Marching in Circles

 Have you ever felt like you were spinning your wheels? Repeating the same routine and getting the same disappointing results? Maybe it is even something you felt very sure God called you to do. You obeyed and keep waiting for the pay off at the end. 

I wonder if Joshua and Israel felt that way when they circled Jericho for six straight days blowing their horns without any visible sign of change. It can be like for us too. We pray. We trust. We obey. Sometimes we do not see any change. It is easy to interpret our circumstances by what we see or do not see. 

Six days in a row they marched around the two mile circumference of Jericho. Not saying a word. Toting the ark of the covenant. Priests blowing their horns. At the end of each march they returned to camp. I wonder what conversations ensued from those who remained in the camp. What questions might have been asked? Did you see any sign of God working? Did you see any cracks in the walls? Did you feel the earth quaking while you walked? Did you notice any change at all? 

I wonder if those priests looked foolish marching around the walls day after day after day. Maybe so. Maybe not. Sometimes we have to risk looking like a fool in order to see the supernatural work of God. On some days it may feel like we will never see God breakthrough. 

But on the seventh day. On the seventh day did they wake up excited eagerly anticipating what God said He would do? They marched around the wall once, twice, four, five, six, and then seven times. They shouted and the walls fell. 

What if they had give up on day five or six and not kept marching? I think those walls would have kept standing. God wants us to walk by faith and not by sight. It may feel like you are marching in circles getting nowhere. Trust Him. Obey Him. Wait for Him. He will come through in due season if we do not lose heart. 

Live in the Present

 I read an interesting statistic today. Nearly 47% of people are thinking about something else rather than the task they are performing. They do not concentrate on the moment. They think about things in the past or possibilities of the future. They do not live in the present. 

I thought about that stat for awhile. I found myself guilty. I tried to concentrate in the moment. To live in the present of what I was doing at that time. I couldn't get my mind to be still. I could still my body. My mind raced ahead like wild mustangs refusing to be tamed. There was no rhyme or reason to the hundreds of thoughts that raced through my mind. Things from the past, things of the future, things I needed to do, things I wished I had done differently. I thought about many things except what I actually wanted to concentrate on. 

My singular focus was to listen to God. It seemed an impossible test to live in that present moment. Finally I pleaded for God to help me. To take control of my thoughts. Then, without warning the floodgates of Heaven opened and God ushered me into an encounter with Him that made me lose track of everything else but Him in that moment. I cannot describe it. It is something you would have to experience for yourself. 

It made me painfully aware of how often my prayers are religious activities instead of divine encounters. I can be so distracted by so many things. God waits to be wanted. For me to fully show up in the present moment attentive, receptive, and responsive. 

I need the mind of Christ and for Him to take my thoughts captive. I need to live in the present. Not a prisoner chained to past mistakes and regrets. I need to focus on today instead of what tomorrow might or might not bring. I need to live fully engaged in the day I am living. I suspect I may not be the only one who needs to do that. 

Living in the present means fully taking in this moment of writing. To feel the hard plastic keys on the keyboard on my finger tips. To hear the tapping of the keys with each word. To think intentionally about the next sentence. To be fully engaged at the task at hand. To prayerfully write hoping this helps someone somewhere around the world. 

I wonder how many are mindlessly trudging through their days at work or school. How many are just trying to get to quitting time. How many will come home to houses full of kids, but never fully engage those children during the evening. How many will sit on the sofa or in the recliner and get caught up in a movie. Whatever we do today may we live in that moment. 

If we choose rebellion and sin, may we fully experience the conviction, emptiness, and remorse of electing sin over holiness. If we live in hypocrisy, may we fully experience God's conviction of living a double life. If we choose to pray, worship, or study the scriptures, may we go all in. May we encounter the living God in those moments. To live full throttle for Him. 

All any of us can do is live in the present. That is all we have. Why waste time on things we cannot change or undo. Why waste time worrying about a future that may or may not happen. Don't miss the day. Don't overlook God's blessings today. His presence in the present. Live your present like it is your last. Squeeze all out of your present moment you can get out of it. This is the way not waste a life. 

