Where does your trust lie?

Trust in the lord is all I read when I begin to wonder where the citizens of America has placed their trust as we hear every day, every hour, every minute about COVID-19. How many are sick, getting sick, and will get sick? Worst of all, how many will die from it. You have two sides of this madness, no four sides of it. Those who feel that this great nation should remain under lock down until every last person with the disease is well, those who feel that those who are at a higher risk stay at home while the rest of the nation goes back to work. Those that respect both sides and feels we can join together somewhere in the middle. And then those who just do not care at all.

Where does the trust lie? This is the question I begin to spawn in my mind. As I begin to think about the things that I see going on around me. Does it lie with the Lord or in ourselves. I felt that I have a pretty good trust in the lord from most of the time. Then a thought pops into my mind. I was taken by surprise at this thought and begin to question the essence of it. I begin to run it through my mind over and over from different angles and different paths. Each time, I see myself failing to trust in my Savior while clinging with dear life in myself or my way of thinking.

As I begin to think about this and bring the thought itself into question, the truth unveils itself from the core of my belief. Each time I have found myself engaging in an argument with my wife because I want to be heard and I want to right. I have placed my trust in myself and this enters into, "let's see who can hurt who the most with words" situation. I walk away frustrated and regretting that I allowed myself to engage in another argument. These situations ran circles through my head as the words of the Lord kept on repeating, "Trust in the Lord"

As I let the Holy Spirit give me insight to this passage of Proverbs 3:3-5, I hear him tell me this is where I need to trust him and not myself or my thought of an outcome. There is a reason behind the misunderstood words, the snappiness, the frustration. I just need to trust him to bring out the positive outcome of the situation and not myself. 

God Living Redeemer

I had gotten into my car last night to go home from work and Dr. Tony Evans was on the radio, (I always love to listen to his messages) and he was explaining to his church the reasoning behind why God made man and put him over the physical creation. This got me thinking about why Jesus came. You see God created the earth after creating the heavens. He then created man to have dominion over the earth. As Tony had explained that God gave man dominion over the earth. This was God's representative over the earth in human flesh. When Lucifer/Devil/Satan came and tempted Adam through Eve. He then won the dominion over the earth when Adam basically bowed in submission to Lucifer by disobeying God's direct command not to eat of the tree of good and evil. Sadly this spun all of creation out of control. Sin entered into the world that effected not just man, but all of creation. God put in authority a man over his creation and through a man, he would have to redeem it back. As Dr. Evans explained, since God set the dominion of man over the earth, it would have to be a man to redeem it.

1 Cor. 15:21 tells us that death came into the world through one man's sin (Adam); and Rom. 5:12 tells us that through Adam's sin has caused all to sin. How do we know this? Paul quoting PS. 14:3 Rom. 3:10-12 that everyone has sinned and there is no one who is right before God since they have turned away from Him to their own ways. In John 8:7 when the pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, Jesus asked that if anyone one of the accusers are without sin to cast the first stone. Funny how the author continues and stated that from the oldest to the youngest they walked away. The Elder John in 1 John 1:8 that anyone who says they have no sin deceives themselves with the absence of truth. 

 When Adam sinned God held court, not in heaven, but here on earth. The sentences were handed out, man would till the ground by the sweat of his brow, women would have difficult once a month and during child birth, and Satan would be condemned to his belly and his head crushed by the birth of a woman's child. Notice God did not say that a man's son, but a woman's child. This is how God would redeem humanity.

Isaiah 52:13-15 tells us that the coming Messiah would face persecution after being lifted up. He would be beaten beyond any human recognition. Isaiah 53 is all about the coming Messiah. Each portion goes into detail of what to look for in a Messiah, 1-12 that tells us that no one has believed in the message, there was no attraction about him to be a king or even less, a coming Messiah, rejected, pierced for our transgressions, bruised for our inquiries with the chastisement of the world on him completely; and finished up with barring the sins of many and becoming an intersession for the transgressor, (us). If you want to more about this, Hebrews 4: 14-16. The author tells us that he is the great high priest and empathizes with our weaknesses and understands our temptations and has risen into heaven. 

