He Hears Us in Our Pit

"Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray. O Lord, in morning you hear my voice; in the morning I direct my prayer to you and watch." -Psalm 5:1-3, ESV

Ever have days when this rings psalm is the cry of your heart? I know I do. On the days when I am sad or lonely or feel betrayed or am dealing with temptation, this is the cry of my heart.

Oh Lord, hear my cry! Oh Lord, hear the call of your servant as I groan and plead with you! May our prayers of praise lift You higher and our prayers of thanksgiving give You the credit and glory. May our cries for help reach Your holy ears and may You show us mercy in our times of need!

The beauty of it all is... He hears us.

"...He regards the prayes of the destitute and does not despise their prayers." -Psalm 102:17, ESV

When we are in need, He hears us. When we feel that we are at the bottom of a pit and cannot possibly climb out, He hears us. When we are on our knees each morning, begging our Lord to give us the strength to face the day, He hears us.

This is great news, Christian! Rejoice in His hearing of our prayers in time of need!

Do It All For His Glory

"Now this is what the Lord says—
the One who created you, Jacob,
and the One who formed you, Israel—
'Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name; you are Mine.

I will be with you
when you pass through the waters,
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not overwhelm you.
You will not be scorched
when you walk through the fire,
and the flame will not burn you.

For I Yahweh your God,
the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior,
give Egypt as a ransom for you,
Cush and Seba in your place.
Because you are precious in My sight
and honored, and I love you,
I will give people in exchange for you
and nations instead of your life.
Do not fear, for I am with you;
I will bring your descendants from the east,
and gather you from the west.
I will say to the north: Give them up!
and to the south: Do not hold them back!
Bring My sons from far away,
and My daughters from the ends of the earth—
everyone called by My name
and created for My glory.
I have formed him; indeed, I have made him.'"

-Isaiah 43:1-7, HCSB

 

This, my friends, is a beautiful passage. It was written as God speaking to His nation, Israel, but I believe it can be extended to His current nation, the Church (1 Peter 2:9-12).

 

There are a lot of great things in this passage, such as the fact that God is always with us, or that He redeemed us, but I want to focus on a line at the end: "everyone called by My name and created for My glory."

 

If you are called by the Name of God (which is another focus for another post), then you are created for His glory. Actually, everything is ultimately for God's glory, but we aren't going to get into that right now. Let's just focus on the fact that Christians, who are "those called," are "created for God's glory."

 

Christians, our task is to glorify God. Not to be a good Christian, but to glorify the God of the universe. We are to do everything with the goal of glorifying Him. When we do our jobs, it's to His glory. When we take finals (looking at you, college students like myself), we do it for the glory of God. When we do anything, it is all for the glory for God.

 

It is by Him and for Him that we do all things. Whatever we do, whatever talents and gifts we have, we do it for Him. So let's give Him the credit, gang! Let's do everything with the purpose of lifting up the Name of God and glorify Him!

Dear Mr. President

Dear President Obama,

Congrats on your victory! It was a close, hard-fought race, and you prevailed. I cannot imagine the grind that is the life of an American presidential candidate. If I had to guess, you are probably very tired and relieved. If I had to guess, you're probably just glad the election is over. I know I would be.

Yet, the rest will not be long (if you're even able to breathe for a day or two). Before you know it, your second term will start, and all eyes will be on you to move "forward," as your campaign stated the goal is. The American economy is still sputtering, with 7.1% of the nation unemployed and 48% considering themselves to be either "struggling" or "suffering," according to Gallup. The national debt is over sixteen trillion dollars, and climbing. Iran is regularly threatening us, and the Middle East continues to be consumed with war.

Our schools are struggling to keep extracurriculars, and college tuition is rising as jobs for these college grads are disappearing. Global temperatures are rising and ice caps are melting. Gay rights, abortion and marijuana use are among the social issues that our nation is currently divided over.

Not only is our nation divided, but our Congress is, as well. The Senate is controlled by your Democratic party, while the House belongs to the Republicans. This election, each part of Congress only fell under a stronger majority. Thus, our legislative branch is likely to be even more gridlocked now than during your first term.

This is just a snapshot of what awaits your second term. The American people want you to "fix" all of this, and more. Sure, you're not super-human. It would be hard for you to do even half of that, much less all of it. Yet, the expectations will be there.

As you look to move forward, we will all either agree or disagree with you and your decisions. You'll do some things I agree with, and you'll do some things I disagree with. Yet, regardless of your decisions or political party or how liberal or conservative you are, I will pray for you. In fact, Mr. President, I'll be praying for you a lot.

I'll be praying for you as you face expectations. I'll pray that you are able to manage the pressure and stress, and I'll pray for you to make decisions based on what needs to happen, and not based on other people's expectations.

I'll be praying for your family. I'll pray that they are also able to handle pressure and expectations. People say some cruel things, so I'll pray that they (and you, as well) are shielded as much as possible from the hateful, awful venom that people will spew.

I'll be praying for you to have wisdom. I'll pray that Ecclesiastes 7:25 would apply, and that you'll "[turn your] heart to know and search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things." 

I'll be praying that you are able to rally this nation and lead us to unity with each other. I'll be praying that our nation would be able to look to you as our leader, our face and our voice to the rest of the world.

I'll be praying that you would be honest and truthful, straight-forward and direct with us. We need a leader that will be real with us right now, not a guy that beats around the bush.

