God actually means.
Make room for Him.
I think I may follow up on this some more later but, for now, think about this:Did you experience God this week?Was there a moment where He was overwhelming to you?Is the flavorless Christian life so appealing that you are willing to live it out until you burst upon Heaven?Will you know what to do when you get there – as if there should be a distinction between the priority of believers in heaven and the priority of believers on Earth?Are you hungering for Him.Really, are you?
Psalm 68:34 – “Ascribe ye strength unto God: his excellency is over Israel, and his strength is in the clouds.”
Let us remember today how strong He is.This God of yours is Creator.He spoke into existence the immeasurable space and everything contained therein. This God of yours is Sustainer.He has never known the dread of letting something slip.In every place, during every minute, for every person, place and thing He has accomplished perfectly all that is necessary to fulfill His plan.He is doing it right now on your behalf.He is Redeemer.His is the excellency, ours is the intermittency.At times we are righteous and faithful, at other times we are sinful and succumbing.He has provided for the certainty of our transgressions, the penalty has been paid, there is hope beyond ourselves.He swoops in and removes from us the oppressive voice of accusation and the frightful echo of condemnation.He bellows to that which accuses us, “IT IS FINISHED.”This God of yours is Retriever.Time will one day also bow before Him and limitless eternity will greet us.Calendars and clocks will become relics because the eternal day will never dim.He will retrieve all that is rightfully His and there it will rest forever uncontested.All things will be as they were ever meant to be!You will experience the unspeakable ecstasy of being righteous in the deepest sense of reality.The gift of the ages is to see the Smiling One whose excellent countenance will always declare, “Did I not tell you it would be so?”Nothing less will satisfy our souls and nothing less should we expect.
‘His strength is in the clouds…’ the Psalmist wrote to us.Therefore let us all look up today.There is nothing here below to satisfy your holy ache.He will come.He will accomplish His decree.He will subject to Himself every rebel component of time and space and matter.We will know Him as He is because we will see Him.Could it be today?Is our exit today?Is His reclaiming today?Are we hungering for this above any and all else?Is there a deeper longing in your heart?If so, dear friend, you must repent this moment.Christ is our hunger.Christ is our soul-thirst.Let us go without air before we go without Christ, for He is infinitely more valuable to us!Grant us today, O King, that we may experience You as You have determined to reveal yourself.Do not let us miss you because we have presumed that You would appear to us in a limited away.Speak with an omnipotent voice.Declare Your majesty unto those who can hear!Do not let this day be robbed of its value by allowing us to be so active and yet so unmoved.This generation needs to know You.This day must declare You.Whisper and we will rejoice.Shout and we will bow before You.
"For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?" KJV
" Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle? " NIV
"And if the bugler doesn't sound a clear call, how will the soldiers know they are being called to battle?" NLT
"And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?" ESV
No matter how one translates it, the meaning is crystal clear: the level of the response depends on the clarity of the communication.If you have ever had the misfortune of being led in corporate music by either a song-leader or musician that doesn't know the present song, you realize how frustrating it can be to try to follow.Not only is the song mangled, so is the opportunity to express unfettered worship.It becomes an exercise in toil rather than an expression of triumph.Dare I say that it is even more imperative that one speaking for God clearly communicate the intent of the message(s)?Is a sermon or lesson or message simply a random assimilation of truths and words...or is there to be more?Is it enough to tell the truth and assure the words spoken are factual, or must the words spoken also be directional? Motivational? Inspirational?I am reminded that if conveying 'true things" were the ultimate goal of Gospel ministry then preachers would be absolutely unnecessary;at most we would only need "readers" instead of preachers.One might step forward, read the words of the bible and then, when finished, all present could be dismissed. Mission accomplished as Truth would have been told!An even further extreme might say that even readers would not be necessary - for the Bible need not be read aloud to others in order to convey truth;we could all read it ourselves.
What then is the preacher for?To give us all call(s)to the battle(s).His must be a very certain summons to prepare for war. I have purposed to get reacquainted with my calling while I'm here. There is always pressure arising from the expectation of others, but what does God expect? How can a preacher/pastor know the specifics? What does he do with the vast amount of thoughts-to-consider which are flung in his direction each time someone gains an insight, an experience, or a "new thing from the latest conference"? Is the pastor/preacher obliged to consider it? How is it that much of this advice and insight comes from people who have never pastored and yet become capable at giving instruciton to those who have bled for their flocks? I firmly believe that God untied much of the knot for the pastor/preacher in Paul's instruction to young Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:1-7. Some may wonder if these exhortations are still able to blessed by God today. I don't wonder. I'm not looking for an overhaul concerning the call of a pastor. I'm not bored with God's plan and I shrink to consider improving upon it. Perhaps it is not that the specifics of the pastor's call have not been tried and found lacking, but perhaps it has never really been tried because it is found difficult.
