At Tapestry Church tonight we finished up Andy Stanley’s series entitled, “text:”  It’s been a great series on the importance of reading God’s Word – the Bible.  It was encouraging to hear it as I trek through the Bible this year. 

Tonight’s message really got me to thinking.  As Stanley talked, he shared a couple of verses that were illustrations to support things he does as he reads the Bible.  But the verses he read had a far different purpose at this time in my own life.  I had intended to stick around and help with the tear down but with my eyes still full of tears and my mind really at work I just left.

After watching Fireproof this weekend I have been feeling a bit beat up.  Not just about how much I need to grow as a husband and the past mistakes I have made as a husband…  In addition, the movie challenged me as a person – a follower of Jesus Christ.  I have had so many opportunities to really grow in Christ and don’t think I’ve really grown to the potential I could have over the years.  I know God is not the source of the condemnation that I feel.  Romans 8:1 is the first verse Stanley read that really ministered to me tonight.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, (NIV).

The missed opportunities I had for growth began while I was in college.  As I look back over my life, it seems as though I had been treating my walk with Christ as a weekend hobby.  I want to step it up now more than ever.  I want to launch out into the deep waters of his calling and His dream for my life.

A God-inspired dream isn’t just an opportunity; it is a calling.  Your dreams aren’t simply a source of inspiration but the stewardship of your life. If you choose to dream with your eyes open, you will eventually have to start creating.  Jesus warns us that we don’t want to be found empty handed.  We all have something to bring to the table.  (Erwin McManus, Wide Awake, 161).

I know I have much to bring to the table.  For me right now it’s finding the right table to bring it to.  There is a well of mistakes, hurts, disappointments, and sin that God has been so gracious to forgive and to heal.  I don’t want to waste what He has given.  

Are you being a good steward of your life? 

Who here qualifies for the job of overseeing the kitchen? A person the Master can depend on to feed the workers on time each day. Someone the Master can drop in on unannounced and always find him doing his job. A God-blessed man or woman, I tell you. It won’t be long before the Master will put this person in charge of the whole operation. (Matthew 24:45-47, The Message).

One of my favorite bands has been STRYPER.  Michael Sweet’s wife passed away earlier this month.  Below is the Press Release from MichaelSweet.com.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 6, 2009

While reading the Bible this morning I have come in contact with a lifestyle that I question if I have ever really known.  “Living in holy awe before This Name glorious and terrible, God, your God…” Deuteronomy 28:59.  What I gained as I have read this chapter is the importance of hearing the voice of God and living in accordance to His commands.

I was once challenged by someone about my desire to follow God.  In an attempt to get me to quit seeking “full-time ministry” he said I needed to, “Quit treating this calling as a hobby.  We would all love to live out our hobbies but that is just not practical.”  He was saying that my “career” choice as a minister was a hobby and that I needed to get a “real job”.  During that time of my life I needed to be living in holy awe of God.  This should have been a challenge to me to ramp up my spritiual life.

No matter what our careers may be – we each have a calling – a standard God wants us to live up to.  That standard is one of obedience lived out in holy awe. 

If you listen obediently to the Voice of God, your God, and heartily obey all his commandments that I command you today, God, your God, will place you on high, high above all the nations of the world. All these blessings will come down on you and spread out beyond you because you have responded to the Voice of God, your God:

   God’s blessing inside the city,
   God’s blessing in the country;
   God’s blessing on your children,
      the crops of your land,
      the young of your livestock,
      the calves of your herds,
      the lambs of your flocks.
   God’s blessing on your basket and bread bowl;
   God’s blessing in your coming in,
   God’s blessing in your going out.

 God will defeat your enemies who attack you. They’ll come at you on one road and run away on seven roads.

 God will order a blessing on your barns and workplaces; he’ll bless you in the land that God, your God, is giving you.

 God will form you as a people holy to him, just as he promised you, if you keep the commandments of God, your God, and live the way he has shown you.  (Deuteronomy 28:1-9, The Message).

As I read in Acts 21:10-16, Paul is warned by those around him not to go to Jerusalem.  Paul’s response, “The issue in Jerusalem is not what they do to me, whether arrest or murder, but what the Master Jesus does through my obedience. Can’t you see that?”  The best place to be living is in the center of obedience to our Lord Jesus… no matter the cost.

