Author: Ragamuffingospelfan

A Mic Drop Moment

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“Whenever the insistence is on the point that God answers prayer, we are off the track. The meaning of prayer is that we get hold of God, not of the answer” (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest).

I almost want to make this a mic drop moment and end this post here. There’s such a misconception about prayer being a way to inform God of what He didn’t already know or to ask Him for things He wasn’t aware that I needed.

Prayer isn’t about getting God to see things from my point of view but getting me to see things from God’s point of view. It’s not so much about answers as it is about awareness of God’s presence. When I pray, I’m acknowledging in that moment my deep need and God’s deeper provision.

What would I want from God apart from Himself anyway? As the old song says, “I’d rather have Jesus than riches untold.”

It’s like when Job asks all these questions to God. When God responds, He doesn’t answer a single one of those questions. Instead, God asks Job some of His own questions. At the end, what Job realized was that he needed not answers but God’s presence. He needed to know God hadn’t left him or forgotten about him.

My own prayers can easily become rote and full of requests. They can almost sound like the letters I used to write to Santa Claus before Christmas with my list of everything I wanted under the tree that year. They can be very me-focused when the idea of prayer is to get me very God-focused. It’s to help me see God’s purposes and plans for His entire creation and not just my own little world.

Sure, God answers prayer, but that’s not the main point of prayer. My character being transformed into the character of God and my will being transformed into His is.

The Divine Purpose

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“Our lives mean much more than we can tell; they fulfill some purpose of God about which we know nothing; our part is to trust in the Lord with all our heart and not lean to our own understanding. Earthly wisdom can never come near the threshold of the Divine; if we stop short of the Divine we stop short of God’s purpose for our lives” (Oswald Chambers, Bringing Sons Unto Glory).

I’m guilty of trying to decipher God’s overall plan for me and whether or not I feel like I’m living up to it. What God calls me isn’t to figure it all out but to be faithful in the minutiae and the mundane from moment to moment. It’s to be in a constant attitude of prayerful mindfulness and paying attention to God’s voice wherever I am and whatever I’m doing.

Ultimately, it’s presenting myself as a living sacrifice with everything I do as a spiritual offering of worship to God my King. That looks a lot like doing the small stuff and the daily routine like it matters to God, because it does.

It means that the janitor is as much of a sacred office as the minister. It means that sweeping floors and scrubbing toilets can be just as much an act of worship as singing hymns. For me, it means doing my best in everything as if I were doing it directly for God.

Being faithful looks like showing up and staying prayed up and never giving up, no matter what. It means reminding yourself of God’s promises and thanking God for them in advance while you’re still waiting on their fulfillment. It means preaching the gospel to yourself every day, several times a day, until you remember that it starts and ends with God, not you.

Sometimes, being faithful isn’t about the next 24 hours. It could be the next two hours. It could be the next 15 minutes. It could be the next breath. But it’s all about remembering the God who is forever faithful.

Grieving a Furry Friend

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“I will never laugh at anyone for grieving over a loved beast. I think God wants us to love Him more, not to love creatures (even animals) less. We love everything in one way too much (i.e., at the expense of our love for Him), but in another way we love everything too little.

No person, animal, flower, or even pebble has ever been loved too much—i.e., more than every one of God’s works deserves” (C. S. Lewis, The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume III).

Over the years, we’ve lost a number of pets. It never gets easy. Even when they get to be old and full of years, you think that final goodbye will be easier, but it never is. It’s like they take a piece of us with them when they go.

I remember when Lucy passed, I grieved more over her than over some people I had lost. I don’t think it was because I loved her more than I loved them but because she was always nearby, an immediate presence. I would never make fun of anyone who grieves over losing a dog or a cat (or any other kind of beloved critter).

There are many different ways to cope with the loss. One that I’ve found is to go to a shelter and find an animal who needs to be loved. I’ve heard grief expressed as love with nowhere to go. If you rescue an animal, you have an outlet for that love. It’s not that you love your previous pet any less, but you can continue that love with a new pet.

I like to think our pets will be in heaven. The Bible says that all of creation longs for the day when it will be restored. Maybe that includes all those critters we’ve loved and lost. I like to think so. I like to think that Murphy, Reggie, Gracie, Sammie, Paddy, Oliver, Dixie, Lucy, Linus, and Molly will all be there when I finally get there (plus a few more that I’ve forgotten).

