A Whirlwind of Change

The last few weeks have been full of change for the Grisham family. I began my real estate classes at the beginning of July, and passed my exam a little over a week ago. Some have asked why I'm going into real estate. The answer is that I've actually been in real estate for a few years now. A year after moving to Memphis I started working in the mortgage industry. Unfortunately, just as I was getting going the housing industry was falling apart, so I got out of it. Through that, though, I caught the real estate bug, and I've been dabbling in it since that time. So it just made sense to make it a little more official and go ahead and get licensed. I hope to help my friends (and friends of my friends) buy or sell their homes, but I also plan to get more involved in the investment side of real estate. As soon as all of the paperwork goes through (a week or so), I'll begin working with Revid Realty here in Midtown.

As if that were not enough to write about, here are a few more changes. First, Mandy has gone back to teaching. We were planning on her taking one more year away from the classroom, but a job opened up at Vollentine Elementary School, which is located in the northern part of Midtown. My friend Matthew Watson is helping his church, Living Hope, plant a church in that neighborhood, and they are already official adopters of this school. God has opened several doors that have led us to take this step.

This meant that we had to find a place for Micah. Adam is starting Kindergarten next week (another BIG change), but we now needed daycare for Micah. My mom will be with him one day a week, I'll be with him another, and three days a week he'll be at Union Avenue's daycare, which, if you didn't know, is located one floor down from my office. They gave us an amazing discount, which is the only way we would have been able to enroll him there. Yet another door opened by God.

These are the stories we mustn't forget. We have to tell them to our children. We have to remind them that God is active in our lives, that He has plans for us, and when we are faithful to take them, He guides and directs our steps. After all, He is quite good at opening doors that seem to be closed!

This is a difficult transition for Mandy. She is going to miss being at home with the boys. We know that they are going to do great in school, but it's going to be hard for her. She has also been doing so much with NC and with the Peabody movement. Many of those roles are going to transition to others.

I am definitely a glass half-full kind of guy, but I know that this is going to be tricky in a lot of ways. I know that God is going to help us, and I believe that our times together as a family will be even richer.

You Can Change 6

The title of chapter 5 is "What Truths Do You Need to Turn To?" The premise of the chapter is that there is some kind of lie behind every sinful behavior. Uncovering that lie is key to overcoming the sinful behavior that results from believing that lie.

We sin because we believe the lie that we are better off without God, that his rule is oppressive, that we will be free without him, that sin offers more than God.

The key to overcoming sin and negative emotions is to trust God. It's starts with our beliefs about Him, and as Chester points out, this is not just what we believe about God on Sunday (confessional faith), but what we believe about him on Monday (functional belief). He says that we need to begin to preach to our hearts. I've always found this to be a helpful discipline. I have to constantly remind myself of what I know to be true God, especially when I don't necessarily feel it.

The remainder of the chapter focuses on four truths. I'm going to write individual blog posts on each of these, but for now, here's the list.

1. God is great - so we do not have to be in control

2. God is glorious - so we do not have to fear others

3. God is good - so we do not have to look elsewhere

4. God is gracious - so we do not have to prove ourselves

Luke 7

Scripture

When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith." (Luke 7:9).

Observation

This is the story of the Roman centurion in Capernaum who had a servant who was at the point of death. The Jewish elders of Capernaum thought very highly of this man. He was a friend to the Jews, and was responsible for building (funding no doubt) the synagogue there. Because of this, they came to Jesus and asked him to heal this man's servant. So Jesus went with them. During this time the centurion decided that he was unworthy to even have Jesus step inside his house, so he sent friends to request that Jesus just say the words, that his servant be healed.

This man, who probably did not know much of the Jewish faith before he was sent to Capernaum, believed that Jesus was who he said he was, which meant that he had authority. This man understood authority. He knew that Jesus could speak, and things would happen. Luke tells us that Jesus marveled at this, saying that he had not seen this kind of faith in any Israelite. The servant was healed.

