God's List My List

Thirty-five years ago today Robin and I had our first date. We went out for a nice dinner and then I was to have her at a surprise birthday party at a certain time. My problem is that I am a planner, and when we finished dinner and still had quite a bit of time left until the party, I was faced with what to do next. So I pulled out my little spiral tablet and pretended that I had a whole list of things prepared which included getting a little bit of gas and making a check in the book, doing a couple of other things which I can’t remember and making a check, and making a check, and making a check. I was scrambling for how to occupy the time until time for the party. Sorry, I know. I once had a friend tell me that I had to be more spontaneous, and so I purposed to put “planned spontaneity” on my calendar.

I am more than a mental checklist person, I am a put it on paper and check it off checklist person. Maybe this makes me a good event coordinator, or rarely late, or ….. But it doesn’t make for being terribly relaxed at times. The big part of growth in all of this is that I don’t become as frustrated when I don’t complete the list or when I leave something off. I’ve also learned not to use a list for certain things. Today Sarah writes about the tyranny of the checklist and the importance of checking everything you do with God staying in constant contact with Him.

I must tell you that in spite of my list God had His plans, and that date 35 years ago today began an incredible relationship with the most wonderful woman in the world.

Today in “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young (5/6)

Do not search for security in the world you inhabit. You tend to make mental checklists of things you need to do in order to gain control of your life. If only you could check everything off your list, you could relax and be at peace. But the more you work to accomplish that goal, the more things crop up on your list. The harder you try, the more frustrated you become.

There is a better way to find security in this life. Instead of scrutinizing your checklist, focus your attention on My Presence with you. This continual contact with Me will keep you in My Peace. Moreover, I will help you sort out what is important and what is not, what needs to be done now and what does not. Fix your eyes not on what is seen (your circumstances), but what is unseen (My Presence).

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Isaiah 26:3 (NKJV)

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18

Only One Master

Luke 14:26 uses the strong word of “hate” when it comes to comparing our relationships with others with that of following after God. It is a strong reminder that if you have trusted Christ for your salvation that God is our Heavenly Father, and His Only Son, Jesus is our Lord. We are no longer our own, we’ve been bought with a price.

But just who is it that bought us and who has called us to serve Him? Our God created all that we see including ourselves. He has loved us with an everlasting love and He has a good plan for our lives. Unlike so many others that we serve with mixed motives, our God’s motives are pure and right. Today Sarah writes about our serving only the Master.

Today in “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young (5/3)

You cannot serve two masters. If I am truly your Master, you will desire to please Me above all others. If pleasing people is your goal, you will be enslaved to them. People can be harsh taskmasters when you give them this power over you.

If I am the Master of your life, I will also be your First Love. Your serving Me is rooted and grounded in My vast, unconditional Love for you. The lower you bow down before Me, the higher I lift you up into intimate relationship with Me.  The Joy of living in My Presence outshines all other pleasures. I want you to reflect My joyous Light by living in increasing intimacy with Me.

“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Matthew 6:24

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Revelation 2:4

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love… Ephesians 3:16-17

You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. Psalm 16:11

No Substitute For Prayer

“Your effectiveness, your productivity, your fruitfulness, the holiness of your life, the ministry that you have whatever it might be, the victory you have in your Christian life, you can link all of that to that intimate relationship you have with Almighty God through prayer. And you can do anything and everything else you want to and ignore praying, or make it a secondary something out there in your life, and I am going to tell you, you are not going to amount to much for God.”

These were the opening words to today’s In Touch message by Dr. Charles Stanley titled “The Battle of Prayer.” He goes on to say that, “Praying is talking to God and listening to Him. … There is no substitute in all of life for prayer.”

In Proverbs 3:5-6 we read , “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

In order to know God’s direction for our life we need to spend time with Him, and the way we do this is through prayer. As Dr. Stanley said, everything good in our Christian life is a result of our intimate relationship with our Almighty God, and as we spend time with Him he will direct us in all things. Sarah writes today about being on the path of God’s choosing which emanates from our spending time with Him and listening for His will and direction in our lives – living every moment in His Presence.