Come Help Us

 Paul was a zealous follower of Jesus. Bold. Driven. Passionate. His mission was to make Jesus known. He succeeded in doing that. The proof is in the epistles he left for churches he started in the New Testament. Paul took the gospel to the Jews and Gentiles alike. He was fearless and relentless in His evangelistic work. 

Paul lived surrendered to the will of God. Reading passages like Acts 20:24, Romans 12;1, II Coe 5:14-15, and Galatians 2:20 give us a little insight into the depth of Paul's submission to God. He especially wanted to take the name of Jesus to places where people had never heard of Him before. 

That makes the story the I write about today all the more interesting. For some reason the Holy Spirit forbid Paul to speak the word in Asia. [Acts 16:6]. It really did not make any sense. Logically people in Asia were lost. They needed to hear gospel good news. It seemed perfectly reasonable to journey there to continue his mission. Only God shut the door. 

I wonder if the closed door confused Paul and his companions like we get confused when God closes a door. Next, they tried to go to Bithynia, but once again the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them to go there either. [Acts 16:7]. Two closed doors and no explanation as to why the doors were closed. So, they travelled down to Troas where they spent the night unsure of where their next assignment would be. 

This would be no ordinary night in Paul's life. For years he would go back and remember how everything changed that night in Troas. One ordinary routine night on the road proved pivotal not only for Paul, but also even for us today. 

I will let you read what happened that night for yourself. 

Acts 16:8-10 (NASB)
⁸  and passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas.
⁹  A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us."
¹⁰  When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

A vision appeared to Paul in the night. The word vision means a dream, a revelation, or an oracle. In our day people do not put much stock in dreams and visions. Talk about those things openly in the context of God revealing His will and people will raise eyebrow and look at you like you are wacky. Paul had a different reaction to the vision. 

What did he see in the vision? Simply put a man from Macedonia begging for Paul to come and help. Macedonia was a region in Greece. Some mysterious Macedonian man asking for help. The man in the vision is never identified. 

When I contemplate this story, it amazes me that God went to these unusual measures to reveal His new assignment to Paul. God could have just revealed it by the Holy Spirit.  He often communicated His will through the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts. God revealed his will in similar fashion as He did with Cornelius and Peter in Acts chapter 10. This time He chose to communicate through a dream. 

This story has fascinated me for a long time. In similar fashion, God spoke to me through a series of dreams about a small west Texas town called Kermit eight years ago. Ultimately, I ended up setting up a tent revival in that town the summer of 2017 in response to those dreams. It was not well attended. 

This same passage has shown up in my Bible readings and prayer life several times in recent weeks. There has been no further revelation. Just the passage about God speaking to Paul through a vision of a man appealing for help. Is there some person or persons who is prayerfully pleading for God to send help? Is God calling me and or Spring Creek to come and help?

Yesterday morning I picked up Dallas Willard's book Hearing God to read a little before going to work. I could not believe my eyes when that [Acts 16:9-10] passage was in the pages I read. I have not had a vision. Just the same verses showing up on multiple occasions. I have learned from past experience when God wants to speak to me He always does so through His word and certain verses showing up repeatedly. 

It reminds me of an experience I had over two decades ago. I attended a conference and heard a man preaching on this topic. I contemplated this [Acts 16:9-10] passage. I prayed an [Isaiah 6:8] prayer for God to send me. A prayer I often repeated over the years. Then my mind was opened to the fact that somewhere in the world, in some country, in some city or town, some person or group of persons was praying that God would send them help. It dawned on me in that moment that God is able to connect the prayers on both ends. He hears the prayers of those appealing for help as well as the prayers of those willing to be sent. 

We could very well be the answer to someone's prayer for help. This might be an individual God strategically puts in our path. It might be with a group of people in another town or another country needing help. That is what God did for my friend Julie when she travelled to Athens, Greece on a summer mission trip. She fell in love with Muslim refugees and a converted Muslim Iranian refugee turned gospel evangelist. She ended up leaving her career as a teacher and marrying Javad and relocating to Athens to labor to see other refugees come to faith in Jesus. 

