Can't hear God's voice?

What if God is talking to us all the time, but we simply can't hear him because the sounds of the world drown out His voice?

This is the truth; God is always in pursuit of us.  He is glorified in us when we are satisfied in him.  He is speaking grace, mercy and peace to us every minute of every day, but we choose not to hear it.

When I am frustrated with my wife, children, neighbors, workmates, etc it is the often the first indicator that I have lost touch with God's voice.  God never wants us to be confused or frustrated with people.  In fact, Scriptures repeatedly remind us that our struggle is not with people, but with spiritual forces in the heavenly realms (eph 6:12).

It is when we believe our struggle is with the person in front of us when our eyes turn from the creator on to created things; that is evil and offensive in God's eyes.

Try this next time frustration and irritation comes your way.

1) Stop and listen... (James 1:19).
2) Pray for your eyes and ears to be open to what God wants to say.
3) Be sure to stay out of His way.

Husbands, when you walk into the house are you praying, "Lord, how do you want to love my wife and kids today? Please do that through my words, tone of voice, touch, and actions."  Or are you coming in the door with an inspection sheet looking to flunk your family?  Are your standards draconian?  If you are a tyrant, there is sin in your heart leading to foolish behavior (i.e. freaking out that your wife didn't clean the house all day when you were at work).

Wives, when you pray for your husband are you saying, "Lord, I pray that you love my husband today through me.  Through my words, tone of voice, actions and touch."  Or do you pray, "Lord please change this idiot because i'm about to loose my mind.  Please change his attitude.  Lord please change his laziness.  Lord please help him to get off the couch."  If that's your prayer, its time to confess and renounce your idolatry.

All the noise in our heads is a choice.  At any time we choose, we can hear the voice of God.  He speaks through his Word and through the body of Christ.  We must have our eyes in the Scripture and we must be surrounded with people who invade our "private" space to speak truth in love to us.

stay blessed.

Marvellous Light by Ellie Holcomb

Yes!  Another song of Freedom.  God's good and gracious freedom for the Believer.  Pay attention to the lyrics.  If you know what she's talking about, you've probably experienced the joy of being freed from shame, guilt and being critical of songs that were meant to bless you.

Ephesians 6:12-13 Reminder

12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

Ephesians 6:12 is my favorite verse - or it is at least the most needed verse in my life on any given day.  I find it difficult to keep at the forefront of my thinking because my eyes wander in all directions but up.  I can be in the right mindset during gospel community fellowship, Sunday morning corporate worship or during family worship dinner, then all of a sudden have life throw a stick in my spokes and I forget that my struggle is NOT against whatever my eyes can see.

How many of us find ourselves operating in the flesh in the parking lot of Church 2 minutes after we got in the car?!  

Ephesians 6:12 Is a constant reminder of the reality that our "struggle" is not against flesh and blood, but against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over his present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.  These are demonic influences.  

If we don't believe demonic influences are at large, we'll be the kind of parents who don't get down on their knees by their kids bed and pray for protection over their children.  

If we don't believe demonic influences seek to disrupt and break up your marriage, we'll be the kind of couple that not only avoids praying together as a couple, but we will hate it.  Who is influencing us NOT to pray with our spouses?  It's not God...

If we don't believe demonic influences are at constant work to take our mind off God, we will be the kind of people who are constantly frustrated with other people and situations.  

No wonder the Church is full of people who don't pray with their spouses - don't pray over their kids - don't pray throughout the day; because we don't believe the enemy is at large.  We just live with the attack with no end in sight.

Print out Ephesians 6:12 and put it somewhere, everywhere, anywhere to remind you of the reality of the Spiritual world.  Be on your guard.  The devil prowls around like a one eyed cat in a bird show looking for any opportunity to get your eyes off God and onto some petty 1st world problem that easily trips you up.

Unorthodox Thoughts on the 14th Anniversary of 9/11

 

14 years ago I was in my dorm room and a guy named Jay was banging on all the dorm rooms in his boxers saying, "this is World War II man!"  I'll never forget that day.  We gathered around the television and most of us unable to connect with the severity of the events.

Over a dozen years later the question always returns; namely, "If God is all loving and all powerful how could he allow those events to have happened?" This is called the "Problem of Evil" and it is fairly easy to answer.

First of all, God, by definition is transcendent; that means, God is not limited to what we are capable of understanding.  I think the first thing we, humans, need to swallow is the fact that we can't and never will fully understand "God."  Questions like, "who created God?" and "can he create a rock so heavy that he can't lift it?" are in fact just smokescreens to cover up the evil in our hearts.  Seriously, nobody is truly searching for answers to those questions.

