But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained. - Philippians 3:7-16

My small group studied this passage the other night and picked up on Paul's calling to attain what we have already attained; which seems a bit odd. He points out clearly that it is, in fact, Christ who has attained our place in him - his righteousness and not ours. We are called to have faith in him. But when we are found in him then we still press on toward a life "lived up to" what we have attained - being "in Christ."

I suppose it is like knowing you've won a race and then striving to run like the winner of the race.

- Rob

We have been listening to a series on Insomnia:What Keeps You Up At Night?

So what keeps you up at night? I know that my issues are all around my inability to truly trust God; to trust Him with the future, with my failures, with my children and husband, with all that I deeply care about.

The crazy thing is that I have absolutely no right not to trust Him. I know from experience that He is faithful.

I'm encouraged by this story about the Israelites:

1 Samuel 7:7-12 (New Living Translation)

7 When the Philistine rulers heard that Israel had gathered at Mizpah, they mobilized their army and advanced. The Israelites were badly frightened when they learned that the Philistines were approaching. 8 “Don’t stop pleading with the Lord our God to save us from the Philistines!” they begged Samuel. 9 So Samuel took a young lamb and offered it to the Lord as a whole burnt offering. He pleaded with the Lord to help Israel, and the Lord answered him.

10 Just as Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines arrived to attack Israel. But the Lord spoke with a mighty voice of thunder from heaven that day, and the Philistines were thrown into such confusion that the Israelites defeated them. 11 The men of Israel chased them from Mizpah to a place below Beth-car, slaughtering them all along the way.

12 Samuel then took a large stone and placed it between the towns of Mizpah and Jeshanah. He named it Ebenezer (which means “the stone of help”), for he said, “Up to this point the Lord has helped us!”

You have probably been, and may now be, in a situation where you too were badly frightened at what was approaching and you pleaded with the Lord to save you. I have been there. And I can say, like Samuel did that day, that up to this point the Lord has helped me.

That gives me hope and courage for the future, even as the next unsettling thing approaches.

Sleep Well

-Angela

Christine Caine was one of the speakers we heard at the Leadership Summit almost 2 weeks ago. She is a dynamic young woman who has decided to make a difference in her world. God is using her all over the world to raise awareness about human trafficking and to be a part of rescuing women from hopeless lives of slavery. Her life is inspiring.

One thing she said in the follow up web conversation last week has stayed with me. As people look to her to know how to make a difference themselves in the world, she says,

"Your burning bush will find you. You may be tending your father in law's sheep in the desert when it does! Be faithful where you are."

So many times we look for the extraordinary task, and what God is asking us to do is the task at hand. He asks us to be faithful where we are, to meet the needs of those who are right in front of us, to love hurting people among us, to be His hands and feet here and not.

Amazingly, the ordinary becomes extraordinary when we dare to love and serve where we are.

In Matthew 25 Jesus told a parable about a master who gave his servants tasks. Upon returning to see what they had done with the opportunity he had given them, the master had these words to say to 2 of the servants:

"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' verse 21

I pray that we will be found faithful where we are with the tasks at hand, that we will not be blind to the needs around us as we look for bigger tasks.

May we be found faithful!

-Angela



Edited: 08/16/2010 at 3:33 PM by abeise

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
2 Corinthians 4:8-9

Have you ever felt hard pressed on every side, perplexed, persecuted or struck down? We were never promised that we would not experience those things in this life. Being followers of Christ does not exempt us from pain and suffering.

The bigger question is this: Have you ever felt crushed, experienced despair, been abandoned, even destroyed?

The very good news is this; Christ came to walk with you and give you strength through hardship so that you will never be crushed or in despair. You are never abandoned and nothing can destroy you because of who He is!

Are you aware of what an amazing God this is?

I pray that you will find His strength to be sufficient for you no matter what you face today.

If you have not yet accepted Him as your Savior, I pray that this would be the day for you to find Him to be all that you need!

-Angela

Do you feel like your fate is sealed? Does it seem that your situation will never change? On Father's Day we heard differently.

In Daniel 6 Daniel's fate also appeared to be sealed.

17 A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den. The king sealed the stone with his own royal seal and the seals of his nobles, so that no one could rescue Daniel.

As we read on however, we learn that God had more to say about Daniel's situation.

19 At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions' den. 20 When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?"

21 Daniel answered, "O king, live forever! 22 My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king."

Could it be possible that God has more to say and more to work out in your situation as well? The same God who saw Daniel's sealed fate is still at work today and is still able to rescue. Serve Him continually, regardless of how your circumstances look, and watch for Him to be faithful to you.

