Direction Not Intention Makes The Difference

            Some conversations and situations stay with you.  I will never forget this young man.

He was in his mid-20s, and he was speaking about career plans with a group of us at church.  He passionately spoke about the steps he would take to move from his current position as assistant manager to a manager then to a regional position in the company.  Ultimately he was going to own a store of his own.  There was a fire in his eyes as he spoke about his dreams, and something inside of me felt his passion and fire.  I got excited for him and with him.

            We remained casual acquaintances for several years, and I watched his career unfold.  He continued to work as an assistant manager, and he often talked about his dreams.  But he started arriving late or missing morning shifts.  The evening before he stayed up most of the night on his gaming counsel playing video games with his friends.  That made it difficult to get into the store on time.  It was not a problem for him; there were always two managers on duty, so things were covered.  And he was the senior assistant manager, so he had some privileges, he thought.

A management position opened in the company, and he was overlooked.  The other assistant manager, with less seniority, was promoted.  He complained that they did not appreciate him and his skills.  He would then speak again about his dreams of someday owning his own store.  He had many ideas about how at “his store” things would be different than at the place he currently worked.  He stated, “Maybe I will skip the assistant manager to manager to regional manager path and start looking at opening my own store instead.  That’s the way entrepreneurs do it!”  That old passion would rise as he spoke about the great future that awaited him.

A few months went by during which he was reprimanded and written up.  He had continued to miss shifts, calling in sick.  He didn’t feel well after staying up most of the night on his gaming counsel.  When he was at work, the quality of his work was fair and his ability to manage the staff and store became an issue.  Finally, he was discharged.

For the next few years, he went from entry level job to entry level job and no farther.  He still talked about how he intended someday to own a store of his own.  But he never did.  He never came close to his dream.  As long as I knew him all he ever did was talk passionately about it.

It is funny, after over 40 years I still remember.  Maybe it is because of what I learned watching this young man.  He had good intentions, great intentions, but his intentions never got him to where he desired to go.  Direction, not intention, determines destination.

His intentions were lofty and passionate.  But they got him nowhere.  Why?  He never put action behind his intentions.  He never got going in the direction of his dream.  The couple of times that he did, he ran into the need for hard work, dedication, sacrifice and discipline.  Things that were more difficult than dreaming.

 He could get all fired up when he dreamed and spoke about his dreams, but when he was playing his video games late at night, his dreams and intentions couldn’t get him to bed and then up in time to go to the store.  He was unable to put action behind the intentions that would lead to the destination that he dreamt about.

The other thing he lacked was discipline.  While direction, not intention, determines destiny.  It is discipline, not desire that determines destiny.  The man with self-discipline will rise above the man with lofty dreams.  But combine the self-discipline and the lofty dreams, and you have a powerhouse.  

These same principles apply to your spiritual life.  Many Christ-followers talk about the lofty goals they have in making a difference for Jesus.  They passionately speak about touching the lives of the hurting or reaching out to the broken.  Their eyes light up, and excitement fills their words, but that is all that happens.  They have great intentions, but they don’t start moving, and so nothing of significance happens.  They sound spiritual, but it is only words.  Because direction, not intention, determines destination; and discipline, not desire, determines destiny.  Don’t let your destiny slip away—do something.  Put action to your intentions and discipline to your desires and watch the difference you will make.

The Balloon Salesman

Why is it that some people are so down all the time?  They walk into a room and the lights dim.  You see them coming down the aisle at Krogers or Target and you hope they haven’t seen you and you quickly turn into another aisle.  If you are forced to work next to them you feel that every day after work you need to go home and wash all the junk they spewed out of their mouths for the past eight hours off of you.  The worst part is, if you are not careful, you begin to start acting, speaking and feeling the same way as that co-worker.

One of my favorite stories from the late Zig Ziglar is entitled, “The Balloon Salesman”.

Many years ago, a balloon salesman was selling balloons on the streets of New York City. When business got a little slow, he would release a balloon. As it floated into the air, a fresh crowd of buyers would gather and his business would pick up for a few minutes. He alternated the colors, first releasing a white one, then a red one and later a yellow one. After a time, a little Negro boy (remember Zig told this story many years ago) tugged on his coat sleeve, looked the balloon salesman in the eye and asked a penetrating question. "Mister, if you released a black balloon, would it go up?" The balloon salesman looked at the little boy and with compassion, wisdom and understanding said, "Son, it's what's inside those balloons that make them go up."

What a true statement!  But at the same time what a convicting statement. 

