Led along in peace

God has made it clear to me that my actions count. But what about how much of a loser I am? What about how bad I am at being good? I just can't get my attitude right. I'm a little sick and so I was grumpy all day. A little discomfort and all of a sudden everyone around needs to suffer with with. I'm fighting a losing war against myself. The more I want to do good, the more aware I am of all the things I do so poorly.

Read Isaiah 55:6-13:

55:6 Seek the Lord while he makes himself available;
call to him while he is nearby!
55:7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle
and sinful people their plans.
They should return to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them,
and to their God, for he will freely forgive them.
55:8 “Indeed, my plans are not like your plans,
and my deeds are not like your deeds,
55:9 for just as the sky is higher than the earth,
so my deeds are superior to your deeds
and my plans superior to your plans.
55:10 The rain and snow fall from the sky
and do not return,
but instead water the earth
and make it produce and yield crops,
and provide seed for the planter and food for those who must eat.
55:11 In the same way, the promise that I make
does not return to me, having accomplished nothing.
No, it is realized as I desire
and is fulfilled as I intend.”
55:12 Indeed you will go out with joy;
you will be led along in peace;
the mountains and hills will give a joyful shout before you,
and all the trees in the field will clap their hands.
55:13 Evergreens will grow in place of thorn bushes,
firs will grow in place of nettles;
they will be a monument to the Lord,
a permanent reminder that will remain.

 As bad as I feel about my actions and my behavior, I've made the one action that can turn it all around. I've decided that my ways are indeed wicked. From that point, God's word, His promise will take over. As my heart sincerely admits I'm a loser and that His deeds are superior and that His plans are superior, I can in faith know that God will begin a work that He is going to complete.

The work begins even now, with me all sick and grumpy. It will not end until it has accomplished what He's said it would do. So, let me get into my head what God will do with me once I've admitted my ultimate failure. Once I've decided that I need to know about Him more than anything else. Here's a good passage from 2 Peter 1:2-4:

1:2 May grace and peace be lavished on you as you grow in the rich knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord! 1:3 I can pray this because his divine power has bestowed on us everything necessary for life and godliness through the rich knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence. 1:4 Through these things he has bestowed on us his precious and most magnificent promises, so that by means of what was promised you may become partakers of the divine nature, after escaping the worldly corruption that is produced by evil desire.

Let me pray that for you and you please pray it for me. May grace and peace be lavished upon, fellow sinner. May we both grow in the rich knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord! We have everything we need for life and godliness in Him, so please, let's put ourselves in Him. I turn from my wickedness, and confess my sins this morning. I want His deeds and His plans supreme in me so that I may go out with joy and be led in along in peace.

We may be a dry parched piece of dirt. God has said He'd send the rain and He will. God will turn our thorn bushes into beautiful trees. He said it and He'll do it. I may not be able to see the changes in me as clearly as He can, but in faith I can know that He's building a monument to Himself in my life. Somehow, someday, I'll be a sign to others, saying "See what God can do, even with a guy like me!"

Called to be separate

We are called to be pure, holy. We are called to be different, set apart. We are special to God and are to act in accordance with His will and according to His ways. He's got a different path than what we are naturally inclined to.

1 Corinthians 6:9-20:

6:9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, passive homosexual partners, practicing homosexuals, 6:10 thieves, the greedy, drunkards, the verbally abusive, and swindlers will not inherit the kingdom of God. 6:11 Some of you once lived this way. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
6:12 "All things are lawful for me" - but not everything is beneficial. "All things are lawful for me" - but I will not be controlled by anything. 6:13 "Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both." The body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 6:14 Now God indeed raised the Lord and he will raise us by his power. 6:15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 6:16 Or do you not know that anyone who is united with a prostitute is one body with her? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh." 6:17 But the one united with the Lord is one spirit with him. 6:18 Flee sexual immorality! “Every sin a person commits is outside of the body” – but the immoral person sins against his own body. 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 6:20 For you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.

1 Thessalonians 4:7:

For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness.

1 Thessalonians 5:23:

Now may the God of peace himself make you completely holy and may your spirit and soul and body be kept entirely blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Titus 2:11-14:

2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people. 2:12 It trains us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 2:13 as we wait for the happy fulfillment of our hope in the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. 2:14 He gave himself for us to set us free from every kind of lawlessness and to purify for himself a people who are truly his, who are eager to do good.

