Tag Archives: faith

Posted on

How to Handle Seasons of Doubt & Disappointment

by

Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

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 how 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.

Often, apocalyptic carries a sense of doom but also a promise of God’s presence and power. It is two sides of the same coin.

How to understand apocalyptic texts in the Bible.

Click To Tweet

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.

Click To Tweet

God’s answer 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. We know they are kings and prosper in wealth, destroying people and nations, but they eventually disappear, and someone else takes their place.

This is the reality and comfort God gives Daniel.

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

He gives us Himself.

That’s what He did for Daniel.

What is easy to overlook is verse 2, where we are told the beasts come out of the sea after the winds of the heavens stir the sea.

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

But I am there. I am here.

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

Posted on

What the Storms of Life Teach Us

by

One of the things that many people struggle with at various points in their spiritual journey is wondering where they stand with God. This can look like working to feel and know God’s love, wondering if there is something you have done or left undone that is affecting your relationship with God, or even asking, “Can you or have you lost your salvation?” These struggles are real and can be debilitating. 

I remember in college feeling the constant struggle of wondering where I stood with God. I asked if this sin or that sin did me in. Looking back, I realize now that I didn’t have a clear picture of God’s grace and mercy and the power of sin. But that doesn’t make the questions any less painful in the moment. 

Thankfully, Jesus tells us some important things related to salvation and being able to have certainty about where we stand with God. 

In Luke 6 and Matthew 7, after giving what is known as The sermon on the mount, Jesus answers this question. Now, the context is critical. The sermon on the mount is where Jesus lays out what life is like in the kingdom of God, where Jesus is King, and we follow after him. He talks about what is truly blessed in the kingdom of God, which is different than the world around us. He talks about money, sexuality, judgment, and so much more. But all of that is in the context of following Jesus as Lord, Savior, and King. 

The first question a follower of Jesus must answer is, “Is Jesus my Savior, Lord, and King?”

Is Jesus your Savior, Lord, and King?

Click To Tweet

Jesus asks in Luke 6: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the things I say?” What is Jesus referring to when he says, what I say? I think he is referring to what He has just said in the sermon on the mount. Jesus says a disciple listens to the words of God and acts on them, does them. They don’t push it aside, think it was for someone else, or it doesn’t apply to them. 

A follower of Jesus is one who hears the words of God and does it.

Click To Tweet

So, the first question we need to ask ourselves is, “Do I read my Bible and do what it says?” While this seems straightforward, it is easy to get out of it. 

  • Think back over your recent times in God’s word. Has there been something you read that you didn’t think applied to you?
  • Has there been a moment when you felt like the Holy Spirit was moving you to do something, say something, or not do something, and you brushed it off?
  • Take a moment to confess that and bring that to our God of grace. 

Then, to help us apply this on a deeper level. Jesus tells a story about two men who build houses and get hit by a storm. One of the men built his house deep into the rock and had a solid foundation, and his house stood. This man, Jesus said, “Listened and acted on the words of God.” The second man built a house on the sand that collapsed when the storm came. This person heard the words of God but did nothing with them. 

A storm reveals our faith better than anything else.

Click To Tweet

Take a moment and pull out a journal or a piece of paper:

  • Think back on a recent storm you walked through. It could be health, relational, at work, or at home. Write out what happened. 
  • What did you learn about yourself from that storm? What did you learn about God from that storm?
  • Would you say that your faith was built on Jesus and stood the storm, or did it collapse?

Jesus tells us that one of the ways we see our faith is how it responds in a storm. 

A storm has a way of revealing where we stand and what is happening in us. It shows how quickly we turn to God or how easily we try to manage our way through a storm. 

A storm reveals where we stand and what is happening in us.

Click To Tweet

Posted on

How to Make Your Life Count

by

Meaning.

Purpose.

All of us want our lives to count, but how? Is there a secret formula to it that a few people figure out and others don’t?

The truth is, while all of us want our lives to make an impact, only a few of us actually live lives that we would say make an impact. Instead, we just see people who are at work, in the neighborhood, and at school.

The people who make their lives count don’t focus on money, influence, or power. Athough, those things may come as the person makes an impact. No, the people who make an impact focus on one thing: relationships.

Impact is felt and measured in relationships.

Impact is felt and measured in relationships.

Click To Tweet

So, how do we live our lives? How do we schedule our lives so that relationships matter to us, and so that our lives count?

