Lent 2014 - "the prayer dare"

Please read what I have to say below in this post, but know that this series blog is now posted on a different site - lentblog2014.blogspot.ca 

For those of you who are coming on here for the first time, I just want to say - I am not usually as uninventive with titles as I am today.  However, I want to be descriptive, and so it works!

(Note: I am blogging on this site for now, but hope to use the church website blog page - I can't seem to get it up and running right now, and am waiting on the person who is the expert in this field to get back to me and bail me out!  Oh, and you may or may not be able to comment on this site, even though there is a "Comments" space available - in the past, it couldn't be done, but hopefully when - not if - this blog is being done on the church website, comments will be able to be made!)

During the season of Lent 2014, I have made a personal commitment to spend time with God every day, and to blog on this time.  This blog will come out of my devotional time spent in a book called "the prayer dare" (yes, all small letters!), and another book called the Bible!  For 40 days, I have challenged myself to get closer to God through prayer, and this book ("the prayer dare") devotes 40 days to helping me do that.  Don't expect profound, or even amazing, although that may just happen - my hope is that whoever reads this will journey with me, and that we will all find a closeness to God that we may not have been experiencing lately.

Today, I will be blogging for yesterday and today, and then daily thereafter.

So sit down, buckle up, and be still - God is waiting to hear from me, from you, from us.  Let's take this Lenten journey together, and see where it takes us...

I am not my mistakes...

How many people here have ever made a mistake?  C'mon, put your hands up - you know you have...  We all have made mistakes, we all make mistakes, and we all will make mistakes - we are humans, and that's sort of how humans roll...  Don't get me wrong, it's not what we should be doing, but we do... When I think of this statement - "I am not my mistakes" - I think of a guy in the Bible, a king, who did bad but whom God considered good, even very good.  And who might that be?

Yup, you're right - King David.  Good ol' "I tend sheep but still become king" David.  But David, despite being king, had one flaw - he was human.  Flaw, you say?  Well, if we think of a flaw as being something that shouldn't be part of us because it will cause us to do wrong, then hey, being human might be considered to be a flaw!  That is, as opposed to being godly...  David was a human, and David did bad.  (pardon the grammar... actually, just ignore the grammar 'cause I'm making a point!)  David did bad - David watched a woman bathe, a woman who wasn't his wife.  David knew better, but David did bad anyway.  And he thought no one would find out, especially when he had the woman's husband killed in battle.  But... he kind of forgot about God.  God knows everything.  God knew David did bad.  The consequence of David's "bad" was horrific - his son died.  David realized how badly he had gone against God and that brings us to our Bible reading...

Psalm 51: 1-4, 10-11

Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love.  Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins.  Wash me from my guilt.  Purify me from my sin.  For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night.  Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight.  You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just.  Create in me a clean heart, O God.  Renew a loyal spirit within me.  Do not banish me from your presence, and don't take your Holy Spirit from me.

David did bad, but he also knew his God was a God who forgave.  So David prayed this prayer, this psalm, asking God to forgive him, to wash him clean, to give him a new heart, to not leave him.  And did God listen?  Well, King David became known as a "man after God's own heart", so yes, God listened!  David did bad, David made mistakes, but David wasn't his mistakes.

And neither are you... or I... or anyone, unless we want to be.  We can keep on doing 'bad', and then asking for forgiveness, and then doing 'bad', and... well, we can... but we shouldn't, because God knows our heart, and if we truly ask Him to forgive us, and we turn away from what we did or are doing and turn toward God to do what He wants us to do and to be what He wants us to be, we won't be our mistakes either.  I know this because the Bible tells me, but I also know this because I've "been there, done that" - too many times! - and I know our God is loving, and faithful, and forgiving.  Good thing...  so know...

YOU ARE NOT YOUR MISTAKES!

I AM NOT MY MISTAKES!

WE ARE NOT OUR MISTAKES!

Know it!  Live it!  Be what God wants you to be, do what God wants you to do, and live like God wants you to live.  If you do, it can't possibly be a mistake!

Let's pray...

