Am I A Christian?

 

It was an unusually cold Thanksgiving, one in which we got an early snow fall. My cousins from the south were visiting for the holidays and were excited (perhaps overly so) to see snow for the first time. They woke up the morning after it snowed, ready to head outside with all of them yelling, “Snow! Snow! Snow!” Before anyone could stop them, they ran outside and dove in, without any coats or gloves or anything else that should have been part of the routine. And just as quickly as they had run out, they came running back in yelling, “Cold! Cold! Cold!” It was then that the decision was made that we needed to take them to buy some winter gear.

Later that day, during our shopping trip, I found myself sitting in the back of my grandmother's Grand Torino station wagon with my cousins. There were so many of us that we had to pull up the third-row seat, which in a station wagon faced backwards leaving some of us looking out of the back window. I’m not sure why but as we watched the traffic behind us, one of my cousins asked if I was a Christian. I told them all that I did not know. I was then asked if I went to church. In fact, I had three churches on rotation depending on whom I was with. My dad was Lutheran, my mom was Missionary Baptist, and my grandmother occasionally went to a church that I think may have been nondenominational. I visited at least one of those churches each week, although very rarely did I go to the same one two weeks in a row. So, my answer to my cousins’ question was, “Yes, I do go to church,” which I said with pride without telling them that my attendance was not voluntary. In response I was told that by going to church I was in fact a Christian.

For several different reasons, I was never comfortable with the idea that going to church made me a Christian. The idea that simply walking into a building made me a Christian seemed…well…empty. In fact, it seemed as empty as everything else in my life at the time as I lived…correction…survived the day to day of being a codependent teenager. God was the furthest thing from my mind, even during those two or three hours every Sunday morning and so I just could not see how going to church made me a Christian. It wasn’t until I was in college that I learned that it didn’t.

It was at that time that a friend gave me a book that took everything that I learned in Sunday School, and in confirmation class, and explained how it all pointed to one man: Jesus. In response, I looked at Jesus for the first time and really started learning what He taught. From these studies I learned about God’s gift of salvation through which He offers life and freedom from the burden of sin. I also learned that how I respond to His offer determines whether I am a Christian or not. I accepted His offer and am blessed to be able to say that I am a Christian.

So, what exactly was His offer and what is it that makes a person a Christian? Keep an eye out for a future post where I will explain.

This is My Name Forever – Part One

 

Exodus 3:14-15

Was Moses still afraid or was he just curious?  Either way Moses asks a very logical question in Exodus 3:13. He asks God to tell him what he should say when the leaders of Israel ask for the name of the God who has sent him. At the time, Israel lived within the polytheistic culture of Egypt in which each god had a name and a specific domain in which to operate. I suspect this made it easy to know who to pray towards for whatever specific problem one might be having. Afterall, you didn’t want to inadvertently pray to the god of the Sun if what you really needed was rain.

So along with asking for direction on what he should say (and do), Moses was asking God to give him something that he could say to the people of Israel to help them distinguish Him form all the false gods of the land of Egypt. Most likely there were still some who taught and believed in the God of their fathers, but all of Israel had long been exposed to Egypt’s culture and religion. As a result, Moses’ success rested on Israel learning about this God who spoke from a burning bush and discovering what domain fell under His control. And so, Moses asks for a name and for an identity that he could give to the people so that they might know who it was that they should believe in.

For the record, I am not a Bible scholar and so I turned to a few different Bible commentaries to see what they had to say about God’s answer: “I Am That I Am.” (Exodus 3:14 KJV), which the New King James translates to “I Am Who I Am.” Several of the commentaries point to the fact that we really do not have the words to accurately translate what is said, with The Pulpit Commentary stating that, “I will be that I will be,” as a more literal translation.

I’ll write about what this statement likely means in my next post. Today, I just want to point out that God answered Moses’ prayer by revealing His glory: by revealing who He really is. The answer started with this somewhat cryptic answer but as we will see when we explore its meaning, the answer continued as God demonstrated His power through both the plagues and by delivering His people out of the oppression they were suffering at the hands of the Egyptians.

Moses needed to know God before he could fulfill his mission and the same is true for us today. I believe that if we earnestly pray, asking God to reveal Himself, He will certainly answer. It may take time to understand the answer, but in the end, I believe that we will be blown away by what we learn. Ask God to reveal Himself. He likely will need to do some work on your heart to prepare you for the answer, but once He does, you will have the opportunity to learn the truth about the one and only living God.

