When Prayers Go Unaswered

Martin Luther is a famous figure in the history of the Christian faith. You may know him as the man who broke away from the Catholic church and fathered the Protestant movement. According to tradition, Luther became a priest because of a “prayer bet” he made with God. This story says that as Luther was traveling in the countryside, a huge thunderstorm hit. As the lightning flashed and the thunder boomed, Luther threw himself into a ditch fearing for his life. While he laid in the ditch, he prayed. Hard. Part of his prayer included a deal with God -- if God would deliver him from the storm, Luther would become a priest.

I don’t know if this account is real or just an urban legend, but Luther survived the storm and became a priest.

Maybe you’ve made a “prayer bet” with God. Maybe you’ve prayed one of those “God, if you get me out of this I promise I will…” prayers in your life. Honestly, most of us have at some point in our lives.

But what about when prayers go unanswered? Especially the prayers that seem way more serious than making it through a thunderstorm? 

Why is it that we pray for healing, but our loved ones still suffer?

Why is it that we pray for restoration in relationships, but parents still split up?

Why is it that we pray for deliverance from tough situations, but we end up going through them anyway?

When we pray serious -- I really need this -- type prayers but don’t get the answers we are looking for, it can shake our faith and lead to doubt:

Is God really able to do anything about my situation? 

Does God even care?

How should we think about unanswered prayers?

In his book, How to Pray: A Simple Guide for Normal People, author Pete Grieg writes that we can attribute unanswered prayers in our lives to three possibilities: God’s world, God’s war, or God’s will. While there are probably other reasons or explanations for unanswered prayer in our lives, these three categories really give us understanding and insight, and help us to find our way through our doubts. 

God’s Worl

The very beginning of the Bible, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…” (Genesis 1:1). When God created the world, He created systems and order for how the world works. We call these natural laws and they are designed to make the world work. Grieg writes:

“God has intricately established certain governing principles that make the world work best for most people in most places most of the time. The majority of humanity does not experience devastating natural disasters. Most babies are born healthy. Fallen nature still contains far more beauty than ugliness. And so God tends not to tinker with these extraordinarily delicate, complex, and effective rules every time we pray.”

Sometimes we pray for things like a sunny day for our wedding or for our team to win the big game. But what if a fan of the other team is praying that same prayer? Or what happens if every time we prayed for a sunny day, the rains stopped, the clouds parted, and the sun broke through? If every bride had a sunny wedding day, every farmer praying for rain would be praying in vain.

Are there occasions when God suspends or steps outside of the natural order to change a situation? Absolutely. We call those times miracles. But those are the exception, not the rule. This is true even in the Bible. For all of the amazing miracles that are shared in Scripture, there are thousands and thousands of unremarkable days not mentioned. As theologian and author C.S. Lewis writes, “That God can and does, on occasions, modify the behavior of matter and produce what we call miracles, is part of Christian faith.” He adds, however, that “the very conception of a common, and therefore stable, world, demands that these occasions should be extremely rare.” In other words, God isn’t always messing with the world he created and set in motion. There are times our prayers go unanswered because we are a part of a world that doesn’t always work the way we wish that it would. 

God’s War

We may not see our prayers answered in the way or time we want them to be answered because we live in a spiritual war zone. In our society, we don’t talk much about the spiritual realm (except in horror movies), but the Bible has a lot to say about it. Jesus Himself said that we have an enemy, Satan (which means “enemy”). Jesus warns us that Satan is constantly battling against God and against us. 

The New Testament writers also have a lot to say about the spiritual battle in our world and in our lives. Here are a few examples:

“For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” – Ephesians 6:12

“We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.” – 2 Corinthians 10:3-4

“Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” - 1 Peter 5:8

There are times we don’t receive the answer to our prayers because there is a battle going on in the spiritual realm. In the Old Testament book of Daniel, the main person in the story, Daniel, has prayed and prayed for an answer from God but hadn’t received it. Finally, after three weeks of intense praying, Daniel does receive an answer from a “heavenly messenger.” This messenger tells Daniel that his prayers, from the very first day, had been heard in heaven, but a spiritual battle had kept the answer from being delivered for 21 days.

