Tag: Faith

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Seeing what cannot be seen.

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.” Hebrews‬ ‭11:3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

​This crazy little thing called FAITH.

Seeing what cannot be seen.

Sure, that sounds ridiculous to the unbeliever of God and overly simple for followers of Jesus. It is neither ridiculous nor simple.

The author makes the case that dozens of men led a nation out of a “knowing” and a trust that God is real and knows what He’s doing. This theme of faith started with Abram on a substantial promise God made to him and all of his progeny. What is interesting is that this decision to believe was strong enough to be threaded throughout all the generational obstacles that would come.

God found an individual and that one person received the baton and kept running in spite of circumstances and zero prospect of hope. What if faith is just stubborn belief? “All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own.”

In the beginning they all talked big of a “land of their own.” Hebrews admits this looks a lot like “toxic positivity.” When you’re a “wanderer,” of course you’ll speak of such crazy things as a land of your own. They even died still believing!

I like this note about Joseph, “It was by faith that Joseph, when he was about to die, said confidently that the people of Israel would leave Egypt. He even commanded them to take his bones with them when they left.” All of these patriarchs had this phrase attached to their legacy, “it was by faith.”

What am I seeing that can’t be seen? I am seeing a massive amount of people turning to God when all the crummy cultural promises of identity, love and happiness have failed. I see a future where this generation realizes they’ve been fed huge lies and have been used in these horrible social experiments that spread faster than a virus ever could. There is coming a wave of people coming to Christ, returning to God. Will we be ready? Will the Church be ready to receive them? Our buildings will not be able to hold them all. The body of Christ MUST be bigger than our buildings. We need to be like the father that walks out to the edge of his property everyday to look for his returning son. And when he sees him in the distance, runs to him, embraced him and kissed him, welcomed him home.

What are you seeing that can’t be seen?

Prayer

Dad,
Wow, that list of men and women who saw what could not be seen is impressive. The thing I love the most is that their faith was accounted to them as righteousness! I can’t even wrap my brain around that. Their faith in your ultimate plans for all humans was somehow seen, believed and credited to them long before Jesus paid for their sins. I want to live a life faith that sees above and beyond the circumstances and struggles that surround me. And if I don’t see it in my lifetime, I want to die still believing!

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Living with one foot raised.

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“Whenever you enter someone’s home, first say, ‘May God’s peace be on this house.’ If those who live there are peaceful, the blessing will stand; if they are not, the blessing will return to you. Don’t move around from home to home. Stay in one place, eating and drinking what they provide. Don’t hesitate to accept hospitality, because those who work deserve their pay.” Luke‬ ‭10:5-7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Travel was expected. These verses bring back memories. At one point in my life I was, as they say, an itinerant missionary. My travel days were light compared to my boss. I was out maybe 60 days a year, my boss, at least 150 days a year. So, yes, he had more air miles, car rental and hotel perks because he was a frequent traveler and fiercely loyal to his membership status. He also had far more travel stories while staying with people, in their homes. Dogs that guarded his door so he couldn’t use the restroom. Waking up with a cat sleeping ON his neck. Staying with a young couple who was pregnant and the guest room was next to the restroom where the wife had to frequently un-accommodate her stomach contents. Even his hotel stays were a series of midnight mishaps mostly mistaking the main door for the restroom, only to find himself locked out in his skivvies.

My home stays however we’re delightful and memorable. When I stayed with retired couples we would often stay up late into the night (like 10pm 😂) talking about God and the church. When I stayed with families with littles or youth it was a joy just to be a part of the holy-chaos of evening homework or morning exit plans. I always prayed WITH and for the families I had the honor to stay with. Every single one of them were peaceful and the “blessing” stood! Even though I was away from home, in a strange sense I felt like I was staying with family. This is how the body of Christ functions. There was a bond of kinship and care and I deeply appreciated it. Sometimes I was able to return for multiple years and could watch the family grow and change as well.

My boss had this idea that Christianity and followers of Jesus should provide what he called “Radical Hospitality.” I guess he was old-school that way. Having experienced a sense that God’s work is “out there,” and often finding a sense of home where there are these pockets of hospitality.

In the book Heroic Leadership, Lowney writes, “when people see the whole world as their home, they can turn a hopeful, interested, and optimistic gaze toward new ideas, cultures, places, and opportunities. By freeing themselves from inordinate attachments that could inhibit risk taking or innovation, they become poised to pounce imaginatively on new opportunities. And by looking at the future with optimism, they become more likely to find those opportunities and solutions. Loyola called it “living with one foot raised.” Jesus called his followers to live with this idea that our lives should not be so static that we never experience new or unknown, but to live fluid enough to raise a foot and go out – go forward in and with our faith.

