He Will Strengthen Us

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. – 2 Chronicles 7:14

There’s nothing worse than constant pain. The continual grinding, aching, and throbbing never really goes away, and the hurt becomes something we resolve to live with. One can’t sleep soundly at night for sharpness of the irritation. I have been nursing a torn tendon in my shoulder for the past four months. It began as an occasional sharp pain, but as time passed worsened into agony.

Regardless of how I move the pain only redirects from stinging to searing. The doctor sent me to physical therapy where I had a picture of some sort of instant healing. I thought these people would have me up and running in a couple of weeks. Boy was I wrong. I have to work hard at the simple exercises the therapist gives me. Little things I thought would be easy are massive. I realized as I began this process of strengthening and healing just how weak I am and exactly how much I take for granted.

As I stood repetitively stretching a band to strengthen my shoulder I began to realize how very ill-equipped I am spiritually. I love the Lord with all my heart, soul and mind, but still I am weak in so many ways. With each pull of the band, I counted the times I have failed my Heavenly Father. I don’t fail Him in the big responsibilities of being a Christian, but I fail Him frequently in the small things. How much of His word do I know by heart? How many individuals do I touch by my example? Do I carry His gentleness, and forgiveness?

Often we pray for God to provide for us, to heal us, and to help us but rarely do we pray for Him to truly give us strength to turn from our wickedness. Wicked sounds so mean and evil, but in fact, wickedness is simply sin. We all sin – after all we’re human and though that’s not a valid excuse, it is indigenous of our species. We sin because we are weak. And to think, it took my physical therapist to show me just how weak I am. It just goes to show, God has a plan and He uses whom ever necessary to make His plan complete - even when those individuals don't realize it.

In every situation we can learn – even through our physical weakness and pain, we can search for the lessons God may ask us to learn. When we learn humility, admit our weaknesses, and pray, God will heal us. It may not be the torn tendon, but there will be healing from within. Okay, so I’ll do two more sets of twenty. One, two, three…..

Prayer: Father, we lift our hands before You, reaching for Your redeeming love and strength. Forgive us when we fail.

We Are the Example

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

– Proverbs 22:6

Ray slipped the nylon cord over his head allowing the whistle at the end to dangle. He

buttoned the black and white striped shirt and grabbed his cleats, then kissed his wife as he rushed out of the door. “Let’s go son. We’re running behind this afternoon.”

The two climbed into the truck and headed toward the football field. Silence filled the cab.

Ray glanced across the seat as his son stared blankly out the window. “Something on your mind you need to talk about?”

Jeff shrugged. “Maybe. I dread this game.”

“Why, son. You guys are one win away from the championship. And I can’t referee your games.”

“It’s not that. I just hate being on the field when Mr. Jones and Nat Miller start to complain. They act like such little kids. Worse yet, their sons act the same way – shoving and threatening everyone –even guys on our team. It’s just not fun anymore, dad.”

Ray pulled the truck to edge of the road and shoved the gearshift into park. “You’re right. They do make life hard for everyone with their behavior. And when your children watch you behave badly, they think it’s okay to do the same. Unfortunately, you can’t run from people like this. They’re everywhere you go, but you can set the example. Let me make a suggestion.” He leaned across the seat and began to devise a plan.

As anticipated, midway through the game the two men began to rant. Trouble began on the sideline and before long their sons had started a brawl. Once the fight was broken up and the game resumed, Jeff took his place in the line-up. He waited until everyone was in stance then he removed his helmet, setting it on the hash mark. Bravely, he turned and walked off the field. Within seconds, other team members followed suit. The coach was dumbfounded as his team walked off the field one by one. He clasped his hand around Jeff’s arm. “What are you doing?” Jeff smiled. “Quitting. I play football on a team. A team plays fair. A team plays without fights. I play on a team, and this is not a team.”

