A Most Effective Prayer

Even after all these years I can still hear them.…..all those big promotions for the great sermon series soon to be preached concerning prayer and how to use it in life.

        “Learn how to pray in six easy steps”

        “Praying to get anything and everything you need”

        “Getting answers from God”

        “… bla, bla, bla, ….”

        (I think you get the idea.)

It seemed, that during each of the series, the speaker would produce a “cannot fail” checklist for me to use in order to get all my prayers answered and receive just about anything that I could want. All I had to do was everything exactly as instructed on his scholarly studied and eloquently produced list. The steps for anyone to meticulously carry out while attempting to pray were invariably impressive.

Like so many other people that I knew, my next steps were to get involved with the list of things to do (and not do) in prayer, and then launch into the asking, and asking, and asking phase of praying.

……. Since those early days, I believe that I've learned a lot more about prayer and how it relates to God's plan for it in my life. Oh, sure, I still ask when I pray, but before I get to the asking part of my prayer, I am beginning to spend more time becoming aware of His will and aligning mine with His. Now, when I pray, I want answers to my prayers for His glory, and not so much for my own selfish desires. Like I said, I have learned quite a bit more about prayer over the years.

Praying, of course, is always the right thing to do because Jesus told us to do it. This is one of the reasons that I am convinced that I should pray, but there is also another reason. Prayer is what keeps us in communication with the Father.

........How greatly needful that is for all of us…….

Over the years, my fascination and experiences with prayer have grown. It is comforting to be able to talk with my Father about everything. However, out of all the prayers that I have ever prayed, there is one that seems to get answered more often and more quickly than many of the others that I have labored intently over.

The prayer that I use is specific and to the point, but the way that the answer is expected to come is not. My prayer generally gets to the heart of the problem, but it leaves the solution open to the One who ”knows how to give good gifts to His children”

       Matthew 7:11

        11  So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him.

That prayer is three simple words…..

“Lord, change me.”

I believe that God changing me fits into the category of “good gifts” from the Father.

So many times we have difficulty knowing what the “good gifts” really are, and we walk around in our clouds of doubt trying desperately to convince others that we have it “all together”.

In some circumstances, a trial is the “good gift” needed from the Father, and at other times, a period of waiting is the “good gift” that the Lord gives to us. In just the same way, sometimes a period of abundance is the “good gift” needed and given to us.

It is difficult for us to figure these things out sometimes because our Father’s thoughts are so advanced of ours……..

Isaiah 55:8

8  "My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the LORD. "And My ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.

The “good gifts” that I receive all depend on what the Lord is attempting to accomplish inside of me!

Whenever I was under the greatest stress and aggravation because of others who did wrong or because of the situation that was driving me crazy, I used to think that I was not the one that needed changing…. It was those things and those people around me that did!

I was convinced that if everyone would just do things my way, everything would just be all right!

(I am sure that you have never had these thoughts.)

It is here I discovered a problem in my thinking while considering the “change me” idea of praying. I felt that if I was the one changed, then my mind would have to accept that maybe the other person’s wrongness, or the other situation’s hurtfulness, had some rightness to it, and I would be validating that wrongness as being okay.

Satan loves to play these mind games on me to divert me away from what God really wants to do in my life.

The truth is, when I really have been wronged, asking God to change me does not change the fact that these outside circumstances were really wrong, but it does give God the permission to do things in my heart, mind, and attitude that go way beyond my feeble attempts to cope with life.

This is God doing stuff inside me that we're talking about here!

When God does something supernatural in my heart, the result is something that I find always acceptable and very agreeable. The times that I have asked the Lord to “change me” have opened the door for Him to do some wonderful things within me. God gets to rearrange and change the decor of my heart and mind in a way that only He can do.

I don't know about you, but sometimes when I am angry, frustrated, hurt, confused, untrusting, and fearful, I want to pray, ”Lord, change this situation”, or ”change this person”, or, “change the whole world!”

(…. Sound familiar?)

However, when I pray “Lord, change me”, I seem to have a quicker response from God to that request. In fact, it is quite cool to sense the changes orchestrated by God within my heart.

        I begin to experience His peace--- even though the storm has not changed.

        I begin to experience His confidence and reassurance even when things are   unsettled and scary.

I love praying this prayer and am learning to pray it more often than in times past.

Watching what God is doing inside me is really becoming an awesome thing!

Every time God rearranges and fixes something inside of me, I always come out in a better way than I was because of His personal intervention in my heart and mind.

I’m not so sure about you, but I really do need God’s touch on the inside of me.

“Lord, change me.”

I suggest you consider praying this prayer occasionally and then trustingly expect the Lord to answer it. There is no doubt in my mind that you will like the results that God gives in answer to this request of Him.

Humbly submitted,

Dan

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Dry Spots

Three……. count ‘em…. one, two, three. I have three blogs currently sitting in notebooks here and there (not including this one that I'm writing now) and I am not sure what to do with them.

As I was laying out the rough draft of each, I would get this feeling of unsettledness…. you know…. I would not have the peace of God that the one I was currently working on was the “right one” to post on Deeproots. Just so you know, I really do try to follow the Lord’s direction as to what I write about and post each time. This is a ministry for me.