With that being said, on back to God's plan to redeem humanity. So we see in Genesis that God laid out a plan to man, woman, and to Satan as to what would come. Satan had already won over a third of the angels in heaven, Isaiah 14:12, Ezekiel 28:16, Luke 10:18, and Rev. 12:7-9 all talk about how Satan was cast out of heaven, but only in Revelations does it mention the angels along with him. In Matthew 4:1-11, Luke 4:1-18 tells us of Jesus going into the wilderness and there he faced temptation from Satan. It does not go into detail of when the temptation started. All we know is that Christ was full of the Holy Spirit when he left for the desert and fasted for forty (40) days. What we see is that during this time, Satan looked for a weakness to over come Christ, the Son of the living God. With each temptation, Christ through the Holy Spirit faced the temptation with the spoken and living word of God. Here, Satan has God in the flesh. Knowing that if he could have tempted the first man and succeed with Adam bowing to Satan, then he could for sure find a weakness and do the same with Jesus. Just as Satan tempted Adam with food, he would start out with the same by asking him to turn stones into bread. Jesus responded by living on the word of God which is the bread of life. He tempted Jesus with tempting God with suicide, but again, Jesus would respond with the living word of God by not tempting the creator. Finally, Satan would show Jesus what has been built in this world at the time. Since Satan had dominion over this world, he felt that he could show Jesus and tempt him with all the riches of this world if Jesus would just bow to Satan. Jesus knowing the plans of God, knowing that soon, one day, this world will pass away and that the living word of God will last forever, (Matt 24:35, Mark 13:31, Luke 16:17 & 21:33, and Rev. 21:1). You might say that all of that was spoken after the temptation, Ps. 103:16 talks about the ending of things, and Ezekiel 7:11 also talks about the end of wickedness as well. With this knowledge, Jesus rebuked Satan and reminded him of who God is and that there is to be no idol before God. Jesus added that we are to worship God.

You see, God had to come in the flesh to redeem humanity through Jesus Christ His son. Jesus was born of a virgin (Matt. 1:18-25 and Luke 2:1-21) God became flesh to redeem us to him. It had to be a human to do this. There had to be a miracle birth for this to happen and that was Jesus. As John the Apostle told us in his letter, he stated that the Word was in the beginning and was with God and was God and that word became flesh and lived amongst us.

All of this came from Dr. Tony Evans sermon on why God became a man to die for us. As he so beautifully put it from his sermon, Jesus the Great I Am. https://tonyevans.org/podcast/ All praise to Christ our redeemer. 

Every Man Needs A Board!

By my title, it seems to question where is he going with this? Funny you would think this, but as I was thinking about a well respected man of God who is a leader and trains leaders told me that he himself is surrounded by a group of men that hold him accountable to his walk with Christ, his relationship with his wife and his children, and position with his church.

This got me thinking...what about each man having a board of trustees in his life? They of course could not fire him from being a man, but they could be a sounding board for ideas, direction, and understanding. Also they could be a group to confide in as well. They would also hold him accountable with his commitments, relationships, and his walk with God.

I begin to think about what this would look like, it would be more like Moses and Joshua, Jonathon and David, David and Nathan, and Paul and Timothy. Each one of these relationships were different and resulted in different outcomes.

Joshua was always found at the feet of Moses, unless Moses went up on the mountain to meet with God, then Joshua was found waiting at the foot of the mountain. Moses taught Joshua how to be a leader, how to listen to Gods direction, and how to wait upon the Lord.

Jonathon and David is one of the iconic relationships we find in scripture of what a godly friendship looks like. They trusted one another and looked out for each other. In the same way with a close friend we do as well. We hear their pain and suffer with them, rejoice with them, and encourage them. Ester and Mordecai who believed in Ester and also held her accountable to God and her faith. Ruth and Naomi as well. This time, it was the younger encouraging the older.

In all of these reminders of how God used each relationship to either encourage, motivate, hold accountable, or even just walk with, they all brought glory to God in their journey. Some of them were harsh at times as Nathan had been with David. David had put himself in a position that brought great hardship onto his family that bled over into the kingdom with Absalom revolting against his father David and David having to run for his life. Even at times Mordecai had to be stern with Ester and remind her of why God had placed her in the position she was in. Not to live in comfort while her people suffered, but to bring an end to the suffering. Others such as David and Jonathan as David was named the next king by God and still Jonathan took David's side. Timothy was brought up in the faith by Paul. Paul at one time through one of his letters encouraged Timothy to stir up his faith in Christ after hearing that Timothy begin to struggle. Ruth wanted to return to her homeland and die alone, but Naomi would not let her go alone and suffer alone, but instead, Naomi went with her and suffered with her as she herself were a widow.

