In all his glory (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have had an amazing week and I just don’t know where to start! I think I will just say, “To God be the glory, great things he hath done!” I mean really!!! I have learned so much this week and God has made every lesson valuable and long term (as I surrender).

There have been the usual bumps in the road that everyone faces each week with an enemy as strong as ours. But, God has simply made himself an ever present help and I am again amazed! I wish I could be on international TV today, just to shout to the world, “To God be the glory!”

Through this weeks lessons, I have learned three things:

1. I need God at all times. Even now as I am sitting on my deck on a near perfect mid-western afternoon, I realize that God is the source of my everything and only he can teach, train, and bless as he does. All the time, everywhere I am, I need my God to carry me along.
2. I need to remain humble at all times. You see, this week God has done some really incredible things and I want to shout about them in great detail, but God has determined that I should keep them to myself and just report that it has been a really good week. Sometimes God does things that shine the light on you or your ministry efforts, but when he is just talking to you, you need to remain humble, thankful, and quiet!
3. It’s all about him, all the time. The only reason I have a voice is because of him. The only reason I have success is because of him. The only reason I live, walk, breath, and grow spiritually is because of him. I need to keep my focus and let him keep his rightful place.

As I said at the beginning, the week has been awesome and I am just here to give all the glory to the one for whom it is do!! To God be the glory, great things he hath done!

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It is 11:17 PM and I am just starting this post. I am usually in bed around 10:00, but not today. Why you ask? My answer is simple, “Ever have one of those days?” Today has been one of those days. Nothing seemed to go the way I planned and that is frustrating. On top of that I had one of those “I’m really feeling lazy today” kind of thought patterns that just made me mad all day.

At about 9:15 I went for a ride looking for some fattening food (my comfort zone). Unfortunately that didn’t even work because in my haste to get out the door I failed to put any money in my pocket.

What I have learned from this battle today is:

1. The Devil never wastes any time trying to take advantage of a difficult times.
2. When the first whiff of discouragement comes, I have to turn ALL my attention to the Lord.
3. In the end, I know God’s desire for me is to be successful according to his will. I just need to make the right choice and follow where he leads.

Have you ever had one of those days? What did you learn? How did you make it through?

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I have been thinking a lot lately. While many would say that such time spent by me thinking could prove dangerous , I believe it has been a great thing. You see, I have a tendency to make the most simple things really complicated. Not because I like complicated (I really don’t like complicated!!!) but because I am afraid that if I let things become simple, I might miss something (and who wants to miss something, right!)

The conclusion to all of this thinking is really simple, “God is …. I am his …. I choose to follow as HE leads!” Nothing else in life matters. What others say doesn’t matter. How people react to this simple life choice doesn’t matter. Wealth or poverty doesn’t matter. Victory or defeat doesn’t matter. God is …. I am his …. I choose to follow as HE leads!

It’s really simple, but simple and easy are not the same. So, I have to consider this choice daily and recommit to it at all times. I need to listen to God through his word as well as the voice of his Spirit. I must be quiet, be still, and follow both when and where he leads. Simple, yes … easy, not so much.

The same complications I have placed on my life in the past love to flood my thinking and my life processes. Satan enjoys reminding me of the failures of my past and the levels of my current weaknesses. Yet, the truth is always true and life, in the end is really simple, God is …. I am his …. I choose to follow as HE leads!

Will you join me? How are you following? What have you found to strengthen yourself in the struggle?

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Yesterday was an amazing day. The church I pastor celebrated its 7th anniversary and God was once again awesome in our midst! More than anything that happened specifically, we just knew that God was present all day long. I was a busy day with lots going on and as far as I could see, everything went according to plan.

After I got home, I headed to my place of refuge (my deck) and just sat with my eyes closed and my face toward the heavens. It was quiet there. The was almost no wind so even the trees were quiet. It took a few minutes to adjust to the quiet after the busyness of the day. But, after that period of adjustment, I was once again able to just sit back and drink in the quietness and peacefulness that is God’s blessing to me.

I am so thankful for these quiet times when my eyes are closed to the hectic nature of the world and my face is turned to the heavens to feel the warmth of God’s grace. It is a time of true refreshing and of being filled with the peace of God that does indeed pass all understanding.

Have a great Monday and don’t forget to find that time in your “refuge.”

