God's Sanctuary

A flash and I stir. Another flash and I’m awake.  I get up and the sound of thunder reaches my ears and I can feel the weather.  It’s July in California, I’m both concerned and filled with wonderment.  Could it be raining, do I hear rain on the metal roof of the sun room?  I walk out and yes it’s all true, I can hear the rain and I quickly open the windows and pull back the drapes to take in all that is happening.  A gentle breeze pulls in the scent of freshly fallen rain and I smell it as it makes its way pass me. I step outside and in the corner of my eye I see color and shape.  A double rainbow just above the neighbor’s house!  The morning rays of the sun have just begun to make their way through the big oak tree beside our house and there is a rainbow beautifully displayed for the world to see to the West.     

I am reminded of the glory of God, the weather, the morning, the rain, the clouds and the rainbow. The Psalmist says, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims the work of His hands.”  I cannot help but to be thankful, to raise my heart in praise and give thanks for the simple pleasures of life. God is good and I am a thankful.  Thankful for the reminder of the Lord’s glory in everyday life, thankful for the eyes I have to see.  I am thankful for my ears to hear and the nose on my face to smell.  I am thankful for the chorus of birds that are singing their praises.  This natural sanctuary that surrounds me cries out in worship and I can only sit here in awe of the glory displayed.    

What an incredible way to start my day.   

Hospital: Lesson's Learned

“But You, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, and the One who lifts up my head.” ~Psalm 3:3

Years ago I was taught that when you experienced something to always do a “lesson’s learned”, write down what you learned from what you went through.  Here is what I learned over the last few days.  Pain is very real and will quickly reduces you to its will.  Passing a gallstone is one of the most painful experiences of my life.  Which brings me to my first lesson learned, morphine is amazing, it is a miracle drug.  Modesty in pain do not co-exist. I was totally submissive to pain and would have done anything to see it go away and I mean anything.  Which brings me to the Emergency Room, the things they have to deal with on a day to day basis are remarkable.  Once I was no longer in pain I was able to soak in my surroundings and I have to tell you these people are professionals and deserve our gratitude.  The range of people they have to deal with is staggering.  

Once I was admitted and was placed in my room, I was greeted warmly.  I felt at ease right from the beginning.  From Ron to Liz I was well taken care of.  Lying in a hospital bed that inflates and deflates was interesting.  To keep people from getting bed sores the bed’s mattress moves.  So I felt like I was floating on a raft adrift at sea.  All those channels and nothing to watch, still holds true.  I got tired of being poked every four hours.  Laughter is still the best medicine.  Sonograms are really cool and I am thankful for the young lady who was called in at 2 AM to preform one on me.  Becky who is from Baton Rouge, who is a travel nurse because she cannot find a permanent position, wants to get to the East Coast to be closer to her children.  She did a sonogram of my heart and was very kind and I promised to keep her in my prayers, I hope you will too. 

The young intern who had to push my fat self to the further reaches of the hospital in a wheelchair so I could get an MRI, she did it with a smile on her face, and we laughed all the way there, especially on the down hills.  And to the older gentlemen who had to me push back, thank you!   Being stuck in an oversize doughnut with my arms over my head for 20 minutes felt like an eternity and I wouldn’t want to do that again anytime soon.  But turning all the sounds in the room into musical sounds in my head was amusing.  Eating for the first time in two days was great, I barely remember what it was. Vanilla flavored creamy jello stuff, just ain't right.  

Being woke up in the middle of night to draw blood, by turning on the lights and yelling my name wasn’t cool and was thankful for the young lady who followed who gently woke me up to do the same thing.  The sun rose through my window in the morning, the whole room fill with wonderful light each morning a reminder of another day of God’s grace.  Having a camera tube stuck down your throat while in twilight….I’ll leave that right there.  

