Transformed By His Word and Spirit

For my VCC Friends. Here are the Notes from the October 1 message. 

For others who want to listen to the message, you can go to this link. 

Introduction:

1.     How does God’s Word change us? I know I can’t fully answer that in a few minutes! 

2.     But because God’s Word is “living and powerful” (Hebrews 4:12) and is the key to the “renewing of our minds” (Romans 12:2), I want to spend a few minutes talking about how Spirit and Word work to change us “more and more into His image from glory to glory.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

3.     First things first. Here are a few foundational things in talking about how God’s word changes us.

a.     First, we are, in one sense, already “transformed,” but we are also being transformed. J There is a sort of a tension between who God says we are and who we are becoming.

·       2 Corinthians 5:17 is one of many passages that say we are already changed: “So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away - look, what is new has come!” (NET Bible)

·       But other passages point to a process. Two we will look at today are 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.” Romans 12:2 "Stop allowing this present age to shape you and how you live and instead be being transformed by the renewing of your thinking (mind) so that you can prove by living it out how good, pleasing, and complete God’s will is." (TW paraphrase)

b.     Second, it’s about relationship, not religion. We change in the context of intimacy with God.

·       I trust God’s Word because I know Him and trust Him. For example, I trusted my Dad’s promises to me because I knew his integrity. So it is with us. We trust His Word because it’s His Word. Our growing intimacy with Him and experience of His faithfulness in our lives assure us that His word is true even when it appears otherwise.

·       My interaction with God’s Word flows out of and also shapes my interaction with Him as my Papa. This is what is meant by "fellowship with the Holy Spirit."

c.     Third, other believers around us are essential to our being transformed by God’s Word. We often see in the Bible that it’s people living out God’s Word that brings change. Some examples (from NIV)

·       1 Corinthians 4:16-17 Therefore I urge you to imitate me. 17 For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.

·       1 Corinthians 11:1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

·       2 Timothy 3:14-15 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

d.     Transformation requires us to see what Scripture really says, not what we think it says. And again, to think! We “study” and meditate in partnership with the Holy Spirit. Note that “think” doesn’t mean mere human effort or “trying hard.”

e.     Finally, transformation happens only when we say “Yes” to what God shows us in His Word. It’s not enough simply to agree with what we hear or see. Change happens as we respond & obey.

·       James 1:22-25 (ERV) Do what God's teaching says; don't just listen and do nothing. When you only sit and listen, you are fooling yourselves. Hearing God's teaching and doing nothing is like looking at your face in the mirror and doing nothing about what you saw. You go away and immediately forget how bad you looked. But when you look into God's perfect law that sets people free, pay attention to it. If you do what it says, you will have God's blessing. Never just listen to his teaching and forget what you heard.

Three Passages That Help Us Understand Transformation

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 (NRSV) Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

1.     Transformation happens through the leadership of the Spirit who leads us to increasing freedom!

2.     Intimacy unlocks transformation. (The phrase "Unveiled faces" speaks of intimacy, authenticity, etc.) The context here is about unashamed, full access to God without any hindrances to our understanding.

3.     Where (at whom) we look changes us! Some quotes from Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard are below.

·       Our present American culture boasts of complete freedom in what one sees, says, and hears. Many professing Christians are paralyzed or even destroyed by adopting this “freedom” as a lifestyle. For they allow images into their mind that eventually overwhelm them. If we allow everything access to our mind, we are simply asking to be kept in a state of mental turmoil or bondage. For nothing enters the mind without having an effect for good or evil.

·       There are many things we need not see and are better off not seeing—though, if you wish, you have a “right” to see them. Anyone who thinks that if I have a right to do X it is good for me to do X, simply hasn’t thought deeply about the matter. Paul’s wise counsel, by contrast, was, “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things” (Philippians 4:8). Make no mistake; this is a fundamental and indispensable part of our spiritual formation in Christ.

Romans 12:1-2 (NIV 1984) Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will. 
(Here is my paraphrase of v. 2 again) "Stop allowing this present age to shape you and how you live and instead be being transformed by the renewing of your thinking (mind) so that you can prove by living it out (testing) how good, pleasing and complete God’s will is." 

1.     We are being shaped one way or the other by what we expose our minds to and think about. Paul urges us to be shaped in our thinking by the renewing of our minds (our thinking).

2.     The primary way this happens is through exposure to the Truth of God’s Word. (This includes people modeling it, other resources but especially the Bible.) This has many implications, of course, but for just one, consider how much of your thinking is actually shaped by His word. “Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.” Ps. 119:97 (NIV 1984) I mention this in the 2005 message I recommend!

2 Timothy 3:14-17 (NIV 1984) But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

1.     The context of this passage is Paul giving instruction for living in wild and crazy times!

2.     What do those four main words in v. 16 mean?

·       Teaching (doctrine) Now “doctrine” sounds exciting, eh? It will if you understand that it means instruction in truth that changes our thinking, our faulty paradigms and views of God and ourselves!