Prayer

Dad,
I get far too comfortable when living or existing in one place. I probably yearn for a sense of safety and security as much as the next person, but I tasted adventure. I saw opportunity open up before my very eyes as I got out, or away from the familiar and the mundane. It was odd that after a few years of these “road trips,” I had grown accustom, not exactly comfortable, but prepared for what “travel” brings. Delayed flights, lost reservations or luggage, just the unfamiliarity of my destination. I got used to a loss of control. But in those moments, I was also learning that you are IN CONTROL and had a plan, or an alternate plan. Maybe even a better plan that I could have never made happen. My trust, my faith increased with unfamiliar, unstable, unpredictable moments. Thank you.

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Who rudely interrupts a funeral and tells a widow to stop crying?

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” he said. Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” he said, “I tell you, get up.” Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk! And Jesus gave him back to his mother.” Luke‬ ‭7:13-15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

​How rude for Jesus to tell this grieving widow – WIDOW, “don’t cry.” Does Jesus not have an awareness of what she has lost, what she has been through. And who is he to tell her what she can or can’t do with her feelings. Jesus must have been displaying some kind of patriarchal control over this woman and she shouldn’t put up with it. Did he not have any respect for her journey, or her present situation? I’m surprised that one of the women, if not the widow herself, didn’t stop the well-intentioned Rabbi and say, “excuse me, you don’t know me or my boy. Who are you to tell me not to cry?”

Oh, that’s not how you read the story? This is where we find ourselves today with an over-inflated sense of self and a misperception of gender identity and interactions.

Luke writes that Jesus was in fact OVERFULL with compassion. The scene, the circumstances and the grief of this woman and friends surrounding her were loaded with deep emotion. If Jesus did not know what was going to happen next or did not have the power to change the direction of the procession coming out to bury this young man – it might have seemed very rude to tell a grieving widow, “don’t cry.”

Also, my curious brain wants to know, did Jesus have full access to his real nature, being fully God to the point that he knew the beginning and the end of every person in the funeral procession? Or did he self-limit that knowledge and in his fully human capacity depend completely on the voice of the Holy Spirit to speak to the dead and tell it to get up?

Jesus really took a risk as well. Luke says he touched the “soros”, the open coffin! There are rules about touching dead things or even being around them. What exactly are the rules for having contact with the resurrected dead?

When I was a new believer I worked for a flower shop and delivered flowers all over town. One my duties was to deliver flowers to funerals. I was told it was my responsibility to pin a boutonniere on the deceased while he lay in the coffin. As a teenager, I didn’t want to see or be around a dead body. It seemed super creepy. The funeral was held in our local senior citizen community called “Leisure World.” Yeah I thought it was a strange euphemism for old people housing as well. When I arrived early at the church to deliver the flowers and fulfill my delivery boy duties, I had this overwhelming sense of spiritual curiosity. I kept thinking, “What would happen if I walked up to the casket and commanded the man to get up?” I was new to Christianity and hadn’t been told I couldn’t or wasn’t supposed to think like that or certainly DO something crazy like that either. Granted, I was NOT moved by compassion. I was moved by a new believer’s curiosity. I have talked with a few Pastors who have had similar experiences asking, “what if” or “should I?”

Do you wonder about such things? When you see grief, or suffering. When you see torment and oppression. Do you feel something rise up within you and to want to say, “get up, be healed or get out to a demon?” Okay, maybe not. Maybe it’s just me. Ok, one more question. Do you ever wonder what the world would be like if believers DID the things Jesus did? Raising the dead, healing the sick, kicking demons back to hell?

I’ve buried children in little caskets. I’ve walked the childrens’ hospitals hallways. I’ve driven down Main St in Santa Ana and seen demonic possession. I wonder, if not out of compassion, but even out of frustration, if I’ll ACT on those thoughts and DO what Jesus did – raise, heal, deliver.

You know what, it’s not that I don’t believe it could be possible. It’s that I believe I’ll look so foolish if it fails, feeling like I FAILED.

Where did Jesus get the cojones to do such things? Yeah, it’s so sunday-school just to say, “God.” Because, God wants us to live in this world and BE like Jesus to the grieving, sick, even possessed! But I don’t. We don’t. What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with us?

PRAYER:

Dad,
How do I get my life, my behaviors, my actions to truly reflect what I believe? I see the pain in my city, in my neighbors, but I just don’t think I’m enough. I’ve got my own sins, my own struggles and I hate looking stupid as well. Clearly, I’m missing something. Can you help me figure this out?

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From fame to furious

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips. “How can this be?” they asked. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” Then he said, “You will undoubtedly quote me this proverb: ‘Physician, heal yourself’—meaning, ‘Do miracles here in your hometown like those you did in Capernaum.’ But I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his own hometown.” Luke‬ ‭4:22-24‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This curious scene out of Luke is an interesting story about US – our human nature and how consistently enduring and predictable it can be. This little side-bit is full of information about who WE are. Jesus goes home, and goes to his local synagogue. Nazareth may have been small and considered the “armpit” of Jerusalem, but there were a good number of very devout religious men there – enough to qualify for a synagogue.

Jesus goes to the front of the gathering, confidently unrolls the scroll and finds his text – in Isaiah! I’m sure whispers and eye-raised glances bounced around the room at that point. That day was “Isaiah” day, reading from the longest and most complicated Old Testament prophet book in the history of Judaism. There are no coincidences! And, he thinks he’s going to comment and give a Jewish sermon on it? Yeah right.