God, I know I've made mistakes, and I'm sorry.  Please forgive me.  Help me to turn from doing bad, and live a life pleasing to you.  Thank you for loving me, and forgiving me.  I know I am not my mistakes, but that I am yours.

Amen.



Faithful...

So says he (me!) who has been somewhat less than faithful...  Some time ago, I vowed (to myself, at least) that I would be faithful in writing this blog.  Daily, perhaps, but at least weekly.  One only needs to glance at the index page to see this hasn't been happening...  I might claim to have been busy (and have been), or ill (and have been), or any number of other things, but the bottom line is, I haven't been faithful.  To myself.  To any readers who might read this.  To my God.  I've prayed, I've counselled, I've studied, I've preached, I've sung... and a multitude of other things that are important &/or necessary.  But there has been this nagging in my soul, telling me to get back to this blog... and I have been unfaithful.  So I am back... asking for forgiveness for being unfaithful, and vowing to be faithful to my vow.

In the Bible, there is a wonderfully inspirational and challenging verse:

Psalm 119: 137-144
You are right and you do right, God; your decisions are right on target. You rightly instruct us in how to live ever faithful to you. My rivals nearly did me in, they persistently ignored your commandments. Your promise has been tested through and through, and I, your servant, love it dearly...  I don’t forget what you tell me...  Even though troubles came down on me hard, your commands always gave me delight. The way you tell me to live is always right; help me understand it so I can live to the fullest.

God is so faithful to us; even when we aren't always living as He wishes we might, He is faithful.  Imagine if we were always as faithful as He wishes we were!

If you are like me, as I described myself in the opening paragraph, then do you know why?  I mean, if you aren't doing something you should be doing, then why not?  And if you are doing something you shouldn't be doing, then why?  Good questions.... not so easy to answer, perhaps, but good questions nevertheless.  Ones we need to ponder... and do something about.  Yes, I might be super busy doing the stuff that needs to get done each week (and believe me, for a pastor, that might be a LOT!), but if I am not being faithful to my God, and to others, then... well, what's the point?  I can be successful in the standards of this world, yet be failing God - and this is not what I want to be or do.  How about you?

God doesn't call us to be a success in this world, because we don't even need to think about being faithful in order to achieve success.  God does call us to be faithful, because in doing so, we are living and acting and doing and being the people God wants us to be.  So next time you are tempted to keep on doing stuff that needs/has to be/should be/must be done, stop and think about whether this is truly what God is calling you to do.  I mean, would you rather be living in the will of God or be seen to be a 'success' in the eyes of people?  Seriously, no matter how nice it might be, or how important it might make us feel, to be a success, nothing compares to being faithful to the God who created everything!

Let's pray...

God, you are awesome.  Sometimes it's difficult to do what you want us to do, because it doesn't seem important to many, or make us important in others' eyes.  Help us to be faithful.  Help us to answer your call to faithfulness.
Amen.

As we approach Lent...

Easter is a popular holiday, and is perhaps the most important Christian holiday.  We likely have a weaker understanding of what Lent is all about than we do other Christian celebrations. 

          Lent is the antidote to that oversight.  We are comfortable with the joy and celebration of Easter but not so much the darkness of Lent that precedes it.  Lent is a chance to remember the dark before the dawn, the wrongdoing that Jesus took to the cross.  

          Why dwell on the darkness at all?  Jesus’ work is done – death has been conquered – Jesus is victorious.  If the cross has answered it all, then why be sad?  Before Jesus, the world called out to God:

Psalm 79:5

O Lord, how long will you be angry with us?  Forever?  How long will your jealousy burn like fire?

Easter is the once-for-all answer to this question.  Jesus took our place on the cross to appease God’s righteous anger.  He went alone to be punished – separated from God and deserted by His friends.  The drama of how this happened is the story of Lent.

Lent helps us experience our part in the suffering of Jesus.  We face our humanity during Lent – we learn that we still carry darkness.  Knowing that Jesus’ death and resurrection occurred ‘once for all time’, we will do nothing this year to earn it.  It is God’s free gift, given to us in love.