It took a lot of courage for Jeff to walk away from something he loved, but he set an example for parents and children alike. When Solomon asked for wisdom, God granted it. Proverbs is full of insights that just make plain sense “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it” speaks volumes. As parents, we are the mirror our children look into daily. They learn from us – mimic us. We teach them the ways they will grow into as adults. Setting a godly example may mean walking away from something we enjoy occasionally. However, walking away teaches our children that our behavior is far more important than a game.

God has entrusted our children to us. We have a short time to make a life-long impression. We must raise our children with the wisdom of Solomon and the strength of Christ. How do you teach those tiny souls entrusted to you?

Prayer: Lord, give us the courage to say no to our children. Help us to train them in Your ways.

What Is Our Value

The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life. – Job 33:4

Jeb slipped a hand full of nails from his tool belt, placing a couple in his mouth and balancing the rest on the roof. Who said the average guy couldn’t put on a new roof. The timing might be a little longer, but he’d studied his home improvement books and felt confident he could manage the task.

Taking one of the nails from his mouth and then pulling his hammer from the leather belt strap, he meticulously placed the nail. Jeb drew back to hit the nail. The hammer came bounding downward slamming the side of his hand. From this moment on, Jeb’s stand on the roof became a comic relief. Instinctively throwing his hammer to side, he spit the remaining nail from his mouth onto the roof. His hand throbbed as he brought it close to his chest, massaging at the pain.

One missed step led to his tripping and sliding in a downward spiral toward the edge of the roof. He clawed at the slick roof as he tried to sink his shoes into the tarpaper for some sort of grip. Jeb slipped down the roof and over the edge, guttering and all, landing in the azalea bushes below. As he crawled from the bushes, the realization of his accident hit home. I could have been killed.

We frequently take unnecessary risks with this precious thing called life. Sometimes we seek a thrill while at other times we, like Jeb, seek to do things on our own. The value of our lives only seems to come into focus when we reach middle age. Our children think they are invincible and immortal, never considering the consequence of their play. However, once we cross over the 40 mark, suddenly life resonates and we realize how tediously we balance in the scheme of life. Perhaps we lose a parent or grandparent – maybe even a childhood friend. Worse yet, the lose of a child; one way or the other, reality sinks in and the price on our life rises and falls like the stock market on a volatile day.

God created us individually and each with a plan and a purpose. Learning where our place is in the life can sometimes be a difficult feat. For the few who seriously evaluate their lives and seek their place, more times than not, they end up at the feet of the Savior. We cannot truly search our souls without coming to some realization of the higher power who created us. To many, this lifesaving revelation changes them from the inside out. The Spirit of God has made us and His breath gives us our precious gift of life. Don’t take it for granted. Start now to inwardly access this life we have been freely given. The Father waits patiently.

Prayer: Precious God, Creator and Giver of life, walk beside us as we seek our purpose.

Pray Seriously

They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. – Acts 1:14

(Photo by Karma Shuford -copyrighted, 2007)

A favorite catch phrase for Christians is, “I’ll pray for you.” It’s become something we say, when we don’t know what else to do. There’s nothing wrong with telling someone we’ll keep them in our prayers however, telling and doing are two different things.

When someone asks us to pray it’s because they are seeking and more than likely, seeking desperately. Agreeing to pray is something we should take seriously. I chuckled the other day when a sweet friend sent me an email and asked me to pray for him. I re-read his email and then immediately typed him a prayer. Within moments he was emailing back saying it was the first email prayer he’d received. He jokingly remarked it was a little weird but as he moved through the prayer, he found himself truly praying with me. Sometimes a prayer request needs to be immediate. If his concerns were serious enough for him to send me a special email, then his heart was crying for resolution.

Jesus never hesitated to pray. It was one of the first things on his agenda. Time, and time again He sought refuge in the solitude of His prayer life. There He found patience, love, and persistence to continue. Even until His last agonizing breath, Christ was in prayer.