In, The Death of Satan: How Americans Have Lord the Sense of Evil, author Andrew Delbanco writes, 

“We have jettisoned in the West the idea of cosmic evil, or transcendent evil, or supernatural evil. We don’t believe in it. In fact, we don’t like to use the word evil because it implies moral absolutes and value judgements. So we use medical terms. We talk about dysfunction. We talk about pathology. We don’t use moral terminology. But as the twentieth century has gone on it has gotten harder and harder to say that holocausts and ethnic cleansing and serial killing is just bad psychological and sociological adjustment.”

While we want to “trust the science” and find a natural explanation for everything, the Bible tells us that there is a spiritual battle brewing and that the answers to our prayers may be caught up in the melee.

God’s Will

Sometimes the prayers we pray make total sense to us and our will for our lives, but they aren’t necessarily in line with God’s will for our lives. Greig reminds us that, “Jesus only ever promised to answer prayers aligned with his will and purpose.” He never promised to give us anything we want, but He did promise to give us everything that fits His plan and will for us and our situation.

The Bible also tells us that God’s wisdom and ways are much, much, much, higher than ours. We may think we know best, but our knowledge is limited. God sees the big picture. That might seem frustrating, but I believe we can see it as freeing. It is freeing to know that One who knows so much more than I do is the One who is in control.

The Hubble telescope has so far found one hundred billion galaxies in the universe. Doesn’t it stand to reason that the One who made and maintains this vast cosmos will sometimes do things we can’t comprehend? Doesn’t it make sense and that maybe God can be trusted with the patterns and the purpose of our own lives? 

I believe that one day we will get to hear the “rest of the story” and find out how a prayer that wasn’t answered the way we thought it should be was actually a blessing. 

When we pray, the answer we receive isn’t always the answer we are looking for, or sometimes we feel we don’t get an answer at all. And when that happens, doubt can begin to cloud our hearts and minds. But I believe every prayer is answered. Sometimes that answer is “no” because God has a different plan that will benefit us in the end. At other times, the answer may be “wait” because we aren’t ready or we need to grow into who he has created us to be. And often the answer is “yes” as God provides the right answer at the right time.

If you’ve ever had your doubts about God, faith, Christianity, or the church, I’d love to have you join us this Sunday as we continue to talk about our doubts and God’s purpose in our lives.

God bless,

Pastor Darrick Young

Alternate History

Have you ever wondered what the world would have looked like if the Axis powers had won World War II? Or how history would have been different if the Soviet Union had been first in the space race to put a man on the moon? In recent years, an emerging genre of fiction, called Alternative/Alternate History has done just that. You may have seen it played out in Amazon Prime’s The Man in the High Castle, which imagines the United States divided into two territories by Germany and Japan after World War II. More recently, Apple’s new series For All Mankind conceives a world where the US is beaten in the quest to put a man on the moon. Movies, series, and books like this, while fictional in nature, are designed to cause us to ask, “What if?” 

During Easter week, as many people prepare to celebrate the most important day in Christianity, my thoughts went to the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, a city in ancient Greece. Toward the end of the letter (1 Corinthians, chapter 15 in our Bible) Paul tells the Corinthians that after Jesus’ resurrection, he appeared to many people, including a group of over 500 people. Most of these witnesses were still alive when Paul wrote this letter, so they could be tracked down and interviewed. But there were some people who were convinced that no one could be resurrected, including Jesus, and they were out there, casting doubt on Jesus’ resurrection. So Paul, way before “alt history” became a thing, writes a little of his own in 1 Corinthians 15:13-19:

13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

In his letter, Paul imagines a Christianity without a resurrected Jesus. If that were the case, Paul argues, everything about Christ, the Christian faith, the bible, and the church become meaningless. Look at the passage.

Preaching about Christ? Useless.

Faith in Christ? Useless.

Christians? False witnesses.

Our faith? Futile.

People who died believing in Jesus? Lost.

People who trust Jesus in this life? Pitiful.

Easter is the most significant moment in history and the greatest day in the Christian faith because without it, everything else loses meaning. If Jesus was just a nice guy, wise man, and good teacher, he becomes a good role model, but not the Savior. He joins the ranks of other women and men throughout history who have demonstrated great wisdom and high character, and even if he is at the head of that class, it still falls far short of his claims of being the Son of God and the Savior of the World. That’s why Paul says people should pity those who futilely believe in a Jesus who stayed buried.