·       Rebuking. “Rebuking” sounds even less exciting! But don’t you want to have things that harm you and others removed from your life? The word basically means to expose sin. (So that it can be expelled!) “(Rebuking) means, clearly, that as we read scripture it will from time to time inform us in no uncertain terms that something we’ve been doing is out of line with God’s will. Sometimes this will lie plainly on the surface of the text; other times, as we read a passage, we will begin to hear the voice of God gently, or perhaps not so gently, telling us that this story applies to this area of our lives, or perhaps that one. When that happens – as it may often do for those who read the Bible prayerfully – we do well to pay attention.” (For Everyone Commentary)

·       Correcting. This word means “restoration to an upright or right state, correction, improvement of life or character.” (Olive Tree Enhanced Bible Dictionary). This word can also be translated, “Improving.” “Reading the Bible will transform you, will ‘improve’ you, in the sense of somebody making ‘improvements’ to a house or a city.” (For Everyone Commentary)

·       Training in righteousness. “It will train you in ‘righteousness’, which is a combination of goodness and justice, the behavior that God longs to see in all his children. The aim is (verse 17) not to squash people into a strange, unnatural shape by trying to order their lives according to the Bible, but to help people who belong to God to become complete, richly human beings, reflecting God’s image in all its many-sided splendor.” (For Everyone Commentary)

SUMMARY: We are transformed by who we are with, what we look at/listen to, what we think about and what we choose.

Examples from my life as to how this works:

Remember: the goal is to get to know God (but like a child getting to know his daddy, not a slave getting instructions on what to do!): “Show me your ways, teach me your paths…” This happens as Holy Spirit and the Word change our understanding of Him, of our paradigms (how we view and think about things), our understanding of who we are to Him, of people around us, our hearts, etc. As we said earlier, this requires us to think deeply and often as we reflect and read. 

Think often: Most of us, even as believers, think mostly about things other than God and His Word. So much treasure is lost because of this, so much joyful intimacy, so many lies still hold us captive! Therefore my ultimate goal today is to compel you by love to consider living saturated with His Word!

Two main ways Holy Spirit uses the Word with me:

1.     First, by having me reflect on what I already have in me (it’s good to have a lot of it in me. It gives Him a large vocabulary). Some examples: 1) “Get rid of all bitterness.” Ephesians 4:31, can speak to me any time it needs to!  2) One big epiphany was that God sounds like what He tells us to sound like (take a look at Ephesians 4:29, 1 Corinthians 14:3 to determine whether the voice you hear is God or something else.) 3) Psalms 56:3 and 94:17-19 often speak to me when I am struggling with anxiety. Note, though, how each of these grows out of conversation with Him! Relationship! Also, all of it is positive not negative for me. God is never harsh or condemning with me. If what I hear doesn’t give me hope (even when I am being corrected), I know it’s not from Papa God (or at least part of it is being tainted by my thinking or the enemy).

2.     Second, by guiding me as I read/study (or “listen” for you who are auditory). This happens as we think carefully and thoroughly about what we are reading. Several examples below.

Who God Really Is (What He is Really Like)

1.     Although “saved” and “salvation” are part of the Gospel message, nowhere is the Gospel described as choosing between Heaven or Hell. Rather it's about the Kingdom of God, about returning to the One who loves us, etc. The Good News is about relationship with the One who paid everything to get to us, not escaping eternal torment. We won’t be joyful in Heaven because we escaped Hell but because we will be face to face with the One who is beyond description and who loves us infinitely. (John 14:1-3 “that you may be with me…”)

a.     Exodus 34:6-7 (NIV 1984) “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.”

b.     Example: John 3:16-17 (Loved the world so much that He gave…, not to condemn the world but to save the world…)

c.     Example: “God was, in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself…” 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (NIV 1984) All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

2.     God is like what He tells us to be! I already sort of covered this earlier (when I discussed what God sounds like) but when I stopped and reflected on 1 Corinthians 13 and Galatians 5:22-23…Wow! I realized that these passages and others are descriptions of God. God is the kindest, most joyful, most patient, most gentle Being in the Universe, etc.

3.     Another example: “Your mercies never end….” (Lamentations 3:22-23) We tend to think of God in human terms so we think He runs out of mercy, or has to parcel it out, but His mercy never ends!

4.     My reflecting on Papa as a Good Father (Matthew 7:7-11) My thinking was changed about God‘s desire to bless by this passage. I was unconsciously thinking that He was limited in his goodness and/or that if others have it bad, I should not ask for him to bless me. But the truth is that God is good all the time and others suffering does not cancel out his goodness.

Who Believers Really Are to Him

1.     We loved beyond measure. Romans 5:8

2.     Are we “unworthy”? Nowhere are we called that! You don’t pay a huge price for something that has no worth, and God paid an infinite price for you and me. What about Luke 17:10? Some translations use the term “unworthy” in this verse. But the meaning is undeserving, not unworthy. Luke 17:10 (NET) So you too, when you have done everything you were commanded to do, should say, ‘We are slaves undeserving of special praise; we have only done what was our duty.’

3.     Are we punished when we do wrong? We may reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7-8), we may be disciplined (Hebrews 12:7-11), but all punishment that was/is due to us has been put on Jesus. Isaiah 53:5 “the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

What the Core of “The Christian Life” Really is

1.     Abundant Life: John 10:10 What is “abundant life”? In a nutshell, it’s eternal life lived in loving relationship with God, hearing His voice, experiencing His love, fulfilling His purposes (a life with meaning, purpose and destiny). All of this can be discovered simply by reading the rest of the Gospel of John. The point is that Abundant Life has nothing to do with material possessions or “having a nice life,” but it has everything to do with having an eternal and growing relationship with the One who is life.

2.     I have discovered that the Christian life is more about being in healthy relationships than merely stopping personal sin (also important, of course). Ephesians 4:1-3 (NIV 1984) As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Most of what follows these verses has to do with relationships with one another—check it out!. This fits with the New Commandment, of course in John 13:34-35 A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” TW paraphrase: “The world around you will recognize you as my followers by your healthy, love-filled relationships with one another.”

