Hope Against All Hope

Do you ever feel like there is no hope? It's not an uncommon feeling. I mean, the world kind of sucks sometimes. The economy is in the gutter. Gas prices are through the roof. Politicians bicker and fight, yet seem to accomplish little. Maybe your grades are bad or you got dumped or didn't get the raise/promotion that you wanted at work. In the end, all this kind of stuff just seems to pile up and it feels like the end is never in sight. Yet, I would argue that there is always hope.

"18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.'" -Romans 4:18, NIV

You see, things didn't always go so great for Abraham, either. Like us, Abraham and his wife Sarah wanted things to "work out." I mean, who doesn't? Abraham had been told by God that he would be made into a great nation, with offspring as numerous as the stars. The only problem was that Abraham was really old; as in, senior citizen old. The dude would have long been on AARP, and yet God's over here telling him that he's going to have a kid. Do you think it was hard for Abraham to trust that promise? My vote is yes.

Yet, against all that, Abraham stayed fast and hoped that God would provide for him a son. Yeah, the odds were against him, but with God, nothing is impossible.

Are the odds against you? Do you need to hope against all hope that God will come through for you?

Two Videos Worth Watching

Right now, a certain 30-minute documentary is sweeping the nation and world, gathering support. I don't normally show videos on my blog, but these are two documentaries I have watched in the past few months that are definitely worth your time. Together, they should only take about 1 hour. I encourage you to watch them both, either one after the other or seperately, and think about them and what they say.

180 Documentary by Ray Comfort and The Way of the Master


KONY 2012 by Invisible Children

Names of God: Maker

Have you ever realized how intricate you are? Right now, look at your body for a second. Look at all the tiny lines on the top of your hands or the wide array of colors in the iris of your eyes (they may be blue, but look how many shades of blue!). Then feel your forearm while you move your fingers. Feel the muscles of your arm as they move your fingers. Watch the bones in the top of your hand as you more the fingers; it looks kinda cool, huh?

The human body has so many little intricate, awesome features, I could write all day about them. Each little part of your body has a function (except the appendix, as far as we know), and each little part has an important role in your life. And yet, each part was made specifically by God.

Each one of us is a creation of God's. Just like that artwork you did in second grade art class, you are one of God's creative masterpieces. Ephesians 2:10 says that we are His "masterpiece" or "creation."

Let's look specifically at a verse that refers to God in this Maker role, and think about what it means:

"Come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker." -Psalm 95:6, HCSB

You see, the masterpiece doesn't rule the master. The Mona Lisa didn't tell Da Vinci what to do, and Michelangelo didn't worship the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. In that same line of thinking, we shouldn't expect God to worship us. He is not a vending machine that we only mention when we need something. He is not just a "part of our lives." He is our Maker, and He demands all of our praise and all of our attention.

Everything we do, we should do for His glory. Ephesians 2:10 goes on to say that we are made "to do good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them." We're meant to be the hands and feet of God, doing His work all over the nation and world.

So, will you worship Him? Will you bow before our Maker, or will you be a rebellious creation that spits in the Creator's face and does your own thing?

To Fast or Not to Fast, That is the Question

I'm gunna break from the Names of God series for a post, just to talk about something that needs discussing. The topic: fasting.

In the Church, especially in the Protestant Bible Belt of the southeastern United States (where I reside), spiritual disciplines get a lot of attention. By spiritual disciplines, I mean actions we do that bring us closer to God. Reading your Bible is one that gets an incredible amount of exposure; memorizing Scripture also gets a lot of attention. Prayer has a spotlight on it; giving money to God gets preached all over the world every weekend. None of that is bad; in fact, I'd argue that all four are crucial to the Christian journey, and if you are not practicing those disciplines, you should be. Yet, how often do you hear about someone fasting? Why does fasting get left out? Is it less spiritual or necessary to the pilgrimage of the Christ follower? Prayer was almost always accompanied by fasting in the New Testament. The early Church fasted all the time. Therefore, I'd argue its importance. Let's look at a passage and see what the Bible says on fasting.


"And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." -Matthew 7:16-18, ESV

This passage is tucked into Jesus's famous "Sermon on the Mount," right between the Lord's Prayer and the passage that talks about how you can't serve money and God. How is this little section on fasting so overlooked if it sits between two of the most famous passages in the Gospels?

This little section is titled in most Bibles as "How to Fast." Handy, right? So, how do we fast? Primarily, with humility and sincerity. Jesus says here not how long you should fast, or what you should fast from (which doesn't have to be food; it can honestly be almost anything). Instead, He is far more focused on your heart. Are you making a show of your fasting? Are you fasting to look "holy?" If so, quit fasting. Now.

However, if you have wondered whether or not to fast (especially at this time of year, since we are currently in Lent, the Catholic practice of fasting 40 days before Easter), I would encourage you to search your heart. Why would you be fasting? If the goal is to grow in your relationship with God, or hear Him speak on something in your life, etc., I'd say go for it. If you can keep the focus on Him and not on you, you're golden. Which, honestly, can go for anything; if you read your Bible, pray or give money to make yourself look good, stop. God doesn't want those prayers or that money. He has no interest in your selfish desires, much less using Him to reach them.

Where is your focus? Are you doing everything for God's glory, or for your own?

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?

What's Better Than the Daytona 500 for a Redneck?

I've recently been listening to Craig Groeschel (pastor at Lifechurch.tv in Oklahoma) and his "Better" series. In the series, he has been looking at verses that say something is "better" than something else. Today, I'd like to share one of the verses he looked at in the series, and talk a bit about it.

"For a day in your courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness."-Psalm 84:10, ESV

It is hard to imagine how one day somewhere could be better than a thousand elsewhere. Yes, a day at the Daytona 500 this weekend would be pretty amazing for me, but it wouldn't be better than the combined happiness found in a thousand days elsewhere. I cannot fathom what kind of day that would be, and odds on, you can't either. My guess is that is exactly the point. Allow me to explain.

Have you ever seen a sunset or landscape (or alley-oop dunk, for basketball fans) that left you speechless? I think back to this picture I took a few years back in Ormond Beach, Florida. As I looked out of the window at the hotel, I saw this sunset and was awestruck at the beauty: so many shades of red, orange and purple, such unique cloud structure, the whole nine yards. It was such an amazing picture, and remains one of my favorite sunset pictures to date. I was simply left speechless at the splendor of the sky.

Now, imagine a moment that you were simply stunned at something amazing. Got it? Now extend that feeling until you are picturing yourself feeling that amazed for an entire day. That, my friends, is a taste of what it will be like to be in the presence of the Lord. That is why the psalmist said that a day in His place would be better than a thousand elsewhere.

Even this seems abstract to us and is difficult to imagine. I mean, our short attention spans only allow us to be amazed for brief bursts until we've moved on down the line. Yet, in His presence, we will not be able to divert our attention away. You could have the worst case of ADHD ever recorded, and it wouldn't matter; you'd be captivated by His glory.

No wonder the psalmist said he'd be willing to be a doorkeeper (aka nobody special), standing in the elements outside at God's house than live in the safety of the "wicked's tents." He got it. He understood this sense of wonder and amazement in God. He was so enthralled in God's majesty that he would be willing to stand outside, just catching glimpses of Him when opening the door.

Are you captivated by God and His glory? Would you be willing to trade a thousand days on Earth for only one with Him?