Let's Do Lunch...

I'm a good American because I love food.  As a Evangelical Christian I also enjoy a good old fashioned Potluck!  Food is all around us.  We can get it fast or slow.  We have easy access to snack food which is the food that we eat between our meals.

All this to say we live in a time and place that purposefully going without food for a day is seen as both absurd and very difficult.  So it comes as little surprise when I ask Christians if they have ever fasted and the vast majority answers no.  You read that right.  I don't ask if they have fasted recently, but if they have ever fasted.  The sadness that is located here is that we know Jesus fasted and that he expected His followers to fast also.

   “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.” (Matthew 6:16, ESV)  

Instead, much of the evangelical church has ignored this spiritual practice.  So the obvious question is 'Why!?'  Why have we not fasted?  The simple reason is that fasting isn't easy.  In America we are all about easy and dulling pain any way we can.  The most popular way we dull pain is with food.  So giving up food is giving up our pain killer.  We have a thing called 'comfort food' for a reason.  It is what we use to comfort us.  Instead, we should be turning to Jesus and His bride, the Church, for comfort when we experience pain.

   “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3–4, ESV)  

So before you begin trying to fast, ask yourself if you need to first learn how to take your pain to God and your brothers and sisters in Christ.  If the answer is yes talk to God and others about this issue.  Stop reading this post for the time being and work on this.  Remember to take things one step at a time.

Next, there are two primary reasons that you would fast.  The first is that the current situation you are in calls for it.  This could be something as big as making a big decision where you need God's wisdom to be able to go forward in any direction.  It could also be because you are hurting so much that you can't see outside of the painful circumstances that surround you and you need to gain God's perspective on the matter.

The second reason is that God is calling you to a season of fasting to build your relationship with Him.  That's it.  How does this increase our relationship with Him?  It's because the whole point of fasting is giving up a physical daily need and replacing it with a spiritual need.

Take the time and energy that you devote to thinking about, preparing, consuming, and cleaning up after your food...and devote it to God.  Use the time to read His Word, to pray, and to serve others.  The easiest way to serve others is thinking about how much money you would spend on food on a given day and donate it to feeding the homeless.  This could be giving a lunch sack to someone on a street corner or donating to the Phoenix Rescue Mission.

Lastly, consider this: If we don't have the ability to discipline our bodies to avoid eating food for a few hours, how can we expect to discipline our hearts and minds to be conformed to the likeness of Christ?  If we are to die to self and live for Christ we must remember that dying is a painful endeavor, but it produces eternal rewards.

   “And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”” (Matthew 4:2–4, ESV)  

Weighted Spirituality

Something that I have been convicted about for some time is the issue of my weight.  I recently had my annual physical at the V.A. so that I could get a consult to see a doctor regarding my left knee which has been giving me problems since last summer.  Before I saw my doctor I had to have the dreaded weigh in.  I weighed in at 245 pounds.

Now I know what many are thinking.  Stuff like, hey you're 6'1", that's not bad...or, wow you can't tell.  Well the problem is that I can tell.  I look down and I'm not happy with what I see.  The Holy Spirit puts it to m that I am not living the disciplined life that I have been called to live.  For, we are not spirit only, nor are we just bodies.  God created us with both working together.  But nobody has said anything to me about my weight!

I recently began reading a book by favorite spiritual formation author, Gary Thomas, titled Every Body Matters: Strengthening Your Body to Strengthen Your Soul.  He makes this very true statement in chapter 2.

"The curse of today is that so many Christians equate bodily sins with sexual sins.  The only possible bodily sin, in their minds, is related to lust.  If they're not sinning sexually, they believe these verses don't apply to them.  The contemporary age of the church is the only generation that has believed this."

He later goes on to say that we have completely disregarded the sins of gluttony and sloth in the teaching time at church's today.  We often speak about gossip, sexual purity, lying, anger, and other issues.  However, the two aforementioned sins are left untouched.  I believe the reason for this is that it hits home a little to hard.  Especially for pastors.  (Note: Not all overweight pastors suffer from these two sins there are other problems that cause weight gain.)

   “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” (James 1:22–25, ESV)  

I am tired of being someone that knows with my mind what to do but doesn't practice it when it comes to my body.  For how well can I truly discipline my spirit if I am unwilling to discipline my body and make  the sacrifices that are needed, especially when they are really not sacrifices.  I need to die to self and live for Christ.  So that, when I am older, if the Lord grants me the days, I will be better able to continue to serve Him.

