Hey, God, I need your help

O Lord, I give my life to you. I trust in you, my God! Do not let me be disgraced, or let my enemies rejoice in my defeat. No one who trusts in you will ever be disgraced, but disgrace comes to those who try to deceive others. (Psalm 25:1-3)

If you have ever approached God with a bit of 'hey, God, I need your help' prayers, then you know how it is to feel a bit useless, helpless, and at risk for some reason. There is absolutely no better place to take your 'hey, God, I need your help' issues, for he is the only one capable to meet those needs. No one who trusts in God to help will ever be disappointed, or stand in the midst of the battle disgraced or defeated.

Disgrace might be the loss of respect for some, but it can also be the feeling of shame that comes from doing something we might now find ourselves regretting painfully. God's answer to that feeling of shame is repentance - to turn away from whatever brought those feelings and embrace his grace. There is absolutely no room for shame where grace exists and it exists in the presence of God. The 'hey, God, I need your help' prayer is exactly what begins to bathe us in that grace.

When we feel ashamed or like we aren't exactly 'right' with God or others, we might want to hide from them rather than open up to them. That is never going to begin the work of restoration, though. We need to trust God to hear our cry for help, listen intently to our heart, and then to begin to minister to us exactly as we need in order to be restored to right standing with him and others. Deceive others by covering over your 'wrong actions' that left you feeling a bit 'outside of grace' and you will never be at peace. Bring those actions to God first, then go to the other who you have been trying to deceive by your 'cover-up' God will be there to help because you trusted him to bring grace right there into the midst of that issue. Just saying!

We'll never make peace with ourselves

C.S. Lewis reminds us, "God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing." I think we look a whole lot of places for happiness - from within relationships to the things we purchase. We look for peace but find circumstances and attitudes that don't really support it. How are we to find peace if it is so elusive? Romans 8:5-7 tells us, "Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will." Perhaps the only way we find true and lasting peace is to allow peace to actually enter into each of us by saying 'yes' to Jesus!

The sinful nature wants to dominate us - to invade our thoughts, form our attitudes, and influence our actions. Allowing our sinful nature to be at the helm in our lives will surely never produce peace - it is at war with God! No wonder Jesus promised us the gift of his Spirit residing within, for we need his direction to defeat negative and damaging thought. Until our thought life is dealt with, all the work we do to 'create peace' in our lives, let alone seek happiness, will be worthless. I don't know about you, but I don't like seeking worthless things. I once heard someone say we had to make peace with ourselves before we could find peace in this world. I would challenge that thought and say until we make peace with God, allowing him to replace our sinful nature with his new nature, we won't really ever know true and lasting peace.

Thomas Merten tells us, "We are not at peace with others because we are not at peace with ourselves, and we are not at peace with ourselves because we are not at peace with God." All the efforts of mankind to 'find' peace in a set of circumstances, believing if we 'fashion things just right', we will be at peace with each other is kind of 'pie in the sky' thinking. We are never going to find peace with each other until we find peace with God - period. What is one of the biggest things that keeps us from finding peace with God? It is likely our pride. We don't believe we have the need for him in our lives - it is as though we see him as a 'crutch' some need to lean upon, but not us. I have had several knee injuries in my lifetime, resorting to the use of crutches to allow healing to occur. I will tell you this - were it not for the 'crutch' supporting the weight of my body, my leg would never have healed!

Sometimes we need to admit we don't know what we don't know. Those who think they have no need for God in their lives are really deceived - either by themselves or by the thoughts of others. All of mankind was made with a 'hollow space' where God's Spirit should dwell. To lean into our own pride and say we have no need for God to fill that space because we can 'fill it' some other way is foolishness. Remember, the fool is the one saying he has no need for God. (Psalm 14:1) If you have ever had one of those toolboxes that have all the cut-out shapes for each of the tools, you know you cannot put a hammer into the slot for the socket wrench - it doesn't fit. So, why would we ever try to put something else into the 'space' in our lives that was made specifically for God's presence? Just askin...

Are you courageous enough?