But, Paul goes on to write, thankfully, that’s not the case:

20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (1 Corinthians 15:20)

Because Jesus has been raised from the dead, we have the hope of eternal life as well. Jesus was the “first fruits” of resurrection and now we can experience resurrection promise, too.

What evidence is there for Jesus’ resurrection? Some of the most prominent evidence is: the empty tomb, the inability of the Jewish religious leaders or Roman government to point to his still dead body, and the witnesses of a group of women, the Apostle Peter, the rest of the apostles, and a group of over 500 people. There is also the transformation of Jesus’ disciples from frightened men and women who fled and hid during his arrest to people who would proclaim his resurrection to thousands of people, even when it cost them their lives.

As Easter approaches, you might have your doubts, whether you are a Christian or not. Wrapping your head around someone rising from the dead (apart from in a zombie movie) is challenging. You don’t have to check your brain at the door and pretend to believe something. But this Easter, don’t let your doubts keep from considering the possibility that Jesus is who he said he was. Don’t let your doubts keep you from looking into the empty grave. If Jesus was just a man, our faith is meaningless. But if he is who he claimed to be, that changes everything. An alternative to Paul’s alternative history would look something like this:

Preaching about Christ? Powerful.

Faith in Christ? Crucial.

Christians? Hope filled.

Our faith? Meaningful.

People who died believing in Jesus? Eternal hope.

People who trust Jesus in this life? Secure.

This Easter, doubters are welcome at Journey Church. We will be talking about the doubts that filled the minds of many of the main people in the Easter story and how Jesus reached through those doubts to transform them. Our Easter services will be onsite and online at 8:30 and 10:00 am. It’s the first week in a series we will be teaching about doubt, and we’d love to share it with you.

Saint Patrick's Model

Happy St. Patrick’s day everyone! It’s a day to wear green, eat corned beef, and celebrate all things Irish. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, had an amazing story that makes remembering him right before Easter a great idea.

When Patrick was a young man, he was kidnapped and taken to Ireland and made a slave to the Celtic people. After six years he escaped home to England, where he would become a cleric in the Catholic Church. Patrick would later return to Ireland as a missionary. When Patrick returned to share the Gospel (good news) of Christ with the people of Ireland, he went about it in a way that was very different from the church in the rest of the world. In most of the world at that time, the church worked to convert people to Christianity, then invited them into the community of the church. But Patrick flipped that process around. He created open communities where people who had doubts, questions, and skepticism toward Christianity could freely interact with Patrick and those who worked with him. In Patrick’s model, community came before and led to conversion. You were free to show up with all of your doubts and questions and invited to belong before they had all been answered.

Easter is an event that a lot of people have questions about. Some have serious doubts—did Jesus’s resurrection actional happen? The story of someone dying and then coming back to life is hard to reconcile with what we know about death and its finality. But it is also the key event in the church. Without it, the rest of Christianity doesn’t mean anything.

The good news for all of us is that God is not afraid of our doubts and questions. They don’t have to be a barrier to us looking closely at the claims of Christ. This Easter season, don’t let your doubts keep you from taking a look into the empty tomb. We’re going to talk about Jesus and our doubts this Easter at Journey Church and we’d love to have you join us. Before then, if you’d like to learn more about the history and meaning of Easter, you can check out this past blog post here.

Your doubts and questions are welcome with us, and we would love to search for the answers with you.

Effective Ways to Share Your Faith

Have you ever felt the internal tug-of-war between what you know you should do—even what you want to do—and the struggle to actually do it? I think we all have. That’s why we laugh at the memes that say, “I really want to have abs. But I also want pizza.” The struggle is real in so many ways in our lives. 

• We know we should cut down on our drive-thru trips and eat more meals at home, but…

• We want to spend less time on social media, but FOMO (fear of missing out) keeps us going back for more, and more, and more…

• We agree when our dental hygienist tells us how important flossing is, but it seems so inconvenient (plus we won’t see her again for six months)…

If you are a Christian, one of the biggest of those tensions is sharing our faith with the people around us. This has been called witnessing, evangelism, proselytizing, or other terms, but basically it comes down to telling other people about our faith in Jesus and helping them take their own next step towards Christ. Someone once said that prayer is the most talked about but least practiced activity in the church, and if that is true, sharing our faith probably runs a close second.

