Caught In A Rain Storm
The Jeep Life. We decided to embrace that life over a year ago now. And let me just say… It’s been a blast. We’ve had some great times in the Jeep. Jami and I have loved it. The kids have loved it. Lola, well, she’s really loved it too. All winter long we look forward to the day when we can finally take the doors and top off and ride around town for our mini adventures. It really does make the everyday, ordinary drives fun… And at times hilariously funny.
Like in the spring of 2020. It was actually a nice, warmer day for May around here. We decided to take the doors off, put the top down, and take a drive to get lunch in Elkhart, ice cream in Goshen, then run to Menards on the way back home.
As we were driving to Menards, we noticed that a few clouds had rolled in. And once we pulled into the parking lot at Menards, it became clear that it had just poured… Like pouuurrrrred. So we quickly ran in to grab what we needed, and we quickly ran back out.
Now, once back in our Jeep, Jami checked the radar one last time as we began to head for home. What did we see? Oh, we saw a line of heavy rain heading our way. So we decided to try our luck and run for home. 10 miles. 18 minutes. That’s all the distance we were from home. With just seven minutes to go and three miles left, the sky opened up on us. Rain like we had never seen before started to pour down on us. It was raining so hard that I couldn’t see through the windshield. The only way I could see to drive was to hang my head out of the side of the Jeep where the doors would have normally been.
The windshield wipers were wiping back and forth. But they weren’t clearing the water. I thought it was just because it was pouring rain so hard. And that was sort of true. Once we got home and pulled into the garage, I noticed that the wipers were still going… But they weren’t wiping any of the water off the windshield. I literally sat there for close to 30 seconds wondering why the wipers weren’t working. For a moment, I thought that maybe they weren’t touching the windshield. So, I put my hand on the glass. And guess what!? There wasn’t any water on the outside of the windshield. All, and I mean, all of the water was on the inside. It was pouring down so hard that the rain was literally wrapping around the inside of the Jeep and hitting the inside of the windshield. Of course the wipers weren’t helping! They weren’t working because the rain was on the inside of the windshield, it wasn’t on the surface of the windshield.
And as I was thinking back and reminiscing on this story, I began to wonder. How many of us are living our lives this way. We know we have problems or issues going on in our lives. Problems at school. Issues and fights with parents. Problems in our marriages. Problems at work. Problems in our personal life. Problems in our relationships. We know. We know that, right now, it’s pouring rain in different areas of our life. We are cruising down the road just trying to see just enough to not crash our lives.
And we’re trying everything we can just to make it to the next day. A relationship doesn’t work out, so let’s try a different guy or a different girl. This job isn’t working out either. So let’s try a different job. Surely this will be the right one. This marriage doesn’t seem to be working. So we try another marriage. The problems in our personal life seem to be too much to handle, so maybe we turn to alcohol or drugs to solve them. Or maybe we just want to sleep, so we can forget everything… Every problem. Every issue. Every day.
And we try to solve the issues and problems we face by what we currently know how to do. But everything we’ve tried just isn’t working. It’s not solving the issues. It’s not solving any of our problems. It’s not solving the hurt and pain and holes we feel. Everything we try just isn’t working. And our life feels like one giant storm.
I’ve been there. And a few other people have been there too. Check this out:
As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed). But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water.
Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”
When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!” - Mark 4:35-41
The disciples face a storm themselves. Well, they would face many storms, but this storm was out on the Sea of Galilee. The boat began to fill with water and they began to freak out. I wonder how many of them tried to bale the water out with their hands. The Bible doesn’t tell us. But it does tell us that they woke Him up in a frantic shout. They didn’t wake Him up trusting that He could help them. They woke Him up and basically accused Him of not caring about them and their problem. But Jesus, being who He is, calmed the storm. There was nothing they could do to stop the boat from sinking. Everything they had tried or could try just would not work. Only Jesus could calm their storm.
And the same is true for each one of us. You see, everything we try to solve our problems… Everything we try to stop our life’s storm… To heal our pain… To heal our hurt… To fill the hole in our hearts… It’s all just wiping the issues away on the surface. The true pain and problems and hurt and holes are under the surface where the solutions we come up with just won’t work. Just like the wipers not working on our Jeep because the rain was on the inside of our windshield, what truly needs to be wiped away in our lives is on the inside of our hearts and our souls. And the only thing… The only person that can heal our hurt and pain… The only person that can solve our problems and calm our storms… The only person that can fill the hole in our hearts is Jesus Himself.
I’ll leave you with this, Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1-10 says this:
Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. - Ephesians 2:1-10
It’s Jesus. The person who can make you whole, calm your storms and heal your heart. It’s only Jesus. And it always will be Jesus.
Following Your Dreams
Growing up, there have been a lot of different things that I had dreamed of doing with my life. Depending on what age I was when you’d ask me, the answer would have been different. Like, when I was about four or five, if you would have asked me what I dreamed of doing, I would have told you that I wanted to ride on the back of a trash truck or drive the trash truck that flipped the big trash containers (I called them “dipsee dumpsters”). If you would have asked me when I was between six years old and eight years old, I would have told you that I dreamed of being a police officer. (I really loved watching CHiPs, TJ Hooker and Hunter back in the day.) And when I was nine years old to about 15, I wanted to be a professional baseball player.
As I look back over my life, those were just three of the dreams that I wanted to follow. There have actually been more, but we don’t have enough time to talk about them all. And as you look at your life, you can probably remember some of the dreams you wanted to follow. The reality is, is that we’ve all had dreams we wanted to follow. And most of us, might still have dreams we want to follow. But when I read the Bible, it doesn’t say to follow your dreams. That’s not the call. The call has never been to follow your dreams.
So, what’s the call? Check this out, it’s found in Matthew chapter nine, verse nine:
As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. Matthew 9:9
The call on each of our lives, as it was on Matthew’s life, is to follow Jesus. That’s always been the call. Don’t get me wrong. Having dreams isn’t a bad thing. It’s a great thing to have dreams. But the problem begins when the call to chase the dream drowns out the call of Jesus. The problem begins the moment when our focus is greater on the dream than on the call of God to follow Jesus.
You see, Matthew, he was living the dream. Or at least I think he was for the time he was living. Was he disliked by many Jews? Sure. But he held a lucrative government job for the Roman Empire. He was making some serious dollar bills ya’ll. He was making bank. He was making that coin. And when Jesus walked up to him, he was in the middle of that job collecting taxes. And so, when Jesus rolled up to Matthew and said, “Follow Me,” Matthew had a choice to make. To follow his dream of making a great living working for the Roman Empire. Or to follow the call of Jesus. Matthew chose to follow the call of Jesus and leave everything behind.
The call to follow Jesus.