Application

Most of the time this Greek word for "marveled" is used is in reference to the crowd's response to something that Jesus does, but there are two stories where Jesus is the one doing the marveling. Both have to do with faith, but they are very different. The first takes place in Mark 6. Here we see the people in Nazareth, Jesus' hometown, refusing to believe that Joseph's son could be the Messiah. Here Jesus marvels at their unbelief. They still haven't gotten it. But in this passage, he is marveled by this man's faith. This has always intrigued me. I get that Jesus can marvel at my lack of faith. I see it throughout the Gospels, and I see it played out in my life over and over. It seems that unbelief happens so frequently in all of our lives. So when this man showed tremendous faith in Jesus, it's almost as if it's unexpected to Jesus. He marvels at it. I love this part of Jesus' humanity. I'm sure it brought him tremendous joy to see this Roman centurion express faith like this. And it gets me to wondering if my faith ever marvels Jesus.

Prayer

May I walk by faith and not by sight, Lord. I know that it will be tricky, I know that it will be uncomfortable, and I know that it will take courage. But I pray that it is pleasing to You (Hebrews 11:6).

Luke 1

I'm planning on starting a teaching series on Luke's Gospel around Christmas, so I decided to blog my way through it as a devotional exercise, kind of like I did with Hebrews.

Scripture

But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

Observation

John's role was to prepare God's people for what He was getting ready to do. This plan was truly going to be good news, but the way it would come about would baffle everyone. It would be truly subversive in nature. As I read this again, I'm astounded at the company that God keeps. He goes to a priest, yes, but it's a priest with flaws. This priest, Zechariah, cannot pass down his priesthood to a son. He and his wife, Elizabeth, have never been able to have a child, and at this point, they are too old.

I love Mary's visit to see Elizabeth. There is nothing special about these two, yet the Most High God decides to include them in His plan for redeeming the world. I think this scene is a great picture of the immanence and creativity of God. God is in their midst in a beautiful and profound way.

Application

John's father, Zechariah, was disciplined by God for not believing that his wife Elizabeth could become pregnant. This seems a little severe, but part of preparation for this plan was, and still is today, faith. Do we believe that God can do the impossible (Lk. 1:37)?

Neighborhood Church is going to participating in The Advent Conspiracy for the third year, and the tag line that resonates with me so much is "Christmas was meant to change the world." Christmas did change the world, and Christmas does change the world, but it's changed as God's people partner with Him in His plan of redemption.

Prayer

Oh Great God, how easy it is to miss what You are doing in our world. How easy it is to miss what You are doing in my life. You don't work the way I think You ought to work. You don't always use the people I expect for You to use. Help me to see things as You see them. Help me to see people as You see them. And help me to be prepared for the work that You are going to do. I don't want to miss it. Help me to believe with everything in me that absolutely nothing is impossible for You.

Under the Overpass

After reading the Kindle sample chapter on my iPhone, I'm looking forward to getting this book. I had heard about it from a couple of friends. Interesting story. Beliefnet.com has an excerpt from that book. Here's an excerpt from their excerpt:

We both laughed, and I sat down to begin again. Just then three guys walked past, the lead guy carrying a pizza box.

“Hey bro!” I called. “You going to eat the rest of that pizza?”

The guy stopped, looked from Sam and me to his box of pizza, then said, “Nope.” Shaking his head, he walked over. “You want it?” he asked.

“Sure!” I said, and he handed it down to us.

We thanked him profusely. “No problem,” he said, walking away. “Enjoy.”

Opening the box we found half a pepperoni pizza. “Unbelievable!” Sam yelled.

“This is the good stuff!” I said, grabbing a piece. “Father, thank you for this food!”

We sat there, happily devouring the still-warm pizza. By the time we were down to the crumbs, we were ready for more conversation.

“‘Father, thank you for this food’ means something different out here, doesn’t it?” I said.

