So, What Exactly is Your Point?

S - Mark 14:1-9 (NLT): "It was now two days before the Passover celebration and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The leading priests and the teachers of religious law were still looking for an opportunity to capture Jesus secretly and put him to death. "But not during the Passover," they agreed, "or there will be a riot." Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had leprosy. During supper, a woman came in with a beautiful jar of expensive perfume. She broke the seal and poured the perfume over his head. Some of those at the table were indignant. "Why was this expensive perfume wasted?" they asked. "She could have sold it for a small fortune and given the money to the poor!" And they scolded her harshly. But Jesus replied, "Leave her alone. Why berate her for doing such a good thing to me? You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But I will not be here with you much longer. She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time. I assure you, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman's deed will be talked about in her memory.""

O - The leaders were efficient … avoiding a riot and murdering the Christ all accomplished in a matter hours. This woman comes inspired to do a beautiful thing to the Lord and the disciples moan about its inefficiency and waste. Jesus rejoices in its beauty and relational expression. To the "efficient" her actions are pointless … now giving to the poor would be something; quantifiable and a very good point. To the Creator and Ruler of all her actions are so much the point that she will never be forgotten ("wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman's deed will be talked about in her memory."). Jesus identifies something in her which is like the beauty/good she expressed to him "She has done what she could." Not only was her giving a beautiful act of devotion it is one which is not wasted either … she alone had the privilege of fulfilling the critical cultural expression in the first century of a body prepared for burial. The Mary's will come the day after his crucifixion and burial, but their spices will never be needed or used. The Kingdom and the Christ are not primarily efficient but they waste nothing. Love has never been the most efficient but it is forever the greatest!

A - Doing what you can in face of criticism by leaders, over whelming need and/or oppressive public opinion will always be among the opportunities given to the followers of Jesus. The world (church and secular) will forever peg to the very human efficiency quotients, statistical data and formulaic logic. While these are not completely absent in the work of God and the reality of his kingdom they NEVER lead the way - EVER! They lead the way in the thinking and actions of the Sanhedrin, in Herod's palace and at Pilate's court but not with God, his kingdom and his Christ. My assignment is to work with him which requires faith, trust, reliance upon the God to whom nothing is impossible. This work, his work, will always invite me to do what I can, to give my pathetic little into his unending greatness in the face of earth's most crushing inevitabilities. The combination of faith and so very little becomes more than formidable - it becomes indefatigable in the highest order - the order and power of the resurrection from the dead. My measure will not be efficiency but relationships, it will not take its cue from the greatness of the need but from the greatness of the God who calls me near to live with him, work with him and in this context to do what I can.

P - Lord of Beauty, Power, Mercy, Grace and even of me,
Thank you for my assignment which is not for you but with you. Thank you for not gauging everything by efficiency … for love is not primarily efficient and you have loved us first and most and still (to this very day, hour, minute and second) REFUSED to change your mind. O King, O Friend, O Living Hope and Only Hope I love you back and say I want to bring my very little all and give it all to you … to do what I can as you assign my place and partnership with you. Thank you for not asking me to do everything I could possibly do at all times. Rather, you call me to yourself, to relationship and to work with you giving my all to that which you are doing. Thank you for not calling me to work for you but with you. Lord, my answer is yes. I believe and this is the real work. I give you my all, this is the real privilege. Thank you causing me and my very little all to matter here and hereafter.
All my love,

Steve

When Faith for the Moment is NOT Enough

S - Mark 9:16-19,21-23,28-29 (NRSV): "He asked them, "What are you arguing about with them?" Someone from the crowd answered him, "Teacher, I brought you my son; he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak; and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they could not do so." He answered them, "You faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me." … Jesus asked the father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood. It has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us." Jesus said to him, "If you are able!—All things can be done for the one who believes." … When he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?" He said to them, "This kind can come out only through prayer.""

O - There is no doubt that doubt is a big problem for the human race. In the immediacy of this post transfiguration event, the need for faith, even mustard seed sized faith, is strongly affirmed. This needed miracle was clearly within the realm of possibility for the disciples and for the father of the boy and for the crowd surrounding them. The Lord's rebuke is strong and his displeasure is not in the sinful condition or critical needs people have but in our faithlessness. "All things can be done for the one who believes." Even the dad's struggle with doubt does not prevent the miracle as he engages the faith he does have. All this said, the disciples ask further into the mystery of their inability to "deliver." They had obviously attempted which would indicate some level of faith for this act to be accomplished. Yet, they were unable to do what their faith assured them could be done. No only so, but we know that they'd been successful in the deliverance, healing, raising the dead activities for prior to this event they’d returned to report such to the Lord. They ask him why and he answers.