Most importantly, I'll be praying for your heart, Mr. President. Ultimately, this next term will end in four years and then you will never be president again. Therefore, I will pray most of all for something that will affect your life now and for eternity. I do not know if you are a Christian; some people say you are, some say you aren't. Therefore, I'll simply pray for your heart to be drawn closer and closer to God's. If you are already a follower of our God, then I pray that you continue growing closer to Him. If you aren't already saved by the grace of God, then I pray that you would be, and that our God would wrap you in His arms, making you into the man of God you need to be.

This country needs you, Mr. President. Since we're both basketball fans, I'll lay it out like this: it's the fourth quarter. The Lakers are trailing to the Heat, 99-101, with 0:50 left. Kobe has the ball. He needs to lead his team down the court and be the leader to get them to overtime, or better, the win. Mr. President, we're losing in the fourth. We need you to be our Kobe, and I pray that you lean on God to give you the strength to do just that.

 

Praying for you,
Bryan Watts
Jesus Follower and American with a keyboard

"First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity."



-1 Timothy 2:1-2, HCSB

Discipleship, Part Three: Personal Attention

So far in our discipleship mission, we have looked at the commitment and modeling to disciple. Today, we look at a third component: personal attention.

"So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears." -Acts 20:31, NIV

We are briefly going to look at two lessons from this verse, as applies to discipleship:

1. "Each of you": Paul was talking to the Ephesian elders in this verse, and he reminded them that for three years, he constantly warned every single one of them against people with false teaching. This idea of warning and caring for each one shows that he didn't see the Ephesian church as just a body of believers, but as individual lives. Each one of these elders had Paul's attention, and he explicitly warned them against these things that could damage their walk with Jesus. We do the same; we don't get to just lump our disciples together as a group, and only address them as a group. Our disciples require individual care from us. Everyone has different needs in their walk with Christ, and must be treated as individuals in that walk. Your disciples will not all be at the same place in their walk, with the same level of growth. Everyone takes an individual focus from their discipler. Give it to them.

2. "Night and day with tears": Paul didn't just warn each of them, but he warned them at all times of the day, and with plenty of emotion. He maintained this emotional, personal care at all times, no matter the time of day. Every person we disciple will need our compassion and care at different times, just as the Ephesian elders did. We must be willing to give anyone our personal attention at anytime, and earnestly mean it. If your disciple needs you, you must genuinely give them your attention, no matter when. This isn't about when discipleship is convenient for you; Paul didn't mention his office hours with the Ephesian elders here. He didn't say "I warned all of you every other Tuesday, from 5-6 and at an occasional lunch meeting." No, he warned them all the time, as he was always looking out for each of his people at all times, all the while holding a passion for them and their well-being. People don't cry unless they care at a deep level.

Everyone is different. They have different lives, different problems, different sin struggles, different walks with God and different needs. The biblical discipler gives each of them the individual, personal attention that reflects this variation in needs and people.

Discipleship and Church Strategy: What Is Your Focus?

"Then Jesus came near and said to them, 'All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." -Matthew 28:18-20, HCSB

This is the famous Great Commission passage, which happens to be the exact passage I opened up with my recent post, Discipleship: An Introduction, with. On Tuesday, I continued this series on discipleship, which is at the core of everything the Christian should be doing. Our primary concern should be to make disciples. It is the command Christ gave us to accomplish while waiting for His return (the end of the age).

This also applies to the Church as a whole. The mission of the Church should be discipleship. Not huddle groups and bible classes; discipleship is the job of every believer, not just a few "teachers." Every single Christian is to "go."

I've noticed an interesting thing, though. We almost always leave verse 18 off when we are talking about the Great Commission. If the last command of Christ is so important, why not include all of it? Sure, verse 18 isn't directly a command. However, it may be even more important, as it gives Christ's reasoning for verses 19-20.

The entire reason that Christians share the gospel, lead people to Christ and assist in the convert's journey into discipleship is because Christ has all authority in heaven and on earth. He is the supreme Lord and King over all. Everything we do is to glorify this King. He runs the show, and we lift Him up the whole way.

We can disciple and strategize and teach all day, and never accomplish the Great Commission. You see, if we forget that the entire reason for discipleship and church growth is the glory of our Lord, we are nothing more than a group of pagan idol worshippers, recruiting people to worship ourselves and our ideas.

We keep God and His Word at the center of everything we do, and we especially keep the very focus of God's Word (the gospel) at the forefront of what we are doing. If we remove the bright torch that is the glorious gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ from our focus, we will be left to be devoured by wolves and trip over our own feet in the darkness of this world.

The gospel, and the glory it brings God, is why we disciple. Without the gospel, you are simply leading people down a path of which even you cannot see. If you are leading people without a focus on their salvation in Christ and the glory of God in that, then you are leading people for an eternity away from God. That, my friends, is not a good direction to be headed.

How to Contain Your Inner Hulk

Bruce Banner has a problem. He is a brilliant scientist, and an overall good guy. However, he has another side that happens to be big, green and likes to smash things. We know his other side as the Hulk.

Many Christians can understand Dr. Banner's plight, whether they realize it or not. Just think: how many times have you been trying so hard to walk with God, thinking you were growing in your faith, only to totally screw up? Maybe it's a recurring temptation you keep falling for, or maybe it's an attitude that you just cannot shake. Regardless, you feel like you have a dark side that no matter how hard you try, it keeps on bursting forward like your own Hulk. The apostle Paul understands your struggles. Look at this:

"Therefore, did what is good cause my death? Absolutely not! On the contrary, sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment, sin might become sinful beyond measure.  For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am made out of flesh, sold into sin’s power. For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate.  And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me.  For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is the sin that lives in me. So I discover this principle: When I want to do what is good, evil is with me. For in my inner self I joyfully agree with God’s law. But I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this dying body?" -Romans 7:13-24, HCSB

He gets us! The same guy who said "To live is Christ, to die is gain" was, in fact, a human that struggled with sin like we do! How comforting, first of all, is it to know that even the apostles struggled with sin, just like us?

