Random Verses

As I was flipping through 2 Chronicles this morning to find where I left off in my reading, some of the passages I had underlined caught my eye.

"Lord, there is no one like You to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on You..." 14:11

"If you seek [the Lord] He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you." "They sought the Lord eagerly and He was found by them and He gave them rest on every side" 15:2,15

"For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are FULLY committed to Him." 16:9 (my emphasis)

"For we have no power..." "We do not know what to do..." "Do not be afraid or discouraged...for the battle is not yours but God's." 20:12,15

"[Amaziah] did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly." 25:2

"But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall." 26:16

I love the Old Testament! It is an action/adventure book, a fantasy book, a love songs book, a "self-help" book, with war and intrigue and hands writing on walls and proverbs and prophecy and fire falling from heaven and more and more and more.

But all of this is about God as He is revealing Himself to the sons of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel). He wants to reveal Himself to me too. Thats why He gave us the Bible. If I only read parts of it I don't see the big picture of who God is and how His hand has been on the lives of man from the beginning of time. He always brings about what He says He will whether redemption or disaster. The OT particularly helps me to see God's power, majesty and faithfulness.

Zac Smith Has Died

One of the staff members at NewSpring, Zac Smith, age 32 - husband and father of 3 - died Sunday afternoon. Perry said he got the text at 3:24 PM. Zac had been diagnosed with colon cancer a year ago. His battle to remain with his family was hard fought with surgeries, chemo and lots of prayers but God chose not to heal him in this place.

I never knew Zac except through his video testimony and his writings but I grieve at our loss. I pray for his wife and children and all the NewSpring family who will miss him so much.

For those who are Christ followers, there is an unbelievable amount of grace and peace that surrounds you and allows you to celebrate God's goodness in the midst of untold heartbreak. It truly is a God thing to be able to celebrate when someone's body dies, knowing that the person is now healed and in the presence of Jesus and that those still on earth will some day join them for eternity.

We hold on to this life with all we've got because of our family and friends and things not yet done. But when the time comes to finally let go and we arrive at the feast table of the King, I think we will wonder why we held on so long.

In God I Trust

I read this in one of David's Psalms and thought about America and the "In God We Trust" that is on our money. There is a lot of controversy about the name "God" in our country. We want a convenience god who is only spoken about on Sunday mornings and during times of disaster.

There was a push a few years ago to take "In God We Trust" off our money - one of those separation of church and state issues. What gets me about that is some of the people who holler the loudest about keeping the slogan trust more in their money than God.

For me as a Christ follower, I profess to trust in God. But do I really? The next part of David's proclamation is "I will not be afraid". I am at a point in my life now where "I will not be afraid" is part of my DNA. However, I know some REAL worriers who profess to trust God. But they worry about their children, they worry about the economy, they worry about healthcare, they worry about who will be president - or governor - or senator. Like those things are outside God's sphere of control.

"In God I trust, I will not be afraid." I want that to be the very fabric of my life...to know God so intimately that I CAN trust Him in ANY situation and praise His name.

Everything

Yesterday I finished reading 1 Chronicles. David spends a lot of time talking about the goodness and the provision of God. David has been accumulating gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, stone, marble and jewels to help his son Solomon build a house for God.

David has accumulated these things as king by taking tribute from other nations but he also gives a lot from his own personal wealth. He then challenges the leaders of the country to step up and give generously for the building of the temple and they give literally tons more. This prompts everyone to rejoice and David to pray.

Twice David says everything comes from God and they are only giving back what comes from His hand. That prompted me to think a lot about the "everything" in my life. I started off thinking about giving money (besides the money I give to NewSpring) to charities and people who have needs. Then I began to think about every breath I take and what a generous, precious gift that is...and my home, my family, my car, my job, my friends. EVERYTHING is from God.

Then today the devotion from NewSpring was titled Everything and here we are again. I am so glad God does that to me; showing me over and over His truth and the things that are important to Him. The hard part is keeping them important to me.

God's Purposes

So often we humans, being made in the image of God, begin to act like we are God. Recently it was mentioned in a message at NewSpring that a French philosopher, Voltaire, back in the 1700's said the Bible would be non-existent in 100 years. I can see Jesus in Heaven saying, "Ya think? NOT!" After Voltaire's death the International Bible Society bought his home and used it as their publishing house. Hundreds of thousands of Bibles were printed and distributed from his property.

In the past few weeks, NewSpring was part of an extreme makeover of a building that used to be an abortion clinic and is now used to help teens who choose to have their babies learn to be good parents and to provide the moms with resources they need such as clothes, diapers, education.

One of the comments Mandy, the founder of Little Steps, made is God was there (the location) even when the building was used for abortions. I can imagine Jesus there to take each little baby to heaven, saying "Just wait, one day this place will honor Me."

How many times in our "wisdom" have we done things we think will thwart the purposes of God in the world or in our own lives? Whether it is as a nation or an individual person, a Voltaire or an abortion clinic, God's purposes go forward despite what we think or do. I take great comfort in that. God is sure, steadfast, dependable, consistent. God can redeem the bad choices I make and set me on the path of His purpose again if I am willing to repent AND surrender my wisdom for His.

National Day of Prayer

Today is the National Day of Prayer. This started as a way to bring Christians together to pray for America and her leaders. That is a good thing because God tells us we are to pray for those in authority over us. Too many people who claim to be Christ followers want to ridicule our president and not pray for him and those who are closest to him.

As I think about it, though, I wonder if this has been overtaken in places by political correctness. I would be curious to know how many prayers invoke the name of God but refuse to mention Jesus as the real source of change for our country and the world.

I also think about those in authority and it just dawned on me that I can't remember when I have prayed for my boss. Authority in my life takes all kinds of shapes - at church, Kevin who heads production, Catherine who heads volunteers, Howard who is campus pastor, Perry who leads it all. In society there are those in my community like the mayor and elected officials who have authority to make decisions on my behalf. That carries over into the state and national arenas as well.

So do I pray for them fervently or even regularly? Unfortunately the answer is no. I have been asking God what thing do I lack. Perhaps this is it...prayer for those that I do not pray for.

Lots of Churches

This morning I went to church early to help prepare for communion. Because the Fuse guys who help with load in and production setup stayed to help with communion, we were done by 7:40 rather than 8:30 as had been expected. I didn't have enough time to go back home and come back again and too much time to sit around and wait. So I did the next best thing...drove through downtown Greenville and out Anderson Rd (Hwy 81) and ended up in Anderson in time for the 9:15 service. (I really miss going to Anderson!)

As I was riding down the road I saw lots of churches along the way. They were mostly Baptist churches of some flavor but they were large and small, some with old buildings, some new, some "expanded". The expanded ones often have 2 fronts with columns - a small building with a flat top where the steeple used to be and the new, larger, taller sanctuary that now sports the steeple.

As I looked at all these churches, I wondered what God is up to in their midst. Do they recognize what He is doing? Were they expecting God to show up in their services today? I wondered what would happen if I went in in my jeans and flip flops.

But of course the question returns to me...do I expect to meet God each time I go to church? What do I do to prepare myself to meet Him? And then do I expect to see Him all throughout the week in the pages of Scripture, working around me in the office, in my family, in my finances, in my thoughts, in my attitudes? Because I am His child, He is always there! He NEVER leaves ME but I often leave Him.

And then, of course, that tied right in to Perry's sermon. What thing do I lack? What am I holding back from God?