Mission Faithwalk

              Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)                 I’ve written about this verse before. If you delight in the Lord, than the Lord is the desire of your heart. If you delight in the Lord, He will give you Himself. This isn’t a “sing a worship song” and get rich, powerful, and famous verse. But we’ve discussed all that before, so let’s change the approach.                 What does delight mean? According to the dictionary, it means to be pleased with or take pleasure in. To take delight in the Lord is to be pleased with Him. What does that mean? It means feeling or showing pleasure or satisfaction. It probably won’t help to go down that rabbit trail any farther. A picture might help. When I think of a delighted child, this is the pict...

                   Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. (Psalm 27:14)                 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm . (Matthew 8:26)                 One way you might get a clue that God is trying to teach you something is to find yourself receiving the same message from different sources, at different times, and in different ways. Over the past several days, I’ve started a book that talks about trusting yourself and trusting your audience. The past couple of days of verses of the day on BibleGateway.com seem to me to focus on trusting God. It’s a recurring theme in my life, and a recurring theme in Scripture. The second verse above may be the most ...

                 The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them. My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only he will release my feet from the snare. (Psalm 25:14-15)                 A person can walk into a bank, get nodded at by the security guard and greeted by the tellers but not really make much of an impression. If the same person draws a gun and starts shouting orders, everyone will start paying attention. In the same way, it seems that when God “speaks” in a casual, relaxed tone, we don’t notice. If He makes it dramatic and forceful, people notice, and usually complain and turn away from Him. Who wants to be around a bully?                 But we tend to think of God as a bully. According to the definition, a bully is  a “one who is habitually cruel...

                   May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer (Psalm 19:14)                 There are few prayers that we should pray more often than we do this one. Too often, we seem to think more about what we are about to say than about what God would think of what we’re about to say.  Sadly, that’s part of human nature. To some extent, it is the result of our limitations. We can’t read God’s thoughts, except when He has them recorded for us. He can speak to our minds, our hearts, our souls, and even our bodies, but that is access limited to His choice. If we could read His mind, or the minds of those around us, we might not struggle so with seeing everything solely from our perspective, but as it is, the best we can do, most of the time, is play detective with what others t...

                 There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death. (Proverbs 16:25) Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.                                                 Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken                 Most of us don’t intend to go wrong. The road we take is paved, is natural, is popular, is not popular, is narrow, is wide, is windy, is straight, is level, is hilly… whatever it looks like, it looks like the road we should take. We’ve even prayed about it. Everything says it’s better than the other road.  Aft...

              Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will . (Romans 12:2) Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” (John 21:22) When we read Romans 12:2, we tend to think it requires us to live differently from the people around us in the world. And it does. But as I thought about it this morning, Prince Caspian (C.S. Lewis) came to mind. In that story, Lucy sees Aslan when none of her siblings do, and she doesn’t follow him because her siblings don’t believe her and won’t cooperate. Aslan later chides Lucy for not following even if it meant going alone. I’m not suggesting that The Chronicles of Narnia be consider equal with Scripture in teaching us how to relate to God, I am suggesting that there are times when, as Christians, we are...

                      For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)                 The Jews had flirted with Babylon. It was a powerful nation. Too late, they discovered that the very things that made it exciting were the toxins that would be focused on them. They had imagined prosperity, hope, and a future as a worthy consort. Things didn’t turn out quite as they’d planned. How could God not only allow, but orchestrate this? Everyone just ignore the fact that they’d flirted. They’d made it clear that their dreams were what they wanted, even if their dreams weren’t aligned with reality. God gave them what they thought they wanted.                 What can I tell y...

                  Where there is strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in those who take advice . (Proverbs 13:10)                 Of course, my first though on reading this is, “Oh, this perfectly describes those _______. They’re all about strife.” Fortunately, my conscience is strong enough to point out that I tend to point fingers, too. I like to argue in the formal sense. There are two points past which it is unsafe to go. The first is to venture into the land in which winning becomes the focus. I win. You lose. The second is the trek into the jungle in which the people are the focus. I’m good, smart, right, educated… You’re wicked, stupid, wrong, uneducated… The safe territory keeps the focus on the ideas. This is right, valid, justified. That is not. The goal is agreement, not conquest.      ...