Dr. Marsh for looking down into my stomach, was very blunt and to the point. I don’t remember many of the words he said while still in “twilight” other than, “You’re eating yourself to death”, which for some strange reason lodged themselves in my mind.  He later reminded me when I was fully awake, if I don’t make changes now I will die a young man.  This brings me to the biggest lesson of them all, the people who showered me with prayers and support.  I didn’t want to say anything, because I didn’t want people to worry.  But one post on Facebook and a few phone calls news traveled quickly.  At one point my hospital room was so packed, it was standing room only and the nurses had to wait to get in.  I am so grateful to be surrounded by such a loving group of people.  From facebook post, text messages, visits and prayers all help me again to realize this is bigger than just me.  

One morning the sun had just stared to rise and I started to read the psalms and I got to Psalm 3 and the Lord touched my heart with these words, “But You, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, and the One who lifts up my head.” (Psalm 3:3).  It is for his glory I live and he has shielded me for many years and he lifts up my head.  He has a plan for me and is using me in people’s lives and he is also using others to shape me.  We are all in this together and I am robbing God and the people around me by the way I live.  I need to make serious changes and take care of myself better for Christ glory.  

So overall I am thankful and I know I still have more tests that need to be done and I might have to have my gallbladder removed.  Nothing is wasted in the kingdom of God, he uses everything.  My thoughts also go out to all the nurses who are angels and who need our prayers and support.  Lastly to Liz, thank you for laughing with me while trying to figure out how I got so tangled up in my gown.

God is good!                     

God of Hope

"Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." ~Romans 15:13

I love this imagery in this verse.  As we believe in Christ, He fills us till we are over flowing with beautiful things.  Things that make life worth living, joy, peace and power!

Joy, not happiness which is fleeting like a mist sprayed into the air on a hot afternoon.  But joy that rains down gently and steadily, soaking the earth with its nurturing goodness.  

Peace that makes all things right, that removes the stain of guilt and hostility.  Peace that fills the chasm of separation from the living God and reconciles a debt paid in full.  

Power of the Holy Spirit who lives in me and who sustains me daily.  The Spirit who fills my life with His life giving presence that overflows into every aspect of my life.  Who enables me to live a life fulfilling and useful for the Kingdom of God.  

So many of us run around looking for more out of life, chasing after the things that bring fleeting happiness.  We live looking for the peace that alludes us at every turn and in every relationship.  We spend countless hours looking for the power to live every day for a purpose.  Yet here in this verse we find all that we are missing, all that we are looking for.  In this verse lays the  answer to all the nagging questions that keep us up at night.  In Him, in Him is the answer.  In Him is all the keys to joy, peace and power.  In Him we have all that we need to live this life to its fullest measure.

Who is “Him”?  He is the Alpha and the Omega, He is the great I AM.  He was before all things and all things find there meaning in Him.  He created everything, He was in the beginning and He made His dwelling with man.  He is the Lord Jesus Christ.  Who came to be abused for our transgressions, to carry our burden, our shame, our sin.  He was crushed for our iniquity.  On the cross God the Father poured out all His wrath onto His Son who gladly accepted our penalty and punishment. He died and was buried and was resurrected and ascended to the right hand of God the Father, where He sits till this day. In this Christ defeated sin and death forever and His throne will have no ending.  Those who believe in Him are filled with the Holy Spirit, who seals us and sets us apart.  Through the grace of Christ we have joy, peace and power to live lives fulfilling and with purpose.  Trust in Jesus today and find joy, hope and peace and the power to enjoy them forever! 

Grace Thoughts....

"It's not about what you do and don't do, its about Christ inside of you! Growing and maturing in Him, till he become your hearts desire, until you become like Him."

"I'm not saying don't repent and do good works, I'm saying what is the motivation at the root. Are you doing something for some kind of reward or are you so overcome by the grace of God that you do because of love. Love for the Lord, who gave his life for you, suffered and died for you!"

"We are so shallow in our thinking, so weak in our faith to think I can buy God, I can suffer more than he did for my sin. O' Church let go of the fleshly thinking and grasp the love of Christ and his immeasurable grace!"