Those of us who claim a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ have the very Holy Spirit of God living inside of us.  Yet day after day I run into people, read their onions in the newspaper, or see on social media depressing, critical, negative and demeaning statements.  These are from people who identify themselves as followers of Jesus Christ.  Some of these people could bring down the most joy-filled person with their negativity.

It bothers me that they claim to have the Holy Spirit of God living in them.  The same Holy Spirit that was powerful enough to raise Jesus from the dead, according to the book of Romans chapter 8, should be powerful enough to lift them out of their depressing, critical, negative, demeaning state of mind. 

If it really is what’s inside of a person that makes them go up or go down, maybe it takes more than just having Jesus living in your heart for you to go up.  Yes, it does. 

The reality is, it is what you place in your mind and heart on a daily basis that will cause your life to be lifted or pushed down.  Who do you hang around, what do you watch, what do you listen to, and what do you speak to yourself when no one else is around?  These are the things, the real things that either lift us or bring us down.  And they are the same things that will either lift or bring down those around us who we are impacting.

Jesus living in your heart can help you to rise about your negative, critical and depressing words and attitudes, but He won’t stop you from living there if that is where you choose to live.  So it is up to you and me. Are we willing to change what goes into us every day so that our lives can rise like a helium balloon?  It all comes down to desire.  Desire is the ingredient that makes the difference between an average performer and a champion.  I hope you’ll join me in choosing to be a champion.

That little boy was fortunate indeed to encounter a man who understood what really lifts a man or woman or what makes them sink. Yes, the balloon salesman was right. I'm also right when I tell you, it's what's inside you that will make you go up.  Let’s get the right stuff inside of us.

Blemished In A Photoshopped World

              I have a recent family photo on my desk.We had it taken by a local photographer when all the kids were home.  It looks great and I am a blessed man to have this wonderful family.

            But there are a few things missing from the picture.  The blemish that was on one of my children’s faces, gone!  The out-of-place hair on another child and the lines that have begun to appear on my face around my eyes, gone!  Oh the wonders of Photoshop and what a skilled photographer can do to make us look better than we did on the day of our portrait session. I suppose she could have even put some additional hair on my head so my receding hairline wasn’t so pronounced, but I had to look somewhat like I look in real life.

            While it is great to have a few minor defects Photoshopped out of a family portrait, I’m afraid that many of us who follow Jesus Christ too often portray a life to others that is a little too perfect, a little to all-together and full of faith and confidence in God.  It’s not our real life.  It’s our edited, air-brushed, Photoshopped life.

I have actually had people say to me that if the people in church really knew what they were like, they knew that they would be rejected and nobody would want them around.  So week after week they project an image of themselves to others that they hope won’t get rejected.  The problem with that is, you can’t really move forward to find help, healing and wholeness if you only let people see an image of the real you.

            We have become very good at hiding our blemishes, our pain, our problems, and the hidden parts of our lives where we wrestle with our private “demons”.  Too many of us only allow people to see our Photoshopped lives.  We smile and say, “Praise the Lord.  God has been so good to me”, while on the inside we are hurting so bad we could hardly get ourselves in the church door.  The depression, the alcohol abuse, the pressures of parenting or caring for an aging loved one, the thoughts of suicide, the sexual brokenness are never shown, not talked about.  We wouldn’t dare let the people at church see that!

We come to church in pain and often leave without one small touch of grace to our hurts.  We know God sees our deep dark inside and we pray for His help and touch, and He does respond.  I’m absolutely confident that He does.  But the help that we need, the help that God wants us to receive usually comes from others.  It comes about when we allow people to see our imperfect lives and allow them to help us walk through our messes and hurts.

            My desire, and I hope your desire, is that we leave our Photoshopped lives at the door when we walk into our church.  No one’s life is perfect; we all have blemishes, pains, problems, and private “demons”.  I do.  I would hope the safest place to bring them out into the open is the church. 

            Yes it’s a risk, but there is great reward when we find that others care and understand and are willing to journey with us.  James 5:16 says, “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”  Let me paraphrase this verse, “Expose your blemishes, pains, problems, and private ‘demons’ to one another and pray for each other so that you may be able to walk into healing and wholeness.”

 

            I still love my Photoshopped family portrait.  I’m glad the blemishes, stray hairs and wrinkles are gone.  But let’s leave our nicely edited, air-brushed, Photoshopped lives outside of the door of our churches so we can move toward real healing.