Philippians 4:6
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

-Angela


Edited: 06/22/2010 at 8:28 AM by abeise

When my children were pre-schoolers, I had them all in the van one day and my 4 year old said from the back of the van, "Mommy, does the Bible say not to worry?" I told her that it did, feeling very spiritual as I quoted: "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7

Then she said, "So does that mean that worrying is a sin?" That's when I stopped feeling so spiritual and realized that God had just used my 4 year old to point out my sin to me.

In the women's summer class we're doing the book Respecatable Sins: Confronting the Sins we Tolerate. Today I'm reading about anxiety. Here I am, almost 20 years later, and I'm once again aware of my tendency to worry and my lack of trust in God to take care of me and the people I care about in every way.

"Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7

Don't worry about anything, tell God what you need, thank Him, then you will experience His peace.

I will experience His peace, not because He will do everything exactly they way I ask Him to in my prayers. But the asking and then thanking reminds me of how He has already been faithful to me and that I can trust Him to continue to be faithful.

I want the peace of God to guard my heart and my mind. But I have to choose to lay down my anxiety and trust that He is good and able to care for me!

-Angela (recovering worrier)

Over the next few days, we'll be having a conversation about what I see as the basic call of the New Testament after the four gospels. I'll lay out my proposal in this post and then take a look at Scripture over the next several days to see what it has to say.

If the call of the gospels is "repent and believe," I think the call of the remaining books is "abide and obey."

Abiding means "living in" or "making one's home in." The call of the New Testament is to make our home in Christ as he and the Father make their home in us through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Abiding is an active verb and includes daily scripture reading, prayer, meditation, worship and many other creative ways in which we place ourselves in God's presence.

Obedience is pretty straight forward - to do what we are told. Did you bristle when you read that stated so bluntly? It's not easy for individualistic, self-reliant types to simply do what we're told. When we abide in Christ, the Spirit directs our thoughts and actions to those of Christ, and obedience is our following that direction. It involves submitting to God - recognizing God id God and we are not. (Sound familiar from this past weekend?)

Here we go!

- Rob

Is Jesus enough for me? Is HE my portion?

Psalm 142:5 says: "I cry to you, O Lord; I say, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living."

The New Living Translation says it like this: "Then I pray to you, O Lord. I say, "You are my place of refuge. You are all I really want in life"

I have been searching my heart and asking myself that question, "Is he really what I want in life?" Or do I really want to be safe and healthy and secure and blessed? Is He my ticket to those things? Do I come before Him and try to do enough so that He'll do what I ask Him to do? Do I come before Him to beg Him to fix things or give me things? Or do I want HIM? Is He really enough for me?

Chris Tomlin sings:

All of You is more than enough for all of me, for every thirst and every need.
You satisfy me with Your love and all I have in You is more than enough

Is His love satisfying me? Is all I have in Him more than enough for me?

I'm praying for Him to fill me so full of Himself that He really is enough for me...all that I need...all that I long for and run after.....then my heart won't be troubled by what is happening to me or around me. My hope will be fully set on Him. My faith will not be shaken.

Take me there, Lord.

-Angela

From the Lenten Reader this morning; Christina Rossetti, an acclaimed, nineteenth-century, English poet asks of God four basic things.

1. The gracious gift of the fear of God at such a level that it "tread underfoot all other fear."

2. Purification of heart such that all things in our lives become pure and that we may see God.

3. Removal of all idols from our hearts and any stumbling block of iniquity from before our eyes.

4. Freedom from falsehood; a purging of lies.

These four things are a great resource for entering into prayer, particularly if your prayer time has been dry lately.


- Rob

...the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me. - John 14:31b

Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. - John 14:21

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. - John 13:34-35

Our God is a god of revelation; in other words, he seeks to be known. How he is known to us is by love - when we love Jesus. How he is known to the world through us is by love - when we love one another. But this love Jesus speaks of is not a gooey emotion, but rather an active obedience. It is what it was from the beginning; choosing to submit to and obey God rather than seeking my own lordship.

Jesus asks nothing of us that he did not model. Was his love of the Father passionate? Of course. Was it characterized by feelings? Certainly not. It was characterized by Jesus' obedience even unto death - death on a cross for you and for me. That's love of Father and love of brother!

- Rob

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. - Colossians 3:1-3

When the Israelites were in the desert, grumbling and rebelling against God, an epidemic of sorts hit them and many were dieing. They repented, confessing their sin to God. At the direction of God, Moses fashioned a bronze serpent on a pole and held it up for all to see. Those who gazed on it were healed. This event is not only where we get that strange symbol that you see at every doctor's office signifying it is a place of healing, but it was also foreshadowing Christ being lifted up on a cross.