Recently my spiritual walk has seemed a little disconnected. What used to be very clear has become a little fuzzy right now. Even when I pray, it feels that my communication with the Lord is working out as a less than productive experience. In the same way, my Bible reading has not felt very engaging and enlightening lately.

….. sigh……

Been here before – now I am again…..

After a very stressful period of time in my life over the last two months (two and one half weeks of that being sick), I feel emotionally stressed, physically drained, and spiritually….. well….. dry.

In some areas of my life, I'm not very comfortable at the moment. The part of my life that troubles me the most right now is in the spiritual area. Dry times in my spiritual walk usually are very annoying to me. When I get like this, I never think it a good or comfortable place to be. But the other day, the Lord caused me to stop and remember how that He is constantly working in my life in all sorts of ways. Maybe this was one of them……

There is a Bible verse that says that:

Philippians 1:6 NLT

6  And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

(There's a lot of comfort that comes from the Scripture in the difficult times of our lives. This is one that I go to a lot.)

It began to dawn on me that this verse was giving indication that the spiritual state that I am now in could be Christ working in me! If so, then where I am now is a great place to be!

Okay, it does not feel great, but what has that got to do with it?

The Christian life does not run by feeling; rather, it runs by faith.

----Seriously-----

Consider what the apostle James writes:

James 1:2-3 NIV

2  Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,

3  because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

Pure joy – these are not the words that I usually think of when I am in a dry spot in my life. (I could think of a lot of words to describe it—but not these….)

Look also at how another translation says it:

James 1:2-3 NLT

2  Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.

3  For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.

In this verse, the words great joy  speak more of the pending great results that God has intended from the trial, rather than just the trial itself. Trials by themselves are just that….. trials; troublesome and frustrating.  If we begin to see the trials as vehicles being used of God to take us to new areas in our lives, then those trials can take on a different look and meaning.

These kinds of thoughts direct me to look beyond the “here and now” of the trials that are going on in my life. There must be more going on than just me being miserable….

God is working within all of us for eternal results.  The trials that He uses (like my dry spot), are just the temporary tools put in place to accomplish His plan for us. He will use His tools as often as He needs them to grow us and bring us to new levels of maturity in Him.

We all have these dry periods in our lives. Usually, during them, we feel spiritually disconnected and ineffective; as if God has suddenly and momentarily forgotten us. Every mature Christian has experienced times like these and usually dreads them when they come.

God has been teaching me something special about when I am experiencing a spiritually dry time in my life; I am beginning to understand that God is working to take me far beyond where I am now-- to a place where I need to be and, more importantly, where He wants me to be.

For me, the dry spots are never comfortable and are always challenging; however, the trial I'm going through currently has produced something special within me.

I will share it with you.

Yesterday, I found myself grumbling and doubting things that I believe the Lord has led me to do. After a while of this (longer than I would like to admit), I had an attack of sanity and re-examined several scriptures that I know. In addition, I revisited in my mind the times when God placed in my heart His directions and leadership concerning the ministry He has for me. It was then that I purposely chose to tell the Lord that I would believe His directions and leadership in my life no matter how things feel right now. In this statement, I was actively making a decision to live by faith--- regardless of what I could see or how I was presently feeling.

Whoa……….

Suddenly it dawned on me, isn't that the way we are supposed to act as believers anyway?

Because of this dry spot in my Christian life, I was given an opportunity to exercise and grow in my faith concerning God's work in my life. I kind‘a think that this might have been part of God's plan for the dry spot actively showing up in my life right now.

God knows the ways that I need to grow. If I believe that God really is working all things together for my good (Romans 8:28), then it would appear that the dry spots have some necessity for my growth in the Lord also--- and that they are good.

Why would I think any differently?

I'll tell you why, because Satan loves to play mind tricks on us during the dry spots.

There is nothing more pleasant for us than to sense the presence of God as we sing, pray, or speak for Him. Also, to feel His confidence and peace is so empowering as we make plans and decisions in our lives. But the times that we don't feel Him at all can be greater growing opportunities for our spiritual lives than when we do know His presence actively.

These are the times that stretch our faith and help us to examine our motives and goals. We can rediscover anew what we believe and why we believe it.

Understand this; the times of spiritual dryness that we experience are uncomfortable expressions of love from The Father who loves us more deeply than we fully understand.

(Go back, read that again, and think about it awhile.)

God loves us too much to just leave us the way that we are now. I, for one, am glad of this because I really don't want to stay the way that I am now either…. how about you?

Maturity, strength, peace, and faith, come from our positive reactions to the spiritual dry spots that we experience within our lives.

Consider what the scriptures say:

James 1:3-4 NLT

3  For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.

4  So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

Do you see where God wants to take us? My faith needs to be tested so that my endurance will grow….so that I can continue on toward maturity.

On the other hand, fear, doubt, mistrust, confusion, depression, anxiety, and anger come from responding negatively to the spiritually dry spots. When God does not speak to us and His direction is unclear, some people just give up and walk away. Others begin to rationalize God and form ideas that are untrue. Like, “God must not really care for me-- at least not right now”….or … “I guess God must be mad at me, and maybe He just does not really care.”

These are dangerous responses because they distort God's intent for his children and His deep love for them. Thoughts like these damage our relationship with the Lord, and bring us into Satan’s traps. He wants us to question God, not trust Him.