Struggling With God’s Identity

 

That’s a weird title for a blog post, isn’t it? But I find myself thinking that a lot of the things I struggle with as a Christian, really come down to not accepting that God is Whom He says He is. For example, I sometimes worry about money, which seems like something Christians just shouldn’t worry about. After all, the Bible promises that God will provide for all my needs (Philippians 4:19), which means my worries (my lack of faith) is unwarranted. So why, in the face of this promise, do I worry?

Thinking about it, I do not doubt God’s ability to provide, He is after all the Almighty and everything belongs to Him. I can’t begin to fathom what the Bible means by “His riches in glory” but it seems to indicate that He has the resources needed to take care of me and my family. In fact, there have been many times when I have reminded others of Philippians 4:19, so why would I struggle to apply it to my own life? After pondering this contradiction, I’ve concluded that my problem is not with the idea of God providing. Instead, my problem is with God’s identity as my Father.

The Bible promises that those who receive Jesus and believe in His name have been given the right to become children of God (John 1:12). That sounds good but what kind of relationship is the Bible talking about? My earthly father and my mother were not perfect nor were they all powerful. They did their best (and I love them both) but they were limited, not having riches in glory like God. They both had their own laundry list of problems (just like everyone else’s parents) and some of these became the wedge which eventually led to their divorce and to my not seeing my dad very often. In short, my view of the father-son relationship was tainted by problems in my family: problems that go back all the way to Adam.

My dad was less than perfect, and he got stuck with a less than perfect son. Together we forged a less than perfect father-son relationship. So, how do I go from that to the relationship offered in the Bible: A relationship where I am still less than perfect, trying to relate to a perfect Heavenly Father? I find that it’s His identity as Heavenly Father that I struggle with as I wonder what the Creator of the Universe means when He says that He is my Father.

The offer is clear: Believe in the name of Jesus and you receive the right to become a child of God. It’s the relationship itself that is less clear and any attempt on my end to define it falls way short of what God desires. Instead of struggling we need to accept God at His word, letting Him describe the relationship. Only then will you and I learn that we need not struggle with God’s identity and with what it means for Him to be our Father.

Diabetes: All In on the Challenge

 

It’s been a while since I wrote anything about the challenges that come with being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. In part, I haven’t written about it because I seem to have landed on some sort of plateau where my numbers, specifically my A1c, are good but not good enough. Unfortunately, I seem to be stuck on this plateau with no movement either good or bad and that can be frustrating.

At least the doctor was happy with my most recent test results, but I wasn’t because I once again missed my goals. And that’s where self-doubt began to set in. Am I missing my goals because they are unrealistic or impossible? Are my prayers for healing off the mark? Was I being delusional back when I told the doctor that I expect God to do something amazing? After quite a bit of self-examination, I find that the answer to all these questions is a resounding “No!”.

My problem is not unrealistic expectations nor are my prayers misplaced. What is unrealistic is thinking that I could half-heartedly do the things I know I need to do and expect the results that I want. I need to be all in with my diet and exercise, or else I’ll remain stuck on this plateau. The good thing is that I’m blessed since my body still makes insulin. So, if I dive in with both feet, I have a shot at achieving the goals that I have set for myself. I must change in order to make that happen.

I have about five and a half months before my next doctor’s appointment, and I know what I want to see as far as results when that time comes. To get there I must be all in when it comes to my current health challenge. It’s time to stop kidding and to stop my halfhearted approach. The Bible tells me that I have a God who heals and that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. These are the promises He has given me. Now I must live like I want to hold on to what He has offered.

How Does God Do That?

 

It never ceases to amaze me how God can show up at exactly the right time with exactly what I need. I’ve honestly lost count of the number of times when I had no answers, just to have God step in and take care of everything. It’s already happened several times this year and I still don’t know how He got me through each situation.

We tend to keep cars for a very long time. In fact, our minivan is approaching 13 years on the road. And while this saves money overall, it sometimes means dealing with major repairs when one part or another simply wears out. This year both cars needed almost identical front end suspension work. On top of that, the minivan needed tires. Then, just for added measure, my wife ran over something and punctured one of the back tires on her car. Whatever it was damaged the tire so badly that it had to be replaced, which also meant replacing the other back tire at the same time. Throw in new back brakes on the van and we were looking at a mountain of repair bills.

Funny thing about mountains, they look tiny in comparison to God and He had no problem leveling and getting rid of the mountain I was facing. Somehow, we had enough cash to cover every one of those repairs, with a large chunk of the money literally coming out of the blue. My wife was given an unexpected bonus for a job well done and it arrived in her paycheck the day before her car was scheduled to go into the shop. God provided once again and we are praising Him for taking care of us.