Luke, in his punchy wit writes, “He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently.” Then Jesus gives his homily…“The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!” Whoa.

Questions fill the room, sucking centuries of religious pretense right out of the room! In those stunning moments they began to comment, “Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips.” Then seconds later, someone just had to connect the dots of who and where this young buck came from. So then they mumble into the now religious-free air, “How can this be?” they asked. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

Then Jesus being the truth-teller, breaks their murmurs mid-thought and hijacks their conclusions saying, do you really want to know why I’ve done no miracles here? Of course it’s a lack of faith, but more than that, you guys won’t let ANYONE grow and mature as God intends and expects. You guys got STUCK and you want everyone around you to lower to your level back to AD 00 or BC 700!

Jesus masterfully does a commentary on two other very famous Old Testament spokespersons: Elijah and Elisha. “Ever wonder why these guys did miracles with foreigners and not Israel?” – Jesus hints. He tells them, there were a lot of needy widows in Israel and their were a lot of sick, skin diseased men in Israel. Why didn’t the prophets do any miracles among their own – the Jews?

Can you feel the tension building in this quiet little synagogue in the small, dusty city of Nazareth? Big pause here as they followed their stale, self-righteousness breadcrumbs to a finger-pointing conclusion.

I knew that Naaman wasn’t Jewish, but I had no idea the Sidon widow wasn’t either. Did you? OUCH!

Obviously, they got the point, the civil and religious leaders in old Israel sucked all the faith out the country, and right out of the people they were leading! One moment they were all having a nice pleasant day in the tabernacle, the next moment they’re foaming at the mouth with arrogant-anger, grabbing pitch forks and torches – “When they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious. Jumping up, they mobbed him and forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They intended to push him over the cliff, but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way.” I think once Jesus was safely out of town, he stopped at the city border and dusted off his sandals, signifying he wouldn’t be returning home again.

PRAYER:

Dad,
Wow, I love it when Jesus interprets and does a great commentary on the Old Testament, pointing out things I never knew or ever saw! This really challenges my own beliefs and faith as well as in leading others. Am I sucking faith out of the air with others in my community? I want to believe and not put any restraints or restrictions on a move of your Spirit. In fact, I want to be for more faith, not less! Help me in my own lack of faith and help our leaders in their faith as well.

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God conscripts some crows to door dash for him

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“Then the Lord said to Elijah, “Go to the east and hide by Kerith Brook, near where it enters the Jordan River. Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I have commanded them to bring you food.” So Elijah did as the Lord told him and camped beside Kerith Brook, east of the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he drank from the brook. But after a while the brook dried up, for there was no rainfall anywhere in the land.” 1 Kings‬ ‭17:2-7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

​You may not be all that impressed with what I’m about to write, but I forget this critical truth ALL THE TIME.

God knows what he’s doing.

How he does it maybe VERY out of the ordinary and we may not be comfortable with the timing, but God is faithful and in control.

This miracle that takes place in Elijah’s life takes place after declaring drought to King Ahab. Kings don’t like bad news and Ahab isn’t fond of Elijah anyways.

God emphatically tells Elijah – HIDE! Then like a heavenly hide and seek, God gives Elijah a GPS (God positioned soul) – (too much huh?). God tells Elijah, I’ve lined up a special door-dash deliveries by RAVENS (smart crows) so you can camp out with meat, bread and water. Whoa, so cool, creepy and specific. But I notice that Elijah is not protected from the drought, then following famine that was sure to follow, “the brook dried up.” He GETS to experience his own prophetic prediction!

And this is where it gets even more wild. God has already planned out Elijah’s next scavenger stop. I would think it was some swanky spot complete with a rooftop view, a spa and definitely its own well-water. Right? Isn’t this where you’d put up one your people, your spokesperson? Nope, not God. He’s got a far different idea of how things work.

He sends Elijah to a WIDOW! A widow? Look, this story just gets worse and weirder, you’re going to have to read it for yourself. But here’s my thoughts, I am sure that Ravens are super resourceful, but what does a widow have that Ravens don’t have? FAITH. Widows have nothing…. nothing but faith. Elijah BOLDLY asks for her and her son’s last meal! “Go ahead,” he says, “don’t be afraid,” he says. Bake up that last loaf and give some to ME first… he says! Whoa.

I repeat, God knows what he’s doing. Admit it, you don’t know what’s going on, and I don’t either. God is so creatively funny about how he goes about getting things done!

PRAYER:

Dad,
I’ve seen some pretty wild answers to prayer or provisions you have brought without me even asking. Nothing as extravagant as Ravens and widows, but delightful and well timed none the less. You are brilliant at these scenarios of faith, obedience and provision! I love the creativity and even the intense drama behind it all. Of course I don’t LIKE the drama when it’s in my own life, but I do enjoy seeing it played out in others’ lives 😀. You are a good God!