Category Archives: Healthy Faith

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Praying to the God Who Loves You

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If you’re like me, you often find yourself struggling to trust other people. Someone promises something, but deep within, you wonder if you can believe their promise.

Why?

We’ve been stabbed in the back by a close friend; a spouse cheated on you, a parent lied, again and again, you’ve watched an addict friend or family member say over and over, “this is the last time.”

In fact, the idea of choosing to trust anything or anyone seems like one of the worst decisions we could make. It opens us up to all kinds of hurt.

That is what makes prayer so hard for us, at least for me.

Prayer is difficult because it is hard to trust anyone.

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We think God has to be the same way.

We wonder, will God keep his promise? Will God hear me?

If prayer doesn’t get answered, we think God isn’t listening; God is holding out on us (because someone held out on you before), God isn’t listening because He’s disappointed in you (because someone in authority once said they were disgusted by you or disappointed in you).

Why does this matter?

What if one change, one change in how we see God and ourselves is the key to changing our prayer lives.

One change in how we see God and ourselves is the key to changing our prayer lives.

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When it comes to prayer and trusting in God, we bring all of our hurt and baggage along with us.

We bring our past hurt, past sin, past messages and that is the lens we look at God through and often, that is the lens through which we pray.

As I’ve been preaching through the book of Daniel, it’s important to remember the theme: In spite of present appearances, no matter how things look, God is in control.

In spite of present appearances, no matter how things look, God is in control.

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Before getting to how Daniel prays (because Daniel is a man of prayer), we need to understand where prayer begins. 

It starts with the promises of God.

In Daniel 9:2 were told: In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the books according to the word of the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah that the number of years for the desolation of Jerusalem would be seventy.

That promise found in Jeremiah 29:10 – 14: For this is what the Lord says: “When seventy years for Babylon are complete, I will attend to you and will confirm my promise concerning you to restore you to this place. For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. You will call to me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. I will be found by you…

Daniel’s prayer starts from reading the promises of God found in the word of God.

Daniel is saying, “God you promised to rescue us after 70 years.” You promised to move.

Promises like this one and others like God promising to heal, promising not to leave us or forsake us, promising to provide for us, when we pray, we go to God with his promises.

God’s promises are the fuel for our prayers.

God’s promises are the fuel for our prayers.

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Prayer starts with the promises of God and those promises fuel our prayers.

Prayer starts with the promises of God and those promises fuel our prayers.

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One author said, “It is as if God’s promises have Velcro on them and our prayers are meant to ‘get stuck’ there.”

That is such a great way to think of prayer because we often feel like we’re talking to ourselves or think our prayers simply leave our mouth, hit the ceiling above us and drop back down.

But they don’t.

Let me make one last point on using Scripture in prayer; often when I talk with people who are struggling in their relationship with God, seeing prayer answered, hearing the voice of God, finding freedom from sin, they are often spending very little time reading God’s word.

To grow in your prayer life, you have to marry it to God’s word.

Because…it will show us our need and what we need to pray for.

What I find interesting (at least compared to my prayer life and most people’s), Daniel’s prayer starts in verse 4 with confession, not a request.

This is important because for many of us begin our prayers with what we want from God.

Our prayers sound like a shopping list. God if you could do this, provide this, make this happen.

Now, I want to be clear, that is part of praying, but many of us make that the only part of our prayer life and wonder why it stalls out.

Throughout scripture, an important part of prayer is the confession of sin.

God responds to Daniel by sending the angel Gabriel.

Now, here’s what you’re thinking, if God sent me an angel, I’d believe in Him more. I’d have more faith.

Here’s the funny thing, first, no you wouldn’t. You would wonder what you ate.

We have more access to God than Daniel did because of Jesus and God’s word and yet, Daniel exhibits more faith than we often have.

What is important about Daniel 9 is how God responds to Daniel.

God doesn’t start by telling Daniel what to do, how he failed, how he did something well, he doesn’t give him an assignment.

What does Gabriel tell Daniel in verse 23?

“You are greatly loved.”

I want us to stop here.

Being loved by God, This is the space we pray from.

Many times we believe that God is disappointed in us, yet there isn’t a verse that says. There are hundreds that say you are loved.