While there is something inside us that believes it is important to do, and something we would like to do, most of us find it hard to do. Why? We’re worried it might damage our relationship with that person. We don’t know the answers to all the questions they might ask. We don’t want to be laughed at or looked down upon. Or maybe we’re not even sure where to start.

Over the last few weeks, we have shared blog posts on how to read and understand the Bible, how to pray, and how to fast. This week I want to talk about how to share our faith. We will be reinforcing these principles and how to apply them in our Influencer series on Sunday mornings in March.

Why Share Your Faith

Before we talk about HOW to share our faith with our friends, let’s take a second and talk about WHY we should share our faith with our friends. If you’ve been around the church or a group of Christians for a while, you’ve heard you should share your faith, but why? Here are a few key reasons:

Because eternity hangs in the balance.

Jesus Himself spoke often in the Gospels about eternity. He said that all people would spend eternity either with God (Heaven) or separated from God (Hell). Our motivation for sharing our faith should begin with the reality of eternity.

Because knowing Christ gives people hope in the here and now.

Pastor and author Andy Stanley says it this way, “Following Jesus makes your life better and makes you better at life.” Every year the Gallup organization does a poll asking Americans about their mental health and wellbeing. In 2020 every demographic they studied reported a decrease in their mental health. They divided people by gender, age, race, political party, income, and educational level – and every group was anywhere from -1 to -15% when it came to their mental health from 2019 to 2020. Except for one group. That group was: “People who attend church weekly.” That group was a +4%. When we share our faith we give people the hope they need.

Because we are God’s strategy for helping people find faith in Him.

The plan Jesus has for people becoming His followers is for His current followers to reach them and share His message. He’s not planning a viral social media campaign or miraculous voices coming out of the sky. He told his followers to, “be my witnesses…to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:9) If you are a Christian, you are Jesus’ Plan A (and B and C…)

How To Share Your Faith

So, if we are in on the “why” of sharing our faith, how can we do it? I want to suggest three basic step or levels to helping other people find their way to God. You can think of it like a pyramid with three levels.

INVITING

At the base of the pyramid is inviting. It’s the base because it is the biggest and broadest way we can share our faith. The Gospels in the New Testament are full of examples of people bringing people to Jesus. Some of Jesus’ closest followers became his disciples because their brothers brought them to meet Jesus. When Jesus changed the life of a woman with a shady reputation, she ran back to her village and brought people to meet Him. When a guy named Matthew became one of Jesus’ disciples, he threw a party and invited Jesus and the disciples along with all his old sinner buddies. He wanted them to meet Jesus like he had.

One of the biggest and easiest ways we can share our faith is to invite someone to come to church with us. Or our small group. Or a church event. By giving them the chance to hear the message and meet other Christians we help them be exposed to the life-changing message of Jesus. It also opens the door to spiritual conversations.

Telling

The next level on the pyramid is a little smaller and requires a little bit more commitment. It’s the telling level. This is telling someone your faith story.

What is your faith story? It’s the story of how you became a follower of Jesus. It really has three parts: What your life was like before you were a Christian, how you became a Christian, and what your life is like now. People may not agree with your beliefs. They may doubt the Bible. They may have a lot of questions about God. But it is hard for people to argue with your story. When you tell them about how God has changed your life, you give them a personal example of God’s goodness. It takes some courage and practice, but taking five minutes to share your story when the conversation is right, can change someone else’s story.

Sharing

The top of the pyramid is the smallest but vital part of sharing our faith, sharing. Specifically, sharing the Gospel.

What is the Gospel? It is the message of how people can be forgiven of their sin and reconciled to God. The word Gospel means, “Good news.” It is the good news that Jesus came into our world, lived a perfect and sinless life, was crucified for our sin, and after three days in the grave, he rose from the dead. Sharing the Gospel means sharing the key ideas and Bible passages that help people understand their need for Christ. It is based on these key thoughts:

1. God created humanity to enjoy relationship with Him.

2. Because of sin, humanity rejected God and pursued life apart from God.

3. God sent Jesus into this world to pay for humanity’s sin and make a way for relationship to be restored.

4. We can be reconciled to God by putting confessing our sin, our need for him, and putting our faith in Jesus.

There is obviously more detail to it, and several great Scriptures passages that help to illustrate those points, but that is the basic “Good news” in a nutshell.