I Am Just A Speck

   I was thinking about how large God is. And then I was thinking about how small I am. I mean, I am just a speck. And God cares about me, a speck. I don't care about specs that are around me.  I don’t  care about the ants in my yard or the pieces of dust floating in the air. Sometimes I don’t even care about other human beings the way God cares about me. Compared to him I'm nothing more than a piece of dust, probably even smaller, yet he cares passionately about me, a speck.

I'm nothing more than a piece of dust and yet God
cares passionately about me, a speck.

   Why and how he loves me is baffling and overwhelming. He created everything so big, and He is larger. And yet He loves specks. Wow!

   I was thinking about Jesus and how he would hang around sinners and the disreputable people. I wondered how that made them feel.  Then I thought about the whole high school situation where sometimes “jocks” hang out with “losers” and how that makes the “losers” feel.  I thought an illustration like that would be a good opening story for a sermon sometime.

 

   Then I thought about the God of the universe hanging around with me and how that made me feel. Maybe it's not an illustration for a sermon.  It's  a story for me and maybe a story for you too.  I sometimes feel like a “loser”, yet God hangs out with me because He wants to, He likes me, He loves me.  That makes me feel great!

A High-Flying Christian Life

     From time to time you hear about a plane that crashes and before the crash the pilot radios in that they have lost all power and are going down. When a plane loses all power it will not stay up, it has to go down. In a good scenario the pilot is able to glide the plane down to safety, but more often than not the plane crashes because there was no power to control it any longer. But whether it is able to

Whether it is able to glide in or it crashes, one thing is
certain, a plane without power is going down.

glide in or it crashes, one thing is certain, a plane without power is going down.

     The same thing takes place with our spiritual lives. We need to have power to stay flying. If our fuel source gets cut off, we will begin to decline – it is inevitable. The longer your spiritual life is without fuel the faster you go down and the harder it is to get back up again. It is easier to maintain a vital Christian life then it is to reinvigorate one.

     Here’s the devil’s tactic – he works hard to cut you off from your fuel source. He doesn’t even have to attack you, he just has to get you to stop feeding your spiritual life and you will begin to decline – it is inevitable.

     So what is the fuel source for Christ followers? Where does our power come from? Here are four primary sources of fuel for a Christian. 

     First is regularly reading the Word of God. This should be a daily practice. A regular, systematic Bible-reading plan is vital for a high-flying Christian life. Jesus said, “Man shall not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Elsewhere in Scripture the Word of God is called spiritual milk and in another place meat, each a reference to something that feeds us.

     Next is daily prayer. Communication with the Father through prayer not only feeds our spirit it helps to keep our relationship with our heavenly Father vital. Jesus said in his sermon, that we call The Sermon on the Mount, “when you pray, pray like this”. There is no “if you pray”, it is “when you pray”. Jesus understood we needed to keep ourselves fueled and strong through prayer.

     Third is weekly, twice a week is better, corporate worship and teaching at your local church. Way too many people think that they can have a strong and vital Christian life and not be a part of a local church – you can’t. The Bible says in Hebrews that we should “not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing”. It’s interesting that even in the first century people who were Christ followers had to be encouraged to meet for worship. High-flying, vital Christians are in worship services at least once a week.

     Fourth is relationships with other Christ followers. There is great strength gained from the prayers, encouragement, and support of other believers. A Christian life lived without them will never be high-flying.

     Check your power; check your spiritual fuel gauge – how are you doing? Is reading the Word of God and praying a daily part of your life? How about weekly worship and regular time spent with other believers? How you answer these questions will give you a quick and pretty accurate picture of whether your life has the power to stay aloft or whether you are on the way down.

     Disagree if you want, but I’ve been following Jesus for almost 40 years and I know from my own life and from observing hundreds of other lives that these four things are vital to fuel and feed our spirits. You either have power and your spiritual life is flying or the power is cut off and you are going down. That’s reality.

     Is something keeping you cut off from your fuel source? Is it busyness, negative circumstances, hurt, laziness, sin, relationships that pull you away? You have to choose to stay fed and fueled because if you don’t, just like a plane that has lost power, you will go down. If you are fueled up and flying high, keep it up. A high-flying Christian life is the greatest kind to have!

What’s Happening To Our Children?

The following is an article that I wrote that ran in the January 4th issue of "The Republic" Columbus' daily newspaper. Since many of you who read this blog do not live in Columbus or do not read our local paper I am running the article as part of my blog.

          “How do we keep our young people faithful to the church after they leave home?” Local ministers were asked this question during the final session of the World Religions seminar conducted at a local public library in which I was a panel member.  It was an excellent question and showed a deep concern for the loss of influence the church is having on teens and young adults.