            “Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.” (Daniel 3:29) Nebuchadnezzar said this right after he invited Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego out of the fiery furnace into which he had thrown them because they had refused to bow down to the 90’ statue he’d had built. Once the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego impressed Nebuchadnezzar, he tried to co-opt Jehovah, making Him one of Nebuchadnezzar’s gods and threatening to punish anyone who even spoke badly of Him, just as he’d tried to punish Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. You’d think it was abundantly clear that God didn’t need Nebuchadnezzar’s protection, but no doubt he thought G. od would be impressed with his zeal. Eight hundred to a thousand years later, another king did roughly the same t...

                  Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise. Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. (Proverbs 19:20-21)                 We have heard quite a bit in the past decade about “checking our privilege” and being humble, mostly from people who think they have the right to dictate to everyone what to believe or do. They’re right, we should check our privilege and be humble. We should consider what others have to say and what they do. We should pray, observe, meditate, and study. We should listen to advice and accept discipline. None of this requires that we do precisely what we’re told because we were told, but those are the activities and practices of a wise person. It’s like being an athlete. There are specific skills and character...

                   The Lord is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land. You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror. (Psalm 10:16-18)                 We’re about a month from the mid-term election, and no matter to whom you listen, the song is about the same. “We have to get out the vote because if the other side wins, it’ll be the end of the world!” And let me just say, “Get out and vote!” because it’s your responsibility as a good Christian and as a good citizen. There are candidates who are likely to cause more harm than good and you should vote for the candidates who will do more good than harm, but the point of the passage above is that it is the Lord who defends the fatherless ...

                      I, even I, am the Lord, and apart from me there is no savior. I have revealed and saved and proclaimed— I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “that I am God.” (Isaiah 43:11-12)                 How many times was Israel saved? I almost feel as if I should tally it. Of course, it depends on your definition of “saved” and where you set the bar for it, but a quick look online gave answers from 7 to over 40, and I suspect it was many more times than that. Sure, we can easily pick out the dramatic ones like the exodus from Egypt and several different battles, but how many times did He do so quietly?                 How many times has God saved you or your loved ones? I’m not talking about eternal salvation. Do yo...

              You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. (Psalm 63:1)                 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who [ a ] have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)                 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope .  (Romans 5:3-4)                   You might not be as eloquent as David. I know I’m not. But when are the times when this verse describes you? Is it when you’re lonely? Bored? Feeling out of control...

                             Whoever is pregnant with evil conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment . (Psalm 7:14)                 To state the obvious, when a woman is pregnant, there is a human being developing in her womb. When someone is pregnant with evil, the evil is developing within their soul. It's not the plot for a devil baby movie. It’s not that someone impulsively lies or steals a pack of gum on the spur of the moment. They dream, envision, plan, contemplate, and even sometimes practice. This isn’t to say that they are master criminals with grandiose plans to take over the world. They needn’t have an IQ of 240. To be pregnant with evil means that the trouble they’ve conceived is premeditated. It’s not an “oops-baby.”           ...

                    You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. (Psalm 63:1)                 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who [ a ] have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)                 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope .  (Romans 5:3-4)                   You might not be as eloquent as David. I know I’m not. But when does this verse describe you? Is it when you’re lonely? Bored? Feeling out of control? Overwhelm...

                  Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near . (Isaiah 55:6)                 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)                 God is omnipresent. He’s everywhere. Why should we have to seek Him? How can we not call on Him while He’s near, since He’s always near? Of course, when you get absorbed in a book, you can be physically present with someone, but also be a million miles away. Or when you’re angry with someone, you may be in the same household, but you’re distant. Parents may “stand back” and allow a child to struggle. They seem to be distancing themselves from the child, b...

                        Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring. (Proverbs 27:1)                   Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:34)                 Scripture warns us about boasting about tomorrow and about worrying about tomorrow for roughly the same reason. We aren’t in control of what will happen tomorrow. This isn’t the same as not planning. It might be better to say that it is planning with one’s ego or emotions firmly attached. Another way to put it might be to say that planning is OK, but not trusting God is not.                 Th...

                 Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near . (Isaiah 55:6)                 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)                 God is omnipresent. He’s everywhere. Why should we have to seek Him? How can we not call on Him while He’s near, since He’s always near? Of course, when you get absorbed in a book, you can be physically present with someone, but also be a million miles away. Or when you’re angry with someone, you may be in the same household, but you’re distant. Parents may “stand back” and allow a child to struggle. They seem to be distancing themselves from the child, but it teaches the child things ...

