Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Don't Assume...
"The pride of your heart has deceived you,
you who live in the clefts of the rocks
and make your home on the heights,
you who say to yourself, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?" - Obadiah 1:3 (NIV)
I remember hearing the story of a woman who was traveling and had some time to kill before her flight. She went to one of the airport cafes and bought a small package of cookies before sitting down to read. Suddenly, she became aware of a rustling noise. Peeking over from behind her book, she was flabbergasted to discover a neatly dressed man helping himself to her cookies! Not wanting to make a scene, but most definitely a point, she leaned over and took a cookie herself and the man simply looked at her and smiled.
A minute or two passed by and she heard more rustling. The man was helping himself to another cookie! This time, she deliberately snatched a cookie but still held her tongue, and he continued to smile unassumingly. Then, as if to add insult to injury, the man broke the remaining cookie in two, pushed half across to her, ate the other half, and left. Positively fuming, the woman got up and heard her flight was announced so she went to begin boarding. She opened her purse to get her plane ticket, and to her utter shock, there was her pack of unopened cookies.
It is so easy to make assumptions about what is happening around us. And when we are too quick to assume, we are also pretty quick to make fools of ourselves. Let's actively choose to see people through God's eyes. He always knows what's going on! I recently heard a pastor say that God's "Plan A" is humility, and His "Plan B" is humiliation. I thought that was so great! The minute we start to think of ourselves more highly than we ought, God has a way of knocking us off our high horse. And because He is a gracious and merciful God - slow to anger and abounding in love, it is not in the malicious human way we think of, it's in His compassionate and correcting way - His Spirit gently guiding and working within us.
However, in order to avoid suffering too much vast humiliation through out our lives, let's do ourselves a favor and walk in humility. It is only by His grace that we are what we are :)
"But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me...not I, but God who was working through me by his grace." - 1 Corinthians 15:10 (NLT)
Thursday, August 11, 2011
LOVE is from God
Today, I was reminded that each moment that passes is an opportunity to experience Christ and His love more fully. His love is so supreme, so all-encompassing...we could never escape it even if we tried. As expressed so beautifully to us in Ephesians,
"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." (Eph 3:16-19) WOW is that what we call "encouragement" or what?
I am blessed to serve as one of the worship singers and representatives of Calvary Chapel Music under Pastor Chuck Smith. Now, if you know anything about the Calvary Chapel movement that started in the 1970s, you know that Papa Chuck is the man who started it all, an honorable figure...but above all, a faithful, consistent servant of God. I am always amazed at how willing he is to give someone the time of day and brighten it with a smile. Today I was hearing some stories from Kathy, our worship leader, one story in particular that I thought was worth sharing. Mirroring Pastor Chuck's heart of displaying God's love to others, Kathy is one of the most selfless, compassionate individuals on this earth. She shared a wonderful testimony with me of a man she had just met.
An older man was wandering around the church searching for an opportunity to meet Pastor Chuck, when Kathy realized he didn't know anyone, so she reached out and asked if she could further direct him. He candidly began to pour out his story to her. Prior to knowing the Lord, this man was a millionaire with the world at his fingertips. But as time went on, he ended up getting into trouble, ruining his marriage and squandering his millions through gambling. His life continued to spiral down until he reached rock bottom and was a homeless drunk on the streets. In a drunken stupor, he was digging through trash cans and found a radio hoping to find a station with some rock n roll to lift his spirits. The radio was blaring out a man's voice calmly yet firmly speaking the truth about God and it was Pastor Chuck. The Holy Spirit came upon the man and he suddenly realized his own wretchedness. He sincerely confessed his sins, and gave his life to the Lord at that moment.
Kathy was truly touched by his testimony and as a person who also "once was lost but now is found" she had a special appreciation for his story. I personally don't know what it's like to be that low and then radically transformed - but I still rejoice in knowing we can all be "that high" - joyfully redeemed and restored by the blood of Christ and the love of God!
Every day is an opportunity to expect the unexpected. You just never know when God may bring someone into your path - or when you are stuck in someone else's - for a divine reason. It is my heartfelt desire to be filled to overflowing with His Spirit so that I do not miss what God has. I never want to be too self-consumed to offer a warm smile like Pastor Chuck does, or too distracted to not lend a listening ear to someone like Kathy does, or too worried to not walk in victory and experience the JOY of my salvation and that abundant life in Christ that He so desires for us!
May this encourage you and allow you the freedom to simply surrender. Surrender to Christ, He made you - "Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine!" Isaiah tells us! (Is 43:1) Don't you think God "gets it" ? Don't you think He knows what's going to make you the most happy, the most fulfilled? I am so glad He knows me better than I know myself. What a relief! I can put my trust in the One who created me and has a bright future ahead of me...and the greatest thing, is that He has done that for all of us! Let us all make this our prayer today:
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen!" (Eph 3:20-21)
"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." (Eph 3:16-19) WOW is that what we call "encouragement" or what?
I am blessed to serve as one of the worship singers and representatives of Calvary Chapel Music under Pastor Chuck Smith. Now, if you know anything about the Calvary Chapel movement that started in the 1970s, you know that Papa Chuck is the man who started it all, an honorable figure...but above all, a faithful, consistent servant of God. I am always amazed at how willing he is to give someone the time of day and brighten it with a smile. Today I was hearing some stories from Kathy, our worship leader, one story in particular that I thought was worth sharing. Mirroring Pastor Chuck's heart of displaying God's love to others, Kathy is one of the most selfless, compassionate individuals on this earth. She shared a wonderful testimony with me of a man she had just met.
An older man was wandering around the church searching for an opportunity to meet Pastor Chuck, when Kathy realized he didn't know anyone, so she reached out and asked if she could further direct him. He candidly began to pour out his story to her. Prior to knowing the Lord, this man was a millionaire with the world at his fingertips. But as time went on, he ended up getting into trouble, ruining his marriage and squandering his millions through gambling. His life continued to spiral down until he reached rock bottom and was a homeless drunk on the streets. In a drunken stupor, he was digging through trash cans and found a radio hoping to find a station with some rock n roll to lift his spirits. The radio was blaring out a man's voice calmly yet firmly speaking the truth about God and it was Pastor Chuck. The Holy Spirit came upon the man and he suddenly realized his own wretchedness. He sincerely confessed his sins, and gave his life to the Lord at that moment.
Kathy was truly touched by his testimony and as a person who also "once was lost but now is found" she had a special appreciation for his story. I personally don't know what it's like to be that low and then radically transformed - but I still rejoice in knowing we can all be "that high" - joyfully redeemed and restored by the blood of Christ and the love of God!
Every day is an opportunity to expect the unexpected. You just never know when God may bring someone into your path - or when you are stuck in someone else's - for a divine reason. It is my heartfelt desire to be filled to overflowing with His Spirit so that I do not miss what God has. I never want to be too self-consumed to offer a warm smile like Pastor Chuck does, or too distracted to not lend a listening ear to someone like Kathy does, or too worried to not walk in victory and experience the JOY of my salvation and that abundant life in Christ that He so desires for us!
May this encourage you and allow you the freedom to simply surrender. Surrender to Christ, He made you - "Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine!" Isaiah tells us! (Is 43:1) Don't you think God "gets it" ? Don't you think He knows what's going to make you the most happy, the most fulfilled? I am so glad He knows me better than I know myself. What a relief! I can put my trust in the One who created me and has a bright future ahead of me...and the greatest thing, is that He has done that for all of us! Let us all make this our prayer today:
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen!" (Eph 3:20-21)
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