This week as I was walking to our garage, I noticed something that thrilled me—our backyard tomatoes were ripening. What caught my eye was the splash of bright red emanating from a bunch nestled in the midst of a thick growth of cherry tomato vines. I carefully picked the clump and took them inside for us to enjoy, just enough to whet our appetites for more. We reap what we sow, and that is true whether it is our carefully chosen tomato plants or our few haphazard potatoes that are the result of a carelessly thrown spud into a compost pile. When we sow something, we have to live with those results. However, we don’t always consider how our plantings may affect others.
Our choices come with consequences, but our lives aren’t inside a vacuum. Both minor and major choices usually impact someone else. When we choose to waste resources, everyone on the planet is affected. When we don’t paint our house, we change our neighbors’ property values. Not teaching our children respect for authority can affect teachers, classmates, policemen, future spouses, and a multitude of others. When we choose to drive drunk, we will not only impact our families if we lose our licenses but also anyone else we happen to encounter on the road. A selfish decision to pursue our own interests impacts our spouse’s, children’s, grandchildren’s, and friends’ well-beings. Each action comes with a reaction, and that is what we don’t consider with decisions. It’s like ripples that come into the water after a stone is thrown—they keep going on indefinitely.
Many biblical saints discovered that principle also. When Adam and Eve violated God’s commandment and ate the fruit, their family had to leave paradise and all of mankind came under a curse. David’s decision to have Uriah killed so he could have his wife created conflict in his family and a pronouncement “the sword [would] never depart from [his] house” (2 Sam. 12:10): brother raped sister, brother killed brother, son betrayed father. When Solomon chose to ignore God’s command and take heathen wives, his posterity lost their throne. The same principle of consequences is true for godly decisions. Mary obeyed God and birthed the Savior who affected the world for all of time. Paul’s conversion on the Road to Damascus provided us with most of the New Testament. Jesus’ decision to obey his Father’s will and go to the cross negated Adam and Eve’s consequences for mankind. Whether good or bad, our decisions impact not only us, but many more.
What we do for God also has consequences for others. Our job on earth is to be a servant, and Jesus modeled when he planted good deeds geared to helping all with whom he came in contact. Our lives should leave a mark on others in the same way. A former principal tells the story of a surly young man whom he determined to give a kind word each day. Never did the teen respond until he had been graduated for a couple of years and came to see this principal. He told him that throughout his young years, this man had provided the only words of kindness ever directed at him. His home life had been terrible; his quiet brooding had let him fade into the back of a classroom. Though he never demonstrated any reaction to the principal then, each morning he came to school just to have his daily fix of kindness. When we shop or work or drive or talk, are ripples we leave showing love and kindness or more confusion in an already-chaotic life? Are we a solution to another’s problem, or are we just another layer to add onto the despair in which he/she is drowning? Do we demonstrate His love to a world that was so important to the Father He asked His son to be their martyr? Does the wake we leave in life’s sea reflect the face of Jesus?
This month we lost a friend whose life’s ripples touched many others. Carol Neeley went home to be with God. When I think of her, I see one word—tenacity. She was a bulldog about following the Lord. I knew Carol as many others did—a lady who was in love with God, His word, and Holy Spirit’s depth. Her conversations were mostly about God and what He had done for and through her. She stayed in His word and in His presence as much as she could. Her words of knowledge and wisdom often sustained or bolstered me. Many times she would call and say she had been praying and God had given her a prophetic word for me. Her obedience and perception made me respect her throughout the years I have known her.
Her life touched many others also. She understood how what she did rippled into their lives and that she was placed on earth to be a servant to them: her mother, her siblings, her children, her friends, her Christian brothers and sisters, even strangers. She remained true to that call until the very end. Only a short time before she died, she called to tell me of something God had spoken to her. Her excitement overshadowed the illness ravaging her body; for she had long ago learned that in “whatever state [she was in], to be content” (Phil. 4:11). When she was still young, she had given herself to God and considered “the loss of all things…as rubbish” (Phil. 3:8) compared to everything she had gained in Him. She stepped as He led. She gave as He did. She will be missed, but her life’s worth remains in the ripples that still touch our lives. What a legacy for any of us to leave someday: that our actions continue to bless others even after we are at home with Jesus.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Activate by Wade Urban
Activate, Elevate & Accelerate
2 Tim. 1:7-8, “Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
Foundation Builder Ministry
Kingdom Principles & Definitions
• Dominion (Gen. 1:26)
• Seedtime & Harvest (Gen. 8:22) (Mt 13:3-23; Mk. 4: 3-29)
• Faith (Mk 11: 22-24); (2 Co. 4:13); (Rom. 10: 6-17)
• Righteousness (Rom. 3, 4 & 5)
• Purpose & the Will of God
1. 1 Jn 3:8; 1 Jn 4:17; Jn. 17:18; Jn 20: 21
2. Rom. 12: 1-2 & 6-8 (prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhorting, giving, leadership, mercy)
3. Gal. 5:22-23 (love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance); 1 Cor. 12: 4-11
4. Gal. 3: 13-14; Eph. 5: 17, “Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;”
SO WHAT? WHY?