The question we arrive at, however, is the same one Paul arrives at: who will rescue us from our sinful, wretched body that continues to strive for godlessness? The answer is in verse 25 of the same chapter:

"I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh, to the law of sin." -Romans 7:25, HCSB

Thanks to Christ's death and resurrection, and our subsequent salvation, we are no longer slaves to the sin that tortures us. Yes, we will still struggle, as our flesh remains a slave "to the law of sin." BUt our minds and souls are now bound to Christ, and we are being sanctified (made like God) through Him! Whoo!

I challenge you, Christian: remember you are no longer bound to sin, and look to the cross in times of temptation. I will try to do the same. If you aren't a Christian, or aren't sure, run from your sin and earthly desires! Run to Christ, and allow Him to free you from the bondage of this world. He is the only way for us to escape our inner Hulk. Let Him do it.

Names of God: LORD Almighty

Last week, we looked into the name "God Almighty," and this week we will look into the name "LORD Almighty." They look like they should mean the same thing, right? I mean, we use Lord and God interchangeably. Logic would say that they should be the same title when you add "Almighty" to the end of them. Yet, they are totally different.

The first time LORD Almighty is used as a name for God is in 1 Samuel 1:3, which simply says:

"Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the LORD Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the LORD." -1 Samuel 1:3, NIV

Other versions, such as the ESV and HCSB (two versions I frequently use) replace "LORD Almighty" with "LORD of Hosts." These two names mean the same thing, and that meaning comes from a combination of two words.

The name "LORD" is different from "Lord." When the Bible puts LORD in all caps, their caps lock was not stuck. Instead, this signals that we are using the English version of the name "Yahweh." Yahweh is the most sacred name in the Hebrew for God, and we will cover it in depth later in this series. However, I had to state its presence here because of its importance to the name "LORD Almighty." Without Yahweh, we don't get the full meaning of this name.

Adding the Hebrew word "sabaoth" to "Yahweh" creates a combination that has a implication of God as the "Sovereign Warrior." The sovereign part implies His rule over the Earth and universe, which I will cover a bit more later in this series (yes, there are a lot of parts in this "Names of God" series...). What I really want to focus on is His title as a warrior.

Our God is a Warrior. He is not all rainbows and butterflies, unicorns and bunnies. There is a very real spiritual war waging all around and inside of us, and He is in the middle of it. This is a nice title to remember when stuff around you isn't so great and you need back-up. Not only is our God unmovable and stable, strong and powerful as we saw last week, but He is an active Warrior, able to challenge anything in our lives. When God battles something, let's just say it doesn't hang around very long.

Do you need the Warrior God to back you up in a battle you are fighting? Call on Him. He's ready to roll for His people at any time.

Names of God: God Almighty

QUICK! Describe, in your mind, this picture of a mountain. Any and everything, and I'm not talking about just physical description; I'm talking about the attributes of the mountain. Got 'em? Are they similar to: majestic, big, powerful, awe-invoking, immovable, strong and immense? If so, then you can begin to jive with where I'm headed in part one of our new series: Names of God.

Today, we're looking at the name "God Almighty" or "God of the Mountain." This is the Hebrew name El Shaddai that anyone that has been around church very long has heard. But did you know what El Shaddai meant? I know I never did. Let's look at it in Scripture and then discuss it.

"When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, 'I am El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life." -Genesis 17:1, NLT

The name we translate as God Almighty refers to God in a manner similar to how one would refer to a mountain: powerful, unmoving, strong. You see, we have a powerful God. By powerful, I mean POWERFUL. There is literally nothing in the universe that can move or wound Him. What could be a more difficult opponent than Mt. Everest? Can you imagine trying to take on Mt. Kilimanjaro? It would be impossible to defeat one of those mountains, right? In the same stream, who could possibly defeat God?! He's unmovable.

This directly relates to our life. The verse goes on to have God saying for Abraham to "serve [God] faithfully and live a blameless life." The King James Version puts it even more bluntly: "be perfect." Ha! How on earth are we supposed to do that?!

Obviously, we will not be 100% blameless and perfect. God is not being unreasonable here. He knows our limitations and abilities even better than we do. So why would he say that? Simple: he wants us to put our faith in Him and lean on Him. What is better to put all your trust and hope in something as solid as a mountain? How much easier is it to follow Him when we know how solid and secure He is? He wants us to rely on Him, and it only makes sense to do so. Putting our faith in anything else would be settling for less.

How does this affect your view of God? How does it change your thoughts and amount of trust you feel like you can put in Him?

Scar Tissue and Battle Wounds: When God Seems to Have Disappeared

Last week, I talked about how God is always with us, and how we are never alone. Yet, despite this, sometimes we still feel not just that we are alone, but that He has turned His back and done exactly what He said He wouldn't do in Joshua 1:9. Sometimes, we feel like God has dropped us off on a deserted island, and left us to fend for ourselves.

This is not an uncommon feeling. Even though we know that He loves us and saved us from our sins, and would never abandon us, we still feel this way. It's human nature. We are short-sighted and incapable of putting everything into perspective. Our problems we are having right now are always the "big one," the problem that's going to do us in. We won't ever recover from this one. We're forever doomed to sulk and weep, and it's all because God turned His back on us, right? I mean, He works for the good of His people, and this ain't good. Surely He has jumped ship!