There isn’t a verse that says God is disappointed in you.

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If you are a Christian, you are praying to your heavenly father who loves you, who is pleased with you. A father who gives good gifts to his children. A father who disciplines yes, but because he loves you. We sheepishly come to God because we aren’t sure we belong, we aren’t sure he loves, he cares, yet he does. Notice, before Gabriel tells Daniel what God wants him to know or do, he says, you are loved.

There are hundreds of verses that say God loves you.

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The word “deeply loved” in Hebrew translates as preciousness.

Let me ask you if you believed this, do you think it would transform your faith? Your prayer life? If you believed God was for you instead of against you, would that change things? If you believed God loved you and was not disappointed in you, what does that change? If you believed God would never leave you or forsake you instead of thinking he’ll leave you the first chance he gets, what does that change.

Those are promises of God.

Often, people look to Daniel 9 to show us when Jesus will return or what the millennium looks like. For some help on that, check out Sam Storms great book Kingdom Come. 

I think we see those things in Daniel 9, but we have to look at those through the lens of prayer and answered prayer.

The 70 weeks in Daniel 9 represent the full picture of God’s redemption: the end of sin; atone for sin, everlasting righteousness, and a holy place. That holy place is the everlasting presence of God, full rest, and full redemption.

Gabriel is telling Daniel and us: one day, all prayers will be answered. One day, all things will be redeemed.

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God’s Answer to Our Questions & Doubts (Daniel 7)

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As I’ve been preaching through the book of Daniel, I’ve been struck by the struggles Daniel has and doesn’t have.

He doesn’t seem to struggle with confidence and courage in following God’s call on his life. When faced with praying to God or worshiping a false god (the king), he chooses God. Was it difficult for him? Maybe, but we aren’t told.

In the second half of Daniel, we encounter a switch in our Daniel writes. The first half is a narrative, the story of Daniel’s life, but the second half is apocalyptic. Apocalyptic means “revelation” so it is a revealing of something.

Many times, apocalyptic carries with it a sense of doom, but also a promise of God’s presence and power. It is two sides of the same coin so to speak.

How to understand apocalyptic texts in the Bible.

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Daniel comes to God in Daniel 7 with a question: why does evil prosper? Why are there mighty kings who are against God and His people?

We have the same question.

Why is my life so hard when I’m only trying to please God? Why do I have cancer? Why do I suffer when those around me who want nothing to do with God have an easy go of it?

Why am I not progressing the way I want to in my career, marriage or parenting? Why can’t my finances come together, but that person at work who cuts corners gets promoted and things his way?

God’s answer to evil.

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God’s answer though to Daniel is simple: Yes, evil exists and prospers but not forever.

This is comforting and hard all at the same time.

God gives Daniel a dream of 4 beasts, a throne engulfed in flames which the Ancient of Days sits on and the son of man (which we know from the gospels is Jesus).

Many historians debate who the beasts are and which kingdoms they represent. What we know is that they are kings and that they prosper in wealth, destroy people and nations, but they also eventually disappear, and someone else takes their place.

This is the reality and comfort God gives Daniel.

For us, when we come to God, asking why things are difficult or struggling to trust Him with today, tomorrow and the day after that, He often doesn’t provide us the answer we want.

He gives us Himself.

That’s what He did for Daniel.

What I found most interesting and is easy to overlook is verse 2 where we are told the beasts come out of the sea after the winds of heavens stir the sea.

God tells Daniel in multiple places of chapter 7, yes evil exists, yes it is difficult and hard.

But I am there. I am here.

That is the power and hope of God’s presence.

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Christians, Social Media and Having a Caring Heart

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It feels like more and more our culture is becoming more and more divisive.

Whether it is politics, religion, sexuality, race. Everyone has a take, an opinion and we shout it as loud as we can from every corner of our lives and social media.

One of the saddest things for me is watching the way Christians interact not only with each other but also with people they disagree with who don’t follow Jesus.

It’s an easy trap to fall into and one I’ve fallen into more times than I’d like to admit.

Christians and social media.

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Right now, I’m preaching through the book of Daniel and I’ve been struck by the friendship that Daniel has with the kings in the book.

