What’s Next God?

Sometimes pursuing direction in your own life means letting go of something. Even if it’s a good thing, even if it’s something you care deeply about and enjoy, even if it’s something that’s making a difference…

-c

Ever feel like you’ve “leveled out” in your spiritual life?  Like you’ve been running hard toward God then all of a sudden you just hit cruise control and start to coast.

I’ve been there for about a week and a  half now and I don’t like it.  I think I’ve figured out why though. Striving to honor God in every aspect of your life is EXAUSTING!  Maybe it’s just me but I feel like I’ve been 12 rounds Tyson.

I believe this is a natural process, it’s ok to take a breather every now and then but it can be too easy to become complacent.  This is a HUGE trap that probably 99% of Christ followers fall into…including me.

I hope you all are finding rhythm in your life, and ever pursuing your spiritual walk…even when you feel beat up.

-c

I had a pretty cool surprise (blessing) come my way today. Makes a person feel pretty good inside….kinda makes me think I need to blessing someone else. Maybe they need to feel good inside too….

-c

⁵If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

When I read this passage a few things really jumped out at me. “⁶But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt,” This phrase puzzled me. What is he talking about, doubt what? Doubt my faith? Doubt God?

 Well, I posed this question to a friend of mine on the journey and thought I’d share his response….

  “Doubt that He is God, doubt that He is good and doubt that He can be trusted to give wisdom. Doubt that His answer will be the answer. Doubt that what He says will work. Doubt that it is worth it to ask.”   “I love the picture of being double-minded. I also picture it as a tug-of-war. I think I’ll trust Him and then in the next breath I think I can only trust me. “

This was an interesting response because the other part of this passage that bugs me is, ⁸he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.”

I’ve felt this way a lot in my life, where everything I touch seems to be teetering on the edge of collapsing. It’s one thing to believe that what God gives in wisdom is good and perfect and wise…it’s a whole other thing to believe that it will work and act on it.

Guess I’ve played tug of war long enough…time to cut the rope and run to Jesus.

-c

Well, it’s taking me a while to work through this. I’ve read through James 4 or 5 times now, but keep backing up to certain passages.

Last week it was Chapter 1: Verses 5-8, I’ll blog a little more on those verses later. But to go in order….

This week I’ve been sitting on Chapter 1: Verses 2-4.

^“2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

Verses 2-3, I get. Been there done that. I had trouble with verse 4. “ 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

After praying over this, I think I might understand what he means. I think its as simple as, when your called to a place of perserverance…just ride it out. Don’t try to create short cut to get to the other side faster. Don’t  jump ship in the middle of it because its too hard. DON’T TRY TO FIX THE SITUATION!

Just know that “HE is God, HE is good and HE CAN be trusted. ( yes, it’s starting to sink in Tim).

I know for me, I’m the “Shortcut King”. Jumping here or jumping there and never letting God finish what he’s started. Somtimes I think when God is trying to get me to be still, it’s like He’s playing “Wack-A-Mole”…but I seem to duck back underground just in time.

My own personal proclamation…”I will not move from this place until God tells me too”. It’s the ONLY way I will ever be spiritually whole.

Feels pretty good, you should try it.

-c.

I mentioned in my last post that I got stuck on James 1:1.

Well if you don’t know what it says, here it is….

James 1 (New International Version)

 ¹James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
      To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:
      Greetings.

Seems like a simple introduction to the book right? Wrong…

Here’s where I got stuck…“James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ”

Two things in this sentence caught my attention.

1: He differentiates himself as “a servant of God” as to say that those he’s writing to may not be a servant of God, or at least to clearly identify his Master.  At first I took offense to this, like who does he think he is? I’m a servant of God too!…right? I mean…aren’t I…wait a minute, am I??  You can see where my thought process got derailed. I had to stop and consider what/who exactly I am a servant of, and Sadly it’s not always God.

2: “of the Lord Jesus Christ”.   Let’s look at the word “Lord” for a minute. To Claim someone/something as “Lord” implies that it has Lordship over your life. One of Webster’s definitions of Lordship is,  “the territory under the jurisdiction of a lord”. CDB translation, God has say so over every area of our lives. EVERY part of our lives, not just the parts that people see on Sundays or at life group or any other time when we put on our God costumes and parade around like we’re “All That and a bag of God Chips”.

Let’s get real for once, we’re all big boys and girls. We ALL have those super secret areas of our lives that we REFUSE to allow God into so he can purge the gunk out and spray a little God Fabreeze. One of Gods best talents is playing cleanup man, if we just let him. No matter how small and insignificant of a piece you think it is that your holding back…if it’s sin, it’s creating separation between you and God.

I’ve underestimated this simple truth in the past. I’ve heard this truth a lot spoken into my life by two people. One is a friend on the journey and the other I’ll just refer as the brother.  You just can’t be whole…I mean really whole like the way God intended you to be until he has complete LORDSHIP over your life.

I am in no way there yet, but I’m starting to identify the areas where I’m holding back. If you’re ready to take that step, don’t do it alone. Engage someone you trust and I’m sure they would be honored to walk with you.

-c

No I’m not an advocate for Geico…but 15mins could save you a lot of headache and pain.

This past week our pastor issued a challenge to us to start spending at least 15mins a day reading the bible. Like he said, for some of us this may be in addition to what we’re already reading…or for some it may be the only time we spend in the text.

Well…I accept, and in turn I have challenged my life group to walk through this together.

I’ve chosen James as a starting point, Why? Because I heard wise man once say (from hence forth I’ll refer to him as “my friend on the journey”) that… “If you want to know how to be a Godly man…read James”.

I’ll be blogging about what I’m learning as we go.

And so…it begins, I started reading in James last night…didn’t get very far. James 1:1 to be exact, before I had to stop and rethink a few things that troubled me in that verse. I get this feeling that James and I are not going to get along very well.

More to come on James 1:1 a little later. For now, if you’re not engaging the text daily…just do it. If you take the smallest step toward God…you’ll find Him.

I’ll leave you with probably the most gut wrenching statement I’ve heard in a long time, made by my friend on the journey…I think he’s got a little bit of “James” in him.

“This book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book. If you are not spending any time in the word of God, it’s not because you don’t have time…it’s simply because you are being disobedient to God, and sin is keeping you from this book”.

Lets just digest that for a little while…

-c

If you missed this past Sunday’s message, you can listen to it online at http://media.miamivalley.org

I was listening to Chuck Swindoll today and he made reference to a story about two ways people deal with warning signs.

This is not verbatim but rather my interpretation of the story….

Your driving in your car and a flashing red light begins to flash on your dashboard indicating there’s a problem under the hood. There are two ways you can deal with this warning light.

A: You can pull over, get out of your car, look under the hood and identify the problem…and fix it before proceeding.

OR

B: You can carry a small hammer in your glove box and when those warning lights start flashing…smash them with a hammer.

Putting the light out with a hammer will obviously stop the warning sign, but left attended you end up with a blown engine.

Let’s be honest, we’ve all smashed our share of warning lights…ain’t it about time we take a look under the hood?

Currently pulled over on the side of the road…

-c

We all know pride comes before the fall, what most of us fail to realize is that pride hangs around after the fall to stomp your head into the mud and not let you up.

James 4:6

⁶But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
   “God opposes the proud
      but gives grace to the humble.”

Working on my pride…how ’bout you?

-c