          Join us as we travel this Lenten pilgrimage – mourn for the darkness in our hearts, and rejoice in the light of God who came into the world to save us!

Joel 2: 12-17 (NLT)

The Lord says, 'Turn to me now, while there is time.  Give me your hearts.  Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.  Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead'.  Return to the Lord your God, for He is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.  He is eager to relent and not punish.  Who knows?  Perhaps he will give you a reprieve, sending you a blessing instead of this curse.  Perhaps you will be able to offer grain and wine to the Lord your God as before.  Blow the ram’s horn in Jerusalem!  Announce a time of fasting;
call the people together for a solemn meeting.  Gather all the people - the elders, the children, and even the babies.
Call the bridegroom from his quarters and the bride from her private room.  Let the priests, who minister in the Lord's presence, stand and weep between the entry room to the Temple and the altar.  Let them pray, 'Spare your people, Lord!  Don’t let your special possession become an object of mockery.  Don’t let them become a joke for unbelieving foreigners who say, 'Has the God of Israel left them?'

Psalm 103: 8-14 (NIV)

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.  He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.  For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.  As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him; for He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust.

 Let's pray...

God, your love for us is so great – you breath life into our dry and dusty souls.  You satisfy our thirst with living water.  By your mercy and love, we are alive!  Each day you lift us up.  Amen.

Normal? I don't think so...

Normal (or as my Aussie friends say, "Naa-mal")... a word that implies 'usual', 'same', perhaps 'boring'?  Definitely not a word that screams 'out there' or 'different' or 'what's next?'  Seriously, do you want to be normal, in the sense that normal means 'the same as always', 'vanilla', 'ordinary?  Whatever happened to wanting to be, oh, 'rocky road fudge marble swirl'!  Now THAT'S something... well, NOT normal...

Paul.  Jesus.  Peter.  Some of the New Testament 'not normal' people.  Paul, who persecuted Christians, came to know Jesus by being blinded on a roadway, frequented prison cells, boldly spoke even when warned not to, and even managed to write a lot of books.  Peter, who mouthed off a lot, had his ear cut off, told everyone who would listen that he did not know Jesus, and then turned around and preached one of the most amazing sermons.  And then there's Jesus... definitely not someone cut out of the purple cloth of the priests from the Old Testament!  His mother was a pregnant teenager, who gave birth to Him in a stable.  He ran away at age 12 and frequented the temple.  He claimed, not Joseph, but God as His father.  He spoke heresy, or at least what the priests of the time called heresy.  He fought against the society of the time by using kindness, love, and a gentle spirit.  He healed people on the Sabbath, befriended sinners and people of questionable repute, and enlisted fishermen and a tax collector as His closest followers.  He died, but even then, He couldn't do what everyone else did; instead, He rose from the dead, came back to speak with His followers, and then went up to heaven in a cloud.  I mean, really... how 'normal' is that!

These men, among MANY others, show us that being 'run of the mill' is not necessarily a prerequisite to greatness in God's eyes.  Being 'normal' is often not much fun, usually doesn't lend itself to the adventure in everyday life, and just kind of sucks the very life out of everyday life.  And as believers, we ought not to be 'normal' - it's Biblical:

1 Peter 2:9

You are a  chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar (special) people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

One version, instead of using "special", uses the word "peculiar" - I love that!  For if we are believers in Jesus, then we are not 'normal'; that is, we have something different, something life-changing, something worth shouting about.  This makes us peculiar to some, to those who don't believe.  It makes us much like some of the characters we find in our Bible - and that's a good thing.

Thank God for normal, but also thank God for 'not normal' - personally, I like being not-so-normal when it comes to my faith.  Think what can happen in our lives and in our churches, when we not-so-normal people band together and do God's work in this world - a whole bunch of normal just isn't going to happen!  And that, my friends, is not a bad thing at all...

Let's pray:

God, thank you for who you are, and for giving us life.  Help us to be what you want us to be; if that is a little less than normal, as the world considers normal, then so be it - we are in good company at least.  Thank you for loving us and using us, and for being there for us.

Amen.

