What did you say your name was again?

 

Have you ever been introduced to someone and just a short time later found yourself sheepishly asking that person, "What did you say your name was again?"

 

I need to explain something here that is more than a little uncomfortable for me to admit.

 

Gary Larson was by far one of the most creative and unique cartoonist of His time. He had a way of putting into a far spectrum view the things that we look at every day and making them hilarious. He had a way of just taking common phrases and bringing the most out of them.

The comic strip "The Far Side" used to be one of my favorite cartoons to read.

 

I say USED TO BE, because one day I came upon a cartoon that struck a nerve.

 

 

 I was trying REALLY, REALLY hard to please God. I heard phrases like, "God is love" and just marked them off as things that people who had no standards and no desire to serve God would say. After all, God was the divine employer right?
He was sitting in a big sterile white office and constantly overseeing the production work of the humans. He was watching, and I knew that somehow He loved me but honestly I was one slip up away from being demoted, losing His favor, or even being put aside in favor of someone who REALLY wanted to serve Him. His hand was hovering over the "SMITE" key on the keyboard when He watched me go about my day.

I did not want to let Him down. (As if I had ever held Him up. You can only let someone down if at any time you ever held them up)

I studied the life of Jesus and went to all the conferences on being a better "employee" of God. I heard so many "Life changing" sermons I did not know who I was anymore. I took some serious notes, and I was faithful to constantly refer to my list of rules and regulations when another Christian approached me to ensure that I was the spiritually superior one of the two.
 
Do you remember when Paul referred to the Christian life in the terms of a race?
Yeah, I was trying to always outrun the next guy or gal because I wanted heavenly rewards! I was really working to get those heavenly coupons for the gift shop in the clouds. I wanted them crowns baby and I was determined to be "iced out with heavenly bling"!
 
I was obsessed. Obsessed by the idea that God was a kind of temperamental parent that would become angry of I "spilled the milk". As long as I dotted my i's and crossed my t's everything in the glory land was, well, glory.

Obsession is dedication out of control.

Then one day everything changed. It changed because one day I asked God a simple question.

 

"Excuse me, what did you say your name was again?"

I think it happened when I read Luke chapter 15 and the story of the prodigal son.
I was like you and I had this story memorized. I had heard countless sermons on this one and I had seen all of the flannel graphs (A flannel graph was the old fashioned power point)

I even knew the story in the key of " F "

Feeling footloose and frisky, a featherbrained fellow forced his father to fork over his farthings. Fast he flew to foreign fields and frittered his family's fortune, feasting fabulously with floozies and faithless friends. Flooded with flattery, he financed a full-fledged fling of "funny foam" and fast food.
 
Fleeced by his fellows in folly, facing famine and feeling faintly fuzzy, he found himself a feed-flinger in a filthy foreign farmyard. Feeling frail and fairly famished, he fain would have filled his frame with foraged food from the fodder fragments.
 
"Fooey," he figured, "my father's flunkies fare far fancier," the frazzled fugitive fumed feverishly, facing the facts. Finally, frustrated from failure and filled with foreboding (but following his feelings) he fled fairly fast from the filthy foreign farmyard.
 
Far away, the father focused on the fretful familiar form in the field and flew to him and fondly flung his forearms around the fatigued fugitive. Falling at his father's feet, the fugitive floundered forlornly, "Father, I have flunked and fruitlessly forfeited family favor."
 
Finally, the faithful Father, forbidding and forestalling further flinching, frantically flagged the flunkies to fetch forth the finest fatling and fix a feast. Faithfully, the father's first-born was in a fertile field fixing fences while father and fugitive were feeling festive. The foreman felt fantastic as he flashed the fortunate facts of a familiar family face that had forsaken fatal foolishness. Forty-four feet from the farmhouse, the first-born found a farmhand fixing a fatling.
 
Frowning and finding fault, he found father and fumed, "Floozies and foam from frittered family funds and you fix a feast following the fugitive's folderol?" The first-born's fury flashed, but fussing was futile. The frugal first-born felt it was fitting to feel "favored" for his faithfulness and fidelity to family, father, and farm. In foolhardy fashion, he faulted the father for failing to furnish a fatling and feast for HIS friends. His folly was not in feeling fit for feast and fatling for friends; rather his flaw was in his feeling fretful about the fairness of the festival for the found fugitive.
 
