Can You Understand Your Way?

Well, the power is out at work so I thought I'd write a little...

A man’s steps are from the Lord; how then can man understand his way?

Lately this Scripture has brought me comfort. Though, implied is the fact that you will be feeling discomfort in order for this verse to bring you comfort.

Ha.

Funny ;)

The reference is from Proverbs 20:24. On the surface it makes sense - that we won't necessarily understand life's ups and downs, changes, sames, and so on... If God is directing our steps, how then can we as finite beings understand or grasp His infinite wisdom in how He directs?

However, the discomforting reality is that we WON'T understand.

That's hard.

At least for me.

Maybe those with greater faith never have a problem with not understanding, but not understanding is difficult for me. So many questions...

What about...?

How long...?

How does this fit...?

Am I missing You Lord...?

Are you really directing my steps...?

I guess this is where trust comes in. I don't have to understand, but I do need to trust....

Trust in Him and lean not on my own understanding.

Trust that all things work or good for those who love Him.

Trust that HE IS directing my steps.

And if I'm off track? If I've made a mistake or missed Him? Trust that He will guide me back on track. His track.

Lord, I don't understand my steps, but you have said that I won't necessarily understand when You are the One in control. Teach me to trust You more. Teach me to walk one day at a time and trust the "why's" of life to Your infinite wisdom. And help me to trust that if I'm off track, if I seek you and trust you and don't depend on my understanding, you will direct my steps. I want to stay close to You no matter what. You are enough. Amen.

Christmas Play

The kids and I went to a local Christmas play put on at a neighboring church last night. We had a lot of fun sitting on te front row, eating an watching the production. We laughed and were able to reflect on the coming and life of Jesus that we celebrate this time of year. And, mom got to stay back and have some rest time with little Noah!

It's A Boy!

Wow, what a busy season! We brought baby Noah home last Saturday after a beautiful labor and delivery. Liz wasn't planning for a water birth but that's how it happened...

We feel so blessed to have our 7th child with us now. He and momma are doing wonderfully!

In the mean time, Daddy and the kids have been on meal/clean/laundry/all-things-momma-related duty. We are trying our best but falling way short of Moms abilities :) here are some efforts....

Dish crew

Pasta! Turned out yummy!

Pancakes! Loved making this breakfast

Note: you learn to really appreciate all your wife does and juggles when you're put in her role and can't fill her shoes! And I'm not even trying to homeschool while doing all this!

Liz and my view while catching a few moments together at the end of the day.

Finally, we covet prayers as the 24 hr bug seems to be making its way through some of the kids this week. We're hoping for a short 24hrs and it skips over some of us, in Jesus' Name!

It seems life is sometimes coupled with incredible blessing and difficulty at the same time. With a healthy new baby boy and a beautiful new place in the country, we are also experiencing some sickness and significant business challenges. I and we are learning to take things one day at a time, to fix our eyes on Him, and thank Him no matter what is going on.

Faith is rising above feelings and what we see to walk by what we don't see. That is easier said than done, especially when the challenges seem greatest. But God is giving us His grace to walk through all things with Him, and He is doing a good work in us through the smiles and tears.

So thankful - or practicing thankfulness :) For the blessings AND the challenges.

Sunday Schedules

As we've moved out to the country, we are starting to form new habits and get used to a new schedule. One thing we are getting used to is that a trip into town is not so easy as before. :) So, when we go into town for church service on Sunday, we have been using that time to do some grocery shopping for the week...

A Family Staple For Groceries

Curious George On The TV While Mom Shops

The basic idea so far: the kids and I stay in the truck and watch a movie/nap while mom gets the groceries. Seems to be working so far!

And while we were in town we were able to get our Christmas tree for this year....

Working On Decorating Last Night

It's not the most relaxing way to spend a Sunday, but it's working so far, and it's making some good memories I think.

Of course, Christmas tree decorating at the end of the night is always a great way to make memories!

The Journey (The Chapel 2/16/14)

The Journey

We are all on a journey. The Christian life. The life of following Jesus.

Thoughts for the journey...

1) It is a journey.
I love road trips... I love the process of getting there. Sometimes I want to hustle right to the destination.
Its a process. The destination isn't reached in one day, or one sermon, or one month, year, etc. It takes time. High highs, low lows. Rejoice with those who rejoice...

Striving for perfection. It is a process. Romans 12 Renewal of our minds.

Philippians 1:9-10 ESV
And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,

1 Thessalonians 5:23 ESV sanctification
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Philippians 3:12-14 ESV
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Are you not satisfied with your walk? Be thankful. The dissatisfaction you may feel in your heart could be the very desire God birthed to bring you to Himself. Be thankful you are dissatisfied as it would be horrible to be sitting in a pew each Sunday far from God and not caring. There may have been a time in your life where you didn't care... isn't it great that you care now?! Brother Boniface.

Enjoy the process. Enjoy the journey. Take time to look around at the scenery and appreciate where you have come in your walk with Him. Remember and be encouraged by the fact that this is a journey.