It’s important to understand Daniel’s heart and view of his life. We are told again and again how everything falls under the rule and reign of Jesus:

… to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. Daniel 4:17

… till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. -Daniel 4:25

… that you know that Heaven rules. -Daniel 4:26

… until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. -Daniel 4:32

… for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’ -Daniel 4:34 – 35

Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven. -Daniel 4:37

This is crucial because one of the reasons Christians shout as much as we do is because we often see social media or government as more powerful than Jesus.

Christians often see social media or government as more powerful than Jesus.

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King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and it troubled him, so he called on Daniel.

The king told him the dream: I saw a high tree in the middle of the earth. It grew strong and its top reached to the heaven and the whole earth could see it. It was beautiful and its fruit was abundant and you could see it anywhere on the earth. People fed on it, birds lived in it, animals stayed under its shade. Then a watcher came heaven, a holy one, and he told me to chop down the tree, its branches, take off its leaves, scatter the fruits. Let the animals scatter. And to leave the stump.

In verse 19 of Daniel, were told that Daniel was dismayed and his thoughts alarmed him.

How to disagree on social media.

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He did not want to tell the king what it meant.

And the king sensed this so he told him, “Tell me what it means, don’t be alarmed and don’t keep silent.”

Before telling him the dream, Daniel tells the king that he wishes the dream and its interpretation were for the king’s enemies, for someone else.

This is important in our culture today because many people who claim to follow Jesus or more interested in being right than being loving.

In the gospels, were told that Jesus wept over the people who didn’t love God.

On social media, do you weep over the people who don’t know Jesus or do you find yourself trying to figure out how to win a fight or pick one? In your family, does it break your heart the people who don’t know Jesus or do you have contempt for them?

Too often our attitude is we’re glad we know Jesus and want others to know how sinful they are, how wrong they are, how superior we are morally more than we want them to know that Jesus loves them.

Here’s a question: Are you more interested in being right or helping people find life in Jesus?

With this heart, Daniel tells him the interpretation of the dream:

The tree is the king himself, whose greatness has grown and dominion now reaches the end of the earth.

But the tree is chopped down. Which means the king and his kingdom.

But the stump stayed, the roots stayed so there is hope he will grow again.

Only we don’t know how long.

The king was driven from his kingdom and made to eat grass like an ox, his body was wet with dew, his hair grew as long as eagles feathers and his nails were like the claws of birds; so that he would know that God rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whoever he chooses.

The king is learning, what we need to know, all things in our lives fall under the rule of Jesus.

Again, this is a crucial lesson for Christians in our culture.

Daniel’s heart is for this king. They may have been friends at this point.

How to engage lovingly on social media.

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Daniel is a great reminder of the kind of heart we are to have towards those over us, those we disagree with and those who make life difficult for us.

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How to Glorify God in Everyday, Ordinary Ways (Daniel 4)

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I want you to think for a minute about the things that you do every day. More than likely, you spend a lot of time on these things.

It could be sitting in meetings, working on creative projects if that’s your job or hobby, cleaning up after kids, taking care of an aging parent, keeping a house clean, running family and friends from place to place like you are an unpaid uber driver.

Think of the places you go to often: the coffee shop, the gym, the school, work, that restaurant.

Many of us struggle to see how what we do every day can glorify God, yet all throughout Scripture, we are told to glorify God in all that we do. 1 Corinthians 10 says: Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

How to Glorify God in Everyday, Ordinary Ways

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Here’s the problem for us though, we don’t think the things we do every day can glorify God. we don’t think they are that important, but we spend a lot of time on them. So they have to matter.

If you’re like me, you think, but they are too ordinary, too normal, too small, too everyday kind of things.

Where does this come from?

Some of it is cultural and our desire to do great things, be great, be remembered.

Some of it is a Christian culture that says if you don’t do something great and big for God, it doesn’t count.

That’s a lie.

One author said, “My concern is that the activist impulse at the heart of evangelicalism can put an enormous burden on people to do great things when what we need most right now is to do the ordinary things better. We can miss God in the daily stuff, looking for the extraordinary Moment. If we were more serious about these ordinary means of grace, I’m convinced the church would have a much stronger witness in the world today.”