            The panel answered the question from the perspective of what churches can do to keep our young people faithful.  When it was my turn to speak to the question I shared what my friend, Rev. Owen C. Carr says, “We don’t lose young people from our churches. We lose them when they’re children, they can’t leave until they’re teens.” 

Churches should do everything they can to inspire and connect children and teens to Jesus.  Churches must change, innovate and become relevant to our children and youth if we want to increase the odds that they will remain faithful as young adults. But the church is only a small part of the equation, and not even the most important one.  The primary factor in a young person’s desire for God, the church and the things of God is not the church.  It is parents!

            Ron Lee Davis in a talk entitled, “Introducing Christ to Your Child”, made this statement, “An elder statesman of a Christian church has devoted himself to a fifty-year study of Christian and non-Christian families.  He says that in American culture today, most young adults following Jesus Christ either come from non-Christian homes where they were converted to Christ in their teenage years through a dynamic youth ministry, or they come from homes where they grew up in love with Jesus because mom and dad were so in love with Jesus that His love permeated their lives.  It passed through their pores.  Very few believers come from homes where there was a kind of indifferent, apathetic commitment to Christ.”

            “This is not my idea,” says Davis.  “This is the result of this study.  It is sobering and thought provoking to suggest that, in American culture, the chances are better for a child growing up in a non-Christian home to become a Christian than for a child growing up in a home that has an indifferent, apathetic commitment to Jesus Christ.”

            Parents, if you are concerned about whether your children will remain faithful to Jesus, stay connected to the church, and have an eternal home in heaven -- make certain you are fully-devoted to Jesus Christ yourself and passionate about your faith.

            Warren Mueller writing in Leadership magazine noted this about children and church attendance, “A study once disclosed that if both Mom and Dad attend church regularly, 72 percent of their children remain faithful in attendance.  If only Dad attends regularly, 55 percent remain faithful.  If only Mom attends regularly, 15 percent remain faithful.  If neither attend regularly, only 6 percent remain faithful.”

            My friend, Rev. Terry Yancey, Superintendent of the Kansas District of the Assemblies of God, when he ministered to teens would often address them with words like these, “If you don’t know how to get to heaven, I’m going there.  Put your eyes on the back of my neck and follow me.  Do what I do, watch what I watch, pray like I pray, live for Jesus the way I live for Jesus.  Follow me, imitate me and we’ll get to heaven together.”  Mom, dad, could you speak words like these to your own children or are you expecting the church, the pastor, the youth sponsor or the children’s director to be the ones your children are supposed to follow if they want to learn how to get to heaven?  Your children will first follow you and then those in the church.  As Rev. John C. Maxwell says, “You teach what you know, you reproduce what you are.”

What are you reproducing in your children in regard to God and the church -- apathetic, half-hearted devotion, or vital, living faith?  The burden rests primarily not on the church’s shoulders, but on yours.  Let’s partner together to hold on to our children.

 

You Are Worthy

            Phillip Yancey in his book Reaching for the Invisible God recounts this story.

            Rosemary had a rag doll.  It was her favorite doll and Rosemary went nowhere without it.  The doll went from new and clean to dirty and threadbare -- but it was the most precious of all of Rosemary’s possessions.  Like Linus and his blanket, Rosemary could not bear to face life without her rag doll.

            When Rosemary’s family moved from Scotland to America, each family member carefully

Like Linus and his blanket,
Rosemary could not bear to face life
without her rag doll.

selected what possessions to bring along.  Rosemary chose just one thing: her rag doll.  It did not get packed; it was to stay with her on the trip.  But things took a turn for the worse.  Somehow, in the airport, Rosemary misplaced her rag doll.

 

            The family began a search, retracing their steps.  “Rosemary, do you remember where you may have laid her down?”, was asked time and time again.  Skycaps, ticket agents and restroom attendants were all asked if they had seen a rag doll.  Rosemary became so distraught at the loss of the doll that the family considered postponing their flight.  Time was passing.  Nothing else mattered right now because Rosemary’s rag doll was missing.

            Finally the doll was located. As soon as it was placed in her arms Rosemary became calm.  Onlookers were wondering why an old doll had such value, why parents would run all over an airport and possibly postpone a flight because of a dirty threadbare rag doll.  In one sense they would have been right. The doll had no worth in itself; but it had much worth in the girl’s eyes.