1 Peter 1:13-16:

1:13 Therefore, get your minds ready for action by being fully sober, and set your hope completely on the grace that will be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1:14 Like obedient children, do not comply with the evil urges you used to follow in your ignorance, 1:15 but, like the Holy One who called you, become holy yourselves in all of your conduct, 1:16 for it is written, “You shall be holy, because I am holy.”

1 Peter 2:9:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Reading these passages may feel like a punch in the face. God makes it clear that our behavior is important. God also makes it very clear that behavioral changes will follow as he transforms our hearts. I read these and i know I'm not adequate. Well, that's exactly how God wants me to feel. I should not have any confidence in myself. God wants me to know that I can have every confidence in Him to make me a new creation. I'll behave once I decide that His ways are better than mine. He'll do it once I sincerely decide that it's what I want.

May the grace of God compel you and me today to admit to ourselves and to Him that He's got better plans and superior methods. Get your minds ready for action! Set your hope completely on His grace. You've been chosen so that you can proclaim His virtue and so that you will be eager to do good.

God's got whatever you need

Do you have habits and certain ways of doing certain things? You're used to getting your coffee made in the morning in a specific way, or you drive home using a certain route no matter what? Maybe it's less conscious, and you just find yourself doing things the same old way because it's what came naturally to you and it's more comfortable to do it your way. You've got a tried and true method of accomplishing tasks in your life and you aren't going to change it.

God may be asking you to change something that you don't want to change, something that isn't easy for you to change. It could be the way you dress or the words you use. It could be a habit that's hurting you or others around you. It could be more about how you think when you are in certain types of situations. Fill in the blank. God's got His own way of cleaning each of us up. He may not have the same list for me as He does for you and our lists may not be in the same order. He's not inviting you to add to someone else's list or catalog another person's flaws. God will start making you of aware of things you are doing your way and that He has a better way.

God tells us that He's given us everything we need to succeed in life. He's got his own path home and his own way to make coffee. He provides us the tools we need to form new habits in Him and through Him. It may be a difficult transition and you may have been putting it off for a long time. In His grace and mercy, he's given us everything we need in life.

First, He's given us the Bible. It's the only book we need for understanding how we are to act towards each others and towards God. Don't forget this important passage in 2 Timothy 3:16-17:

3:16 Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 3:17 that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work.

He's given us His Spirit, and because of the power of the Spirit of God in you, you are more than a conqueror over the garbage in your head. Read Romans 8:5-11:

8:5 For those who live according to the flesh have their outlook shaped by the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit. 8:6 For the outlook of the flesh is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace, 8:7 because the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so. 8:8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 8:9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him. 8:10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is your life because of righteousness. 8:11 Moreover if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit who lives in you.

He's also given us the open invitation to speak to Him. Prayer is an essential practice that we all need to develop if we want to begin to submit to God and allow Him to reshape our habits. He's never far, He's always ready to hear from you and rush in to help you. Read Psalm 145:18-19:

145:18 The Lord is near all who cry out to him,
all who cry out to him sincerely.
145:19 He satisfies the desire of his loyal followers;
he hears their cry for help and delivers them.

I don't know what God wants to change in you. I do know a few things He's got on the list for me, though. That's the way God wants it. He's got a personal relationship with me and He wants me to sincerely allow Him to mold me into the image of His Son. He wants my attitude to be one of submission to Him and not hostility. Pray for me that I'll submit to Him as He asks me to change things I don't want to change or make uncomfortable adjustments to my routine. Pray that we'll each be ready to get honest and serious with God about living our lives His way with His tools.

Shhh, do you smell something?

We have bottles and sippy cups hidden all over the house, thanks to our four kids. Every once and a while we have to hunt down a malodorous bottle of milk hidden deep in some household crevice. I've stood in the middle of a room many times, sniffing. First this way and then that way, trying to find the hidden milk that has gone WAY bad. The smell is so bad that I have to stop whatever I'm doing and deal with it.

As a christian, you smell, and as you learn more about God your smell grows ever stronger. Check out this verse in 2 Corinthians 2:14:

But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and who makes known through us the fragrance that consists of the knowledge of him in every place.

To God, as our knowledge of Him increases, our life becomes a sweet aroma in His nostrils. He smells in us the fragrance of His Son, the aroma of the sacrificial death that allows us to live forever with God. To Him and to those who are ready to hear the message we've got, the fragrance is wonderful. To others, not so much. To some, your knowledge of God will be an offensive stench. Your understanding and your actions based on the spritiual world and God's values instead of man's will drive them nuts.

