Chase that Lion & Grow with God!

I recently read a book called, “In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day” by Mark Batterson. In the book, he encourages Christians to trust God and realize that the future God wants for them is hiding in their biggest problem, worst failures and greatest fears! He emphasizes, as does the Bible, that God is glorified as His people step into the seemingly impossible opportunities that stand between them and their dreams because these are the places where God’s involvement can be the only explanation for success.  Even if the outcome is not that which was hoped for according to our definition of success, we are still ahead because we will have the opportunity to grow in our relationship with God, thus, find ourselves changed. Besides, we can trust that God doesn’t waste anything. The efforts made will certainly be used for God’s purposes to bring forth the planned outcome of God.

For instance, a number of years ago, Jon (my husband) and I answered the call to plant a church in Lumberton, NC. With little financial support and little previous  experience; with statistics saying small towns that are no longer growing are not the place to plant a new church especially by an outsider, we left our jobs and we moved to Lumberton. Although there were many struggles, there were many great things that happened through the plant to include salvations, water baptisms, new commitments to the Lord, divine relationships established through the fellowship including two marriages, and our experience of God in at a whole new level that resulted from this walk of faith. All of this was God’s plan and what came out of our obedience to “go” even in the midst of defying odds.

As for the church plant, it fell apart in its sixth year and we have moved on. But you see, nothing was wasted! God was glorified in our obedience in many ways as He worked out His plan for so many people through our obedience; and Jon and I are that much closer to our own destiny of becoming like Christ. Our relationship grew with Christ through the experience of obedience and in the experience of letting go of God’s people for Him to do as He pleased. We are not even close to being the same today as we were when we set out on that journey. You can only WIN in being obedient to God!  As Batterson says, “I wish I could tell you that every lion chase ends with a lion skin hanging on the wall, but it doesn’t…the dot.com dreamer may become successful beyond his wildest dreams, but the guy with political aspirations loses the election he dreamed of winning. However, both of them are LION CHASERS. What sets lion chasers apart ISN’T THE OUTCOME. It’s the courage to chase God-sized dreams. Lion chasers don’t let their fears or doubts keep them from doing what God has called them to do.

So, we are called to run after these opportunities as God puts the desire on our hearts. Or, as Batterson puts it, “chase lions” and lay hold of God’s best by not allowing our past experiences, present circumstances, fears, doubts, bad decisions, or habits keep us from stepping into what God has called us to do. Instead, chase these opportunities and with God’s help defy the odds, face our fears and re-frame our problems, embrace uncertainty, take risks, and seize opportunities – all at the risk of looking FOOLISH. As our trust grows in God’s sovereign timing and positioning us for His purpose in our life’s circumstances, and as we learn to recognize and lay hold of our God-ordained opportunities, we are transformed from glory to glory. And, that is God’s best no matter what the exterior circumstances look like. Next time around, the outcome may be just what one expects! So continue on chasing lions knowing God is with you. It’s all good! It’s all in God’s hands to be used for HIS eternal purposes!

                                       What dream are you allowing fear or doubt to hold you back from pursuing? Go on…chase that lion!

Cover via Amazon

Priorities and A Yielded Life

Hello Dear Christian Readers and Friends. It has been only one weekend since Thanksgiving Day and I am hoping you all had a great day celebrating the goodness of God with your family and friends. I sure did. Even on my worst day, I have so much to be thankful for!

I realized at 1:30 this morning, that it was my turn to post on our site. Time sure does fly! Since I have been sharing different things with you that I am doing in school, I thought this week I would share the second of three sermons I had to write and give for my Homiletics class. Because it was written to be heard and not seen, the writing may be a little off. There are places I have used all CAPS for my speaking notes, but I sure do hope you will enjoy it anyway!  First, you need to know that when I refer to the video, it was a demonstration in which a man takes  a large jar, fills it with small beads, rocks, water, and then golf balls only to discover that all the golf balls will not fit. Then the same items are put in the jar in reverse, putting the biggest item in first: the golf balls, the rocks, the beads, and the water, and everything fit perfectly! It is a great demonstration of how you can fit more in by putting the biggest thing in first. With that said, following is my sermon in printed form:

The dictionary defines “priority” as a precedence, established by order of importance or urgency. Priorities are funny things…what’s big to me as a priority may not be what is big to you as a priority. So what I put into my life first, as represented by the jar in the video, could be different than what you fit first into your life. And priorities usually change from one season of life to another.

Priorities are motivated by different things. Sometimes priorities are motivated by our selfishness – it’s all about “mwa.”  Sometimes our priorities are motivated by a desire for material things, successful careers or caring for our families. We can even be motivated by things such as “fear” in establishing our priorities. Many years ago, I was influenced by the fear of not ever being able to do anything really well.

