Monthly Archives: May 2018

Gravity

Matthew 10:37-39 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

I had on my monitor at work a reminder at one time of my top five priorities: My Savior, my wife, my boys, my business, and me. The order had varied greatly in life, but it served to remind me of what my life’s priorities should revolve around. Just like anyone, I failed and put higher priority on many of them, and sadly work seemed to become number one too many times. I am truly burned out at work, having to re-prioritize it again due to many circumstances. Only business owners understand the weight of responsibility, of the care of your employees, of the sleepless nights because it all rests upon your shoulders. No employee will ever show that drive such as yourself for the care of the company’s well being. When I look at our business model, that of a bold witness and ministry, it becomes clearer why my struggles are seemingly greater, because I go against the world’s standard.

Jesus had just sent his disciples out on their own. He had just told them of how to conduct their ministry, given them power to do so, and commanded them to go out on faith greater than they had ever been asked to or tried. Can you imagine your employer being Christ, and being asked to accomplish tasks by him that you could not imagine doing? Could you imagine being told how difficult this was going to be, yet being encouraged that you could do it, even what to say? 18 You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; 20 for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. Jesus told them of how they were going to divide people, anger people, and the treatment that was going to come on them would be harsh, but he told them to have faith and continue to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Do we put that same faith into action today? Do we boldly proclaim our faith to those God puts in our paths every day? Do we proclaim the need for repentance, turning from our ways to the saving faith in Christ alone? Do we let them know religion’s obligations do not save, they kill? Do they know us by our works, or do they know they want nothing of Christianity by our deeds they witness 6.5 days a week? Are you living for Christ, even when times get tough? Are you prioritizing him above your family, your career, your own ambitions? Are you willing to suffer for your faith, or do you keep moving around looking for the soft gospels that proclaim what God can do for you? The inner peace that comes to the disciple of Jesus Christ, the power that rests upon them, is the focus of life that drives them through the storms. The lack of the fear of death to the disciple is the inner strength that sustains, the foundation of faith that centers when the world knocks off course. That gravity re-aligns one’s self to only hearing His words when he calls them home, “Well done good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord.”

Turn Here

Isaiah 30:20-21 And though the Lord gives you The bread of adversity and the water of affliction, Yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, But your eyes shall see your teachers. 21 Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left.

Who wouldn’t want that; God standing behind you directing your life’s path? When we look at it in Isaiah’s proclamation though, God is judging sin and betrayal of his chosen people. They had focused on everything but God, not listened to the prophets from God, and God was judging them for their sin. Also look at the sovereignty of God woven into this passage. He “lets us” go down tough paths in life, the food and water we live upon as tough times. His innermost workings of the details of our lives boggles the mind. How can he give us a free-will, yet align our paths with his control? That is why he is our God! We cannot explain the complexity of control and freedom by the One who breaths stars into existence. We cannot imagine the limitless potential of an unlimited God who by creation put limitations on our minds. We cannot fathom the Creator even as we are the pinnacle of his creation. Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” How would we call him our God, if we could explain and understand him?

I am feeling from the bread of adversity and drinking from the waters of affliction right now. My world was crushed by someone I had put hopes and plans upon, and now I find the weight of the business world heavy upon me. I am worried about my health and well-being. My industry is suffering from lack of employees, much less ones who have integrity, and the desire to look beyond money and greed. I find myself again working 80hr weeks, and killing myself doing so. On a job-site late Saturday afternoon, I laughed with a customer telling them the only time I stopped working was to talk about dirt bikes or the Gospel, for I was passionate about both. The freedom to share my faith is what I truly love about my job. The encounters God designs, the opportunities that arise from obedience, are the only thing that keep me going, and the things that I hope to hear, “Well done good and faithful servant,” whenever Jesus calls me home.

Even if God has you in a tough place, even if in the midst of worldly blessings you are overwhelmed such as I, know it has all filtered through his hands. The strains of business rob us of many pleasures in life, many missed opportunities, but make the most of whatever opportunity He has given or blessed you with. Colossians 3:2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. Look deep at where God has you, in prayer and time in his Word. Don’t excuse life’s load for missed opportunities to encounter God at work. To see God at work, you must join him, not ask him to join you. He has and already is at work around you. He has lovingly guided you to be upon the path you are at now. Spend some time in prayer and his Word, and you just might hear his voice behind you, such as Isaiah wrote….”Turn here.”