ANSWER: “To teach believers to hear from God for themselves!”
ACTIVATE
1. Receive Jesus Christ as Lord
2. Ask for infilling of Holy Spirit – evidence
3. Continue process of sanctification – dying to self, renewing the mind with TRUTH!
4. Understanding the depth of God’s Word and love (Ps12:6, “The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.”) (Pv 9:1, “Wisdom hayth builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars.”) (Eph.3: 16-21, “That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye , being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”
ELEVATE: (Rev.4: 1, “After this I looked, and , behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.”
INTIMACY
• POSITIONS us with new PERSPECTIVE (Eph. 2: 1-8); It elevates us out of “See Level” where we have been living by natural sight into spiritual “VISION”
• PURGES us and brings FREEDOM from SIN (Rom 6); Law (Rom 7); FLESH and FEAR of DEATH (Rom. 8); We put off the “old man” and put on the New Man” created in Christ Jesus (Eph. 4: 20-24)
• EMPOWERS us to His GREATER WORKS (Jn 14: 12); (2Cor. 1: 20) ; (2 Pet 1: 2-4)
ACCELERATION
• BREAKOUT & BREAKTHROUGH (Bondage to the Familiar) 2 Sam 5: 17-25 = Baal Perazim
• DELIVERANCE from other BONDAGES: Addictions, bitterness, religious spirit of anti-Christ
• Isa. 60: 22, “I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time.”
2 Tim. 1:7-8, “Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
Foundation Builder Ministry
Kingdom Principles & Definitions
• Dominion (Gen. 1:26)
• Seedtime & Harvest (Gen. 8:22) (Mt 13:3-23; Mk. 4: 3-29)
• Faith (Mk 11: 22-24); (2 Co. 4:13); (Rom. 10: 6-17)
• Righteousness (Rom. 3, 4 & 5)
• Purpose & the Will of God
1. 1 Jn 3:8; 1 Jn 4:17; Jn. 17:18; Jn 20: 21
2. Rom. 12: 1-2 & 6-8 (prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhorting, giving, leadership, mercy)
3. Gal. 5:22-23 (love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance); 1 Cor. 12: 4-11
4. Gal. 3: 13-14; Eph. 5: 17, “Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;”
SO WHAT? WHY?
ANSWER: “To teach believers to hear from God for themselves!”
ACTIVATE
1. Receive Jesus Christ as Lord
2. Ask for infilling of Holy Spirit – evidence
3. Continue process of sanctification – dying to self, renewing the mind with TRUTH!
4. Understanding the depth of God’s Word and love (Ps12:6, “The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.”) (Pv 9:1, “Wisdom hayth builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars.”) (Eph.3: 16-21, “That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye , being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”
ELEVATE: (Rev.4: 1, “After this I looked, and , behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.”
INTIMACY
• POSITIONS us with new PERSPECTIVE (Eph. 2: 1-8); It elevates us out of “See Level” where we have been living by natural sight into spiritual “VISION”
• PURGES us and brings FREEDOM from SIN (Rom 6); Law (Rom 7); FLESH and FEAR of DEATH (Rom. 8); We put off the “old man” and put on the New Man” created in Christ Jesus (Eph. 4: 20-24)
• EMPOWERS us to His GREATER WORKS (Jn 14: 12); (2Cor. 1: 20) ; (2 Pet 1: 2-4)
ACCELERATION
• BREAKOUT & BREAKTHROUGH (Bondage to the Familiar) 2 Sam 5: 17-25 = Baal Perazim
• DELIVERANCE from other BONDAGES: Addictions, bitterness, religious spirit of anti-Christ
• Isa. 60: 22, “I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time.”