I still don’t know how God pulls this off time and time again, but I am sure glad that He does. I wonder what the next mountain will look like. No matter how tall, I look forward to seeing God deal with it according to His will. And just like every time before, I know I will find myself asking, “How Does God Do That?”

What You Ought to Say

 

“For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

Luke 12:12

In Exodus 3:13, Moses asks God to tell him what he should say to the children of Israel upon his return to Egypt. In essence, Moses was asking God to tell him what he should do. God responds by telling Moses exactly what to say (Exodus 3:14-17). I suspect that Moses may have been afraid that the leaders of Israel would not believe him and he needed to know what to say and what to do to convince both them and the leaders of Egypt. God responded by teaching Moses what he should say.

This reminds me of what Jesus taught His disciples in Luke 12:8-12, as He prepared them to face leaders who would not quickly buy into His message of salvation. Jesus understood that anyone who was bold enough to preach His Gospel would be opening themselves up to the possibility of being attacked for their beliefs. These attacks would come from regular everyday people, and from religious leaders and government authorities. When (not if) this happened, Jesus wanted to reassure His followers that the Holy Spirit would teach them exactly what they should say, exactly when they needed to say it. This was His promise to stand with His followers in these situations.

We live in a fallen world in which people are persecuted for being followers of Christ. Here in the United States, we do not see this as much as people in other countries but eventually that kind of persecution will come to our shores, or should I say, it shall increase in occurrence. When we face questions or even persecution, be it from our neighbors or from the government, God will respond just as He did with Moses. Trust that the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you should say. Then, in full obedience, speak and let God’s words change hearts around you.

Are You Where You Should Be?

While walking with my headphones the other day I heard an ad for a career coaching service that caught my attention. The ad began with a voice that was supposed to be AI generated, describing how it had scanned several databases where it discovered that a large percentage of “humans” are unhappy in their jobs. In the past, I would be one of those unhappy humans if God had not gotten my attention and changed my approach to the daily grind.

For me, things changed when God asked a very simple question. Was I where I should be? I wanted to say no but that answer presented a bit of a problem. If I was not where I should be then either God was not in control, or I was not fully yielded to Him. Well, I knew that God was in control, so if the answer was no then it was a sign of my own rebellion. I realized that to be fully yielded to Him, I had to let Him answer the question. Fortunately, the answer was yes, I was where I should be.

But if I was where I should be, why was I unhappy? This led me to another question, or I should say God asked me another question. Was I there for the right reason? To this I had to answer a resounding, “No!”. God helped me see that my reason for being there was for the paycheck and out of fear that I could not provide for my family if I didn’t stick things out. I wasn’t there to serve God, although if you had asked, I would have told you that was the reason. I was telling myself a lie and God called me on it.

I had to humble myself and choose to trust that God would provide, no matter what. My focus moved from the paycheck to seeking Him and doing what He wants me to do. When my focus changed, I began to find fulfillment in my job. My tasks got easier and a problem coworker became less of a problem. Eventually, God moved me into a different position which is even more fulfilling than the previous one and pays more as well. But my focus is still the same and I start each workday by thanking God and asking Him what He wants me to do.

I’m not against anyone using a career coaching service but I do believe that before doing so, one should seek God. Whether or not you are happy with your job, you need to be humble before the Lord, asking Him if you are where you are supposed to be and are you there for the right reasons. Ultimately, we all should be looking to God for fulfillment and not the job or the paycheck. Ask daily and let God lead you where He wants you to go so that you can truly serve Him. Let God put you where you should be and for the right reasons. 

Fully Surrendered

 

Mark 10:13

How did the disciples get this so wrong? How could they have not known that Jesus welcomed the opportunity to bless these children? Assuming the book of Mark is somewhat in chronological order, this would have happened after the event described in Mark 9:36 where Jesus demonstrated his love for a child. How then did they not think He would make time for these children? And why didn’t they ask Him before dealing with the children according to their own understanding? This is what they thought was right and what they wanted but it was not what Jesus wanted. In fact, “He was greatly displeased…” (Mark 10:14)

I’ve read this verse many times before but reading it this time brought conviction. How many times have I done something that I thought was right and that I even thought was God’s will, only to find out it wasn’t? Those were times when I should have checked with God first before moving forward and doing what I thought was right. Those are also the times when I have found that even the “right thing” can be wrong, if I don’t get His opinion before lifting a finger.

As followers of Jesus, we must be careful not to make this mistake. We do not want to do something that we think is right only to find out it displeases God. To avoid this, we must get to know Him and be willing to ask Him what He wants done. We must ask how He wants to handle each situation in my life. We must then be fully surrendered.