For some of us, the call to follow Jesus is a call to leave the dreams we have behind because we know those dreams will lead us down a road that will be opposite to what Jesus wants for our life. For all of us, though, the call to follow Jesus is a call to leave our old life behind and start a new life in Christ. Essentially the call to follow Jesus is a call to have an undivided heart. Check this out, Psalm 86:11 says this,
Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your name. Psalm 86:11
David, the writer of this Psalm, was praying for an undivided heart in order to give all of it to God in his praise. “Heart” in the Bible doesn’t refer simply to emotions, no, it’s referring to the whole person. David was literally praying for help to aim himself in a single direction towards God. You see, David knew that he needed God to direct his life. He knew that his success, his safety and his soul’s satisfaction depended on the God in Heaven, YAWEH Himself. And that’s still true for each and everyone of us today.
When Jesus called Matthew to follow him, it was easy for Matthew to know what Jesus meant… to drop what he was doing and literally begin to follow Jesus. But what does the call to follow Jesus mean in our lives today. I mean, Jesus isn’t physically standing in front of us saying “follow me.” So, if the call to each one of us is to follow Jesus, what does that mean?
First, the call to follow Jesus is a call to turn your heart towards God’s Word. Psalm 119:36 says,
Turn my heart towards your statutes and not towards selfish gain. Psalm 119:36
In other words, live your life in such a way that you truly are asking God to turn your heart to Him each and every day. The call to follow Jesus isn’t a one-and-done call. It’s a daily denying of the desire to be our own boss. To give up the rights to our lives. Jesus Himself said that if we want to follow Him, we need to deny ourselves and take up our cross daily (Luke 9:23). It’s quite literally asking that God’s Kingdom be worked in and through our lives and that God’s will would be done as well.
Secondly, the call to follow Jesus is a call to be humble. How many of our arguments, fights, contentions and divisions happen because we aren’t humble. For me… it’s almost every single one of them. Our homes, neighborhoods, country and world would be a completely different place if we would simply live our lives out of humility… if we would simply be humble. It was something that Jesus demonstrated when He walked the earth. Philippians 2:8 says,
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Philippians 2:8
How much more should we demonstrate humility in each of our own lives. Jesus, God Himself… literally God in the flesh, humbled Himself for each of us… the ultimate demonstration of humility… died for each of us. And it’s in humility that God calls each of us to follow Jesus.
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Ephesians 4:2
Third, the call to follow Jesus is a call to love others. Your neighbor. Your family. Your friends. And yes, even your enemies. Matthew 22:39 says,
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:39
Jesus was always teaching His disciples to love others. As Christians, we are asked to love not only the people who live next door to us but to love and show compassion to everyone we interact with. A part of being a disciple of Jesus is showing His love to everyone we meet. Everyone. Even our enemies. Matthew 5:44 says,
But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you… Matthew 5:44
Everywhere we turn the corner, online and on tv, we are consistently watching people hate each other. People going after each other. And then it comes to our lives. How many times have we wished evil on our enemies? How many times have I shown hate towards others? Not everyone is going to like you. Not everyone is going to like me. But one way to follow Jesus is by praying for those that despise us. To Show the love of Jesus to the very people that hate you. To treat them with kindness even if you never get it back in return. Loving people who love you back or first is easy. To love those who hate you, well, that’s what Jesus did which means it’s possible with God’s help that we can too.
And fourth, the call to follow Jesus is a call to worship the living God with our entire heart and mind. Matthew 4:10 says,
Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only. Matthew 4:10
You see, Jesus was tempted just like we are tempted. Satan took Jesus up to the top of a high mountain and offered to give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. But Jesus, knowing God’s Word, and showing complete commitment to His Father, told satan to bounce. Jesus’ heart was undivided. He loved and His only worship was of God alone. Satan offered up what looked like a great deal if Jesus only worshipped him. But Jesus knew that the true reward lies within His worship of the living God. Satan does the same thing with us… consistently tempting us with the attractive riches of this world. But our true reward, our greatest reward lies within our worship of the living God and His Son, Jesus. John 4:24 says,
God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth. John 4:24
Worship, praise and thanksgiving should be an everyday part of the follower of Jesus routine. When we pray to God, we shouldn’t forget to worship Him for everything He has done for us. Our worship should be an ongoing event as we live every day. Our worship of the living God should be continually in our mouths, in our hearts and in our minds.
The call of God. It’s a call to follow Jesus each and every day of our lives. It’s a call that each of us can choose to answer or to ignore. God doesn’t call us to follow our dreams. He calls us to follow Jesus. And when we do, new dreams are born. Heavenly dreams found in Jesus Himself.
Steal the Deal
This past Fall, Carter came home from a long weekend camp with his youth group excited to tell us about the new card game he had learned and wanted to teach us. As he began to describe the game, we stopped him and told him we had been playing that game for years… like a lot of years. The game? Euchre.
Euchre, to me, is the perfect card game. I know there will be folks who disagree with me and say, “No, poker is the perfect game!” “Spades is the perfect game!” And there might be that one person who would say, “No!!! Old Maid and Slap Jack are the perfect games!!!” I don’t know who those people are, but I’m sure you’re out there! And then, when I was younger and my aunt Becky would babysit the Ruth boys, she would play 52-Card Pickup… her perfect card game! :-)
For me... I love Euchre. It’s the perfect mix of luck, team play and strategy. And, it’s a fast-paced game. If you’ve ever played with me or against me in Euchre, you know one very important detail... I will ALWAYS try to... Steal. The. Deal. Always. Every time.
I love stealing the deal. Does that make me a thief or a bad person? Some might say it does. But for me, it’s part of the ultimate strategy to playing Euchre. You see, when you’re the dealer, you have a greater chance at controlling the outcome of that hand and thus taking away your opponents’ joy. It’s THE game where you WANT to be the dealer. So yes. I try to steal the deal every single hand I play. I think during one game, I was able to steal the deal five times in a row!
You know, there’s somebody else that, when it comes to the hand you’ve been dealt… you know, your life… his goal is to essentially… Steal. The. Deal. Check this out. It’s found in John chapter 10, verse 10:
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; John 10:10a
You see, the thief, otherwise known as satan… one of his objectives is to try to take you and I away from Jesus… to keep us from having a life-changing relationship with Jesus. How does he do that? One way is to try to steal and kill and destroy our lives. You see, when you allow the enemy to steal from you, you are allowing him to control your life.
And what does satan want to take from you? He wants to take your confidence, your joy, your choices, your focus, your peace, and ultimately your eternity. Essentially, satan wants to wreak havoc and cause mayhem in your life and steal away our relationship with Jesus. If he can do that, then he wins and we lose. If he can steal all those things away from us, then he holds the deal and controls how we live within our own lives.
