Life2gether

Most of the time when we talk about trials, we think of physical suffering, pain, and loss. And we should. After all, the Bible does. For example, 2 Cor. 11:24-28 records the many difficult trials Paul faced as an apostle of Jesus Christ.

Paul knew the pain of suffering and loss. And through these trials he learned to trust in God. But he learned something else. Something we often forget. Paul learned to be content in EVERY situation.

In Philippians 4:12, Paul speaks of God’s provision and how he learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. Paul knew how to be brought low and how to abound. In every circumstance, he was content because he understood that life was filled with both trials and blessing, suffering and prosperity.

I don’t know about you, but when I think of Paul I picture him suffering all the time. I picture a man who never enjoyed one moment of physical comfort or pleasure. Yet, it’s clear that there were times where he had plenty. I’m not sure what that entailed, but in those times Paul knew what to do. He abounded in thanksgiving. He continued to trust in God and not in what he had. I wonder if we do the same.

You see, for most of us, we face a different kind of trial each day. The trial of prosperity. Prosperity can be a dangerous trial for the Christian. Instead of bringing us closer to God, it can take us further away from him. Charles Spurgeon once said,

The crucible of adversity is a less severe trial to the Christian than the refining pot of prosperity. Oh, what leanness of soul and neglect of spiritual things have been brought on through the very mercies and bounties of God!

Wow. Most of us have never thought that God would test our faith by giving us abundance. And these mercies of God can actually take us away from God if we receive them with the wrong heart. So like Paul, I want to learn to be content in every circumstance. I want to learn what it means to be brought low in times of adversity. And I want to learn how to abound in times of prosperity – so that my soul would be satisfied in Christ alone no matter what comes my way.

That’s my prayer for you today as well.

I commend to you this Daily Bible Meditation Guide written by my good friend, Dr. Eric Johnson. Here’s a blurb from the introduction:

The purpose of this Bible reading schedule (shortened considerably from schedules that get through the Bible in one year) is actually to limit the amount of Bible we read daily. Reading quickly through many verses may not be as profitable as savoring deeply a few verses. So the aim of this schedule is not to read less, but to meditate more.

You will also benefit from Dr. Johnson’s thoughts on the “what” and “how-to’s” of meditation.

Many of you know that I’ve recently transitioned from serving as Family Pastor at LaGrange Baptist Church in LaGrange, Kentucky, to Senior Pastor at Oak Hill Baptist Church in Humboldt, Iowa.  It’s been a big change (thus the lack of blog posts!), but God has been very good.  We sense that He has us right where he wants us for such a time as this.

Maybe the biggest lesson God is teaching me so far is that He’s with me.  He’s given me the gift of himself – the Holy Spirit.  I’m learning to rely on him more than ever as I remind myself that the help I need lives right within me.*  The Holy Spirit gives me power to do things I cannot do on my own.  So when I’m faced with circumstances that are beyond my wisdom, instead of thinking to myself, “I can’t do this,” I’m reminding myself, “I can do this, by the power of the Holy Spirit in me.”

What an amazing gift to ponder at Christmastime.  The help of the Holy Spirit living within us.

Praise God.

*Paul Tripp elaborates on this concept in his excellent DVD series called, “Portrait of a Struggle.”

Amidst all the craziness of getting ready to move and trying to sell (and buy) a house, I’ve been slowly making my way through a much needed book for my hurried and distracted soul. It’s called Sanctuary of the Soul: Journey Into Meditative Prayer by Richard J. Foster. God has used this little book to slow me down as I listen to him and approach him with simple words of submission and surrender.

I want to share one insight from the book that was extremely helpful for me and I hope it’s helpful to you as well. Isaiah 55:8 says that “God’s ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts.” The text goes on to say that God’s Word and his ways are like the rain and snow that gently fall down and sink into the earth, which in time, brings forth life. Foster writes,

What a contrast with our ways, which involve wanting to open up another person’s head and tinker around in there for a bit! But you see, God’s ways are all patience and love, all grace and mercy. Our ways are domination and control, all manipulation and guile.

Earlier he writes,

You see it’s one thing to love God; it’s quite another to love God’s ways.

Later he gives the reader a helpful illustration to grow in accepting God’s ways:

We might want to imagine ourselves on a lovely beach observing the footprints of God in the sand. Slowly we begin to place our feet into the prints. At some places the stride looks far too long for our small frame; at other places it looks so short that it appears childlike. In infinite wisdom God is stretching us where we need greater attentiveness and stillness. As we follow God’s lead, we enter more and more into the divine Stride, turning where God turns, accepting God’s ways and finding them altogether good.