2) Part of the journey is self-discovery.
Man doesn't even know His own heart. The heart is deceitful and wicked. But God knows our heart and He tests it.

Jeremiah 17:9-10 ESV
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?   “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
Jeremiah 17:9 NLT
“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?

Proverbs 17:3 ESV
The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the Lord tests hearts.

Our heart is a vast landscape that we do not even understand. There are peaks and valleys and hidden places that only God sees and we ourselves don't recognize. There are unexplored territories that we have never visited, but they are clear and visible to the Lord. He has always seen them and is familiar with them.

What the Lord has been revealing in me...
motives behind seemingly godly desires on the outside. Desires that when looked at under the surface are evil and self-seeking. Desires for my glory and not His, though I proclaimed them as godly. My selfish desires were motivating so much of my life.
Yuck. And God sees it all
It said that it took God days to bring them out of egypt, but 40 years to get Egypt out of them so they could occupy the promised land.

3) Everyone around you is on a journey too.
Are you patient with the process or journey of others? Just as they need to be patient with you?
Paul talks about how we are at different places in our journey with the Lord.

Galatians 6:2 ESV
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Do we criticize each others shortcomings or praise the areas of growth?

Romans 14:1 ESV
As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.

Romans 15:1-2, 5-6 ESV
We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

4) Are you willing to let God have His way in the journey?
Are you willing to get into the trunk and put Jesus in the drivers seat?

5) We don't go it alone.

Its nice to know that we don't go it alone.

He has promised He will never leave us or forsake us. It puts me at peace knowing that I am in His hands and nothing can snatch me out of His hands.

Hebrews 13:5 ESV
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

John 10:28-30 ESV
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.  I and the Father are one.”

Exploring the Mansions

As I start a new year, I am so excited and thankful to begin with this book again... I do not say this lightly - a life-changing read.

December 29, 2013 Teaching Notes at The Chapel at Somerset

Here are the notes I had in preparing to preach this morning. I enjoyed studying this portion of Scripture with the Lord, hopefully the message was helpful for those who were there today...

New Year is quickly approaching
- reflection
- dreaming
- resolutions

Ecclesiastes 5:1-3 AMP (read through once first)

1 KEEP YOUR foot [give your mind to what you are doing] when you go [as Jacob to sacred Bethel] to the house of God. For to draw near to hear and obey is better than to give the sacrifice of fools [carelessly, irreverently] too ignorant to know that they are doing evil. [Gen. 35:1-4; Exod. 3:5.]

Ecclesiastes 5:1 NLT
...It is evil to make mindless offerings to God.

2 Be not rash with your mouth, and let not your heart be hasty to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven, and you are on earth; therefore let your words be few.

Ecclesiastes 5:2 NASB
Do not be hasty in word or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God...

3 For a dream comes with much business and painful effort, and a fool's voice with many words.


Go back through the Scripture now slower to teach...


Hear and obey...
Position of humility. Proper position before the Lord of all. Right way to approach the Lord.
We've gotten too casual in our approach to Him, even on how we think about Who He is.

Careless, irreverant, mindless offerings...
Hasty in word, impulsive in thought...

Mindlessly going to God.
That is the picture in my mind of how we communicate with God often. Talking at Him, but missing Him. He is there, but we are not engaged. Like someone walking in on an existing conversation and blabbing whatever without care to what's already happening. Do you know what is happening?? He is forever worshipped.

Like talking at our spouse but never listening. Its not conversing and it will sap your intimacy. You don't really know who you are talking at! You don't take time to listen!

To just come and babble without much awareness of your words reveals your immaturity and possibly your problem. In other words, by how you are approaching Him you think God is someone that He isnt. You think He is here for you. When He isn't. You are Here for Him. And if you thought more accurately of the Lord and who He really is, you may not even have the very problem you are coming to Him with! Like a whiny 2 year old who things he deserves something that he doesn't. He thinks He's being wronged or not cared for when He is actually revealing His selfishness and His lack of uderstanding the bigger picture!


For God is in heaven, and you are on earth...

But wait, He calls me friend! Yes, He calls you. You don't call Him. Ask John about that in revelation. Ask the 24 elders around the throne. He is still God and you are not.

John 15:14 NASB
You are My friends if you do what I command you.

Notice there is a requirement of Him calling us friends. He commands, we obey.

Colossians 1:15-20 NLT
In case you have forgotten......

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ's blood on the cross.

Yes, HE calls YOU friend.

Let your words be few...

There is such benefit in our walk with the Lord to being still, coming reverantly and quietly, and listening to obey. We remind ourselves of who He is and who we are not. Let Him speak if He wants, and let our words be few. And I believe we will find what we need through less mindless talking and deeper, more mature communion.

End in NLT version...

Ecclesiastes 5:1-3 NLT
As you enter the house of God, keep your ears open and your mouth shut. It is evil to make mindless offerings to God. Don't make rash promises, and don't be hasty in bringing matters before God. After all, God is in heaven, and you are here on earth. So let your words be few. Too much activity gives you restless dreams; too many words make you a fool.