But that doesn’t have to be the outcome of any of our lives. You see, Jesus has already went to the cross. Died. Was buried. And rose again. Jesus defeated the grave and hell. Satan has already been defeated. And that means that he doesn’t hold the deal any longer. You see, I only gave part of John 10:10. The remaining part of that verse says this:
I came so that they would have life, and have it abundantly. John 10:10b
You see, Jesus came so that you and I could have life. Real life. Abundant life. And this abundant life is first and foremost eternal life. It’s a life that calls on the name of Jesus and repents of our sin. It’s a life where we seek to gain a more heavenly perspective by renewing our mind by reading God’s Word and seeking the counsel of Jesus by praying to Him. And it’s a life where we are able to live out and live in Shalom, the peace of Christ that encompasses our entire mind, body and soul… in other words, to make our lives whole in Christ Jesus.
And an abundant life is a life where we are growing in the development of and demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
You see, when we are living an abundant life through Jesus, it’s not just affecting ourselves. It’s literally affecting other people’s lives as well. When we are living the abundant life through Jesus Christ, we are also a blessing to people with whom we come in contact with.
Psalm 16:11 says,
You will make known to me the way of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forever. Psalm 16:11
If you haven’t trusted Jesus with your life yet, today is a great day to accept God’s gift of eternal life through His Son Jesus. Or maybe you’ve already trusted Jesus as your Savior but have gotten away from Him. You’ve allowed satan to take your joy and your focus and control your life. Today is also a great day to come back to Jesus.
Jesus is waiting for you. For everyone. Why don’t you reach out to Him today. He’s here for you right now.
Good for Nothing
It’s crazy to me how our minds work. How we can hear a song and it take us back to the very spot we heard it years ago. How it can cause us to feel what we were feeling at that time. To smell the smells. To literally be transported back in time to the very place we were. Or, to travel down a childhood road and go back to playing Kick the Can when you were six years old. Or, to read two words and remember everything about a trip you took. Those two words for me... Monterrey, Mexico.
It’s a place that I’ve been to three times. It’s an area that holds a special place in my heart. Reading those two words transports me back to the dirt roads we walked. It takes me back to the trash heap where some of the residents built their homes from. I remember buying homemade flavored ice drinks. Monterrey, Mexico.
For three years I spent seven days with those people as part of a mission trip with our church. The main reason we went was to help do building projects and minister to kids who lived at a local orphanage down there. It broke me. The kids at that specific orphanage were dropped off by their parents because they couldn’t afford to keep them. Some of them, their mother’s boyfriend made her drop them off because they couldn’t help their family make any money. Some of the kids that had been there since they were babies, would be picked back up by their families as soon as they were old enough to work. It. Was. Heartbreaking. Essentially, those kids at that orphanage were good-for-nothiings in the eyes of their parents. They weren’t good for anything, so their families had given them away. I will never forget those three summers and I often wonder what happened to those kids.
As I was reading the Bible, I came across this phrase, “good-for-nothing.” Check this out:
At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon built these two buildings—the temple of the Lord and the royal palace — King Solomon gave twenty towns in Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, because Hiram had supplied him with all the cedar and juniper and gold he wanted. But when Hiram went from Tyre to see the towns that Solomon had given him, he was not pleased with them. “What kind of towns are these you have given me, my brother?” he asked. And he called them the Land of Cabul, a name they have to this day. 1 Kings 9:10-13
King David, because of the wars he faced, couldn’t build a temple for the Lord. But Solomon, because he and Israel were enjoying a time of peace, wanted to build a temple for the Lord God. The king of Tyre had always been on friendly terms with king David. And so, Solomon, now king of Israel, asked the king of Tyre to provide cedar for the temple. Not only did the king of Tyre provide cedar for the temple, but over the next twenty years, the king of Tyre gave Solomon cedar, juniper and gold to help build, not only the temple, but also Solomon’s palace as well. And so, at the end of twenty years, Solomon gave away part of God’s promised land to king Hiram… 20 towns in Galilee as a gift for the king’s services. And after king Hiram went to visit these towns, upon looking at them, he called them, “ the Land of Cabul.” Essentially, he called them good-for-nothing towns.
I don’t know where you’re at right now in life. What’s going on in your world. What’s going on at work. In your relationships. As an adult. Or as a student. I remember back to high school, as a skinny freshman, sophomore, Junior and senior. Seeing friends in relationships. And then there was me. No girlfriend. No relationship. Wondering what was wrong with me. Maybe that’s you right now. Or maybe you’re struggling at the sport you play. While you have fun playing baseball, soccer, football… whatever sport it is… the team you’re on is hard to play with because when you make a mistake, they jump down your throat and you start to feel like you can’t do anything right. Or maybe work just sucks right now. You feel like you can’t win. Sales are down. You feel like you’re doing your best, but your best just isn’t good enough. Or maybe life is simply hard. You feel all alone. Down. Depressed. Connected with nobody. And you feel, well, good for nothing.
The Land of Cabul. Good-for-nothing towns. Some days, that’s the land that you live in, maybe more days than you care to admit. Here’s the thing with these towns… the very towns that the king of Tyre called good for nothing… these are the very towns that Jesus chose as the early focal point of His ministry on earth. The very towns that king Hiram didn’t want anything to do with, are the very towns that Jesus chose to go to. You see, what someone calls worthless, Jesus calls valuable. What someone calls good for nothing, Jesus calls loved. King Hiram didn’t see the value in these towns. But Jesus saw the people in these towns. And Jesus sees you, right now, where you’re at.
You might feel worthless. But Jesus sees you as valuable. You might feel unloveable. But Jesus sees you as you are and loves you as you are. You might feel alone. But Jesus is calling out and wants a relationship with you. You might feel good for nothing, but Jesus is calling you to join His team and His movement.
I don’t know where you are at in life right now, but I do know this… God Himself, sent His Son, Jesus, to earth to save you out of whatever you find yourself in right now. The hurt. The pain. The confusion. The trouble. Jesus has come so that you can find relationship and love and healing. Jesus has come to find you. You aren’t a good-for-nothing. You are loved and wanted and valued… by God Himself… by Jesus.
His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor His delight in the legs of a man; the Lord delights in those who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love. Psalm 147:10-11
You see, God is a God of strength. But He doesn’t delight in power. No. More than anything He loves to be in a close relationship to the very people who respond to His love. And it’s my prayer that you’ll respond to His love, even right now.
Bank Accounts and ATMs
Growing up, there are certain milestones that kids look forward to hitting. Double-digit birthday... When you hit the age of 10, now you’re big. Or, thirteen… now you’re an old teenager. How about 16! Now you can drive! Or when you turn 18… the age you can finally vote. If you’re an adult, one of the milestones was the age of 25… the year your car insurance finally went down in cost a bit.
For our kids, there was one more milestone that they looked forward to hitting… 14 years old. The age at which they could open their own bank account. Carter had been talking about this a while before he turned 14. And when he finally turned 14, it was almost all he could talk about. “Can I open my bank account now? When can you take me to open my bank account? Today? Can we go after school? I really want to open my bank account. Can we go tomorrow?” He kept asking. And pushing. And finally, the day came when we took him to open his very own bank account.