His fundamental fallacy was a fixation on favoritism, not forgiveness. Any focus on feeling "favored" will fester and friction will force the faded facade to fall. Frankly, the father felt the frigid first-born's frugality of forgiveness was formidable and frightful. But the father's former faithful fortitude and fearless forbearance to forgive both fugitive and first-born flourished.....
The farsighted father figured, "Such fidelity is fine, but what forbids fervent festivity for the fugitive that is found? Unfurl the flags and finery, let fun and frolic freely flow. Former failure is forgotten, folly is forsaken. Forgiveness forms the foundation for future fine fortune."

I mean I knew this story, because I was determined to be the son who stayed at home!

Then I read the last two verses of this chapter and everything changed.

"And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found." ~Luke 15:25-32

This verse was me.

I was so fixated on performance that I had missed Him. Both sons mentioned in the story missed the Father. He did not love younger son any less because he did not do nor did he love the older son any more because of what he did do. He loved them both because they were both his sons.

God was not a divine employer who was just waiting to catch me taking an extra coffee break so He could smite me with his wrath. He was my Father and He loved me because I was His son.

I discovered a beautiful relationship with God as my Father who did not need me for anything, but rather wanted me to enjoy Him and to be enjoyed by Him. I know that this post might bring criticism from those who frantically rush around trying to make God happy, but I understand. I was there and I never want to go back because I would not trade the closeness that I feel from Father for anything.

You know those passages in 1 John:

"He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." ~1 John 4:8

"And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him."~ 1 John 4:16

It really is that simple.

The one thing He wanted us to know that really earmarked a disciple of His was their ability to genuinely love. God did not send His son just to prove His love for us by dying on the cross for us. Jesus died on the cross so that we could love like Him!

I remember talking to a pastor once who said, "I am tired of hearing people say God is love, like that is the only thing that really matters. I don't know that God!"

I thought about the passage that said, "Many in that day will say, Did not we..." and the response was crippling, "Depart from me for I NEVER KNEW you."

It was like I had been introduced to Him before and forgot His name. I found myself going back to Him and asking, "What did you say your name was again?"

It was as if He responded with, "Dan, my name is Love and I love you not because of who you are, but because of whose you are. You are mine."

I am not sure who this post is for at this moment, but maybe you need to be re-introduced to God. Things have happened in your life and somehow your lens that you viewed Him with changed. You see Him as a boss waiting to catch under performance, a fickle parent who is quick to fly off the handle for a mess up, or some far off and distant being who could never be pleased with you.

It just may be that deep down inside you may be asking Him, "What did you say your name was again?"
 If you are willing to ask Him that, I can promise you that He is more than willing to answer you!

Climbing with you,
~Dan
 

Where the Pavement Ends.

I was looking for the house of a person I was going to visit and desperately trying hard to remember the directions that they had given me. I stared at the phone on the seat beside me and wrestled with the option of calling them.
If I called to again receive directions would it appear as if I did not really pay attention in the first place? Would it be rude? I thought I knew how to get there and yet here I was looking at a road that just came to a stop. There was literally nothing left. There was even a sign that read in big bold letters, "Pavement Ends".

What was it they said? "Once you take exit three, drive until you reach the end of the road."

Ever been there? On your way along the road of your life just enjoying the trip and then suddenly you reach the end of the familiar. The pavement just suddenly stops and you slow the "car" to a crawl while you debate on going further?

The truth is that every one of us has had times in our life when the familiar and the comfortable came to a screeching halt and in some way shape or form we came to the conclusion that as of this point, THE PAVEMENT HAS ENDED!

The first time I came to a pavement end was while serving as a youth pastor for a church in Illinois. I was working at a trucking company during the week and donning the cape of youth pastor man on the weekends. I loved it, because I loved the teens that I had been privileged to serve. At work however I was confronted with a group that I did not feel privileged to serve. I was given the responsibility of teaching people who were set in their ways how to change those ways.

