Friday, November 30, 2001
Last night I attended a Christmas program at North Heights Lutheran Church in the Twin Cities. The performance was excellent to say the least. There are 7 performances left and tickets are still available. I highly recommend it.
I am the kind of music guy who likes a little pick up music with local musicians on the back porch. You won’t usually find me at an opera or orchestra concert. But I sat in awe last night at the beauty of the orchestra with about every kind of instrument you could think of in it. It was absolutely beautiful. I thought why am I enjoying this so much? And then I realized that everyone knew their part, had practiced and become excellent at what they did, and loved to play together.
If only in the church we could learn how to play are parts (gifts), practice them to become excellent and love to play together!
-John 17:20-23 NIV
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Thursday, November 29, 2001
It’s a funny thing about small towns, everyone knows everyone but no one knows anyone! People see each other quite often, say a friendly “Minnesota Nice” hello and then often proceed with a commentary to someone else of what is going on in the life of the person they just said hello to. As a result, people really don’t know each other at all but rather only the ongoing saga of what is going on in each other’s lives. But they really don’t know each other, they only know truths and untruths about each other.
This is not the case with Jesus. He not only knows everything there is to know about us but He knows us intimately, even our most inward thoughts, cares and desires. And He loves us for who we are. After all, we were created in His image. God’s care for us is “Heavenly Love” not “Minnesota Nice”
-Ps 33:5 NIV
The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.
Wednesday, November 28, 2001
“Love is not measured by what you give but what you are willing to give up!” I heard this statement yesterday and I thought how easy it is for people to give as long as it is something they don’t want or need any more. But giving when it means sacrifice, giving something up, is more than giving; it’s love.
Lord, teach us how to give out of love rather than convenience.
-Ps 112:5-9 NIV
Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice. 6 Surely he will never be shaken; a righteous man will be remembered forever. 7 He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD. 8 His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes. 9 He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor, his righteousness endures forever; his horn will be lifted high in honor.
Tuesday, November 27, 2001
I woke up to about 14 inches of wet, heavy snow this morning with 4 more inches on the way. Overnight the landscape changed from a barren fall setting to the fresh pure white snow of winter. It reminded me of how, when asked, God comes into the life of the most troubled person to redeem them and cleanse them from the vilest of sin. Their soul becomes white like snow and their life becomes a pure beautiful landscape. It doesn’t mean there won’t be trials, trouble and even failures. But it does mean that a person gets a fresh, pure white like snow “start again” and lives under the grace of a loving God. Sometimes we forget how pure and totally God forgives sin and transforms the life of a sinner.
-Ps 51:7-12 NIV
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. 10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Monday, November 26, 2001
My grandson is about 2 ½ months old. Although I have seen him quite often, because of my trip to Mexico it had been about 2 ½ weeks since I had last seen him. I was amazed how he had grown and matured.
Last night I sat and watched the football game with my father in law who will turn 80 in January. He was in his early forties when we first met. Where has all of the time gone? Life has gone by so fast.
Life is very short and the things that are the most important are often neglected as we trade off the best choices for good choices. I am reminded that everyday is a gift from God and as we enjoy His gift of life we should focus on “best” choices with eternal benefits. I didn’t have a say in my birth but I have a lot to say in my choices!
-Prov 16:22 NIV
Understanding is a fountain of life to those who have it, but folly brings punishment to fools.
Sunday, November 25, 2001
As we prepare for our first major snow storm of the year I am once again faced with a job that I find difficult and frustrating; putting the snow blower on my small tractor. The first time I put it on I had the help of a friend and it took a couple of hours. The next year it took me four to five hours. Last year I did it in record time, one hour! This year it took me an hour and a half because I struggled a little with getting the mower off, remembering exactly how the blower fits and getting everything lined up. I know if doesn’t take long but it is a job that I find difficult so I put it off and I don’t take the time to do it. One of the problems I have with putting my blower on is that I only do it once a year. If I did it everyday I am sure it would be a lot easier.
It kind of reminds me of people’s prayer lives. The more we pray the easier it seems to become. Coming to God in prayer is very difficult for people who only do it once a year!
-Ps 42:8 NIV
By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me– a prayer to the God of my life.
Saturday, November 24, 2001
Yesterday I held my grandson for an extended period of time while his mother and grandmother were shopping. As I held him in my arms and talked to him he looked me in the eyes and began to coo and smile. I talked back to him. I’m getting pretty good at “baby talk!” We carried on an amazing conversion for quite a period of time. We couldn’t understand a word we said to each other but something was taking place that was greater than words, human love. It reminded me how precious children are and how much they need loving parents, grandparents and other family members to nurture them. The only thing greater is divine love.