I've now had several sequestered days for the purpose of personal edification.I previously had an idea of what I might like to happen when I came here.Most of it has not occurred. I never left my room yesterday and spent the entire time reading, praying, and listening to sermons.Some of the heart-fog has melted and some things I knew to be true before I left have now been clarified and crystallized.The Holy Spirit has blown His own trumpet clearly to me.He had been doing so all along but I was too focused on how to blow my own trumpet so those who follow me would prepare for the battle.When I put down my trumpet last Sunday night, got out of Gwinnett County, trekked through the Carolina mountains and strolled past the vineyard where I'm staying...I heard Him playing sweetly and personally to me and for me. It was a familiar tune which I'd not heard in a while. His playing was reassuring. Invigorating. Motivating. He plays well...we should hunger to hear Him.
Now I know the sound to give from my own trumpet when I return home to the precious people God has graced me to lead.Breakthroughs, Jeff?Not really.Vision granted?Not like I presumed.Edification?Most definitely.Do you think it will be contagious?
My friend, David Price, has been recently preaching a series of messages in England where he lives, works, worships, and ministers.The series of messages is framed around four-word sentences in God's Word.I've listened to all that he has sent me and been instructed deeply in each.Today, while searching both my heart and God's Word, I came upon a four-word command of my own to think upon:
"hope thou in God" - Psalm 42:5 & 11
I pose this question: Do you talk more to yourself or listen more to yourself?I believe it was Martin Lloyd Jones who originally asked this question, believing the answer to it to be the determining factor as to whether one is mostly happy or mostly unhappy.Talk to yourself and you will become mostly happy; listen to yourself and you will be mostly unhappy. The Psalmist is instructing himself over and over in Psalm 42 - he is speaking to himself after tiring of listening to himself.He asks his own heart some questions.He instructs/rebukes/encourages himself.He speaks out plainly also to God in this Psalm.I read it and get the sense that he is tired of the turmoil in his spirit and recognizes that something is amiss.
Here's what may happen to me if I listen too much to myself without speaking Truth to myself.
I will fail to acknowledge that God is sovereign
I will choose to believe that my emotions are reliable
I will overuse words like 'always' , 'never', and 'forever' more often than they deserve
I will feel compelled to lay down and die in response to pressures
I will feel compelled to rise up and thrash in response to pressures
I will live by my tainted wisdom which will obscure or dismiss God's perfect wisdom
I will despair
The psalmist throttles his vacillating heart and harnesses it with a truth-saturated will.He declares to God, "I pour out my soul in me...I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance...I will remember Thee...I will yet praise Him who is the health of my countenance."It piques my interest that the help of God's countenance (42:5), once sought after and experienced, becomes the health of the psalmist's countenance (42:11).
Is it overly simplistic to declare that the remedy to a disquieted soul is to 1) remember His countenance2) stop listening to yourself and start instructing yourself and 3)praise Him in the midst of the disquiet?
Church history tells us clearly that the people whom God uses are more often than not prone to the disquiet of soul.Lest we forget that Jesus Christ is not only our Master but also our kinsman, the Gospel writers shared with us that His words in Gethsemane included, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful..." Yet is He no more!
If we would be happy more often than unhappy, let us talk to ourselves more than we listen to ourselves.
"Return unto Me, and I will return unto you." - Malachi 3:7
And there we have it. Nine easily understood words which God awaits us to obey; these were not spoken to pagans, or to those who were ignorant of God and his ways. These were the words of God to His own chosen people. They were among the very last words He would speak to those people for the next four hundred years. When Malachi was finished speaking for God there was a stunning silence from Heaven which lasted until John the Baptist began again to sound forth the will of God. Do you know what John's message was four hundred years later?
Repent
Amazingly, God is in no hurry. He knows nothing of outside pressure which compels Him to become reactionary. He speaks through Malachi to tell Israel to repent. He is silent for 400 years and begins to speak again only to say the exact same thing to a new generation of Israelites. Perhaps we should all take instruction here.
Some people have little to no evidence of God's work and blessing in their lives. There is no longer an experienced "connection" to the Almighty. There is a faint, fading scent of what once was. There is the muscle of former disciplines which allow for the spiritual survival of today, but there is no growing power. Where the fire once blazed there is only an ember left burning which provides enough illumination to discern what is right before the face...but not enough light to discern the smiling countenance of the King. What has happened to bring about this lack of a word from God? Why don't they hear Him? He is the thundering God, the instructing God, the singing God...why has He become silent? Why do some have to cling to the memory of what He once said? It is because He has chosen to speak nothing new until they obey what He last whispered to them:
Repent
My nightmare would be to experience the prolonged silence of God. I'm not speaking merely of God's objective words to the world found in Scripture. I'm really thinking more of God's words to Jeff Lyle on August 4th, 2009. What He might be saying about His desire for me; to miss His guidance for my struggles, His rebukes for my stubbornness, His affirmation of my commitments, His reorienting of my vision - this would be agony. To know that God could speak but I could not hear Him would be my own private nightmare. It would result in the overwhelming sense of loneliness - an absence of the active presence of God in my life. In its essence, that is the description of hell - no presence of God, no word from God, and the overwhelming realization that you have been left to yourself. Could there be anything worse for the believer than to live in such a way that invites the disciplinary silence of the Shepherd?