God, Please Tell Me What to Do

 

Do you ask God for instructions, or do you tell Him what you want to do?

Of all the questions Moses asked during His encounter with God at the burning bush, the one he asked in verse 13 may be the most important:

Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”

Exodus 3:13 (NKJV)

God had revealed what He was calling Moses to do and then the Lord reassured Moses that He would be with him. In response, Moses is basically asking what he should do when he gets there. He knew that there would be questions if he just showed up, claiming to speak for God. The people of Israel were used to the polytheistic religion of the Egyptians, and I suspect there were a lot of people claiming to speak for various deities, including Pharaoh. Moses would have to identify the God whom he claimed to represent and so it made sense to ask God to give him the words he should say.

As followers of Christ, we are called to serve and sometimes that means saying the right thing. In those moments it is important that we recognize that we speak on behalf of our King and our words must be His. Like Moses, we need to ask God to give us the words He wants us to say. This should be a regular part of our prayer life and as we ask, we must trust that He, through His Holy Spirit, will speak through us if we surrender.

There are certain things that we should often ask of our God. Near the top of the list should be, “What should I say?” or “What should I do?” We have plenty of opportunities to serve our Heavenly Father and if we are to do it right, we must be willing to humble ourselves and ask Him to tell us what to do.

The Greatest Bible Teacher

Admit it. Sometimes the Bible is hard to understand and it’s sometimes difficult to trust in God’s viewpoint. The same was true about the parables that Jesus taught. Back then, those who were around Him had to ask about the parables and those whom He described as outside the Kingdom were lost, both literally and figuratively. But while Jesus knew that the lost would struggle with the mysteries of His teaching, He wanted His disciples, and I suspect anyone who sought His wisdom, to know the meaning of His parables. As such He sat and taught them, opening their understanding so that they might be encouraged to live out their lives as God’s children.

Mark 4:33-34 paints a beautiful picture of Jesus taking the time to teach His followers. Today His followers can have a similar experience with the Spirit of God taking the time to teach us. But are we willing to ask and to seek and to admit that we don’t always understand just as His followers asked back then? If we are, then we have the Comforter and He is tasked with teaching us all things.

When you find yourself struggling to understand, and even when you think that you fully understand, stop and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you. We are blessed to have the world’s greatest Bible Teacher, the One who inspired all scripture, always with us and ready to help us understand. Are you ready to learn?

God, You Got the Wrong Person!!

 

Have you ever said, “Not me!” to God? Or have you ever heard what you thought was God’s instructions, but dismissed it because it didn’t make sense to you? Guess what? You’re not the only one to say this to God. He has heard it millions, perhaps billions of times including when Moses said:

“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh,…?”

Exodus 3:11 (NKJV)

To be honest, on his own Moses was right. By himself he would be no match for Pharaoh and likely would have wound up in prison, if not worse. But he did not have to go it alone on this one, as God had already planned to go with him:

So He (God) said, “I will certainly be with you.”

Exodus 3:12 (NKJV)

That sounds like another conversation, where Jesus promised to be with His followers as we carry out the Great Commission:

“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:16-20 (NKJV)

As I wrote in the previous post, prayer is a two-way conversation: one where God does not mind when we acknowledge our own shortcomings. It’s there, in prayer, that God reminds us that He is with us and will work to bring about His will. And that might be the greatest aspect of prayer as it is an opportunity for God to make us more aware of His presence in our lives.

No God does not have the wrong person. He has called the very person that He wants to work with and through. How will you respond?

The Servant-God

{The following is an entry from my personal journal dated January 9, 2020, and is sort of a free flow of thought that came to me after reading Matthew 20:28.}

Matthew 20:28

Jesus was all powerful before the incarnation. Even in the flesh He was powerful. He could have used His power for His own gain. He could have demonstrated His power in order to make people bow before Him. Instead, He used His power to serve, coming as a servant by His own declaration. This has implications for how I understand fear as it is used in verses like Psalm 145:19. It has implications for how I should see my relationship with Him. It also has implications for how I see my own relationship with others.

Is the fear spoken of in Psalm 145:19 really the trembling kind? I think of the pillar that led Israel through the wilderness. To the Egyptians it was something to be feared to the point where they stopped in God’s presence and did not advance upon the people. To Israel it was something that brought comfort and leadership, though they feared it when they rebelled. Salvation makes a big difference in how I stand before God. I can stand in reverence and need not shake from fear. This seems like what the servant Jesus wanted.

