Ephesians 3:14-19

The Apostle Paul writes to the church in Ephesians 3:14-19 

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 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, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

As I sit in this text today, I was brought to contemplate the process; submit, call, know, and receive. 

Submit - "I kneel" 
Call - "I pray" 
Know - "to know...to grasp" 
Receive - "to be filled" 

I am aware that many days I rush through this process - skipping over one or more of these "steps" and therefore lack the daily filling of Christ.

Lord, help me to submit to You first - to lay down all that I am before You and to give way to Your will in my life. Father, remind me to call out to You - to reach out and connect with You intimately and deeply. Holy Spirit, enlighten me to know Your way and Your desires - give me insight and direction from Your voice. Jesus, let me be filled with You - let me be filled to all fullness if Your love. Amen. Let it be. 

To Be

 

Sunday night our church family observed John Wesley's Covenant Renewal Service. Toward the end of the service I asked; "How do you want God to bless you, spiritually, in 2017?". This question led to great introspection.

Today, I considered - and prayed over - this question deeper and I was led to one word, "be"

My hope, spiritually, is that I learn to "be" in 2017. 

I want to learn to "be" in the presence of God, to enjoy the quiet - and sometimes unproductive - moments with Him. I want The Lord to show me how to "be" with Him without the desire to "do" for Him. 

However, to "be" is not only my hope spiritually. There is more. 

My hope, relationally, is that I learn to "be" in 2017. 

I was recently reminded of the "StrengthsFinder" personality assessment that I took four years ago. I was asked to take the assessment again and it revealed - just as it did four years ago - that my greatest "strength" is "Acheiver". 

According to StrengthsFinder creator, Don Clifton, Achievers "have a great deal of stamina and work hard. They take great satisfaction from being busy and productive." 

It is this very "strength" that drives me to "do" rather than to "be". This is why my wife tells - and often has to force - me to sit down so often. I miss out on quite a bit, relationally, because of this drive to "do" rather than "be". 

Author M. Robert Mulholland Jr., in his book, "Invitation to a Journey", writes; "We live in a culture that has reversed the biblical order of being in doing. Being and doing our integrally related, to be sure, but we have to have the order straight. Our doing flows out of our being."

My prayer in 2017; God, teach me to "be".

Here I Am

 

This week I've been focused on the call of the prophet Isaiah. More specifically, I've been focused on Isaiah's response to God's call on him. 

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” 

Isaiah‬ ‭6:8

We read this same passage on Sunday morning and the challenge given to our church family was to daily read this passage and to daily respond to God's call, "Here I am. Send me!"

Just this morning, as I read this passage again, I was reminded of the call of Moses - and of Moses' response to God's call on him. 

So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.”

Exodus‬ ‭3:3-4‬

Similar to Isaiah, Moses responds, "Here I am.", yet Moses' response stops there. Moses tells God, essentially, "I am present", but his commitment to God is lacking. 

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

‭Exodus‬ ‭3:11‬

Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?

Exodus‬ ‭3:13‬

Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?

Exodus‬ ‭4:1‬

Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”

‭Exodus‬ ‭4:10‬

But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else."

‭Exodus‬ ‭4:13‬

Moses responds, "Here I am. Who am I that I should go? What would I say? What if they don't listen? What if they don't believe me? I'm not a good speaker? Please send someone else." 

God call each one of us. He has a specific purpose and path for every individual that He has created and given life to. And when God calls us, we are challenged to respond to His call, "Here I am. Send me!", just as Isaiah did. 

Yet, believers in Christ mimic the response - the attitude, the actions, and even the words - of Moses; "Here I am. Send someone else."

Week after week, believers show up in church buildings and respond "I am present" but when God calls them to worship - when God calls them to share - when God calls them to love - when God calls them to go  - they respond "Not me.". 

"Present" is not acceptable! It's time - now more than ever - for The Church to hear the call of God and respond - in a bold voice, "Here I am. Send me!" 

Let the response begin with you. Let it begin today. 

Fan The Flame

 

The Holy Spirit is not a spark that is ignited on a Sunday morning and quickly dies out. 

The Holy Spirit must be a flame that burns deep within our souls always. For in this way our hearts are passionate, our minds are focused, and our spirit is alive. 

The Holy Spirit may be extinguished by the world that we live in, but only if we allow it. 

The Holy Spirit is a spark that is ignited at the moment that we come face to face with Jesus - when we align ourselves with His will for our lives - when we dedicate our ways to Him - when we commit our lives to Him. 

The Holy Spirit, then, must be fanned for His fire to stay alive and active within our soul. 

Yes, the Holy Spirit must be fanned on a Sunday morning through our worship of God and through the hearing of His Word. 

And, the Holy Spirit must be fanned through our daily acts of worship; prayer, Scripture reading, accountability, sharing with Christian friends. 

The Holy Spirit is not a spark that is ignited on a Sunday morning and quickly dies out. For He is larger than the local church. If it is the responsibility of the local church and its leaders to bring you the Holy Spirit each week your walk with Jesus will never progress. 

The Holy Spirit must be a flame that burns deep within our souls always. 

Fan the flame - today and always. 

Fan the flame - let the spark be ignited. 

Fan the flame - feed the fire and passion for God in your life. 

Fan the flame - don't allow the embers to cool. 

Fan the flame of the Holy Spirit. 

As We Prepare To Start 2017

 

As we prepare to start 2017, let me offer Isaiah‬ ‭40:28-31‬;

Do you not know? 

Have you not heard? 

The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. 

He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. 

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. 

They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

If we go forth in our own strength, we will fail, and utterly fall; but having our hearts and our hope is in heaven, we will be carried above all difficulties, and able to lay hold of the prize of our high calling in Christ Jesus.

As we prepare to start 2017, let us commit to placing our hope in God and being strengthened in Him and by Him. 

Bedtime Conversation

I'm not really sure how my bedtime conversation with our 10, 8, and 6 year-olds tonight turned to dictators, Kim Jong-Il, and the present conditions of North Korea...

This led to Bennett crying with great confusion as to why someone would run a country this way and great uncertainty about the future of  the people living under his regime. 

When I thought all was better and Bennett was calm, I left the room. 

Within minutes he was crying out again.

I went into the room to console him once again and I asked, "What has got you the most upset?" He replied, "That man that cares more about himself than he does about the rest of his people."

I then asked, "Have you prayed for him?" And our daughter, Addison, responded, "Yes! He keeps crying, and wailing, and mourning for him!" To which Bennett sits up straight in his bed, looks to the sky and raises his arms; " Dear God, help that Kim guy to start caring about other people and to stop killing people that love you."

I love these kids!

Redeemed and Reconciled

I was talking to a couple of ladies this morning about the relationship between Christmas and Easter. In the midst of this conversation two words came up - two of my favorite words - "redeemed" and "reconciled". 

 

We understand that Jesus came from heaven - that He was sent - to redeem all of humankind from the penelty of sin - that is death. We also understand that Jesus gave up His life on a Roman cross so that our sin debt would be paid. Furthermore, we understand that Jesus arose from the dead - that He arose from the tomb - so that we could be eternally reconciled with God our Father. 

This afternoon I was reminded of one of my favorite passages of Scripture - a passage I think of often around Easter but rarely around Christmas. And yet, without the gift of Jesus at Christmas we cannot celebrate the gift of Christ at Easter. 

Romans 5:6-11; You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.