            You see, some things are loved because they are worthy; some things are worthy because they are loved.  Gorgeous super-models, gifted athletes, brilliant scientist, priceless works of art, talented actors -- they are loved because of their inherent worth or ability.  But there are many things, like the rag doll, that have great worth, not because of some intrinsic value, but because they are loved. 

            That’s the way it is with God’s love, and I am thankful for that.  God’s love is not based on our worth; and honestly I am not worthy to be loved by God.  Before He entered my life I was filled with sin, and even now after walking with Him for over 35 years, I still sin, mess up, fall and fail -- yet I am still loved.  Some things are loved because they are worthy and some things are worthy because they are loved – you and I fit into the latter category.  St. Augustine said of God, “By loving the unlovable, You made me loveable.”

            In a nutshell that is the story of Jesus.  God loved people so much that He came to earth and was born of a virgin named Mary.  He loved people that were full of sin and fear, who were selfish and unloving, who had little if any value in themselves and because of the great love He had for all of us, He gave us eternal value.  He gave us worth.

            Some things are loved because they are worthy; some things are worthy because they are loved.  God loves you; you are worthy.

Is God Disappointed In Me?

From time to time (for me quite often) we fail to measure up to what God would have us to be and do.  These are the times that I feel like God is disappointed in me.  But recently I was challenged by something I read that God is not disappointed in me, He is disappointed for me.

God is not disappointed in me, He is
disappointed for me.

When I thought about that statement it made a lot of sense to me as a father.  I have three grown children.  As I watched each of them grow I could see so much potential.  Whether the potential was athletic, academic, social, musical, technical, leadership, spiritual they each had wonderful abilities and potential. 

 

But like all people, at times they failed to measure up to their potential.  It may have been because of fear, stubbornness, laziness, even rebellion and sin but in each case my disappointment was more about what they missed out on, or I was disappointed at the unnecessary pain they caused themselves.  I was disappointed for them not in them.  I felt pain because they did not measure up to what they could be.

That’s the way that God sees us when we fail to measure up because of fear, stubbornness, laziness, even rebellion and sin.  He feels pain because we could be more.  But He is not disappointed in us.  He never withholds His love and His mercy and grace.  But He is disappointed for us, desiring us to be what he sees we can be if we will obey and trust and rely on Him.

Knowing that even though I have not measured up my Father is not disappointed in me makes it so much easier to relate to Him and come to Him in my brokenness.  I can come to someone who is disappointed for me and not in me.  That’s my Father and He is yours also.

Pride Is Rising - Watch Out

I was challenged this week by something I read in the book, "Secrets of the Secret Place" by Bob Sorge.  He said, "Humility is the foundation of all prayer." and "Prayerlessness is the first sign of

I don't "feel" prideful. But my feelings are the
wrong criteria.

prideful independence."  Ouch!  I don't feel prideful, but Sorge is right.  My lack of prayer shows that pride is rising up in my life.  It doesn't matter that I don't "feel" prideful, my actions demonstrate that I can get by without God and that is pride.

Prayerlessness sneaks in so subtly. Busyness, obligations, ministry requirements and opportunities, interruptions, study time - weeks get full very quickly and prayer gets marginalized.  No big deal, right?  I'll pray more tomorrow and anyway God understands.  I don't deny that He does understand but do I understand what my prayerlessness is really saying?  It says I can get by without spending time with the Father.  It really is the first sign of prideful independence.

And so I lay aside some of those pressing things. I decide not to do that fun activity, Bejeweled Blitz. I lay them aside so I can spend some time with the Father reminding myself that I REALLY, REALLY do need Him.

The Blessing or Curse of Friendships

I heard the following statements recently.  They have stayed with me and so I'm passing them on to you.

Friends will influence you for good or for bad,
so choose your friendships wisely.

When God wants to bless your life and future, how does He do it?  He sends people into your life.

When the devil wants to destroy your life and future, how does he do it?  He sends people into your life.

 

But don't forget, we are the ones who choose which people we will open the door of our heart to.  We also choose how far into our lives we will allow them to come.  God's blessing through friendship becomes our choice.  The devil's destruction through friendship becomes our choice.

 

Wisdom and discernment are needed with every relationship we have.  Our enemy is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devourer and one of his most effective tools is sending people to capture our hearts, our emotions, our imaginations and our very lives – messengers disguised as “angels of light” and wolves in sheep’s clothing is how the Bible describes people that he sends.  Watch out!

Friends will influence you for good or for bad, so choose your friendships wisely.