I am not so naive to think just because we are obedient in this life that great things will follow… “worldly blessings.”  However, I do believe God’s blessings will follow every act of obedience of living in holy awe of Him.  That’s the bottom line for me and for you.  We are challenged by the Spirit to live a life pleasing to the Father in Christ Jesus. 

I was reading on Prockey’s Page (This is an outstanding post) and read this quote,   

“Everybody wants to be a rock star, but no one wants to learn the chords.It’s hard work to study God’s Word.  To pray for breakthrough.  To do spiritual battle on behalf of those we lead.  To charge forward in faith for the cause of Christ.  To run a church with the highest standard of excellence.“

The person I quoted earlier about my “hobby” may have some truth to it.  I think I’ve been spoiled on many fronts and even in spiritual things I can see where I have sat back and expected God to just provide this, that, or the other thing.  If I want to be a rock star I’m going to have to be disciplined to learn the chords.  If I want to live in the approval of God I must live a disciplined life in service to His Son – Jesus.

The dreams we have for our lives are a possibility.  But they will never become reality without living in holy awe of the Dream Giver.  Living on our knees doing battle through prayer.  We can’t go after the dream God gives us as if it is some weekend hobby.  We must pursue this thing as if our very lives depend on it.

There’s a scene in Fireproof where Caleb Holt (played by Kirk Cameron) is kneeling down on the floor in prayer seeking God’s face to save his marriage… he is fighting for his marriage in prayer.  He finally learns what it really takes to fight for his marriage… he had to be “all-in” in order to fight.

Whatever the dream may be for your life and mine it can be obtained through spiritual battle… living in holy awe.

…but not losing focus.

When I first posted this photo on Facebook, one of my friends from Aztec, NM asked if I was warping in the photo.  With the help of Picnik.com it does appear that I am warping and that the lens captured the moment

Life has been running at “Mach Speed” for the past several weeks.  My entire routine for life has been knocked around.  I am blessed to have such a wonderful family… they have been my rock during a very tiring time.  God is soooo good!

So, what do you do when you seem to be warping through life?  What’s the first thing to go… sleep? Prayer? Bible Study? Family? Friendships? Alone time?  It may be any combination listed here.

I’m thankful it’s Friday and my normal routine is starting to kick back in.  Although much of my routines in life have been upset – I’m thankful my purpose for living has stayed in focus…  That purpose is Jesus Christ.  

Keeping (my) eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in.  Study how he did it.  Because he never lost sight of where he was headed- that exhilarating finish in and with God – he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever.  And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God.  When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through.  That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!” (Hebrews 12:2-3, The Message). 

Glenn Beckof Fox News has launched website the912project.com. 

What is The 9-12 Project?  “The 9-12 project is to bring us all back to the place we were on September 12, 2001.  The day after America was attacked we were not obsessed with Red States, Blue States, or political parties.  We were united as Americans, standing together to protect the values and principles of the greatest nation ever created.”

I’m in the midst of a project with the company I work for.  It’s called a “Kaizen Event.”  Kaizen = incremental changes for the better.  So far, our meeting has transpired over five days.  (With several more weeks to go).  After a week of this my brain is fried!  This event has really challenged my thinking about the processes that we were asked to evaluate and to bring about change. 

During my drive time home each day I have debriefed the days discussions, this process, and my own life in the light of this process.  Before going to bed each night I have been reading Erwin McManus’ book Wide Awake.  I have been in Chapter 3,  Adapt,all week long.  The focus of this chapter has been on change or as McManus writes, “reinventing yourself” by the power of the Holy Spirit.  See 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Romans 12:1-2.

What is it about change that you like or dislike? 

At work we are wanting to take something that is a good thing and make it better by walking through this process.    As I look at my own life and evaluate it - I want to bring my good life to the foot of the Cross and give it to my Lord and say, “Jesus, bring about the incremental changes in my life for the better so that I may be pleasing in your eyes.”  In this chapter McManus challenges,

If you’re not living the life of your dreams, if you wake up with that little bit of sadness in the mornings because you know you’re underachieving, living a life of mediority, and chooosing average, it’s easy to blame everyone else for your condition.  Especially when your condition is really good, but not the dream God has for you.  You’re not called to settle for the good life; you are called to a life of greatness. (Wide Awake, 67). 