Today with a fulltime class load and homeschooling Alex, it is what seems URGENT at the moment that tends to take priority. I know your life is busy too! We all have many things to try to fit into our days…church, jobs, school, childcare, parent care, housework, yard work, doctor appointments, exercise, vacations, club meetings, kids after school activities, dogs, chickens, FACEBOOK, and the list goes on.

We all have things we must prioritize in our lives as to how we will get them all in and when. We have some things that we can be flexible with and some things that don’t have much room for flexibility. So we order our priorities differently according to our own perspective on life and according to our personal decision as to how important something is to us. But there is one thing –one PRIORITY that should be COMMON to all Christians – one PRIORITY that is VITAL that you and I have as our BIGGEST priority! That is our devotion to GOD.  I want to show you WHY our Devotion to God must be our BIGGEST priority and HOW we live devoted to God.
I want to show you that a YIELDED LIFE is the BEST LIFE and it is a life that PROVES GOD!

 Turn with me, please to Romans 12:1-2. I want to give you some background leading up to our passage. Paul has just finished discussing in the first eleven chapters of this letter a theological discussion informing the saints in the church at Rome of what God has done for them through Jesus Christ and who they are in Him. Paul has said things like “You were once disobedient to God, you were at enmity…at war with God, yet now you have obtained mercy in Christ. You deserved to die, but you have obtained a pardon for your sins.”

Then Paul culminates his theological discussion stressing the ultimate wisdom and knowledge of God which are past understanding. He emphasizes how no one can be God’s counselor or give to God… for of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever.

Now Romans 12:1, Paul is switching gears from the THEOLOGICAL discussion to one of practical application. He says, THEREFORE I URGE YOU brothers and sisters…

Therefore is a connecting word. It implies Paul is saying that because of all these things that he just presented to them that have been done for them and given to them, and because who they are in Christ…and who God is… in view of these things and in view of God’s wisdom… I urge you.

“Urge” is serious exhortation. Paul is trying to MOVE them to ACTION. And notice he is talking to Christians like you and me. He says, “brothers and sisters.”

Then he goes on, “by the mercies of God”…the J.B. Phillips bible translates this as “in view of God’s mercy”…in view of the mercy God has shown. So again, he is emphasizing the mercy God has already given them.

Notice He wasn’t threatening them with hell and condemnation as some do today in order to manipulate and control people… it is the love of God shown in His mercy that draws us to Him. Romans tells us it is the goodness of God that leads people to repentance.

Then Paul says, “I want you to present your bodies a living sacrifice.”  Okay, everybody was probably doing just fine up to this point but “MY BODY…A LIVING SACRIFICE…DON’T KNOW ABOUT THAT. But stay with me here!

…This is where the BEST LIFE begins! Let me tell you why…

In Genesis, Adam and Eve walked in complete harmony with God and experienced peace, love, joy, awesome provision and purpose. Why? They were living yielded to God… They were living according to their design and purpose. This is what they were created for. You see the original nature of man wasn’t like the fallen nature we are familiar with. Originally human nature was yielded to God. They lived dependent on God.
Humans were created to be dependent on God and when we are not…when we are separated from Him…by choosing to be our own gods as Adam and Eve did…we lose our peace…
…there’s pain, thorns and thistles, and… sweat. There’s confusion, and lack of direction and purpose for life; and life can become overwhelming to us at times. We need help in making decisions about our education, kids, parents, finances, and when we are yielded to God, living dependent on–instead of independent of God, He guides our choices and we have everything we need. We live in HARMONY WITH God as we were created to be.

Adam and Eve chose to follow Satan’s direction instead of God’s that day in the garden.  They decided to be their own God and quit yielding to His direction. They decided their way might be better than His. They did it their way. They separated themselves from God.  How did that work out? Not so well. So Paul is urging these Christians at Rome to make a presentation of their bodies…to TURN OVER their lives to God… God has done His part. He is waiting for you!

As parents, don’t we want our children to be surrendered to us and our will…why? Because we know most times, our WILL is best for them…parents may lack wisdom at times, but God, our heavenly father, never lacks wisdom. Our heavenly Father always knows best!

Paul goes on to say, “This is your reasonable service…some translations say “spiritual” service of worship. This Greek word that is translated “reasonable” refers to a rationale decision. This isn’t about EMOTION. What he is saying is “this is your act of intelligent worship. Come on brothers and sisters – this only makes sense – it is rationale and intelligent to give God our lives and allow Him to be Lord! It is intelligent to live how He says is BEST and not what our flesh tries to tell us is BEST. We can trust God with our lives!