Learning to take prayer seriously is the beginning of a long and in-depth relationship with God. When we develop our time from rigid and uncomfortable, into a relaxed and dependant time with the Father, our lives change. Talking to God should be as easy as talking to your best friend.

When we’re asked to pray, it doesn’t mean we fall to our knees in an animated and long prayer. It simply means that as we pray we lift that person before the Lord, trusting in His will. From arrow prayers to long conversations, the point is that we pray, and we with a heart of sincerity. It’s an honor and a privilege when someone trusts us enough to ask for our prayers. Lift them before the Father with sincerity and compassion. Pray seriously.

Prayer: Lord, may we remain faithful in our prayer life. May we pray without ceasing.

Making the Effort

Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. – 1 Thessalonians 5:15

Wouldn’t it be nice if we never became angry, frustrated, or hurt? Life would be so much easier. It seems these emotions overtake us all at some point regardless of the efforts we make to suppress them. We are, after all, human.

I once had a dear friend, who has since gone to be with the Lord, whose life was snuffed out intentionally. Her kindness and abounding love was an attribute I wanted to emulate. She was joyful even in times of frustration and sadness. For the one or two times I ever saw her angry, she cried afterwards. She wasn’t angry with me but she was upset that I had seen her so.
One weekend when the campus was empty of students, she and I sat down on the front porch of the chapel at school and chatted about keeping our lives in balance. She told me she did a quarterly “I check.” Lisa, in all her wisdom, quarterly made a list of her attributes and her short- comings. She would evaluate herself according to scripture and then work on the areas she felt like needed a little polishing. It made perfect sense. If you want to be a better servant of Christ, you have to make adjustments.

Unfortunately, we aren’t perfect and sin does slip under the radar causing us to become angry or frustrated. All our refining – is shot down in one swift blast. Those we want to guide with the example of our own lives, see us crash and burn. Then we only have to wonder, how have we failed the Father?

I can only say, when those times happen for me, I find myself closed in my room, physically on my knees because I take my example to others very seriously. When I fail, and trust me, I fail big time – then the only refuge I can seek is the loving and forgiving arms of the Savior.

I feel so fortunate to have the willingness to want to know the Savior, to have the desire to trust Him, and to accept the pathway He lays before me. Though I fail at times, I want His loving forgiveness, in fact, I long for it. When I fail Him, my tears are not from the anger of the situation but from the sadness of having failed the Father.

When I fall to my knees and ask for His forgiveness, I pull out another sheet of paper, clean on both sides, because this is what forgiveness looks like. Two columns are drawn with the stroke of my hand, and Quarterly I Check is printed neatly at the top. I cannot change the past, but through forgiveness, I can start anew. I wish everyone knew what true forgiveness felt like. Don’t you? If others only had a brief taste of the Father’s love they would know what “sweet” really tastes like.

We are all sinners, even when we try exceptionally hard not to be. But, because we have the Savior close at heart (not hand – heart!) then we can feast on His eternal love. Does that mean we stop the quarterly I checks. No, not at all. It means, we start again with the forgiveness of God and the guidance necessary to try again. We are making the effort. Aren’t you glad you know Jesus?

Prayer: We fail Father. We fail miserably at times. Forgive us, renew us and cover us with the cleansing blood of Christ

He Knows What it Was Like

Who, being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. –

Philippians 2:6-7

Did you ever get in pinching matches as a child or am I the only odd man out? When we were kids we’d begin playing a game of some sort and when someone would cheat or make another kid mad, they would get pinched. That person would in turn “pinch back” and then the battle to hurt each other began. The challenge was who could last the longest. My sibling neighbors used to end up in slapping matches. Okay, I know this sounds odd, but it beat fist fighting!

The point is, if someone hurt you, you had to retaliate. Thank goodness, I was a child in a calmer period of time when handguns and car bombs were virtually non-existent – us kids, just pinched each other. Even toddlers play the retaliation game.