I revere God but do I see that He wants to use His power for my good? This is where things get tough. A servant-God sounds like an oxymoron. Yet, that is the picture painted of Christ by His words and deeds. He could call down a legion of angels to destroy all mankind, yet He came to serve mankind. I only exist at His pleasure, yet He wants to work all things for my good. I understand Peter’s hesitation when Jesus wanted to wash his feet. God is awesome and wonderful and powerful, and it would freak me out to no end if He suddenly wanted to wash my feet. This is the best description of my daily faith struggle. God could crush me in a blink of an eye. He deserves my praise and worship. He wants that but He also wants to serve me.

Because God wants to serve, I likewise should want to serve others. Any power God gives me is intended for this very cause. Any gift He gives me is so that I can serve those around me. Even His love is intended for service in the lives of others. I need to follow my Lord and serve those whom He brings into my life.

I pray the Holy Spirit helps me come to terms with the oxymoron: the servant-God. I pray the Holy Spirit helps me follow in His shoes.

When God Uses Prayer to Reveal Your Calling

Exodus 3:9-10

In earlier posts I described how prayer is so much more than us just telling God what we want. Prayer should be a conversation with God, and as such we should give Him time to speak. But when you let God speak, you should be prepared as He might ask you to do something. That’s when prayer becomes a chance for God to reveal a very important aspect of your relationship with Him. That’s when prayer becomes a chance for God to reveal your calling.

In Moses’ case the calling is described in verse 10 where God tells him that he is being sent to Pharoah. Once back in Egypt, Moses’ job was to bring the people of Israel out. In other words, Moses was being sent to serve as God’s answer to the people crying out to God (praying) as He described in verse 9. This was God’s calling upon Moses’ life and it became the legacy by which we know Moses today. All of it started first with the prayer of the people of Israel crying out to God and then with the conversation (the prayer) between Moses and God.

Up to this point Moses has only said one thing, “Here I am.” The rest of the conversation is God revealing His plans. The dictionary definition of prayer does not seem to leave room for this sort of interaction. Does your prayer life leave room? Do you hold two-way conversations with God that allow for your prayers to become a chance for God to reveal your calling?

Which One Do You Follow?

The Bible says one thing. Your heart says something completely different. The people around you give yet another suggestion. Which one do you believe? Two of the suggestions are misguided and one involves believing the truth but at times making the right choice is difficult. That’s when our real beliefs are exposed and we either pass or fail the test of our faith. This is a test that comes with one major question: A question that is both simple and at the same time very difficult. What is this pass or fail question? When confronted with a choice between the words of the Bible, the voice in your own head and the voices of those around us, which one do you follow?

In chapter 27 Matthew describes Jesus’ crucifixion. While He was on the cross, the people around him taunted Him and challenged Him to come down from the cross. In their eyes Jesus was a fraud, someone to be ridiculed for finding Himself in the position He was in. I suspect that in their taunts we see their belief of what should have happened if Jesus were really the Son of God. In their minds, the Son would be able to come down or would be saved from the cross by His Father. This was their view of God and anything other than what they chose to believe had to be fake.

Human wisdom says that God would never let His Son die on a cross and that anyone with the power of Christ would come off the cross. The world around Jesus believed that anyone with the power of the Savior would fight before suffering, hence why one of His disciples initially chose the sword over standing by while Jesus was arrested (Matthew 26:51). In the eyes of those around Jesus, the cross could never be the will of the Father and using Christ’s power to work a miracle escape sounded like a good idea.

Christ heard their taunts, and I wonder if they sounded like a good idea. In a way the suggestions/taunts must have sounded a lot like Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:39). While praying, Jesus revealed a desire that He knew conflicted with the will of His Father. He asked if there was a way that this cup, this plan for His death, could pass from Him. Like us, Jesus would have chosen an easier path, even mentioning this to His Father. But He was more interested in doing His Father’s will than He was in giving into temptation.

As I read Matthew 26 and 27, I find myself wondering what it was like to be bombarded with so many ideas that, for a normal human, would have seemed more palatable than the path ahead. How many times have I called out to God asking Him to do something different: asking Him to help me avoid the trial that He wants me to go through. How many times have I (though I hate to admit it) entertained suggestions that if God were loving He would help me avoid the trials or He would keep those around me from suffering. It’s easy to believe that the easy road is the best choice and that I know better than God. It’s also foolish to believe that and Jesus understood this as He obeyed His Father’s will over the other choices (be they serious or choices delivered as a part of taunting).

When confronted with multiple choices on what we should do, there is a right answer: Follow God’s will. Doing so comes because of our faith in God. Any other choice is us saying we know better than God and that is a form of idolatry. So, in difficult times, where do you put your trust? Which path do you follow?