That day, we sat down with one of our bank’s representatives and filled out the paperwork to open Carter’s first bank account. He was so excited. As we were going through the process, it finally came time to get what he really wanted… his very own ATM card. The bank representative talked to him about what the card was and how to use it. And she asked him what he wanted his security number to be (he was a 14 year old boy, but held it together enough to NOT give the number he wanted to give the lady). We finished up the process and walked out the door. Needless to say Carter was super excited.
Over the next few months after opening his bank account, Carter and a couple of his friends would meet up on their bikes and head to the ATM to pull money out to get snacks at the local store. He’d get a text from his friends and then tell me or Jami that he was riding his bike to take money out so he and his friends could get a pop, chips, or some candy. He loved that ATM card. It was there, in his pocket, whenever he needed money to get what he wanted.
It’s interesting to me, that as I look back over this story about Carter and his ATM card, how it relates to me and my relationship with God as I look back on my life. Like, how, when I played baseball, I’d pray and ask God to help our team win. Or, as I walked up to the batter’s box, I’d pray for God to help me get on base. Or when I needed help on an exam, I’d reach out and pray to God. Or when things got tough, or I got in trouble, I’d pray to God and ask Him for help.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that doing any of those things are bad or that we shouldn’t pray to God in those circumstances. But as I look back over my life… even into my adult life, I can definitely see a pattern where I placed God in my pocket only to pull him out when I needed to make a withdrawal for help. He was in essence, my ATM card. More times than I care to admit to, I’d treat God as my ATM when I wanted things to go my way.
But there’s so much more than that when it comes to our relationship with God. God isn’t simply an ATM. And, in reality, God really does want to bless you... to bless us. Check this out:
The passage I want to share with you today is from Numbers chapter seven, verses 22-27
The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:
The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.”’
“So they will put My name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.” Numbers 7:22-27
All throughout the Bible we can look and find where God wants to, and chooses to bless His people. From the Old Testament all the way through the New Testament. And that still holds true today as well. It’s not lost on me that, about two weeks ago I was at a camp with a bunch of middle school students. These kids came together from different schools and different families to have fun and experience God as one group. Being at camp, I knew that what I spoke over those kids had the potential to help change their lives. It had the potential to either make camp or break camp.
I don’t know if you’ve ever had someone speak into you or over you. I have. I’ve had people speak life into me. And I’ve had people speak what amounted to death into me. And I’ve had people who were very close to me call me the worst of the worst names. Names that would affect me and mark my life for years to come. All throughout camp two weeks ago, counselor after counselor spoke life into and over those middle school students. We wanted those kids to know that God is for them. That God wants to bless His people.
And just like those middle school campers, the Israelites in the verses we just read, were in their own camp from their own areas and families. Sure, they didn’t have “the blob” or “the gusher” (water rides at camp.) But God still wanted to let His people, the Israelites, know that He longed to provide a blessing over them. It’s important to know that, by this time the Israelites had already been freed from slavery in Egypt. And even though they had seen numerous miracles by God, they had still turned from God over and over again. They had still questioned God. They made idols into gods. They had longed to go back to where they had come from as slaves because they hadn’t trusted God to provide for their needs. In other words, they weren’t perfect people who always had their eyes and hearts pointed towards God. Yet, out of God’s love, he wanted the Israelites to know His very specific blessing on them.
First, He wanted the priests (Aaron and his sons) to say, “The Lord bless you and keep you.” This is not just a general blessing, but it's the specific protection of the Lord as we ask Him to “keep you,” words that have the sense of guarding or watching over someone. For Israel, this would have had a very practical application as they were surrounded by enemies, and God had promised to protect them as long as they were faithful to Him. For believers in Jesus, the protection of God has a somewhat different meaning. While believers hope and pray for physical protection from enemies, we know that God has not promised this. In fact, He has promised persecution (2 Timothy 3:12). However, God has also promised that nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:36–38).
Secondly, the prayer also says, “the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.” This line of the blessing has to do with experiencing God’s favor. When a person sees a loved one that is liked or loved, his or her face “lights up right.” Well, God’s “face” radiates divine favor. Ancient Israel could expect God’s loving, gracious response to their calls for help. Believers in Jesus have the promise of God’s never-ending love (Romans 8:26–38, mentioned above) and have already experienced God’s gracious response to save us from our greatest enemies—sin and death through Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:56–57).
And thirdly, the prayer says, “the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.” We all know the faces of mom... or of a parent. We’ve all had "the look,” you know, the glare from an upset parent. I’ve experienced it MANY times over. And I’ve given it MANY times over to my own kids as well. This isn’t what this is referring to. It’s the face of a smiling mom or dad towards their children. It’s quite literally the look of love. This line of the Aaronic Blessing continues the theme of the “face” of God and has the idea of His people receiving His full attention. When the people were faithful to God, His “face” was toward them with the result that they would have peace. Peace (shalom) is more than just an absence of warfare but a completeness or wholeness and maturity. Judges 2 records what happened when God turned His face from His people for a time and they lost shalom, but He quickly turned to them again when they repented. The believer in Jesus has been granted peace with God though Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1), and we can also access the peace of God by trusting Him to take care of us. Prayer is the active means by which we can experience this peace (Philippians 4:6–7). Meaning, when we pray to Jesus as a believer in Jesus, the Holy Spirit will infuse us with the peace of Christ.
You see, for ancient Israel, the Aaronic Blessing expressed the highest state of blessing that the nation would enjoy as they were faithful to God. For us today, when we trust in Jesus and call on His name to save us from our sin, we too can have and experience this complete blessing from God Himself. We don’t have to be perfect. We just need to trust in Jesus and call on His name to save us.
God desires to be more than an ATM blessing that’s tucked inside our pockets only to be pulled out when we need Him. He longs to speak a complete blessing over our lives. And it’s my prayer that you’ll experience that blessing as you trust in Jesus and seek to have a true, joy-filled relationship with God.
The Dirt Under My Feet
I grew up playing baseball. I mean, with the last name of Ruth… In the ‘80s… There wasn’t really any other sport that I should have played. For the better part of my early years… from the time I could walk, all the way until I graduated high school… Baseball was a major part of my life. I remember sitting on my dad’s lap, watching the Cubs play on tv. I remember playing catch in the front yard of the apartment we lived in for a little while when I was super young. And as we were growing up on the South Side of South Bend, Indiana, my brothers and I made a baseball field in our backyard… Playing every day of the summer with the small wooden baseball bat we had as we pitched tennis balls to each other in our backyard.
Baseball. It was a way of life growing up. We knew all of the greats. Mantle. Maris. Clemente. Robinson. Banks. Sandberg. Grace. The Penguin. And Ruth… Babe Ruth. We dreamed of making it to the Big Leagues and playing in the same stadiums as our Hall of Fame favorites once did. The reality is that none of us did grow up to make it in the Big Leagues. But we did get to go somewhere special when we were younger…
Cooperstown, New York.