“Sure does,” said Sam. “I don’t know if I’ll ever say it so sincerely again after we get back.”

“I hope I don’t change,” I said.

Depending on God Pt. 2

I mentioned in my last post that I've been up reading tonight. The book I've been reading (actually, re-reading), is Brennan Manning's, Ruthless Trust. Below are some quotes from the book.

Childlike surrender in trust is the defining spirit of authentic discipleship (4).

Against insurmountable obstacles and without a clue as to the outcome, the trusting heart says, "Abba, I surrender my will and my life to you without any reservation and with boundless confidence, for you are my loving Father (7).

The decisive (or what I call the second) conversion from mistrust to trust – a conversion that must be renewed daily – is the moment of sovereign deliverance from the warehouse of worry (7).

The way of trust is a movement into obscurity, into the undefined, into ambiguity, not into some predetermined, clearly delineated plan for the future (12).

The reality of naked trust is the life of a pilgrim who leaves what is nailed down, obvious, and secure, and walks into the unknown without any rational explanation to justify the decision or guarantee the future. Why? Because God has signaled the movement and offered it his presence and his promise (12-13).

Depending on God Pt. 1

I haven't been able to sleep tonight. This is a rarity for me, and I'm not sure why I'm so wide awake. I finally got out of bed around 12:30 and have been reading and writing ever since. This Sunday is our first Sunday in our new location, and more important, it's our first Sunday without Jason and Barb. I realize that I haven't done much blogging lately, and this is the chief reason. It was in some ways the elephant in the room, and I just haven't had the words to write about it.

Right before Thanksgiving Jason told me that he had been feeling for awhile that his time at Neighborhood Church was nearing an end. Though he wasn't sure what the next steps were, he felt that God was calling them away. My initial reaction was surprise, but over the next few days it became more and more clear that this was right. I then had to deal with the sudden realization that I was about to become a pastor. Now I realize that I have been a pastor for awhile, but since moving to Memphis to start NC, I've been referring to myself as a "co-pastor." There were several reasons why I did this, all of which I won't get into, but the unhealthy on is this: as much as I value "Team", it has been a crutch for me for awhile. Wow, I actually said it.

God has been doing a major work in me over the past couple of months, and it has started with a renewed sense of dependence. I do not feel adequate for this task. I know what my limitations are. But I also know how big God is. I know that He is strong and that He loves me (Psalm 62:11-12). God is calling our church to trust Him, and through that He will not only reveal His love for us, grant peace to our troubled hearts, and give us abundant life, but He will begin to do what only He can do in our city.

Proverbs 3-4

Scripture
Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine. Proverbs 3:9-10

Observation
Stewardship is first and foremost knowing that God is God and I'm not. He is the creator of everything. He is the owner of everything. He has given me the task of managing (stewarding) his creation. The tricky thing is that God doesn't force me to give back to Him. He sets up a principle by which it is in my best interest to do so, but He doesn't force it on me. That's why stewardship is also about trust. Do I trust God to give me all that I need? God doesn't need the firstfruits. It is just a part of the principle. When I tithe, I am in a sense saying that I trust God to do more with 90% than I could do on my own with 100%.

Application
God has never failed me in this area. Mandy and I have always tried to be faithful in the area of tithing, and God continues to give us all that we need, and more so. He has blessed us with abundance. We want to do our part by honoring and trusting our Faither, and we know that He will continue to provide for our needs.

Prayer
Father, it is so easy to forget that you want to take care of your children's needs. Help me to honor you with my wealth, and help me to trust you to take care of me. Amen.

Psalm 26-27

Scripture
For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness. Psalm 26:3

Observation
I have always been interested in David because of his authenticity with God. I am thankful that his relationship with God has been captured in the Psalms. David is in need of vindication in this Psalm. Rather than trying to defend his own name (or whatever else needed vindicating), he brought his case to God. David writes with such imagery, and this verse is no exception. He knows God. His relationship with God probably began on the hillside while he was tending sheep. There was no one else to talk to, so he talked to God. By this point in his life, he isn't simply aware of God's presence. He KNOWS God. He knows that he is loved by God, and because of this, he knows that he can trust God to get him out of whatever predicament he is in.