Moses’ Prayer Life: God Comes Down to Us

In the first ten verses of Exodus 3, God does most of the talking. Yes, Moses responds when God calls his name but beyond that it’s God speaking with Moses and in verse 8 God says something I find both amazing and reassuring. After telling Moses that He has seen the suffering of His people, God says, “So I have come down to deliver them…” God saw that His people were in a bad situation, and He came down to do something about it. I’m encouraged because I believe He still responds the same way today when His children are in a bad situation.

Going back to the definition that I found for the first part of this series, prayer is described as something that sounds one sided. It is defined in a way that makes it sound as if we do all the talking while God listens. Yes, there is the hope that God will do something in response to whatever we are asking but, in this case, God starts the prayer by describing what He was already in the process of doing.

Here we see an active God who has come down to deliver. The same could be said about what we see in the Gospels. God saw that mankind was lost in sin and so He came down and took on flesh with the goal of delivering us from a bad situation. Because God loves us, He came down and did something about our situation. This is a fundamental part of the Christian doctrine. Jesus Christ, who is God in the flesh, came down to earth and died to pay our sin debt. God is not passively watching us from a distance, He was and is active in the lives of His children, just as He revealed Himself to be during Moses’ prayer time at the burning bush.

In my previous post about Moses’ prayer life, I wrote that we must be willing to listen from time to time when we pray. I believe that if we do so, we will find that God is active in our lives even before we ask. Prayer can serve as an opportunity for God to reveal what He is doing in our lives, if we give Him the chance to do so. So, continue to make your supplications known to God. Continue to ask with the expectation that He will respond in some way. Just make sure that you are willing to stop from time to time to give Him a chance to reveal what He is doing in response to what you are asking.

Faith or Extraction?

Every now and then a TV show reminds me of what Christians deal with as we try to serve our Lord, and this season one show in particular served as a reflection of one of the more difficult aspects of a life of faith. Recently Fox Television introduced a reality series called Extracted in which twelve teams work together to try to win $250,000. The teams were made up of one amateur survivalist who attempted to live in the woods of British Columbia and two family members or friends who lived in a nearby cabin, serving as a support team for the survivalist. The support teams competed to earn equipment and food that was sent to the survivalists, with the possibility that the losing team of each round might wind up sending an empty crate out to their teammates.

The support teams could see and hear the survivalists and had the ability to pull their survivalists out of the game by hitting a big red “Extraction” button but doing so would mean the end of the game for both the survivalists and the support teams. This set up left the support teams with two questions. What were they willing to do to earn the best supplies for their survivalist teammates? As suspected, some of them were willing to lie and manipulate others to improve their odds of winning. Then there was the big question. How much suffering would any support team allow before hitting the button and extracting their teammate from the woods?

There are times in my life where I feel like I am in a reality competition like Extracted, times where I feel like I am a survivalist enduring trial after trial while God watches from a nearby cabin. At times I feel like I am in the middle of nowhere with my very survival at stake and my only hope is that God is doing everything He can to get me what I need. Then there are times when life gets so difficult that I wish God would hit the “extract” button, doing something miraculous to pull me out of whatever I find myself in. I often wish He would help me avoid difficulty, but He often allows life to crash in, while telling me to, “Have faith!”

When I hear those words, I know I have a choice. I can choose to trust in God, knowing that His plan is perfect and it involves me reaching the goal He has set before me. I can choose to have faith, or I can ask to be extracted: pulled out of the situation without trusting that God has everything under control. I know which one I should choose but I don’t always act like it. Which one do you choose? Faith or extraction?

Like Christ, Go and Change Lives

Matthew 8:3 tells us that Jesus touched a leper and completely changed the man’s life. He could have simply given a command and the man would have been healed. Instead, Jesus touched one who was an outcast and I believe this is still how God responds to broken people. He touches them and He invests Himself in each individual person, no matter what situation they are in.

According to the law, a leper was to be declared unclean by the priest who examined him/her (Leviticus 13:3, 8). Jesus, by touching the leper, should also have been declared unclean but instead the leper was healed. Jesus then sends the former leper away to follow the law as prescribed for the day of cleansing healed lepers in Leviticus 14.

By touching the leper Jesus proved that He is not bound by the law in the same way that a mere human would have been. If He were a pagan we could accept this as Him simply being someone who was not born under the covenant between God and Israel, although we would still expect Him to contract leprosy. As Mary’s child, Jesus was Jewish and thus born under the covenant. As such the law should have applied and He should have been unclean immediately after touching the leper. The fact that the leper was immediately healed shows that this is not the case.