Has anyone or anything been disturbing your peace lately? If you watch the evening news, there are reports of mass shootings, angry confrontations between this group or that, natural disasters sweeping away those in their path, homes destroyed by fires, and families torn apart by things way beyond their control. Indeed, there are a plethora of things that can disturb our peace in a matter of seconds, but we don't have to allow our peace to be destroyed by any of these things or people. God's peace is capable of surpassing whatever seeks to disturb it. The way peace is maintained is also the way it is attained - we place our trust in the One True God.

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock. (Isaiah 26:3-4)

What are 'fixed thoughts'? If you are like me, your mind can ramble right along from one thought to the next without taking a breather at all. We can get so caught up in our thought patterns that we totally miss how muddled they are getting, all because we don't take that 'breather'. One way of having the peace of God rule over our lives is by learning to take our thoughts 'captive' more than once in a while. Sometimes we need to just 'shut off' long enough to allow God to speak. We cannot hear if we are not listening. We cannot embrace peace is our arms (and our hearts and minds) are so laden with our burdens that we are not open to receiving the embrace. 

I used to think a person who had 'fixed thoughts' was like the monk in the monastery. There would be no outside distractions, peaceful times of prayer and meditation, and some enchanting worship emanating from their lives. Boy, was I off base on that one! Fixed thoughts do not require us to live a 'shut away' life, it just means we will take the time and effort to keep Christ first in all we undertake. We might 'shut away' some of the invading thoughts, then really spend some quality time focusing on him - his Word, some time in meditation, and even a bit of worship. We don't need to live a cloistered life to be at peace with God, but we may need to allow some work with our minds in order to 'maintain peace'. 

When we are instructed to 'take every thought captive', it suggests there is this tendency to allow them to be 'carried away' by the 'loudest' or most 'frequent' influence. The more we control what can influence our thoughts, the more 'fixed' our thoughts will become. I read some research a while back that showed how we can hear ten different reports - nine will be positive, but one will be negative. The researchers showed that the human mind could recall the negative quicker than the positive. Does that surprise anyone? The 'bent' of our minds is to 'fix upon' the negative quicker than the positive. That need to change if we are to know and live in the peace of God.

It took me a while to allow God access to my mind - but it was worth the effort it took to get to the place where I allowed time (access) to my thoughts. It meant I had a regular time to explore the scripture, enough time to consider what he was showing me, and then a plan to allow it to be 'mulled over' again and again throughout the day. That meant I sometimes needed to refocus my thinking - being aware when I was allowing other things to keep my mind in a frenzy and neglecting to allow his peace to enter in. Maybe that is our prayer today - God give us an awareness of the building frenzy and the courage to shut it off long enough to let you speak into it. Just sayin!

Knock, Knock, Open Up

We all live extremely busy lives, experiencing some level of a lack of "togetherness" in our days, but it is not to be the "norm" for us. In fact, God wants us to learn to rely upon him bringing things "together" FOR us rather than us having to do all the work ourselves. We "enter into" what God has for us - in turn, he enters into us and begins to set things in right order which are kind of helter-skelter within us. In the end, he begins to effect changes to the things in our days we cannot handle apart from his grace and action helping us to "get through"!

By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise. There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit! (Romans 5:1-5)

We "enter" each day with an opportunity to "enter into" what God has prepared for us, or remaining "head-strong" by trying to just do it all ourselves. We don't find the strength we need to work through the challenges we may be facing by "mustering" some kind of internal strength, but by "entering into" the peace, provision, and presence he provides. To do this, we have to first take this "overwhelming feeling of pressure" we may be under because of mounting deadlines, competing priorities, and demanding issues and place it squarely in his control. Instead of entering into the challenges, we lay those challenges at his feet. We want the circumstances to be altered and the only way they will be is when we take them to the altar! It is there he gives direction and brings peace. It is there he transforms us from a mess of worrying human goop into a person wholly equipped with the wisdom to prioritize the demands, make the most of the opportunities, and quickly resolve the small stuff we should not be sweating in the first place!