For those of you who aren’t baseball fans, this small town name doesn’t mean anything to you. If you’re a modest baseball fan, you might not even know this town either. But a true baseball fan, the person who absolutely loves this game, knows the significance of this little town. You see, each year the greats of baseball come to this town to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Cooperstown, New York. It’s hallowed ground really. I remember when me, my mom and dad and brothers arrived there. It was part of a trip where we also got to see Niagara Falls. But between you and me… It was Cooperstown that I wanted to see… No, I needed to see. I remember waking up the morning we were supposed to head there. I couldn’t wait. We were going to Cooperstown. The anticipation. I mean, not only were we going to see the Baseball Hall of Fame, but we were going to be able to see Doubleday Field, grounds where baseball had been played since 1920.
As we pulled into Cooperstown, we parked on a side street and got out of the car and stepped onto an old brick road. And in my six-grade mind, I asked myself… “Did Babe Ruth and the other baseball greats walk on the dirt that’s under my feet?” To me, the dirt I was walking on… The brick road under my feet… The place I was standing on was holy ground.
There are many places that people might consider holy ground… a specific place designated by some person or some historical act that makes it special. And while the story of Cooperstown will always hold a special place in my heart, there’s one other story I want to look at regarding holy ground that’s found in Exodus Chapter three, verse five. Check this out:
“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Exodus 3:5
When it came to the holy ground of Cooperstown, New York, my family and I had to make a special trip to experience that place. And while I loved every minute of being there, I’ve never been back. I went and experienced that place once in my life. And the truth is, I’ll probably never go back.
But what we see here in Exodus three is something different. You see, if we go back a few verses in Exodus three, in verse one the Bible tells us that Moses was taking care of his father-in-law’s animals. This was something that wasn’t new to Moses. This is what he did on a regular basis. He didn’t make a special, once-in-a-lifetime trip to take care of these animals. It was his ordinary life. This is what he did each day. And it’s exactly right here where he experienced God.
What if… just maybe… we’re missing God because we think we need to be somewhere specific for us to experience God? What if we aren’t meeting God because we think we have to do or be somewhere extraordinary to hear from Him? We think we need to be in church to hear from God. We think we need to do something extraordinary to experience God. We think we need to completely change to meet God. Church is great. Doing something extraordinary is awesome. Changing who we are for the better is a good thing. But I think that…
It’s in the ordinary that God will do something extraordinary.
I think a lot of us miss God, because we aren’t expecting to meet Him in our ordinary, everyday “boring” lives. But God is here with us, everyday. And that makes everywhere we walk holy ground. The job we go to is holy ground. The soccer field our kids play on is holy ground. The mall we walk in is holy ground. The home we live in is holy ground. Because God is already there with us.
So how can we be like Moses and meet with God and experience our holy ground moment?
First, keep your eyes up. As Moses was taking care of his father-in-law’s animals, he kept his eyes up and saw something that was different. In your job, on your sideline or bleacher, at your mall, or in your home… in your everyday life, keep your eyes up so you can see where something might be different… So you can see what God wants you to see.
Secondly, keep your curiosity open. Not only did Moses see that a bush wasn’t being consumed by a fire, he went over to see it because he was curious as to why it wasn’t being burned up. There are things that you will experience in your everyday life that might not make much sense. Stay curious as to why something might be happening. Be open to “seeing the why” behind what you are experiencing… the why behind what is happening in your everyday life.
And be open to hearing and responding to God’s voice in your everyday, ordinary life. When Moses went over to see what was going on, God saw that Moses came over to the bush. What did God do? He called to Moses from within the bush. Moses could have freaked out and ran away because he thought he heard some strange voice from a bush. He could have just dismissed it to just “hearing things.” But he didn’t. Moses instead, answered the call of God and said, “Here I am.”
What if we treated the ground we walk on every day as holy ground. Imagine how our lives would change if we expected to hear from and experience God in our everyday, ordinary lives. Because it’s in the ordinary that God will do something extraordinary.
God is with you… right now… the ground you are standing on is in fact holy. It’s my prayer that you hear His voice right where you are. And I hope you respond as Moses did and say, “Here I am.”
Simple Math
I. Hate. Math.
To this day, I really don’t like math. I’m kinda embellishing a bit… and kinda not… But part of the reason I chose my major in college is because it required the least amount of math I needed to take. Ok. Ok. That wasn’t actually one of the reasons, but it was a huge plus!
I think the reason why I hated math goes all the way back to second grade. We’d have these math competitions in class where we’d have to go up to the black board (yes, I’m old enough to have had “black boards” in school) and compete against another student by doing the same math problem. I’m usually all for competition, but when I was up at the black board, my mind would freeze. Second grade was also where I’d get lunch detention for not being able to finish my math homework in class prior to lunch. I’d routinely eat alone because I wasn’t simply able to “get” the math work we had to do in class. As you can tell, the teacher was a real peach of a woman.
Needless to say, this affected me not only my entire second grade, but followed all throughout my school career and beyond. To this day I hate math and can feel all those feelings I had years ago when faced with a math problem that might be a little challenging.
Math. It was my worst subject in school (with the exception of multiplication). History? Loved it. Government? Yes please. English/Writing? Those were classes I could excel in. But math? Nope. I wanted nothing to do with it. I hadn’t really given my math issues much thought until about a week ago. And then as I was reading a few mornings ago, God gave me a math problem. Yup. You read that right. He straight up gave me a math problem to complete. But don’t worry, it’s a simple addition/subtraction math equation…
Check this out. It’s found in John chapter three, verse 30…
He must increase, but I must decrease. John 3:30
When it comes to mathematical equations, it’s pretty simple. But in life application, it doesn’t always equal easy. But it’s exactly what needs to happen in each of our lives… and John knew this truth for his life as well as ours.
You see, John chapter three records and talks about when Jesus came to Judea… Many people received Him and were being baptized. John the Baptist’s ministry was already established and doing really well (the Bible tells us that “people kept coming,”, but now people were going to Jesus rather than John. Not only were people going to Jesus, but verse 26 says that, “all were going to Him.”
John’s disciples were like, “What the heck? This isn’t cool.” To John’s disciples, John was “The Guy;” But John, knew he wasn’t. You see, John’s mission was to proclaim and point people to Jesus who is the Christ – The Actual Guy. John realized that his ministry success he experienced, people coming to him to baptize them, was the result of God’s blessing and not because of anything he said or did to make it happen (“A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven” John 3:27). John describes himself as the best man at a wedding (in this case the marriage of Jesus and His Church) who understands that the groom is to be blessed, and that the best man’s joy flows from helping to bring the bride and the groom together on the day of the wedding (John 3:29).
Then, John declared this Kingdom principle, “He must increase, but I must decrease”. The reason for this statement comes from John’s next statement in John 3:31, “He who comes from above is above all ; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is above all.” The reason that Jesus must be increased is because He is above all and has all authority.