Christ had to sacrifice the desires that came from His FLESH. In the Garden of Gethsemane He sweat drops of blood as He fought the temptation not wanting to go through with the Father’s will, but in the end He said, “Not my will but yours be done!”  Do you see this? Sacrificing our will to God’s may feel a little painful to us for a short time, but it will always lead to the what’s best! His plan is better than ours! A yielded life is the BEST life and it proves God!

Listen. God doesn’t need you. He doesn’t need me. He doesn’t need anyone. He doesn’t need our worship. He is not egocentric. He is holy. He is perfect – always. That means He is perfectly happy and satisfied and is lacking nothing!  But He created us out of His divine counsel for His divine purpose and He created us to be dependent on Him. So, FRANKLY, we don’t do so well when we try to go our own way without Him. God knows a yielded life is the BEST life for us. He also knows it is the life that will PROVE Him. It’s what we were made for…designed for. It is an act of intelligent worship in response to what God has done and Who God is – merciful and wise.

Offering ourselves as living sacrifices isn’t losing something. God isn’t taking something from us. He is giving us something – Himself and His wisdom! He is giving us HIS will which is PERFECT for us. And in regards to being a “living” sacrifice – It means it is something we must do over and over again. We will always be tempted to allow other things to take God’s place – our devotion from Him by requiring our time, our money, our thoughts and emotions. So Paul urges us to make a GENUINE ongoing COMMITMENT that will be ongoing for the rest of our lives. This is not a one- time action. Due to the many distractions – priorities – we have to rearrange them and put these in 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th place and sometimes give them up altogether.

We are simply sacrificing what we want to do that is in OPPOSITION TO GOD and presenting ourselves to God for His PURPOSE WHICH IS WHAT’S BEST FOR US anyway.

So Paul is saying, “In view of this great mercy that you have received from God, in view of HIS WISDOM, it would be an act of intelligent worship to give your lives to God. Yield your will for His when your will is in opposition to God’s.

Paul continues in verse 2… And do not be conformed to this world. You can’t be devoted to God and conformed to the world at the same time! The Greek word for “conformed” is soos-khay-mat-id-zoe. It refers to accommodating oneself to a model or pattern. It is used elsewhere in the N.T. describing those who conform themselves to worldly lusts.

The word “world” refers to a godless system. Any way other than God’s way is godless. That is what Eve and Adam did. Influenced by Satan, Adam and Eve went their own way. Don’t you know they regretted that moment for the rest of their life! We don’t want those kind of regrets, do we? Of course not! Paul is saying to the Christians at Rome and to us “don’t let the world mould you into its pattern…Don’t let it squeeze you into its mould. You are God’s child…a royal priest…you have been freed from the bondage of the world…freed from sin… you are free to choose the best way – God’s way! He is saying, “Don’t yield to the world’s ways and look like someone who doesn’t know Christ!”

Paul goes on to tell us how… HOW we can devote our lives to God? How we can remain yielded to Him with all of the world’s distractions and temptations pulling at us…

He says, don’t be conformed to the world but (He says, instead) be transformed by the renewing of your mind. The Greek word for transformed is “Metamorphoo” and is the same word that we get our word metamorphosis from. It implies a restoration to an original state. God is in the restoration business. He wants us to be restored in our relationship with Him to the state humans originally had with Him when they walked in “oneness” with Him with their intellect and will in alignment with His.

I can be transformed by renewing my mind. This is a choice we make for our lives! We choose to be transformed (changed) by making the decision to do what we have to do to renew our minds. The KEY is our minds. Understand, God changed your spirit and made it alive. We are a new creation in Christ but our mind is still the same ‘ole mind. It is our job to get our minds in alignment with the new heart, the new nature God has given us. The mind constitutes the intellect, understanding, and the mind-set, the feelings and the will. It describes a complete change, like that of a caterpillar into a butterfly. It indicates a literal change in the form or formulas of thought or being. So we are transformed “changed” by the Holy Spirit’s energizing within us as we renew our minds to God’s thoughts, purpose, and will found right here in the bible.

And Paul continues saying do this so “that you may prove what is that good, acceptable and perfect will of God.” We prove or test God’s will out in our lives as we live it out through our lives. In other words, we take it for a test run. We practice it in everyday living and as we do, His will, will be proved to be good and acceptable and perfect!

Doing these two things, yielding our will and renewing our minds leads us into God’s perfect will for our lives. And, this means He will be glorified through our lives. Others will see His goodness. They see God’s will is proven to be PERFECT AND GOOD. There is no better way to glorify God than this. This is worship, my friends. A yielded life proving God’s good and perfect will, thus, glorifying Him.