Do you remember what they say about teaching old dogs new tricks? Well it appeared that this phrase was applicable to forklift drivers at trucking companies too.

I was frustrated beyond words and struggling to fix what had been broken in my work area when she came walking back to where I was. Her name was Charlotte and God sent her into my life to introduce me to this sign:

Charlotte informed me that the Lord wanted her to ask me if I knew why God would put me in a place where I was struggling to teach people something that they did not want to learn.

I told her to take a hike.

I seriously did.

She left my work area but she would pass by daily and continue to ask the same thing. "Who was this woman?" I wondered, "and why was God talking to her and not to me?" After all, I was the youth pastor here. You would think I would get the message first.
The pavement of my comfortability had officially ended and up ahead was new territory. What Charlotte did not know was that my experiences as a damage coordinator for a trucking company directly mirrored my experiences as a Youth Pastor. I was frustrated with some of the teens because they were just not "getting" the Christian life thing. I tried to DO everything I could to help them, and yet they still acted like dock workers in the spiritual sense.

One day I was in the height of a frustration storm when charlotte passed by with her familiar question. Instead of the brush off I sighed out of exasperation, "What is God trying to tell me Charlotte?"
She looked up at me and said without missing a beat. "Dan, He's trying to tell you that you will never be able to DO anything to make a teenager that He has trusted to you do what is right no more than you can make a dockworker do the right thing. You must simply BE what is right and Be there to help them when they are ready to BE what they were made to BE and Do what they were made to DO. He is letting you learn this lesson on boxes of soap that don't matter instead of damaging lives that do matter to learn this lesson."

Yep...

God used that lady in a warehouse to begin to teach me how to listen for the voice of God. A voice that had begun broadcasting across the airwaves of my Spirit the day I was born and a voice whose frequency I had never dialed in.

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." ~Proverbs 3:5-6

I memorized this verse in Sunday School to get a pack of fruity certs and completely missed what it was saying. God used a little lady named Charlotte to teach me what it meant.

Trust in the Lord (Hang every thing on Him like you would hang your coat on a coatrack") and lean not unto thine own understanding (Be ready always leave what is familiar for what is TRUTH) In all thy ways ( The things I do, the places I go, and the people I meet) Acknowledge (Search for or discover) Him (God) and HE (God) shall direct thy paths!

God lives where the pavement ends!

He delights in taking us beyond what is familiar to us. There have been so many moments since that day in the warehouse where I came to a stop on the familiar road I was on and found myself looking up at a sign that informed me that the pavement had officially ended.

The unknown scares us each and every time doesn't it?

We have seen God part red seas for us, and yet we are fearful of the Jordan rivers. We have seen God direct in the pillar of fire and cloud of smoke but we have such trouble with the simple encounter of a person on the street that asks us to spare a dime. Unknown and unfamiliar cause so many of us to stop on the path.

This sign is always followed with a "Fear Not" from God.

The Apostle Paul, who experienced more pavement ending times in life than anyone I have ever met or heard about, would put it this way;

"Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." ~2 Timothy 1:11-12

 

Did you catch it? Look again at the underscored portion.

Let me paraphrase it this way, "God put me on a road that was paved and defined and I have come to unpaved sections, but based on the road that He has guided me on up to this present point I am confident that He is able to lead me even on the unpaved roads ahead!"

Unpaved and unfamiliar roads in your life ahead all point to a God who is waiting to show you what He has in store for you!

Buckle up, and throw it into high gear because as they say here in the south, "You is fixin to see some stuff!"

Climbing with you,
~Dan

It is ok to be a Crackpot!

I love this passage!

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.   For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." ~Ephesians 2:8-10 

It is often partially quoted. I know this, because I am a person who often went around partially quoting it. The verse is speaking of us being God's workmanship, and that is the part I quoted. It is a true statement even if it is partially quoted, but it is more beautiful in depth when fully quoted.

Partial quoting of this passage would be saying that we are like a lump of clay on a potters wheel. God is the Divine potter who forms and fashions us, the lump of clay, into a vessel for His use. This is a true statement.

Then you look at the whole passage. We were saved by God's grace (Receiving something that we did not deserve). There is nothing that we ever did to earn this or that we can boast about that would have caused God to extend His grace to us.