"When I stop and wonder at the cross, my sin he carried, crushed for my iniquity, I can hardly lift my head! I am overwhelmed by the presence of the risen Lord my heart shatters in my chest. I am broken by the weight of thought of such a burden he gladly bore. O' but by the grace of God go I, O' by the grace of God I cry and shout for joy."

Grace Prayer

Lord I pray to truly hear you today.
I want to be changed in every way.

No more two steps forward one step back.
My trust in you is all I lack.

Search my heart for all I fear.
Remind me that my time is drawing near.

There so many people I see every day.
You placed them there so I could show them the way.

Yet I am distracted looking right and left.
How often I forget that they are fighting between life and death!

Oh my God, what can I do?
But fall in total awe prostrate before you.

Lift me up so I can see your face.
I want to be radiant to the world showing your grace.

The world needs so much less of me and more of you.
Help my mind to be filled with what is lovely, noble, right, and true.

-By Bethany Cox

John's Joy

“So they came to John and told him, "Rabbi, the One you testified about, and who was with you across the Jordan, is baptizing--and everyone is flocking to Him." John responded, "No one can receive a single thing unless it's given to him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Messiah, but I've been sent ahead of Him.' He who has the bride is the groom. But the groom's friend, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the groom's voice. So this joy of mine is complete. He must increase, but I must decrease." John 3:26-30

John the Baptist looked on from a far, watching Jesus as he baptizes people in the Jordon River.  The people were flocking to Jesus as they had once flocked to John.  John task had finished.  His disciples came to him as if to stir him up with jealousy, but he would have no part of it.  John understood completely his role as the ultimate set-up man.  He was there to prepare the way for the Messiah, to ready the hearts for one to come.  In these few words of John we see a level of humility that is breath taking.  

John recognizes we have nothing unless it is given to him from God.  John knew any popularity he might have experienced was because God willed it.  He knew his role in the story of Christ and as a friend to the groom he watched with delight in his heart.  He was expecting this day would come and rejoiced at the arrival of Jesus.  He knew this is the lamb who takes away the sins of the world.  He knew this was the Word and the Word had become flesh and had taken up residence among His people.  John’s joy was complete in watching Jesus.  His part on center stage was over and now in the wings he marveled at the Master in front of him.  

John set an example for us all.  John didn’t allow those around him to get him off track, by playing to his ego.  He didn’t allow pride or envy to distract him from what was most important.  We need to know when it is our time to allow others to shine for Christ, to understand our role in the story.  Most of all we can never forget our role in this grand unfolding story is to allow the Master to have center stage in our lives and in the world around us.  By doing so we will rejoice at the groom as he cares and loves his bride and our joy will be made complete in Him.  Jesus must increase and we are to decrease.      

Broken

Back to being disciplined again….I get off track so easily...very frustrating. You miss a day and whoosh...a week has gone bye and I do mean bye as in gone.  It's so natural to just go with the flow around you. Thinking of 1 Corinthians 9:27 this morning. "Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified."

Balancing this with grace and understanding underlining reasons for actions is also important. But I truly believe it starts with the simple act of prayer. To not rely on your own strength but on God's. To seek Him first and not 'lean' on my own understanding. Pray God gives me the strength and desire to take care of my body better. To pray that God will give me a desire to pray, to read my Bible. To pray that God will help me hand over the things I cannot control and that are best to put into His hands....because I make a mess of the things I attempt to control.

These are the hard lessons in life and there are absolutely no quick answers, no checklist, no self-help books or teachers. It's simply surrendering to Christ and His lordship. To pray for Him to instill in me a humble heart, and obedient heart, a heart that lives in knowing His love grace and mercy are there always. That the times I do 'fall' short He already knows those times and if....and if I am willing to give Him my failures He will do great things with them....things I cannot do myself.