Priorities don’t just get out of balance over night. They get out of balance a little here and a little there as we are DECEIVED with worldly ideas and ways, DECEIVED by our flesh (un-renewed minds), and DECEIVED with the urgent. How about you? Have your priorities gotten out of order? Is your devotion to God somewhere down the list or completely off of the list?

Has God become a stranger to you? Are you living without purpose, peace and joy?
Do you need a wise counselor to help you make decisions in life or to find God’s will for your life?

I want to encourage you TO MAKE A DECISION TODAY TO LIVE YOUR LIFE devoted to GOD. Make Him your biggest priority. Remember, you do this starting with your mind, you choose. This is NOT AN EMOTIONAL decision! Love grows as you spend time with God.
Today you just need to use your intelligence, your mind and make this decision.

 WHY? Because of God’s mercy and wisdom, IT IS an act of INTELLIGENT WORSHIP and BECAUSE THE YIELDED LIFE will prove God!

HOW? By yielding and renewing your minds according to His Word. Say “no” to the godless system and fallen nature that is in opposition to God’s will and purpose for you.

Just imagine what your life will be like as you yield to His will which is good and perfect for you!  Just imagine what life would be like if we were ALL living life YIELDED TO GOD. We would all experience God’s wisdom, love, and peace and we share it with one another. Serving one another in love! Just imagine how wonderful all of our relationships would be – Relationships with parents, spouses, children and friends!Imagine what our church would be like, what our community and nation and world would be like if everyone would yield their lives to God!

One day that will happen. But for now, we can be that beacon of light to those living in the godless system that surrounds us. Together, we can be that light that PROVES God and begins to permeate the darkness to change the world around us! Won’t you join me and recommit your life today–Lets devote our lives to God by making our devotion to HIM our BIGGEST priority—

After all, it is a yielded life that is the BEST life and it is the life that proves God!

 In Sisterly Love,

Sarah Goebel

 

Beyond Rudolph by Julie Arduini

I grew up with the Rankin/Bass produced TV Christmas specials and with as many advances as I’ve seen in technology, nothing new in the Christmas special offerings can hold a candle to those first programs. One of my favorites was Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

As a little girl I didn’t appreciate Rudolph’s entire story. In fact, I remember being indignant that the “Dad” reindeer, Blitzen I think it was, insisted Rudolph hide his nose and look like everyone else. Back then I was for the underdog, even when it was a cartoon. When a cheerleader mocked my shy friend, I couldn’t resist putting wads of paper in her shoes when she wasn’t looking. Did I mention the cheerleader was still wearing the shoes?

A quarter-century later, I’m still watching Rudolph. I’m not angry when I watch because there is something kindred in the characters I never paid much attention to the first time around. A band of toys that never see prime-time eye-level shelf space at Toys R Us—the misfit toys.

The toys live— where else—but on Misfit Island. Charlie-in-The-Box doesn’t just have the wrong name, but he’s an introvert. He’s most comfortable inside the box.

Spotted Elephant isn’t attractive like Barbie’s beloved horses the girls put on their Christmas lists.

“A Dolly for Sue” isn’t the model doll named above so she has a low esteem.

Bird Fish doesn’t fly, he swims.

The cowboy rides into the sunset on his ostrich.

Trainer doesn’t look like his famous train relative, Thomas. Why Trainer has square wheels on his last car.

The toy boat sinks.

The squirt gun is full of grape jelly.

The airplane can’t fly.

And then there is the scooter for Jimmy.

With adult eyes these misfit toys give me the permission to embrace the unique things that make me, me. I think even if I didn’t write I’d still be a Charlie-in-the-Box. My energy comes from peace and quiet, not crowds.

I want to hold “A Dolly for Sue” and tell her how beautiful she is. She’s made of quality stuff meant to last, not cheap plastic that will break at the first sign of distress. Our daughter taught me when she was three months old that God knew what He was doing when He chose parents for children with special needs. What I thought was a label was an open door to ministry that blows my mind every time my daughter smiles and engages with others. Isn’t that like Bird Fish who looks like one thing, yet acts like another?

While I watched these supposed throwaway toys I found such revelation, more than Rankin/Bass probably ever planned on. The biggest eye-opener of all was the island ruler, King Moonracer.  Like C.S. Lewis with Narnia, this lion symbolizes wisdom and love. King Moonracer flies each night around the world to rescue the unwanted toys. He lives in a castle on top of a hill, kind of a heavenly place, and has final say on who is able to stay on Misfit Island.