Daniel 4 is a great reminder that everything in our world and in our lives falls under the rule and reign of Jesus, which gives us a great picture of how important all the ordinary, every day things are.

… to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. Daniel 4:17

… till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. -Daniel 4:25

… that you know that Heaven rules. -Daniel 4:26

… until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. -Daniel 4:32

… for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’ -Daniel 4:34 – 35

Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven. -Daniel 4:37

One of the interesting things about Daniel 4 is that Daniel is now middle age.

You start to ask different questions in your 40’s compared to your 20’s.

Many times in our teens and 20’s and even into our 30’s, the questions and struggles of life and faith are often around doing great things, big things. Experiencing the power of God.

As we move into our 30’s, 40’s 50’s and beyond, the questions start to center around: Is God still with me? Does God still have good plans for me? Am I doing the right things? Did I miss it? Am I making the most of my opportunities?

In Daniel 4, we find Daniel interpreting another dream for the king.

While this seems extraordinary for us, this was Daniel’s job.

But to Daniel, this was something God gifted him in, a talent God gave to him. This was normal for him. This is important; because we struggle to see how the things we do or are gifted at, fall under the authority and rule of Jesus.

We struggle to see how the things we do or are gifted at, fall under the authority and rule of Jesus.

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I love the message version of Romans 12:1: So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.

This means when you are singing to your kids, cleaning up after someone, driving someone to work, paying for lunch, going to the gym. The ordinary, everyday things you do all the time. They are an act of worship to your Father in Heaven who has placed you in that place at that moment and given you the talents needed for that place, whatever it is. No matter how big or small it is.

In her fantastic book, Theology of the Ordinary, Julie Canlis said, The Spirit’s primary and most difficult work is to persuade believers to act like children, to pray like children, to help them delight in the Fatherhood of God, to be gentle with themselves and to be, long before they do. Our identity as children of God is not something of which we can convince ourselves. It is the Holy Spirit, who without, we cannot experience the Fatherly favor of God or the benefits of Jesus.

God may call you to do great things that change the world. He may also call you to do small, ordinary, everyday things that change your corner of the world.

Be faithful in both.

How to Glorify God in Everyday, Ordinary Ways

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Career, Kids, Values & What we Worship

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Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “What dominates our imaginations, and our thoughts will determine our lives.”

“What dominates our imaginations, and our thoughts will determine our lives.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

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What dominates your imagination and thoughts?

We know what we’d like to have dominate our imagination and thoughts, but that isn’t always the case.

The reality is, the things that we think about, the feelings we have, those become our idols, and they drive our lives.

Ultimately, they become what we worship.

But how do you know what that is?

Here are a few questions:

Questions to discern the idols of your heart.

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  • What do you worry about? What do you daydream about? These are important things to you; they aren’t necessarily bad things. It could be money, your kids, career, health, a vacation, dream home.
  • What do you use to comfort yourself when life gets tough, or things don’t go your way? It could be food, drugs, alcohol, work, working out, sex, even pushing past the threshold of what is healthy.
  • What, if I lost would make me think life wasn’t worth living? Like the first one, there’s a good chance this isn’t a bad thing. In fact, this could be a devastating thought, but again, this is getting to the heart of what matters the most to you.
  • What makes you feel the most self-worth? What do you lead with in a conversation? Early on, what do you want to make sure people know about you? These all go together, but they get to the heart of who you are and the story you tell yourself and the story you want others to know about you. You might want people to know what you do for a job, how awesome you are, how much hurt you’ve experienced in life. You might want people to know that you are needed, and you want to be needed by them.
  • What is your hope for the future? What will complete you? This is the question of, if you accomplish this, get this, what would make you think, “this is the good life, I have arrived.”

Why ask these questions? They get to the heart of what we worship.

Worship is our response to what we value most.

Worship is our response to what we value most.

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That’s what Daniel 3 and the focus of the book of Daniel.

What we value and what we worship because they are the same thing and then determine what our lives become.

In the book of Daniel, the word king and kingdom is used over 150 times.

When we think of kings, we think of Europe or a movie or show we’ve seen; we don’t often think of our lives or our hearts.