No matter how spiritual you are, no matter how secure in your faith you are or how holy you think you are, you're going to have this feeling. I personally feel like this from time to time, and it is times like this where I cry out, "God, where are you?! I'm your child, heir and son. I'm saved by your grace, and I work for your good. Why won't you show me love?" This is why I love David.

David, the second king of Israel, slayer of giants and "man after God's own heart," was a lot like me in His approach to troubles. We both are/were emotional guys that wear our feelings on our sleeves. When things are great, David would sing a song (unfortunately, I cannot sing very well) and dance for joy. He loved worshipping the Lord. But when the crap hit the fan, David broke down. He'd scream and cry out and rip his clothes and fast and yell out to God, wondering why God would leave His side. Let's look at David's anguish in the 22nd Psalm:

"My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from my deliverance and from my words of groaning? My God, I cry by day, but You do not answer, by night, yet I have no rest...

Our fathers trusted in You; they trusted, and You rescued them. They cried to You and were set free; they trusted in You and were not disgraced...

But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by people. Everyone who sees me mocks me; they sneer and shake their heads...

Do not be far from me, because distress is near and there is no one to help. Many bulls surround me...

They open their mouths against me— lions, mauling and roaring. I am poured out like water,and all my bones are disjointed; my heart is like wax, melting within me. My strength is dried up like baked clay; my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.You put me into the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me; a gang of evildoers has closed in on me...

But You, LORD, don’t be far away. My strength, come quickly to help me. Deliver my life from the sword,my only life from the power of these dogs. Save me from the mouth of the lion!" -Psalm 22:1-2, 6-7, 11-16, 19-21a HCSB

These are the words of a broken, desperate man. Imagine mighty King David, no longer majestic, but crying. Imagine him screaming out to God. He feels like he is going to die, and that his end is near. He has been beaten, kicked and knocked down, and all the while, it feels like God is far, far away.

But guess what? God wasn't as far away as David thought. In fact, God was working for David's good all the while, as we see one of the quickest turnarounds in all of Scripture in the second half of verse 21. Check this out:

"You have rescued me
from the horns of the wild oxen.

22 I will proclaim Your name to my brothers;
I will praise You in the congregation.

23 You who fear Yahweh, praise Him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor Him!
All you descendants of Israel, revere Him!

24 For He has not despised or detested
the torment of the afflicted.
He did not hide His face from him
but listened when he cried to Him for help."

-Psalm 22:21b-24, HCSB

You. Have. Rescued. Me. Those are four beautiful words. God. Has. Rescued. Us. We are no longer beaten. We are not alone. In fact, we never were. God was fighting for and alongside us the whole time. We're gunna make it out of this. Even if there is a permanent scar (as fighters and warriors often have), that doesn't mean we lost. A scar shows we made it through. When we die, we will all have lots of scars. We may be getting beat up over and over again, but God will keep saving us.

Kevin DeYoung once said that "Christians often forget that life is a pilgrimage, and we think Heaven is on Earth. If we are looking for Heaven on Earth, we will be consistently miserable and disappointed. If we remember that life is more similar to a desert, however, we not only will be less disappointed by our troubles, but will actually find ourselves more happy" (roughly quoted by memory from Just Do Something).

Life's a desert pilgrimage. We are marching forward towards the Kingdom. Things will trip us up, things will knock us down. We will be jumped by bandits and collapse of exhaustion. But I urge you: keep fighting. God is by your side and in your corner. If our God is for us, than what could stand against? And trust me, He is for us.

God Ain't Gunna Ditch You

Well, I made it. 100 posts. I spent some time pondering,

"What should I put for my 100th post? What would be different enough to make this post stand out?"

Then it hit me: video post.

So I practiced with the webcam on my computer for a minute to see how this would look. The verdict: not good. So I scrapped the vlog idea.

In the end, I decided that the best thing to do would be to write whatever is on my heart. A friend of mine just called me, telling me that her grandmother was very ill and may be headed to see Him soon. I looked up some verses to comfort her, and it just clicked: a lot of people need these. I need these.

Joshua is one my favorite characters in the Bible, and his book is one of my favorite books, as well. The way he leads Israel with extreme, bold faith encourages me to do the same, and he is the kind of leader I want to be someday. Joshua is the model of a strong, God-fearing leader that conquered army after army, all the time boasting in God's strength and power. Yet, he wasn't always such a confident leader.

At the beginning of Joshua 1, we see a much different Joshua. Moses, the great leader that brought the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and up to the edge of the Promised Land, was dead. And now, after all this time, Israel has a new leader. Can you imagine the pressure Joshua was under?! I mean, come on. Who on earth wants to be the guy that leads after MOSES? Talk about being hard to follow up on!

Yet, just as Joshua was as nervous as a cat above Niagara Falls, God steps in and smacks Josh upside the head with this,

"2 'Moses My servant is dead. Now you and all the people prepare to cross over the Jordan to the land I am giving the Israelites. 3 I have given you every place where the sole of your foot treads, just as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will be from the wilderness and Lebanon to the great Euphrates River—all the land of the Hittites—and west to the Mediterranean Sea. 5 No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. I will be with you, just as I was with Moses. I will not leave you or forsake you.
6 'Be strong and courageous, for you will distribute the land I swore to their fathers to give them as an inheritance. 7 Above all, be strong and very courageous to carefully observe the whole instruction My servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or the left, so that you will have success wherever you go. 8 This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to recite it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do. 9 Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.'" -Joshua 1:2-9, HCSB

WOW! Talk about a confidence booster! Just when Joshua was questioning his abilities and getting all scared, God tells him to be strong and be comforted, because God will not forsake him nor leave him. God was always with Joshua, and would never bail. And guess what?