When we "throw open OUR doors to God", we discover he has already opened his doors to us! I have three bedrooms in my home, each with a door on them. I can have all three doors closed at one time. The only thing connecting the three rooms at that moment is the hallway. At first, the hallway seems quite confining - small, dark, and with walls quite close. In that smallness of space, I can feel overwhelmed. As soon as I begin to open the door to the first bedroom, the hallway takes on a different feel - new light is brought into the hallway, the walls don't seem so close, and I see the possibility of expanse before me. The very action of opening the door presented more opportunities for me. I am no longer bound by the limits of the hallway - but I needed the hallway to get to the open space of the bedroom! Even the moments of "confining distress" are just transition points which require us to take some action - we have to allow them to act as the means by which we open the next door! As we bring ourselves to the door, we have to take the handle - turn it - and then swing the door open. It is like we take the confining mess of our day and then we determine to move it from our control to his! We allow him to bring us through the transition of feeling confined into the openness and light of his presence.

Some of my deepest moments of growth are when I feel the most confined - because I have come to recognize them as transition points (hallways) in my life. They aren't "crushing weights" when the right one is bearing the weight! As soon as I transition the weight from me to Jesus, the confining feelings of chaos and disorganized thought begin to lift! I can see things better when I have made the transition of me having to control it all into the place of letting him bring me into the expanses of his provision. Look at what our passage says comes next - when we open the door, clearly making the transition from feeling so confined by the pressures around us - we not only come into open spaces with God, but there is "even more to come"! Now, why on earth would we want to remain in the hallway, all confined by the pressures we face, when we could come into his "even more"?

The promise - we cannot round up enough containers to contain all God generously provides for us when we open the door to him! Nothing compares to the generosity of God - nothing outshines his goodness toward those he loves! I don't need to "own" it all - I just need to be available to do whatever he asks of me. I don't need to be in "charge" of it all - I just need to be willing to take the next step when he requires it of me. This is a challenge to actually live this way, but one thing is for sure - as soon as we learn to not settle for the "hallway experiences", we will be moving in the right direction. The hallway is not a confining space, but a transition point. Let the pressures mount, the problems come as they may, and the competition for our priorities be ever in our way - it takes the hallway to get to the doorway! At the doorway, we can transfer what is in our way! Just sayin!

Something isn't right

Something that has become quite apparent to me after viewing ad after ad on TV, in the magazines, and on social media is the fact most of us seeing these ads had absolutely no idea we actually "needed" or "wanted" this stuff until we saw it! Have you ever seen those little videos featuring some product they 'found' on some shopping site and didn't know they needed? That's what I am talking about. It is just like us humans to be content with what has worked for so long until we see the next amazing device and then our appetite is whet! We want it! Wouldn't it just dazzle God to no end if we had such a tremendous desire for the things he reveals to us of his power, grace, and truth?

You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought. (Matthew 5:5)

The ads cultivate a sense of "need" for somethings we had no previous desire for - in other words, they cultivated our discontent!
Sensing the "next move" in your life is a little different from having a sense of discontent, though. Discontent really is a restlessness coupled with a craving for something you don't have - even when you might not actually need it. In one sense, discontent has a positive effect - it gets us up off our posterior end and gets us moving toward what it is we see as our need. We need to tap into our discontent - but only as far as it leads us into the things God has purposed for our lives. If I was married and I no longer found the "love of my life" to meet my "needs", it would be totally wrong for me to allow this discontent to drive me to find a new mate or to have an affair. That would be using my discontent to drive me in the direction of my flesh, not my spirit. When we allow God to direct our contentment, he also influences the sense of discontent we might experience in life. In turn, the discontent drives us toward the things of the Spirit he desires for us to engage with and incorporate into our lives. In this sense, discontent is a good thing - it drives us closer to God.

Learning to rely less upon what makes us content and focusing on what might actually be the object of our discontent may not seem like a big deal at first, but if we are to accurately respond to our discontent, we need to focus on it. The issue arises when we focus on our discontent apart from the advice and guidance of scripture, mature brothers or sisters in the Lord, and good biblical counsel. We cannot figure out our discontent on our own - we need God's oversight in order to evaluate the source, the potential ways of dealing with it, and how it will impact our lives once we deal with it. Just sayin!