All animals are God’s creations, and to love them well is to honor God well. I only wished that they could live a little longer, but I am grateful for each and every one of them.

My Favorite Non-Bible Quote

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“I have cast my anchor in the port of peace, knowing that present and future are in nail-pierced hands” (from The Valley of Vision).

I think outside the Bible, The Valley of Vision is my favorite book. It’s a collection of Puritan prayers (and man, did those Puritans know how to pray!) I think there are a lot of misconceptions when it comes to who the Puritans were and how they lived — like the word puritannical. But that’s a topic for another day.

I love that my present and future are in nail-pierced hands. Jesus took the nails so I wouldn’t have to. He endured the cross in my place. Is there anything I need that He wouldn’t give me? Will there ever be a moment where I truly lack that He won’t provide?

I love that the glorified Jesus still bears the scars from those nails. Those scars are proof that He endured and overcame. He met death, the grave, and hell on their own terms and defeated them all forever. He showed that our own scars are not ugly mementoes but also the proof that we have overcome and lived to tell the tale.

Those nail-scarred hands are the hands that shaped the world and formed me in my mother’s womb. Those are the hands that healed the blind man and touched the leper. Those are the hands that welcomed the little children to come to Him. Those are the hands that stretched wide on an old rugged cross for you and me to take our sin and give us life.

Truly, my present and my future, my hopes and dreams, all of me is held by nail-scarred hands.

Blessed

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“IN A SENSE WE are all hungry and in need, but most of us don’t recognize it. With plenty to eat in the deep freeze, with a roof over our heads and a car in the garage, we assume that the empty feeling inside must be just a case of the blues that can be cured by a weekend in the country or an extra martini at lunch or the purchase of a color TV.

The poor, on the other hand, are under no such delusion. When Jesus says, ‘Come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest’ (Matthew 11:28), the poor stand a better chance than most of knowing what he’s talking about and knowing that he’s talking to them. In desperation they may even be willing to consider the possibility of accepting his offer. This is perhaps why Jesus on several occasions called them peculiarly blessed” (Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking).

I think the key is not that being poor in spirit is a quality we need to emulate, but it’s a recognition that brings us closer to God in Jesus. We’re more likely to understand that all our efforts have been exhausting and futile and that we need not to try harder but to rest.

It comes down to desperation. If I think I can be good enough or smart enough or rich enough on my own, I will never depend on God. I will never reach out to God except on some rare emergency. But if I know my poverty of spirit, that I bring absolutely nothing to God, then I will learn to lean on God for everything.

I love how Jesus says that unless we become like little children, we can never enter the Kingdom of God. That’s not a license to be childish, but to be childlike. The key is that little kids are dependent on their parents for everything. They don’t pretend to be self-sufficient. They don’t hide their need. They have a trust that Mom and Dad will give them what they need when they need it. And that’s how our faith should be.

God Has Overcome the World

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“An optimist says, ‘The war will be over; your wounds will be healed; the depression will go away; all will be better soon.’ The optimist may be right, but unfortunately he or she may be wrong. For none of us can control our circumstances.

No, hope does not come from positive predictions about the state of the world anymore than does faith. Nor does hope depend on the ups and downs of our life’s particulars. Hope, rather, has to do with God. We have hope and joy in our faith because we believe that, while the world in which we live is shrouded in darkness, God has overcome the world… We follow One who is not limited or defeated by the world’s sufferings” (Henri Nouwen).

Not everything bad will be fixed in this lifetime. Not every wrong will be made right. I think the Apostle Paul said something like if we have hope only for this life, we are to be pitied above all. If this is all there is, then you might as well become a cynic. You might as well not care about anything and live for today.

But this is not all there is, thank God. There is so much more. Your best life is not now, but the best is yet to come. We believe that God has overcome the world. That’s the victory that fuels our faith. That’s the hope we hold on to in the midst of deep heartache. That’s the reason we can sing in the middle of the storms and sorrows of this world.

The older I get, the more I’m ready for Jesus to come back and make that victory final. I’m so ready for evil to be defeated once and for all. I love that it’s not a matter of if but when. The victory is sure. God has overcome!