I know that this is going to be difficult for me.  Much is going to weigh on my eating habits (pun intended).  The reason why is that I have mild asthma, chronic right ankle pain, and issues with my left knee that need to be resolved (hopefully in the near future).  So I am going to need to do a lot of praying surrounding this issue and constantly rely on the Holy Spirit to help me to discipline my body so that I may grow closer to Christ and be more useful to Him.

So for the next year the passage below is going to be my theme verse along with the song by Tedashii.  Give a listen.  Let me know what you think and I appreciate your prayers I begin to cut out fast food, soda, and other foods in my diet that are not good for my body that doesn't get nearly as much exercise as it needs.      

   “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” (1 Corinthians 9:24–27, ESV)  

You Listen To Hip-Hop/Rap Music!?!

Last week I went to Lamp Mode's "Hold Em High" Concert.  Lamp Mode is a Christian hip-hop/rap record label.  When I told people that I went to a hip-hop/rap concert I get mixed reactions.  The majority are surprised (mainly because I like country and bluegrass so much).  A few even still look down on the genre because they are either unaware of Christian artists or they don't believe it is Godly to listen to this style of music no matter what.

Well I would like to take a moment to let you know why I not only listen to hip-hop/rap, but why I am a big fan of it now.

1.  When I listen to artists such as Shai Linne, JSon, Tedashii, or many others it's akin to getting a sermon.  In fact, I've listened to sermons that don't have nearly as much depth and theological weight as some of their songs.

2.  Many people that I know teen's through 30's really like rap as a genre.  So for me to do a better job reaching out to them as a pastor I must enter into their world.  It is ludicrous for me to expect them to take up my personal music taste.  As long as what they are listening to is God honoring, or if I can point them in that direction with their genre, why would I fight against it.  Music is the language of the soul.  So by learning to listen to their music, I am learning how to communicate with their hearts not just their heads.

3.  After having listened to a good amount of Christian Rap artists it has now become one of my favorite genres of music.  I listen to a Tedashii album like I listen to a Disciple album.  I listen to Shai Linne's 'Doxology' like I listen/sing along with a Matt Redman album.  It has become a source of edification and a source for worship.

So if you have never listened to hip-hop/rap before because you only think of trash that passes for rap music in secular society, I encourage you to check out some of these Christian artists.  I would love to point you in the direction of some very Godly men with up lifting and challenging lyrics.

Likewise, if you have a friend and/or family member that listens to secular rap get them a Christian rap album as a present.  I would suggest something by either Andy Mineo or Lecrae to get them started.  These lyrics will start to affect their soul in ways only God knows.  Moreover, I think these guys are just as talented if not more talented than most secular artists.

Now y'all holler at me if you got any questions!  :-)

Appreciating Patience

We say God is patient, but all too often I don't think we really appreciate that thought.  I would like to help with that understanding that concept.  Now I could say look at all the prophets and how many told the people to repent and turn to God and still they didn't listen.  However, I think that approach is part of what makes it difficult to understand how patient God is just as much as just looking at a single verse stating,

 “But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” (Psalm 86:15, ESV)

Instead, I want to look at one man's life.  That man is Jeremiah, nicknamed the weeping prophet.  Why was he called the weeping prophet?  The answer is simple.  His ministry started when he was a young man and it spanned a couple kings.  He was called by God to preach to the people repentance.  The problem is that they would never listen to the words God gave him.  Lastly, he would see many of his countrymen die and the best hauled off in shame to captivity.  Pretty hard cup to swallow, but drink it he did.

He started his ministry off with this declaration:

   “Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (Jeremiah 2:12–13, ESV)

He lets them know that there are two primary sins that they are guilty of.  The first is that they left the One True God.  He who is the author and sustainer of life.  Jesus picks up this imagery of living water when he talks to the woman at the well (John 4).

The first sin alone would be enough.  The second is both sad and a slap in the face.  They gave God up for something that is worthless.  Not just worthless but detrimental.  Think about the image of a broken cistern for a moment.  It can't give you fresh water nor can it hold the water in it.  So because it is stagnant it carries disease to all who come to it.  So instead of life, they receive death.

Now several decades pass.  Jeremiah is no longer the youth that he was.  He has continued to spread the message of repentance that God gave to him.  As a result, he has been beaten, imprisoned, and had his life threatened at different times.  During the final siege of Jerusalem he is thrown into a broken cistern and partially sinks into the filth.  Then the king has him removed from the cistern because he needs some advice.  However, Jeremiah tells the king that he doesn't want to say anything because he won't listen and will just want to kill him.  So, after the king promises not to kill him Jeremiah gives the same answer.  He tells him if he asks God for forgiveness, walks out the gates, and surrenders he will be taken into captivity, but will have his life as a reward.  