Deep down we want answers to "how can I overcome this lust problem?" or "how can I not get angry at my 2-year-old for spilling milk?"  Every single human being wants and desires for the gospel message to be true; the message of salvation.  Salvation from hell and from the things that hold us down today.  These things can be horrendous memories of the past, current bitterness towards others or self, self hate, the hatred of others, constant irritability with people and situations or the constant spirit of criticism of all things and people just to name a few.  People want and desire salvation.  Their soul longs for it and they can't put their finger on it.

So, how could a loving and powerful God allow the events of 9/11 to happen?  The answer: because God has given man free will.   Whoever planned the events of 9/11 was able to plan and execute because God allowed them to have free will.  God also allowed every single person in the building to accept or reject him.  A child of God who dies in a burning flame or building actually lives on.

And, where was God during 9/11?  He was there, here, everywhere.  Tomorrow is not a place God knows about it is a place where he is.  He is not limited to time and space.  Wherever you can think, that's where he is.

And now take this conversation introspective.  Take all the thoughts you have about God - especially the complaints and gripes, thoughts of how could he to this and that - and set those aside.  Do you have anybody in your life who loves you?  Are you completely honest with others and or your spouse?  Or do you live in guilt and shame?  All of these may be blindspots at the moment.  And blindspots will always remind unknown to us until we allow others to point them out.  But if we keep people at a distance, we remain in ignorance.

What if we started there?  What if all the questioning about God was just a cover up for some deep hurts and memories of the past?

My prayer is that you would be so loved by someone that you would be willing to let others in and love you for who you are.  And in the end you would realize that it was God all along trying to love you through the body of Believers here and now.

    For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Why is "Homo naledi" the #1 story in the world???

I did an experiment today:  I visited all the top websites for news for several countries in the world.  Every news had Homo Naledi at the top!  What is so fascinating about this story that has made it the #1 story in the world?  It's an anti-gospel story.  Could this world be anti-gospel?  Yes.

Church folk should know that the pitch for a Million, billion or trillion year earth is anti-gospel.  I think It's another attempt to explain creation apart from an almighty creator.  It's an attempt to explain a watch without the watchmaker.

The Bible explains that in the beginning God created everything (Ryan's paraphrase version).  Read Genesis 1-2 for the full story.  The world is going to great lengths to find another story.

And this is how bad it got: the whole world is persuaded by Lee Berger, an evolutionist who has made questionable claims before on the "missing link."

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22229643-200-human-missing-link-fossils-may-be-jumble-of-species/

More stories I took from answersingenesis.com:
“Sediba with a Little Sleight of Hand,” 
“Sediba Fossils Fail to Connect the Evolutionary Dots,” 
“Karabo: The Smiling Missing Link,” 
“Can Karabo Catch Up with Lucy's Legacy?”

I think most people accept the MILLIONS AND MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF YEARS pitch because of Jurassic Park and the "Kingdom of the Dinosaurs" ride at Knotts Berry Farm in Buena Park :)

Am I an advocate of a "young earth?"  I don't know.  I mean, I think so because I take the days in Genesis literally.  But, I also have friends on the other side who believe a "day" is an indefinite period of time.  A solid believer, Ken Ham says Young Earth while another believer and one of my favorite apologists, William Lane Craig says otherwise.

This section below is FOR ALL BELIEVERS:
I'd like to give a challenge to all the Believers who get excited at defending their age of the earth theology.  Set the debate aside.  No evolutionist, atheist or agnostic ever gave his life to Christ because he was defeated on a blog concerning the age of the earth.  So what makes you think you'll be the first???

We need to drop this fascination with debating theology and realize that is just another way to mask our brokeness.  It is comfortable to discuss theology isn't it.  You don't have to talk about how you disrespect your wife.  When you debate young vs. old earth, you don' have to confess that you don't pray with your spouse; in fact, you despise your spouse.  When you debate on your blog, it's easy to miss the fact that you have wandering eyes.

I'm willing to say that more non-believers would be persuaded if you confessed your sins to them rather than you embarrass them with eloquent logic and reason that you learned in bible class.