When I think back to that encounter with God at that mission conference, I am reminded that God wants us always to live available to Him. Each of us might receive our own Macedonian call. God may connect the prayers of someone pleading for Him to send help and your willingness to be sent. I think of a precious lady in our church who keeps bags of groceries in her car in case she runs across someone who needs help. She gives a gospel witness along with passing on the food. 

It really comes down to living on mission for God. To be available to Him to help others in need. For one senior adult couple in our church that meant going to a local skate park armed with Jesus, pizza, water, and hearts full of love. Several have been saved. They have faithfully gone to park through frigid winter days as well as blistering summer evenings for three years. What started as a ministry to a few skaters has now touched the lives of hundreds of people. The skaters needed help and God sent it to them. 

Who is pleading for God to send help? Who is begging God to send someone to their life, family, town, country, or church for assistance? If you choose to live a surrendered life available to God, don't be surprised if God chooses to use you to be an answer to someone's prayer for help. 

Living Before His Presence

 Does it cross our minds that we are to live our lives before God's face and with the reminder we are always living in His presence. Always. In public and in private. He knows all and He sees all. Nothing is hidden from Him. Not one thing. Whether good or bad. He has a front row seat to view it all. 

How would we live differently if we kept that truth in mind? If we daily lived with the knowledge that we live before the all seeing eye of Jehovah. Would it make any difference? People know how to control their actions in certain situations. They also know how to control their language when called to do so. 

Living before His presence should motivate us to faithful service and holy living. Sadly, hypocrisy abounds in the church of God today. People profess one thing with their lips, but their hearts betray a different reality. Apathy supplants passion for God and the things of God. Hypocrisy makes a mockery of holiness. People live with a form of godliness externally. They deny the power of God internally. They forget they are living before Him continually. 

I believe that God is moved emotionally by the way we live. He is disappointed when we live in the flesh. He is angry when we rebel against Him and willfully defy His commands. He gets excited when we seek Him and serve Him with pure motives. He is moved with compassionate mercy when we acknowledge our sin and repent. 

We should want to live to please Him. Like a child wants to please parents, so should we be motivated to please our Heavenly Father. To please Him in our worship. Not mindlessly singing words we do not mean or even meditate on the lyrics. Pleasing Him in worship means singing as much with our hearts as with our voices. It means singing to Him and not for the approval of others. 

Pleasing Him means we look for opportunities, divinely orchestrated appointments, to tell others about Him. We must do more than give lip service in our church gatherings to sharing the gospel. We actually do it. With family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, doctors, nurses, and wait staff where we dine. I think that makes God's heart swell with joyous delight. 

We can also please Him when we love those others ignore, reject, and ridicule. We love others who are the least of these because it is like loving and serving Jesus. To love the addicts, the rejects of society, the immoral, the ones who have fallen into deep sin even though they knew better, the outcasts, the fringe people, the elderly, the poor, as well as the young, rich, and successful. God commands that we love all kinds of people. I think it blesses Him when we choose to love and embrace people others avoid. 

I think it enthralls God when we open our Bibles to read to know Him, to learn more of Him, and to hear from Him. We should read the scriptures like someone reads a love letter. Methodically, systematically, pondering passages and adjusting our lives accordingly. Digging deep for profound truth and the relentless quest to know God. 

Living in His presence and before Him means serving out of delight rather than duty. It means giving our lives away not to be recognized, but so that He will be glorified. True servants do not want recognition. They very often do what they do anonymously so as not to draw attention to themselves. They want to deflect all praise and honor to God. This glorifies Him. 

All of this and more are some of what it means to live before the presence of God. May we live pleasing Him while learning to deny ourselves. To make much of Him and less of ourselves. To deny ourselves, taking up our cross, and following Him. May we live before Him. 