In our devotional reader, Mary Fletcher (whom you can read about on page 5 of the reader) says the following:

"When the soul that is dead in trespasses and sin awakes out of that death, and feels the pardoning blood applied, it begins to live. It is as a new born babe. It has senses it never had before. Its ear is open to hear the voice of God, its eye of faith, to behold the wonders of redemption. It feels the almighty arm; and tastes that the Lord is gracious. But there is the more abundant life, still to be sought after. When the soul by a strong faith has attained the fixed look on the saviour as the Israelite on the brazen serpent, then, and not till then, it feels the sanctifying influence, and experiences the full change, from nature to grace."

The forgiveness of our sins is a remarkable birth into new life. But just as babies are born and through care and proper nutrition grow into maturity, so our spirits must be properly nourished so that we may grow in a healthy manner toward "the more abundant life." This comes from focusing our hearts and minds, our ears and eyes, on the sanctifying influence of Jesus Christ as opposed to the spiritual-malnutrition of the world.

- Rob

Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

It is God's will that you should be sanctified...

Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. 10And in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more. - 1 Thessalonians 4:1-3a, 9-10

In Paul's letter to the church in Thessalonica, he is urging his congregation who are living a life pleasing to God and loving one another well, to do so "more and more." For it is God's will that they (and we) be sanctified, and that means reflecting more and more the image of Christ to the world. Sometimes when I see some fruit born in my life, I get kind of content with it - maybe I even think "I've got this love thing or this patience thing licked." (Okay, I've never thought I had patience down pat!) But Paul's encouragement is for us - do so more and more. Allow the Holy Spirit to shape us through obedience and abiding even more that we've been shaped to this point.

As I was reading this morning, this thought came to me: "Rob, loving more and more isn't just loving people you already love more deeply, passionately, or kindly. It is also loving more people who may not be all that easy to love." UGH! Guess that's sanctification for you. More and more.

- Rob

The word "friend" is used all through the Bible. God obviously created us to be in relationship with Himself and with each other.

So, as Dr. Phil would say, "How's that working for ya?" How are your friendships? More importantly, how good a friend are you?

Abraham was called God's friend simply by believing Him:

And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend.
James 2:23

Jesus said that we can be his friend:

You are my friends if you do what I command.
John 15:14

So what does he command? That's what we dig through the Bible to figure out. Here are a few things we do know: He commands that we love each other well. He asks that we be his ambassadors, allowing him to make his appeal to the people around us through us.

Then he tells us what it really means to be a friend:

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:13

Laying down my life may not mean dying for someone. It may mean laying down my right to be right in order to love someone well. It may mean going to someone who is lonely or hurting, instead of turning my head and being comfortable. It may mean doing whatever it takes to be a good neighbor, a good parent, a good son or daughter, a good employee or boss.

I pray that we will be God's friend by believing all that He says. I pray that we will be a friend to Jesus by doing all that he commanded. And I pray that we will show the love of Christ everywhere we go as we lay down our lives for our friends!

-Angela

Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. - 1 Peter 2:1-2

I have a good friend who has a newborn baby and let me tell you, when that little guy is longing for pure milk, you KNOW about it! Nothing else will satisfy him. Oh, a pacifier will do the trick for about 3 seconds, but then he spits that thing out and screams to high heaven.

I love this picture of longing for "the pure milk of the word." It is this longing and feeding on the Word of God that grows us up in terms of our salvation. Are you hungry?

- Rob

Wake up o sleeper and rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you! - Ephesians 5:14

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. - Colossians 3:1-3

If we are Christians, then we have died with Christ, and we have been raised with Christ. So what next? We are to surrender; to lay down our lives as living sacrifices. We are to set our minds and hearts on the things of God's kingdom and not on earthly kingdoms or our own kingdoms. We rise to lie down at the throne of Jesus.

This is a continual thing. We humble ourselves and in due time, God exalts us so that we can...humble ourselves again. This is love of God, and God asks that we love him with all of ourselves.

- Rob

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. 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. - Romans 12:1-2

The Apostle Paul does a lot of things with the first eleven chapters of Romans, but primarily he is conveying what God has done for us in Christ Jesus; the incredible expression of His love for us in the incarnation, death and resurrection. Then there is a shift at the very beginning of chapter twelve. Paul begins to speak of our response.