Are you in a dry spot right now?

We all get them at some time or other.

When we do have one, things in our lives feel listless and out of touch spiritually; the Lord seems far away and uninterested in us at the moment.

I know that the dry spot is uncomfortable, but there is great opportunity lurking in the dark corners of it! God is very actively growing your life--- ask Him for wisdom during the dry spot, then use that opportunity to grow and strengthen your faith. It is the right thing to do!

James 1:5 NLT

5  If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and He will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.

The dry spot might be long, or it may be short-- but rest assured that it is from the Father's loving hand. Someday when you look back upon your life, the dry spots may actually define the periods during which you grew the most in your relationship with Christ. How interesting that would be….

Right now, I have been at a dry spot of what to write on this blog, but I'm moving forward as I see the Lord leading me.

I offer this to you so that God may use it to encourage you when you experience the spiritually dry spots in your life too.

Humbly submitted,

Dan

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Walking Out Your Faith

We live in an age filled with a broad spectrum of information.

Stock markets rise and fall on economic information received every day. Political decisions are based on the information gathered by the people who have political goals and agendas, and even wars are won or lost on the information gained by reconnaissance and spying. All of us recognize the common truth that, even in our best effort, sometimes the information we learn is false and sometimes it is true, but usually we do our best by what we believe to be true.

There is more information about the vast universe and dark depths of the oceans than we have ever had available to us before. Most of us have marveled at the pictures of mankind’s footprints in the dust on the surface of the moon. We likewise, have been amazed at the discoveries found by the machines that have been sent to Mars and into deep outer space.

One of those machines parked above the earth in space is the Hubble Space Telescope. The images that this device has sent back to the earth over the years boggle the mind and imagination.

Another such machine that we have sent into space is Voyager 1 that was launched from earth around 34 years ago. As of right now, Voyager 1 is about 10.8 billion miles from the Sun and is traveling almost 38,000 miles per hour. Very soon Voyager 1 will leave our solar system and head into deep outer space. During its trip, it has sent thousands of pictures that we never could have had any other way, and we have received reams of information that give us new insight into our solar system!

In recent years, we have also developed the technology needed to send data and messages worldwide in seconds. Any way you look at this, it is fascinating that we could gather the knowledge needed to accomplish this feat.

Did you know that satellites circling the earth can take pictures of you grilling a steak in your own backyard? They can even gather information on a getaway car that crooks have used while leaving the scene of a crime.

We humans have taken this knowledge and information to do these achievements that were almost unthinkable for some of us born within the last few decades. And yet, because we have used what we have learned, amazingly wonderful things have been made available to us all!

I love all this technology, information, and learning. It seems to me to be so very cool when we consider it all.  Hey, as far as I am concerned, the more technology we use, the better I like it!

While most of us are happy about all the stuff we have from technology, there are a lot more areas of information and learning that are just as exciting!

One such area that has seen much growth in new information is Christianity. Because of our many advancements, new doors have been opened and we have extended our outreach far across the world to many formerly unknown tribes and cultures on the earth. In several of these tribes, the information has been gathered that has enabled missionaries to speak the language of the people, develop an alphabet and write it down, then print off the Bible in their own language so that the nationals  can read it themselves. What a powerful blessing this is!

Today there are Bible programs on computers that place information into our hands which, less than a generation ago, were available to only a few highly educated people who could afford the books and the education to use them. Now we can use IPads in the pulpit, and we commonly use the internet to spread the good news of Christ. As I said, I love technology!

…Here is even more to consider….

Commentaries, Bible studies, and “how to" books in Christianity have been made available to us in unprecedented numbers and ways. The helps that we have now are amazing!

Just think….You got a problem in ministry? ……there is information in a book about it…

If you want to know:

          how to have a discipleship ministry

          how to have a men's or women's support ministry

          how to build a youth ministry

          how to work a multimedia ministry

          how to promote stewardship in giving

          how to build a singles ministry

          how to create a ministry for teens

          how to build an elder’s team

          how to outreach to your community

          how to make a missions ministry

          how to develop a children's ministry

          how to organize a leadership team

          how to organize a Sunday school

          how to develop small groups

          how to serve the homeless

          how to make a deacon board

          how to become a leader

……..the information is out there in a paper book, magazine, eBook, or it is just a few clicks away on the Internet. The resources available to us have become very abundant in number and we have a large variety of ways to access them……….MP3s, E-readers, DVDs, iPads, iPods, tablets, notebooks, apps, etc., etc.

In light of all the knowledge and understanding that God has given the Christian community today,  I want to ask a very challenging question to every believer who is reading this.

I don't ask it accusingly.

I don't ask it pridefully.

I don't ask it judgingly.

I do ask this very humbly.

What good is the information that we receive from the Bible and all those other resources if we don't include it into designing our daily living?

You know what I mean…….If  we don’t allow that information to transform our lives so that we may minister to those living around us and allow Christ to actively live through us, then of what use is it to us?

It is not enough just to know the Gospel, but what are we doing with that information?

It is also not enough just to know all about the scriptures that teach on prayer. The pressing question becomes, what am I doing with the knowledge that I have already learned about that subject? Am I walking out what I have learned, or am I just sitting on it?