You can also join us on Sunday mornings in March as we talk about being influencers for Christ and unpack how to invite, tell, and share.

If you would like to learn more about sharing your faith and discover some tools to help you to do so, check out the “6S” page on our website.

Why Fast?

This was originally posted on February 29, 2020, but we thought we would run it back again during this Lenten season. Enjoy!

The best way to make fasting effective is to pair it with a specific prayer for breakthrough.

Last Sunday, Journey started our new series, “Fast: 40 Days to Breakthrough.” Here’s a quick overview of fasting and what is in store for us when we pray for breakthroughs.

WHAT IS FASTING?

Sometimes acknowledging what something is not is the best way to define what it is. Fasting is not a diet, and it’s not a life-hack to get what you want from God. The point of fasting is not to be seen as a “super-Christian” or achieve some holiness award. The purpose of fasting is to focus our attention on God and admit our neediness for Him to act.

Fasting is a spiritual discipline, just like prayer and reading the Bible. There are multiple ways we discipline our bodies for our physical health (i.e. getting enough sleep, eating healthy, monitoring time on screens), and spiritual disciplines serve the same purpose for our spiritual health. Fasting helps discipline ourselves to seek God rather than turning to other things for satisfaction.

Fasting is a humbling experience. It humbles us by helping us rely on God to meet our needs. When we fast, we are choosing to refrain from something physical for a spiritual purpose. It’s a way we grow in our loyalty and devotion to God by showing we are not enslaved to something else for our satisfaction. It shows we need Jesus and His power more than we need food (or whatever you might be fasting).

Fasting is a way to deepen our relationship with God and our knowledge of Him. When fasting is recorded in the Bible, it’s partnered with prayer. By giving up certain physical things, we create more space in our day to communicate with God, whether that’s through prayer or reading the Bible. Just like we grow closer to loved ones the more intentional time we spend communicating with them, the closer we grow to God by talking with Him and letting Him speak to us.

WHY FAST?

There are a few different reasons people fasted in the Bible, but the most important reason we should fast is that it’s a practice that is expected of Christians. In the book of Matthew, Jesus gives His disciples instructions for when they fast, not if they fast. This implies that Jesus expected His followers to fast. Fasting is never commanded in Scripture, but it was a practice recorded repeatedly in the life of people following God.

We don’t fast as a way to impress others or try to flaunt superiority. In the instructions He gave, Jesus told His disciples to take care of their appearance when they fasted. He didn’t want them looking or acting in a way that would draw attention to what they were doing. Fasting isn’t done to get the approval of people or admiration for our own self-sacrifice. If that’s the motive, we shouldn’t be doing it. God is pretty clear that His interest is more in our hearts and motives than the specific actions. 

Other examples in Scripture show that fasting was used as a way to seek God’s guidance and ask for His help. At Journey, we are using this time of fasting as an opportunity to pray for breakthroughs, both personally and in the life of our church.

THE DANGER OF BREAKTHROUGHS

The term breakthrough is a military concept. It’s what happens when a military force breaks through a weak spot in the enemy’s defenses. I don’t know a lot about military strategies, but I am an avid reader of fantasy novels, and where ever there is a point of potential breakthrough, the fighting intensifies in that spot. The most powerful warriors go to the weak point, desperately trying to hold in the line, no holds barred because they know if the line breaks, they’re done.

This idea holds true for spiritual warfare as well. Whether we’re praying for a breakthrough in our own lives or in the life of a loved one, it’s not going to come easy. We don’t always remember the forces at play beyond what we can see, but there’s a very real spiritual battle going on. We’re up against “cosmic powers” and “spiritual forces of evil” (Ephesians 6:12). I don’t know exactly what this entails, but it does not sound pleasant.

By fasting and praying for a breakthrough, we’re essentially testing where our hearts are. “And when it reveals that the heart is with God and not the world, a mighty blow is struck against Satan” (A Hunger for God, John Piper). We’re asking God to break through Satan’s defenses. Once that breakthrough begins, the fighting will get fierce. Satan considers the earth his territory, and he’s not going to passively sit by and let God move in.