So back to my question, what about each man having a board of trustees? Of course, you just do not invite anyone on your board. People who believe in you and also are not afraid to ask you the hard questions. Not afraid of confrontation. I once read in the 5 dysfunctions of a team the CEO stated that when people are afraid to confront, they are not trusting one another. Lencioni The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. So of course, you will need to trust the person or people you are sharing life with.

Sadly, we do see an example in the bible of a king that did not have anyone to keep him accountable, and that was King Solomon. In all of his wisdom, he to was led a stray by the many women he kept company with. He broke the laws of God which caused Isreal to fall under judgement.

So it is wise to have a board of directors in your life. They do not always have to be on your board for yours or their whole life. Just like businesses change boards so will life. 

I AM DONE!

I am done! I have been a harden piece of clay in the hands of God refusing to be molded to his image. I am done having my own agenda and my own ways that lead me to let down, frustration, failure, and anger that effects those closest to me. How can I be in the hands of God and not be willing to be his creation. I don't know what it looks like to be in the hands of my creator and be a lump of putty, but I want to be willing to be just that; A lump of putty in his hands.
So today, I say; God, I am tired of being me and being harden clay in your hands. Make me into your image God. Forgive me for being unwilling, selfish, and angry. I need you Lord Jesus. I do not know what it looks like to be fashioned and molded into your image, but it must be beautiful.

I love you Jesus and I thank you for taking me as I am.

Your Son
Chris

Love! What is it?

It was just another day starting out in our house, my daughter woke up then proceeded to let us know that she was ready to get out of her crib by her usual cries until one of us sneaks through the door playing peek a boo with her as we pick her up and then start our day. Afterwards my wife had gotten up and then came and joined us in the kitchen, but today started as last night ended, not on the speaking terms of positive people. Then the questions started of whats wrong, why the attitude, then the snapping at each other. Soon we became like two logs on the fire just heating each other up with our words. 

Really! Is this how husbands and wives are suppose to be treating each other, in a competion of who can say the meanest thing and hurt the other the most? I walked out of the house after another spew of word  exchanges and went for a walk. I then took out my cell phone and searched for a marriage hotline. Thank you google! I called and got in contact with a man named Joe. I shared with him our struggle and told him how things are starting and ending on a daily basis. He shared with me about what love is. He took me to 1 Corinthinans 13:4-8 you know the love chapter they call it? Well began to share with me of what love looks like when it is in action. Wait for it, wait for it, wait for it. You see, love is a verb and if I need to remind you that verb words are action words and if you still are not following me, well this means when you say something in a sentence like walk, running, talking, yelling, etc... you get the point. Love is the same thing. Let me break this verse down for you, "4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails." 

Wow! All of these four verses are verses of action. It seems that love is constantly working and doing something positive. Sadly, when my wife and I would argue, I had a verb, but it was doing the negative action. Joe went on to share with me that this is what love does and this is what I am suppose to be doing. You see I am the head of the household who is leading us to glorify God, but when I am not loving my wife then I am not leading us to glorify God. Joe told me this, "Chris, since you are a bearer of Christ, you already have love in you, but there is one who wants to keep love from happening and he will do it however he can, but you have to remind yourself of this, Christ is in me and I am in Christ and since that is the truth then I 'Chris' is patient, I am kind, I do not envy, I do not boast, I am not proud, I do not dishonor others, I am not self-seeking, I am not easily angered, I keep no records of wrongs. I do not delight in evil but rejoice with the truth. I will always protect, I will always trust, I will always hope, I will always persevere." So this is what love is? The crazy thing about this is that I alone cannot do this and just as Joe said that I have Christ in me so with Christ I can do these things, but it is my choice to do so and not anyone else's. Man, what truth to swollow and get humble real quick. This is up to me to be the positive action verb called LOVE, but I have to do it and no one else can. 