I can remember my being told, “How do you think Jesus would feel?” As a kid, my response was, “He doesn’t know how it feels to be pinched really hard.”

The fact of the matter is, He does know how it feels. Jesus may not have gone through a pinching match with his best friend but He certainly knows the agony of brutal pain. I am often amazed to think that God sent His Son in human form and allowed Him to undertake one of the most horrible things a human could go through. Oh, Jesus – of all people – knew what it was like.

What amazes me more about Jesus is, He could have used His holy power and did not. In fact, it wasn’t an option for Him. He never came close to considering holy intervention. Even as He suffered the pain of torture and the hopelessness of the cross, Jesus never looked for an easy way out. Better than any of us, Jesus understands what it feels like to be human, to be hurt, frustrated, and yes, even betrayed.

So many times, we feel as though we suffer our battles alone and that no one could possibly understand our pain. We’re wrong. Christ understands the pain and He longs to offer us comfort. Our problem seems to be one of retaliation rather than exoneration. We prefer to think of ways to get even instead of finding ways to forgive. God never once told us forgiveness was an easy thing. He only told us it was the right thing to do. The process is a true learning experience.

Jesus certainly understood what it felt like to be hurt and sad. Because of His human experience He stands even more willing to offer us peace. We only have to ask. Next time the urge to pinch hits, pray instead. Ask God to help with issues that you face. Miracles happen.

Prayer: Father, we try to manage everything on our own. Forgive us when we fail to come to You for healing.

When Faith Becomes Sight

You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. – James 5:8

Often it has been said, “One can hear something a thousand times, but it’s not until the 1001st time that it finally absorbs.” How true is that? I know that as far as my children went, I called this selective hearing. However, this clarity rings true for most of us.

I love the song, It Is Well with My Soul and I can’t tell you the times I’ve sung this song or heard it sung and simply enjoyed it for the beauty of its music. However, I personally had one of this “Ahh” moments when the 1001st time finally hit me and I took hold of the lyrics.

Horatio G. Spafford kissed his wife and four daughters as he helped them board a ship bound for Europe where they were to visit relatives. During the trip the ship collided with a second steamship. As the ship sank Mrs. Spafford prayed with her daughters and committed them to God. She was saved but her four daughters perished. When Mrs. Spafford arrived in Europe she sent a wire to husband that said, “Saved alone.”

Mr. Spafford rushed to be by his wife’s side and comfort her. In his grief he remarked, “It is well with my soul, God’s will be done.” Three years later, he wrote this beautiful hymn.

The final verse states,“ And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight.” Wow, the day when my faith becomes sight – the day the hope in things not seen becomes vivid. In other words, the day I understand everything. It only took two decades for that information to absorb.

Won’t that be a wonderful day? The day we understand why everything happens the way it does – the day we fully grasp God’s plan and everything comes into focus. There is much the human mind cannot take hold of and process. However, there will be a day when everything comes into focus. We will have a clarity we’ve never experienced before.

When the line of this song finally took hold of me I had a brief sample of what it would be like to understand. We have all had harsh events in our lives. There are times we can come to grips with these events and times we just can’t understand why. Sometimes in our sorrow, we question God, even become angry with Him, as we try to make sense of things. When we choose to hold firmly to Christ through these times our faith strengthens and comfort comes. Perhaps it is not in the way we expect, but in our love for Christ there will be a time when our faith becomes sight and we see clearly.

Surviving painful times is never easy. Our hearts ache and we feel as though the darkness surrounding us will never fade, but keeping our eyes focused on the one who knows all things will bring us to that understanding down the road. Isn’t it comforting to know the Savior waits for us – through it all He is there, waiting, and hoping we will seek Him.

“And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul” (Spafford, 1876)

Prayer: Father, we long for the time when our faith becomes a clear sight. Give us peace and comfort until that day.

It is Well with My Soul, Horatio Gates Spafford, 1876