Today in “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young (5/1)

You are on the path of My choosing. There is no randomness about your life. Here and Now comprise the coordinates of your daily life. Most people let their moments slip through their fingers, half-lived. They avoid the present by worrying about the future or longing for a better time and place. They forget that they are creatures who are subject to the limitations of time and space. They forget their Creator, who walks with them only in the present.

Every moment is alive with My glorious Presence, to those whose hearts are intimately connected with Mine. As you give yourself more and more to a life of constant communion with Me, you will find that you simply have no time for worry. Thus, you are free to let My Spirit direct your steps, enabling you to walk along the path of Peace.

“who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?” Luke 12:25-26

“… To shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.” Luke 1:79

Our Need For Dependence

Some struggles seem to endure, and it is very easy then to grow weary as we focus on what is lacking, on what barriers we might be up against, or what the prognosis might be for change in the struggle or situation. It is even tempting to consider giving up. Then we realize that we can’t, and we make an effort for a period of time in order to try to make some new headway. And when even this renewed effort proves to be unproductive or only temporarily productive before reverting to the previous condition, it is then that maybe we even feel like an old workhorse who has lost his value.

So often weariness goes hand in hand with losing heart, and with losing heart there is a losing of hope, and in losing hope there is a distancing of ourselves even from those we love. The church in Ephesus was praised in some ways for its perseverance and even it’s not growing weary in their deeds (Revelation 2). Yet in Revelation 2:4 we read, “But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”

In Matthew 11:28-30 we read the invitation of Jesus to find our rest in Him, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

In Hebrews 12:1-3 we find the example of Christ and those who, in faith, have gone before us as we ourselves are encouraged to run with endurance. “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

And the strength for this comes from God as we read in passages like 2 Thessalonians 3:3-5. “But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. We have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will continue to do what we command. May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.”

It is God who is able to take our inabilities and make us able. He has called us to trust Him in this as with all things, to lean on Him fully, and to depend on Him to direct our steps and meet our needs. Today Sarah writes about how when a need is lacking it is then a prime opportunity to trust God and to be blessed as we see Him take care of us.

Today in “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young (4/30)

When some basic need is lacking – time, energy, money – consider yourself blessed. Your very lack is an opportunity to latch onto Me in unashamed dependence. When you begin a day with inadequate resources, you must concentrate your efforts on the present moment. This is where you are meant to live – in the present; it is the place where I always await you. Awareness of your inadequacy is a rich blessing, training you to rely wholeheartedly on Me.

The truth is that self-sufficiency is a myth perpetuated by pride and temporary success. Health and wealth can disappear instantly, as can life itself. Rejoice in your insufficiency, knowing that My Power is made perfect in weakness.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds. James 1:2

And he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NKJV)

Learning To Be Thankful Again

Today was a day to rejoice in a group of believers finding direction for their future while continuing to seek God for His leading in mine.  It is very easy to thank God for the things you want. It is more difficult to thank Him for things that come that you don’t want or for others getting what you may have wanted. The reality of life is that it does rain on everyone. Sometimes that rain is a gentle welcome one while at other times it is a destructive deluge. But it is our loving God who superintends the rain and He knows every bit of it that He allows to fall on us or even not to fall. Our God is also a loving God who works in all of His children to accomplish His purposes and He even does this for our good as we seek Him and follow His direction for our lives. This even means that when you wanted some rain on your direction and it rained somewhere else that our loving God had is strong hand in it. Just as it means the opposite.

We need to be constantly mindful that our God is sovereign over absolutely everything, and that all that we have really belongs to Him and He is free to use it as He chooses. This includes our lives. But it is also incredibly encouraging to know that our God does this with a great love for us. Today Sarah writes about our learning thankfulness from Him.  Being thankful is an informed choice.

Today in “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young (4/29)

Let Me teach you thankfulness. Begin by acknowledging that everything – all your possessions and all that you are – belongs to Me. The dawning of each new day is a gift from Me, not to be taken for granted. The earth is vibrantly alive with My blessings, giving vivid testimony to My Presence. If you slow down your pace of life, you can find Me anywhere.