Paul warns us of this as he continues in 2 Corinthians 2:15-16:

2:15 For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing – 2:16 to the latter an odor from death to death, but to the former a fragrance from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?

Our message and our life lived in God's pattern is a sweet aroma to some, but to others it's the smell of death. They smell the death of Christ on you and it stinks to them. They smell the death of your old life and it infuriates them. They see you act like a new person and they hate you, cover their faces from you and reject you.

Notice the end of verse 16 where Paul asks "This is a terrific responsibility. Is anyone competent to take it on?" He answers that question in the next chapter, so read 2 Corinthians 3:5-6:

3:5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as if it were coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, 3:6 who made us adequate to be servants of a new covenant not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

We are not up to this task. Left to ourselves, doing things our way, man's way, we'd stink up the place. Our relationship with God is what matters. Choose to get close to God and He promises to get close to you. Ask to understand Him and He promises to teach you about Himself.

This isn't like it was for Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai. There isn't ominous thunder and lightning coming from where God is. Only Moses dared approach Him on that mountain. We're at a different mountain and we are invited to come closer, invited to understand His love and to feel the scars of His death. We're told that our adequacy is from God, we're told that He breathes us in like a perfume, we've been given life instead of death if we choose to grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

We are to know that all the amazing things in our life, all those great smells, are not from ourselves. It's not coming from us! God will do amazing things in your life if you decide to know Him. God will use you to put the smell of Jesus' death in people's nose and they will respond to it how they choose to. You are called to have the aroma of His death and the knowledge of Him on you. Here's a great verse to know on this, Pastor Mark Bove finished the sermon with it today. Let's all boast about what God has done for us and what He desires to do for everyone, read Jeremiah 9:23-24:

9:23 The Lord says,
"Wise people should not boast that they are wise.
Powerful people should not boast that they are powerful.
Rich people should not boast that they are rich.
9:24 If people want to boast, they should boast about this:
They should boast that they understand and know me.
They should boast that they know and understand
that I, the Lord, act out of faithfulness, fairness, and justice in the earth
and that I desire people to do these things,"
says the Lord.

Now don't be like the hidden milk bottle under the bed. Be a smell of Christ that is out in the open. Make sure everyone knows that you live your life based on the death and resurrection o f Christ. Let them react to it how they like. Your calling is to simply stand in the wind and let the Spirit blow the smell of Christ into someone's face.

PRAY! See what God will do!

It was the day of my oldest boy's third birthday party. We were going to have a ton of kids over to play in the backyard. Naturally it was raining and the party started in 6 hours. I explained to little Jasper that we were going to have to play inside instead and he bravely accepted the news. I saw the disappointment in his eyes and knelt down next to him. I told him that we should pray that God would clear up the rain and dry up the backyard. Within 30 minutes it had stopped raining and we had a great party in the backyard that day.

I had taken my two boys to Big Bear for the day and was driving back down the mountain with them. It was very cloudy and we were slowly driving through some thick fog. My youngest son, Clark, was only 3 years old and was scared of the cloud we had been in for some minutes. I prayed out loud that the Lord would get us through the cloud and as soon as I said "Amen" we broke out of the cloud into the brightest day and didn't drive through any more fog that day.

Anecdotes like this don't prove to you that God exists, but over a life time of seeing Him respond to me and my loved ones, they are a large part of my relationship with Him. A life of prayer lays the foundation and opens doors in your relationship with God. God wants your relationship with Him to blossom from intellectual to experiential. He wants you to call on His name and He wants to prove himself strong to you. He wants to build your faith in who He is.

Use the time you have right now to tell Him you are devoted to Him and His cause today, not your own. Tell him what is making you sad and what is scaring you.

2 Chronicles 16:9 - Certainly the Lord watches the whole earth carefully and is ready to strengthen those who are devoted to him.

Call on the name of the Lord in confidence. Run to Him first today, put Him first today, and you'll rise above the emotions and fears that drag you down.

Proverbs 18:10 - The name of the Lord is like a strong tower, the righteous person runs to it and is set safely on high.

When should you pray and how often? Daily in the morning, Psa. 5:3; 88:13; 143:8; Isa. 33:2; twice daily, Psa. 88:1; three times daily, Psa. 55:17; Dan. 6:10; all night, Luke 6:12; without ceasing, 1 Thess. 5:17.