Repent
Though the word repent is like the lead head of a sledge hammer, it is the only appropriate word for the church in our day. I am alone in the mountains and beginning to deeply search my heart. If I'm honest, I confess that I'm not enjoying some of what I find. I can only assume that there will be some discomfort in these sequestered days, but I can only anticipate that there will be lasting fruit if I persevere to follow the instruction of the Master. I wonder on this first morning of my time away how deep my obedience will run. I have come desiring revival, desiring clarity, desiring relief. I hear God saying one thing to me.
"And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, He was there alone." - Matthew 14:23
I suppose that since Jesus thought it good to get alone for prayer, I would do well to emulate Him. Ministry is a most rewarding way to spend one's days. I love the fact that God has graced me with the privilege of serving Him by serving His people. When I'm in the proper frame of mind I acknowledge that even the most pressing of tasks leaves me with a great sense of satisfaction. I truly believe that what I do will ,in some small way, reverberate into eternity. Fifteen years ago today I was spending my last full day as a lost and helpless sinner. I was out of booze, out of money, out of my mind, and out of options. God sequestered me for 24 hours and left me with nothing to distract me from the awareness that I was falling apart...falling apart to the point where I would not recover. Around 8 AM on the following day, in a small apartment bedroom in Lawrenceville, Georgia I gave up my throne where I had ruinously reigned to a King who was fit to rule. I've never been the same. Yes, life is extraordinarily good; so much better than I deserve.
Ministry is satisfying but, frankly, exhausting. Physically I can keep up well. God rewired me somewhere along the line and enabled my body to engage in long hours of activity. Emotionally, I rarely waver. I don't get too high nor too low. God has graced me to remain level headed the majority of the time. Yet just a slight tick away from my emotions is my mind and I must confess that here is where my battles often get the best of me. I think too much. Honestly, I sometimes wish I were dumber; not to say that I'm brilliant or anything, it's just that I seem to own a mind that doesn't stop. I think about everything. I'm one of those people who has a mental scanner which does not have an off-switch. Case in point: I was asleep last night and remembered that I had double booked a Sunday evening service at the end of this month so I made a mental note to cancel one of the appointments...I was asleep. Believe me, this is a confession rather than a boast. I somehow do not think God is pleased with that kind of un-rested mind. Interestingly enough I don't go too deep with my thoughts but I always go too wide. Some people posses minds that drill down like oil wells. They go deep, deeper, and the deepest as they strike black gold. I'm not wired that way in my thinking. I rarely know deeply on any given subject but I seem to go left-right as far as I can. I'm the kind of guy who knows a little about a lot {side note: this is why I trounce my wife at Jeopardy!). I'm an expert at nothing but informed about many things. Love it or lump it, that's just the way I am.
My point is this: my mind has gotten tired in the last 12 months. Not slightly tired, but really tired. I've found myself making hasty decisions which, were it not for grace, might have haunted me later on. The dilemma was that there had not been a good place to "jump off" and come apart from the frenzy pace of life and work. I was passing my Lord in the halls and nodding a courteous 'Hello' but scarcely enjoying some quality time with Him. Don't get me wrong, I was praying and studying and meditating and petitioning Him just about every day; yet, in some strange sense, I really missed Him. I needed to get reoriented in what it means to be God's boy. Husband, father, pastor, preacher, TV ministry guru, video editor, part time real estate liaison, web master for two sites, counselor, administrator, CFO....it was beginning to feel like death via paper-cuts. So.... I made some reservations in the mountains of North Carolina and I'm leaving in 4 hours.
"And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, He was there alone." - Matthew 14:23
I love the multitudes - but I'm leaving for a bit. I am fulfilled in the work - but others will take care of it this week. Evening was coming on me fast - Jesus called to me from the mountains. He's been waiting there for me for a little while - my, how patient He is. I'll be spending the week with Him and I'm so thankful for His invitation. I'm not so much 'getting away' as I am 'going to Him'. I know He's omnipresent but lately it seems like my demands have been omnipresent also. I'm looking forward to reading and listening and singing and writing. I plan to blog each day if possible so feel free to check in this week. May I be so bold as to request that you pray for me? I'll even suggest the prayer you might speak to our King:
"Lord, Jeff wants to hear your voice and no others this week. Speak to him today because I know he's listening for You."
Just a quick note to address the obvious: the website has a new look. We wanted to make our site a little more easy to navigate and a little easier on the eyes as concerns the design element. Our friends at makeitloud.net worked with us for over a month to get things just as we like. The webstore is better organized and purchases can now be made without having to go through PayPal. You will find the same content and I hope you will bookmark this site over the old one. Subscribe to this blog and you will know every time I post something new. Anyhow, take some time to look around and leave us a note if you see anything that needs adjusting or might be improved.
Transforming Truth | 1446 Calvin Davis Circle | Lawrenceville, GA 30043 | Phone: 678.551.7333
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