3.     Related to number two: Example is the most important teacher/trainer. A careful reading of the New Testament will see that “truth” was transferred from teacher to “student” more by example than by talking!

4.      “I can do all things…” I was reading this passage one day and realized that a Christian can never say “I can’t!”

Consider these amazing words as we finish. May God grant me/us similar passion for Him and His Word!

Psalm 119:1-2 (NIV 1984) Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord.  2 Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart.

Psalm  119:11-18 (NIV 1984) I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. 12 Praise be to you, O Lord; teach me your decrees. 13 With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. 14 I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. 15 I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. 16 I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word. 17 Do good to your servant, and I will live; I will obey your word. 18 Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.

Psalm 119:97 (NIV 1984) Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.

Transferring Our Trust

These are my notes from my Sunday morning message that I promised to post for VCC folks. References to previous blogs will take you to that blog if you click on its title. You can also listen to the message (and a few of my other messages) by clicking here. It will open in a separate window.

Introduction:

1. Standing in the midst of the smoking rubble of a completely destroyed city, having experienced rejection again and again, the prophet Jeremiah wrote a lament. In the middle of that lament, he says… 
2.  “My soul has been deprived of peace (shalom); I have forgotten what happiness is. Then I thought: My future is lost, as well as my hope from the Lord. Remember my affliction and my homelessness, the wormwood and the poison. I continually remember them and have become depressed. Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, for His mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness! I say: The Lord is my portion, therefore I will put my hope in Him. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. It is good to wait quietly for deliverance from the Lord.” (Lamentations 3:17-26 HCSB) Later Jeremiah says, “I called on your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit. You heard my plea when I said, ‘Do not close your ears to my cry for relief.’ You came near when I called you, and you said, ‘Don’t be afraid.’” (Lamentations 3:55-57)
3. What we see here with Jeremiah is a “transfer of his trust” from himself and his perception of things back to the One he knew who alone could be trusted.
4. We often see this transfer of trust in David’s psalms as well. Here’s one example of many: “O Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.” But you are a shield around me, O Lord; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head. To the Lord I cry aloud, and he answers me from his holy hill. I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side. (Psalm 3:1-6 NIV 1984) There are many more psalms like this, of course.
5. One more example from our friend, Simon Peter: During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little trust,” he said, “why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:25-31 NIV 1984) 
6. Each of these passages show us a person “transferring his trust.”
7. Worry (fear, anxiety, etc.) is an invitation to transfer our trust from ourselves to God.  We all have faith. It’s where that trust is placed, it’s where our confidence really rests that’s important, of course. Proverbs 3:5-6 comes to mind: “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. Don’t trust your own understanding of things…”
8. When our world is shaken to pieces, it’s natural for us to lose focus and become afraid. The fear in that moment is not sin but is instead a wonderful reminder of Papa’s invitation to transfer our trust back to Him. How do we do this? Here are a few of the most important things we can do.

1.         Be sure you know God as He really is!

o     We were created for a relationship with God, and trust is an essential part of any relationship and is especially important in our relationship with God, of course.

o     Interestingly enough, trust grows from our being in a relationship with someone, but it’s also required in order for the relationship to grow. We trust as we get to know them, but we will only get to know them if we trust at least a little!

o     We trust someone deeply because we know he/she can be trusted and because we know they care about us. We trust God because we know He treasures us and can do anything He wants for us because of His love for us.

o     The challenge with our trusting God is that the devil’s full-time job is to undermine our trust by misrepresenting God. (This started with the first temptation in the Garden when he undermined Eve’s trust in God, and this strategy continues to this very day).

o     God is good—all the time. Anything that says otherwise: pain, tragedy, evil is not from God but from the enemy. God when He finished creating the Universe said that it was “Very good.” There was absolutely no evil present in the world, and that perfectly good world is an accurate reflection of the nature and character of God. Evil did not enter the world through God but through the rebellion of a powerful angel followed by Adam’s rebellion.

o     So even though God is Perfectly Good, the enemy tries to get us to focus us on the bad, seeking to smear God’s reputation and undermine our trust in Him.

o     So what is God really like? He is like Jesus and He is like what He tells us to be towards others. For more on this see my previous blog entry entitled Why??? written on 8.30.17. You may also want to read my blog on "What is God Like?" by clicking here (it will again open in a separate window), and here for part two.

o     Do we really get this? Do we understand that God never brings evil, never intended evil to be part of His creation, and will someday and somehow redeem all of it? (To see how you’re doing with this, give yourself a “religion check.” If you tend to focus on your behavior—sin management, doing the right thing so you won’t get in trouble, etc.—you are revealing your need to get know Papa a lot better. The Christian life is not about avoiding sin but about living to delight the One who delights us.)

o     I trust that you can see why this is so very important! We are not likely to trust a God who sends evil or somehow “allows” it for our good, etc. But that’s not what God is really like! The following quote from The Shack nails it: “Mack, just because I work incredible good out of unspeakable tragedies doesn’t mean I orchestrate the tragedies. Don’t ever assume that my using something means I caused it or that I need it to accomplish my purposes. That will only lead you to false notions about me. Grace doesn’t depend on suffering to exist, but where there is suffering you will find grace in many facets and colors.”

o     Even Martin Luther understood that God was completely good. Many hundreds of years ago, he wrote this remarkable thing about prayer: “Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance but laying hold of God’s willingness!”

o     Do we need to stop and let Holy Spirit adjust your thinking right now? :-)

2.        Refresh your understanding of who He really is. How? 

o   Remember His Fingerprints on your life.