Okay, maybe I’m reading things too deep to see traces of heaven and the Gospel as an allegory in Rudolph with his friends, the Misfit Toys.

But, maybe not.

What I can say is I never felt I belonged, not when I was a chubby little girl that never wanted to be a cheerleader or as an insecure college girl that could have cared less to try to be a sorority sister. Living in my box and staying isolated was my happy place. It still is. Those misfit toys helped me understand I’m not like everyone else, and it’s okay.

I learned I’m not alone. While watching Rudolph I also had Tweetdeck enabled and tweet after tweet popped up talking about not the reindeer, not the elf rebelling against the denistry, not the reindeer’s peer pleasing dad, but the misfit toys. When I shared how much I related, others tweeted they felt the same. They embraced the same misfit call on their life.

Is today the day you do the same?

http://www.juliearduini.com

Surrendering the good, the bad, and—maybe one day—the chocolate

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*Some of my Misfit Toy information came from Wikipedia.

The Truth About Prayer Habits by Sarah Goebel

Whatever exercises we practice in the Christian life, they are in vain if done without the reading of Scripture and prayer. Yet sadly, most Christians go through life without an active prayer life. They worship, they go on mission trips, they serve in the church but many seldom pray. Donald Whitney in his book, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, tells about a survey done in the 1980s. “More than seventeen thousand members of a major evangelical denomination were surveyed about their prayer habits while attending seminars on prayer for spiritual awakening. Because they attended this kind of seminar, we can assume these people are above average in their interest in prayer. And yet, the surveys revealed that they pray an average of less than five minutes each day. There were two thousand pastors and wives at these same seminars. By their own admission, they pray less than seven minutes a day.”

On the other hand, can we really pray continually as we commanded in 1 Thessalonians 5:17. Yes, we can do this because Scripture is not speaking here of prayer as an activity. This is important for us to understand.  “Pray continually” speaks of relationship. My friend, Jennifer K. Dean in her book, Heart’s Cry, explains that God is calling us to live a praying life versus a prayer life.  She calls this lifestyle “living behind the veil in the presence of God throughout our days, living in Christ and Christ living through us. Prayer is in this sense living in an unbroken awareness of the presence of God as we move through our day.” It means you may be concentrating on another activity at the moment, but at the same time, you are aware of God’s presence and the need to return your attention to Him. In other words, you never really stop talking with God; you just have interruptions in your conversation. Praying continually is chatting off and on all day long as we take care of our responsibilities and enjoy the activities we are involved in as though God is our companion, traveling right along with us. The thing is – He is. We simply fail to acknowledge it.

Living a praying life does not mean, however, that we never set aside a particular time for devoted prayer. We are told in Colossians 4:2, we are to devote ourselves to prayer. When we devote ourselves to something, we make it a priority. God wants us to live with a continual awareness of His presence, communing and communicating with Him while doing life as well as to have focused dedicated times of prayer. His expectation for us to pray flows from His love for us, not from a heart to put us to task. To illustrate, when I travel, my husband expects me to call him when I arrive at my destination. I expect the same from him. We don’t put this expectation on one another as a means of control or distrust. The one traveling communicates to put the other’s mind at ease by informing them they are safe. Besides, Praise the Lord, we are still after all these years eager to hear one another’s voice when we are separated by distance. My point here is just as our expectation to phone one another flows from our love, God’s expectation for us to pray is also born out of love. When we set aside special time alone with God where our attention is all on Him, we are in a place of intimacy where God can reveal to us His most intimate secrets.

So how is your prayer life? Does it seem lifeless or alive? Do you receive direct answers to your prayers? Are you experiencing the reality of God’s continual presence in your life?

To develop a praying life lifestyle combined with special times of dedicated prayer starts with a decision to do so. God will help you once you commit to it. I would also highly recommend you read Heart’s Cry: Principles of Prayer and Live a Praying Life, both by Jennifer Kennedy Dean. Regardless where you currently are in your walk with God, I truly believe these books will set you on course for a deepened intimacy with God and a more powerful, answered prayer life.

            

To end this post, I want to share one exercise I have found helpful to developing a praying life relationship with our Father. Spend 5 to 10 minutes in prayer each morning upon awakening before your thoughts become clouded with the day’s plans. Thank Him for your life and day and ask Him to be Lord over it. Focus your thoughts on Him and His love, sovereignty and majesty. This should help you to remember He is with you from the time your feet hit the floor and as you go through your busy day.

How about you? I know we have many readers who walk closely with God. Do you have an exercise you could share that has helped you to live a praying life or increased your intimacy with God?