One of the things I’ve seen as I’ve preached through the book of Philippians is that while joy and hope are significant themes in the book, relationships are an enormous part of it as well. Paul talks again and again about his love for the Philippian church. But he also spends a lot of time in chapter two talking about “putting the interests of others first,” and “to not think of yourself, but to think of others.”

Then in verses 19 – 30, he tells us about Timothy and Epaphroditus and how they exhibit these qualities.

They put others first by genuinely caring, putting the things of Jesus first, and being trustworthy (men of character).

As we think about our lives and relationships, there are three important and timely things in our culture.

Do you genuinely care for people? One of the things that Pual tells us about Timothy is that he genuinely cares for others (2:20), not just cares, but genuinely.

Would the people closest to you say you genuinely care for them? Are you showing interest in who they are, their story, what they are walking through, and how they see the world the way they do?

Or, are you only interested in what people can do for you?

We show care by being there for people, listening to them, watching out for them, serving them, and protecting them as the situation calls for it.

Timothy and Epaphroditus put their lives on the line to be with Paul in prison, to be with him in a low point of his life, and to put their lives in danger.

This leads to the next question.

Do you put the things of Jesus first? This is living your life for a different goal.

If you’ve made it this far and want to see your life count through relationships, then you are on your way to living your life for a different set of goals and values.

The values of our culture point to notoriety, importance, influence, money, and power. While none of those things are wrong or sinful, they don’t lead to a lasting impact. Those things make an impact, but not a lasting one.

A simple exercise for this week is to read Matthew 5 – 7, and see where your life lines up with this. Because we aren’t perfect, there should be a part of those passages that do not line up with your life.

Are you trustworthy? Another thing to think about is this: are you a person of character? 

Both Timothy and Epaphroditus were men of character. 

People of character are missing in our culture. 

Men and women who will lead through serving can be trusted. They are the ones who will put others before themselves, and who are the same no matter who is around. 

That is trustworthy. And trustworthiness is built over a lifetime, but can be lost in a moment. 

3 questions to ask yourself so you can make an impact with your life.

Click To Tweet

How are you doing?

You probably know already, but if you want to be brave, I’d encourage you to ask these questions of those closest to you and see what blind spots you might have. 

Our world, workplaces, schools, homes, and friendships need people of consequence, people who will make an impact with their lives. We don’t need people who flame out after their 11 minutes of fame, but ones who make real and lasting impact. 

And we long for that as well. 

Posted on

Doubt, Faith & Hope (Mark 9)

by

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.

Posted on

Facing Your Fears

by

Fear can be paralyzing. It can keep us from moving forward in life. It can keep us from finding freedom from past hurts, past sins. It can keep us from reaching all the things God dreams for us to accomplish, and ultimately it can keep us from living. Why? Because fears will often make us run and hide.

One author said, “Fear is the silent destroyer of dreams.”

Where this really comes out is if you are pessimistic in your life. Maybe you are always making situations out to be worse than they are, expecting something to not work like it should.

This is one reason I have always identified with the book of Joshua.

The name Joshua means, “God is my salvation.” So, in the name of the book, and my name, is this reminder of where salvation comes from. What is interesting is that God seems to say, “Joshua, fear not.” “Joshua, don’t be afraid.” Always followed by, “For I am with you, I am your God.” It seems to be on every other line of the book. Sometimes it feels like that line is on every other page of my life.

Throughout the book we see over and over how God is with Joshua, keeps His promises and ultimately is his God and his salvation. In chapter 12 it lists the names of the Kings Joshua defeated in battle.

31 kings defeated in battle.

I wonder if we often miss what God has done in our lives. The power He has shown when we don’t know where He is in a situation. I often think God brings us through hard times so they can stack up as a reminder, something to look back on to say, “Remember how God brought us through that before? I believe He can do it again because we didn’t know if He could before. We didn’t know where He was before.”

Then in Joshua 13 it lists what lies ahead for Joshua.

Once we are able to exhibit faith, show our belief in God and not be paralyzed by fear, we are able to move forward and get to work. As long as Joshua is paralyzed, he won’t move forward.

Here are some questions to consider:

  1.   What are you afraid of?
  2.   What do those fears reveal about you?
  3.   What do those fears reveal about what you believe to be true about God?
  4.   As you look at the answer to #3, does that line up with what the Bible tells us about God?
4 questions to answer to help you face your fear.