§     Thanksgiving/Gratitude are wonderfully helpful in helping us transfer our trust back to Papa.

§     That’s why Paul includes “thanksgiving” in Philippians 4:6: "When your anxiety detector lets you know that you are indeed anxious and filled with worry, make your concerns known to God, with all kinds of praying sprinkled liberally with thanksgiving for all the amazing things God has already done to reveal His love and faithfulness." (TW paraphrase)

§     I have a blog entry on this, too, entitled Worrying About Worry posted on Sept. 23, 2009. 

o   Remember His Word.

§     God’s Word reminds us of His absolute trustworthiness. As Pastor Tony has been reminding us, it’s good to ask God for specific promises when we are struggling to trust Him.

§     But remember that for God’s word to have power in your life, it has to be seen and experienced in the context of your intimate relationship with Him.

§     Scripture speaks to me in the time of testing because of my relationship with Him, not to cause me to have a better relationship with Him. In other words, because I know Him so well, His words mean everything to me!

§     God’s word doesn’t create faith in you as much as it reminds you that He is trustworthy and has given many, many promises that you can count on because He is the Promise-Keeper!

§     If you trust Him, you will trust His word (and that leads to even more trust).

o   Remember His kindness and faithfulness to and through others.

§     Have you already found yourself being renewed by the amazing Harvey stories about people helping people? I have! And I see God’s hand in it all!

§     Philippians 4:8-9 comes to mind where Paul encourages us to intentionally focus our minds on good, true lovely things. You see, it doesn’t “feed my faith” to look at bad news, etc. I don’t mean we ignore things completely, but rather we can make good decisions about what we focus on. I don’t need to know everything about bad things—that puts the emphasis upon me and my need to understand (Proverbs 3:5-6 again). But I do need to refresh my mind often by thinking about the good I see in others and in what others are doing.

§     We all “meditate” don’t we? It’s probably best to meditate on what God is like, what He’s doing, His word, what His people are doing, etc., instead of what the enemy is doing (worry is simply meditating on the wrong subject! Kris Vallotton: “Expecting something bad to happen is coming into agreement with the wrong Kingdom.”

§     You see, in order to trust Papa I need to be able to hear what He is saying (all the time), and it’s much easier to hear Him if I am meditating on good stories that reflect God’s goodness, love and power.

3.        Surrender your need to understand everything!

o     Proverbs 3:5-6 eliminates our asking “Why,” doesn’t it? (Think about it--asking "why" comes from a desire to trust our understanding!)

o     God rarely answers the “Why” question because He translates “Why” into what you are really saying: “Papa, I’m afraid,” and because we almost certainly wouldn’t understand His answer to “Why” anyway.

o     Instead of telling us why, God’s answer is almost always, “I am with you” or “I will be with you.”

o     Which would you rather have: answers to your questions or God’s Presence? Yes, sometimes He will indeed show us some reasons for things, but most of the time He knows that what we need most is not one more answer but rather His Presence and power at work in our lives.

o     Remember, too, that biblical faith (trust) always includes a longer view—one that stretches into eternity (which we definitely can’t understand at present!). Read Hebrews 11:13-16 and you will get a glimpse of what I mean by this. The bottom line is that a lot of things in this present life won’t make sense until we see them from Eternity’s perspective, and because of this, we gladly surrender our need to understand things. Remember, we are encouraged not to trust our understanding, and if we refuse to surrender our need to understand everything, we won’t be able to “trust in the Lord with all of our heart.”

o     Clinging to the need to understand means that you are trusting you and your perception of things, exchanging your very limited perception of things for God’s embrace. Surrendering our need to understand everything frees us to transfer our trust fully to the One who really does understand everything and works it all to our good.

4.        Shift your focus back to Him and return to His embrace.

o     “Faith is the gaze of the soul upon the face of a saving God.”  A.W. Tozer (The Pursuit of God)

o     Faith is ultimately a decision, not a feeling, a choice to look at God and not anything else, a choice to lean upon, trust in, rely upon the Totally Trustworthy One.

o     “Whenever I am afraid, I will choose to lean upon Him, to fully rely upon Him.” Psalm 56:3 (TW paraphrase)

5.        Continually rely on and give support to the people around you.

o     We were never meant to live the Jesus life alone. The most common word for believers in the New Testament is “brothers/sisters,” and that means we are family and were never meant to walk this journey alone.

o     We need the encouragement of others in order to keep our trust securely transferred to Papa God, especially in difficult times.

o     And amazingly enough, it also strengthens us to strengthen others. How can you not be encouraged while encouraging others with stories of God’s fingerprints, His Word, etc.?

o     I love how the Passion Translation reminds us of this (Hebrews 10:23-25): “So now we must cling tightly to the hope that lives within us, knowing that God always keeps his promises! Discover creative ways to encourage others and to motivate them toward acts of compassion, doing beautiful works as expressions of love. This is not the time to neglect meeting together, as some have formed the habit of doing, because we need each other! In fact, we should come together even more frequently, eager to encourage and urge each other onward as we anticipate that day dawning.”

Concluding Thoughts

1. Remember Jeremiah? The books of Jeremiah and Lamentations contain reflections of his intimate, if bumpy at times, relationship with God. It was Jeremiah’s intimate relationship with God that enabled him to shift his focus and transfer his trust to God. And we see that this intimate relationship started with Jeremiah’s call in Jeremiah 1:8 “Do not be afraid of those to whom I send you, for I will be with you to protect you,” says the Lord. (NET)
2. Does that promise sound familiar to you? It’s the same one God makes to each of His children!
3. I close with a quote from an earlier blog entry I wrote about Jeremiah on February 5, 2011 (“Standing in the Smoking Rubble”). 