When I returned home I sat outside on the steps for a moment praying for Christ to go in before me and bring the peace we needed and then I proceeded into the house. My wife was on the phone talking to one of her friends when I walked in and I went and got my bible and a note pad and begin to write about love. My wife asked me where I went after a few moments and I told her I went and sat under one of the trees around the corner and prayed and thought about some stuff. We began to open up and love came forth. I shared with her about my conversation with Joe and told her that I was sorry for my actions and she said the same. We went through out our day which was funny, before the day ended we had a counseling session later on that day as well. So when we had finished our day I really felt that God gave us a fresh start in life and in our marriage. We prayed that night and let God back in that day. I see that as a man of faith I have some work to do on my end so that the action of love can be the positive action in our home and my wife can feel the love that God designed for her to feel as a wife and my daughter can see what it is like for a husband to really love his wife and for a wife to really love her husband.

A lesson from the Prodigal

Have you ever had one of those days where you just felt and seemed nasty and just plain dirty, not from working outside or from physically dirty, but spiritually? If you could transfer the way you felt on the inside to the outside you would look like you lived with pigs. Nasty, smelly, and just plain unapproachable. Think about it, you feel like if anyone could see what you felt or seen in yourself, no one would even dare to look your way until you passed them by and don't even talk about praying to God, because why would he even talk to someone so dirty with sin and unrighteousness living lifestyle even after you had made a confession to Christ, but that seems like something in the past.

There is a story in the bible that we all maybe able to identify with and it is Luke 15. You know the story of the prodigal son, the one of the two brothers and one receives his inheritance early and blows it all and ends up broke and homeless? He ended up working for a pig farmer that would not even feed him. (Well maybe he was not just a pig farmer, but because he was not from that country he gave him the worst job he had). He went back home nasty and filled with pig slop and poo on his clothes and maybe in his hair and beard. His father seen him and the scripture as Jesus told the story, he fell on his son and kissed him and asked for a change of clothes, the family ring, a calf for celebration, and a huge party for his son who has returned.

See, the story goes a lot with our own story in life. See the devil is in another country that is filled with famine and just as with the prodigal son, he will give you the worst job there is because it will demoralize you and not feed you anything of worth. In other words the devil is not really giving you a pig slop job, but he is telling you how bad you are, how you don't belong to anyone, how no one will ever want to be around you, how you are not worth anything at all, and you are useless all so he can hold you down from who you really are.

But the story does not stop there. Jesus tells us in the Message version,  “When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his speech: ‘Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son ever again.' But the father wasn’t listening. He was calling to the servants, ‘Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We’re going to feast! We’re going to have a wonderful time! My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!’ And they began to have a wonderful time."Luke 15:20-24 Did you read that one part that is highlighted and underlined? Picture yourself having just that glimpse of light or break in the clouds to know that God would at least hear your case or confession, but make you go through a huge spiritual scrub down, but instead he comes running to you and falls on you. He then surprises you with a loving kiss on your pig slopped face that has mud, poo, and all kinds of dirt on it, but doesn't care. He then gives the word to remove those dirty tattered clothes you are wearing because they are not fit for you, for you deserve so much more and cleans you up and clothes you in a rich white robe. 

See, God was never in a place where he forgot about you while you were away. He had always been looking out for you, for that one day of your return. He will not spot you when you walk up on the porch, but he is looking out for you as far as the eye can see. You don't have to stop at the creek and clean up first. Go home, he is waiting on you and your story needs to be written so it can be told.

Abandoned to trust without borders

Spirit, lead me where my trust is without borders is what I was singing as I was holding my daughter and I began to wonder what it looked like to have trust without borders and as I sang to my baby girl I began to see what it looked like as she lay sleeping in my arms, soundly. As I looked at her and studied her face and seen the contentment on her, I felt the presence of God began to move in my heart of what it looked like in his arms. The only time she has cried was when she is hungry, cold, or tired. Other than that, she has never cried in my arms due to fear or any lack of trust.

So tonight as I sang worship songs to my daughter and I felt God came near to us during our father daughter time. I began to picture what life would look like if abandoned to him as I listened and sang Abandoned to my daughter. I closed my eyes, wondered and then pictured a child sitting in their father's lap and touching his face as they looked eye to eye, having moments of affection and excitement of being with their father. As I felt this with God, I was feeling this with my daughter as I just gazed upon her face as she slept in my arms. And I can say today I seen how God sees me through a six week old baby. What a wonderful day.

So my question to you is, what does life look like abandoned to God for you?