Click To Tweet

If we aren’t careful, we will allow fear to become the lens through which we look at life. I know I can very easily do it. I can start to make decisions out of fear, live my life and relate to others out of fear.

If you tell a Christian about fear, they will often point you to Joshua 1.

Why?

Because God tells Joshua to be strong, to be courageous, to not be afraid.

But why? How is Joshua supposed to do that?

Joshua is supposed to be strong and courageous because God says, I will never leave you or forsake you.

Stop right here.

Many of our fears can be traced back to this verse and our inability to believe it.

What is interesting to me is how Joshua is supposed to know that God will never leave him.

God tells him to look at what He has done in the past. We can see this not only in our lives as we look back to see God at work, how He has answered prayers, rescued us, done things we were unaware of, but also in the lives of others. God tells Joshua to look at the life of Moses, but He also tells him to meditate on His word.

Day and night.

This is more than a simple reading of a verse or devotional thought. This is taking a verse or phrase and thinking on it throughout the day, stewing on it as you turn it over and over in your heart and mind. Asking God to show you how to be strong and courageous (or whatever you are facing).

The antidote to fear is faith, faith through meditating on God’s word. Day and night.

The antidote to fear is faith, faith through meditating on God’s word.

Click To Tweet

Posted on

When You Feel Hopeless as a Leader

by

leader

At some point as a leader, you will feel hopeless. As a pastor it will more than likely happen after the weekend. It is hard to keep hope alive all the time as a leader. I often read people on Twitter who are overly positive, and I wonder, “Are they really like that? Is life really that exciting for them all the time?” Then I feel like I’m doing something wrong as a leader because that isn’t me.

Should a leader be hope filled? Yes. A leader should carry the banner of hope and excitement. You are the main vision carrier of your church.

Will you always feel like doing that? Probably not. At some point you will feel like you have no hope and like you don’t want to go on.

So, what do you do then?

Here are some things I do when I feel hopeless:

5 things to do when you feel hopeless.

Click To Tweet

  1. Pray. While this seems like the expected answer, it isn’t the easiest thing to do. Often as a leader, our last thought is to pray. We want to think, strategize, vent, read a book, figure out how to get out of this funk. Spend some quiet time with Jesus.
  2. Talk to trusted friends. A leader needs people to vent to, people who can help to shoulder the weight, people who know the weight a leader carries.
  3. Sleep. Much of the hopelessness we feel as leaders comes from the fact that we are tired and need rest.
  4. Do something active or fun. This helps to balance out the chemicals in your body. Take a hike, workout, have sex with your spouse, play with your kids. Do something fun, something recharging.
  5. Know that this won’t last forever. Hopelessness feels like the end of the world. That’s why we call it hopelessness. This won’t last forever. Tomorrow will come, another sermon will happen. This is a season that might last a day, a week or a month, but it is a season.
5 ways to deal with hopelessness as a leader.

Click To Tweet

Posted on

Stop Pushing. Start Relying.

by

book

I love control.

There I said it.

If you know me well, that isn’t a surprise.

My love for control often pushes me to push others. Push in my own life. Push people to work harder or be better or look better so that I can win and look good.

It isn’t because I care about what others think of me. It is because I like the feeling of control (at least the mirage of it) and winning.

There’s a problem with this. It actually keeps me from experiencing life in God and the freedom that comes from trusting Him.

Two things have proven helpful to me in this area and maybe will be something that is helpful to you.

One, praying about it. I know this seems obvious, but if we are going to rely on God’s power over something, we need to talk to Him about it. This allows us to ask Him for help and power in the areas of our lives that need it. If this is a struggle for you, I’d encourage you to bring that struggle to God. Ask Him for help in the area of your life where you need His power and direction. Give it over to Him. While He is in control and nothing happens without His direction or permission, this is about us confessing our need for Him, reminding ourselves that we will stop controlling something and let go of the wheel. This is about our hearts.

Two, get a trusted friend to walk with you and remind you of the lack of power you have in this area of your life. This is someone who can call you when you need it, challenge you when you need it and help you to let go of things in your life that only God can do and change.

This is truly the way to lasting change and the way to living the life God has called you to live. 

[Image]

Related articles
Posted on

How to Help Your Kids Fail

by

kids

Sunday I talked about how to fail forward as adults and how many people live their lives like they are using a whiffle ball bat, where they take away every possibility of failure. If you missed it, you can listen to it here.