Application
There are times when I completely trust God to do what only he can do. At times, though, it's as if I completely forget that I know him. It's at times like these when I make things much more complicated than they were meant to be.

Prayer
Father, thank you for your steadfast love. I ask that your remind me today of your love for me. Help me to trust you in all things today. Amen.

Psalm 23

This week my plan is to blog my daily Bible reading reflections. Here is a previous blog post on our reading plan, as well as a link to our website where you can download the plan. Today we are reading Psalm 23-24. Before I begin to read, I ask God to reveal one thing to me. This morning the verse that seemed to be highlighted was Psalm 23:1.

Scripture
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Observation
If the Lord is my shepherd, what does that make me?
A sheep?
What would it be like to not be in want?
Is that God's desire for us?

Application
I typically don't think of myself as a sheep. I guess I prefer to think of myself a little more highly than that. But maybe that's the problem. In order to have all of my needs met by the Shepherd, I must be completely dependent upon Him. That means quite simply that I cannot be dependent on myself. This is another one of those "Upside-down Kingdom" issues. The world teaches me to be self-reliant. It doesn't teach me to be a dependent sheep. But in the Kingdom of God, this is the plan. If I'm being honest, sometimes I get it, but many times I rebel. But when I do "get it", it's good. It's right.

Prayer
God, thank you for being my shepherd. I know that Your desire is that I would place my trust completely in you. I ask that You would help me to do that today. Amen.

What I'm Reading

Our church is going through Genesis right now, and I have the opportunity to speak about Abraham's life this Sunday night. The topic is faith. I've been reading a few books I thought I'd recommend:

Dangerous Wonder, by Mike Yaconelli
Seizing Your Divine Moment, by Erwin McManus
Don't Waste Your Life, by John Piper

Risky Business

I'm in a book group on Thursday nights with two other guys, and we've been reading In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, by Mark Batterson. Last night we discussed chapter 6: "Playing It Safe is Risky." A few quotes...

The more you're willing to risk, the more God can use you. And if you're willing to risk everything, then there is nothing God can't do in you and through you (102).

Sometimes taking a calculated risk means giving up something that is good so you can experience something that is great. In a sense, sin is short-changing ourselves and short-changing God. It is settling for anything less than God's best. Faith is the exact opposite. Faith is renouncing lesser goods for something greater. and it always involves calculated risk (106).

Obedience is a willingness to do whatever, whenever, wherever God calls us (109).

Maybe righteousness has less to do with not doing anything wrong and more to do with doing things right (109).

If you were to always act in your greatest self-interest, you would always obey God (111).

(quoting Johann Wolfgang von Goethe): Hell begins the day God grants you the vision to see all that you could have done, should have done, and would have done, but did not do (114).

This chapter had a profound impact on me. It wasn't so much that I read anything new. It was more that I received a renewed permission to take risks for God. My heart beats for stuff like this. I've grown most in my life when I was completely dependent on God to do what only He could do. I feel like I'm in this place right now, especially with the church.

Yesterday our little church had a good day. One of our core group members had been emailing Wendi Thomas, a writer for the Commercial Appeal, about the Advent Conspiracy. Yesterday she received an email from Wendi saying that she was planning on writing about it in Sunday's paper. Shelley forwarded the email to Jason and I, and five minutes later I was being interviewed by Wendi on the phone.

Wendi is a great writer, and I'm very excited that she has decided to write about the Advent Conspiracy. The fact that it is going to be in Sunday's edition is icing on the cake. God is up to something here!

So what does that have to do with the book? Well, last night I was reminded of an incident that took place one year ago. That's when I first heard about the Q conference. I immediately wanted to go, but I knew that Jason and Barb were going to be having their baby around that same time, plus it was pretty expensive. I eventually decided that I probably shouldn't go.