You see, this simple math equation takes our whole life to complete. And it means that we need to know where we stand in relation to Jesus. John knew where he stood. He knew that in order for Jesus to increase, he had to decrease. In order to gain more of Jesus, John knew that he had to give something up. You see, I think John gave up the hardest thing to give up… his ego. He was doing well, in terms of ministry… in terms of an occupation… in terms of a calling. People were coming to him to be baptized… a lot of people. Then, when Jesus showed up, they all went to Jesus instead. But John knew where he stood in relation to Jesus… and he knew what he had to give up. And bigger than where John stood in relation to Jesus… John knew where Jesus stood in his own life.
Can I ask you a question? What do you need to give up in order for Jesus to increase in your life? For some of us, it might be our ego. The desire to be known so much so that it over shadows Jesus. For others, it might be a secret relationship. Still, for others, it might be choosing that substance to cope in life and/or to ease some pain. So, what do you need to give up? Where does Jesus stand in your life?
Secondly, John didn’t misunderstand who Jesus was and is. As I look back over my life, I can look back and see how I misunderstood Jesus. Sometimes we simply miss Jesus because we simply misunderstand Jesus. As I look back on my second grade year, I couldn’t understand math because my math teacher misunderstood what I needed. Make no mistake, Jesus doesn’t misunderstand what you need… what I need… what we need. And John didn’t misunderstand who Jesus was and is. Check this out:
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3:16-17
I think a lot of us misunderstand who Jesus is. We think of all the fun we can’t have if we follow God and His Word. We think of all the things that go away if we give our lives to Jesus. And that’s what I used to think when I was growing up. The churches we went to were boring. The people in the church were boring. It. Was. Freaking. B.O.R.I.N.G.
But that’s a misunderstanding of who Jesus is and what He came to give you and I. Not only did He love us so much that He came to give His life for us to save us. John 10:10 tells us that Jesus came so that we could live life to the full. John 3:29 says, “…For this reason (talking about Jesus increasing and John decreasing) my joy has been fulfilled.” You see, when Jesus increases and we decrease, then and only then will we experience true and life-long joy. The math equation of, “Jesus increases and I increase too” doesn’t equal lasting joy. We only get small intermittent glimpses of happiness that are connected to life’s fleeting moments. It’s only when Jesus increases and we decrease do we experience a true, life-long joy.
So, where do you stand in relation to Jesus? Where does Jesus stand in your life? What do you need to give up so that Jesus increases and you decrease. And is there, or has there been anywhere that you have misunderstood Jesus? It’s my prayer that I’m filled with more of what Jesus wants and desires in my life. And it’s my prayer that you are filled with more of Jesus in your life as well.
More Than Underoos
I absolutely loved wearing Underoos when I was growing up. Superman. Batman. Star Wars. It didn’t matter what the Underoo was, I just loved wearing them. If I was wearing my Superman Underoos, then I was in fact Superman. If I was wearing my Batman Underoos, then I was in fact Batman. Chasing down criminals. Battling evil. Conquering the Death Star. When I put on my Underoos, I was the very super hero that I was wearing.
And it was the same thing when Halloween came around. I remember times when I would look forward to picking out what costume I might possibly wear. One year, it was Spiderman. We bought the plastic Spiderman mask and nylon outfit. I couldn’t wear it or play with it before Halloween. But once Halloween came and went, I would play with that super hero mask whenever I could, taking it out into the neighborhood to battle evil.
Underoos and Halloween costumes. When I was growing up, these were my armor… my protection. When I wore these costumes, I could conquer and defeat anything and everything. But in real life, the truth of the matter is, is that my Underoos and Halloween costumes were just that, costumes… mere decorations that I would wear.
Paul, in the book of Ephesians, talks about a different type of armor that God equips us with to wear. But it’s more that just a mere decoration or costume… it’s full protection that God offers each one of us.
Check this out:
Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Ephesians 6:11-17
What’s interesting is that Paul doesn’t say, “If you have trouble…” No, these verses assume that you will most certainly be attacked. Paul tells us to put on the full armor of God so that we can take our stand against the devil’s schemes. Paul goes on to say to put on the full armor of God, “So that WHEN the day of evil comes…” You see, if you’re really going to get in the battle, if you’re really going to do something great for God, if you’re really going to live for Jesus and follow after Him, you’re going to need God’s protection because the day of trouble will come.
But how amazing is it that God has made a way for your protection. He has designed the means to stand against any attack that comes against your life. In our life, we will most certainly be attacked. God won’t protect us from the battle. But He will protect us in the battle.
And this is the protection He’s provided, the full armor of God… check it out:
First, Stand firm, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist. So many of our battles we face start with lies from the devil himself. You see, belts hold things up… specifically clothes. And these clothes covers us. The truth of God is just like that belt. The truth of God clothes and covers our lives. The truth of God reveals who we are in Christ. It shows us our value. And it reveals the lies of the enemy. When we cover ourself with the truth of God, it holds our lives together and it sets us free in Christ Jesus.
Secondly, we are to stand firm with the breastplate of righteousness. Righteousness means that we are being made right in the eyes of God. Sometimes righteousness is talking about the righteousness that Jesus gives us through His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). Sometimes the Bible is talking about the righteousness that God carries out through us, like “The righteous acts of the saints” in Revelation 19:8. In the battles we face, both are needed to protect our heart. The enemy tempts us with all kinds of sinful acts that tangle us, but righteousness protects our hearts. God has given us complete righteousness in Christ and wants us to continually receive the continuing righteousness that comes as we follow Jesus with all our heart.
Third, know that our feet are fitted with the gospel of peace. Peace is an attribute of God’s very character. In Greek, peace means oneness or wholeness. The gospel, which means good news, is the forgiveness of sins and access to that oneness with God through faith in Jesus. And this oneness with the Lord produces peace. One of the biggest battles that we might face is when the enemy will tempt us with worry. When we carry the weight of anxiousness and worry, we are robbed of peace. Ask Jesus to remind you of His gospel of peace and pray it into your life. The first tattoo that I ever got is the Hebrew word Shalom on my left shoulder. Shalom means reconciliation with God. And when someone in Israel greets or says goodbye, they are quite literally praying that you will be filled with a complete and perfect peace. That’s how I want my life marked… to be marked in a complete and perfect peace.
Fourth, take up the shield of faith. When Paul wrote this passage, the Roman soldiers carried shields that were covered with heavy animal hide. Before a battle, they would dip their shields into water so that when fiery darts hit them, the wet hide would extinguish the darts. In a similar way, our shield of faith needs to be regularly dipped in the water of God’s word to be fully functional. Romans 10:17 says that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” If your faith feels less than you want it to, ask God to increase your faith as in Mark 9:24 and focus on God’s character and not on your circumstance. And begin to read the Bible on a regular basis.