Some of My most precious children have been laid aside in sick beds or shut away in prisons. Others have voluntarily learned the discipline of spending time alone with Me. The secret of being thankful is learning to see everything from My perspective. My world is your classroom. By Word is a lamp to your feet and a light for your path.

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:28-29

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105

Perspective-Lifter Problems

Do you find some kinds of problems easier to trust God with than others? I do, and I can know just by looking at those types of problems where my greater weaknesses may be and where I struggle the most in trusting God. This does not mean that it is an all-the-time struggle, but when I struggle it most frequently falls into that area. And the crazy thing is that it is in this same area where, as I look back, I have seen God to be so attentive and gracious. His patience with me is amazing, especially when I put myself in a hole because I have not seen my hope in Him.

But it is also in these times of emotional darkness that I also find my way out not by eating a “happy pill” but by choosing to focus on who my God is. Psalm 139 is the passage God used to draw me to Him in 1974 and there is so much in it, and it is in these times of struggle that Psalm 139 is one of the first places I run. Just think on this:

Psalm 139:7-12 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night,” even the darkness is not dark to You, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.

“Darkness and light are alike to You.” This is an amazing truth. No matter how dark things might look from our side, for God there is no difference. He knows everything and has known everything from the beginning. He is powerful over everything, and it is Him who spoke all that was created into existence. Before even He created the sun, moon, and stars to rule over the day and night in our physical realm, He first created light as we see in Genesis 1:3.

Then we have Jesus’ statement about Himself in John 8:12, John 8:12 “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” And in 1 John 1:5 we read, “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.”

So, when the darkness overwhelms us, we need to look outside the darkness to God and commit to trust Him to be the light by which we live, to set our paths straight, and to truly provide for that which we need. Today Sarah encourages us to look to our problems as perspective-lifters as they cause us to lift our eyes to our God and place our trust fully in Him.

Today in “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young (4/26)

Welcome problems as perspective-lifters. My children tend to sleepwalk through their days until they bump into an obstacle that stymies them. If you encounter a problem with no immediate solution, your response to that situation will take you either up or down. You can lash out at the difficulty, resenting it and feeling sorry for yourself. This will take you down into a pit of self-pity. Alternatively, the problem can be a ladder, enabling you to climb up and see your life from My perspective. Viewed from above, the obstacle that frustrated you is only a light and momentary trouble. Once your perspective has been heightened, you can look away from the problem altogether. Turn toward Me, and see the Light of My Presence shining upon you.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O Lord. Psalm 89:15

Where Is Your Focus?

Today I spent an hour and a half talking with a local executive for a national organization which is considering making a significant policy change which would greatly affect its participant partner organizations if approved. On one side I am engaged in being active trying encourage the organization to not make the change and warning about the potential range of consequences, and on the other side I am hoping that the change is not made and the point then becomes a non-issue for the time being. This same proposed change has people throughout the country greatly concerned and considering what action or actions they might need to take both the head it off or to respond if it is done. And the potential consequences are huge. This can be a real head spinner, leaving many to throw their arms up in the air and either walk away without making the effort or to resign and accept a change which would not be acceptable. There are even those who simply say, “What does it matter.”

This is only one of many things going on around us that can capture not only our attention but also our hearts, and when our hearts are captured we often do things without fully stopping to considering our proper response. Our challenge is not to get swallowed up, even in “good” causes without stopping first to spend time with God and seek His desire for our response and even our involvement. Things, events, and even causes are not to be our focal point. God is, and then all we do is a response to the direction we receive from Him.

Today in “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young (4/25)

Make Me your focal point as you move through this day. Just as a spinning ballerina must keep returning her eyes to a given point to maintain her balance, so you must keep returning your focus to Me. Circumstances are in flux, and the world seems to be whirling around you. The only way to keep your balance is to fix your eyes on Me, the One who never changes. If you gaze too long at your circumstances, you will become dizzy and confused. Look to Me, refreshing yourself in My Presence, and your steps will be steady and sure.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2

But you remain the same, and your years will never end. Psalm 102:27