A couple of days later, I felt that God was telling me that I should go, and that He would provide the funds. The trick, though, was that I was going to have to ask for the funds...not from Him, but from people. I'm like most people in that I do not like asking people for money, but I felt like God wanted me to do this. So I took a risk and asked two people. One gave and the other didn't. Then a couple of days later we received the rest of what was needed.

Here's what hit me last night. The Q conference was where I first heard about the Advent Conspiracy. That was my big takeaway. I knew when I first heard Rick McKinley talk about it that this was something that our church should take part in.

The step that God was asking me to take was pretty small compared to others' steps of obedience, but look at what it led to. I continue to be amazed by the creativity of God!

My Utmost - Dec. 29

December 29, 2005

Deserter or Disciple?
“From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more” (John 6:66).

When God, by His Spirit through His Word, gives you a clear vision of His will, you must “walk in the light” of that vision (1 John 1:7). Even though your mind and soul may be thrilled by it, if you don’t “walk in the light” of it you will sink to a level of bondage never envisioned by our Lord. Mentally disobeying the “heavenly vision” (Acts 26:19) will make you a slave to ideas and views that are completely foreign to Jesus Christ.

I continue to be amazed at how timely each of these devotions is. So far, everything about this move has been hard. We’ve wondered if that meant that we were doing the wrong thing. Wouldn’t things be easy if we were truly following God? I realize that we were never promised an easy life. We are promised that abundant life is available, but, again, abundance doesn’t mean that things are easy. These kinds of views cause us to be disobedient, and often cause us to “sink to a level of bondage never envisioned by our Lord”. We actually cause things to become more difficult this way, and this is a difficulty that Jesus never had.

Don’t look at someone else and say, “Well, if he can have those views and prosper, why can’t I?” You have to “walk in the light” of the vision that has been given to you. Don’t compare yourself with others or judge them—that is between God and them. When you find that one of your favorite and strongly held views clashes with the “heavenly vision,” do not begin to debate it. If you do, a sense of property and personal right will emerge in you—things on which Jesus placed no value. He was against these things as being the root of everything foreign to Himself—“… for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses” (Luke 12:15). If we don’t see and understand this, it is because we are ignoring the underlying principles of our Lord’s teaching.

I confess that we’ve asked questions such as these more than a few times. It’s so tempting to compare ourselves with others, or to compare the way God works with others to the way God works with us.

Our tendency is to lie back and bask in the memory of the wonderful experience we had when God revealed His will to us. But if a New Testament standard is revealed to us by the light of God, and we don’t try to measure up, or even feel inclined to do so, then we begin to backslide. It means your conscience does not respond to the truth. You can never be the same after the unveiling of a truth. That moment marks you as one who either continues on with even more devotion as a disciple of Jesus Christ, or as one who turns to go back as a deserter.

It’s also very tempting to compare the way that God has worked with us in the past to the way He is working with us today. Because God is “handling” us in a different fashion, we fail to recognize His standard, and thus we “don’t try to measure up.” Thus we backslide.

My Utmost - Dec. 28

December 28, 2005

Continuous Conversion
“… unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3).

These words of our Lord refer to our initial conversion, but we should continue to turn to God as children, being continuously converted every day of our lives. If we trust in our own abilities, instead of God’s, we produce consequences for which God will hold us responsible. When God through His sovereignty brings us into new situations, we should immediately make sure that our natural life submits to the spiritual, obeying the orders of the Spirit of God. Just because we have responded properly in the past is no guarantee that we will do so again. The response of the natural to the spiritual should be continuous conversion, but this is where we so often refuse to be obedient. No matter what our situation is, the Spirit of God remains unchanged and His salvation unaltered. But we must “put on the new man …” (Ephesians 4:24). God holds us accountable every time we refuse to convert ourselves, and He sees our refusal as willful disobedience. Our natural life must not rule—God must rule in us.