When I sense God’s presence I don’t need understand what he is saying. I only need to know that He loves me.
Jesus loves me this I know.
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong.
They are weak but He is strong.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
The Bible tells me so.
Friday, November 23, 2001
Have you had a drink of “Smiley Water” today? It may sound a little strange but fill a glass with water and take a drink. As you are drinking the water think of all the blessings that God has given you. Surely it will make you smile. If you don’t smile take another drink and think of another blessing. Even for the most sober of people it doesn’t take many swallows for the freshness of God’s love to bring a smile to our face. Even after you smile once it is okay to drink more water and have more smiles!
God’s blessings don’t come in drops but flow like water. It’s easy for us to forget and the “Smiley Water” is a good way to remember His bountiful blessings and His wonderful love for us.
-Ps 51:12 NIV
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Thursday, November 22, 2001
A heart of thanksgiving will break the crust of bitterness from the most painful of life’s experiences. Today, be thankful for what you have, who you are, the love of Christ, His church, friends and family near and far. Give thanks with a grateful heart.
-Ps 106:1 NIV
Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
Wednesday, November 21, 2001
To celebrate Thanksgiving one must truly be thankful. Often people carry many burdens during the holiday season that makes it difficult for them to celebrate or be thankful. However, each of us has many blessings and we must concentrate on them.
The families of those who perished in the recent tragedies in America will feel a tremendous loss as they gather around their Thanksgiving table to share dinner with family members who remain. Although it is not easy to do, it is imperative that each focus on those blessings. It is so easy to become focused on our losses that we forget about what remains and we lose that too. If nothing else, we lose it within ourselves.
Remember, half of the first people who came to America never made it through the first winter to celebrate the first Thanksgiving. Those who remained focused on each other and built a nation. Perhaps this Thanksgiving it is a time to dedicate ourselves not only to God but also to one another and build families
-Ps 96:7-13 NIV
7 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. 8 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts. 9 Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns.” The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity. 11 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it;12 let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; 13 they will sing before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth.
Tuesday, November 20, 2001
The answer to a hungry heart is not much different than that of a hungry stomach; eat until you are full!
-Matt 5:6 NIV
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Monday, November 19, 2001
When got off our plane in Dallas coming back from Monterrey, American immigrations would not let a Mexican woman enter the country because she did not have her Green Card. There was panic on her face. Although she had a Green Card it had been left at the counter or security in Monterrey and they had to fax a copy to immigrations in Dallas before they would let here enter.
As I considered the situation and the look on here face when she realized she couldn’t get into America the thought occurred to me, “This is nothing compared to the terror that people who have not accepted Christ will experience when they cannot enter heaven.”
I want to encourage you today to consider the alternative of heaven for the non-believer. It truly is a serious matter that requires our attention and makes sharing our faith a high priority. As we approach this holiday season, share your faith with family and friends. I can’t think of a better way to enjoy the holidays than for someone you know to know Jesus Christ as his or her personal Savior.
By the way, the Mexican woman’s Green Card was faxed to American Immigrations and she was allowed to enter. It sure makes a difference when you have what you need to enter!
-John 3:5-8 NIV
5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
See Mexico 2001 for November 10-18
Friday, November 9, 2001
What do we do when life just plain is out of our hands? It’s tough to accept but there are some things we just can’t control and we have no ability to change the circumstance or the results. Further, it is beyond our understanding and we ask the haunting question, “Why?” It really just becomes a “God thing.” “God things” are circumstances that only He controls and understands. So what do we do with “God things?” Let God do His thing!
-Ps 27:13-14 NIV
13 I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. 14 Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.
Thursday, November 8, 2001
When our children were small I used to push them on the swing. They laughed and enjoyed the sense of effortless freedom. God would have us enjoy that same freedom in our lives today but too often instead of sitting on the swing and letting God power us we try to carry the heavy swing seat instead of riding on it. Sometimes we try to carry the whole swing set. For just today, try to let go and let God and see the freedom that you experience. Perhaps you will say to God what my little girls used to say to me, “Dad, your pushing me too high!”
-Ps 47:2 NIV
How awesome is the LORD Most High, the great King over all the earth!
Wednesday, November 7, 2001
Our lives can change very fast. Yesterday I came upon an accident where a pedestrian was hit by a truck and thrown into an oncoming car. It happened so quick that no one had an opportunity to do anything about it. The man lay motionless on the street. Quickly the police and ambulance arrived to assist him. In a few short minutes they put him on a cart, carried him into the ambulance and took him to the hospital to care for him.