This morning I am broken.  I have looked at my weakness and acknowledged my inability.  I   give you this veiled glimpse at my heart not to prop myself up as some kind of saint, or for sympathy. I share this so that you know I am a sinner just like you, I struggle every day of my life just like you and if you are reading this know you are not alone, you have not been abandoned you are human. There is hope, eternal hope, hope that will not disappoint you or forsake you, the Hope of Christ is waiting for you. To love you and forgive you and to restore you. Open your heart to Him and don't look back, trust Him with your heart and soul and don't look back. Don't look back at the would of, could of and the should of's, look to Jesus and focus on Him and Him alone and He will do great things. God is good! 

But They Forgot....

“They forgot what He had done, the wonderful works He had shown them” ~Ps. 78:11

The psalmist laments about his people and their short memories.  He cries out about the inability for his people to trust God despite His repeated acts of faithfulness.  In Psalm 78 he sets out to remind them of God’s shepherding with a pure heart and how He had guided them with skillful hands.  He reminded them of being freed from slavery in Egypt.  How God split the sea and led them with a cloud by day and by a fiery light at night.  He fed them and gave them water from the rock in the wilderness.  The people continued in their sin and God rebuked them and yet provided for them.  He gave them meat to eat and manna, the gain from heaven, people ate the bread of angels.  All of needs of the people God met in the desert, the place of nothingness.   Yet the people continued to sin.  God remembered that they were only flesh, a wind that passes and returns no more.  In His compassion for His name sake He drove the nations out before them and settled them in the holy land.  

How easily we still forget.  God leads us through our lives and cares for us in ways we cannot understand and yet we still ignore Him or forget what He has done all together.  When tragedy reaches our shores we cry out and ask, “Where is God!”, yet He has never left us.  In His grace and mercy He sees us through our difficult times with a cloud of friends and family by day and through the fiery light of His love in the darkest parts of night.  He never leaves or forsakes us; He is always with us, always loves us and is always faithful to His word.  He does this despite our short memories.  Today I pray you would take a moment and pause.  Think about all the times God has been with you and give thanks.  Give thanks to God who provides for us and meets our daily needs.  Give thanks to a God who shows you grace when you don’t deserve it and forgives us our many sins against Him.  God who sent His Son Jesus Christ, who loved us and died for us and was buried and rose again.  

Thank you Lord for today and for my many yesterdays you provided. Lord I pray that you would bring to my memory the many blessing you have showered me with and that I would live for the glory of your name!  Amen.            

Temptation Thoughts

Luke Chapter four opens in this way “Then Jesus returned from the Jordan, full of the Holy Spirit, and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for 40 days to be tempted by the Devil.”  (Luke 4:1-2a HCSB)

Jesus had just been baptized, He had heard the Fathers voice and He was filled with the Holy Spirit.  It from here he entered the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil.  Jesus is tired and hungry, He is coming off of a spiritual high and he is tempted.  The Devil first tries to get Jesus to fall into the trap of meeting His physical needs, by turning a rock into bread.  Before setting Jesus up with temptation Satan tried to cast doubt in the heart of Jesus by saying, “if you are the Son of God”, for which Jesus answered back with Scripture.  There would be two more temptations written down before it was over and Jesus would be victorious because the Holy Spirit and the word of God.  

Looking at this story my thoughts are on the nature of temptation itself.  Where it comes from and when it comes and how do we overcome it.  Jesus was coming down from a very high spiritual moment.  He was fulfilling the scriptures, His Father had spoken and He was feeling very confident.  Entering the wilderness, it would not have taken long for Him to have grown tired and hungry.  Perhaps he was starting to feel the loneliness, it was at that moment the enemy made his move and tried to have Jesus use His divine powers to meet a physical need outside of God’s will.  He used pride and doubt, Satan’s weapons of choice.  What can we learn from this?  One thing we learn is Satan is crafty and has years of experience in human nature.  He knows when we are most vulnerable, when we are confident, tired and in need physically.  

In my life when I’m coming off of a spiritual high and feeling good about my walk the enemy is lurking.  He waits for the time when I’m getting hungry and in need of rest. It will be around that time I will get a text, or a message, phone call, a driver who cuts me off, my wife or kids will say something…the perfect words that strike the chords of pride and doubt and I cross over into sin of thoughts or deeds.  Following sin there is a time of guilt and remorse.  I will seek the forgiveness for those whom I wronged and especially from God. But how could I have avoided the entire situation in the first place?  How did Jesus avoid it?