To refuse to be continuously converted puts a stumbling block in the growth of our spiritual life. There are areas of self-will in our lives where our pride pours contempt on the throne of God and says, “I won’t submit.” We deify our independence and self-will and call them by the wrong name. What God sees as stubborn weakness, we call strength. There are whole areas of our lives that have not yet been brought into submission, and this can only be done by this continuous conversion. Slowly but surely we can claim the whole territory for the Spirit of God.

Last night we were all talking about the balance between hanging out with people and being intentional at the same time. Conversion that took place long ago will not help me with this. I must be continuously converted every day of my life. That is the only way that my natural self will yield to the Spirit. Trying harder will not work. It’s only through training. It takes work and discipline, yet it also comes through rest and submission (which, ironically, is often the hardest type of work).

Can we trust God?

Some days Mandy and I are at peace about our decision to move. Other days we’re pretty overcome with worry and doubt. Christmas Eve was one of those stressful days. Not only were we super busy with five Hillside Christmas Eve services, but we were also a little sad being away from our family. The house we’ve put a contract on had an inspection on Friday, and we found out there were quite a few repairs that needed to be made. We wondered if we were going to be able to buy it, and, if not, what were we going to do. I decided that I should read My Utmost again. Below is the entire devotion, along with some reflections we came away with.

December 24, 2005
The Hidden Life

“… your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3).
The Spirit of God testifies to and confirms the simple, but almighty, security of the life that “is hidden with Christ in God.” Paul continually brought this out in his New Testament letters. We talk as if living a sanctified life were the most uncertain and insecure thing we could do. Yet it is the most secure thing possible, because it has Almighty God in and behind it. The most dangerous and unsure thing is to try to live without God. For one who is born again, it is easier to live in a right-standing relationship with God than it is to go wrong, provided we heed God’s warnings and “walk in the light” (1 Jn. 1:7).

This goes against so much of the way that I live, yet…if this is true, then it changes everything. I often feel like finding God’s will is like finding the set of keys that I lost a few months ago. I searched everywhere (I’m still hoping I find them when we move). Yet this says that it’s easy to get it right than it is to get it wrong. I started thinking about that and realized that it made a lot of sense. I started thinking about John 10:29 (My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand). If we are truly servants, and He is the Master, then perhaps things work a little more to His will than I often think. The more I started thinking about this, the more I started believing, and then the bigger my view of God became. This is worship.

When we think of being delivered from sin, being “filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18), and “walk[ing] in the light,” we picture the peak of a great mountain. We see it as very high and wonderful, but we say, “Oh, I could never live up there!” However, when we do get there through God’s grace, we find it is not a mountain peak at all, but a plateau with plenty of room to live and to grow. “You enlarged my path under me, so my feet did not slip” (Ps. 18:36).

Worry is sin. Most people would say it’s impossible not to worry. It’s a part of life. It’s normal. However, we’re called to a different kind of life. Perhaps we don’t have to worry. I can totally relate to believing that this kind of life is like the very top peak of a mountain. Oh, to be there…but that’s probably never going to happen. But maybe it’s more like a “plateau with plenty of room to live and to grow.” That’s good news.

When you really see Jesus, I defy you to doubt Him. If you see Him when He says, “Let not your heart be troubled …” (Jn. 14:27), I defy you to worry. It is virtually impossible to doubt when He is there. Every time you are in personal contact with Jesus, His words are real to you. “My peace I give to you …” (Jn. 14:27)—a peace which brings an unconstrained confidence and covers you completely, from the top of your head to the soles of your feet. “… your life is hidden with Christ in God,” and the peace of Jesus Christ that cannot be disturbed has been imparted to you.