Paul Saw

Galatians 4:8-16 But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. 9 But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years. 11 I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain. 12 Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all. 13 You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first. 14 And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. 15 What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?

I heard a great sermon series recently; a lot of it was about Paul’s life before Christ, and then the changed testimony after that Damascus Road encounter with Christ. I have heard about the years between that encounter, of how God worked on Paul. Memories are always stirred when I hear sermons such as these of how God breaks those for his purposes. God cannot use a prideful man, for he will rest upon what is his god, himself. God breaks those he wants to use for his purposes so that they may rest on Him, not on their own strength. It has been said of many of our Lord’s greatest servants always walk with a limp.

I have been doing a lot of reflecting recently, looking back trying to learn why God has me struggling now. I see the patterns of highs and lows, by worldly and spiritual standards. I see the patterns of sin and season of less; I see the relations of God’s sovereignty and free-will in them. I see intimacy and mis-guided focus. I see blessing and sufferings. I see spiritual warfare throughout all of my recent years to a point it scares me. God opened my eyes sometime in this walk of sanctification to glimpses of the unseen, and to be honest it is scary sometimes. I see how Satan uses those closest to us. I see how every spiritual high is followed by a spiritual attack. I see how many times I have fallen prey to the enemies tactics and failed to keep my eyes on the victory I have in Christ. Satan is your greatest foe, your greatest enemy, your adversary on a level you might not grasp, but he is defeated.

Are you feeling the pressures of the world? Are you feeling like you are far from God and alone? Does life just have you at a really tough place, and you don’t know where to turn? God is showing you your need for him. God is showing you that he may be removing something from your life that is taking your eyes off eternity. God may be using this really tough spot you feel like there is no end to, to draw you to a deeper personal relationship with the Creator, Sustainer, and Ruler of this world than you can possibly imagine. Let your tough spot, be a blemish that you can testify to the power of God to others. Deuteronomy 4:29 But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. Keep looking, Paul was able to see too eventually. It took an encounter with Christ, scales, a physical infirmity that tormented him, years of suffering, but he saw eternity and what awaited him there with Christ.

Undone

Isaiah 6:5-8   So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged.” 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

It has been the longest dry spell in this ministries history that I have not written. Since 2012 I have written over 1,100 entries, never once not writing for over a month straight. I have shared my life’s highs and lows, and my faith to praise and endure all of it to my Lord Jesus Christ who’s hand it has filtered through. My faith in the sovereign power of God is what sustains me, what keeps me from crumbling in times such as these. I am hopefully, slowly, emerging from the worst depression ever, and only time will tell. Without the details, my plans were crushed, and a perfect storm that came with it, resulted in a near breakdown. It is still a very tender subject and one I guard closely, but it has truly taken the drive out of me, I only seek to get through the day, and likely change will come as a result of the last couple months.

The passage above is seemingly impossible to unpack into a OneMinuteMinistry. The evident power of God, the immense realization of sin, but the beauty of grace and forgiveness by the One whom gives it. Isaiah’s entire prophetic ministry is rooted in these three passages. In this heavenly vision and encounter, Isaiah would never be the same, and how blessed with are with his account of it through God’s design and provision. Has the weight of sin ever sat upon your chest? Has the realization of sin ever been so heavy that you are “undone?” Sin is not preached any more. Sin is a byproduct of the grace gospel preached in so many pulpits today. We hear all of what God can do for us, but we don’t hear our NEED for him. It is not about what you can get, but what he is gracious enough to give. The weight of sin, the realization of how much you NEED God, is where a humble heart is broken for God, and can be used by God. How can you be such as Isaiah and not realize how lost you are, and then the awakening of how lost those around you are?

God placed an incredibly tough call upon my life; the call of repentance of the American church, the supposed religious just like in the Bible. Sure, I seek for the lost to repent and believe just as much as anyone does, but God’s tug on my heart is for the ones whom think they are saved, and not. I grew up Christian, and questioned my salvation after the Lord showed me my sin such as Isaiah. I became undone, and pled for God to use me. The road of sanctification has been rough, and the pricks of Satan’s fiery darts hurt, but may all my life be used to draw glory to God. I am far from religious, far from perfect, fail daily, endure consistently, repentant prayers inadequately, seek diligently, but pray for him to send me….and for you to join me on this journey of becoming a true disciple of Jesus Christ, going against what the world cares, following God’s call and direction, and desiring only to hear those words, “Well done good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of the Lord.” Amen