He says the same to you.

We have the God of the universe, the sovereign Lord of all, the Creator of all, Judge of all, King of all... comforting us. Right now. His arms are wide open for us to run to and seek shelter from the world. He empowers us through His Spirit to overcome the obstacles in our lives. In fact, He commands us to be strong courageous, and not be afraid and discouraged. I mean, He's with us; what could stand against? (Romans 8:31)

Bullies at school? Nope.

Cancer? Nope.

Heartbreak? Nope.

Your past? Nope.

Death? Nope.

Nothing can hurt you. For as the apostle Paul says, "to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21)." If we are alive, we have Him constantly guiding and protecting us, as our Shepherd. If we die, we are in His presence... forever.

For more on comfort, go to:

Psalm 23
Psalm 71:5
Micah 7:7
John 14:27
2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Snakes and Stones

Starting on January 10, 2012, this blog will become increasingly more active. With an easier schedule, I will be much more able to post this semester. I haven't posted in almost two months, and it's been killing me that I've abandoned the posts. I will be doing a minimum of two posts each week, coming out on Tuesdays and Fridays. Tuesday posts will look much like the Bug's posts have always looked: basically a mini-message, in written form. Friday posts, of which this is the first, will be based off the lessons I teach in my Bible study. Currently, we are reading through Matthew, and this week's lesson is from Matthew 7:9-11.

9 What man among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! -Matthew 7:7-11, HCSB

Imagine that someone is drowning in a river, screaming out for help. A sense of desperation is in their voice. They cannot swim, and they need help to survive. They look to you, and call out your name. You have a lifejacket, which they can attach to themselves and survive, or a rock, with which you can toss in their direction and hope for the best. Which one would you give them?

Of course, you'd give them the lifejacket. Why would you give someone that is so desperately in trouble something that is only going to make them sink faster? Yet, if you'd be willing to do save them, how much more capable and willing is God to help us?

You see, often times it's us that is drowning. We're stuck in the rivers of life, drowning in our troubles. We can't get out of our sucky situations, and so we cry out to God for help. We have a God who is all-powerful and all-loving. Will He not help us out?

God always works for the good of His people (Romans 8:28). We may not understand when we are drowning, and God doesn't just come over in His boat and get us. Sometimes, He tosses a lifejacket nearby, and we have to stretch a bit to grab it, and then dog paddle to safety. We want everything to come easy to us, and usually it doesn't. God lets us go through hard stuff for a reason, and we just have to put our faith in Him to get us out of the river. He is a refuge for those in trouble (Nahum 1:7); He's working for our good!

We have an amazing God. I urge you to watch the video below, and spend a few minutes gazing upon how beautiful and breathtaking His Creation is. Then, remember that the God that made all of that is looking out for you, and will save you from the river. Worship Him now. Praise Him.

JESUS Film Series, Part One: Jesus Is Your Friend

It has been a while since I last did a series, as I usually just write free-standing blog posts. Starting today, and going for the next four weeks, though, I'll be doing a four-part series on Jesus and what He is really like. I'll be basing this series off of four videos made by Vintage21 Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. Each post will feature one of these videos, and then we will look at what the video is displaying about Jesus, and how it isn't a Biblical version of Him.

DISCLAIMER: This video is not meant to be offensive. It is a satirical look at how Jesus is usually portrayed. No disrespect is intended by this video.



Ok, so, let's look into this. Peter is a bit bummed out because Jesus is apparently too busy for him. Jesus doesn't have time for Peter's silly games, and is indifferent to Peter's problems. Another guy is bugging Jesus with what he wants for Christmas. He claims to be Peter's friend, He just doesn't have time for him.

According to this view of Jesus, He is an incredibly important and busy heavenly Being that is far too concerned with running the world and "heavenly things" to worry about being Peter's friend. Let's look at this.

Yes, Jesus is an incredibly important heavenly Being. In fact, He is the most important Being in the universe. He is the Alpha and Omega (Rev. 1:8, 2213), Head over everything (Eph. 1:22), and the Judge of the living and the dead (Acts 10:42). Those are some pretty important titles, and it only scrapes the surface. Jesus is the Son of God (Mt. 4:3), the Savior of the world (John 4:42). He is holy, God of the universe (2 Peter 1:1). It doesn't get more important than Jesus.

Yet, there is another title that is found in the Bible, and it seems to stick out. Look with me at this curious verse.

"19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'" -Matthew 11:19, HCSB

The Son of Man, another title of Jesus (Mt. 8:20), is a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Jesus is a friend of people who sin. Guess what? That's everyone. You, me, your neighbor, Uncle Timmy: all sinners. Yet Jesus says that He is your friend. But does He have time for you?

The overwhelming answer is: yes. Proof that God (who Jesus is) has time for us is all over the Bible.

-He listens to us (Jer. 29:12)

-He watches over us (Ps. 33:18)

-He protects us (Ps. 23)

-He loves us (Ps. 36:7)

-He wants to hear your problems (1 Pt. 5:7)

No, He is not the cosmic vending machine that you pray for your Christmas list to. But Jesus cares deeply about you, and has more than enough time for you. After all, He's God. There are no limits on Him. He can love you and be the best friend that you can have because He alone is capable of unfailing love.

Will you remember that you have a friend in Jesus, or will you continue to think that you are a bother? Approach Him today as the friend that He wants to be for you.