Their inability was not about no faith but how faith works in the daily and non-emergency times of life. The rescue of the boy was not dependent on the Lord's deity - Jesus' dialogue with the group and with the disciples in private make this point very clear. Jesus identifies that one of the real evidences of faith is revealed in our prayer lives. The faith Jesus highlights for the healing of the boy is not about the moment or even the possibility but all about the expression of faith in prayer. Apparently, it is not about the faith and prayer of the moment but all about the faith and prayer in cadence day by day. Jesus' answer coupled with the fact that he didn't ask the dad to wait awhile while he went off to pray only serves to emphasize the point. How many times did the Lord send "the boys" ahead so he could stay and pray. He is often up before them all at prayer. And in the garden, they fall asleep while he, in prayer, falls under the load and at the Father's feet. Even when Jesus knows the answer is no -- he still prays, he still asks according to the greatness of his Father. I'm still wondering if in heaven we're rewarded for how we asked rather than just how we received:).

A - My now 56 year old life has been through many seasons. In these seasons my prayer life has fluctuated. I don't think that this is all bad and I don't think that volume alone is the only indicator. We're not heard for the greatness (volume) of our words and yet we can say as much as we want to. I do believe that a part of prayer life is the Lord taking our requests as seriously as we do as evidenced by our prayers (Luke 18). I also believe that pouring out my heart in prayer makes room for him to pour in what is needed. Also, prayer is one of the ways we can draw near and stay near his person … it really is me making myself loving present to the God and King who is everywhere. With all these many words the application for me is to be growing in my prayer life day by day (not always measureable but always active). Faith is more than what I am willing to believe the Lord for at a moments' notice; it includes what I am willing to give my time and attention to day by day. I want to be someone he can count on for the kind who won't come out except by prayer.

P - Lord who prayed and who taught us to pray,

I admit my need to grow in prayer, to contend in prayer and to live out a prayer life which is essential to the faith that makes you glad (pleases you - Hebrews 11). With more of the 'I never been this way before' territory in front of me, many moments will be thrust upon me and in them all I want to believe you -- to have and use the faith that you commend, the faith that moves mountains and can be as small as a mustard seed. Apparently, I won't always know what "kind" of faith is required … the immediate or the seasoned faith. Either way, prayer remains essential. So, in my routine, the cadence of my daily life, help me find the way forward to be with you in prayer more and more. I need spirit help, Lord. My spirit remains willing and my flesh is not only weak but often resistant. My history is a contradiction … more time spent praying does not always equal more answers or less resistance or more power. Nevertheless, I do thank you for your decision to make prayer count … it is your mechanism of grace to which you have committed yourself. I make myself lovingly present to you and say … teach me your ways O Lord and lead me in a straight path. Let me know the pleasure of your company and the delight of your work on earth as it happens in heaven. Lord, I turn to you the face and ask, shape me in your image; use me in your plan and purpose; let me be a living stone and a living word and a living sacrifice to you and to others. I welcome you and your promises from a far. My answer is yes! Lord I believe, help my unbelief!

Even so come, Lord Jesus,

Steve

Questions of Life and Death

S - Ezekiel 33:10-11, 13-16 (NIV): "“Son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what you are saying: “Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?”’ 11 Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?’ … If I tell the righteous man that he will surely live, but then he trusts in his righteousness and does evil, none of the righteous things he has done will be remembered; he will die for the evil he has done. 14 And if I say to the wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ but he then turns away from his sin and does what is just and right— 15 if he gives back what he took in pledge for a loan, returns what he has stolen, follows the decrees that give life, and does no evil, he will surely live; he will not die. 16 None of the sins he has committed will be remembered against him. He has done what is just and right; he will surely live."


O - The question was, because of our sins and the circumstances surrounding us, how then can we live? The Lord's response is immediate and filled with hope. His response and Israel's remedy is based upon His eternal, indestructible and irrepressible life - 'As surely I live, declares the Sovereign Lord,'. The Lord has no pleasure in the death of the wicked and no variances for the righteous. The wicked must turn from their evil ways and the righteous must NOT trust in their righteousness and both are called to 'follow the decrees that give life.' No matter what we face or what we've done there is the way of life for all who will follow.