The King refuses. (Jeremiah 38)

Jeremiah is an old man and God's patience for his people has come to an end.

The cities defenses fail and the city is taken.  King Zedekiah tries to escape, but he is overtaken by his enemy.  His sons are killed in front of him and he is blinded with the death of his sons being the last thing he ever saw.  He is led away naked with the best of his people, that weren't killed, into exile for 70 years.  The most tragic timeout in history.

God was patient with his children for a long time.  He kept calling them to repentance.  He allowed natural consequences to happen because of their disobedience.  But still they would not turn back to him.  We call Jeremiah the weeping prophet...but how do you think God felt as he watched his children being led away into exile because they wouldn't turn to Him?

God is extraordiarily patient with us.  However, that patience eventually runs out.

The Good News:

1. God disciplines us because He loves us!
2. Discipline in this life is not meant to be permanent, but to bring us to repentance.
3. God always gives hope of restoration in times of discipline if we seek Him.

So, if you have had people in your life calling you to repentance listen to what they have to say.  Don't harden your heart against God for something as meaningless as wealth or your pride.  Turn to God before it is to late.  Don't test God's patience!

If you have children...don't be surprised when they disobey you.  However, if they are willfully defiant don't be too proud to ask for help to reach them.  God used Jeremiah and other prophets.  Use the people God has put in your life to help you.  Do everything you can to bring your kid(s) back to God, including changing yourself, because you don't know when God's patience will run out.

Check out my favorite parenting book!  It teaches us how to change our kids by changing ourselves first.

http://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Parenting-Raising-Children-Shapes/dp/B004HBBSQI

Spiritual Mothers

We are quickly approaching another Mother's Day!  Just two years ago this day took on special meaning because my beautiful Sophia was born the day before Mothers day that year.  As a result, it would be very easy for me to write about how amazing and sacrificial my wife has been for our family, what my mom did for me and my sisters, and what countless other mothers do daily to raise their children.  Instead, I want to go in a slightly different direction.

Take a look with me at the following passage:

   “Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.” 

(Titus 2:3–5, ESV)  

So why would I pick this passage to discuss Mother's Day?  The reason is that while it is difficult for a woman to go through 9 months(ish) of pregnancy and go through the ordeal of labor pains to deliver a baby this is not the most difficult part of motherhood.  Instead, it is only the beginning of the pain and sacrifice a mother with go through.  Moreover, you do not have to have participated in this beginning stage to motherhood to be a spiritual mother.

Some women are unable to have a child.  We live in a fallen world and that includes not just our spirit but the body that it indwells.  But I want to encourage you women of faith that are unable to have a child that you can still be a spiritual mother.  That is what Paul is telling us.

In the passage above he begins by stating what a mature Christian woman should look like.  This includes reverence, not attacking other peoples character, and not leaning on alcohol instead of the Holy Spirit.  I see too many women referring to wine as the thing that gets them to the end of the day of Facebook.  It saddens me.

The reason it saddens me is because these women have not had mature women in Christ teach and demonstrate to them what it looks like to be Godly.  I have been blessed to know many mature women in Christ.  The problem is that the church in this country has done a poor job on helping people get into one on one discipleship relationships.

If you are young in your faith and/or life and want to know what it means to be a woman of God and would appreciate help to get there I encourage you to get in touch with your church's women's ministry, pastor, someone you look up to, or ask me for a name of a mature woman to help you start growing closer to Christ and your family.

If you are a woman who has been blessed to have other Godly women raise you up and be your spiritual mothers I would encourage you to start praying about who you could adopt as your spiritual daughter.  Realize I didn't say think about whether or not you want to do it.  Instead, I told you to do it because that is what God desires you to do according to this passage.

My hope and prayer is that my own daughter will have several women that she calls her spiritual mothers, like my friend Ilene pictured above reading to her.  The reason is the more Godly women she has in her life the more likely she is to turn to God in her daily life.

Remember, you don't have to be perfect.  No mother is perfect.  All you have to be willing to do is to be open and honest with your spiritual daughter, be willing to make sacrifices for her, and know that from time to time she might hurt you as she grows in Christ.

But in the end, you will be so glad that you made the sacrifice to be a spiritual mother!