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Afterthoughts
"I’m sick, Mom," Jill croaked as she jostled my arm to awaken me.
As I slid over for her to get in bed with me, I felt fever and knew she probably had another strep infection. I got her Tylenol; then she snuggled against me until the clock went off in the morning. As I slipped out of bed and turned off the alarm, she slid deeper beneath the down comforter and dozed into another fitful sleep. After I called work and wrote up lesson plans, I called the doctor to make an appointment. Then I woke Jennifer to get ready for school.
"It’s not fair," she blurted. "I’m the only one in this whole house who has to go to school. Last week when I felt sick you still made me go."
"You know the rules—throwing up and fever are the only reasons not to go. Jill’s had a really high fever during the night. We’re gonna see the doctor this morning."
"It’s not fair," she wailed as I left the room to signal the end of the discussion.
After I delivered Jennifer to her school and my lesson plans to my work, I went home and woke her up to get ready. I pulled back the covers and helped her swing her legs over the side of the bed and onto the floor. As she put pressure on her ankle, she cried out in pain.
"What’s wrong," I asked.
"It’s my ankle. Remember, I told you yesterday, Brandon dived on it during the 5th – 6th grade baseball game."
As I took it in my hand, I noticed some swelling. "You’ve probably sprained it again. We’ll have the doctor take a look at it."
We arrived at the office and waited a while to be shown into a room. The doctor we saw that morning was one I hadn’t seen too often, but I knew she was a Christian. She entered with a smile. She took a strep test; and as we waited for the results, we exchanged pleasantries and talked about the Lord while she examined Jill. When the nurse came back with news the test was positive, Dr. Borchers wrote a prescription, said her good-byes, and started out the door.
"Mom," Jill said, her voice exasperated. She motioned toward her ankle.
"Oh, yeah. She hurt her ankle. Could you check to make sure it’s not broken?"
"Sure." She examined it by moving it to determine areas of pain. "I don’t think it’s broken, but I’m going to send you to get x-rays anyway." As we went to the hospital, I was a little irritated having to take extra time for something I was sure would prove to be a sprain. However, in a while, Dr. Borchers called at the hospital.
"I guess God was looking out for Jill. She has a break. It’s by the growth plate; so if we hadn’t found it, it could have been really serious later on." As they put on her bright, neon-green cast, I felt guilty I had just dismissed something that could have been so potentially bad. I thought of how wonderfully God had again truly looked out for us.
Jill’s broken ankle is like the story of a Christian’s life. Though fraught with adversities, God is always looking out for us. However, unlike me with Jill’s ankle, God is constantly aware of our lives, and He never does things as an after-thought.
When Joseph went through his adversities—being sold into slavery, being falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife, being imprisoned, expecting to be remembered by the cook to Pharaoh—all those events might have made Joseph think God had forgotten him. However, adversities brought Joseph to a place where he was at the right place and time to save God’s people from being killed off during a famine. As he later told his brothers, "God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save you by a great deliverance." He knew it "was not [his brothers] that sent [him there], but God" (Gen. 45:7-8). From the moment the worlds were formed, God knew Joseph and the plan He had for his life. (Scrip)
Jesus’ birth was the same. Israel had been expecting God to deliver them from adversities for years, but God’s time had not come to fruition. He made all Israeli history add up to the momentous event in that stable 2,000 years ago. The lineage of David, from the tribe of Judah, from Bethlehem - - all of these prophecies were fulfilled by the birth of one baby whose parents God had carefully chosen for that time. Even when they escaped into Egypt, their fates were more than God’s after-thought. They were the exact time and place for God to accomplish His purpose and fulfill prophecy.
God carefully chooses our destinies. Even in such a horrific year as America has experienced, He knew those events would be part of His master-plan, and not as an after-thought, and " that all things work together for good to them that God, to them who are called according to his purpose" (Rom. 8:28). We must rely on the knowledge that God is orchestrating all areas of our lives and leaves nothing to chance. Sometimes that’s hard for things we just see as negative and can’t see God’s hand in yet.
In our lives, we have many people who rely on our prayers. My daughters are in college and bombarded by temptations. We have a new grandson to join the five others. Wade’s daughter is still in high school, and his other daughters have family crises where they need us and our prayers. We know they will all have adversities, but God doesn’t haphazardly ordain their lives. He carefully plans their lives and sees their needs even before they do. "The Lord knoweth them that are his" (2 Tim. 2:19) and He is never late to work out His children’s lives.