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Emotions associated with happiness (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The definition of balance is: mental steadiness or emotional stability; habit of calm behavior, judgment, etc. When it comes to learning to live a happy life while also being a mourner you have to learn this definition and let it permeate your very being.

To get out of balance makes one person blind themselves to the struggles of the world and instead seek happiness at any cost (hedonism) and another person to become so consumed with the world’s struggles that they couldn’t be happy if they ate ice cream and cupcakes everyday.

Balance allows people to care deeply about life’s struggles both for themselves and those around the world and to do it while being happy with the direction and passions of their personal life. It is balance that makes “Blessed are they that mourn…” possible.

Jesus speaks about what it takes to get to this balance in Matthew 11:28-30 when he says:

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

In these words Jesus establishes the keys to balance:

1. Come unto me …. Balance begins and ends with an allegiance to and a following of the Lord Jesus Christ. He, as the Lord of the Universe and the Creator of all things has the answers that everyone needs. Only by coming to him can we establish a life of true balance.
2. Take my yoke upon you …. A yoke is the instrument placed on a plow animal that allows the master to direct it down the field. When we allow the Lord to direct our paths, our life and efforts will remain in balance.
3. Learn of me …. You see, since Jesus is God, learning of him allows us to see the world through the balanced eyes of God himself.

When I yield to  these keys in my life I am able to mourn for the world as Jesus did and still does today, but at the same time because, in this state, I am surrendered to the leadership and direction of God for my day to day life and that makes me happy!

So, as I have always know and have seen over and over again in my life in Christ, what God says is true and all I need to do is accept his knowledge and wisdom and it all makes sense!

More later …

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Image via Wikipedia

Yesterday, I began to talk about the subject of mourning. My question surrounded God’s word saying that those who were mourners would also be “blessed” (happy). Mourning and happiness seem to be polar opposites and the thought that anyone could truly mourn over the desperate situation that reveals itself everyday in the pages of the newspaper, on the 24/7 television news cycle, on picture/video websites, and in the status updates on Facebook and Twitter, boggles my mind. Yet, God never declares anything in his word that is not true or is not possible.

So, here we stand. The scripture is clear in its teaching and we need to understand it to be able to live in its truth and bask in its power. Today I am going to share one passage that I have discovered that has made it possible for me to bridge the gap between mourning and happiness.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

In this passage I see three things that reflect on God’s command to mourn AND to know happiness in the doing of it:

1. God knows everything that I do about the world’s condition and more. Because God is omnipotent I can trust him to make himself know in the heart of every man. I am limited both in scope and capacity, so I must trust him to answer my prayers (my mournings) because he loves both me and the world for which I mourn.
2. By seeing the world through God’s eyes and understanding the limitations of my life, I must acknowledge God in this area of my life (as well as all others). All my prayers (especially those that reflect compassion for his creation) are a sweet smelling savor in the throne room of God. Therefore, I am made happy knowing that my mourning is seen by God as a sign of his compassion reflected through me.
3. When God responds to my mourning, he does so my directing the lives of his people to offer an escape from the reasons for my mournings. What I am trying to say here is, when God sees that I am in a state of true mourning for the people of this world, when I see, as God does, their desperate need, and when I acknowledge that the only way to escape is to follow God’s directions, God then directs my path to those I can reach with his grace and the power of the Spirit, while directing others to reach those I cannot. The knowledge that God uses those who truly mourn in this way brings an amazing sense of happiness even as they continue to live with a heavy heart.

So, the first key to happiness in the midst of mourning is to understand that God knows your heart and seeks to guide you into the places where you can be used for his glory, while also guiding others to places where you cannot. That should make every mourning believer happy!

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Jesus (Photo credit: madam3181)

For a long time the description that Jesus gives to those who mourn as being blessed (happy) has caused me to pause. In my human way of thinking, there seems to be such a contradiction of emotions between mourning and happiness. Yet, in clear and unquestionable terms Jesus ties these seemingly opposite terms together.

Over the past year, God has opened my eyes more and more to this idea of mourning. See, the country I live in seemingly on the verge of utter chaos, from the people angry with Governor Walker in Wisconsin as they stormed the capital building, to those protestors in Oakland who destroyed the work of school children to “prove” their political point.

We are hearing cries from the intellectual elite for people to simply quit paying their mortgages and the “occupy” their homes to punish banks for making loans that they (the intellectual elite) think were “unfair.”