In the Bible there is a concept that teaches us to apply all that we have received from the Lord to our daily life. This concept presents the idea of “walking out” that which we believe.

When we take what the Lord has taught us and couple that with what He has called us to do by putting it into action, then this is what is referred to in scripture as our “walk”.

Our “walk” is the platform and mindset from which we operate everything there is concerning our lives.

A few weeks ago, while I was talking with another Christian who is faithfully serving the Lord under some difficult circumstances, he made a statement that intrigued me. He said “Well, I guess we're going to walk out our faith wherever we are".

That is what Christ-like people do.

The Bible says a lot about walking out our faith.

The Greek word for walk means: to conduct oneself….. to be occupied with ……to walk at large.

Literally the word means to actively conduct everything about myself -- my life, my decisions, and my actions…… by what I know and believe in the scriptures.

In the Bible, Paul used this idea of walking out our faith a lot in his writings. Here are a few of the passages that the Holy Spirit had him record for us in order that we could learn and grow from them.

1 Thessalonians 4:1 NASB

1  Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more.

Philippians 3: 17 NASB

17  Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.

Ephesians 5:1-21 NASB

1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;

2  and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

8  for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light

     

15  Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise,

16  making the most of your time, because the days are evil.

17  So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

18  And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,

The word Careful means --  to turn the thoughts or direct the mind to a thing, to consider, contemplate, to look at, to weigh carefully, examine.

How are you at walking out your faith? A person walking out their faith can know the will of God, and be filled with the Spirit just like the verses 17 & 18 written above indicate.

On the other hand, a person refusing to walk out their faith will miss out, for the most part, on these wonderful things from God.

On second thought, they will completely miss out on those wonderful things from God………

Can you imagine a believer not being filled with the Spirit and not understanding God’s will?

What’s up with that?   What are those believers thinking?

Selah   (that means to stop and think about this)

The act of me walking out my faith should always affect whatever I am doing in every phase of my life!   As I am filled with His Spirit and understand the will of God, the walking out of my faith becomes a natural mode of operation for me. There is no faking it or forcing of it that has to happen

.

Most of you believe verses 17 and 18 above, and if so, then what are you doing with that knowledge?

Remember these things:

          It is not enough just to have the knowledge that God’s kingdom is built by the winning of

          souls. What are we personally doing with that knowledge?

          It is not enough just to know the vital Bible teachings about our Christian faith. What are we           doing about walking out those concepts in our lives?

          It is not enough for me just to put on a good religious act based on my Bible knowledge. Am I           really letting Christ live through me?

….only the brave should read beyond here……

Some very challenging questions can be asked right now, but we must be brave enough to face and answer them if we are going to advance from where we are in our Christian lives right now.

This is a session of going much deeper…….. and these are not wimpy questions to answer.

1 --What are you doing in your life right now that a lost person couldn’t also do?

Think about it a moment……..

Some might would say:

“Well, I lead a small group at church.”  A lost person could do that.

“Yea, but I also play in a worship band!” A lost person could also do that.

“Well Dan, I preached last Sunday!”  Ok…... I’m sure that a few lost people filled some pulpits somewhere last Sunday…. and maybe even did a better job than you or I did at delivering a message of some kind. Lost people can do this without a hitch.

“I went on a mission’s trip this summer.”  Lost people can do that, too.

“You don’t understand, I gave a really good offering to a great ministry this month!” I’m really glad that you did, but that can also be done by a lost person who has plenty of money. They could even wind up giving a lot more money than you did……

And here is the classic: “I am not really doing anything one way or the other.”  Lost people can do this quite well, too.

Striking out? You are probably not alone………..

Take a break while I ask this question to the pastors out there.

2 --Pastor, what are you and your staff members doing that trained lost people couldn’t also do?

Lost people can run programs, do counseling, prepare budgets, work technology, answer phones, run sound and multimedia, head-up missions programs, and run exciting youth programs, etc.

But why do I need to go any further? These questions, honestly answered, cause a lot of tight-gut feelings and they may even expose a lot of what we try to keep safely covered up.

Ok. Now what?

Let me begin by humbly offering an answer for the main question: “What am I doing in my life right now that a lost person couldn’t also do?

I will give four answers here…..several more could be provided, but they would all revolve around the same concepts.

          I can be filled with the Spirit of God and worship Him in Spirit and in truth. Lost people cannot do 

          this.

          I can be enabled to do any of the things in ministry as the Spirit of God produces the work

          through me……..again, a lost person cannot do that.

          I can also allow Christ to live through me…..a lost person cannot do that.

          The Fruit of the Spirit can be produced in me through the Holy Spirit’s free work in me….a

           lost person cannot experience this being done through them.

I can hear someone say, “Well, duh, we all know these things!”  …..and well we do, but what are you doing with the knowledge and information that you have right now? Are you walking them out in your life? If you are, then God bless you as you do! If you are not, then what good is your knowledge and information doing you?

I ask each of us this question, are we walking out our faith, or are we just comfortable with the fact that we know some great spiritual truths?

Let me share the defining characteristic between those who make a difference in the kingdom of God and those who just hang around living for themselves and waiting for heaven.

