A Word (or two) from Mark

There are so many reasons to be thankful.  This past Sunday we heard some great stories about God’s gracious work in many different lives.  Isn’t it uplifting to be able to praise God together for His goodness to us?  I hope everyone else was as encouraged as I was.   I also hope everyone has a week filled with more of God’s blessings with family and friends and that thankfulness continues to fill our hearts toward Him.  He is truly worthy of all our praise and honor!

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This past Sunday I talked about words.  They really do matter.  We use them all the time.  Some of us use a LOT of them.  Some of us are very efficient.  But here is something profoundly true.  Proverbs 25:11 says that “Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in right circumstances.”  I experienced that today.  Someone stopped by my office and spoke words that encouraged me.  Someone else called me today and spoke words that offered prayer support.  I feel like I got some “apples” today.  It made me want to give away a few “apples” myself.

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There are a number of things that can harm your marriage.  Pornography is certainly one of them.  Under the category of Other Studies is a document entitled “Struggling with Pornography”.  It has some step by step  practical suggestions for finding your way out of this struggle.  There is hope.  Don’t give up.  Please down load it and begin the process.

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Sometimes “rest” can be hard work.  The week after I taught about the fourth commandment, the one about the Sabbath, I tried to apply the principle in my own life.  I went to a beautiful spot nearby planning to spend the morning in quiet reflection, prayer and “rest”.  As soon as I sat down on the bench near the lake, a bunch of negative thoughts filled my heart.  I wanted to just run away.  But I didn’t.  I just took a few deep breaths.  I wrote down some of my thoughts in my journal. It ended up being a good time. But it almost didn’t happen.  Sometimes we need to gently “force” ourselves to stay a few minutes longer in rest before we get past the anxiety of not working.  I hope you make some time for yourself to be quiet before the Lord.  It is truly worth it.

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This year we are providing a new resource for the lifegroups.  Each month there will be two studies posted for your use.  The link to the studies is in the right hand column under the “Links” heading.  Look for the sub-category Life With God.  There will be a total of 20 sessions.  They are designed to give you questions to discuss as a group, activities to experiment with from your discussion, and then an opportunity to discuss your “experiments” at your next gathering.  I hope you enjoy these studies as much as I am enjoying preparing them for your use.

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I think we are all just a bit out of touch with what we really want.  On the one hand, we say we want to live a life of faith.  But believing God for daily bread is a lot easier when there is a full loaf in the kitchen.  It is different when each morning you have to go collect it.  Are we willing to face life with God as our ONLY source?  Given the chance to live by faith, do we really want to live that way?  Wouldn’t you think the Israelites would have learned something about God after 40 years of eating manna? But aren’t we just the same, ignoring past provision in the face of current need?  God wants to use today’s challenges to teach us more about Him.  The question is will we learn?

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Here is one of the things that has been nagging at the corners of my mind recently. The plague of hail. It continues to strike me as such a simple but profound picture of faith. If the Egyptians truly believed God when He said it would hail, there was only one sensible action. Stay inside that day. I have been asking myself what are the sensible actions for the things I say I believe?  Part of what bothers me about this question is it seems too simple.  But the more I think about it, the more sense it makes.  Simple actions reflect simple faith.  No hoopla, no ranting pep talks, just quiet, confident action.  Staying inside when you “know” it is going to hail.

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Moses had an amazing journey.  God prepared this man over an 80 year span for his life work.  God described Moses as someone who He would speak to face to face.  Yet as Moses began the third phase of his life, he was uncertain.  He raised a lot of objections before being willing to do as God asked him to do.  One of the things to note about this is our human tendency to need more than just someone’s word.  God’s word on any matter ought to be sufficient.  But often we need additional support. We ask for a sign; we ask for peace; we ask for the confirmation of others.  At times this may truly be a part of hearing God’s voice.  But at other times, it may well be a reluctance to trust God completely.  As I reflect on Moses’ objections to God’s mission for his life, and I reflect on my own journey I see the same tendency.  As we grow in faith, I think God’s word on any matter becomes enough to calm our fears.  He doesn’t lie.  He doesn’t go back on His promises.  He is worthy of our trust.  Is His word enough for you?

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In the last two messages I did, I talked about knowing God.  They flowed from Daniel 11:32 which says “the people who know their God will display strength and take action.”  This past Sunday, I ended with three practical suggestions.  The first was to bag the reading plan and to slow down.  Stop thinking of maintaining some kind of over all pace (like reading through the Bible in a year.)  Instead, think of reading slowly for understanding.  It is better to read one verse deeply than it is to read a hundred without understanding a word.  The second suggestion was to pray the psalms. The third suggestion was to experiment with quiet.  In the interests of developing both of those suggestions here is an idea from the book The Practice of Prayer by Robert Warren.  (This is a great book on prayer by the way, but it is out of print.)  In the introduction he suggests repeating these two lines from a hymn slowly and carefully as a way of relaxing into a time of listening. The two lines are:

Love light up our mortal frame
Till others catch the living flame. 

Why not experiment over the next couple of weeks with these two lines as a way of entering a time of quiet and meditation.  Isn’t a part of knowing God being filled with His Love?

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Initiative is an important word. In job reviews people are praised for taking initiative. In competitive contests it is the person who takes the initiative at the right time that often “wins”. The opposite of initiative is passivity. Passivity should not be an option for a believer. We are called to care; we are called to work; we are called to our knees. Passivity is abdicating our God given responsibility to be stewards of all that has been given to us. But on the other hand any initiative that is rooted in frantic, desperate attempts at self aggrandizement will accomplish little for God’s kingdom purpose. The way to prevent this is to pattern ourselves after the prophecy in Daniel 11: 32. The people who know their God will display strength and take action. The deeper your walk with God, the greater your understanding will be of what initiatives you should take.

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