How Do You Pray?

FINALLY a day has come that I'm not too busy to write a blog post. Today's post is all about prayer. This a topic that is very dear to my heart, and one that I continue to pursue knowledge in.

Prayer can be tricky. In theory, it's a brilliant thought. Who doesn't want to talk to God? The problem arises for many, myself included, arises when God doesn't talk back. We pray and pray and pray and we receive a dial tone on the other end. This can be frustrating, and lead people to have difficulty in finding a purpose for prayer.

I personally found prayer particularly difficult and troublesome for many years, and still struggle to pray as I should. If everyone as an Achilles heel on the Christian journey, prayer may likely be one of mine. And that is a problem, because prayer is vitally important, and truthfully, indispensable.

I was recently asked by someone "how do you pray?" This question seems simple enough, but it really is a legitimately difficult question. How does one pray? Does it need to be aloud, or internally? Big words or not? Long or short? Must you gather together with others and hold hands, or do you have to kneel beside your bed? The four-letter question I was asked is really a massive, loaded question!

To start, let's look at what Christ says about prayer when He says "you should pray like this."

"9 "Therefore, you should pray like this:

Our Father in heaven,
Your name be honored as holy.
10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And do not bring us into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.
[For Yours is the kingdom and the power
and the glory forever. Amen.]"

-Matthew 6:9-13

OK, that's loaded. There's a lot of information in that prayer. Let's break it down a bit, because really this prayer can be cut into a few sections that are easily applicable to our lives.

V. 9: This prayer starts out by honoring God, coming humbly before Him. We are to acknowledge that God is holy, and because of His holiness, we should worship Him.

V. 10: Now we see Christ praying that God's kingdom would come and that His will would be done. God's kingdom has already come; He runs the universe. Everything from galaxies to atoms are in His kingdom. Instead, we are to pray that His kingdom to come more and more complete as we near the end times, when everything in His kingdom will be made perfect and untarnished again. Praying that His will would be done shows that we are following into His plan for His kingdom, and causes us to humbly follow Him.

V. 11: By asking for our daily bread, Christ means that we ask God for our needs. God will provide for us. Every day we should feel comfortable asking Him to sustain us and provide our needs for us.

V. 12: We ask for forgiveness. We sin constantly, like we are producing sin on an assembly line. We need to confess that sin to God and ask for Him to forgive us. The verse goes on to say that we ask for forgiveness, just like we forgive others. If we expect God to forgive us, it is only logical that we forgive others in the same way.

V. 13: We pray for God to keep us safe from temptation. We sin constantly, like I said above. We need to lean heavily on God to avoid falling deeper and deeper into sin and sinning more and more. Only God can help us overcome Satan and his temptations; we must rely on God to protect us from him.

Tell God He is awesome. Be excited about His plan for the world. Ask for what we need. Ask for forgiveness. Ask for protection. Those are some pretty straight-forward prayers to go after. But is that all?

-Matthew 6:5-7 says not to pray like a show-off. Long, lengthy, "babbling" prayers are not biblical and not what God wants. He wants gut-level honest prayers. Keep that long-winded, hypocritical, show-offy stuff outta here. God isn't impressed when you use big words (unless you naturally talk with big words. Then use them all over your prayers). Instead, we should just pray with whatever is on our hearts, alone if possible.

-The books of Job and Habakkuk have some prayers that are borderline crazy. These two guys got upset with God, and went off on Him. Guess what: you can too. If you feel like God has abandoned you, left you, and forgotten about you, tell Him that. Tell Him you're mad. He can handle it.

-1 Thessalonians 5:17-18 says to pray constantly. Pray all the time. In the bed, in the shower, in the bathroom, in the car, and in your football game. Pray at work, school, and home. Think of it as texting God. You don't usually send long texts, do you? Just quick little prayers like "thank you God," "help me God," or "you're awesome God" are fair game. Short and sweet works.

These are all things that have helped me in my prayer life, and I hope they help you, as well. Let's all try to follow these tips from God on how to talk to God. He wants to hear from us; don't leave Him waiting by the phone.

When God Looks Like Cousin Itt

Recently, I listened to a message by Won Kwak, lead pastor at Maranatha Grace Fort Lee in Fort Lee, New Jersey. In the message, he was talking about the part of the Trinity that we often forget: the Holy Spirit. As he was discussing the Spirit, he said that we often look at the Spirit as an "it" instead of what the Spirit of God is. Specifically, he said we think of the Spirit as Cousin Itt, and I love this analogy. So, let's watch Cousin Itt real quick, and then look into how we wrongfully view the Spirit as such (This is a 10-minute video, so feel free to watch from 2:26-4:52 just to get an idea of Itt).



Ok, so let's look at how Cousin Itt is like the Holy Spirit. First, we look at the Holy Spirit as an "it." We tend to think of the Spirit as a mystical wind that blows around and messes up our hair. Much like Cousin Itt, we don't know exactly what the Spirit is, really. We just look and stare, afraid to go near and discover the truth.

"19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" -Matthew 28:19, HCSB

Here in Matthew, we see Jesus, the Son of God and part of the Trinity of God, referring to the Spirit as equal with the Father and Son. If the Father and Son are both God, and the Spirit is equal to them, then the logical conclusion is that they are all three God. The Spirit is not an it, but a He. He is as much God as the Father and Son. That makes a huge difference. No longer is the Spirit a tool of God, but He is God. That gives Him ultimate power and makes Him deserving of ultimate respect.