Assuming the law to be true, there is only one other explanation. Jesus was something or someone Who by nature was not governed by the same weaknesses that other people experienced. His lineage was also the Holy Spirit, making Him the Son of God. By His very nature He was on the other side of the Old Covenant: The side held, not by a human but by God Himself. The rules on that side of the agreement were different as they called for God to be Lord and to deliver. Jesus was God and Lord and He routinely delivered people. The healing of the leper was the evidence of this delivery and of the fact that Jesus is God.

It was Jesus’ nature as God incarnate that not only kept Him from becoming unclean but also gave Him the power to cleanse that which was by nature unclean. That same nature dwells in all of God’s children in the form of the Holy Spirit of God. By nature, He cleanses us and by nature keeps us clean with His word. Thus, by nature we are to touch broken people like Jesus did, even when we are afraid of being made unclean. We are to let Jesus touch them through us so that instead of us becoming unclean, they are cleansed by the power of the Spirit of God. And we are to know by His power that Jesus is God and LORD of all.

Like Christ, His followers should be ready to touch those who are less fortunate, sharing the Gospel that sets people free. Are you ready to be like Christ? Are you ready to answer the call to change lives?

 

(Note: This is based on an entry I wrote in my journal back in 2019. While researching more recently I came across a webpage on evidenceunseen.com where James Rochford makes a similar argument about Matthew 8:3)

How Can Prayer Help Us See What God Sees?

The burning bush drew Moses into a conversation with God and into a life altering prayer time where God revealed Himself. This conversation did not fit the normal definition of prayer where we make our desires known to God. In fact, God spoke first, letting Moses know exactly why the Creator of the universe wanted to get his attention.

“I have surely seen…”

Would you like to see the world as God sees it? True, we get the opportunity to see God’s viewpoint every time we open the Bible but what if there was a way to go much deeper? What if God wants us to see the world through His eyes? Would that be worth it for you to spend a couple of extra minutes in prayer beyond the point when you finish asking for what you want?

Exodus 3:7

After introducing Himself in Exodus 3:6, God tells Moses that He has seen the oppression of His people in Egypt. Moses of course knew of this oppression, having seen it firsthand. He had even tried to do something about the situation, however by trying to solve a problem his way he managed to get himself run out of town. But now God wanted Moses to know that He was not blind to the suffering of the people of Israel. He could see and He could hear, and He was determined to do more than just watch from a distance (verse 8).

While letting Moses know that He saw the oppression, God calls the people of Israel His people. Keep in mind that this is before God issued the Ten Commandments and before the people of Israel entered a covenant with Him. Yet, He saw them as His people, and He was responding to the cries of His people. He wanted Moses to know that He was coming to His own, and not to just some folks whom He happen to know about. In doing so, God allows Moses to see things from His point of view, giving him a perfect view of the world around him.

What’s interesting is that Moses had not spoken up until this point. He just listened and God did all the talking. This is completely different from the definition of prayer mentioned in Part 1 of the burning bush posts. That definition, along with most of what is taught about prayer, involves us talking, telling God what we want, either for ourselves or for those around us. But the example set by Moses at the burning bush involves listening as God gives His point of view.

Can prayer help us see what God sees? Based on what happened to Moses, I believe the answer is yes. But for this to happen we need to be willing to listen, not just talk. If prayer is a conversation, we need to give God time to speak. We need to spend time in the Bible, which is God speaking to us, but we also need to be quiet and let Him say what He wants to, how He wants to.

Moses did not know what to expect when he turned to see what was going on at the burning bush. Likewise, I believe we all need time when we quietly approach God in prayer with only an expectation of God revealing His point of view to those who are willing to listen.

 

See Also: Series page – Moses’Prayer Life Series

Have You Ever Prayed a Psalm 88 Prayer?

I’m writing this post during Holy Week, one of the most important times of the year for most Christians. Soon we will reflect upon the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, celebrating the fact that He paid our sin debt. Because of His sacrifice, those who believe in Him have peace with God and those who believe in His name have been given the power to become children of God (John 1:12). But do you always feel like one of His children or are there times when you feel distanced from the Father: times when you wonder if He really cares? Are there times when you feel like He may have forgotten you? Are there times when you prayed a Psalm 88 prayer?

No, things are not going well

When I read Psalm 88, I see something that is very different from most of the other Psalms and very different from the advice often given by the church. This Psalm starts of like the others, with the writer crying out to God because things aren’t going very well. But in the other Psalms the writer eventually musters up a bunch of faith and ends by looking forward to the great things God will do. Whatever the need, even if it’s a need for vengeance upon those who have done wrong, the writers of the Psalms seem to always come back to some variation of “I trust in God.” But not Psalm 88.