Forward Focus

 Many of have past regrets. Sins we committed or omitted. Poor choices we made. Bad decisions that led to less than desirable consequences. Here is the thing. We cannot go back and redo the past. There are no do overs. We don't to play a mulligan like golfers often do. The past behind us. It cannot be undone. Paul wrote to forget about what lies behind and to press on to what lies ahead. [Phil 3:12-14]

There is God's redemptive grace. There are new chances to begin again or try a whole new course, but there are no opportunities to undo our past. It is fixed forever. We can learn from the past and our mistakes. We cannot go back and rewrite our history. Why waste the time focusing on it relentlessly?

Many get stuck in the past. They live with regret and remorse. They become enslaved to a past they cannot undo. Like a car stuck in the mud, they spin the tires of their lives faster and faster only deepening the rut. They get so bogged down they lose all hope of better days. There is a reason why the windshields on vehicles are bigger in the front than the back. The focus has to be on what is ahead. We only glance in our rearview mirrors. 

To help us forget about the past we need to be forward focused. What is the next calling from God for us, the next faith challenge He invites us to accept, and the next forward focused agenda He has ordained for us. When we are forward focused we are able to see the needs around us. When we live looking over our shoulders we miss the needs all over the place. 

To live forward focused means to trust God and follow Him for what is ahead instead of staying stuck in the past. When I think about all God wants to do just around the next bend it excites me. He is always working. See [John 5:17]. He does new and fresh things. See [Is 43:18-18]. We are to prayerfully seek Him for what is ahead and then trust and obey what He reveals. 

Forward focus applies to every area of our lives. It can apply to us personally. Where does God want us to pinpoint our focus in the days ahead? How will this next trip around the sun be any different than the previous ones? What does God want us to believe Him for? It can also apply to our families. How can we grow closer to our family? I just got off the phone with a husband and wife who took their family on vacation over the break. They talked about coming home a day early but decided not to do so. The husband commented, "This is the one time a year where we can get everyone together in our camper and they don't have other places to be or things to do. We sit around and play games together as a family." That is forward focused. 

We can also be forward focused in our finances. How can we better stewards of what God has entrusted to us? How can we diligently discern the best use of our money? Where should we leverage our resources? When do we save and when to spend?

I recently talked to a co-worker about her new pastor. He has not been on the field very long. She said, "We must go forward. We have to go forward." I am not sure what she meant by that. I found it interesting that she is a senior adult. She reminds me of Caleb from the Bible. He lived with forward focus. He did not use his age as an excuse for not trusting God for what was ahead instead of being content to reminisce about the good old days. 

So let me ask. Where is your focus these days? Are you high centered on yesterdays spinning your wheels but getting no traction? Are you forward focused on what God will do next? He longs to move in our midst in powerful ways in the days ahead. So be forward focused in your next quiet time, next gathering for corporate worship, your intentional sensitivity to His next nudging, and all in obedient to whatever He leads you to do next. I am betting if all of us do that, we will find ourselves on a thriving adventure. 

This Is The Way Walk In It

 We have barely turned the first page in the start of the brand spanking new year. There are so many unknowns ahead. So many opportunities. So many decisions that have to be made. So many choices from which to choose between the better and the best. 

I know some who approach this year with a great deal of optimism. Hopes are high. There is a great deal of expectation for a good year. On the other hand, I know others who have a pessimistic outlook for 2024. They believe cataclysmic events will happen in the coming months challenging all of us. 

No matter what your outlook is, I am confident that you will need God's guidance along the way. I know I sure will and already do. In various conversations I've had with people today each is facing important decisions. Some about dating and future marriage. Some about education. Others about marriage. Some about employment options. Some about parenting. Each decision important. 

Some decisions are easy. Like not stepping out on the street in front of oncoming traffic. That makes logical sense. There are other decisions which are not so easy. Like when there are two choices between two good things. Both choices have their pros and cons. Either decision will bring consequential effects. How does a person decide?

Followers of Jesus must prayerfully discern His heart and mind in critical decisions. People in the church talk about following God's will, but how does a person really know what God's will is? What steps do they take to discover His will.?

First and foremost, start with reading the Bible. Isaiah 30:21 states," Whether you turn to the left or to the right you will hear a voice behind you saying, 'This is the way walk in it.'" 

