Tornadic Paths to Peace

From my new book Pursuing Peace - Finding God's Peace in a Stressful Life

“We have to remember that we live in a fallen world. And creation itself groans because of man’s sin. The earth was not meant to be like this. When people were created, we were placed in the Garden of Eden where I believe fire ants were harmless. But when people changed the landscape of our relationship with God, so too did the landscape transform around people. And we bear the pains of that mural as nature groans.

“Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering.” (Rom. 8:20–23 NLT)

As people, we groan. Nature groans. We lived together before the fall in peace. Now we groan and fight the results of sin in this world, and our life in peace now becomes a battle for peace. But when we reconsider the pain of the day, not as some happenstance but as an opportunity to learn of God’s peace, we can see that God is there to bring good out of the bad situations.” CH2,  Made in His Image

 The destruction and loss of life left by the recent F5 tornado in Oklahoma is something that we all recall and shake our head at. We question why and how it happens. We think of God’s great hand and how He manages to let such destruction befall the innocence of children. And for us parents, the reality of the loss really hits home. But these violent acts of nature have been occurring since the dawn of man.

Scripture shows clearly that we live in the midst of a groaning creation. Not only does nature show her groanings but nature causes groanings upon her inhabitants. Life itself is in a perpetual state of misery and yearning for something more, something meaningful, something – peaceful. Since sin reared its head on this planet, the vibrations of pain began to reverberate amongst us all. Sometimes we get in the way; sometimes unknowingly and sometimes of our own choice.

But 2,000 years ago, the Son of God stepped in and took the death blow of sin and turned it on its head. The eternal results of this pain and groaning that sin first caused were forever changed by the power of the cross. Mankind now has a hope that the pain will soon end and the eternity that we can share will be without this misery and loss that we see around us. And in the Spirit of that same God, we can live now, in the midst of this misery, with peace of mind, knowing where our destiny lies. In Christ, we can live in peace, in the midst of the chaos, in the hope of His triumphant return!

“…while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ…” Titus 2:13 NIV

The Simplicity of Peace

From my new book Pursuing Peace - Finding God's Peace in a Stressful Life

“There is just something about practice. Nobody likes it. Everyone wants to be an expert and right now. Over the years, my employees have typically wanted to make more money but they didn’t want to put the time in to learn the skills that came with more money. My son Dalton loved his new bike till he realized that it wasn’t so fun after Daddy took the training wheels off. He just wanted to ride. When I got my first guitar I drove my dad nuts playing the E string. But how was I going to learn the Blues if I didn’t build one callous on one finger at a time?

Life takes practice. Working with people takes practice. Marriages take practice. Patience takes practice. My wife Alice will probably tell you that I’m taking my novice lessons in patience to this day. But becoming a Christian who lives in peace and walks in joy takes practice. And by practice I mean Practicing His Presence.

Peace comes when you get close to God. There is no stress in heaven. Heaven is glorious and peaceful. So the closer you can get to heaven the closer you can get to peace. But to get closer to heaven you have to get closer to God. And to get closer to God you must come to Him in spirit because He is Spirit.

“For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” – John 4:24 (NLT)

To worship God is to live with Him. When we walk in spirit with Christ we worship him. When we obey Him we worship Him. When we recognize Him in our daily walk and shape our decisions on our reality that He is there with us, then we worship Him.

“For we who worship by the Spirit of God…” – Philippians 3:3 (NLT)

The verb here for worship, latreuo, means to render religious service or homage.” Paul goes on to say that, “we put no confidence in human effort. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done.” So if we are merely resting in the Lord then we are honoring Him. He has done all that needs to be done. We are simply in His presence. And for a man or woman with limited time on this earth to stop and rest in the presence of God – this shows honor for Him.” CH8 Practicing His Presence

We need to not make peace more complicated than it really is. If you are striving to better your relationship with God then you will find that the Prince of Peace will stir up the peace that already indwells you (the Christian). It’s already inside; just waiting to get out. Last week’s blog discusses the great command of Christ to love God and others as yourself. Applying that in your everyday life will bring forth the peace of God in a powerful way. My book discusses many ways that you can do this in common examples that we can all relate to. Keep it simple! Start hanging out with God and you'll see the transformation take place.

A Successful Christian Life

Would you say that you have a successful Christian life? How would you define one? Would it mean that you read your Bible and pray every day, attend church every week, pay your tithe, give to missions, work Saturdays at the local charity house or tell others about Christ? These are all certainly good things. They are godly and honorable things. It would surely take a portion of your life away to give these things to God. In fact, you could say they are things that you sacrifice for His kingdom. These works are all good works. These efforts of sacrifice are all legitimate in the Christian life. But do they make you a success at it?