A - Following is critical. Following involves my will and decisions I am empowered/expected to make. The free will given by the Lord does not mean free from consequence. Life and death do hang in the balance but the Living God has no pleasure in death including the death of the wicked. Even when we are besieged by pressurized and desperate situations (caused by others or of our own making) life is still available and the call to follow hasn't changed. Israel's question was how to live and the Lord's question is why will you die? All are called to turn, to turn into life and away from death. It’s a turn we have to take more than once in our lives and more than once in a day. The call of life, the call of Jesus hasn't changed: "Follow me."

P - Dear Lord who is Life,

Thank you for all you are doing known and unknown to me! Lord Jesus, I choose to follow, to turn-in, to come under, to humble myself under your mighty hand, to welcome your promises from afar and your will on earth like they do in heaven. Lord, let me be one who is receiving your life, refreshing, vibrant, irrepressible and pure. Let me be one through whom you give life of the exact same order. Thank you for my assignment and for all that I can't do, can't control and can't influence. Thank you for loving me, wanting me and calling me to yourself. Let your purposes be on, in and through me today. Let me bring you glory and make you glad. Thank you for daily bread and for daily direction and daily life. Thank you for letting me love you back and for allowing such to matter to you (it is the world to me)! This day is your day, I will follow and keep turning in.

Nai Kurie (Yes, Lord),

Steve

Leadership Essentials for Today and the Future

S - 2 Chronicles 9:8, 1 Kings 11:2-5, 9-13 (NLT): "The Lord your God is great indeed! He delights in you and has placed you on the throne to rule for him. Because God loves Israel so much and desires this kingdom to last forever, he has made you king so you can rule with justice and righteousness.” … 2 The Lord had clearly instructed his people not to intermarry with those nations, because the women they married would lead them to worship their gods. Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. 3 He had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. And sure enough, they led his heart away from the Lord. 4 In Solomon’s old age, they turned his heart to worship their gods instead of trusting only in the Lord his God, as his father, David, had done. 5 Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. … 9 The Lord was very angry with Solomon, for his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 He had warned Solomon specifically about worshiping other gods, but Solomon did not listen to the Lord’s command. 11 So now the Lord said to him, “Since you have not kept my covenant and have disobeyed my laws, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants. 12 But for the sake of your father, David, I will not do this while you are still alive. I will take the kingdom away from your son. 13 And even so, I will let him be king of one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, my chosen city.”"

O - The working definition of covenant (it matters to me because it matters to you) is fully at work in this sad exchange between the Lord and Solomon. The Lord will delay what has become, at Solomon's insistence, the inevitable disassembling of Israel for the sake of his covenant with David. It mattered to David and so for his sake it would matter to the Lord even though David was no longer on the scene. David's life was not without some major stumbling but it was without consistent disregard for that which mattered to the Lord. Solomon's failures were different than David's.
Solomon failed to:
1. Stay astonished at the Lord and that the Lord would use him.
2. Live out the fierce personal loyalty the Lord offers and requires.
David's failures were:
1. Violating the written voice in adultery, murder and numbering the people.
2. Allowing murders (Joab) and incest (Absalom & Tamar).
David made the way for the next generation to exceed and excel all he ever did. Solomon doomed the next generation to decline and difficulties. David is forever the man after God's own heart and Solomon isn't.

A - Clearly, I want to live out my purpose in my generation as David did. I want to enable the generation coming behind me to exceed and excel. I want to be so strongly committed to Jesus that I can lay up and prepare for that which I will never see, worship in, enjoy or be directly identified with (Solomon's temple not David's). As long as the Lord allows me to have a leadership function my assignment is to live out loud the reality of covenant, astonishment at his person and his partnership through me and to consistently respond (even amidst some failures) with the fierce personal loyalty he deserves. I really do want to live this way this day and every day while it is called today!

P - God of Covenants,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit - thank you for wanting and enabling me/us to covenant relationship with you. Thank you for letting me/us come near and stay near. Thank you for wanting us at our worst and not just at our best … and for making a way at our worst to renew and respond in covenant class relationship. You really are slow to anger and quick to forgive. Lord, thank you for this day and for all it holds - most of which is yet a mystery to me. Thank you for the mundane and for the outrageous love and intense challenges which come our way in the blink of an eye … for you are purposeful in everything you cause and in everything you allow, working it all for good. Lord, enable me to join you in your work and to bring you glory and make you glad. Let me be a real leader and so engage you, your spirit, voice and word that those who come behind will exceed and excel it all.
I ask in Jesus' name,
Steve

What's Your View of Lamaze?

