“Lord, Thank You
I am not the mistakes I have made.
I am not the plans I have failed.
I am not the wrongs I have done.
I am not forgotten.
I am not abandoned.
I am not alone.
Because You say to the lost: Come.
You say to the Unlikely: Beloved
You say to the Battle Weary: Rest.
In a hard and beautiful world,
Your grace is the only pillowed relief for my tired soul
to rest in the Your making all things new.
#HonestPrayers” (Ann Voskamp)

Lord, thank you
That I am who You say I am
That I am Whose You say I am
That I am kept and loved and cherished and protected
Until the day faith becomes sight.
Amen.

“…you hear God whispering it like freedom today?
‘MY GRACE IS ENOUGH. IT IS ALL YOU NEED.’ 2Cor.12:9MSG
So take His words like a key & walk out of whatever cage you’re in:
Today’s bread is enough bread.
Today’s grace is enough grace.
Today’s God is *more than* enough God” (Ann Voskamp).

I’m thinking about those Israelites wandering in the desert. When God provided manna, some got greedy and tried to hoard it. But that manna wouldn’t last beyond the day. Instead, it rotted and had maggots and all sorts of grossness. God meant for them to learn the secret of living and trusting from day to day.

When Jesus tells us to pray, “Give us our daily bread,” He’s teaching us the same lesson. It’s no good worrying about something six months or six years down the road when all God has called us to be is faithful for the next 24 hours. God doesn’t provide for something we will face in the future. His abundance is for the present, for the moment you’re in.

I always love the prayer that goes along these lines; “Lord, I come to you with open and empty hands. If all I get from you is You and the next breath, that will be enough. Amen.”

Today’s God is indeed more than enough God for any circumstance.

So I made it back to Memphis. For the second time in three months, me and the family made the westward trek down I-40 to West Tennessee.

We checked out the Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid, which was honestly a bit overwhelming but fun. We took the elevator to the top for a bird’s eye view of downtown Memphis.

Later, we had dinner with some other family, some of which I hadn’t seen in a while. It was good to catch up and to be reminded of how blessed I am to have such a wonderful and amazing family.

I will always consider Memphis as my hometown, but now it feels like a place to visit rather than a place where I live. While it’s my hometown, it’s not home. But I’m very thankful for those 34 years of living here that helped shape who I am.

Much of the time my life doesn’t make sense until I view it in the rear view mirror of reflection. I heard faith defined as trusting in advance what will only make sense in reverse. That’s a lot of what life looks like on this side of heaven.

I’m looking forward to the rest of the weekend in Memphis, leaving my expectations of what will happen up to God’s timing and providence. Let the adventure begin.

I’ve found that one of the most powerful words that anyone can hear follow along the lines of “I see you” and “You are not alone” and “I’m on your side.”

I can think back to high school days and the huge difference between feeling alone and having that one friend. To someone with lots of friends, it may not seem like much at all, but to the one with no friends, one can be the difference between giving up and persevering.

You can value someone even when you don’t agree on everything. You can support someone without endorsing all of their habits and actions. You can make someone feel welcome even if you’re the only one. You can love someone because you have known what it was to be loved — we love because God first loved us.

You can be the friend to the lonely person that you wish you could have had back when you were lonely. You can treat the other person with kindness like you received kindness at that moment when you needed it most but deserved it least.

You earn the right to speak the gospel into other peoples’ lives by making time for them and genuinely listening to them and loving them like Jesus loved you, forgiving them and seeking to bring out God’s best in them.

Just this.

Many times I have been guilty of seeking for God’s endorsement of my plans rather than my surrender to God’s plans for me. If I’m honest, my prayers have probably sounded a lot like “Lord, let my will be Your will. Let what I want be done by Your power.”

But if I’m still being honest, I’m thankful God didn’t grant me my will. I’m grateful He didn’t use His power for my purposes. That would have been a disaster, especially since I really don’t know what I want half the time.

There’s a verse in Proverbs that says that we make our plans but the Lord directs our steps. As much as I want to trumpet my own free will, God is still sovereign and it’s His will that prevails every single time.

I’ve had a go-to prayer that I’ve used for years that has never failed me yet. It’s simple. It goes like “Thy will be done.”

That’s it. Four words, 13 letters.

It might seem like an odd prayer to ask God to do what He was already going to do in the first place. If prayer is about changing God’s mind, then it’s a pointless prayer.

But if it’s really about changing me and my perspective, then those four words open my eyes to see God at work in my life and in the world. I gain a broader view, a sort of heavenly vantage point. Suddenly, those anxieties that take up so much of my time and thoughts seem insignificant and God’s heart for the world becomes my heart for the world. God’s will becomes my will, not the other way around.

Of course, you can always use the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples to pray:

“Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—
    as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
    Yes. Yes. Yes.”

“As he went out into the street, a man came running up, greeted him with great reverence, and asked, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?’