Perhaps some of you, like Jeremiah, have wondered if God was against you. Nothing is further from the truth (Romans 8:31 comes to mind), but our misperceptions about God when we are in the middle of painful circumstances can make it feel like that! My prayer for you and me, though, is that the brilliant breakthrough that came to the angry and bitter Jeremiah will shine in our hearts even more brightly than it did for this brokenhearted prophet. God is good, all the time. His kindness never ceases, His mercies are refreshed every morning, and even when we rail against Him, He refuses to stop pursuing us with goodness and love. 

Oh, Papa God! How truly amazing you are! Even as I stand in the rubble, smoke clouding my vision, your radiant goodness gives hope. How can I not hear your invitation to trust you and wait quietly for the goodness that is yet to come?!!

Why????

     Harvey, the "Hurricane from Hell" has finally exited the Houston area (but is still wreaking havoc elsewhere), and the storm has left behind death, destruction, and disruption everywhere. Sadly, God often gets a lot of "fake news" and  "bad press" when tragic things happen. Even believers have been asking me, "Why did God do this?" or "Why did God 'allow' this?" So I am writing a very short blog today to address this question, while pointing to four of my earlier blogs that cover things in more depth.

     It always grieves me when people, even believers, attribute evil to God, either because they think He is judging sinners or because they think He "allows" evil to happen. On a side note, it's interesting to me that when tragedy strikes an area that is considered evil, some Christians are quick to see it as judgment, but not so quick to say that when tragedy strikes close to home. Just a curious fact, I guess. :-)

     So is God up there in Heaven pulling levers and pushing buttons controlling every event that happens on earth? No! Following that line of reasoning causes us to end up with a schizophrenic deity who does both good and evil! That is not the God of the Bible. And it's important to know what God is really like, dear ones, perhaps especially when tragedy strikes, because it's in the storms that we need to snuggle up close to our Papa. But it's hard to want to snuggle up to a Papa whom we think may unleash pain and suffering. But thankfully, God is in fact "Good all the time" and is the kindest, most loving Being in the Universe. And He invited us not to try to understand why (a subtle form of trying to control things), but instead invites us into His embrace. 

     I know this sounds like a copout to some, but as one who has faced lots of pain and seen lots of tragedy, I can tell you that the best question to ask God when evil strikes is not "Why?" but "Abba, can I crawl up into your lap?" (Do we really think that we, with our tiny and finite minds, could even begin to understand an infinite God's answer to why?).

     But there's nothing wrong with thinking deeply about things and with asking God "Show me your ways" and "Help me to know you better." So I offer to you the following freshly edited blogs from previous years. If you read only one of these, I recommend that it be "The River of God's Sovereignty," but they all wrestle to some extent with the problem of bad things happening. 

What is God Like? 

Did God Get Saved?

The River of God's Sovereignty

God Above Time

     I could write so much more about this, but this will have to do for today. I offer no glib answers to people who have lost so much--not now, not ever. But I do offer up a view of my Abba that I hope will comfort and encourage you as much as it has me, now most recently as I watch tragedy unfold just miles from where I live.

Crawling up into His lap,

Tom, one of Abba's Children

"I Have Stilled My Soul"

     "Wait in silent expectancy for God alone, O my soul, for my hope is from Him. He alone is my rock and salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. My salvation and my honor rest on God. My mighty rock, my refuge, is God!" (Psalm 62:5-7, TW paraphrase).
     "My heart is not proud, O Yahweh. My eyes aren't prideful. I don't concern myself with lofty matters or try to figure out things that are too complicated for me. Instead, I have stilled and quieted my soul. Like a young and trusting child is my soul within me. Yes, my soul is like a young and trusting child." (Psalm 131:1-2, TW paraphrase).
     These are troubled/troubling times that we are living in, aren't they? It's times like these that make us more aware of the importance of living with inner stillness. It's always important, of course, to live with a "quiet soul," but we become more motivated to find peace and stillness when noisy storms are all around us.
     One of the most important things Papa God has taught me over the past several years is how to "still my soul." My ability to maintain inner stillness has had some major interruptions along the way, as many of you know, but lately, more than ever, Papa has been restoring to me the grace to live in inner stillness (most of the time, at least).
     So how does someone still her/his soul and reach that place of inner stillness? The psalms quoted above not only show us the importance of it but also a substantial part of the process. So how do you do it? I can't take time today to write out everything I have learned, but here are a few thoughts that may help you.