Fifth, take the helmet of salvation. Salvation comes the moment we place our faith in Jesus. It also involves us as we walk with Jesus and allow Him to work that salvation into every part of our thoughts. The battlefield of our mind is the primary place the spiritual battle is fought. Romans 12:2 tells us to not conform to the patterns of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Then we will be able to test and approve what God’s will is. The helmet of salvation is there to remind us that we are Christ’s at the moment we call on Him to save us. And to renew our minds as we follow Jesus.
And finally, take the sword of the Spirit… the Word of the living God. This is the only piece of armor that is both defensive and offensive. When we are tempted, or are in a battle, the most effective weapon that God has given us is His Word… the Bible. In my experience, what has changed my heart, my thoughts, my actions the most has been the Word of God. What has provided the most calm in the midst of my storms, has been the Word of God. If you want to win your battles, if you want to see your life changed and the lives of your friends changed, go to the Word of God. When the devil tempted Jesus, it’s what Jesus went to in His battle as we can see in Luke 4:1-13. When the devil tempted Him three times, He responded with the truth of God’s Word every time.
Battles will come. Paul has almost all but promised it. But God has provided protection when we find ourselves in the battle. If you find yourself in a battle right now, I encourage you to put on God’s armor… His protection is effective. Run to His Word. It will change your life for the better. Oh, and one more thing... When soldiers put on their armor, they didn’t wait until they were in the midst of the fighting. No, they put it on before the battle to prepare for the fight ahead. And God wants each one of us to do the same thing in our lives.
God’s provided protection for your battle. Will you put it on?
The Uniform You Wear
I. Loved. Getting. Dressed. To. Play. Baseball.
The pants. The jersey. The baseball cleats. And most of all… the stirrups. You see, the stirrups are what goes over the baseball socks. When I was growing up, these were a separate piece of the uniform. I used to love getting my baseball uniform. I looked forward to it each summer. I’d literally get dressed hours before a game just so I could wear my baseball uniform. Then, if I made the all star team, that meant another pair of special stirrups and another jersey… that if you simply wore an under sleeve with the baseball pants and the blue stirrups, everyone at the park knew what team you were on… it was a label of honor… proof that I was chosen for that team.
Uniforms. We all have worn one at some point in our life. Some of us still wear them today. Whether it’s for a sports team, a school uniform, or a uniform for work. We’ve all worn a uniform. Uniforms mark us. They say some things about us. Some uniforms we love to wear. We’re proud of how we look. And there are other uniforms we think are ugly. I’ve worn uniforms that I’ve loved. And I’ve worn uniforms that I’ve hated. Kroger, it was a great first job. But I hated the poop-brown uniform.
Uniforms. We’ve all worn them. And we all wear them now to a certain extent.
And I wonder, what kind of uniform do you suit up in? Each day, what uniform are you putting on? Is it a uniform of fear? Is it a uniform of worry? I want to ask you a question. Every time you wake up, what uniform are you putting on? Are you putting on a uniform of fear? You hear that voice that ‘you’re all alone and nobody is with you.’ Or do you put on a uniform of guilt and shame and you think you’ve done too many things that prevent you from making a difference or from God using you. Or maybe you put on the uniform of insecurity that tells you you’re not good enough or equipped to be the parent you want to be… the husband or wife you want to be… the employee you want to be… or the servant of God you want to be. How on earth can I do this? Maybe it’s a uniform of doubt. God surely can’t use me.
Every day you wake up, the enemy will try to get you to put on any other uniform other than the spirit of God and confidence and truth. The problem is, is that when we put on any other uniform of shame or guilt or incompetence or insecurity, then when we wake up we aren’t living our lives with authority, we’re not living with joy and confidence. We’re not parenting in a spirit of joy and confidence. Our relationships aren’t lived out of joy and confidence. But we should be the most joy-filled confident people on earth. God wants you to live your life in confidence and joy. And when we put on a uniform other than God’s uniform, I believe it breaks His heart every time we listen to the voice of the enemy as we live our lives.
I hope this doesn’t overwhelm you, but as a follower of Jesus, we are called to a life that shifts our community around us… to shift our children’s worlds… to shift the worlds of those we are in relationships with. He’s made us to bring heaven down to earth. God has given us that authority as believers in Jesus. And if you’re not a believer in Jesus quite yet, this is what God wants of you when you do become a believer in Jesus. But each time we wake up and put on a uniform of fear or insecurity or of shame we forfeit the opportunity to release joy, freedom, passion and love in the lives of those we do life with. And we weren’t created to wear a uniform other than the one God created for us to wear.
So how do we become people who wear the uniform God wants us to wear? You see, how you suit up when you wake up matters.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. Ephesians 6:10-11
This is the uniform God has for us to wear… the full armor of God. But that’s easier said than done right? So how can we daily put this armor on? How do we develop confidence to suit up?
First, don’t let your circumstance change your attitude or your confidence. Gideon, in Judges chapter six, battled insecurity and had a million reasons why he shouldn’t lead the Israelites. For seven years the Midianites demolished the Israelites stuff. When the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites invaded the country. When they invaded the country they ruined all of the crops and killed all of their livestock. For seven years this happened because of the evil that the Israelites did in the eyes of the Lord. So when the Israelites cried out to God for help, He sent them Gideon. So an angel of the Lord came to Gideon and said, “Yo, you’re the guy that’s gonna help conquer the Midianites." The angel of the Lord actually said to Gideon, “The Lord is with you mighty warrior.” Have you ever felt that God has called you something like that and you’re like, “What, really? Me?” And then Gideon says, “But if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” Gideon also says, “But how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” Excuse after excuse after excuse. But the Lord replied to Gideon and said, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.” Have you noticed that God tends to use the least over and over again throughout the Bible?
The very first thing that Gideon does is look at his circumstances. And this will be a temptation that you and I might do every time the Lord calls us to do something great or of great significance. The first thing that I do a lot is look at my circumstance and say I’m not good enough. I don’t have the influence. I don’t have the platform or the job title for that. And my circumstances become my excuse of why I can’t do what God has called me to do. The first thing that the enemy wants us to do is to think about our circumstances. When God calls you to do something great, the enemy will use every little thing to distract you from that great thing that God has called you to do. The enemy loves to distract us. But we can’t look at our circumstances and allow it to change our attitude and confidence. Even in the worst circumstances, God can do His best work. So don’t let your circumstances change your attitude and confidence. God is bigger than your circumstances.
Secondly, recognize the lies the enemy is telling you and replace them with God’s truth. Ninety-nine percent of the battle is fought in our own minds… what we believe or don’t believe about our own selves. And so we need to start to recognize the lies that are being fed into our minds by the enemy and replace them with God’s truth. Like, when you think you aren’t good enough or you’re nobody special, you think about and quote:
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Or, when you start believing in the lie that you’ll never do anything of any significance, start to think about and quote:
Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Or, when the enemy starts to tell you that you’ll never overcome this fear, read and quote:
2 Timothy 1:7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
I don’t know what your lie is or what you’re facing. For me, it’s that I’m not good enough or smart enough and that God can’t use me because of my past. But those are lies from the enemy that I need to recognize and replace with the Truth from God’s Word.