Sadly, many parents parent this way. They stack the deck to make sure their kids never experience a setback or failure. Here are a few examples:

  • Your child announces at 8pm they have a project due tomorrow that they’ve known about for a week or two. What do you do? The whiffle ball bat parent jumps into action and gets it done, probably even finishing it after the child goes to bed.
  • Your child gets a trophy for every single sports team they are on or competition they are part of.
  • Your child never tries anything new, so the only activities they do are things they are good at (this is common among adults).

Think back to the parent and the 8pm project, what would happen if you didn’t finish the project and your child got an incomplete or F for that assignment? Would their life end? Probably not. A valuable lesson would be learned.

Because we as adults hate failure (and who doesn’t), we try to ensure that our kids don’t experience failure. The problem with that is failure is the best way to learn about something (besides learning from the failure of others). If we don’t allow our kids to experience failure of some kind, we don’t teach them how to bounce back from something, how to pick themselves up, how to react in a healthy way to life not turning out how they want (because that will happen as an adult).

In the end, we send them out of the house ill-prepared for life.

Sadly, I’ll hear from countless parents whose kids walk away from the church and one of the reasons has to do with failure and faith.

When it comes to faith, we don’t challenge and encourage our kids to have a God-sized faith. We don’t challenge them to pray impossible prayers, the ones that God will have to move for something to happen. In the end, they grow up seeing a God they don’t need, a God who seems less powerful than they are and they wonder, “Why have faith? Why have anything to do with God?” If you have a son, he sees the church as boring, not worth giving his life to and will find a mission that will drive his passion, but the world won’t be changed.

The dominos can be enormous.

Enhanced by Zemanta
Posted on

God is Always With Us

by

God

I read this the other day:

So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb. Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. And he journeyed on from the Negeb as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the Lord. -Genesis 13:1 – 4

Abram returned to where he built his first altar.

What I often forget about Abram is that when he started walking and following God in Genesis 12, this was brand new to him. All of a sudden (it seems anyway) a voice told him to pack up and move. That’s it. And he did.

Following this God, took him to Egypt. Where Abram failed and lied.

Why?

Because he didn’t trust God.

So he leaves Egypt and returns to where he started. To where he first heard God. To where he first built an altar.

Often, after our failures and disappointments, God brings us back to where we started. He has a way when our faith is faltering to remind us of a place where our faith was strong. When struggle to trust him, he has a way of taking us to the place where we trusted him. When we find ourselves not on fire, but fizzling out, he has a way of bringing us to the place where we were on fire.

If you are in a place today, where it is hard to trust God, hard to follow God, hard to pray or listen or move forward. Return to where it began. Return to where you trusted, where you listened, prayed and followed.

Go back to where it all began.

Posted on

Shouting So They’ll Listen

by

In his book, A Call to Resurgence, Mark Driscoll shared some eye opening stats about our culture:

  • 88% believe Jesus existed.
  • 78% believe God exists.
  • 73% believe in evolution.
  • 71% believe in karma.
  • 68% believe in heaven and hell.
  • 67% believe spirituality exists in nature.
  • 65% believe in angels and demons.
  • 59% believe Jesus rose from the dead.
  • 53% believe in the devil.
  • 46% believe in extraterrestrials, aliens, or UFO’s.

This is the culture we live in, work in, play in, and pastors, this is the culture you preach to each week.

So how do Christians tend to communicate to this culture? By shouting.

We don’t necessarily walk up to people and start screaming, although, I’ve seen people with signs stand on a corner and shout at people.

Have you ever seen someone try to communicate to someone with a language barrier? Americans when they encounter someone who doesn’t speak English, they talk louder. As we’ve brought Judah into our home from Ethiopia, we have a language barrier to overcome as he speaks little English and we speak very little of his language. Our boys, in an effort to get him to play with them or do something, simply talk louder if he doesn’t respond.

That’s what Christians do.

We don’t change what we are saying, we simply say the same things only louder and with more force.

Yes, but the message doesn’t change.

That is true. The gospel is the same. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. We never stop talking about the glorious news of Jesus’ sinless life, our brokenness and need for a Savior and how Jesus met that need by dying in our place and rising from the dead and sending us the Holy Spirit. We never stop talking about that.

But, we can change how we talk about that.

Instead of shouting, find common ground, a common language. Answer questions and needs that people have.