Science makes claims about finding other planets in the universe “just like earth” when the best they can do is to speculate and hypothesize. They can neither prove their claims nor can anyone specifically discredit them, so they just say what they want to believe and a secular world just accepts as true their “findings.”

God is no longer even given his due by those who claim to follow him. His word is questioned with regularity, his power is scorned, and his ways are said to be archaic and no longer relevant in this complex world. And this by those who would claim in the same breath to “believe” in him.

People are generally arrogant and selfish. We want what we want no matter the harm that want might inflict on others. If you don’t like it, you’re the fool and you just need to “get a life.” Oh, by the way, if you speak out about any of this you are quickly reminded that it is a sin to judge.

So, yeah my heart is heavy these days and I am understanding more and more about what it means to mourn. But, how can I at the same time be happy in my mourning? That answer was a little harder to come up with, but I think that I have found it!

I want to say at the outset this is easy to say and not nearly as easy to live. The answer is found in two very familiar passages in the Old Testament. They are one’s that nearly all believers have read (even heard preached) but have not fully implemented in their lives.

If you want the answer that I have found in these passages, check back over the next few days. (This post is already nearly 500 words – wow!!) I hope the wait will be worth it because I know for sure that you can know real joy AND happiness even while your heart hangs heavy as you live the life of a mourner!

More later ….

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Have you ever finished a day and been exhausted? Not for any reason you can point to, but exhausted none the same.  After a really weird day, I am sitting here tonight convinced of three things:

1. I am really not in control. I know as a Christian I am supposed to trust the Lord and let him lead in all things, but I have never felt more out of control than I do these days. Now, understand, I’m not saying that this is a bad thing, it is just different.
2. Not being in control is exhausting. (At least for now!) I really think that the reason for the exhaustion is not the direction God is leading, it is the work that it takes to let go. I think that the more I let go, the more peaceful things will be and hence less exhausting.
3. I can’t wait for the “less exhausting” to come!!!

In the meanwhile I am going to have to learn each day to listen more, to struggle less, and to just let go. I know in my heart and my mind that God’s desires for me far out exceed my wildest dreams, but sometimes its hard to follow through the dark valleys and narrow passages to get there.

Even though I am exhausted, I am convinced of these three things!

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I am on a quest. Just like Don Quixote my quest seems to be an impossible dream. My quest is for something so difficult to find in this world that I’m not sure what to do or where to look.

Actually that is not altogether true, I do know what to do and I know where to look, I am just not sure that I can sustain the effort required of the quest for any length of time. See, my quest is to find quiet. That illusive place/condition in life where the stress of the day melts in the presence of God’s grace. That place where David went to even while running for his life and hiding in caves and even the lands of his enemy. That place Paul must of been able to retreat to as he spend years languishing in prison for the horrid crime of speaking to people about the Christ who he served.

Quiet, I had glimpses of it over the years, but have never been able to abide in its presence. There is too much to do, there are too many things to get caught up in, there is just too much noise to listen for. Quiet (at least as life-style) alludes me. Yet it is my quest. I know deep inside me that it is where I am supposed to reside.

I know quiet comes from living in harmony with God and that all the noise is just Satan’s way of drowning out quiet. Quiet is that place of peaceful repose where I can speak in hushed tones to God and he can respond to me through the still small voice of His Spirit.

Quiet brings closeness to God and that is what I need more than anything these days. So, as Don Quixote sang in the musical Man of LaMancha, “this is my quest, to follow that star, no matter how hopeless, no matter how far …” And at the end of this life, I would love to look back and say that through the leadership and direction of the Holy Spirit, I was able to abide in quiet!

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I was watching the news today and as usual I had to turn it off after just a couple minutes because of the negative and fear-laden stories. Greece on fire, the President’s decision to force private insurance companies to cover people for free, the “dueling” budgets, and the band plays on!

I think that I am ready to focus my life and energies on building solutions rather than just concentrating on the problems. I also believe that these solutions are going to be local ones. I want the people I am around everyday to have a better life and greater opportunities. My hope for mankind is the same, but I know that I have to start where I am and let God give the victory here and then expand things at his direction!

In building a solution, I am going to have to learn before I teach. I am going to have to build relationships with people of like mind and like hearts. We are going to have to learn to pray, prepare, and produce. To just talk a good game isn’t enough any more.

If you could do something to build a solution, what would it be? Let’s kick some things around and see what God might do!

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