Second, the Spirit is heard as gibberish to the outsider, much like we can't understand Cousin Itt. Until you learn to speak the language of the Spirit, you cannot understand it. How do you learn the language of the Spirit? Just like Cousin Itt: you're part of His family.

The Sciptures are inspired by the Spirit (2 Peter 1:21), so therefore they are the Spirit's words, written by man. The only way that the Scriptures can be seen as the living, applicable life-changing Word of God is through the Spirit revealing the Truth to us (2 Corinthians 2:10-13). And who does the Spirit work through?

"14 All those who are led by God's Spirit are God's sons." -Romans 8:14, HCSB

Those who have the Spirit leading them are the family of God. Just like Cousin Itt, the family of God understands the Spirit through the Spirit helping us understand.

Finally, we view the Spirit as a moody visitor like Cousin Itt: sometimes helpful, sometimes complaining; sometimes here, sometimes gone. This couldn't be any different.

"19 God is not a man who lies, or a son of man who changes His mind. Does He speak and not act, or promise and not fulfill?" -Numbers 23:19, HCSB

God is never changing, and the same applies to the Spirit. Once the Spirit is guiding you, you have a permanent guide. He will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5), and the Spirit will even live IN you (1 Corinthians 3:16). He won't change His mind about you. He won't just come for a visit. Once you have the Spirit of God, you always have Him.

Will you remember that, or just think of the Spirit as a foreign gust that doesn't consistently blow the same way?

For more on the Spirit and His awesomeness, check out Forgotten God by Francis Chan.

Guest Blog: God Won't Leave You

Rachel Rummell is a friend of mine that I met in Atlanta this past January at the Passion 2011 conference. We have stayed in touch since that time, and I have been asking her about being a guest writer for this blog for almost the whole time. She is an English major at Mount Vernon Nazarene University in Mount Vernon, Ohio.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” – John 10:10

As I was preparing for the summer, deciding what to do with my three months off, I applied for jobs anywhere I could that offered security. I knew I could always return to the research firm I was at last summer, but I wanted a new, exciting experience as my last summer before entering the “real world.” I had applied for and gotten a job at a camp I visited last year but something just didn’t feel right. I felt there was more out there than just being a camp counselor yet again. I had received an application for an internship in Kansas City, Missouri, but they could never in a million years pick me. So I settled for Music and Ministry with my college for another summer.

I knew it would be a blast, having six guys and two girls, almost just like the last summer I had participated in the traveling worship team. Now that was a job I knew I’d love and enjoy! After the first meeting, we had all signed the contract and were ready to go shopping for our new outfits!

However, God had a different plan for my life. Driving home from college for Easter Break, I received a phone call from a new number. It was the Nazarene Publishing House, calling to offer me one of the internships I had applied for! Of course I said yes!

The only major problem I faced is that I did not own a car that I knew could make it out to western Missouri. Summer was only a few weeks away and there was no way I could find a reliable car in my very low price range to get out there safely! I was at a loss. A week and a half before finals, my mom called me, however, with news of a car for sale. Of course, loving yard sales, my mom was at a yard sale that fateful Friday where a beautiful bright red 2001 Chevy Cavalier was perched in the yard with a price tag almost low enough for me to purchase. My parents both looked at it that night and determined it was to be mine. So they bought the car, for which I would pay them back. Thus, Raphael joined my family, named after the super awesome Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. He has since gained a Superman steering wheel cover and seat cover, as well as a bumper sticker that says, “I break for SUPER POWERS!!!” He is epic.

With transportation taken care of, I had to determine where to live. I received phone numbers for living with an employee for the 8 weeks so as I looked into that, I called Darl, who seemed like a nice woman with cheap rent. I went ahead with it and was ready to leave!

Since I could decide when to start, we picked June 13 as a good starting Monday and I headed out. I drove 9 hours that first day with my mom, stayed near St. Louis, MO, and got to check out St. Louis for a morning before we drove the next 5 hours to Kansas City!! This is where things started getting iffy for me.

Darl was an older woman that I honestly didn’t feel comfortable with. She is a sweetheart, don’t get me wrong, but it just didn’t feel right at all. As my mom was standing in the airport, headed for home, I just hugged her and cried, so unsure, so scared, and feeling more alone than I think I’ve ever felt in my life. But I stuck through it and went to work the next day. There, I met Kim, who was to be my boss for the next 8 weeks. God couldn’t have picked a better boss for me! Easy-going, 29 years old, and full of adventure, Kim has just been a great person to work with and work for. When she learned who I was living with, she looked me right in the eye and said, “I have room in my basement if you want to live with me and carpool every day with me.” Joy filled my heart as I drove home to Darl’s, packed up, and moved to Kim’s townhouse in Overland Park, Kansas. That night, I slept infinitely better with a heart full of peace that God was truly taking care of me, and He hadn’t left me in the dark with a strange old woman I didn’t feel right about.

Living with Kim has made everything all the better. Now I have someone I can talk to, someone that can drive me to work almost every day that understands poor college students, and someone that can plan awesome weekends and help me sightsee and get the most out of my stay here in Kansas/Missouri. But life isn’t always full of rainbows and butterflies.

See, God knows how I work and what I need to function and have a successful time here. However, Satan knows what elements I don’t need for work, but what I need to survive in life. Living on a college campus, I am always within 5 minutes of a friend whenever I want to do something. Living 13 hours from home and being placed in a city I’ve never seen makes seeing said friends slightly challenging. I assumed I would get involved in a church college group and make friends like I would anywhere else. But things get in the way of those original plans. Not only have I yet to attend a college group in the two weeks I’ve been here, I have yet to make a friend outside of work. Yes, Kim is great. But we all have those days when we just wanna go out and see friends we haven’t seen in awhile or meet up with someone for coffee. That’s difficult when I live and work with the same person every day and who I hang out with on the weekends as well.