A Self-Made Prison

An acquaintance of mine, Ben Madison, once told this story (names have been changed).  He was at an airport waiting for a connecting flight.  He noticed a man who seemed to be staring at him.  He ignored it but the man kept staring.  The man finally approached him and asked rather rudely if his name was Ben Madison.  My friend said he was and the man angrily proceeded to tell him that he had ruined his life and his family.  Ben was startled by not only the accusation, but by the man’s rage.

"I can't believe you don't remember me or what you did to us!"

Ben said, “Sir, I’m not certain that I know you, let alone ruined your life.”  At this the man was even more angered.  “My name is Dwight Ferguson.  I can’t believe you don’t remember me and what you did to us!”  Dwight went on to say that when Ben was the principal of a Christian school 11 years ago in another city, he had expelled Dwight’s son from the school. It hurt him and his wife deeply that their son would be expelled and he vowed never to forgiven Ben.  Someday he had hoped and prayed to run into Ben and let him know the years of pain he had endured in being so embarrassed by having a son expelled and how he had hated Ben all these years.  

That day had arrived and Dwight went on and on pouring his anger and pain on Ben.  He was drawing quite a few stares from onlookers.  Ben’s flight was finally called and he apologized to the man and quickly boarded his flight glad to be away for the man’s anger and ranting.

Ben thought and thought about this on the plane and vaguely remembered the incident that had taken place so many years ago.  Ben remembered that the boy had been a problem in the school and had been given a number of chances. However the incident that required the expulsion was clearly spelled out in the student handbook and was of the type that Ben had no choice but to expel him.

Ben went on and said something that has stuck with me.  He said that it really saddened him to think that for 11 years Dwight had been imprisoned by his own hatred and bitterness hoping for and wishing harm on Ben and waiting for the day that he could confront him.  But every day for 11 years Ben had never thought about the incident.

That is the power of unforgiveness.  It robs the person holding it.  It steals joy, peace, and sleep.  It eats away at our insides like an acid.  Yet the person we are holding unforgiveness and bitterness towards may not even remember us or the incident.  We are in prison and they are walking around free.

Ben said he was glad he always worked hard to forgive all who had ever offended or hurt him and he encouraged me to do the same.  It has stuck with me.  I never want to be in a self-made prison like Dwight was.  But I have to work on it.  Many things come my way that try to lodge in my heart and sometimes they succeed for a season.  But when I realize what I am doing, I choose to work through them and avoid putting myself in a self-made prison. 

It is said, “Bitterness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.”  I also recently heard it said, “When you forgive someone, you set a prisoner free – yourself.”  Good words to ponder.

 

(This post was also submitted  to The Republic, Columbus Indiana's local newspaper and they recently ran it.)

Turn Off The Noise!

A major source of weakness in my ability to
hear from God is that I don’t unplug,
I don’t turn off the noise or get
away from the distractions.

I am reading the book of Acts right now in my Bible reading plan and came across the passage in Acts 10 where Cornelius is praying at the ninth hour (3:00 PM) and is visited by an angel.  It occurred to me that in Acts 3 it said that Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour and that is when the man, lame from birth, was healed.

Later in Acts 10, Peter is on the roof of the house at the sixth hour (Noon) and receives the vision of the sheet and the unclean animals being lowered from heaven. The Lord speaks to him about what not to call unclean and this leads to the Gentiles receiving Jesus and being Baptized in the Holy Spirit.

In Acts 2 the Holy Spirit is first poured out at the third hour (9:00 AM).

Powerful miracles, powerful messages, powerful encounters with God and angels and all of them mention the time of day these took place.  My mind started looking for a pattern, the sixth hour, the ninth hour, or the third hour – was there something in common?  And then I saw it.  It was not the time of day; it was that in each of these instances the people had taken the time to separate themselves from the noise and busyness of life and pray. 

Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour – the hour of prayer.  Cornelius was praying at the ninth hour, Peter was on the rooftop at noon praying.  The group in Acts 2 was in the upper room several days after Jesus ascended into heaven.  It says in Acts 1 that they were devoting themselves to prayer.  They had set aside time for prayer.  The inference in the Scripture was that this was a pattern for each of these people; they often set time aside to be alone with God, and God visited them during these times.

A major source of weakness in my ability to hear from God is that I don’t unplug, I don’t turn off the noise or get away from the distractions.  And because I don’t, my mind and spirit do not easily connect with God.

We need to stop fooling ourselves that the devotions we have with our phone, computer, or tablet at our side are effective unless we really have them off, or unplugged from all of our aps. 