That’s my prayer for you and me – that we would learn to follow his lead and love his ways. For he is good and is working for our good always.

Do you struggle with fear? Are you drowning in the pool of performance? I encourage you to read these 3 posts by Bob Hudson.

• Pool of Fear Part 1
• Pool of Fear Part 2
• Pool of Fear Part 3

Bob is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Colorado with a Master of Arts in Counseling from Denver Seminary and a Master of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. I met him at an event called Men at the Cross awhile back.

Bob just started a new blog. His voice is needed in the lives of many men.

Paul Tripp with a great post on wisdom and what he calls the principle of prepared spontaneity:

People become wise when by God’s grace they are humble enough to accept how unprepared they actually are in themselves. Sacrificing the false god of their own independence, they run to the one place where actual certainty can be found. Then they’re able to live hopefully, productively, and courageously. Then they’re prepared for whatever comes along—not because they saw it coming, but because they’ve been students of the Word of God. They don’t know more about the future than anyone else does. But God, through the wisdom of the Bible, has made them ready for it.

In one sense, this is the secret of “going with the flow” that many people think they are pursuing. In the light of Scripture, however, the nature of all that going and flowing is completely different. It isn’t passive. Its grounded in truth, it understands the real nature of this existence, and its active and attentive.

I call this the principle of prepared spontaneity.  (Read the whole thing …)

One of the most powerful ways we can strengthen the church and spread the gospel is through the verbal encouragement of others.  As we stir up one another with our words, we remind one another of the Holy Spirit’s work within us expressed through our unique gifts and strengths. Just this Sunday my wife and I had the opportunity to encourage a young lady who helped lead us in worship. We came up to her after the service and told her that her voice and her presence helped to draw our hearts to God.

Isn’t it amazing that God uses our mouths as a means of building up his church? And when the church is strengthened, its influence can spread outward into the lives of others. I think of Paul as he reminds Timothy to “fan into flame the gift of God” (1 Tim. 1:6). What a cool metaphor to mediate on. I picture you and me sitting down by a campfire and the fire seems to be burning out. I take a stick and simply move the wood around and perhaps put another log on top. In just a few moments, the fire begins to burn brightly again spreading so rapidly that we have to push our chairs back because of the heat and flames. That’s what our words can do for others. They can stoke the fire of the Holy Spirit and his gifts within us to burn more brightly so that all can see his glory.

So here’s the challenge. When you witness the display of God’s grace and gifting in someone’s life, tell them. Point it out to them. Encourage them. And be specific. You never know how God could use your words as a way of stoking the fire of someone’s life to make a significant impact for Christ’s kingdom.

Tony Rose:

Isaiah 50:10-11 is a text that does not fit well in the mouths of American preachers. Frankly, it does not make sense to the typical Christian in our culture. We have long been convinced that if one fears the Lord and obeys his word he or she will have a blessed life with a smooth road. When darkness over takes the life of a believer the first thing we want to do is get them out of it. But is this right to do?

Do we ever consider the idea that God is the one who turned the lights out? And just why would God do such a thing? The truth is that when we see everything in life clearly we have this amazing ability to forget that God is the one who made things clear. Darkness is sometimes God’s tool to open our eyes . . . that is to open our eyes of faith. This type of darkness has nothing to do with sin or evil. “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” (I John 1:5) Our instinct to light our own fire at this point is not good. We may be cutting short God’s personally designed process of maturing us.

So, what then do we do when all the lights go out? We do what we are supposed to be doing when all the lights are on; trusting in the name of the LORD and relying on our God!

I encourage you to prepare your mind for Easter by printing out these Resurrection Letters by Andrew Peterson.

During these weeks of Lent, I’m reading through Nancy Guthrie’s book, Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross: Experiencing the Passion and Power of Easter.  Here are some of her opening words:

Too many years I’ve found that I have rushed from Palm Sunday into Easter morning, from palm branches to the empty tomb, without giving my mind and my heart over to thoughtful contemplation of the cross. If you can relate to my lament, then I hope you will join me as we turn our gaze toward the cross through the pages of this book.

You can read online for free Guthrie’s preface, as well as Martin Luther’s “True Contemplation of the Cross” and John Piper’s “He Set His Face to Go to Jerusalem.”

Here are the other chapters.