Those who make a difference in the Kingdom of God are walking out their faith!

Sometimes I get a mental picture of the Christians who just gather knowledge and never walk it out as looking like those humans, in the Disney movie “WALL-E”, who just hovered around in their chairs. They were totally consumed with themselves and everyone was very fat and lazy. Some Christians act like this when they do nothing with their faith but simply go to church, eat a fine Bible knowledge/worship meal, then just hover back home (fat and lazy) ready to do it all over again next week.

…..fat, lazy, Christians……so sad….so disappointing…..

If we are not doing it already, now is the time for us to walk out our faith, and refuse to just do the religious thing.  Repent of just lazily faking it, and ask Him for spiritual power to genuinely walk out our faith……

Humbly Submitted,

Dan

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Nuclear Cookies

It was early afternoon when I arrived back in the office planning on accomplishing some paperwork. As I was setting up my place to work, the urge for a fresh, warm cookie hit me. Part of the marketing strategy of our company is to provide freshly baked cookies for our referral sources, so, we have an oven in the kitchen and tons of frozen cookie batter in the freezer. A recipe for bliss….if you want a great cookie.

Hey, I'm a rational guy and I usually can come up with a workable plan to accomplish my goals in mind. I knew that our frozen cookies required heat to cook, and I also knew that our microwave produced heat for cooking. So, equipped with my deductive reasoning and ample ability to place frozen cookies on a plate, I placed two of them in the microwave and pushed the appropriate button to produce the much needed heat. I carefully watched the process as the microwave came alive with energy and lazily turned the plate in a circular motion. Waiting hungrily for the desired results, my eyes stayed focused on the cookies as they traveled their appointed path.

Unexpectedly, a spiral of smoke began to rise from one of the cookies, and I sprang into action while the other cookie began to follow the first one’s example. I immediately pushed the button to stop the cooking process of the microwave and to open its door. When I did that, what was now a lot of smoke and bad smell poured generously out of the microwave. The cookie dough had a glazed-over-plastic-goo-sort-of-look as it had apparently tried to morph into something other than what it was created to be.

I quickly grabbed the paper plate of smoking, charred goo and ran to the back door looking to get it outside as quickly as possible.

The smell was expressing itself impressively. I would have rated it at about 8 out of 10 easily.  It really was awful….. and it quickly spread everywhere as bad smells often do. Part of its agenda was to broadcast my grossly mis-led journey in cookie baking.

While I was busily opening the doors to air out the office, I was receiving a lot of lighthearted grief from the staff about my adventure with the cookies. Our office manager was slightly shocked and stunned beyond words. She came by my office and just said, "Really? Really?” I took it that she was not impressed with my cooking skills.

At this particular moment my brain went on the blink as I offered up the best excuse that presented itself. “Hey, apparently there is a reason that I am field staff and usually kept away from the office!”  I think that in the universe of lame excuses, something of a new record was reached right then. I may someday even get a “lame excuse” award for that one……

Later that day, I received a text from our office manager that read something like this, “Maybe U can get some cooking lessons from your wife this evening!”  When my wife saw the text and heard my story later, she just shook her head and laughed……

My ego was not having a good day.

As I thought about this short, failed adventure in my life, I envisioned many parallels as to how we all sometimes approach living. We think of some really great ideas and then pursue them using all of our reasoning, reckoning, and experience in order to accomplish those good goals. We take all of the skills and decision making processes within us and bring them online as we approach the many challenges we all face daily. However, our troubles really begin when we ignore the directions already laid out for us in the Bible. It is then that we are just planning for failure.

Sadly, way too many times, the results we come up with resemble my nuclear cookies; smoldering, smoking, and toxic looking. We generate a mess and smell that screws up our lives and is awfully embarrassing to us, and, way too often, people who wind up this way already know the right way to do things….by the Bible…..but they choose to ignore it.

You see, I had it all rationally figured out, but in reality, I was wrong about how to bake cookies. I'm afraid that this concept is also what goes on when we rely on our own intelligence to make it in life. Many times I have counseled with people who thought they had it all figured out. Sadly, they were trying to exist in the middle of a toxic mess in their lives that was brought about by following their own ways.

 Understand this, there are no “undo” buttons in life so that we can restart our marriages or raise our kids again. There are no “delete” buttons in order to erase hurtful words or acts that we have done. And yet, even while in the middle of our messes, the Lord still gives us instructions as to how to deal with our situations when we do find ourselves in trouble.

Read these Bible verses and understand the Lord’s heart toward you:

Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV

11  For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

12  Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

13  You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.

When we find ourselves dealing with a mess, we need to seek Him with all our hearts…….so that we can find Him and His plans for us.

Another one of my favorite scriptures challenges me to not rely on my own intelligence to run my life. The idea here is, if I do rely on myself and my resources, then I would be settling for something much less that what I could have had.

Look at this:

Proverbs 3:5-6 GNB

5  Trust in the LORD with all your heart. Never rely on what you think you know.

6  Remember the LORD in everything you do, and he will show you the right way.

The implication here is that my own understanding brings about a result that is much less desirable than what I would really like or want……. We might refer to it as what is viewed as “the wrong way”. However, in this verse the Lord’s intent appears to be to show us “the right way”.  What could be better than that?