Then the beauty of the verse is painted in the question that is implied at the end of verse 9.
 Why would God extend such an offer? Because we are His workmanship!

It does not matter if you feel like His workmanship, you are.

God does not need you. God wants you!

Now I know this might have been missed, but let me say this again in a darkened font for emphasis...

God does not need you. God wants you!

You are His workmanship!

God takes us and through His grace not only saves us, but now allows us to grow in that Grace into what He made us to be! His hands once again touch His workmanship!

The molding process is unique for each one of us, and honestly I am glad for that. there are brothers and Sisters in Christ that have gone through things that I am not sure that I could handle and keep my sanity. The molding is at His speed and discretion.

In every case, there is a point of breaking. The vessel is never marred BY the hand of the potter, but it is marred IN the hand of the potter.

So if God is the potter, and He molds us... Why does the vessel become broken?

I think the best illustration of this passage in Ephesians would be found in the story of Gideon.

"And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. " ~Judges 6:13

Gideon was a man who was scared. He was hiding food from the invading army of the Midianites when God's angel delivers a message from the Lord to His workmanship!

There was some molding about to happen in the life of Gideon. The wall in his life was huge. God helped him around every obstacle in his path and led him to prepare an army. They were given two pieces of army issued gear to drive out the invading force.

A LAMP AND A CLAY POT

What???

The strategy was clear. Surround the enemy and blow the trumpets. When the trumpets blow, you break the pot and the lamp inside the pot shines. Can you hear his army ask, "In theory this is going to work right? I mean is this something you learned in college?"

"And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers. And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do. When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands.And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled." ~Judges 7:16-21
Let me tie this together here.

So if God is the potter, and He molds us... Why does the vessel become broken?

Why did God allow the breaking that has happened in my life? If I am His workmanship that He loves so very much, then why does this vessel that looks itself in the mirror of my soul every morning see breaks and cracks?

I would like to make three observations about what I know of God that I see in this passage in Ephesians and the dramatic picture painted in Judges.

1.WE ARE JUST A VESSEL.

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." ~2 Corinthians 4:7

Paul was reminding the Christians in Corinth that they were vessels that contained a treasure within them. The living Christ!

"But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour." ~2 Timothy 2:20
Again in Timothy, Paul makes the beautiful picture of us being a vessel for God.


2.GOD WANTS OTHERS TO SEE THE CHRIST IN US.

"The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe." ~John 1:7
"Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." ~John 8:12 

"I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness." ~John 12:46

When Jesus appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus, He gave Saul the new mission.

"To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me" ~Acts 26:18 

God intends for us to be a light to those around us. Jesus is indwelling the believer. God allows cracks in the vessel to allow the Light of the Lamp within the vessel to be seen.

What cracks have happened to your vessel (Life)? What has God been able to do in the lives of others because the Light streamed from those cracks? The book of revelation tells me that I overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of my testimony!

Our testimony above all else stands as evidence to the future that the past has made some level of contribution.

We spend so much time trying to cover up and hide the cracks that God has allowed, when in reality it is the cracks that reveal the Light within us!

 3.LIGHT SHINES BEST THROUGH A BROKEN VESSEL.

The fact of the matter is, if you have been broken then you have the best opportunity to shine The Light within.

The people that have demonstrated Christ to my life are the people that have been broken the most severe.

Crackpots for lack of a better word!

"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." ~2 Corinthians 4:6 

God takes us and through His grace not only saves us, but now allows us to grow in that Grace into what He made us to be! His hands once again touch His workmanship!

The molding process is unique for each one of us, and honestly I am glad for that. There are brothers and Sisters in Christ that have gone through breaking times that I am not sure that I could handle and keep my sanity. The molding is at His speed and discretion and He never wastes or destroys anything. He made you to shine for Him!

Climbing with you,
~Dan

Are you transformed or just impersonating?

It was like a scene out of the "Twilight Zone".

It was a Wednesday night and church was going to be starting in twenty minutes. I pulled into the parking lot of Faith Baptist Church in Belleville, IL and there it was, right in the middle of the parking lot as if had been dropped from a Kansas tornado. A broken down, and dilapidated Winnebago motor home.