But all of us have a king of our lives, a king of our hearts.

That is about worship.

How do you find out what you worship?

The easiest way, besides the questions above, is to look at your life when it is hard or painful.

What we worship becomes obvious when life is the hardest.

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In Daniel 3, King Nebuchadnezzar builds a statue and demands that everyone bow down and worship it when they hear the music. But, 3 of the king’s wise men: Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refuse. They are willing to be killed to stick to their beliefs, values, and worship.

Most of us won’t face a life and death situation when it comes to worship, but what this passage shows us is the stakes of worship.

When we put our kids above Jesus, we don’t think of it as a sin or a bad thing, we think of it as parenting. This priority can have disastrous implications for us, our kids and one day our grandkids.

When we prioritize our job and career over relationships (or things that will last) and our relationship with Jesus, we will say things like, “I’m just trying to provide for my family” which sounds noble, but it also feeds a desire and idol that we have.

Once the king sees that they won’t worship his statue, he throws them into the fiery furnace.

What is incredible is before this moment, when the king confronts them, they reply “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

Here’s the thing about worship, values, and idols. They are all to provide us with deliverance. They provide us with hope, life, vision, joy, and happiness. If they don’t offer that, they at least promise that. That’s why we purchase anything, work like we do and stress our kids out by signing them up for every activity under the sun.

For these three men, they knew what would deliver them and trust in that God.

 

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Where is God when Life Gets Hard? (Daniel 1)

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All of us at some point will walk into a situation we can’t control. It might be a relationship where the other person continues to make poor choices, and you are left cleaning up the mess. It might be a parent or a spouse that keeps hurting you but doesn’t seem to care. But it hurts, and you know it. It might be a financial crisis where it continues to be harder and harder to trust God. It might be a health issue, and you wonder why God doesn’t heal you, why God doesn’t take that pain away.

Why?

We cry out in the dark places of our lives and many times in the darkness; God feels silent. God feels distant.

And if you aren’t there today, you will be someday. We all find ourselves at the bottom of life wonder where is God when the bottom falls out?

The theme of the book of Daniel is how to trust God when life seems hopeless. That no matter what your present situation looks like, God is in control.

The book of Daniel is about how to trust God when life seems hopeless.

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This theme is important for us because all of us at one time or another feel like life is out of control.

Daniel lived in 600 B.C., so over 2500 years ago. He was Jewish and was taken into exile to Babylon, the empire of the day.

King Nebuchadnezzar conquered the king of Judah and took some of the vessels from the house of God.

In ancient culture, removing vessels from the god of a nation was not only a victory over the people but also a sign of success over the god of those people.

But verse 2 of Daniel 1starts off, God gave the king of Judah into his hands.

The words, God gave, are crucial in Daniel 1.

But we might first ask, why would God do that? Why would He give them into their enemies hands?

Before the book of Daniel, in other old testament books we know that the people of Judah were sinning and through prophets, God continually warned them of the way they were going.

What is essential, is to know that God will give us our desires and sins. He will allow us to end up where we want to.

Many times, when our lives end up in dark places, it is through our sin or the sin of someone else.

This truth is hard for us to wrap our minds around, at least it is for me: that God is in control and we have freedom in our choices. And those choices, as we’ll see, have an impact on life. They determine outcomes.

Nebuchadnezzar then brings some of the youth to Babylon, which includes Daniel and his friends.

Some historians believe that Daniel and his friends were part of the royal family.

Why do this?

Nebuchadnezzar is bringing the best and the brightest with him. Notice scripture says, “without blemish, good appearance, skillful, competent.”

By doing this, Nebuchadnezzar is seeking to stop the growth of Judah and build up Babylon.

They are teaching them their culture, their language, their religion, their values, and customs.

They are changing their names.

Changing their names was also a sign of ownership over the prisoners.

Their new names were for Babylonian gods and cultural beliefs.

I want you to imagine the lowest point in your life. The moment when life felt the darkest, God felt the furthest away from you.

This low point is where Daniel and the people of Judah are.

But what is fascinating about the book of Daniel is that Daniel is writing it at the end of his life and it is only then, that he sees God’s hand.

So how does Daniel respond?

Through this darkness, Daniel and his friends seek to honor God.