 In my cookie adventure, I still had cookies at the end, but they were burned, scary looking, and not fit to be eaten.

Who wants to settle for less?

Who wants to settle for failure?

Who really wants to settle for toxic waste cookies?

Consider these other verses also:

Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV

8  "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.

9  "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

God has such a wonderful plan for our lives for now and in the future, but we have to adjust our thinking to His ideas. We cannot expect God to change His thinking to our ways……not gonna happen.

About right here most of us think of an obvious question: “If God’s plan is so good, then why am I still so miserable?

Maybe examining where your decisions come from might provide an answer……

However, I think we should go even deeper. What about when you have followed the Lord the best way that you can, made all the right decisions, and things still are all screwed up feeling? What then?

This is when we have the opportunity to approach things by trusting God. (That is what faith is, by the way.) Through faith we can claim His peace. When Jesus was approaching leaving the earth to go back to the Father, He said that He would leave His peace with His children on the earth.

I have to believe this and “mentally own it” for myself. Giving up my expectations, plans, desires, and self will……..

I need to become willing to trust the plan that He has in His will for me, even if it all continues to be screwed up for a while. He never said that those plans would all be comfortable or all go easily.

Some of our biggest challenges come in all this as we face the choices of being willing to ask Him for His plan and then for us being willing to genuinely follow it. When we are really honest with ourselves, we have to acknowledge the fact that we don't always know all that there is to being successful in life.  The truth is, most of the time we don’t.

Of course the thought pops up in our mind, “Well then, all I need to do is just make all the right decisions in my life, then I won’t have to worry about making a mistake!” This is a great concept and goal, but how am I to know which decisions are the right ones? Only the Lord knows, and He wants very much to let us in on the knowledge of it. The Lord definitely wants to share with us His best for us, but we have to at least talk with Him and listen to Him.

It is interesting that someone would say, “Hey, I know all this stuff you are talking about!” I'm sure they that they know these things very well, but then they still go ahead and try to do it their own intelligent, figured out way. How wacked is that?

I guess that I should stop right here and reluctantly confess something to you. I really have baked cookies properly at the office in the past. I used the proper oven, followed the instructions and had them turn out very well. It is just that this time I decided to ignore what I knew to be right and try it my newly devised way. The result was not a pretty sight, and I was not the only one affected by my poor choice. Everyone in the office suffered in some way because of my ill conceived, selfish plan.

My decision that day may not have been too bad just to destroy two lumps of cookie dough, but what about when it involves negatively affecting your children, or church, or friends, or your spouse?

A nuclear mess you don't want in any of these cases.

In The Old Testament, the Lord gave some assurances to His children that I believe we can also apply to His children now.  Listen to what the Lord says to us:

Isaiah 30:18 & 21 NIV

18  Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!

…………………

21  Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."

This is a sweet, metaphorical way of the Lord telling us that He will guide us as we listen to Him.

Let me encourage you; have a good talk with the Lord about what it will take for your life to be a great success in all areas of it. He really does want you to be successful and He loves you so much.

Avoid the nuclear mess in your life……….. It's the only one you have on this earth.

Love,

Dan

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Venus and Mars

One day, as I drove to work early, the announcer on the radio was saying something that really captured my interest.

Whoever was speaking (and I really did not care at 7 in the morning who it was) said that today there were two rare occurrences that could be seen in the morning sky. The first event was in the east, where the horizon was just beginning to turn lighter because of the dawning of day. Anyone who cared to look could see clearly the planet Venus shining brightly like a star in the sky. I was really interested in this because I love astronomy and think that it is fascinating that we sometimes can see a planet in our solar system without using a telescope. I was driving in the direction that the radio announcer said, so I looked up and saw Venus just like he told me I could. It really looked beautiful!  The planet was just sparkling in a beautiful setting of sky just beginning to turn blue. The deep blue background and the star-like appearance of Venus was awesome to gaze upon. It was also exciting to think how that God created all this and that I was able to see it this morning.

The second rare occurrence was that Mars was to be seen in the opposite sky shining just as brightly as Venus was.  Wow! This woke me up a little more as the thought of these two things happening at the same time began to sink in. Here I was awake and having this special opportunity to see something very rare in the sky. I couldn’t wait to look back in the other direction of the horizon and see Mars shining the same way that Venus was.

I passed up the turn-in to the office and went up the road a short way in order to turn around. I wanted to have a good view of the sky where Mars was supposed to be appearing.

.How disappointing it was as I saw that this part of the sky was draped with dark clouds and no Mars was in view. This was not a very welcoming or encouraging sight – really, it was kind of depressing to me.

With my disappointment in tow, I drove up the road, turned around again, and drove to the office parking lot.

As I contemplated my experiences with Venus and (almost) Mars, the Lord began to speak to my heart about what I had just seen. One view was a tremendous look at the planet Venus and the beautiful blueness of the dawn. The other view was dark, with dreary clouds and a depressing sky.

I then began to understand that I had a choice in my life today. I could choose to dwell on the beautiful things in life, or I could keep my mind on the cloudy, dreary things.

In life, we all have this same choice.  Whether it is work, family, friends, or situations concerning any of these, I can choose to place my mind on the beautiful parts of life, or give my mind over to thinking constantly about the dark parts that surround me.