What is it that you must do to bring your life from good to great?  Living the dream is to live a life of greatness.  It’s a humbling invitation given by God to be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you can live, test, and approve what His perfect will is for your life.

Are you living the dream?

Oswald Chambers strikes again!  These are two things I read in today’s reading of My Utmost for His Highest.

If we do not apply our beliefs about God to the issues of everyday life, the vision God has given us will never be fulfilled.

Waiting for a vision that “tarries” is the true test of our faithfulness to God. It is at the risk of our own soul’s welfare that we get caught up in practical busy-work, only to miss the fulfillment of the vision.

What does this mean to you?

I just began reading Wide Awake by Erwin McManus.  I’m not sure where to start commenting on this book.  I can say that it is hitting a nerve in my life that needs some attention.  I’m amazed at what I have read so far… amazed at how I need to be reading it.

A friend of mine told me several weeks ago that I didn’t need to delay any longer and to take the necessary risks to go after the dream I have for life.  This is the only way I’m going to reach the potential that is locked up inside of me.  He went on to tell me that there are those who are counting on me to take the necessary steps… especially my family. 

His words to me that day got my attention.  They have continued to encourage me.  As I have begun to read this book I keep hearing the conversation I had with my friend.  McManus states in Wide Awake

Living wide awake is about realizing that the world needs you to live up to your potential.  There are others whose lives and future depend on you stepping up and living big.  The better world you keep waiting for needs you to accept your life’s calling and responsibility, and then to create it.  The future needs you to dream God-sized dreams; these are the only kind God gets involved in.  And if the future needs anything, it is God working through people.  (Erwin McManus, The Awakening, 19).

Are you living God’s dream for your life?  What is keeping you from risking to launch out after your dream?  Who is waiting for you to step up and live big?  It may be your family or it could be someone you have never met.  Whoever it may be… they are waiting for both of us to live out our dreams.

Living life in the mundane can be difficult.  Not that it’s hard or anything… but rather difficult to keep the vision alive.  So, what do you do when it seems all life has to offer is sloshing through the mud.  How do you keep from tracking in the mud and contaminating the world around you?

I came across a statement made by Richard Sims this week:

…in times of worry, don’t pray until the situation changes; pray until the peace comes.

As I read this, I thought about how many times in life I have prayed for a situation to change.  I have learned that the more I keep ”looking” for a situation to change - I end up disappointed and hurt when I don’t get the desired results.  I am reminded here that Jesus calls us to look at life deeper than our situations.  We are to pray until the peace comes because peace can be found in any situation. 

Jesus is the peace-giver.  When we seek peace – the joy will come – when there is joy we will find contentment no matter what the situation may be.  Now, if I can just live day-to-day with this mindset… life will be grand! 

I wonder what the crippled guy felt – after sitting all those years by the pool – waiting for someone to put him in to be healed.  See John 5:1-18.

It’s a scary thing to make a decision that requires a leap of faith. The life of faith can be a bit frightening at times.  At some time in our lives each of us will be tested to some degree. 

I know for me fear of not knowing how something is going to turn out will stop me in my tracks just about as fast as anything.  I don’t like making mistakes and I don’t like failing.  There is also this element of me that really wants to be safe.  Yet, Jesus calls us all to a dangerous life.  He calls us knowing before hand that it is going to be hard.  This is what he told his disciples just before he was arrested,

“I’ve told you these things to prepare you for rough times ahead. They are going to throw you out of the meeting places. There will even come a time when anyone who kills you will think he’s doing God a favor. They will do these things because they never really understood the Father. I’ve told you these things so that when the time comes and they start in on you, you’ll be well-warned and ready for them.  (John 16:1-4, The Message).

I guess my biggest thing is that I want to make sure my family is taken care of before I make a big move of faith.  I don’t know that is totally wrong… but that is always a big concern for me.  I want to move beyond that fear though and live in total trust.  Daring to risk it all!

I’m asking God for what David wrote in Psalm 138:8, “Finish what you started in me, GOD.”