Archive for July 2014

Frontiers of Prayer

2014-07-08 Devotional No comments

For years I held a “this is all there is” view of Christian living. I assumed, though not consciously, that the spiritual blessings I enjoyed were more-or-less all that existed. I was saved enough to get to heaven. What else was available? What else was necessary? The horizons of my Christian life were near and narrow. Its frontiers were rather tame, and all the best blessings were someday and far away.

I had accepted complacency for peace, indifference for true satisfaction.

But some years ago God began to show me again the man Jesus, teaching me that Jesus was all that He was because He simply, completely trusted His Father. Realizing this, I began to see in Him the possibilities of abundant life here and now. The new creation I had experienced in Christ at salvation was only the dawn, only the first glow of an eternal lifetime of wonders.

My soul began to respond to the Creator’s breath like a tiny seed wakens to soil and sun. As I peeked through the surface, I saw the garden, the blossoms, the graceful trees. I caught a glimpse of how great the miracle of redemption was, and could be, and would be in me.

Though still a small seedling, I realized the limitations of my spiritual life were self-imposed. His love, His patience, His light, and the tiniest response of faith on my part (the size of a mustard seed) had started a cycle of growth. Gradually, the horizons of life became broad and beautiful, lit by the magnificent glory of the living Christ. He was alive within me, offering me His peace, His joy, His love, His oneness with the Father.

But as I look forward with fascination toward those promised horizons, His Spirit gently reminds me that spiritual frontiers are only reached by prayer. I must have the mind of Christ for my own thoughts, His presence shaping my perspective, His Spirit continually breathing His life within. I need a closer and more constant communion with Him. I need to depend more heavily on the Father, as Jesus depended on Him.

I need to live a life of prayer.

What will this require? I don’t know, but with His help, I have resolved not to shrink from the unknown. I will look to Him whose love and strength have always been sufficient, always greater than I could have imagined. I will not fear the silence of standing before God. With His help, I will fill it with simple faith and with a song of His goodness.

I do not want comfort to form the boundaries of my life or to be a barrier that limits His love from working in me. I will trust my needs to my Creator.

The Evil One paints spiritual possibilities as frightening, too radical, beyond us, only for the elite. But the Father’s love doesn’t work that way. His Spirit cultivates the simplest response of faith, then patiently reforms the fibers of our innermost beings, creating His will within us.

In the face of such unfailing love, He simply asks us to turn to Him, to talk to Him, to keep trusting Him moment by moment.

Our Father, we look to You now. Teach us to pray.

Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. (Jeremiah 33:3, NIV)

God’s Seeds Bear Fruit

2014-07-06 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Jesus said:

“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” (Matthew 13:31-32, NASB)

Not long ago my wife and I received a note from a couple we knew years ago. When we met them, they were brand new Christians who had come to the church we attended. To get to know them better, we invited them to our home on a Sunday evening after church.

When their note arrived, we hadn’t seen or heard from them in decades. Their note told us how much that evening long ago had meant to them. It had helped to welcome them into the church and establish them in their faith. Now they were still serving the Lord, and their children, young adults, were off to Christian colleges.

We hadn’t thought of that evening in many years. Our lives had gone on to so many “bigger” things. But our hour or so together had been a seed that God had watered and nurtured. He was still harvesting fruit from that tiny seed, long after we had forgotten planting it.

When the Day of the Lord comes and we all gather around to celebrate His rich harvest, how much fruit will have grown from the few seeds we scattered during our brief time here on earth? The sower parable in Matthew 13 is so true! Though most of the seeds we sow never bear fruit, the few that fall on good soil will produce so abundantly that we are guaranteed a rich harvest.

That’s why it is vital that we faithfully sow the seed God places in our hands. Consider Ecclesiastes 11:6:

Sow your seed in the morning,
and at evening let not your hands be idle,
for you do not know which will succeed. (NIV)

Don’t be discouraged. Just keep sowing. The seed is good, and God will make it grow.

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: See the Seed of Faith
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Toward Your Leaders

2014-07-03 Congregational Song, Hymns No comments

This is the 23rd in a series of Friday posts on congregational song.

During a lifetime in Christian service, I’ve worked with thousands of others also in Christian service–ministers, ministers of music, and leaders of various types. I’ve worked for leaders, and I’ve been a leader.

Together we are as human and as imperfect as anyone else. We pray and try to keep our motives pure. Though we give our best, sometimes our job performance is less consistent than we wish. We try. We fail. Our abilities are narrow and are regularly stretched beyond our talent and training.

Yet the God who called us is faithful. Somehow He uses what we do to help people and to glorify himself.

When our humanity is apparent, don’t condemn us. Forgive us. Don’t gossip about us. We know our failures better than you do. Pray for us.

And when we do something that works marvelously, give God all the glory. He’s the only one who deserves it!

From Every Nation

2014-07-01 Devotional with Hymn No comments

[Jesus said:] “People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places…in the kingdom of God. (Luke 13:29, NIV)

At the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, I was struck by the many languages, nationalities, and religious traditions that filled the church. They were like children on their first day in heaven, rushing from place to place, bubbling with excitement. Most had traveled long distances at great expense to be there.

What a vivid reminder that people come to faith in Christ through many avenues. Those avenues are as varied as the cultures and personalities of all the people of all the ages.

With each of us, our understanding of God is so partial and so marred by ignorance. But God’s goodness comes in many flavors, and His incarnation has so many beautiful faces.

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: God of All People
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

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