As I slid over for her to get in bed with me, I felt fever and knew she probably had another strep infection. I got her Tylenol; then she snuggled against me until the clock went off in the morning. As I slipped out of bed and turned off the alarm, she slid deeper beneath the down comforter and dozed into another fitful sleep. After I called work and wrote up lesson plans, I called the doctor to make an appointment. Then I woke Jennifer to get ready for school.
"It’s not fair," she blurted. "I’m the only one in this whole house who has to go to school. Last week when I felt sick you still made me go."
"You know the rules—throwing up and fever are the only reasons not to go. Jill’s had a really high fever during the night. We’re gonna see the doctor this morning."
"It’s not fair," she wailed as I left the room to signal the end of the discussion.
After I delivered Jennifer to her school and my lesson plans to my work, I went home and woke her up to get ready. I pulled back the covers and helped her swing her legs over the side of the bed and onto the floor. As she put pressure on her ankle, she cried out in pain.
"What’s wrong," I asked.
"It’s my ankle. Remember, I told you yesterday, Brandon dived on it during the 5th – 6th grade baseball game."
As I took it in my hand, I noticed some swelling. "You’ve probably sprained it again. We’ll have the doctor take a look at it."
We arrived at the office and waited a while to be shown into a room. The doctor we saw that morning was one I hadn’t seen too often, but I knew she was a Christian. She entered with a smile. She took a strep test; and as we waited for the results, we exchanged pleasantries and talked about the Lord while she examined Jill. When the nurse came back with news the test was positive, Dr. Borchers wrote a prescription, said her good-byes, and started out the door.
"Mom," Jill said, her voice exasperated. She motioned toward her ankle.
"Oh, yeah. She hurt her ankle. Could you check to make sure it’s not broken?"
"Sure." She examined it by moving it to determine areas of pain. "I don’t think it’s broken, but I’m going to send you to get x-rays anyway." As we went to the hospital, I was a little irritated having to take extra time for something I was sure would prove to be a sprain. However, in a while, Dr. Borchers called at the hospital.
"I guess God was looking out for Jill. She has a break. It’s by the growth plate; so if we hadn’t found it, it could have been really serious later on." As they put on her bright, neon-green cast, I felt guilty I had just dismissed something that could have been so potentially bad. I thought of how wonderfully God had again truly looked out for us.
Jill’s broken ankle is like the story of a Christian’s life. Though fraught with adversities, God is always looking out for us. However, unlike me with Jill’s ankle, God is constantly aware of our lives, and He never does things as an after-thought.
When Joseph went through his adversities—being sold into slavery, being falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife, being imprisoned, expecting to be remembered by the cook to Pharaoh—all those events might have made Joseph think God had forgotten him. However, adversities brought Joseph to a place where he was at the right place and time to save God’s people from being killed off during a famine. As he later told his brothers, "God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save you by a great deliverance." He knew it "was not [his brothers] that sent [him there], but God" (Gen. 45:7-8). From the moment the worlds were formed, God knew Joseph and the plan He had for his life. (Scrip)
Jesus’ birth was the same. Israel had been expecting God to deliver them from adversities for years, but God’s time had not come to fruition. He made all Israeli history add up to the momentous event in that stable 2,000 years ago. The lineage of David, from the tribe of Judah, from Bethlehem - - all of these prophecies were fulfilled by the birth of one baby whose parents God had carefully chosen for that time. Even when they escaped into Egypt, their fates were more than God’s after-thought. They were the exact time and place for God to accomplish His purpose and fulfill prophecy.
God carefully chooses our destinies. Even in such a horrific year as America has experienced, He knew those events would be part of His master-plan, and not as an after-thought, and " that all things work together for good to them that God, to them who are called according to his purpose" (Rom. 8:28). We must rely on the knowledge that God is orchestrating all areas of our lives and leaves nothing to chance. Sometimes that’s hard for things we just see as negative and can’t see God’s hand in yet.
In our lives, we have many people who rely on our prayers. My daughters are in college and bombarded by temptations. We have a new grandson to join the five others. Wade’s daughter is still in high school, and his other daughters have family crises where they need us and our prayers. We know they will all have adversities, but God doesn’t haphazardly ordain their lives. He carefully plans their lives and sees their needs even before they do. "The Lord knoweth them that are his" (2 Tim. 2:19) and He is never late to work out His children’s lives.
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