S - Luke 1:37-38, 45 (NLT): "For nothing is impossible with God." Mary responded, "I am the Lord's servant, and I am willing to accept whatever he wants. May everything you have said come true." And then the angel left. … You are blessed, because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.""

O - Abraham was the first to hear the words from God about God that nothing is too hard or impossible for him (Genesis 18:14). It was spoken in reference to the long awaited and physically impossible birth of a son. Mary hears these words and though the means of conception will be very different the impossibility is the same. The conclusion of Elizabeth, heaven and the Scriptures is that Mary is blessed (like Abraham) because she BELIEVED the Lord not because she bore the Christ (the entire human race will be blessed because she bore Jesus). The distinction is NOT subtle nor a semantically inspired exercise in theological hair-splitting. While faith will always lead us to certain actions and activities, the God-pleasing is always in the person to person believing. Many people act "for" God and yet are full of unbelief. Their actions may even be the very same of those who do believe (babies have been born since Adam and Eve) but the reality here and hereafter will never be the same (Hebrews 11:6).

A - The question is not what am I willing to sacrifice for God nor what am I willing to do for him … the question is will I take him at his word and believe that NOTHING is impossible, too difficult nor too wonderful for him to do? This believing is not relegated to certain times, events or situations. This believing is about every day while it is called today … and this is the God-pleaser because it keeps our hearts as open to him as his is to us. This faith brings us face to face with him who wants us and calls us to live with him, work with him, live in him for ever and ever. This faith is us taking him at his word the same way he takes us at ours … if we repent, he forgives; if we worship he receives; if we pray he will hear us. He does not call me to figure out what I can do for him … he calls me/us to believe that he can do anything and then calls us to do it with him. Jesus makes it clear that the work of God is to believe! This is the life of faith that Jesus lived and the life he calls all who follow him to live as well "As Father sent me so I am sending you."

P - Lord of all including the impossible,

Today is my only day, my only touch with you, eternity, faith, mercy, and forever life (vibrant, refreshing, irrepressible). This is my day to welcome you and your will on earth into that which is impossible, difficult and too wonderful for me. Lord, I do believe! I will do the work of believing and ask that I may understand/see what you are doing so I may do it with you. Thank you for NOT calling me to work for you but with you via faith … just like Mary and Abraham. I turn to you the face and throw open my heart, my very little life and all that is in my sphere of influence and say … my answer is yes … I welcome new wineskins, mulberry trees in the ocean and that which is too wonderful for me.

Thanks for wanting me,

Steve

Wanted: Forget Dead, Only Alive

S - James 2:20-26 (NLT): "Fool! When will you ever learn that faith that does not result in good deeds is useless? Don't you remember that our ancestor Abraham was declared right with God because of what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see, he was trusting God so much that he was willing to do whatever God told him to do. His faith was made complete by what he did--by his actions. And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: "Abraham believed God, so God declared him to be righteous.” He was even called "the friend of God." So you see, we are made right with God by what we do, not by faith alone. Rahab the prostitute is another example of this. She was made right with God by her actions--when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road. Just as the body is dead without a spirit, so also faith is dead without good deeds."

O - While the good deeds of faith includes how we respond to the poor and to our neighbors it is not limited there. Abraham's "good deed" was taking Isaac up Moriah. Rahab put her life at risk and this is the faith which engaged the righteousness God gives and accepts. Faith, without which we cannot please God, is pervasive, all-encompassing and always required of us (from first to last). It is by grace but not without choice and the choice of faith will always lead to action. Faith, genuine faith (i.e. living faith) will always engage:
1. obedience which puts the command of the Lord above his promise.
2. fierce personal loyalty to the Lord above his greatest blessings.
3. the need to obey today above the hopes and dreams of tomorrow.

Both Rahab and Abraham took their futures (and the futures of their families) into their own hands and believed God. They took him at his word. Faith really is acts of obedience followed by acts of God and if God doesn't act we're COOKED (Romans 1:5).