New Life

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb.  Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!  Your workmanship is marvellous - how well I know it.  You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.  You saw me before I was born.  Every day of my life was recorded in your book.  Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed"

The author?  God
The book?  Psalm 139: 13-16

God made every human being.  God had His hand in all aspects of creation, including creation of humans.  There was a plan, there was deliberation.  No accident - God doesn't do accidents!

Isaac was born on November 18, a small bundle of joy.  Looking at him yesterday, I thought to myself that no one, gazing upon new life such as this, could ever begin to doubt God.  Oh, people do - don't get me wrong - but seriously, how might this little person have been 'put together' unless there was someone doing it, and unless there was something deliberate in mind!  Many think that the universe was created when all of nothing suddenly made a big bang and - amazingly - Earth was created, along with all the people and things in it.  Just like that.  Just appeared out of nowhere, all by itself - something out of nothing created by no one.  Hmm...

The account of creation in Genesis, in the Bible, says that 'in the beginning, God created...'; in other words, something out of nothing created by... ah, God!  Created by someone.  Not a person, but by God.  And God also created all the things of the earth, and He also created humans.  Thinking of how intricate the human body is - doesn't that just have to mean NO accident! 

Isaac - and all other babies - are created by God. 

So the next time you wonder what's the point of life, or if you are really accomplishing anything, or that you are not-so-goodlooking, remember this:

"The God who created the universie also intricately wove you together.  You're no accident"

Funny how it sometimes takes new life to happen, in order to fully 'get' that God doesn't do accidents!
Thank God for new life; thank God for being God.

Welcome to this world, all new lives.  Welcome to this world created by God.  Welcome to those who were created by the God who created all there is.  Always know you are not accidents, but that God created you, and loves you, and will always be there for you.  That's right - just look areound and you will see God in everything and in everyone - new life all over the place!

Thank you, God, for all new life; thank you God, for creating all life anew.

Amen!

Plan or planner?  Which is where you have placed your focus?  What is this man talking about, you say?  Glad you asked...

READ:  2 Timothy 1:9

Plan - God's.
Planner - God.

Where in there does it mention us?  It says GOD saved us, that GOD called us; it says HE did it, not because we deserved it; it says HIS (i.e. God's) plan.  GOD in big letters (figuratively, of course), 'us' in little letters.  So the focus is on... yes, you guessed it... God!

God had a plan from before the beginning of time - to show Himself to us through His Son Jesus.  GOD sent Jesus to earth, to live among us, to teach us about God.  God wanted to show His character - His grace - to us, and what better way to do this than to show us through Jesus.  Oh, we (people on this earth) balked at the idea of who Jesus is (Saviour), and we tried to do things our own way and - all too often - still do try to do things our way (yea, how's that working?!?).  But there's always THE PLAN lurking in the background, so to speak.  God's plan.  His way, not ours.  "It's all about you, Jesus... it's not about me", as we sing in the chorus. 

'Cause in the end, what we wanted or want, if not aligned with God's plan, won't matter.  Didn't matter.  Doesn't matter.  Won't matter.  We will try... and we will perhaps succeed - for awhile - but if it isn't what God wants to happen, it won't work.  Been there, done that, bought a couple of t-shirts, all to no avail.  You see, it's God's plan to show who He is to us, and God chose to do that by giving us Jesus as the example of who God is - and so God pretty much expects us to be that way too. 

Are you?
Are we?

Better question:

Will you?
Will we?

'Cause ultimately, GOD saved us and GOD called us to live a holy life - Paul wrote this to Timothy, and to us.  So the question hangs there, waiting for us to answer it, to understand it, to recognize it, to live it. 

Plan - God's.
Planner - God.

If you've been too focused on the plan (us) and not on the planner (God), then perhaps it's time to change that focus... okay, not 'perhaps it's time', but "hey you, it's time, dontcha think!  Hello!"  You see, it's that important.  God and God alone - not just lyrics of a song, but a mantra for us all.  It's all about Him, so that ought to be our focus - HIM.  GOD.  The PLANNER.

Where's your focus?

PRAYER
God, help me to keep my focus on you, the planner. 
Amen.