In our lives we have beautiful and not-so-beautiful pieces that make up who we are. Too often we forget that not only does God make the stars and blue skies, but He also makes the clouds in the other parts of the sky…even the rain clouds.

I think that God views them both as beautiful, because He made them to fulfill His purposes.

Now, we each have our strengths and our weaknesses, but just think about this, these things are made by God to exist as a special mix that makes us who we are……so unique in the universe. We are God’s own handiwork painstakingly and masterfully made!!!!

Consider the truth revealed in these scriptures in the book of Psalms:

Psalms 139:13-18 NLT

13  You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb.

14  Thank You for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous--how well I know it.

15  You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

16  You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in Your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

17  How precious are Your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!

18  I can't even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, You are still with me!

Psalms 104:24 NLT

24  O LORD, what a variety of things You have made! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of Your creatures.

(Just in case you were wondering, “creatures” has the idea of creations…including us.)

…in God’s wisdom He has made us all….

How powerful that thought is!!

All of us, at times, will take a look at the stage of life and have wishes. Some of us wish that:

…we could sing like that

…we could preach like that

…we could look that beautiful or handsome

…we could be as smart as that person

…we could hold a powerful position like that person does

Yep, we all do.

It is usually then that we are thinking about the specifics of our lives that bring about discouragement to us. At that point, we begin to accomplish a goal that we did not want to; we become discouraged and depressed. This is one of Satan’s favorite platforms from which to work in our hearts and minds.

Here is more revealed truth to think about:

Romans 12:3-8 NLT

3  ……. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.

4  Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function,

5  so it is with Christ's body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.

6  In His grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you.

7  If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well.

8  If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

It is when we place our minds on the unique things that only we as an individual can do, that we begin to see ourselves from a more complete perspective.

--no one else has your smile or the glint of your eyes.

--no one else can pray exactly the same way that you do.

--no one else laughs like you.

--no one else has the unique gifts and talents that you do.

All of this is a result of how that God wants to use you in so many special ways. No other person can be used in the exact same way that God plans to use you!

Just think…..

--no one else has the same relationships that you do.

--no one else has the opportunities that you do.

--no one else is in your unique position of life.

--no one else can be used in the exact same way that God desires to use you.

…And this is all so beautiful…..

Some people say that self-esteem is developing a positive image about yourself.

I believe that true self-esteem grows as you begin to understand who you really are from God’s viewpoint….that is, how God actually sees you.

That morning in the car on my way to work, I began to realize that I could not change the clouds or the sky, but I did have the power to choose where I would have my mind spend its time thinking.

At least for that day, I chose to think about the sparkling stars and blue skies that God had given me to brighten my life and to serve Him with. God had plans to use me that day in such a way that no one else could be used…and He does this constantly…….

This is so very true for you also. God has plans to use your unique self today, and tomorrow, and the day after that….and the day after that…and the day after that…….

You, like Venus that morning, are a brilliant, sparkling light set in place for God’s glory and God’s use today….and for the rest of your life…… 

Matthew 5:14 NIV

14  "You are the light of the world…...

Offered in His love,

Dan Akins

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Out of the Storms

I want to tell you something about myself: I love original oil paintings! They don't have to be painted by anyone special or even be expensive, but I am just fascinated by the talent of the people who do that kind of art. There are several reasons that I do not try that kind of artistic painting. One is, I can’t find a type of canvas that has an “undo” button on it, and another is, I am having difficulty finding a paint brush with a “delete paint stroke” key built into it.

Oh, well... onto my story.

One time an artist, who was a member of the church where I was youth pastor, said that she had an oil painting that she had painted especially for me. I was really excited as I looked forward to having an original oil painting hung in our house! However, when I saw the picture, some of my excitement was dampened. The artist did a great job of the painting... but it was the scene that did not impress me. The painting was of an oceanside landscape. In the middle of the canvas, there was a scraggly tree looking worn and beaten. The ocean seemed angry and troubled as its waves assaulted the big craggy rocks on the seashore. Black clouds were appearing to break up in the sky, and, to the left of the picture were a few rays of light bringing forth the touches of a rainbow.

I was hoping for some bright, cheery scene with lots of blue and sunshine….something that would be uplifting and fun to look at.

The painting she had for me was not what I had expected.

Since that time, I have had many opportunities to reflect on this painting and I feel that it has so accurately described my journey in life and ministry. Through all the troubles, pain, and dark moments, God's promises (the rainbow) have always watched over my life and been there to comfort me. No matter how dark and scary the scene is, He always reminds me of His promises when I am listening closely.

The book of Job has inched its way upward to becoming one of my favorite stories in the Bible. Although I have read and studied this book over the years, last week I saw something in it that I had never seen before. (The Bible is like that, you know.) In chapter 37, Elihu, (one of Job's friends) is speaking wrongfully (as well-meaning friends sometimes do) and eloquently taking Job to task about his apparently poor relationship with God.

Suddenly, a thunderstorm begins to move in on the scene. (I know this because of what the Scripture says later.) Elihu makes great literary analogies using words like roar, rumbling, lightning, thunder, rain showers, water, and clouds throughout the chapter. It is evident that there is a storm going on around them. And, as we know by the testimony of many chapters before this scene, there is also a storm going on in Job's heart and mind.