The motor home was literally right in the middle of the parking lot, so I went over and knocked on the door. The motor home swayed from side to side as someone inside rose to their feet and made their way to the door. I was speechless as this guy stooped to exit from the trailer and stand to full 6 foot 9 in the evening air.

It was Abe. Honest.

He stared down at me and then he spoke. "Greetings! Such lovely weather for a union with hardworking people here in the assembly of the Lord."

He introduced himself as a traveling Abraham Lincoln impersonator who was a tad (my word pun) early for an apparent Lincoln impersonators convention to be held in Springfield, IL.
I took full advantage of the situation to introduce myself as a John Wilkes Booth impersonator who by chance chose to attend the same gathering! "What are the odds of this Abe?" I asked, "You and I are going to be in the same building which ironically is a church that was built from a converted MOVIE THEATER!!!"
As I walked "Abe" inside I told him that would be sitting right behind him in the balcony if he needed anything, and told him how serious I took my re-enacting.

Needless to say, church was not the same seeing Abraham Lincoln siting there head and shoulders above the rest of the congregation. He stood out and not in a good way.


The run in that I had with Abraham Lincoln on that Wednesday night taught me something very important.

The world is full of impersonators.

 People that will spend their entire life trying so hard to live the life of someone else. They will try to see life through another person's eyes and hear the world around them through another persons ears. Lincoln, Elvis, John Wayne, and even Jesus.

What?

Yep, in fact I would say that there are more people who strive together to impersonate Jesus than any other person that ever lived. They really work hard to think, act, and talk like Jesus. the problem is that "They really work hard" to appear to be like Jesus.

For years I had read this passage and heard many sermons about it.

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." ~Romans 12:1-2

I would read the word "Transformed" and always be amazed at that. How does one renew their mind?

I really wanted to be like Jesus. Christian means "Little Christ", and I had been told nearly my whole life a long list of things that I could do that would make me more "Godly" and things I could do that would make me "Un-Godly". The list changed according to who was giving the list out. Each person handing out the "Naughty & Nice" list had verses to back up why THEIR list was the gold standard that everything should be measured by.

The things that one person had on their "Ungodly" list were things another had as "quasi-godly" because it helped you to stay "Balanced" in your life. It was confusing because deep down inside I could not help but ask, "What does God say?"

It was a never ending rat race of trying to put on the proverbial Jesus garb in order to try to compete in a look-a-like contest with others who were doing the same. Did God really want me to try to work so hard to look like His Son or did God want me to look at the life of His Son as a template of what my life IN Him could be?

Jesus was deity that chose to operate on this earth in humanity.

 He simply lived His life in complete surrender to the Father. 

"For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." ~John 6:38
 
"And I seek not mine own glory..." ~John 8:50
"Surrender."
 
What does this word mean? It simply means to: Give something up to another person.
It can also mean: to relinquish something that has been granted to you. This could include your possessions, power, goals, and even your life.
 
Growing up I would hear about the "surrendered life", but I was not really sure what that meant. I assumed it was talking about getting on board with the most current "Naughty & Nice" list that the preacher presented in order to help me be more "Godly".
 
Sound familiar?
 
The surrendered life is simply the act of giving back to God the life that He has given you. It is giving God control over your direction, power, rights, and everything you do or say. It is resigning "You" over to "Him".
 
 He simply lived His life in complete surrender to the Father. 
 
It was that surrender that God wanted us to catch in the life of Jesus. We tend to make our own plans, goals and strategies on how to please the Father, and we wrap them in words that resemble a Jesus Costume. We are in fact "IMPERSONATORS", and so far from transformed we don't have a clue how to get there. Jesus was not about strategies, webinars, conferences and making plans on how to please the Father. He was about letting God work through Him as He pleased.
 
Ok Dan, but Jesus was God in the flesh. His life was surrendered before He even came to earth right?
 
The surrendered life is not imposed on anyone. Not even Jesus. Look at what He said about this and remember, Christ spoke these words as a flesh-and-blood man. After all, He came to earth to live, not as God, but as a man. He came to experience life just like you and I, and like us, He had a will of His own. He chose to fully surrender that will to the Father.
 
"Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father." ~John 10:17-18 

Jesus was telling us, "Make no mistake. This act of self-surrender is totally within my power to do. I'm choosing to lay down my life, and I am not doing it because some man told me to. No one is taking my life from me. My Father gave me the right and the privilege to lay down my life. He also gave me the choice to pass up this cup and avoid the cross but I choose to do it out of love and full surrender to Him."
Our Heavenly Father has given us this same right: the privilege to choose a surrendered life. No one is forced to yield the control of their life to God.

When I saw this it rocked my socks! Conforming to the image of His son was not striving to impersonate Jesus. It was taking my gifts, talents, personality, and who I was and giving control of those things that made me who I was to God. It was not consciously trying to modify my behavior to fit another man's ideals of "Godly" or "Ungodly", but rather a surrender of me to God.

When I discovered this Truth, all of the sudden John 8:32 made perfect sense!

As I continued in His Word, He showed me this nugget!

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him." ~John 14:6-7 

Now I had always been taught that this verse means, "Jesus is salvation." This statement of who Jesus is true, but this passage is rich with another meaning. Jesus was saying, "I am the way (Road). Two roads remember? One wide way that leads to destruction and one narrow way. The wide road is the road of religion. Me trying to perform to earn God's favor and love through my works. The narrow road is Jesus and my complete faith and trust in His finished work on Calvary.
The Truth. Jesus is Truth! (John 8:32) As I continue in Truth I am made free. Why? Christ enables me to now able to really live:
The Life! (Christ is not just the source of life, He is my life!) John 10:10 speaks about the ABUNDANT Life!

"Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:" ~Colossians 1:25-27

What was the Mystery that was hid? (God's Spirit that came to permanently live in me at salvation. Remember the Holy Spirit did not come until AFTER Christ ascended into heaven)

Here it is.

The Christ life is the indwelling Christ expressing Himself through me being myself surrendered to God.

God made you who you are. He gave you unique gifts, and talents and a personality that is special to you. He also gave you His Spirit (The Holy Spirit) at salvation. He is in you! He longs to express Himself through you being yourself.

The transformed life is really that simple!

Put away your costume makeup. The fake beard can go in the trash. Robes don't flatter you well.

Try Surrender!

The Transformed life is a whole lot better than the impersonated life!

Climbing with you,
~Dan

Doughnut anyone?

 

It all started when I decided to drive past when the "Hot" light was on.

That's when I heard the Lord say, "Dan, Stop in and pick up one dozen hot glazed doughnuts!"

Yep, I said it right.

The Lord told me to stop.

These are the times when Moses loses his speech impediment, and Gideon does not need to have a fleece on the lawn merry-go-round. I mean, let's not make God speak twice when He tells you to stop for doughnuts because we all loudly cry out, "Speak Lord, for thy servant heareth thee!"

I was on my way home, when I received "The Call" and immediately I obeyed, pulling my car into the drive through lane. That's when God finished laying out the parameters of the assignment.

"I want you to get one dozen hot and glazed doughnuts and take them to a widow lady, that shall remain nameless, and give them to her from Me."

Wow...

I was stunned. Not that He would ask that, but that I was about to be a part of something way bigger than just a normal doughnut purchase.

I have to admit that the smell of those hot doughnuts in the cab of my truck drove me to near insanity as I made my way to that ladies house. I pulled up in the driveway and I knocked on the door.

After a minute or so, the door opened and there she stood. Her eyes were red and puffy and it was immediately obvious that this sweet lady had been crying her heart out. She looked very surprised to see a visitor, let alone a visitor with a dozen hot glazed doughnuts.

"Bro. Dan" she began, "I was not expecting any company, I am so sorry for the way I look." She lowered her eyes to the front steps, "I was just lying down and crying to the Lord about how much I miss my husband".

I said, "Sis, I was just driving down the road when the Lord told me to stop and get you these doughnuts. I guess He wanted to comfort you with a food that truly does comfort."
As I held out the box to her she glowed, " Those are my favorite doughnuts Bro.Dan!"

"Isn't that like our Father?" I asked. "He knows just how to speak our language of comfort!"