• Believe that it's possible and extremely valuable to learn to "still one's soul." My journey into the quiet place was launched because of a desperate longing for God's life, love and power to flow through me to others. He surprised me, though, by inviting me first into intimacy with Him instead of bestowing on me the power I was seeking. It was my subsequent hunger for intimacy with Him that moved me to pursue inner stillness because I couldn't hear His voice due to all the internal noise in me! But I did eventually reach a place of consistent inner stillness in the midst of a very busy and highly driven life. The fact that I did so tells me that this is possible for anyone. It is possible for any and every follower of Jesus to learn how to still his/her soul. And the value, of course, is obvious to anyone who longs to hear God's voice and know Him intimately.
• Remember that it's a journey, not a project. Learning to quiet your inner world doesn't happen overnight. It requires time in at least two ways. First, it takes a long period of time to learn the discipline itself. You don't learn to still your soul in seven easy, 5-minute lessons. Second, it takes lots of time, each time, (especially at first) to get our minds to stop spinning and whirling enough to get quiet. It used to take me far more than an hour to still my soul (quiet my mind).
• As Psalm 131 clearly indicates, it begins with humility and the perspective that humility brings. The psalmist obviously has no problem acknowledging his smallness, his weakness, his limitations. His approach to God begins with that humble perspective. How does this help us reach inner quietness? It helps, first, by reminding us to surrender things that were never meant to be in our domain or under our control. It helps as well by affirming to God and ourselves that we are dependent on Him. And it helps by reminding us let go of our need to "understand" things that are beyond us or at least currently hidden from us. I think you get my drift here: humility opens the door into the quiet place of the soul.
• We rest and surrender our way into stillness. This is seen clearly in many of the various translations of Psalm 62 (especially meaning-for-meaning translations). The HCSB, for example, translates Psalm 62:5 "Rest in God alone, my soul, for my hope comes from Him." And the NIV is similar: "Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him." Both of these translations show us that quieting our souls is more about relaxing our way into stillness rather than fighting our way into it. This is obvious once we "say it out loud," of course, but I am amazed at how many people try to "make themselves be still." Yes, the psalmist says "I have stilled my soul," but he did so by relaxing into an awareness of God as His Abba and by picturing himself as a little child. Stilling one's soul is about making a decision, not making an effort. For me, quieting my soul always involves a decision to relax and surrender and re-surrender various things into God's hands. This surrender is often accompanied with truths from Scripture that speak to the anxiety that is creating or adding to the inner noise, so Scripture also helps us find our way into stillness. (see the next point for more on this).
• Yes, Scripture helps us find our way into stillness. Another way that Scripture helps me still my soul is that it gives language and power to my desire and decision to enter into God's embrace (where stillness is found). In addition to the psalms quoted above, other passages also help me to picture myself approaching Abba or lifting my life/soul up to Him. Psalm 25:1 often finds its way into my heart and onto my lips as I quiet my soul: "To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul. In you I trust, O my God." I am sure you will find your own collection of passages that help you express desire and decision to approach our loving Father with a surrendered heart. 
• We trust our way into stillness. I think it's important to mention trust specifically, rather than just assume it, because inner stillness for a follower of Jesus is about relationship, not some kind of mind control or new age meditation. I quiet my soul because of my relationship with my totally trustworthy Abba. I quiet my soul in order to hear my Abba's voice, experience His embrace, honor Him with my attention, etc., and it's my confident trust in Him that enables me to surrender my way into that place of stillness. 

     And when stillness comes, my soul delights to find Him there waiting for me in the stillness. And when I find Him there in the stillness, it's beyond wonderful and really indescribable. But let me at least say that it's utterly peaceful and that I am wonderfully aware of Him when I have quieted and stilled my soul. That's as close as I can get right now. But I really can't find words to express how good it is to live with Him in the quiet place, nor do I have words that adequately explain how deep my longing is for everyone to live in inner stillness with Papa! For now, the words I have written today will have to do. I welcome your comments and thoughts. 

Tom, one of Abba's learning-to-be-still children

Living as The Fourth Soil

     "As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit. But the seed in the good ground — these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, bear fruit." (Luke 8:14-15 HCSB)

     In my last post I promised to write more about believers and money, and that I will do, but not like I first thought because I found a very good book about the subject that is far superior to anything I could quickly throw together. That book is Randy Alcorn's Managing God's Money (under $5.00 on Amazon Kindle), and I highly recommend its careful and thorough exploration of this topic (while also disagreeing with its view of healing!).

     But I do want to write some about this and give my thoughts in a set of statements that may prove useful to you as you think about you and your money. So here goes. Living simply and generously is...