                 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (I Peter 1:3)                 Something happened this morning that isn’t unusual to me, but that connects to this verse, at least after a fashion. As the communion crew finished prepping for tomorrow, one of the team collected stuff to throw out. She’d already flattened the box, which wasn’t of interest to me, but there were two gizmos that, when pressed down on the grape juice bottles, formed a handle so one could pick up two at the same time. I asked for those gizmos. If they do what I want them to, they’ll make watering plants easier. We’ll see.                 I say this isn’t unusual becaus...

                 Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.  (Proverbs 29:25)                 What are you afraid of? Chances are good, you’ll answer with something like spiders, snakes, death, or public speaking. You might suggest something like lions, tigers, bears, or Great Whites. The key involved is that these all provoke great aversion. I used to stop gardening once the spiders showed up on the plants. I’ll admit that I’m not likely to want to swim in the ocean, especially off the coast of South Africa and if there were a tiger on the loose in my area, I’m not likely to sit outside, even knowing that tigers are rarely man-eaters. That’s one kind of fear.                 And someone could have that sort of fear of other people, while ot...

                                   “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:11-12)                 Let’s start with the obvious. This does not say that we should take pleasure in being abused by others. It is not a call to be masochists. Insults, persecutions, and lies aren’t meant to produce rejoicing. Instead, it’s the stuff behind the insults, persecutions, and lies that should make us rejoice. It’s what’s behind or beneath the insults, persecutions, and lies that should lead to rejoicing. Jesus was insulted, persecuted, and lied about. The prophets were insulted, ...

                 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, (Philippians 1:9-10) Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. (Proverbs 22:6) A friend told me her story with the verse from Proverbs above. She had thought it meant that we should train a child in the direction we wanted them to live. She realized that it was more about teaching a child in accordance with the child’s personality, abilities, etc. I suspect both are true. We should teach children both what is right and good, and according to their proclivities. If you have a child with mechanical skill, teach him/her mechanics. Don’t demand that a child who loves to cook ignore the stove and learn to repair an engine. But at the same time, teach a child that...

              My times are in your hands; deliver me from the hands of my enemies, from those who pursue me . (Psalm 31:15)                 The etymology of the word enemy comes from “not” and “love.” An enemy, then, is someone who doesn’t love you. But what does it mean to love you? There seem to be two keys. Someone who loves you wants what is in your best interest and wants to be around and pay attention to you. That means that the person who wants to kill you is your enemy, but so is the person who claims to love you, but who encourages you or manipulates you to do things that aren’t really good for you. Those “friends” who encourage sexual activity outside of marriage, drinking “a few beers,” trying drugs, watching some porn, eating unhealthfully, or other sins, are your enemies. They may claim to be friends.  They aren’t. They may claim to love you. They don’t. And...

               The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. (I Corinthians 2:14)                 I’ve talked about this idea before. It’s not some magical thing that only works in the spiritual realm. If you are shown an optical illusion, like the crone and the young woman, you may only be able to see it one way. Try as they might, those who see it the other way may not be able to teach you to see it the way they do. It’s just the way the mind works. A technical term for it may be “cognitive bias.” Of course, one of the problems with cognitive bias is that those who have it attribute it to others, who eagerly point out the speck in the eyes of others, while ignoring the “log” in their own eyes. What we “know” to be ...

                   Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?  Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:11-12)                 This passage was one mentioned during my Sunday School class, in which the topic was loneliness. I’m not sharing this to get pity or to make others feel like they have to do something for me. I’m sharing it to explore and to invite others to explore as well. But these verses hit a little close to home. I don’t tend to think of myself as lonely. I’m used to being on my own.                 At the same time, I’ve written before about recognizing the benefits of community. Some of them are included in the passage above. As we discusse...

                 For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:30-31)                 This passage can be confusing. Throughout Scripture, we’re told how loving God is. Jesus came and died to save us. He commanded us to love one another. If God is nasty, it’s the Old Testament God, and Jesus basically made Him irrelevant, didn’t He? The answer to that is “No,” but within that line of thinking, why would it be dreadful to fall into His hands? What does it even mean to “fall into the hands of” someone? We might think in terms of falling into someone’s arms, which involves an embrace. That’s not the same as falling into someone’s hands. Generally speaking, falling into someone’s hands means that one is in the grasp and control of ...

                 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. (I John 2:1)                 Advocate: one who defends or maintains a cause or proposal : one who supports or promotes the interests of a cause or group: one who pleads the cause of another ( ADVOCATE Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster )                 “And how does the defendant plead?”                   We might plead “innocent” because what we did wasn’t wrong in our eyes, or because we didn’t know we were doing something wrong.  We might plead “guilty” but with extenuating circumstances. While we’re stammering, offe...