Psalm 88 begins by asking God to listen, followed by a description of how the writer’s, “…soul is full of troubles.” The writer describes feeling, “Like the slain who lie in the grave,” and like one who God, “…remember(s) no more…” The Psalmist speaks of being in darkness and of how he feels like he is under God’s wrath. He talks about crying out to the Lord but feeling as if the Lord has cast off his soul. Psalm 88 paints a picture of personal suffering and then…? And then the Psalm comes to an end.

There is no, “God’s got this,” nor is there a declaration that the Psalmist will wait upon the Lord. Psalm 88 ends, leaving the reader wondering where the Psalmist’s faith is at this point. Does he make the seemingly quick recovery that we so often see in the Psalms and throughout the entire Bible? He may have but he doesn’t tell us here. Psalm 88 is an honest expression of how this writer felt at the time. Things were not good, and it seems as if he didn’t feel like ending on a high note.

So, what is a Psalm 88 prayer?

A Psalm 88 prayer is an honest prayer. It is a time of pouring out exactly what is on our hearts, even if we are struggling to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s a prayer that is covered in tears, driven by a feeling that all is not well and by a feeling that God is not close by. The fact that this type of prayer is in the Bible and inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16) gives permission for us to pray this kind of honest prayer, following the example set by the Psalmist during a time of suffering.

Do you pray these kinds of honest prayers? I know I have all to often tried to clean up my prayers, praying what I thought God (and/or my church brethren) wanted to hear. But doing so is telling God a lie, something I’m no longer comfortable with. I want to be honest with God, just like Psalm 88 is honest. How about you? Is your relationship with God one where you pray a Psalm 88 prayer when needed?

 

One Prescription Gone. Just Not the One I Expected

Managing Diabetes involves making several decisions each day, like what to eat and what not to eat. It also involves two or three doctor’s visits per year as well as the occasional visit to the pharmacy. One thing I did not count on is the fact that managing diabetes sometimes involves having to deal with rejection letters from health insurance providers, especially when the day job changes insurance companies. That happened to me this year and it resulted in a denial of one of my prescriptions. Since my goal is to get rid of all my prescriptions, I am fine with dropping one. I just wish it wasn’t the prescription for my constant glucose monitor (CGM): the most useful tool I had for making the changes I need to get back to “normal”.

To be honest, I should have seen it coming. When I was first diagnosed, the insurance company that we were paying at that time did not want to cover a CGM, sending me a denial letter in which they basically accused me of not taking my diagnoses seriously. I think they based that on the fact that I did not do things their way: going to a dietitian, signing up for their special monitoring program, etc. As I wrote in “Continuous Glucose Monitors Are Game Changers,” I am a researcher and I chose to find my own answers when it came to diet, exercise and other ways of managing diabetes. It seems as if the insurance company did not like that. Eventually, there would be a change in policy, and the insurance company began paying for the Dexcom G7 but it took two different appeals to get to that point.

As I wrote in the post mentioned earlier, having a CGM is a game changer for diabetics and should be a standard part of the health regimen for those dealing with the disease. I learned quite a bit while using the device and was able to make several big adjustments based on what I was seeing. During the second half of 2024, I was able to keep my readings in a very tight range resulting in an A1c that is trending in the right direction: remaining below 7 and hopefully at my next official reading it will be below 6.5. But what would life be without times of change and last year ended with a change in insurance carriers mentioned earlier.

I appreciate the fact that my day job offers one of the better insurance packages in the area and that they do their best to keep my out-of-pocket expenses from rising. To maintain that level of service at the right price, the company changed insurance providers at the start of this year. When they announced the change, I should have thought about the trouble I had with our previous provider in getting the CGM prescription approved. When it came time to renew the prescription this time around, I received a new denial letter describing the new company’s policy of only approving constant glucose monitors for people who are on insulin. I think this policy is a bit shortsighted as it overlooks the fact that a CGM could help keep me off insulin. My new insurance company would rather pay for treatment instead of paying for prevention.

So, I have lost what is a great tool for managing diabetes but while I am disappointed, I am not defeated. I believe that God is in control, and everything happens in His timing. God opened the door for me to get a prescription for the Dexcom G7 and this year He has closed that door and told me to move on. I have learned what I needed from wearing a CGM and God has said it is time to start getting off of my prescriptions. The first of them is done and gone. Now, in Christ, I work to get off them all.