They ask not to eat the king’s food.

Now, there are many reasons they could’ve asked for this, but we are not told all the reasons why they asked for it.

Were only told it would defile them.

Here’s what I find fascinating about this and I want to make this point as we think about living out our faith in our culture.

Daniel could’ve fought back on anything, the food, the teaching, the values, the religion, the changing of his name, but he doesn’t. He only chooses the food.

Daniel’s beliefs don’t change, his name does. He still holds to his faith in God as we’ll see in this book, but he is learning what they are teaching him.

But he takes a stand on the food.

Why? It went against who Daniel is and his core beliefs. Your core is what you decide on ahead of time, your values so that when you are faced with temptation or a decision, your heart makes it clear what you will do.

Here’s another point, Daniel did this privately. He talked to the chief eunuchs, not the king. According to Scripture, the king didn’t know.

Daniel teaches us that the struggle is not to make the culture Christian, but how a Christian can live in a hostile culture.

Every stand you take as a Christian doesn’t need to be public to matter. It might, but maybe it doesn’t need to be a public stand.

So, Daniel asked to be tested for ten days. This length of time is important because, throughout Scripture, 10 represents the testing of faithfulness.

And God blessed them through this testing.

We don’t want to believe or hear this: when we trust God, we are better after the testing.

If you read Daniel 1 straight through, you’ll see the phrase “God gave” three times.

In verse 2 God gave them to the Babylonians, in verse 9 God gave Daniel favor with the chief of the eunuchs, in verse 17 God gave them learning and skill.

Now, let’s be honest about this. We like the last 2 of those 3. God gave him favor and learning and skill to move up in Babylon.

But, God needed to give them to the Babylonians in exile for him to experience the other 2.

Larry Osborne said God is in control of who is in control.

God is in control of who is in control. -Larry Osborne

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Now, this is easy to believe when life is going well. When your finances are sound, health is good; relationships are humming along, your career, parenting is simple. Of course, God is in control.

When you’re stuck in the storm, this is hard to swallow.

It is hard to hear that God blesses in the darkness of life and pain.

What is amazing is at the end of Daniel 1, Daniel lived a long life. He lived through two kings.

Daniel 1 is the hope we need to trust God in the dark places and place our faith in the power of God and what He is doing. Daniel shows us; we can trust God when life feels hopeless and out of control.

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How to Build a Life that Matters

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All of us build our lives on something.

And that something is the thing that determines what our lives become. The people we become, the places we go and the impact that we make.

The problem for us, is many of us never stop to ask what we are building our lives on. We keep going, keep pursuing, keep moving, but we rarely question, “Am I building on the right thing? Do I like where I’m going with this life?”

What life are you building?

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Joe Ehrmann, a former NFL player, in his TED talk said:

If you were on your deathbed today, knowing that you were doing to die tomorrow, and you wanted to measure what kind of man you were and what kind of success you had in life, it’d come down to two things and two things only.

The first is this: On that deathbed, you recognize that all of life is about relationships. It’s about the capacity to love and be loved. What’s it mean to be a man? It means you can look somebody in the eye and say “I love you” and receive that love back.

You know what the questions you ask at the end of your life are? They’re not about awards or achievements or applause or what you accumulated. They’re all questions of relationships. What kind of husband was I? Wife? What kind of father? Mother? What kind of son or daughter? What kind of friend? Who did I love and who did I allow to love me?

The second comes down to this: At the end of your life you want to be able to look back on your life and know that you made a difference. That you left some kind of mark, some kind of imprint that you were here. All of want to leave some kind of legacy behind.

You might choose family, kids, hobbies, career choices, vacations, and trips, or your 401K to build your life on.

What many of us find if we’re honest is, we overemphasize things that aren’t that important.

We overemphasize things that aren’t that important.

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If we’re honest, most of us have more strategies on how to make a career than we do on how to build a life.

Most of us have more strategies on how to make a career than we do on how to build a life.

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In Matthew 7 Jesus said,

Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. It collapsed with a great crash.

What Jesus is getting at is a wholehearted devotion.

Jesus wants us to see the difference between merely saying something and doing something, between hearing and doing.

