Dwight L Moody

The Sweetest Lesson

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“Spread out your petition before God, and then say, ‘Thy will, not mine, be done.’ The sweetest lesson I have learned in God’s school is to let the Lord choose for me” (Dwight L Moody).

I love the imagery of spreading out my petition before God. It comes from 2 Kings 19 where King Hezekiah receives a threatening letter from the Assyrians who are poised to invade the land. Instead of rushing into rash action, Hezekiah takes it before the Lord, literally spreading it out as a kind of offering of submission.

I also think of King Jehoshaphat who faced another massive army, but responded with the prayer, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (2 Chronicles 20:12, ESV).

In short, they both chose to let God fight for them. They decided to let God choose for them.

In my lifetime, I have had several instances where I chose for myself and it did not go well. I was like the greedy man who took the wrong grail cup in the Indiana Jones movie only to hear the words “You have chosen . . . poorly” and basically shrivel up and die.

But every time I have been wise enough and patient enough to let God decide, I have never regretted the outcome. That’s assuming my patience lasted long enough for me actually to wait on the outcome, no matter how long it seemed to take.

Maybe it’s a good idea to literally take whatever it is that is troubling you and spread it before the Lord. It could be unpaid bills or a jury summons or some other document that gives you great anxiety. Or maybe you can spread out your hands in a posture of surrender.

Either way, you and I both need to let God choose. The old prayer still works: Thy will be done. One of my favorite fictional characters, Father Tim Cavanaugh, calls it the prayer that never fails because you truly can’t go wrong asking for God’s will over and above your own.

Thy will be done, no matter what. Thy will be done, even if it means my will is undone (with a nod to Elisabeth Elliott). Thy will be done. Period.

Let Your Light Shine

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“Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:13-16, The Message).

That’s what lights do– they shine.

My takeaway from Kairos tonight is this: being a light and shining is not about me trying harder, like one of those wind-up flashlights that constantly needs winding. It’s not about me generating my own light by better morals and doctrines.

Being a light is about being plugged into the Source at every moment and reflecting the light. It’s not about self-promotion or increasing your influence or growing your brand. It’s about being God’s flashlight to help those in a very dark world find their way home to God.

If you do it right, God gets all the attention and the glory, not you. After all, the cure for a world full of broken and hurting people is the true Light of the world.

“We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won’t need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don’t fire cannons to call attention to their shining – they just shine” (Dwight L. Moody).

Things I Love 32: Everything Will Be Fine in the End

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island hammock

“The prayers we weave into the matching of socks, the stirring of oatmeal, the reading of stories, they survive fire” (Ann Voskamp).

“I don’t really want more time; I just want enough time. Time to breathe deep and time to see real and time to laugh long, time to give You glory and rest deep and sing joy and just enough time in a day not to feel hounded, pressed, driven, or wild to get it all done-yesterday” (Ann Voskamp).

The way I figure it, I have only two of these left. Then again, I was never good at math. And who knows? Maybe I’ll be a rebel and add one extra just for the fun of it. Why stop at 1,000? Why stop at all? Gratitude means you never stop counting your blessings that you become aware of as you number them one by one. So that said, I start again at #936.

936) Making my triumphant return to swing dancing tonight at Centennial Park.

937) How anyone who has ever worked in a corporate environment can relate to the movie Office Space.

938) The Greek on the GO! Strawberry Granola Bites. You can’t have just one. Or at least I can’t.

939) Whenever my family gets together.

940) That I’m losing my mind and as long as I don’t lose the part that tells me when to pee, I’ll be just fine.

941) Reading The Horse and His Boy again for probably the 15th year in a row.

942) Having “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” as my new text and email alert on my iPhone.

943) Mild summer days with low humidity.

944) Having my only expectations be that God will keep all His promises to me.

945) The Dream of someone.

946) Using Inappropriately Captalized Letters At Random.

947) Having access to the Throne of Grace 24 hours 7 days a week.

948) Sometimes my only mode of transportation is a leap of faith (borrowed from a Facebook post).

949) That I don’t have to fire cannons to call attention to my shining; all I have to do is shine (from D. L. Moody).

950) Borrowing quotes and ideas from people on Facebook.

951) Being able to highlight verses in my YouVersion Bible app on my iPhone.

952) Having all my Christmas music on my laptop in case I ever feel the need for Christmas in July (or August).

953) Office chairs that swivel and spin.

954) Saturdays when it’s not raining.

955) Ditto for Sundays.

956) Not having been hit by any cars in the last 6 months.

957) Being alone and praying in Baskin Chapel at Brentwood Baptist Church.

958) Every time someone accepts my friend request on Facebook.

959) The way when I’m in a serious moment of silence and my stomach suddenly decides to do a spot-on impression of a whale’s mating call (borrowed this one from Pinterest).

960) That the walk of faith is not about seeing the whole journey but taking the next step.

961) That my hope isn’t in a President but a King.

962) Knowing the Kingdom of God is now and not yet.

963) Nerds candy.

964) Big League Chew bubble gum.

965) Meeting an Asian person who hates all Asian food (and thus busting another stereotype).

966) Asian food of just about any kind.

967) All George MacDonald’s fantasy stories.

968) How much I can relate to John Cusack’s characters in just about every one of his movies.

969) Living in the moment and finding God there.

970) My friend at Ultimate Frisbee who looks like Amanda Seyfried and who always makes me smile.

Let your light shine

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lighthouses

“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:16, NASB).”

I find it very interesting that Jesus does not say “Do your good works, so that your light may shine and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” The command is not do good works, but let your light shine. The good works come out of the light shining and are God at work in and through your surrendered heart and willing spirit. As you are being transformed into the image of Christ, that light shines more and more brightly. And one of the main results of our being transformed is that we become more compassionate and are able to love the unlovely and unlovable.

Too many times, all our good activities and events and programs get in the way of our being lights in the world. We are too busy doing things for God that we neglect to be God’s people that show the world what He is like. If all they see is me running around, fatigued and miserable from all my activities for God, they will have missed God. Don’t get me wrong. These activities are good, but the focus is being the Light of Christ wherever we are and whatever we are doing.
The reward is the glory of God given to God. It is not awards or commendations or praise for me. If I shine, the world sees Jesus, not me. People sees God as He truly is and are drawn to that. Lord, help me to not be another busybody in your Kingdom, but a Light that shines in the dark that the world and the devil will never be able to put out.

My prayer is that we get to the end of our lives and hear Jesus say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You took your light into the dark places few others were willing to go and loved those few others were willing to love and in reaching to the least of these, your light shone brightest.

As always, I believe. Help my unbelief.