We need to hear that voice. I hear that voice most clearly in the scriptures. When I look back over my life at critical moments God used His word to guide my steps. 

God used Deuteronomy 1:8 to guide us in relocating our ministry. I was contacted by two different churches at the same time about becoming their pastor. I really was leaning toward one in deep east Texas  because I knew someone in that church. My college roommate passed my resume onto the FBC in Paradise, TX. I had never heard of Paradise, TX. 

The search committee from Paradise contacted me. I visited with the chair person on the phone. They wanted a sample sermon so I sent them a tape of a sermon I had preached recently. They called again wanting to set up a formal face to face interview. In the days before that interview I read Deuteronomy 1:8, "See, I have placed the land before you, GO IN AND POSSESS THE LAND WHICH THE LORD GOD SWORE TO GIVE to your fathers Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to them and their descendants after them." The preferred church I wanted to go kept dragging their feet. 

That phrase, "Go in and possess the land," stayed in my mind for weeks. It became a clear word from the Lord. I made it a prayer. We did eventually interview with FBC Paradise. Immediately after the interview, they scheduled me to preach in a sister church that evening. I thought Brenda and I would drive ourselves. They insisted that we ride in their church van with them. From the moment the interview ended until after we returned, Brenda and I did not have one single moment alone. 

When we arrived back in Paradise I went to the restroom and God clearly reminded me, "Go possess the land." I did not fully understand in the moment. When I met back with the group they shocked me when they said, "We unanimously want to offer you to come in view of a call to be our pastor." Brenda and I stared at each other in shock. We did not have time to talk it over. I did have the voice of the Lord in essence tell me, "This is the way walk in it. Possess the land." We accepted and enjoyed four wonderful year in that congregation. 

That is not the only time God has used His word for Brenda and I. He did the same thing before relocating us to FBC Seminole. Then it was Hebrews 11:8. That verse kept showing up repeatedly in my devotions, in books and I even saw it on a tee shirt. God used that verse along with Romans 12:1 to guide our family to the adventure of ministry in west Texas. 

I could tell multiple other stories about God guiding me through scripture. When God really wants to speak to me He uses His word. He will put a scripture before me and keep bringing it before me over and over again. He did that when I needed to forgive some people. He also did that when I needed to repent for a wrong action. It has happened numerous times in my life. It has been happening recently. 

Like the times we bought houses. We looked at many. So many they would all begin to run together in our heads. Each time we bought a house we walked into one where we had more peace than over all the others. Sometimes it looked impossible. Each time God made a way. His peace guided our steps along with His word in Psalm 37:4 for our first one which reads, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." That verse guided us in what we looked for in a house. God's peace overcame me when we bought our first house when I stepped through the front door. It was everything we had asked God for. We had that verse on the mantle over our fireplace. What wonderful memories we had there. 

When I am faced with decisions I trust God's word for insight. It has been a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. In big ways as well as in small ways. That is why reading the Bible is such an adventure. Just yesterday morning He pointed out a set of verses that have surfaced in my life for the past couple of months about inquiring of the Lord. David inquired and God answered each time. I also inquired of Him and expect that He will answer in His good time. 

There is another way I've used to discover God's will. One of my best friends counseled me many years ago to let the peace of God be my guide in decision making. I have leaned on that numerous times. Trusting God to guide me through His word and His peace have served me well. 

There have been numerous opportunities in my life that looked good. From all the information I could collect it appeared I should go in one direction. Except I would have this uneasy feeling in my spirit. I could not explain it. I couldn't get any peace about choosing what looked right. Brenda and I yielded to the lack of peace and made our decisions accordingly. Each time that proved the right thing to do when further information was made available. God guided Brenda one time with a lack of peace to keep me from making a huge mistake that looked good to me. She refused to budge. In hindsight, her lack of peace was the right decision. 

God will guide us into the new year with His word and His peace if we listen. He will show us which way to turn when decisions have to be made. He has done that for my family and I am sure He will also do that for you. God's word and His peace walk hand in hand. They work in tandem to reveal the heart and mind of God. Trust God to use them when you have to make your next critical decisions.