Jesus wants us to see the difference between hearing and doing.

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To help us see, he compares two people who build a house. One on the rock, the other on the sand.

What is fascinating about both of these guys is they are both building a house, building a life.

You and I can build something, really anything.

Let’s say you and I each build a chair.

How will we know if that chair is done? If it is completed and will work?

By looking at it?

No, by sitting on it.

How do you know if a house is built and will last?

When a storm comes.

What happens when you get hit with a storm in life?

You see what matters to you. You look at the relationships you have invested in, you know the faith you have built or not built.

Right now, you might be in a storm. Your finances, marriage, career, maybe one or all of them is not where you thought it would be. Life is harder than you expected. Right now, my wife Katie and I feel like we are in a sprint that we didn’t stretch out for.

In those moments, those places, you find out what you built your life on. You find out what matters to you.

Think about it like this, have you ever experienced a storm in life and didn’t like what you learned about yourself at that moment?

I know I have.

All of us can know the words of Jesus, but belief is a different thing.

You can know something and not believe something.

Belief is not required to pass a test, just knowledge.

Dallas Willard said, “To believe something is to act as if it is so.”

To believe something is to act as if it is so. -Dallas Willard

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Building your life on Jesus means that you do what Jesus would do if he were you. It means desiring that to be true of you, even when you miss it which you will.

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Fasting & Freedom

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It’s the season of Lent, which means millions of people have decided to fast from something.

Many will post about it on social media (the irony is that many will fast from social media by telling everyone about it) and then proceed to tell us how miserable they are about the things they are fasting.

But is that the point?

Fasting is all over Scripture.

Why fasting is essential for your spiritual life.

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There is no command in the New Testament to fast, but in Matthew 6, Jesus seems to think we will do it as he says, “When you fast” (verse 16). Just like he said, “when you give” and “when you pray.”

What interesting about this context is giving (generosity), prayer and fasting have at heart, a desire to loosen our grip on something.

Giving loosens our grip on our stuff, and the role money plays in our life.

Giving loosens our grip on our stuff, and the role money plays in our life.

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Prayer reminds us we are not in control of our lives or what will happen, that we need God.

Prayer reminds us we are not in control of our lives or what will happen, that we need God.

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Fasting is a way of letting go of the things that distract us. It might be things like food, social media, and Netflix.

Most Christians agree that prayer, giving and fasting are essential, just as Jesus said they are in Matthew 6, but many of us struggle to do it?

Fasting is a way of letting go of the things that distract us.

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Why?

I think it’s hard. We wonder if it is worth the time.

Think for a moment.

Every (most anyway) follower of Jesus would say that they want to read their bible and pray more. Why don’t they? They would say that it is time. It is partly that, but also has to do with our desires

Fasting is a way of getting at both.

Fasting creates time, which helps us meet the desire we have to know God.

So, what things take your time that keeps you from spending time with Jesus? From meditating on Scripture? And prayer?

If it’s food, social media, Netflix, blogs. Fast from them. Take a day and don’t do those things.

For me, each month I have 5 – 7 days where I am not on social media, blogs or podcasts. Why? I love those things, and they take a lot of time (they also mess with my mind and heart sometimes). Not doing those things frees up time for me to focus on my heart and relationship with Jesus, but also to clear my head and heart.

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Doubt, Faith & Hope (Mark 9)

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Doubt is something all of us have at different points in our lives. It can be related to relationships and doubting whether or not someone cares for us, will be there for us, or

can be counted on. It might be around finances and doubting if we’ll make it through a situation, but where doubt shows up the most is in our relationship with God.

We wonder if God hears us, cares for us, and wants to be close to us. We wonder if God has the power to change us, take away our hurt, our sins, change someone close to us, or has the power to heal us or a loved one.

In his helpful book Help My Unbelief: Why Doubt Is Not the Enemy of Faith, Barnabas Piper makes the distinction between doubt based on belief (the anchor of God) and doubt that undermines belief.

I think what matters with doubt is what we do with it.

The father in Mark 9 took his doubt directly to Jesus.

He didn’t hide with it, run from it, or pretend it wasn’t there.

Frederick Buechner said, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief” is the best any of us can do really, but thank God it is enough.