Scripture has a pattern in the accounts of fasting where times of fasting are followed by severe temptation or opposition. After Jesus fasted for 40 days, Satan jumped in trying to exploit on Jesus’ physical weakness (Matthew 4:1-11). If Satan dared to try to discourage the Son of God, why wouldn’t he do the same to us?

I don’t share this to discourage you; I want you to understand the opposition that will come when you pray for a breakthrough. But I also want to encourage you. If fasting brings about opposition, you’re probably on the right track. Know that we worship a God who has already claimed victory over Satan. We may be up against more than we know, but we follow the One who has overcome it all.

Keep going. Don’t lose heart. A breakthrough will come.

If you have questions or would like some guidance in the area of fasting, reach out to Pastor Darrick. We would love to hear from you!

Connecting with God Through Prayer This Lenten Season

A of couple weeks ago I was absent-mindedly surfing through the channels on my TV when I ran into a movie I hadn’t seen for years, Meet the Parents. In the movie, Greg (real name Gaylord) is meeting his potential in-laws for the first time and he wants to make a good impression. As they sit down to have dinner together, Greg is asked to pray for the meal. While he’s not a praying person, Greg doesn’t want to mess things up, so he decides to take a shot and wing it. His prayer goes like this:

“Ok…. O Dear God, thank you. You are such a good God to us. A kind, and gentle, and accommodating God. And we thank you, O sweet, sweet Lord of Hosts for the smorgasbord you have so aptly lain at our table this day and each day by day… day by day by day, O dear Lord three things we pray. To love Thee more dearly, to see Thee more clearly, to follow Thee more nearly day by day by day. Amen.”

Maybe you remember that scene, or one like it—when Aunt Grace is asked to pray in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and breaks into the pledge of allegiance, or when Ricky Bobby prays to the “sweet baby Jesus wearing golden diapers,” in Talladega Nights. In these scenes, and many like them, the message seems to be people who are willing to pray but have no idea what to say.

Maybe the reason these scenes are so funny to us is that we can relate. We believe that there is something important and something sacred about prayer, but we’re not sure how to pray, what to say, or what we should pray about. For Christians, prayer is something we talk about and know we should practice, but it still seems nebulous and hard to put our finger on. Even people who describe themselves as non-religious or unsure often look to prayer in times or personal or national crisis. But what is prayer and how are we supposed to pray?

WHAT IS LENT?

Today (Wednesday, February 17th) is the beginning of the Lenten season, a 40-day period leading up to Easter. It begins on “Ash Wednesday” and concludes the day before Easter. It is a Christian liturgy that focuses on Jesus’ path to the cross, His death, burial, and His resurrection. Prayer is a big part of the Lenten season, so I wanted to do a little “how-to” talk about prayer.

PRAYER: Simply Profound

At its simplest level, prayer is talking to God, or a conversation with God. The way prayer is described and demonstrated in the Bible involves both speaking (praying to God) and listening (hearing from God). I like the way Pete Grieg, who has led many prayer movements in the UK and other parts of the world, says it: “The best bit of advice I’ve ever received about how to pray was this: keep it simple, keep it real, keep it up.”

We keep prayer simple when and real when we talk to God like we would talk to a best friend. When this is our mindset, we aren’t trying to come up with big words or impressive language. We’re just simply talking about how we feel. Jesus Himself encouraged the people who followed Him to keep their prayers simple and straightforward in Matthew 6:7-8:

“When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!”

Apparently, people during Jesus’ time believed that they could earn style points for eloquence or endurance points for how long they prayed. They thought that the fancier or longer their prayers were, the better the chance of God hearing them and actually listening to them. Many also used chants or mantras that they would repeat over and over, hoping that by using the ‘magic words,’ they would get God’s attention and approval. But Jesus told His followers not to follow that example. Instead, they should keep it simple and keep it real.

In conversations I’ve had with people about prayer, I’ve often heard a version of this, “I’m not sure what to say when I pray, I don’t know what words I should use.” The answer I always give is, “Yours. Use your words. That’s enough.” God isn’t impressed by our vocabulary or our volume. He just wants to hear from us.