• A matter of wisdom, not salvation. We are always and only saved by grace through faith (trust), so any discussion about believers and our money is not about our eternal destiny but about how much treasure is waiting for us in Heaven. Living generously is about living from an eternal perspective and storing up treasure in the right location. That's Jesus' point when He speaks of the wisdom of putting our treasure in Heaven (see, for example, Matthew 6:19-21).
• A matter of maturity and fruit-bearing, not religious obligation. The words of Jesus quoted at the beginning of this article clearly warn us that riches and possessions can hinder the maturity and fruitfulness of His followers. To the extent that we invest our thoughts, time, energy and other resources in this present age, to that extent we remain stunted, immature and limited in Kingdom significance. Anyone who owns anything knows how hard it is to keep that thing from owning you! It is painfully easy to be distracted from Kingdom things by earthly things.
• A matter of well-placed trust. After his strong warning not to make getting rich a life focus, Paul, in 1 Timothy 6, writes, "Instruct them (the wealthy) not to be arrogant or to set their hope on the uncertainty of wealth, but on God, who richly provides us with all things to enjoy. 18 Instruct them to do what is good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, willing to share, 19 storing up for themselves a good reserve for the age to come, so that they may take hold of life that is real." 1 Timothy 6:17-19 (HCSB) italics are mine--TW This passage, along with many others, reminds us that living generously is ultimately a matter of what and whom we trust. Those who deeply trust God and His love find it easy to live generously. 
• A matter of joyful compassion and compassionate joy, not guilt-ridden obligation. Paul makes it clear in his instructions to the Corinthians about giving that giving is a matter of joyfully expressed love, not compulsion. "Each person should do as he has decided in his heart — not reluctantly or out of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver."  2 Corinthians 9:7 (HCSB) And elsewhere Paul states that even outrageously extravagant giving apart from love has no reward (1 Corinthians 13:3). Note well how this provides a huge clue as to how to learn to live generously: Getting to know God intimately as a loving Father, who freely gives us all things, will allow joy and compassion to lead us to live simply and give extravagantly. And our greatest joy will be to bring joy to our infinitely generous Father! The love that Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 13 is first of all God's love for us and then secondly our love for Him and others that flows from our being dearly loved. Living more and more aware of His love will inevitably lead us to joyful, compassionate generosity. On the other hand, even sacrificial giving apart from our experience of His love won't move us even one tiny little bit closer to His heart.
• A matter of paradigm. Only our holding to an eternal paradigm will move us to relax our grip on this present age, dear ones. If we really believe what the Bible says about treasure in Heaven and the importance of living for eternity, we will find it increasingly easy to give freely and sacrificially with great joy and great peace! Randy Alcorn gives a very clear illustration of this paradigm that I dearly love: "Imagine you’re alive at the end of the Civil War. You’re living in the South, but you’re a Northerner. You plan to move home as soon as the war’s over. While in the South you’ve accumulated lots of Confederate currency. Now, suppose you know for a fact the North’s going to win the war, and the end is imminent. What will you do with your Confederate money?   If you’re smart, there’s only one answer. You should immediately cash in your Confederate currency for U.S. currency—the only money that will have value once the war’s over. Keep only enough Confederate currency to meet your short-term needs. Managing God's Money: A Biblical Guide (pp. 86-87).  
• A matter of perspective. What do I mean by perspective? First, as Americans we tend to view our world only on the basis of what's immediately around us. This tends to blind us to the fact that even lower middle class Americans are enormously wealthy compared to much of the rest of the world and most of the people who have ever lived on this planet. Does that mean we should feel guilty or deny ourselves to the point of lack? Of course not! That would violate the principles stated above as well as missing the heart of our Father. But what it does mean is that we can hear God's voice much more clearly if we remember how truly wealthy we are. Holding to that perspective will lead us to a change of actions. Maybe it would mean buying less than the top of the line so that I can give the difference to someone who can't even see the next day's provision, eh? That kind of generosity is something I am more likely to consider if I remember how the world really looks in terms of wealth. Second, even within the American church we need to shift our perspective so that we notice the single mother who is struggling to make ends meet and therefore choose to joyfully forego buying that new "whatever" in order to help her make it through a rough time. Note that these are just illustrations. All I am asking is that you "notice" and then listen to Papa God. The point is to allow Holy Spirit to shift your perspective to a larger and more accurate view of things regarding "things."

     I could go on, but this is enough for now, I think. See Randy Alcorn's book for more.

      And above all else, my friends, remember that change in our lives is something that God initiates, guides and empowers. When we live from the center of His loving embrace, it's quite easy to hear Him ask us where our trust really lies, hear Him when He highlights the struggling brother or sister here or overseas, hear His reminder to invest in eternity instead of this very temporary season. As one who is still very much learning to live generously and for eternity, I would be truly dismayed if my words led to sorrowful obligation rather than joyful liberation! Live joyfully in His love without fearing or shrinking back from His constant stretching and healing!

From His Embrace,

Tom

Buy One, Give One

     Tears streamed down my face this morning as I looked at this picture and several others from my trip to Papua New Guinea way back in May 2004. These children are part of one of the poorest tribes in PNG and lived in the garbage dump of PNG's capital city, Port Moresby. 
     Even now as I try to write I find emotion making it hard to write. Why? Partly because the little girl in the dirty yellow and green dress had so captured my heart that for years I kept this picture on my computer as the background picture. Partly because of memories related to this trip wherein the beautiful people of PNG also captured my heart, and certainly because my heart was so drilled by the poverty and need of these beautiful people. And I find myself asking how I have so thoroughly forgotten the needs of such people while I live in midst of all my wealth? (I write these words from our sunroom as I view the peaceful lake that is behind our spacious and ridiculously comfortable home!). 
     I want more than ever in my life to embrace these tears! I want to always keep before me the great disparity that exists between American Christians and their brothers and sisters in developing nations.  And I want this not because of some kind of shame-based desire to salve my conscience about having so much but rather because of a growing passion to live ever more generously and ever more freed from the "things" that crowd out fruitfulness in our American lives (see Luke 8:14). And I want this because of simple, heartfelt compassion and love that grows out my own even increasing experience of God's love. And I want this because the older I get, the more aware I am that storing up treasure in eternity is the only truly wise "investment" that I can make ("You can't take it with you" makes a whole lot more sense at age 67 than it did at age 27!). 
     All of this has grown out of a thought that keeps coming back to me again and again (most likely from the Holy Spirit). That thought is: How can I help American Christians, many of whom are so oblivious to their extreme wealth as compared to much of the rest of the world, begin to live more wisely and generously? It was in that context that the phrase "Buy one, give one" first popped into my mind. What if we who have so much would begin to set aside an equal amount of money for everything we buy beyond our necessities? What if that extra pair of shoes you want but don't really need was purchased with a commitment to share an equal amount of money with a compassion-related type of ministry? What if that new "man-toy" was matched with a gift of equal amount to a ministry that developed young men in developing nations or to a ministry that develops young men from our own impoverished areas? I think you get the picture. The possibilities are endless.
     I plan to write more about this within the next few days and include a fairly thorough study of Christians and Money from a New Testament perspective, but somehow the tears this morning moved me to put this idea out there in raw form so that I can hear from you. As you reflect on all of this, take a look at another picture of my little sweetie and some of her friends (I never even learned her name, but her face is forever treasured in my heart!)