Satan knows I want to get out and make friends. He has arranged to make it nearly impossible. He has instilled a slight fear of driving in the city and getting lost or in an accident with these crazy drivers. He has given me a long 8 hours of work every day that I am not used to yet. He has placed me a half hour from the one church that I found a college group and was interested in attending. He has placed fatigue in me to want to stay at home every night and try to sleep, even when a fellow co-worker has invited me out. And he has placed many of my close friends in great positions where they are doing great and making money, but unable to really talk to me. In doing this, Satan has delved deep into my soul and filled it with a feeling of loneliness it seems no human can fill. He has made my 8 weeks here more difficult than I imagined.

The story doesn’t end here, though. Satan, though he thinks himself a genius, forgets that I still have God to turn to, God to talk to, God to just love on and feel His love. Yes, I feel super lonely and I feel like I’m the only one in the world who feels this negative. Yes, I feel like these 8 weeks could be miserable and just look forward to each weekend and wait for my time to go home. But I refuse. God did not bring me 13 hours from my home, away from my friends, and out of my comfort zone to make me miserable for two months. God has a bigger plan than that. God wants to take me out of my comfort zone so I can grow and feel the stretching and the molding that is taking place. In my comfort zone, I can never truly transform into the woman He has created me to be. Yet in this scary, new, and not-always-inviting place, God can change my heart and change me for a new and brighter future. It is here, in this place, that I am truly His to do what He will.

In taking me away from my friends, He is forcing me to re-evaluate some of my friendships, as well as really take to heart what being a true friend means. He is trying to erase all traces of selfishness I hide in my heart, to make me the best friend I can be to anyone who needs a friend. In taking me away from my family, He is showing me how much my family cares. When I come home on breaks from school, it is so easy to want to be around them for a few days and then get tired of it. But out here, I really see how much I truly miss them. When they are no longer 2 hours away, a simple drive, when they are at long last 13 hours away, I find I miss them more, or so it seems.

The things God can do with us when we open up to Him is incredible, how God can truly change us and mold us into who He created us to be when we let Him. What’s more amazing is how Satan tries so desperately to turn us away from God and to allow ourselves to get wrapped up in sin and lies, yet God’s love will always come back for us. He never really does leave us or forsake us. He really is always there. We may not see Him. It may take a crazy adventure to remind us that there is One who is greater than the madness of this mortal world. But when it all comes down to it, God really is always there for us and He looks out for us. We just have to be patient and learn to look for the sun on a cloudy day. Just as the sun is still there when it’s covered by clouds to bring rain, God is still there, covered by Satan and the lies that he breathes to rain on our parade. But with the sun comes a rainbow, and with God comes a way out.

Rachel has since survived Kansas City, being blessed with all that she has learned, as we read above. If you want to contact Rachel, her email is frk4jcandchocolate@yahoo.com or follow her on Twitter: @Rummellstiltskn. Hopefully her writing has shared what God has been doing in her life, and we hope to hear from her again soon.

If you are interested in being a guest blogger, contact me at thefreedbug@aol.com or via Facebook or Twitter. I'd love to hear from you and share what you have to say!

Being Bold In Faith...Even When It's Dangerous

Ever said something and wished you could take it back, even if it were true? I know that I have. It may have been something that was mean. It may have been something that was arrogant. It may have just been a bit bolder than I might have wanted to say. Regardless, all it takes is a few seconds for us to say something too quickly, and all of a sudden we have a problem.

Ezra, a priest of Israel, had one of these moments. The Israelites had been under Babylonian control for quite some time, and then the Persians took over Babylon. The Persian kings had let some Israelites go back through the years, and Ezra wanted to take another group back to the home land. King Artaxerxes didn't have a problem with this, and even would have been willing to send along soldiers and horsemen to protect them on their journey from modern-day Iraq to Israel. Here's where Ezra had his mouth before his head. Let's look:

"For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, "The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him." -Ezra 8:22, ESV

Whoops. Ezra told the king that God would put His wrath on the enemies of God and Israel. That's a pretty bold statement to make before heading out on a journey through enemy territory, particularly before you had the promise of Persian protection. And now Ezra couldn't really ask for protection, considering he already said that God would handle that. What was Ezra to do?

He had two options: take the "safe" route and ask the king for protection, thus making his claims about God appear weaker, or he could put his life in God's hands (maybe even literally) and have faith that God would protect them. It was a pretty clear cut decision. Fortunately, we know that Ezra's faith was strong enough to back up his mouth.

Ezra led the group to Israel, praying and fasting, asking God to protect them as He had promised. As always, God did what He said. Do you have the faith to make bold statements like Ezra did, and expect that God will do what God does? Or will you break and put your faith in the "safe" bets of earth?

Thought from the Retro Bible: God Will Guard

"4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." -Psalm 23:4, NIV

What is the closest you've ever come to being in the "valley of the shadow of death?" God is the only one who can offer the kind of comfort and security you need in the worst times. Your best bet is to draw close to Him, as much as you can. He will guard your every step (paraphrased from Revolution: The Bible for Teen Guys).

This is amazing that the Retro Bible's post for today's reading would be Psalm 23, as my family, friends and I mourn the loss of our friend Anthony Horsman. God is truly in the valley with us, always. He is there to comfort us and lead us back out the other side. Never forget that He's with you.