Year: 2016

The Beauty of the Trials

We are still living without septic and without power service. Thank you,  Jesus! This has been a wonderful experience for us.
What is amazing is that at one extreme,  there are people who look at us as if we are fools and ask,  “Why would you ever choose to live like that? ” And at the other extreme,  there are people that stand here looking at where we are and say, “Man, you are living the dream. I’d love to one day have something like this!” 
Yes, these are both actual statements made by people around us about the exact same situation. Two quite different perspectives. 
Yes, this life has surrounded us with friends in all kinds of different lifestyles and circumstances – but this is not about our circumstances,  because in this life there will always be some that will have more than us and some that will have less. In this life, there will always be those that understand us and those who do not. In this life, there will always be those who encourage us and those who will seek to tear us down. 
All of this has and is bringing our family closer together than we’ve been in the past. And it is bringing us closer to a life where we pray for and try to help both of these groups of people in our daily lives. 
There are many people who have a lot of things,  but have little compassion and love and generosity towards those in need. We hope that we might share love and that they might be humbled when their visibility into our decisions about living this way by choice highlight so many that lI’ve in more challenging situations not by their own choice. 
There are many who have a lot of compassion and mercy and generosity towards others that have very little themselves to show for it. We hope that we might share work and meals and help with their needs as we can or connect them with those who have the resources to help fill their needs. 
With all of this being said, today I am praying that Duke Power provide us with the power that we have been going without. The Lord has continued to provide for us and we’ve found ways to make this work. But the generator that we’ve been running on non-stop for weeks now is not meant for this type of constant service.  And the money spent on enough gas and propane daily to keep it running has been a wonderful testimony to our trusting in the Lord to provide and His being faithful and true to meet our needs. 
But I know and trust that it is time for us to bring quiet again to these rolling hills instead of the roar of this generator that has been our announcement to our new neighbors that we now live here. We are ready to be a blessing and not a nuisance to our neighbors, we are ready for this process of building to begin,  we are ready. And we know the Lord’s answerve is “Yes”. And we have been satisfied that the Lord’s answer had been “but not yet” up to this point. And we are confident that His timing is best. 
I’m just telling you,  friends,  that I am praying for God to move in a mighty way and make it clear to us today His purpose and will for this land in serving His Kingdom. No matter the answer or direction, Lord, no matter our understanding, Lord, set our feet form upon your path,  and make it a clear and evident testimony today,  that as for me and my house,  we will serve the Lord.

What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.

James 4:1‭-‬3 NLT

Is our perspective “Scarcely Saved”, or “Entitled”

​For the time has  come  for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it  begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now “If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?” Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to  Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.

I Peter 4:17‭-‬19 NKJV

Has someone or something convinced you that you will escape judgement – that you will never see the consequences of your wicked decisions and actions? 

Many inmates in jails and prisons today thought that they could do as they please and “get away with it”. Many people burdened with deeply rooted problems within their marriages and relationships thought that they could “get away with it”. Many people suffering in the clutches of addiction thought they could “get away with it”.
The short sighted perspective of “I’ll get away with it” leads many into destruction – and I’m not just talking about a “some day at judgement” kind of destruction,  but a destruction in the here and now of the life of abundance and joy and blessing that we could be.
I promise you that if you take the attitude of “I can get away with it” – if you take the attitude of “His grace is sufficient” to justify something that you are deciding to remain involved in that you know is wrong – you do have much to fear. 

So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”

Genesis 4:6‭-‬7 NKJV

I know the attitude of being “entitled to salvation” because someone sold me on the idea that a one time sinner’s prayer was enough to make my sinful life “invisible to God”. It’s sad to me that so many are veiled by this evil lie. It’s sad to me that so many are seeking a covering to protect them from the consequences of their continued lives of open rebellion against God’s way – instead of seeking an annointing of His presence in their lives to deliver them into a new kind of living. 

Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.  And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.  Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

John 8:34‭-‬36 NKJV

It isn’t sad because I’m standing on high looking down on them for being so foolish. It is sad because I have been there myself and when I was, I was missing out on the amazing life that the Lord had in store for me. And when I let myself slip back into that mindset,  even if only for a short while, it seems to result in missed opportunities or unwanted consequences. 
But isn’t that what an “entitled” mindset produces? When it is all about “what I deserve” or “what I can get away with” or “what X owes me” – doesn’t that just wreak of pride, selfishness, of a carnal mind?  Isn’t this the mark of Cain, the mark of the fallen, blind, lost man, who doesn’t know God or His ways at all? 
And isn’t this clear from his perspective when we talk about sin and righteousness and judgement? Doesn’t his countenance fall, and doesn’t he become angry because he knows that he is not accepted? Doesn’t he start to argue that the law is not fair or just – that it must be changed, updated,  to more closely reflect what is acceptable to man – instead of man seeking to be changed, renewed,  redeemed into what is acceptable to God.
Judgement is coming. Church, you will be first. 
But the grateful man, the penitent man,  the broken hearted and humble man accepts that He has nothing of true value to offer a Lord. He acknowledges that God’s way is right and just,  and that He will follow in faith. 
When you read the instruction and guidance of the Bible – do you seek ways to excuse your life still not lining up? Are do you want to see correction, change,  and growth where His way is your way? 
Do you believe a great price was paid for you at Calvary? Does that produce grattitude in your heart? Or have you grown cools and had your heart grown hard? Do you know the warm touch of the Saviors hand upon your head as you kneel humbly at His feet? Or do you long for a touch,  a word, a breath of new life into your weary soul?