We find ourselves on the back side of Easter. Lent - the season of our recognition that we desperately need a savior - is over and God has set us free. We, like Paul in Romans 12, now shift to our response. And it is an interesting one. We are to offer ourselves as living sacrifices; in other words, to lay our entire lives down so that we may no longer be conformed to the pattern of this world, but transformed. Notice, that we do not do the transforming - that verb is passive - but it is up to us to offer ourselves for the transforming. I'll say more about that tomorrow, but in the meantime, let's pray that God would bring to our minds the things that are not yet fully offered to him.

- Rob

One of the most touching words in the entire Bible to me is in the Easter story.

After Jesus was killed, Mary Magdalene (one whom Jesus had driven out 7 demons: Mark 16:9) went to the tomb. To say that Jesus had radically changed her life is surely an understatement. Can you imagine how she felt when He was killed, and all of her hope with Him. All she knew to do was to go to where He had been buried. I imagine she just needed to be close to Him.

She stood outside of his tomb crying when she realized that his body was not where it had been buried. Not only did she lose him, but she lost the ability to even grieve where his body had been laid. As she was crying, Jesus Himself came up and talked to her, but she didn't realize that it was Him.

She was carried away with grief, feeling hopeless and lost, until He said one word:

"Mary" John 20:16

When He said her name, she knew who He was, hope was restored and she ran to tell the disciples the very good news.

That one word changed everything for her; He called her by name. We can spend our lives knowing about Jesus, hearing about all He has done and all that He has done even for us. But life changes drastically when you hear Him call YOUR name.

As we live beyond Easter and the good news of "He is risen. He is alive." My prayer is that you would hear Him call you by name. I pray that, like Mary, you will experience all of the hope and life change that she did when she realized that He knew her and called her by name!

-Angela

At the crack of dawn on Sunday, the women came to the tomb carrying the burial spices they had prepared. They found the entrance stone rolled back from the tomb, so they walked in. But once inside, they couldn't find the body of the Master Jesus.

They were puzzled, wondering what to make of this. Then, out of nowhere it seemed, two men, light cascading over them, stood there. The women were awestruck and bowed down in worship. The men said, "Why are you looking for the Living One in a cemetery? He is not here, but raised up. Remember how he told you when you were still back in Galilee that he had to be handed over to sinners, be killed on a cross, and in three days rise up?" Then they remembered Jesus' words. - Luke 24:1-8

Jesus Christ is risen from the dead!
He is risen indeed!

Happy Easter...Easter in the truest sense can be no other way.

- Rob

Many of us have been reading the Lenten Reader as we prepare our hearts for Easter, the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But before we get there, we have to pass through Good Friday, the day that He gave His life for our freedom and salvation.

Last week we briefly read about Mary, the mother of Jesus:

"Then there's Mary, standing there to the bitter end; the mother of God, who gave up her womb, her reputation and finally gives up the One for whom she gave it all."

This salvation is a free gift, but we cannot forget that is came at a very great cost. I will never be able to imagine the cost Mary paid in giving her life to God's cause at a young age, only to lose what she gave it all for. Standing at that cross, I'm sure Mary felt confused and bewildered and had to wonder about this great plan she was chosen for and blessed to be a part of.

And then there's Jesus, who loved us more than we can ever understand, even to the point of giving His life and taking on our sin.

"How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him." Hebrews 2:3

"It's crucial that we keep a firm grip on what we've heard so that we don't drift off. If the old message delivered by the angels was valid and nobody got away with anything, do you think we can risk neglecting this latest message, this magnificent salvation?"
Hebrews 2:3 (The Message Translation)

My prayer is that this Easter we will better understand how great this gift of salvation is, and that we would never ignore the price paid for us, truly a great and perfect salvation.

-Angela

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. - Philippians 3:10-11

I wanted to share some excerpts from the narrator's comments in today's devotion from the Lenten Reader.

To Lament means embracing grief with hope, but not the sort of hope that sings a happy song. Though Hope sings the song of the future, Lament teaches us that song in a minor key. This week we face the most grievous event in the history of the world, the murder of Jesus of Nazareth. Story #1 (Adam) catastrophically crashes into Story #2 (Jesus).

Ask God to gift you with tears over your own sin and brokenness; not shame but grief. Now ask God to gift you with mourning over the sin and brokenness around you, in the world. Might lament be the doorway into "the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings?"

WARNING: Don't mistake lament for despair or depression. Lament opens us up to feel grief and sadness. Renounce Satan and Despair! Embrace Jesus and Lament. The gift of lament, practiced over time, delivers us from Story #1 and all its broken promises and ever deeper into Story #2 and a promising life. - JD Walt

Peter replied, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!" Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly. - Luke 22:60-62

- Rob