Jesus said, ‘Why are you calling me good? No one is good, only God. You know the commandments: Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t cheat, honor your father and mother.’

He said, ‘Teacher, I have—from my youth—kept them all!’

Jesus looked him hard in the eye—and loved him! He said, ‘There’s one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me.’

The man’s face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go.

Looking at his disciples, Jesus said, ‘Do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who ‘have it all’ to enter God’s kingdom?’ The disciples couldn’t believe what they were hearing, but Jesus kept on: ‘You can’t imagine how difficult. I’d say it’s easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for the rich to get into God’s kingdom.’

That got their attention. ‘Then who has any chance at all?’ they asked.

Jesus was blunt: ‘No chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you let God do it (Mark 10:17-27, The Message)'”

Tonight I heard something in a sermon that just about blew my puny little mind. I’ve grown up in and around Church, so I was very familiar with this story about the rich young ruler who Jesus asked to sell everything and give to the poor and follow Him. This man went away sad because he loved money more than God.

But Pastor Mike pointed out something to me that I had never once thought about.

There were two rich young rulers in this story.

One was young, had immense wealth, and probably had a title of some kind. Maybe he had a royal lineage or a family of significance. We don’t ever know his name. It’s funny that he clung to his wealth instead of following Jesus, but ended up with neither. Honestly, have you ever seen a hearse followed by a U-Haul? It’s because you can’t take any earthly wealth with you when you die.

But there was another rich young ruler in this story. He was also young. He had way more wealth than the other when you consider that He owns the cattle on a thousand hills and that the world and everything in it belongs to Him. He didn’t come from royalty, but He is King of the Universe. He is the absolute ruler of all that is.

But He gave all that up. The Bible says He didn’t take advantage of His being equal with God (and being the very God Himself), but emptied Himself. He came as a humble servant, born of a virgin betrothed to a carpenter. He was obedient to the point of death on a criminal’s cross. What He gained was salvation and life for you and me.

The other rich young ruler went away sad because he couldn’t fathom that when Jesus asked him to give up all his earthly treasures, it wasn’t just about sacrifice. Jesus had something better, grander, far more lasting in mind. Jesus had eternal abundant life in mind, both now and forever.

Peter later commented that he and the rest had given up everything to follow Jesus. Jesus replied that what they had given up didn’t even begin to compare with what they would gain in this life and the life to come, true riches that thieves can’t steal and rust and moths can’t destroy.

The greatest treasure Jesus gives to anyone who follows Him, regardless of the cost, is simply Jesus Himself.

So occasionally I will borrow material from others, especially when I find it speaks to me profoundly and personally. In this case, it’s about learning how to slow down and to cultivate silence in a world full of hurry and noise. Now that all the usual four-letter words are so commonplace, the only word that feels like a curse word is silence. Yet silence is where God most often speaks.

Here’s something I found from Kairos Pastor Mike Harder about how to slow down and be still before God:

“Here is one way you can slow down. Try the CPR method: Choose, Pray, Read)

1. Choose 15 minutes today to focus on God. It could be before you eat breakfast or at lunch. 

2. Pray. Tell God what you are available for whatever he wants you to do. 

3. Read a Bible Passage. If you need a suggestion, choose a Psalm. Psalm 27 is a great place to start.”

If you want a place to start to hear from God, you won’t go wrong with God’s revealed word, the Bible. I’ve always heard that a good practice is to read through the Proverbs each month. Also, you can read through the Psalms in roughly five months with one per day (and maybe a few days for Psalm 119).

The point is to be intentional about creating space in your schedule for God to speak. If you don’t have time for God, it’s probably because God isn’t a priority to you. You always make time for what matters most. Always.

This may be a way to revive your spiritual life if it has grown stale or stagnant. Above everything else, God honors those who continually seek Him as though their lives depended on it. Because honestly, they do.

As an admitted (and hopefully recovering) people pleaser, I want people to like me. I want people to remember me and to say good things about me. But that’s not what’s most important to me anymore.

I truly hope that people who see me and meet me will want to meet the God I’ve known for a long, long time. The God who has always known my name and who I am, even when I’d forgotten. The God who called me by that name before I knew His name.

Besides, all those who forget my name but who are captivated by my God will have an eternity to know my name. But way above that, they will have that same eternity to know and love all the names of the God who has made Himself known to us since the very beginning.

“simply the quieting now…
a waiting on Him . . .
all our Hope.
#EveningPrayer” (Ann Voskamp).

“Father,
Forgive me for all my doubts, worries, and fears.
Forgive me for my impatience as I wait in this place.
Forgive me for questioning the story you’ve written for me.
I believe, help me in my unbelief!
Help me to remember that it is good to wait for you.
Grant me the joy that comes from knowing you.
Fill my heart with gospel joy” (Christina Fox).

Lord,
Help us to wait expectantly and to wait well, not as idle people but as those who prepare their hearts as a farmer prepares the soil of his crops to receive the rain.

Amen.