Let's hijack top stories like "Homo Naledi" and engage our neighbors, friends, classmates and workmates to point them back to the Gospel.  Let's be humble and admit that we may not know how old the earth is...but we know what the Bible says about God creating Adam and Eve and after Chapter 3 of Genesis it's been a jacked up/busted up place which is why we struggle with lust.  It is why we cheat.  It is why we lie.  It is why we blow up at our children for no good reason.  It is why we judge others.  It is why we hate.  It is why we don't forgive.  It is why we try to FIX everybody else but us.  But God doesn't leave us there.  This is the beauty of the Gospel.  That we don't have to be enslaved from the things that have been enslaving us.  Jesus Christ sets us free.  He grants us eternal life by simple faith in him.  He is the author and perfecter of our faith.  We have nothing to add to the equation.  We just accept it and receive life.

Drop the theology talk.  Set aside the debates and reveal today why you needed the Savior all day.  Uncover those evil deeds.

Blessings.

"Love Shines" by Austin Stone

I was introduced to this great song at Church the other day.  I love it.  Gospel centric!  May the Gospel set you and me free from sin that so easily drags us down.

Pleasing the Father on the first day of school...

Today was a big day in our neighborhood and for communities  across the nation.  This will be the first time many of us are sending our kids off to school. We have made it an ongoing practice in our house to "start the day right" by getting our minds on our Heavenly Father.

My children know our mission for today is, "Father, what do you want to do today? I want to do what you want to do." From that point on, the day is about pleasing the Father. Paying attention in class is to please the Father, not to please the teacher - although pleasing the teacher is a secondary motivation with many benefits.

Our day ends in the same fashion. During our family dinner, we go around the table and share what God had done and how we were a part of it: "Okay kids, what did God do today through you?"

Parents in America typically ask their kids after school: "Did you have fun?"
Parents in Asian countries (i.e. India) usually ask: "What did you learn today?"

Both questions are legitimate questions I eventually ask my kids. But there is one question that is more important to me than if they had fun or if they got smarter; namely...

"Was the Father pleased with your day?"

So, at dinner tonight, I asked my son, "What did you do that pleased the Father?"  He replied in a humble tone: "I tried my best not to be scared when I couldn't find my class."  I was so proud of him.  First time in a huge public school.  Not to mention he's 6 and smaller than the average.

I want to instill it early and drive it hard.  Our life is about pleasing the Father, not any other human being. Period.

I believe Pleasing the Father should be our primary mission as it was Jesus mission, which he always accomplished (cf John 8:29).

Here are a few ways to please the Father on any given day:

• Colossians 1:10: Bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God pleases the Father.
• Romans 12:1: Presenting your body as a living sacrifice pleases the Father.
• Romans 14:18: Looking out for your weaker brother pleases the Father.
• 1 Thessalonians 2:4: Teaching the word in truth pleases the Father.
• 1 Timothy 2:1–3: Praying for your governing authorities pleases the Father.
• 1 Timothy 5:4: Supporting family members in need pleases the Father.
• Hebrews 13:16: Sharing with others pleases the Father.
• 1 John 3:22: Keeping the commandments pleases the Father.

Fasting from the Internet...

I just finished a week-long fast from the internet. It was refreshing.  Especially this last day, which ended with a 24 food fast.  Fasting from the internet is always shocking because I realize how much I jump on it.  First thing in the morning, a few hundred times throughout the day and last thing before I sleep...that's called an addiction!  But thank God for a refreshing fast to re-orient my heart and mind.

There's something about the feeling of weakness in the knees and a glimpse of what it's like to miss a few meals.  But I did this as a reminder to be in constant prayer.  I'm praying about whether or not I'm going to participate in ministry X vs. Z, or both, or none, etc..  Both ministries are awesome, but I'm not convinced that awesome is always appropriate all the time.  So, I'm praying for wisdom and clarity on the issue.

God is good, and he answered my prayers with clarity.  I don't want to and cannot do everything. That is not wise.  I also don't want to be "comfortable" because I know life is short, and the Lord is coming.  I want to be moving in ministry with a sense of urgency.  I also know I want to increase the giving of my time, energy and resources to the point of "sacrificial giving;" That is, giving to the point that something else has to go.  Perhaps less visits to the Sushi bar and Starbucks.

I also realized that I've always struggled with prayer.  I've never had a consistent prayer life and beat myself up for it for years.  This week I had a thought.  Why not fast from something every week.  A week without internet.  A week without coffee.  A week without Ice Cream. A week without music, etc.  I'll sacrifice something to help keep my weak little ADD mind on Him.

Catching glimpses of being weak, frail and small is a great feeling.  To know that the world is not about me is so freeing.  To know that I live like a King every day simply by the fact that I eat well every night reminds me of how blessed I am to have been born in the U.S.