A Model We Can Use for Prayer

After Jesus told His followers not to babble on in their prayers, He said, “Pray like this,” then He gave them what we call today, “The Lord’s Prayer.” It goes like this:

“Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.” -  Matthew 6:9-13

Many people have memorized that prayer and make it a part of their own prayers. But notice that Jesus didn’t say, “Pray these words.” He said, “Pray like this.” Jesus wasn’t giving us a mantra to repeat, He was giving us a model to follow. The Lord’s prayer is a great model or pathway for us to follow when we pray. Let’s break it down:

Our Father in Heaven, Holy is Your Name

This is giving praise or thanks to God for Who He is what He has done in your life. When I pray this, I like to list some of the names or descriptors for God that are found in the Bible. For instance: The Alpha and Omega referring to God as being the beginning and end of all things. King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jehovah Jireh, which means, “God will provide.” I also like to use my own words to tell God how much I love Him and offer Him praise as the God of the universe and the God of my life. These are prayers of ADORATION – giving love, thanks, and praise to God.

Your Kingdom come, Your Will be Done on Earth as it is in Heaven

Every kingdom can only have one king. Only one person’s will can be done in a situation. When we pray this part of the Lord’s prayer, we are saying, “God, I want You to be the king of my life, not me. I want Your will to be done in my life, not mine.” These are prayers of SUBMISSION – giving up control and giving it to God. I usually start by praying that God’s kingdom would come and that His will would be done in my life (my thoughts, my words, my actions) and then work outward, asking His will to be done in my marriage, my family, our church, our community, our nation, and our world. 

Give Us Today our Daily Bread

This is the part of the Lord’s prayer when we make our requests known to God. It’s when we say, “God I know that You are the One who provides everything I need in this world.” Jesus said when we pray we should know that God already knows what we need. This is the time when I pray for people, situations, and needs that I have or am aware of. I pray that people I know who are sick will be healed. I pray for people that I know are struggling financially, that God will give them what they need today. I pray for people struggling with addictions or habits they can’t shake. I pray for our community and the needs that are in the news or conversations with my neighbors. I pray for our nation and our world. These are prayers of PETITION – asking or petitioning God to act on our behalf.

And Forgive Us our Sins as We Forgive Those who have Sinned Against Us

These are prayers of CONFESSION, when we ask God to forgive us of our sin. These could be things we have said, ways we’ve treated others, wrong words we’ve spoken, or anything else that causes us to feel guilty or ashamed of our actions. When we pray for these things, Jesus also instructs us to give that same forgiveness to others as well. Throughout the New Testament of the Bible, Jesus and many of the New Testament authors link our ability to experience forgiveness and feel forgiven with our willingness to forgive others. If we withhold forgiveness from others, we forfeit the ability to receive God’s forgiveness in our lives.

Don’t Let Us Yield to Temptation, but Rescue Us from the Evil One

Jesus wraps up His prayer model by seeking God’s wisdom and protection. This is where we commit our day, our plans, our future to God and ask Him to lead and guide us. We also pray that He will be with us through every circumstance.

The Wrap Up

Prayer: keep it simple, keep it real, and keep it up. We’ve looked at a simple model that Jesus has given us for prayer. We can follow this model and keep it real by praying our own words, talking to God like we would to a close friend. But what about keeping it up? Didn’t Jesus say not to babble on and on?

Just a few paragraphs after Jesus taught His followers the model for prayer, He talked to them about the perseverance of prayer. Check out what Jesus had to say about prayer in Matthew 7:7-8: 

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”

When you pray, keep it up. You might pray for a need in your own life or in the life of a friend or family member for weeks before you see an answer. You might pray over and over for God’s direction and guidance in a situation before the way seems clear. Jesus says, “Keep asking. Keep seeking. Keep knocking.” Keep it up.

One last thought from Pete Greig about when, where, and how we should pray: 

“God invites you to pray simply, directly and truthfully in the full and wonderful weirdness of the way he’s actually made you. Take a walk in the rain. Write prayers on the soles of your shoes. Sing the Blues. Rap. Write Petrarchan Sonnets. Sit in silence in a forest. Go for a run until you sense God’s smile; throw yourself down a water-slide, yelling hallelujah if that’s honestly your thing.”

His point? The right way to pray is your way. The right words to use are your words. God just wants to hear from you. It’s that simple. And that profound.