So often in our “spiritual hospitals” we call churches we don’t provide the quick response or care teams that are needed when something happens in someone’s life, their world is suddenly changed and they receive critical spiritual wounds. The police (“Elders/Leaders”) and the ambulance crew (Deacons/Deaconesses) fail to show up and the wounded person lay in the lane of spiritual traffic only to be run over a few more times. Finally, by the grace of God, they are bounced off the main road and over a period of extended time, with the help of God, they heal up on their own.
So why is it that our churches are not better helpers and healers to the spiritually wounded? Could it be that we are too busy wounding each other and everyone is laying out in the “spiritual traffic lane” and there is none left to staff the “spiritual police and ambulance” crews? Obviously, not everyone is lying wounded but I suggest that we have too many wounded and not enough healers. Maybe it is time that your church developed a “Fast Response Team” for the spiritually wounded.
P.S. With the quick help of the police and ambulance team, the man who was hit appeared to be alert and quite well when he left.
-Ps 6:2-3 NIV
2 Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are in agony. 3 My soul is in anguish. How long, O LORD, how long?
Tuesday, November 6, 2001
The kingdom of God sounds pretty complex but it has a rather simple operational mode. The kingdom of God is the rule and reign of God in the hearts and lives of His people. The problem most people have is that they have their own kingdom ruling their hearts and lives, the “Kingdom of Name”, Joyce, Bert, Mary, John or whatever the first name is. It’s not easy to surrender our personal kingdoms to Christ, but that is what is required to become part of the kingdom of God. I kingdom cannot have two kings and each of us must decide who is the king of our personal kingdom.
-Mark 10:14-16 NIV
“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.
Monday, November 5, 2001
If success were to be measured by our relationship with God, how successful would you be today?
-Ps 118:25-27 NIV
25 O LORD, save us; O LORD, grant us success. 26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD. From the house of the LORD we bless you. 27 The LORD is God, and he has made his light shine upon us.
Sunday, November 4, 2001
One of the highest mountains many people have to climb is the “Throne of Grace” even though it can easily be found on bended knee without taking a single step.
-Ps 66:20 NIV
20 Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!
Saturday, November 3, 2001
If you need to call upon the Lord, try more than just a whisper. When Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb the scripture says he used a loud voice. Too often we are too formal and self-preserving at the throne of grace. Perhaps it is time to throw ourselves on his mercy and share our heart with Him from the very depths of our being. Some would say, “We can’t do that. We would be out of control!” Well, someone is got to be in control and if it is you it can’t be God! Perhaps it is time to let your life get out of your control and into God’s!
-Ps 43:3-4 NIV
Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. 4 Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight.
Friday, November 2, 2001
Yesterday I prayed for a man who was stricken with terminal cancer. The pain was excruciating for him as he grasped my arm in agony and cried, “Why, Lyn?” Although it felt a little cold I said, “It won’t be long now and the pain will be gone.” Then I reminded him not to fear because God loved him and was taking him to a beautiful place where there was no more pain and suffering. I felt God’s presence as it has become so familiar in these times of death. Then I held him and prayed for him, asking God to hold him in his arms and take away his pain quickly. Last night God, in His mercy, took him home.
It is not easy for us to see people suffer in death. I am sure that it is not easy for God either. I prayed in earnest yesterday and I believe that God answered my prayer. This morning I thought of all the times I have prayed about other things and it seems God has turned a deaf ear. While I was pondering these things a small voice within me pointed out that often my prayers are quick, trite and superficial. When I prayed yesterday I truly sought and received an audience with God. It wasn’t one of those, “Oh, by the way God” prayers.
The point in all this being that when you are praying seek the presence of God earnestly from your most inmost being. He still may answer “no” but you will know that you had an audience with God. Pray until God hears and you listen!
-Rev 21:3-4 NIV
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
Thursday, November 1, 2001
The “ministry of the broom” is long forgotten in the church. There are different kinds of brooms but generally used for the same thing, removing dirt. We easily understand the traditional wood and bristled broom sweeping the floor, gathering the dirt in a dustpan and throwing it out of the church. But when it comes to the spiritual broom, we have forgotten and neglected its use in our churches for a long time.
The spiritual broom is used to clean out sin in the church. It is effective against gossip and slander of all types as well as a long list of other well-known sins. From time to time there is people in the church who are so sin infested and refusing to change that there is not much else to do except use the spiritual broom on them. I realize that this seems unspiritual and unkind but you know how your floor looks when you allow dirt to pile up. Sin is no different.
I suspect that too many people have taken their church attendance and membership as a God-given right with no responsibility to the authority of God’s Word or the local church. Until we recognize the need for holiness in our churches and practice the faith we teach and preach, our churches will continue to be “dusty” at best.
Perhaps it is time to bring the spiritual broom out of the closet and clean the sin out of our churches so we can fill them!
-1 Cor 5:12-13 NIV
12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”