The father in Mark 9 struggled because of the immense pain he had for his son. He longed for his son to be healed, he was desperate, which is why he comes to Jesus and says, “If you can.”

Jesus responds that anything is possible for the one who believes.

Believes what?

That Jesus can.

The father throws himself on the power of Jesus.

Too often in my life, when it comes to doubt, I simply move in to control it. Others run from it and hide. Others lash out at the situation, but what we are called to do is throw it onto the power of Jesus.

Don’t forget the context of Mark 9 because that is crucial.

This comes right after the transfiguration, where we see who Jesus is, that he is God in human flesh, greater than Elijah and Moses, but that he is also the redemption longed for, the freedom longed for.

I think another thing is important in Mark 9 as it relates to doubt.

Hope.

Too often I hear people talk about life, where they are, what they are going through, as hopeless.

It’s easy to do. Life feels overwhelming. It feels like we are stuck and can’t move forward.

Yet for the follower of Jesus, it is never hopeless.

A follower of Jesus should never shrug and say, “It can’t get better. All is lost.” Or, “I don’t know how long I’ll be stuck.” Or, “I keep doing the same thing over and over and can’t move forward.”

That’s hopeless.

The father in Mark 9 is clinging to the smallest shred of hope, but he is still clinging and that is crucial.

Why?

Again, the words of Jesus in Mark 9:23: All things are possible.

All things.

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What Really Needs to Change in Your Life

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For all of us, something or someone runs our lives. When this happens we find ourselves not living the life God has called us to. When we stop long enough to catch our breath, we realize how tired we are, how much debt we have, how we said yes to things we should have said no to.

If we aren’t careful we simply jump from “I need to lose weight”, to “I need to get out of debt”, to “I need to slow down”, and we try to make changes in those areas. We get on the latest diet, sign up for a financial class or clear our calendar for a week.

If you are like most people who try this approach, a month from now you’ll look up and see the same problem.

The question becomes, “What then?”

In most church counseling sessions we would look at the sins in your life. We would talk about your addiction to porn, your willingness to give your heart and body away in relationships, the pace that you keep, how you go into debt buying stuff you can’t afford, how you always gossip, or why you push yourself and your kids to be the best and attain a certain kind of lifestyle. We often want to move to fixing those things and think, “I’ll just stop doing them.”

If you’ve ever tried this approach, you know it doesn’t work. We can’t simply change our behavior and see lasting change. Until we understand why we do something, change and freedom will continue to elude us.

Have you ever been to a buffet – one where the plates are stacked, and whenever you pull a plate off, they all move up? Think of your life and sins as being like that stack of plates. Most of the time when we sin or hear about sin in a sermon, it is about the plate on top. To see true change, to see the things that crowd out our lives get conquered by the power of Jesus, we have to keep pulling up plates until we get to the last one, what we’ll call the sin under the sin.

If we aren’t careful this sin under the sin starts to drive our lives. What makes this easy to miss is that it is often something good that we give prominence to in our lives. Things like our kids, a job, money, keeping a clean house, retirement, a dream house or another goal.

These things are what drive us to go into debt, to run at an unsustainable pace on our calendar, which leads to an unhealthy lifestyle. This is the why.

Let me put it another way: often when we sin, without realizing it we are looking for meaning. We sin from a place of emptiness.

We sin from a place of wanting to be filled up, a hope to feel better, more alive, a part of something, or to take away the fear of missing out on something.

As well, for many Christians we pursue changing the wrongs things. We change what we see, what is obvious to ourselves and those around us. The image of an iceberg comes to mind.

In How People Change by Paul David Tripp & Timothy Lane said:

Many Christians underestimate the presence and power of indwelling sin. They don’t see how easily entrapped they are in this world full of snares (Galatians 6:1). They don’t grasp the comprehensive nature of the war that is always raging within the heart of every believer (Romans 7). They’re not aware of how prone they are to run after God replacements. They fail to see that their greatest problems exist within them, not outside them.

 The surface of our lives is what we see and present to others. Confidence, fear, approval, control or a drive to succeed. These things come from a place deep within us, we don’t experience change until we get to the source. We don’t experience change until we get to the last plate.