Prayer...A Lot Like Dancing

Lately, one of my favorite things has been whenever Sophia asks me to turn on Dij.  This means that she wants to me to play Captured by The Digital Age.  Once the song begins to play she says hand, hand, hand.  So I grab her hand and we begin to dance.  Right now that means a lot of bouncing up and down, throwing one leg up, standing on my feet, and me holding her while I dance with her in my arms.  I'm doing most of the work right now.  But slowly she will start to like other music to dance to and her skills will increase beyond recognition.  

Prayer is a lot like this.  Let me explain.  Replace Sophia with you and put God where I was.  When you are a child in your faith you are unencumbered by much of the formality that we sometimes attach to prayer.  We pastors teach different forms of prayer like ACTS, Lectio Divina, The Lord's Prayer, etc....  Now those are all helpful, but sometimes we sacrifice to much.  Instead, what we sometimes need to do is let our heavenly Father know the tune that we would like to dance with Him and let Him lead us.

What does he mean the tune?  Well think about it.  We often decide to listen to music that either matches the emotions that we are currently feeling or that we want to start feeling.  When I am worn out I'll play Worn by Tenth Avenue North.  When I'm angry I turn on Johnny Cash's song Mobil Bay.  Don't ask why it works for me, it just does.  Or I might put on Anger Management by Lecrae.   When I just wanna praise God I'll turn on I Saw The Light by Crowder.  That song makes me want to dance every single time!  

The point is that God let's me call the tune and the Holy Spirit leads me as I pray and try to sort through the emotions that I am dealing with.  It isn't always pretty.  Sometimes I stand on God's feet and let Him do all the dancing/talking while I just cling to Him like my precious Sophia.

As the years have passed I have learned more intricate dance moves.  One of which is Lectio Divina, which I will explain/demonstrate next time.  But just because someone else you know is a better skilled dancer doesn't mean that God doesn't enjoy dancing with you just as much.  I dare you to ask any father to answer the following question:  Which would you say you enjoyed more...Dancing with your daughter when she 2 or when she was 22 the night she got married?  I believe the answer to that would be something like this.

It's hard to compare.  I love her the same and our relationship has evolved over the years.  But no matter how old she is or how well she dances, I will always delight in dancing with my darling daughter.

So my hope and prayer is that if you have been avoiding God in prayer because you are afraid you will mess up, it will look/sound funny, be embarrassing, and/or step on God's toes...let me encourage you to stop fretting.  No one but your heavenly Father will see it when you mess up.  All He cares about is that you want to spend time with Him on the dance floor.

So pick a tune of joy/silliness, sorrow, contemplation, or a mix playlist and step out onto the dance floor of prayer with your heavenly Father.  You won't regret it. 

 

What Are We Waiting For?

There are a few things that I’m pretty sure everyone does.  One that everyone does on a regular basis (besides sleeping) is waiting.  Here are just a few things that we wait for.

1.      Child to be Born (talk to 9 month pregnant woman)

2.      In line at places like the Bank or MVD (Anger Management may be needed)

3.      Christmas / Birthday (watch kids)

Waiting is in the Bible a lot also.  Look at how long Abraham and Sarah waited to have a child! Think about how much God repeatedly waits for His people to return to Him!  He calls out to them again and again and waits for them to respond.  God is slow to anger (Psalm 86:15).  He is willing to wait on us even when we are hard headed (Makes you think about how you wait at the MVD).   Or, what about the 400 years of hard times and silence Israel endured waiting for the gift of Messiah!

And speaking of Messiah…what about the day in between Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday?  This day that is labeled “Holy Saturday” on calendars.  The disciples were unsure of the resurrection.  While the possibility was most likely in their heads, they weren’t expecting it.  So Saturday I assume they were in the upper room waiting and feeling confused.  They were probably praying and meditating on what Jesus said to them the night He was betrayed.  They hadn’t dispersed yet. 

You see God uses waiting to grow us into mature believers.  Think about how much time you spend waiting for something or someone.  Now take a moment and think about how much of that time you waste. 

When Jenny and I were waiting for Sophia to be born we were constantly praying for her.  We were asking God to prepare us to be parents as much as possible.  I was getting her room ready putting all her furniture together.  We began to read books about parenting babies.  I read and meditated on scripture that speaks to being a good father (including what makes our heavenly Father good).

When I am in a line I take the time to pray (1 Thessalonians 5:17) or read a book that’s point fits into this list:

“Finally, brethren, 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, dwell on these things.” (Philippians 4:8, NASB95)

When I am waiting for a holiday such a Christmas or Easter I seek God with a more focused energy than usual.  On Holy Saturday I pray for people in my life and in general who are unsure about the resurrection of Jesus.

We do a lot of waiting in this life.  Let’s use the time well and remember that good things come to those who wait…