I defy you to worry. What a strong statement. It is virtually impossible to doubt when He is there. What an even stronger statement. I’m reminded once again that the Kingdom of God really is an “upside-down” Kingdom. The world doesn’t understand this type of peace, yet Jesus offers it to His followers. He offers it, yet He doesn’t force us to accept it. We have the choice of whether to live life as the world offers, or to “learn the unforced rhythms of grace” that Jesus offers (Matthew 11:29, The Message).

So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. (Col. 3:1-3, The Message).

Why do we lack peace?

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled …” (John 14:27).

This morning Mandy and I read from My Utmost for His Highest, the devotional classic by Oswald Chambers.

Whenever we experience something difficult in our personal life, we are tempted to blame God. But we are the ones in the wrong, not God. Blaming God is evidence that we are refusing to let go of some disobedience somewhere in our lives. But as soon as we let go, everything becomes as clear as daylight to us. As long as we try to serve two masters, ourselves and God, there will be difficulties combined with doubt and confusion. Our attitude must be one of complete reliance on God. Once we get to that point, there is nothing easier than living the life of a saint. We encounter difficulties when we try to usurp the authority of the Holy Spirit for our own purposes.

God’s mark of approval, whenever you obey Him, is peace. He sends an immeasurable, deep peace; not a natural peace, “as the world gives,” but the peace of Jesus. Whenever peace does not come, wait until it does, or seek to find out why it is not coming. If you are acting on your own impulse, or out of a sense of the heroic, to be seen by others, the peace of Jesus will not exhibit itself. This shows no unity with God or confidence in Him. The spirit of simplicity, clarity, and unity is born through the Holy Spirit, not through your decisions. God counters our self-willed decisions with an appeal for simplicity and unity.

Whenever peace does not come, wait until it does, or seek to find out why it is not coming.

Chambers says that there are two possible reasons why a person might lack peace. The first is that he or she is in disobedience. He describes this as acting on one's own impulse or trying to impress people. The second reason why a person might lack peace is that he or she has not given everything over to God. Chambers describes this as complete reliance on God. It may be that a person is obeying God in most things, but just hasn't completely trusted him in everything. For Mandy and I, we often do not have trouble trusting God in the big things. It's the small things that get us in trouble. We see God move in amazing ways, then we have trouble trusting him to finish what he has begun. When this is happening, life as a saint becomes very cloudy, confusing, and frustrating - a far cry from a life of being simply carried along.

My questions arise whenever I cease to obey. When I do obey God, problems come, not between me and God, but as a means to keep my mind examining with amazement the revealed truth of God. But any problem that comes between God and myself is the result of disobedience. Any problem that comes while I obey God (and there will be many), increases my overjoyed delight, because I know that my Father knows and cares, and I can watch and anticipate how He will unravel my problems.

There is a big difference between the problems that come due to disobedience and the ones that come due to obedience. We will always have problems, trials, etc. However, problems between God and I that are due to my disobedience lead to frustration and often bitterness. Suffering that comes as I am obeying God leads to perseverance, which leads to character, which leads to hope (Romans 5:3).

Simply carried along

Mandy and I are in the process of making some decisions, and I've really felt the need for my soul to be at rest. As I have been praying and waiting, I have felt "simply carried along." I knew that I had read this somewhere, but could not remember where. I finally remembered this afternoon. It's from Frank Laubach, who was a missionary in the Phillipines during the early to mid 1900's. Laubach wondered what it would be like for a person to be in continuous conversation with God, to, as Paul said, "pray without ceasing." He decided to try an experiment in which he would try to think about God for one second of every minute. At first he failed miserably, but soon he began to become alive in a way that he had never felt. I find tremendous encouragement in this.


I feel simply carried along each hour, doing my part in a plan which is far beyond myself. This sense of cooperation with God in little things is what so astonishes me, for I never have felt it this way before. I need something, and turn round to find it waiting for me. I must work, to be sure, but there is God working along with me. God takes care of all the rest. My part is to live this hour in continuous inner conversation with God and in perfect responsiveness to his will, to make this hour gloriously rich. This seems to be all I need think about.