Jesus was aware of His condition and He was keenly aware of the enemy.  He knows the enemies tactics.  So Jesus was ready for Satan’s attack.  We too need to be aware of our weakness and when we are most vulnerable.  Know yourself, know what will trigger sin and avoid it.  Secondly Jesus countered the Devil with the word of God.  Ephesians chapter six reminds us we are in a spiritual battle and tells us how we can win “In every situation take the shield of faith, and with it you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is God's word. Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert in this with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints.”  (Ephesians 6:16-18) Jesus countered the Devil with the word of God, He was ready and used the sword of the Spirit to defeat the enemy and defeat temptation.  The Psalmist reminds us “I have treasured Your word in my heart so that I may not sin against You. (Psalms 119:11)  Treasure the word of the Lord, place in your hearts by reading it and studying it daily.  Pray for God grace to help you through the temptation.  Surround yourself with people who know you, know your weakness and who will also keep you in prayer. Have people you pray for regularly to keep you mindful and diligent of the need for prayer.  

Lastly remember temptation is not sin, giving into that temptation is sin.  Don’t play around with temptation, take it very seriously and stay in God’s word and in prayer and you will know victory.             

What is Your Vision?

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; His glory fills the whole earth" ~Isaiah 6:3

Vision matters! If you’re sitting on a plane and your pilot came out of the cockpit and he was being led by a stewardess wearing dark sunglasses you would become greatly concerned and you would want to exit the plane immediately!  The same would go if you were going to have heart surgery and the surgeon was blind or if you are a passenger in a car on a crowed freeway and the driver was blind.  In these cases the ‘lack’ of vision could be fatal.  But what about ‘life’ vision, the idea of knowing where you are going and knowing how to get there.  People who have that kind of knowledge are extraordinary and are often times called ‘visionaries’.  These visionaries have helped shape the world we live in, the light bulb, antibiotics, computers, all are products of such people.  

But what about God, can a vision of God change your life?  Isaiah was a prophet of God, but when he ‘saw’ a vision of God his life took on a different meaning and direction.  God revealed himself to Isaiah and Isaiah was changed forever.  Seeing God high and lifted up, Isaiah saw his own sin.  He realized how unholy he was in the light of a Holy God.  Isaiah confessed his sin and God restored him.  The restored Isaiah then heard the voice of the Lord and Isaiah surrendered to God’s direction for his life.  Isaiah had seen the Lord and prophesied with a new boldness and courage.  He knew where he was going and he knew nothing could stop him, because he had a vision of a glorious God.  

In life I think we have too small of a vision of God.  We have reduced Him to something small and convenient.  We don’t want Him intruding on our everyday life, or our fun.  But if we find ourselves in a bind we beg for His help, like He is some kind of magic Jeannie.  The sad part is when our prayers are left unanswered we will turn and blame God for the whole mess.  But if we were able to see God for whom He really is, the all-powerful, all-knowing God.  A God who knows the details of every hair on your head, a God who has planned out every event to the smallest of details from eternity to eternity to reveal His glory. If you could see this God in His entire splendor and majesty and you could realized this glorious God had a plan and a purpose for your life that was unshakeable.  How would that change your life, how would you live out the rest of your days?  Would you surrender all to His vision for you, would you follow Him to the ends of the earth and for eternity?  Your vision of God is life changing.  If you’re tired of the ordinary, if you’re fed up with just getting by.  Or perhaps you are a Christian and you haven’t heard from the Lord, you’re unsure of what God wants you to do.  Pray for a bigger vision of God, pray for God to reveal Himself to you.  

Lord please reveal Yourself to us—let us see You for who You are! Lord forgive us of our sins and where we fall so short of Your glory. Lord give us a heart to surrender our lives to You. Lord let us see You!