Two thousand years ago, scripture says that Jesus astonished the people with the answers that he gave to the religious leaders’ questions. Jesus was a threat to their power because He spoke with authority and truth. An expert in the law tested Jesus with a question. He asked Jesus what the greatest of all instruction was from God. In essence, “Boil it all down for us Jesus.” After Jesus gave the answer, scripture states a mere five verses later, “…and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.” So what was Jesus’ summary instruction?

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  Matthew 22:34-40 NLT

Jesus gave us the secret for a successful Christian life! He said to love God with all you are and love those around you as much as your own self. Imagine for a moment what you would be like if you dedicated your time and energy to simply loving God with your whole heart, soul and mind. What if you engaged Jesus Christ with every waking hour of your day; if you centered your thoughts and your decisions on Him? How would you feel if you praised Him throughout the day and prayed openly and often to Him from dawn till dusk? How would you act if you began to treat Him as your best friend who was always right there with you – living life by your side?

If you did that, you would be energized by the Holy Spirit to do the things that He would want you to do. And what He would want you to do is to love your neighbor as your own self. He would want you to show the love of Christ to those around you; the same love that He has shown to you. You see, God doesn’t need our money. He doesn’t need our church attendance or our help at the food bank. What He desires first-and-foremost is our obedience. He has tasked us with loving Him completely. He wants our primary focus to be on Him. He knows that if this is our core mission then everything else will follow. Your sacrifice (your works) is good, but your obedience to loving God and others is better than your sacrifice.

Make sure that your works stem from the roots of your personal relationship with God. Nurture and grow the seed that was planted with your salvation in Christ. Water your Christian life by simply spending your time with God. Make Him your absolute best friend. Engage Him in everything you do each day. That relationship with Jesus is the most precious thing you can offer Him in your life. To give Him this, makes you a success already. He’ll add the "Miracle Grow" when He sees that you are ready!

Recommended reading: 1 Samuel Chapter 15

Recommended music video (an oldie but goodie):  http://youtu.be/TzWyZxlwGKI

Joyful Suffering

From my new book Pursuing Peace - Finding God's Peace in a Stressful Life

“In His kindness God called you to share in His eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, He will restore, support, and strengthen you, and He will place you on a firm foundation.” - 1 Peter 5:10 (NLT)

Let’s concentrate on the word, “suffered,” in this passage. The word used here in the Greek is, “paschō,” which means, “to be affected, to feel, to suffer sadly, be in a bad plight.” This doesn’t sound like a pleasant experience does it? This is the same word that Jesus uses in Matthew 16:21 when He describes to His disciples how He will go to Jerusalem and suffer at the hands of men - and be killed. Sounds like battle to me. People suffer in battle.

Do you ever feel like you are suffering in your daily journey? Do you ever get to that point in your day where your chest is heavy and you feel like you just can’t get enough breath in your lungs – like the pressures of the day are weighing on you? This process is designed by God to try us. It is meant to strengthen our faith in Him. It brings us to a position where we cannot count on ourselves and must then submit to the Father’s strength.  CH4 - Decision Making

There is nothing peaceful about suffering. Pursuing God’s peace comes with challenges. I have learned that when you begin to get close to God, He starts this process of faith building. The account of Abraham and Isaac in the Old Testament is no exception. Abraham would get close and God would test him. He would get closer and God would test him even more. We have to ask ourselves the question, “Are my hardships simply faith-building because I am close to God or are they the results of me being far away from God.”

I can recall many times in my life where I was off the beaten, spiritual path and things were falling apart around me. I have watched similar things play out in the lives of others. This suffering is often the result of our bad choices. I have also been in dire straits at points in my life where I was as close to God as I have ever been. When I was a pre-teen I was quite close to God. I can recall praying for hours at night till I would fall asleep. Years would go by without me missing a day of lengthy prayer. I can remember God’s still, small voice speaking to me so clearly throughout the day, and yet, there was plenty of difficulty all around me in my life and in our family. These were testing times for me. God was testing my faith in Him.

We also need to ask the question, “Do we really think the sacrifice of God’s own Son should come with a 100% painless Christian life?” The way I see it, Christians should be more like the apostle Paul and glory in the pains of this life. They are allowed by God the Father for us to experience a small portion of what Christ did for us. If we could get our minds around that thought then our attitudes would change. We would harness the power of heaven as we’re allowed opportunity to suffer at His approval. Pain would simply be a reminder of the cross of Christ and joy would come from mourning.

A Christian is a follower of Christ. So it makes perfect sense that we will also follow Him in suffering of some kind. The good news is that God promises to strengthen us by the Holy Spirit as we “take up our cross.” This suffering is part of what it means to be a Christian.

“Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily (emphasis mine), and follow me.”  Luke 9:23 NLT

Let’s not water down the blessing with our poor attitude. Had you been there that day, would you have reached out and carried His cross? When the opportunity for faith building comes, be strengthened in your faith in God. Learn the positive habit of seeing the joy in suffering for Christ. When you do, you will be amazed at the power of Christ working within you. And you will see the Holy Spirit work miracles in your life.