I am reading my Bible on my tablet and a message pops up at the top.  It is a text, email, or Facebook message from someone.  I see it.  It distracts me and so I switch from the Bible and respond.

I’m in prayer with my phone on my belt and I get the familiar chime or vibration that I have a text or email.  It distracts me.  I get the phone out to see what someone needs and I respond. 

I’m in prayer or I’m reading and I remember something that I wanted to check on the web.  So I get out my phone to look something up.  Then I see I have two aps that need updating and I have 10 Facebook notifications and I have a free spin for coins on my game and once again my focus is switched and I am distracted and I usually take care of all of these things (because they only take a minute and if I don’t take care of them now I’ll forget) and 10 or even 20 minutes later I get back to prayer or Bible reading.  Of course now I only have a couple of minutes left before my next appointment.  

Each time something like this happens I break the connection with the Word or with the Father in prayer. The connection that I may have had with the Father or His Word is gone.  Each distraction, each broken connection weakens my spiritual life.  But it is so subtle or to such a small degree that I don't really notice and so I don't make changes.  And I get spiritually weaker and weaker.

My concern is that as believers our devises are keeping us from hearing what the Lord is speaking because they are constantly a source of distraction.

Here is something I have discovered.  Sometimes God speaks to me when I am seeking him about a problem or issue. More often God speaks to me when I have taken time to quiet myself in prayer and Bible reading. These are usually the most powerful and insightful encounters but they are happening less and less because I have not taken the time to silence the noise in my life, to unplug from the distraction.

Here is my appeal – turn off the noise, get unplugged.  God is speaking, we are not hearing Him because we are distracted and our minds and spirits cannot get in tune with His voice.  I am choosing to turn off the noise, to have my devotions with devises set aside or turned off.  It is what I need to do.

The days we live in require that I hear the voice of the Father so that I can obey the voice of my Father. My I challenge each one reading this to do the same.

Verify, Please Verify!

My mother recently gave me a prayer by Billy Graham.  It was entitled Billy Graham’s Prayer for Our Nation.  It was a pretty powerful prayer.  She had cut it out of a publication, probably a church bulletin, and kept it. She passed it on to me this past weekend when I had gone home for a visit.

I was going to post the prayer on Facebook and on my blog because I liked what was said in the prayer, but something didn’t feel right about it.  It just didn’t sound like Rev. Graham.  It wasn’t something that I could put my finger on, but I decided to do some checking.  

A quick Google search – Billy Graham’s Prayer for Our Nation - brought up lots of hits, and then I saw one for Snoops.com.  If you aren’t familiar with Snoops.com, it is a site that investigates thousands of emails and Facebook posts that go around, verifying accuracy. 

And guess what, there was a Billy Graham’s Prayer for Our Nation.  But Billy had never prayed it.  It was also called Paul Harvey’s Prayer.  But Paul never prayed it either. 

So why does a church publish a prayer supposedly by Billy Graham in its bulletin? Because they didn’t verify.  I’m certain the pastor or secretary of the church received an email, Facebook or Instagram posting of the prayer and thought it was so good that they used it in their church’s bulletin.  No harm done, right?  I’m not so sure.  When a church, a teacher, a leader, a pastor or other professional prints, forwards, or sends something like this, it lends greater credibility and is more quickly passed on as true, because obviously a church or teacher or pastor or leader wouldn’t pass on something that wasn’t true. 

I’m certain that the church that published the prayer, that my mother cut out, got it from a source that they thought was reliable, and so they passed it on.  But nowadays every one of us needs to verify before we post or forward or tweet or print.  There is way, way too much stuff being passed around that is completely false, but the people forwarding, or posting never check because we assume someone did. 

Please don’t think that I am some kind of great guy because I checked before passing on that prayer.  I have passed on other things or used in a sermon a story or illustration that I either heard or read that I later found out was a total fabrication.  One was the story of the hitchhiker that turned out to be an angel.  The story goes that a man picks up a hitchhiker and as they are driving down the road, the hitchhiker states that Jesus was coming again real soon and then disappears.   

I had heard the story and used it in a sermon and I was considering using the story again.  This time I decided to check first, and lo and behold this story had been circulating in various forms for years and those who investigated could not find one person who had ever actually picked up a hitchhiking angel warning about the soon coming of Jesus.  Maybe it happened someplace at some time, but it could not be verified.  So I dropped the story from the sermon. 

Another was the story of the Houston, Texas police department putting out a pamphlet, “12 Steps to Raising a Juvenile Delinquent.”  I had read this in a book and was going to use it in a parenting message.  I couldn’t remember what book it was in, so I did a Google search.  I didn’t specifically go online to verify that the police department had published it.  I assumed they had since I had read it in a book.   