Waking Up and Finding You’re Home

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“And I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!’”(‭‭Revelation‬ ‭14‬:‭13‬ ‭ESV‬‬).

I noticed that in the month of July at least nine celebrities passed away. From what I’ve read, at least two had a saving relationship with Jesus. I hope the rest of them did.

I wish I could say that the Bible teaches that everyone will be saved in the end, but I know that’s not the case. Otherwise, Jesus could have stayed in heaven and avoided the cross. There had to be a payment for the sin punishment that we deserved. God can’t overlook sin and still be holy.

But that also got me thinking of what it will be like for the believer to fall asleep on earth and to wake up in heaven. It will be like that first day of summer after the school term is over. It will be like that first day of vacation after some long weeks at work. Oh, and multiply those by infinity times infinity, and you’ll have a good idea of heaven.

The older I get, the more I’m ready for heaven. This world makes less and less sense. There’s more chaos and darkness everywhere you turn. Things are definitely not improving toward any kind of utopia. More like a dystopian nightmare becoming reality.

But we have a certain hope. Our story doesn’t end with dystopia or futility. It ends with Jesus coming back and setting everything right. All the pain, suffering, and death will end. Can you imagine? It will be like your best day times a million. And your best day will be every day for the rest of eternity.

Hopefully, the rest of my time here will be so that more people can know Jesus and experience that abundant and eternal life both now and in eternity. May that be the goal of every believer between now and when Jesus returns.

Thanks!

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I’m keeping it short and simple tonight. Just a few words to express my gratitude are enough. Sometimes, I get so caught up in the tyranny of the urgent and the anxiety of the moment that I forget to be thankful for what I have instead of bemoaning what I don’t.

So thanks, God! You did great. You do all things well. Thank you for my life any everything and everyone in it. You have blessed me with more than I could deserve in a thousand lifetimes. So thank you. May the rest of my life be an offering of thanksgiving in return for all these blessings. Amen.

Inside the Will of God

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That’s where I want to be — inside the will of God. Sure, the temptation will come along periodically where I might be enticed to something that I know is not of God, but all I have to do is play the tape forward and see where it leads. And it’s never anywhere I want to be.

Where I want to be is inside the will of God. The older I get, the more I understand that God knows what I need better than I do. God also knows what is at the heart of my desires. He knows that giving me everything I want in the moment I ask for it would absolutely destroy me. I often don’t know what to ask for, and more often than not, I can’t see the consequences of the things I want.

So more and more, my prayer is less and less about “God, give me” and more and more “Thy will be done.”

Being inside the will of God is the safest place I know to be, even in the midst of pain and suffering. I’d rather have Jesus and nothing else than to have everything under the sun that this world has to offer and not have Jesus. Period.

Keith’s Legacy

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It’s hard to believe that Keith Green went home to be with the Lord 43 years ago today. What amazes and saddens me even more was that he was only 28 years old at the time. He was able to accomplish so much and leave behind a legacy of music and ministry in such a short amount of time.

I think Keith would be grieved at the current state of the American Church. He’d see that so many people and churches that profess to follow Jesus now teach a kind of universalist message that the Apostle Paul would call another gospel. So many have surrendered their core beliefs for the illusion of fitting in and conforming to the culture. Sadly, even entire denominations have gone away from true faith.

I don’t think for one moment that Keith Green was perfect. He himself would admit as much. However, he did more to call people to repentance and faith in Jesus than just about anyone else. He begged and pleased for people to get right with the Lord. He also begged and pleaded for lukewarm churches to recover their first love and not be asleep in the light when so many outside their stained glass windows are perishing without Christ and without hope.

But I believe as always that there is a remnant that is faithful. As in the early Church and all throughout history, there has been a small core of true believers who have kept the gospel message alive even when it was unpopular or even deadly to do so. People all around the world are holding on to the message of Christ in the face of persecution and martyrdom. I think Keith would be so proud of them.

I love that I have all of his albums but one. I can put them on my turntable and drop the needle and instantly Keith, yet though he were dead, still speaks. His message and the message of all who have come after remains just as true and timely now as it was back in 1982 and down through all the centuries before that.

May we hold true to the Apostles Creed and the Gospel, and may all who come behind us find us to have been faithful.