Job feels forsaken by God (chapter 23), most of his family is gone, his friends are making him miserable (as friends sometimes do), and the storm is raging outside. Also, the storm on the inside of his heart and mind was relentless in its fury.

Then, it happens. The greatest thing of all in the story….

Job 38:1 NIV

Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm.

It was in the storm that God chose to speak to Job in order to ultimately bring him peace and comfort. God was always there through Job’s whole ordeal, but He chose the storm from which to speak to Him.

In this chapter, and forward, God shows things to Job that no other recorded Scripture, up till now, had ever listed. God shows Himself to Job in such a special way that otherwise could not have been, unless Job was also in the storm. This is important to realize. God’s presence in the storm brings it up to an entirely different level of meaning; both the natural storm and Job’s personal storm were allowed by God and were being used just as He had planned.

I remember a time that I had some distress (similar to Job’s in chapter 23) while going through my own storm during a difficult time of ministry. I was praying, reading, and looking for God's help while a storm raged on the inside of my heart. The ugly black clouds of fear, doubt, and hurt engulfed my whole being.

Drastic changes had come into my life under circumstances which I could not control. Someone whom I counted as a friend in ministry (a pastor) had helped to make my situation by choices that he had made. And yet, God used the situation to show Himself to me in such a special way that I could never have known otherwise.

For months I had no job, no direction, and a heart crushed more than you would care to know. As I prayed, the Lord led me to a special place on the top of a mountain that was close by to where I was living.

For days, weeks, and months I would go and spend hours before the Lord with my heart crying out to Him. The storm in my heart was raging furiously all the time, and I could not grasp what He was doing or even where He was in my life. Then the Lord led me to Job 23 and, I began to identify with the feelings and emotions that I was reading.

Job 23:2-9 NIV

2  "Even today my complaint is bitter; His hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.

3  If only I knew where to find Him; if only I could go to His dwelling!

4  I would state my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments.

5  I would find out what He would answer me, and consider what He would say.

6  Would He oppose me with great power? No, He would not press charges against me.

7  There an upright man could present his case before Him, and I would be delivered forever from my judge.

8  "But if I go to the east, He is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find Him.

9  When He is at work in the north, I do not see Him; when He turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of Him.

In this story, Job could not understand why he could not connect with God. I could see, as I read the words of Scripture, how that torrents of emotions were raging in his heart. Fear, feelings of abandonment, and hurt welled up and covered him like a giant wave in the ocean.

I felt like I was drowning in the same emotions……… then God spoke to my heart in my storm.

As I read the verses in Job 23, I came upon one that struck me profoundly.

Job 23:10 NIV

But He knows the way that I take…..

I could read no further…..

It seemed as if the Lord said to me, “Dan, it is not important that you cannot find Me right now. What is important is that I know where you are.”

A flood of weeping and gratefulness came over me at that moment. Out of my storm the Lord gave me this assurance and a greater understanding of things that I could not have learned any other way except by being in the storm with Him. This remains a precious moment in my life…..it resembled the scene in the oil painting given to me….. the few rays of light breaking through the dark angry clouds and bringing forth the touches of a rainbow.

God spoke to my heart out of my storm…..

In another time and place we see Jesus doing the same thing; comforting his children during a storm.

Matthew 8:23-26 NIV

23  Then He got into the boat and his disciples followed Him.

24  Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.

25  The disciples went and woke Him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!"

26  He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

I get the idea that the Lord knows how to handle a storm no matter when or how they burst forth on His children.

In this next passage, the Apostle Paul is in a literal storm.

Acts 27:18-25 NIV

18  We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard.

19  On the third day, they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands.

20  When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.

21  After the men had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said: "Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss.

22  But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed.

23  Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me

24  and said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.'

25  So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as He told me.

What about the storms in the lives of others throughout history?  Look at these verses from scripture…..

Hebrews 11:36-39 NIV

36  Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison.

37  They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated--

38  the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

39  These were all commended for their faith……..

 See any storms here? Yea, more than most of us have ever had.

A great deal of frustration comes to us when we feel that the Lord ought to just show up when we think that He should and then do what we think He ought to do to fix the whole situation during a storm. Remember, He is in control... we are not. The work that He is doing in us is so magnificent that He would not dare to lower Himself to do it our way. He loves us way too much to do things according to what we think should be done.

Storms come and storms go, but they are always with us.

Everyone at sometime has felt abandoned and alone…but we never are. When we experience God in the storms, the storm takes on an entirely different meaning. When Jesus’ presence is recognized in the storm, it fundamentally changes that storm into an encounter with Him that enhances our lives in so many ways.

You may be asking, “But Dan, what about the times when we don’t hear Him speak in the storm”?  When that happens, He always speaks from His Word:

Romans 8:28 NIV

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him…….

….and then our actions in the storm are called faith. 

What storm is going on in your life right now?

Life's storms are scary and difficult, but the Lord is always with us in them. He lives in us and is never unaware of our pain and hurt.

In His way, and in His time, He speaks to us out of the storm.

Psalms 107:29 NIV

  He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.

Dan

P.S—if you have an internet connection you may want to check out this link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-rW528qiYw

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