A - Without acts of obedience faith isn't faith at all. Since everything in God's Kingdom lives (living stones, bread, water, sacrifices, hope) my faith must live too. Faith without deeds is not even existing … the Scriptures identify it as dead, regardless of the information it contains or the truths it affirms. With Abraham and Rahab I am in such a season of intentional activities which require God's acts too. The bouts of apprehension, pain and fear are actually signs of life rather than doubt or unbelief. The dead feel nothing at all. Doubt and unbelief rationalize obedience away to inspire disobedience or a compromise of partial obedience which is not obedience at all (e.g. Saul and Agag - 1 Samuel 15). In spite of how it feels, living faith acts in the obedience which demonstrates the fierce personal loyalty the Lord gives and deserves. Living faith will say with the Shepherd King "the time I am afraid I will trust in him." This is my assignment today, in this challenging season and every day while it is called today.

P - God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Rahab, David and James,

Thank you for being my God too! Thank you for your gift and requirement of faith and for giving me the opportunity to live this out loud in this season of time. Abraham and Rahab demonstrated the faith which results in righteousness by their acts of obedience. Such acts not only confirmed their faith in you but brought about the affirmation of your friendship and secured their future in your awesome will. Lord, for me, my Jan our Jake and Heather and for all with whom we have to do, please let me live out the faith you give and require. I am waiting with you, not just on you. I am welcoming your promises from afar and mixing them with faith. I am asking you for new wineskins, mulberry trees in the ocean and for that which is too wonderful for me. The time I am afraid I will trust in you.

Steve

Hard not Broken Hearts are Really a Problem

S - Exodus 9:27-30, 33-35 (NRSV): "Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron, and said to them, "This time I have sinned; the Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. Pray to the Lord! Enough of God's thunder and hail! I will let you go; you need stay no longer." Moses said to him, "As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to the Lord; the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the Lord's. But as for you and your officials, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God."…"So Moses left Pharaoh, went out of the city, and stretched out his hands to the Lord; then the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured down on the earth. But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned once more and hardened his heart, he and his officials. So the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses."


O - This exchange between Pharaoh and Moses happens as a result of the plague of hail. Barnes notes: "With the plague of hail begins the last series of plagues, which differ from the former both in their severity and their effects. Each produced a temporary, but real, change in Pharaoh’s feelings." And this is exactly the point. The fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom, the fear of the Lord which is actually life giving, life sustaining and vibrantly effective in and through human beings is NOT emotion or circumstantially based, though it can inspire very strong emotion. The fear of the Lord is based upon the Lord; the Lord who never changes, who is almighty and all merciful, who is awesomely brilliant, powerful and good. Emotions change; circumstances change; but he does not and neither does this requirement. The failure of Pharaoh is the failure of many people from the poorest of the poor to the rich and powerful; the human heart is headed toward hardness all on its own and will inspire the tragic misperceptions that leave lives in ruin … the presence of this essential quality (the fear of the Lord) is the only cure and preventative. My Working Definition of the fear of the Lord: the wholesome dread of displeasing the One I love.

A - The most painful condition for us humans is a broken heart, but it is not the most serious. The hardened heart is the most serious and this is one which only has one cure. The cure is not reserved for "bouts" of hardness but must be a consistent element if one is to gain and maintain a healthy heart. The fear of the Lord (not emotionally based), the humbling of self (not circumstantially based on good or bad events) will soften a hard heart and keep a healthy heart soft. Like most things in the Kingdom of Jesus, the truth is straightforward and the challenge is in the application. I need to choose and the Holy Spirit needs to empower my choice … it's all by grace but not without choice … I choose.

P - Lord who fashions and shepherds the heart,

I do choose to engage the wholesome dread of displeasing the One I love because you have loved me first, most and have refused to change your mind. I ask that you will put the Holy Spirit on me, in me and cause Him to flow through me unto real life, refreshing, vibrant and resilient. As I continue to follow you into the unknown and uncharted ways of this new assignment I need my heart healthy and in-tune with you and your purposes to me and through me. I need to humble myself under your mighty hand and not allow circumstances to drive me but your greatness, brilliance, goodness and power to lead me. There is so much I do not know and many new circumstances which are coming my way. Lord you know how I am made and the way I will naturally default to … even trying to do it as you would have me to. Let me be one with a soft heart, a vibrant heart, a heart where you feel at home -- regardless of my current emotional status. I ask again for open doors and open heavens; for you to do wonderful things, things far beyond me. I welcome your promises from afar today while it’s called today and embrace the unchanging truth that you are purposeful in everything you cause and in everything you allow. Thank you for letting me love you back and letting it mean something to you:).

Steve