I drove away and praised our God. I praised Him because He truly does see us in our hurts and pains. He truly does deliver His comfort to us in the way that we need it the most!

Jesus was talking to the disciples just before the crucifixion. He was telling them that it was better that He go away from them. They were confused. What could be better than having God in front of me?

The answer was to have God IN me!

"And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;" ~John 14:16

"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." ~ John 14:26 

"But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:" ~John 15:26 

"Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you." ~John 16:7 
  The world is desperately searching for peace.

The definition of true peace is:

 

"THE PEACE OF JESUS PRESENTLY IN YOUR LIFE"

"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
                                                                                                       ~John 14:26-27

The world is searching for and attracted to peace. It is to a God created, God shaped vacuum that is impossible to fill with anything but Him!

I was reading these passages this week and the passage found in John 10:10:

"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." ~John 10:10 
Life with Christ is very much like a doughnut. Sweet to the taste and delicious to others around us, but lived in our own strength can have an emptiness in the center.

I used to be so worn out trying to "make something happen" for God. There was a time when if I did not see the results that I thought I should be seeing, the answer was just to work harder. Every Sunday be a super bowl type of mentality. It was my strength and if things went the way that I thought they should God was blessing and if the results were under par to me, then I had not worked hard enough.

The funny thing about it is that in all actuality it was my strength. Would God really produce anything that was under par? Really Dan?

So one day I read John 10:10

Where was the abundant life? Was this it? Was the abundant life really a life where I was constantly out to prove to the "Divine employer" that I was a good employee? I showed up at more events my church had than any other member, or that I worked harder for Him than any other slacker? Really?

I thought that His yoke was easy and His burden light?

John 10:10 speaks about the abundant life. Jesus is saying that He came to fill our life with His!

Like a doughnut and a doughnut Hole!

Complete sweetness!

The abundant life He is talking about is found in the sufficiency of Christ!

The Christian life is not about a book or a building, it is about the living Christ expressing Himself through me!

If you gauge your success in the Christian life by how many chapters you read or by how many events you attend in a building and fail to allow the living Christ to express Himself through you then and only then are you failing to be who God made you to be.

I do not minimize church attendance or scripture reading. These are awesome tools that God gives us to utilize, but they were never to be used as the standard. Can others truly see Christ in you? (This is a question that others are supposed to answer about you, and not you answer about you)

I think if we could survey this one, it would be surprising as to what we would find. I can guarantee you that the times others would reply "Yes" would be the times that you were completely surrendered to the Father and finding your sufficiency in Him.

I have been privileged by the Lord to go back with doughnuts to that widow's house each time that the Lord has told me to stop. Each time it was right after she prayed and asked the Lord if He knew where she was. One particular time she said, "I knew you were coming today Bro. Dan because last night I had a rough time...God is sufficient!"

I think I will end this post with the recommendation that you stop for a doughnut today and while you eat it, thank Christ for His sufficiency, and then ask Him who He would have you share some comfort with!


Climbing with you,
~Dan

Who moved the ladder?

 

 

Have you ever found yourself piled face first into an unexpected, and even unwanted wall that stood on your path?

Of course you have. Hey, all of us have.

I began this blog on January the 28th of this year and in the post, "God's created Picture of us", I outlined the purpose of this blog as a tool to help you and I climb the walls in our life. I love the concept that the walls that we find placed on our path, are in all actuality steps that have been strategically allowed by God to draw us into a deeper relationship with Him.


(If you are new to the blog, then I would like to invite you to look at the post that really expresses the concept of the man and the wall the best, "You had it all the time".)

I will be the first person to admit that I do not enjoy the wall portion of the steps that I come to, and there have been many times that I have struggled with adopting the concepts that I have used this blog to express.

The times I have struggled with the walls have always been the times when I have mistook the ladder as the source of my help in climbing. I am very thankful for the ladders that God has given me in my climb up the staircase.
Ladders come in many shapes and sizes. Sometimes a ladder may come in the form of a spouse, a co-worker, a pastor, a life coach, a loved one, a Sunday school teacher, or even just a close friend.

God uses people to help us through difficult things.