I found the “12 Steps” list easily online, but I also discovered that the Houston Police Department has been trying to distance itself from this for years.  They claimed, at that time, to have never issued a pamphlet like this and would never have done so.  I quickly dropped the illustration from my sermon even though it was great for the point I was trying to make. 

However in rechecking today on Snoops.com, the police department has changed the story again.  It seems that the story of a pamphlet supposedly from them has been going around since 1959.  They are now saying that it is possible that someone from their department may have actually come up with that list but did not claim authorship.  To read the entire story on this, click this link. http://www.snopes.com/glurge/12rules.asp 

What’s my point, simple – verify before you post, forward, print, tweet or re-tweet.  As believers let’s not pass around stuff that sounds great, or brings tears to our eyes, or makes us mad if we haven’t verified the facts.  If you are a church, business or community leader it is more important that you verify.

 

Going back to the Billy Graham prayer; it is an actual prayer, not prayed by Billy Graham or Paul Harvey but by a Pastor from Kansas.  The reason the prayer rang a bell for me was that I remember the controversy that surrounded the prayer when it really was prayed before the Kansas House of Representatives by Rev. Joe White back in 1996.  It is a powerful prayer and some claim that Rev. White seemed to go beyond praying to meddling on the day he prayed it at the opening session of the Kansas House of Representatives.  Even Rev. White’s prayer was not totally his own but an adaptation of a prayer written in 1995 by Bob Russell, who offered it at the Kentucky Governor’s Prayer Breakfast in Frankford.  I’ve printed the prayer here and also enclosed a link to Snoops.com for the complete story.  

Just remember all of you who have an online presence, and that is most of you, verify before you forward, or email, or re-tweet, or however else you pass on stuff.  It does take time, but at least we can be certain that the story, or quote or prayer is real. 

A Prayer For Repentance

Heavenly Father, we come before You today to ask Your forgiveness and seek Your direction and guidance.

We know Your word says, “Woe to those who call evil good,” but that’s exactly what we’ve done.

We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.

We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it moral pluralism.

We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.

We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.

We have neglected the needy and called it self- preservation.

We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.

We have killed our unborn and called it choice.

We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building esteem.

We have abused power and called it political savvy.

We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition.

We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, O God, and know our hearts today; try us and see if there be some wicked way in us; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.

Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of Kansas, and who have been ordained by You, to govern this great state.

Grant them Your wisdom to rule and may their decisions direct us to the center of Your will.  I ask it in the name of Your Son, the living Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Amen

http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/prayernation.asp

 

Telling Children About Hell - Is It A Good Idea?

The knowledge of hell may just be a deterrent to activities
that would be physically, emotionally and spiritually
disastrous to us. 

“I was very depressed after my parents broke up.  I really thought about suicide, but I never tried.  I was afraid I would go to hell.”

That’s what a young 20 something man told me on a camping trip many years ago.  We were sharing about our lives as we were hiking one afternoon.  He told me about his teen years and the struggles that he had, especially with his father’s affair and then his parent’s divorce.  Depression became a constant companion and he even went through some professional counseling.

After he went to college he became a Christ follower through a campus ministry and his life was transformed.  As a child his family attended church regularly but neither of his parents had a personal relationship with Jesus.  Church for them was social and the thing that upstanding citizens in the community did.  It was also good for business as this was the church the business leaders of the community attended. He was taken to Sunday school and through the dedicated instruction of men and women; he learned some things about God and the afterlife.

I was surprising at the impact of what he learned about hell as a child, because his awareness of hell was the thing that kept him from taking his own life.  Because he didn’t take his own life God was finally able to get ahold of his life and transform him.  He went on and developed a passion for Jesus, for church, and for helping other young adults come to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

There are many who struggle with talking about hell, especially to children, because of the possibility that it might frighten them.  Maybe we should rethink that.  The knowledge of hell may just be a deterrent to activities that would be physically, emotionally and spiritually disastrous to them.  There is a verse in the Old Testament book of Proverbs.  It says, “Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction.”  Proverbs 29:18  Let’s not be afraid to teach our children the truth about eternity, the truth about hell and the truth about what is necessary to avoid going there.

Also thank you dedicated Sunday School and children’s workers for your investment in the lives of children.  What you teach does get into their hearts.  You may not see the results now, but at least one man did not commit suicide and lived to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ because someone taught him about hell.