More to come from Abba's deeply moved child,

Tom

Transferring Our Trust

     This post is a lightly edited repost of one I wrote back in 2011. I am reposting it because I am sensing a need to update some of my earlier posts as part of my plan to write a book or two. I also believe, of course, that I may have learned a wee bit more over the past few years and wish to incorporate those things in these rewrites.
     I know I am repeating myself because have written "faith" many times before, and I certainly wrote quite a bit about that during the season of testing our family went through in 2009-2010. But I continue to learn a lot (by experience!) about trusting Papa God, so here are a few things I am learning or learning more thoroughly.
     First, I am more than ever aware that "faith" (trust) is something that is present in every human being. The question, then, is not whether I have faith, but where I choose to place my trust. All of us exercise enormous amounts of faith every day. We trust other drivers to stay alert and in their own lane of traffic, we trust those who worked on the airplane we are boarding to be responsible and careful, we trust those who prepare our food to exercise good hygiene practices, etc. And, most of all, we trust ourselves and our own perception of things. It's that last fact that creates the challenges for us when God invites us to trust Him. We are conditioned all of our lives to trust "self" and trust self above all else. And this self-trust is so automatic that it's almost invisible and is exercised without conscious thought. But God invites and challenges us to transfer our trust from this very limited and highly ignorant person (that would be me or you) to Himself, the infinite, all-knowing, completely loving One. Sounds good when we say it, eh? But learning to transfer trust to Him is a lifelong process that is often fought tooth and nail by both our adversary and our very own self. Big revelation there, eh? Once we stop and think about this, we realize how true it is that we all have faith--mostly in ourselves, and that it's a fight to transfer it elsewhere! When I realized that I wasn't trying to create faith (trust) or generate more faith (trust) but instead transfer my trust from self to God, it helped me both to want to do so and made me see how very possible and wise it is to trust God (I just keep choosing to shift my trust from my unreliable, ignorant self to all-knowing, totally reliable Papa God!).
     Second, I am learning that it's best to "build faith" during the good times so that it's there to sustain us during the bad times. This isn't what I was taught in church, though. I was told that times of testing come to grow my faith (to "exercise my faith muscle," etc.), but I was left with the impression that this is the primary way to build faith. But this isn't quite what really Scripture says, and it isn't what life experience teaches us! Trust grows in our lives in response to our experience of another's trustworthiness. We learn to trust another person by their demonstrating through their actions that they really are trustworthy. The more we experience their trustworthiness, the more we grow to trust them. Eventually our trust can grow deep enough that when they ask us to trust them in something we haven't previously experienced with them, we do trust them because their trustworthy character has been revealed through our experience with them. I think you can see how this applies to the God journey, too. And Scripture bears this out, showing us God's trustworthiness over and over again as experienced by people just like us. And yes, the Bible also tells us that struggles come not so much to grow our faith but to reveal it in the midst of the test (see, for example, 1 Peter 1:6-7). Our faith does grow, of course, after the testing because we see God's faithfulness as we go through the test. But it's our confidence in Him that's already there that enables us to endure, not some "faith" that I work up while the test is going on.
     But how does the above truth help us? I am learning that paying attention to God's faithfulness during the good times, taking time to be grateful and to reflect on His goodness when things are going well can actually build my trust level in Him in lots of ways. That is indeed what happened during the season of pain that my family and I went through. The trust that had already grown in our hearts sustained us and invited us to trust in uncharted waters, even in the midst of the storm.
     And God, of course, was also continuing to reveal His trustworthiness during the troubled times in many different ways. Which means, as I said, that trust does grow during times of testing, too, but that doesn't negate the need to grow it first and most during the good times, in my opinion. It's my already established trust in God that helps me stand firm when hell assaults me. It's my already established ability to hear His voice in the good times that enables me to hear Him shouting to me over the noise of the storm!
     Third, I am learning that by its very nature, faith is meant to increase and grow in any relationship, and especially in our relationship with God. We were meant to trust God, we were born for that very purpose because we were born in order to be in relationship with Him! But because increase is part of the journey, we find God encouraging us to pay attention to His goodness, calling us into deeper trust in the good times, and we also find ourselves faced with a new choice to trust God in a new way during hard times as well. Personally, my own sense of self trust is so deeply ingrained in me that I still sometimes find God's invitations to trust Him in new ways rather stretching at the very least and downright annoying and scary at the most! Yet His invitation continues every day of our lives: "Trust in the LORD with all of your heart and don't trust in your own understanding." And so even our anxiety becomes God's call to trust Him more deeply, not blindly but based upon His character as revealed by our experiences of His faithfulness and the testimony of many others. But it's still scary and annoying at times! It wouldn't be faith if the need to trust weren't involved! Faith always "feels like faith," not certainty!
     Finally, I have discovered again that, when we read the Bible, it really does help to translate the words "belief, believe and faith" as "trust." There is something wonderfully down-to-earth and easy to understand about Jesus asking the disciples, "Where is your trust?" instead of "Where is your faith?" Because of our religious conditioning, the word "faith" often sounds like a commodity or something we do, whereas "trust" is easy for us to understand as a relational decision. Try it! The word "trust" will fit in all of those places where the words believe, belief or faith show up.
     So here we are, facing the uncertainty of life in multiple dimensions, with no sure end in sight. But I hear again the words of Lamentations 3:57 as Jeremiah writes in the midst of his great pain, "You came near when I called to you, and you said, 'Don't be afraid!'" And now you hear them with me. What can we do otherwise than transfer our trust once again to the One who alone is fully trustworthy?

Tom, one of Abba's sometimes trusting children