It is one of the ways that He works in us and through us. The problem comes when we mistake the ladders for the source of our help. If God has provided a very clear ladder in your life that has been of a help to you on your path, by all means you need to be grateful but in that gratitude recognize who it was that placed that ladder where they were placed. 

I have had many ladders in my life, and they have done a tremendous job of remaining firmly planted while they helped my awkward and swaying grapple reach the top of the walls they helped me to climb. I will forever be grateful to them for  the role that they played in relation to me and my wall.

I was reading a very familiar passage of scripture this morning when I noticed something that stood out like a neon sign! I had missed it every other time that I had read it and even recited it.

This is the Shepherds psalm and almost a staple to be read at a funeral.

"The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want." ~Psalms 23:1 

Don't you just love this? I heard a pastor once read this text and preach a sermon on how the pastor is our shepherd. I just looked at my bible and thought, "Umm... I just can't get past the fact that the text is plainly stating THE LORD is my shepherd.

The Lord is our shepherd. Our provision comes from Him every single time! 

"He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters."    ~Psalms 32:2

He brings me to rest, and He leads me to places where I can find nourishment. It is always directed back to Him! His name is not used as a cover in activities, but rather every activity centers itself completely off of man and completely on to Him.

"He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." ~ Pslams 23:3

He prepares my path! He does not will everything that happens, nor does He condone what happens but He does allow the walls in my path. Free will on my part and upon the part of others will always bear consequences. We seriously miss the mark when we mistake consequences to our free will choices as God's feelings towards us as His children.

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." ~ Psalms 23:4

I am going to go through some things in this life. The one thing that separates a child of God who goes through things from a person who is not that goes through things is the absence of fear. We do not have to be afraid!           *see "Not just another cliffhanger"

"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over." ~Psalms 23:5

God is fully capable of feeding us in and through every experience that we have.
                                                                          * See "The prayer that few people pray".

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever." Psalms 23:6

The word "follow" used here is the same word for "Stalk" or "Hunt with the intention to capture". God's goodness and mercy is hunting us with the intention to capture! Don't look behind you right now, but that breathing you hear in your ear is God's goodness and mercy creeping up on you!

I was reading this passage, and I saw all of the familiar things here that you and I have seen before, then I noticed the new perspective. It is found in verse 3.

"He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." ~ Pslams 23:3
Did you see it?

Don't feel bad, I missed it too.

"He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." ~ Pslams 23:3

WOW!!!

The word "Restoreth" means to "turn, bring back home"

The word "Soul" is my mind, my will, and my emotions.

When God made us, the bible tells us that God made man a "Living soul". he gave us something that He did not give His other creations. He gave us a Body, a Soul (Mind, Will, and Emotions), and a Spirit.

If you are a born again Child of God, then your Spirit is sealed. That is the part of you that is in union with God and the part of you that will reside in heaven for eternity.

 When you die, your Body will return to dust.

Your soul however determines what your Spirit is able to do with your body here. It is your mind, your will and your emotions.

This is the part that deals with the walls in our life the hardest. This is the part of us that can be the most deeply wounded. The walls that we hit here are the hardest to climb.

I have sat across the desk from people who knew what their wall was, and they knew what it would take to climb the walls, but because their soul was wounded so deeply, that  no amount of ladder repositioning would help them.

Ladders can only stand up against your walls, they cannot make you climb nor can the force you to climb. The fact is, the ladder is just a ladder to us.

He (Father) is the one who does the restoring. No ladder could ever do that. He (Father) is the only one skilled enough to bring our mind, will and emotions back home.

I guess when I saw this it helped to remind me that the ladders He provided were ladders for that wall, but that He was the one that was doing the restoring. It was always Him!

It reminded me to not confuse a ladder with the one who provided the ladder in the first place.

If you are someones ladder this morning, please remember that you are just a ladder and not their source of restoration.

If you are climbing a wall with the help of a ladder, please remember to be grateful for the ladder, but realize that the only restoring that will happen with your soul is from  and through The Restorer, Jesus Christ.

If you are The Restorer, please accept our thanks for the walls/steps and for the ladders that you provide for us to climb with!


Climbing with you,

~Dan