And the third way to put on the uniform God has for us is to allow God to stretch us. You see, there are times where or what God calls us to will make us uncomfortable and/or nervous. As I look out over my life, specifically the last 20 years, there have been times where I’ve resisted the call of God because it would have made me uncomfortable. Instead of saying yes to the call of God, I said yes to the other thing that made me comfortable. You see, sometimes chasing after the comfortable could be you running from the call of God. And that was me 20 years ago… chasing after the comfortable. I think this came from TikTok, but over the last year or so, Morgan has wanted Jami and I to have a “yes day” where anything she asks for we have to say “yes” to. What would happen if we gave God “yes days?” No matter how uncomfortable we may feel, no matter how insecure we feel, no matter the fear we feel, we instead of saying no to God, we say yes to God. When we give God our yes, He in turn gives us confidence and blessing. Being obedient to God brings blessings to our lives and the lives we interact with. Can you imagine how different the world would be if we simply said yes more to God. I don’t know what God is calling you to do, but I encourage you to say yes. Give God a “yes day.” It may be scary, but it is always good.
You see, God wants us to have an Ephesians 3:20 life. Check this out:
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, Ephesians 3:20
God wants to do some crazy extraordinary things with your life. And if you’re obedient, I believe He will bring incredible blessing to your life as a result. Learn to put on God’s uniform in your life and to cultivate this God-confidence. Don't let your circumstances change your attitude and confidence. Recognize the enemy's lies and replace them with God's Truth. And allow God to stretch you and keep saying yes to God. That's how to wear the uniform God has called you to wear.
What Is It?
I miss the younger years of parenting. Not me being younger. But the kids being younger. Don’t get me wrong, I love parenting teenagers. As a parent, that’s my sweet spot. But I miss when they were two, three, four and five years old.
When they were that young, everything was new to them. And it was fun helping them experience those new things. Like jumping off the side of a pool. As a parent, you know the fun and joy they will experience. But for them, they haven’t experienced that joy quite yet. And so their focus was on the fear they feel. They’d look at me. Look at the ledge and the drop to the water. Then they’d look back at the cement they were standing on and would start to walk backwards to what was familiar. But after a few words to make them feel better and helping them “jump” into the water, they’d eventually trust their mommy and daddy and jump themselves.
Then, in the very same summer after trusting their daddy and jumping into the pool, I remember taking a trip to a water park with friends. You know what’s at water parks, right? Yup. Water slides. Once again, as a parent, I could look at that slide and my kids and know the joy they’d experience going down that slide into a pool of water. So I took the kids up to the top of the slide, talking up the excitement and how fun and cool it was going to be to slide down the water slide into a pool of water. But once we got up to the top of the slide, fear crept back in and they insisted on not going down the water slide. They instead wanted to go back down the stairs to the familiarity of what they already knew.
I don’t suggest this as a parent, but when Carter was four or five, I actually picked him up, sat him down, then pushed him down the slide as he screamed throughout the process. Once down, he came running back up to go down the slide by himself.
Time and time again through different experiences our kids would have to learn to trust and depend on their parent over and over again even though we’d proven trustworthy through previous experiences. Time and time again they’d crave and desire the familiar over choosing to depend and trust the call of their mommy and daddy. That doesn’t change with age. And it hasn’t changed throughout the years. What is true now, was and is true hundreds of years ago.
Check this out:
The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death. Exodus 16:1-3
Facing the question of where their next meal would come from made them question everything. The Scripture says, “they grumbled against Moses and Aaron.” I believe this is the first reference to a people being “hangry.” Only, it was more than simply being hangry. The Israelites actually wished they were back living as slaves in Egypt.
At this point, the Israelites had already experienced a number of miracles from the Lord. He had turned bitter water that they couldn’t drink into sweet water by having Moses throw a piece of wood into the water. And bigger still, they had just witnessed the Lord parting the Red Sea allowing the Israelites to walk across on dry land with a wall of water to their right and to their left. Once the Israelites had crossed, the Lord allowed the sea to flow again, washing the entire army of Pharaoh to their death.
But now, instead of trusting and having faith in the Lord, they begin to worry that they would die in the desert from hunger and they began to wish for the familiarity of what they had known. And they Lord heard the Israelites grumbling.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. Exodus 16:4
Moses also said, “You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Exodus 16:8
In the midst of their worry and their grumbling the Lord heard them and decided to provide for the Israelites once again even as they were grumbling against Him. But this is the Lord’s character. You see, back in Exodus 13, as the Israelites were leaving Egypt, God decided to lead them on a longer path through the Red Sea instead of a shorter path through the land of the Philistines because God knew that if the Israelites faced war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.
Even when the Israelites didn’t know it, God was still looking out for and taking care of them. And, in the midst of their fear and grumbling of where their next meal would come from, God would still keep that commitment to the Israelites.
As I look back over my life, there have definitely been times where I can see how God took care of me… exactly when I didn’t even know it. Protection from dumb decisions I made as a teenager. Doors closing which led to better doors opening. The list could go on and on. And I’m sure, if you look back on your life, you would see the same thing.
So, here the Israelites are. Grumbling against a God who has already provided visual miracles for their safety. Grumbling against a God who had already provided protection that they didn’t know about. And now, Aaron is standing before them, speaking to the whole Israelite community. And as they looked toward the desert… the desert they’d be wondering through for 40 years… and what did they see?
The glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud.
While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud. Exodus 16:10
In the midst of their fear. In the midst of their grumbling. In the midst of their worry and their desire to just go back to what is familiar. In the midst of their desert, the Lord God was there with them. What is true hundreds of years ago is still true today. While God was with the Israelites in their desert, God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit is with us in our desert. You see, God doesn’t just lead us through our desert, He’s there with us in it.
And then the Scripture goes on to say…
That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.’” Exodus 16:13-16
The word, manna, literally means, “What is it?” That’s what the Israelites first reaction to what the Lord provided. Manna is the clear example of the Israelites’ dependence on God was. They had to rely on Him every day for 40 years just to survive. But this isn’t anything new, it’s just different. They had to rely on God to change Pharaoh’s mind to let them go. And when Pharaoh freaked out and changed his mind again, the Israelites had to rely on God to escape from Pharaoh’s army. Time and time again we see the Israelites’ dependence on God while in their desert. And when God says, “Trust me” to the Israelites one more time, we see them again wanting to go back to the familiar out of fear and worry. But God, each time, provided for the needs of the Israelites with just enough for each day… with exactly what they needed to survive for that day.
You see, what’s true hundreds of years ago, is true now…
God is acting on our behalf even when we don’t know it. God shows up in the midst of our desert. And God provides for all of our needs when we follow His Word, His guidance and keep His commands. I pray that you see the Lord and choose Him and His Word even as you read this now.