How to Read, Understand, and Apply the Bible to Your Life

As we began our freshman year of high school, everyone in my class was encouraged to take a foreign language. At our school, there were three options: Spanish, German, or French. So, of course, I chose French (apparently, I was anticipating spending a lot of time in Paris or Quebec later in life…). I have no idea why I chose French. Actually, I do have an idea, I just can’t remember what her name was.

If I had it to do all over again, I would choose Spanish. I have way more opportunities to use Spanish and have been to many places in the world where it would have come in handy. So recently, I have been using an app on my phone to learn Spanish, and that cliché about teaching an old dog new tricks is feeling very accurate. But I want to be able to converse with our new brothers and sisters at Agape Church, so I am working at it.

Why We Study the Bible

When you read the Bible, you might feel a little bit like I do when I work on my Spanish. “I don’t really get it, but I am determined, and I am trying.” We talk a lot at Journey about the importance of personally engaging with the Scriptures. By that, we mean reading the Bible for ourselves and not relying on other people to tell us what’s in there. One reason we emphasize the importance of personal Bible study is because over one million Christians have been surveyed about what has caused their faith to grow, and the #1 answer (by a mile) is: “When I began to personally engage with the Scriptures.” The greater reason why we emphasize personal Bible study is this: the Bible itself tells us that it is what will help us to know God and grow in Him. For instance:

“Your word I have hidden in my heart, so I would not sin against You.” – Psalm 119:11

“Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path.” – Psalm 119:105

“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two- edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.” – Hebrews 4:12

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:16-17

How To Start

We all know that reading and studying the Bible is important to a Christian and anyone else who wants to find out what the Christian faith is all about. But the Bible can be a challenge to understand. The good news is that there are a lot of resources out there that can help you with the challenges of understanding and applying the Bible. Here are a few basic thoughts on how you can begin to read, understand, and apply the Bible:

Before you read – pray.

Ask God to help you to understand what you are reading and show you how you can apply it to your life. Imagine being able to sit next to Mark Twain while reading Tom Sawyer or having Harper Lee on speed dial when you picked up To Kill a Mockingbird. Any time you read something that you didn’t understand you could simply ask them, “What did you mean at this point in the story?” When we ask God for insight and illumination, we are asking the author of the story to help us understand. 

Start with the story of Jesus.

His story is found in the first four books of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). These are called the Gospels, which means, “Good news.” These are first-hand accounts of the life of Jesus, written down by people who saw what Jesus did and heard what Jesus said. While this might seem like starting in the middle of the book, this is the perfect place to begin studying the Bible. Everything that comes before the Gospels (the Old Testament) points ahead to Jesus, and everything that comes after the Gospels (the rest of the New Testament) points back to Jesus. The Bible is actually a library more than a book. It is a collection of 66 books that cover a variety of genres of literature. But they all point to one thing - actually one person - Jesus. So, start with the story of Jesus if you are just getting started in reading the Bible. Reading a chapter or two a day is a great start.

As you read, jot down your initial observations about what you are reading.

Don’t skip this part. Observation is an important part of studying the Scriptures. This is where you get the chance to pay attention to the little things you’re reading so you can figure out the big picture. This is where you get to ask questions or the text. Things like, Why is this there? What does this mean? Isn’t that a contradiction? Why is there a “but” here instead of an “or”? I’ve seen this word used a lot in one paragraph—I wonder why. Studying without observing is like cooking a meal without paying attention to the ingredients.

Apply the S.O.A.P. method.

SOAP is an acronym for SCRIPTURE, OBSERVATION, APPLICATION, and PRAYER. Here’s how it works:

SCRIPTURE: Out of the chapter(s) you just read, what is one verse or small group of verses that stuck out to you? Highlight or write down that verse or verses.

OBSERVATION: What is it that you observed from the Scripture you highlighted? Why did that passage impact you? It could be because of what is currently happening in your life, or it could be an idea or truth you had never considered. What did you learn from the text?

APPLICATION: The goal of reading and studying the Bible is not to increase our knowledge, but to change our lives. So, a great question to ask it, “How can I apply what I just read to my life?” We want to take it from the theoretical (“That’s a great thought!”) to the practical (“Here’s how that thought can change my life!”). 

PRAYER: Take a moment and pray about your observation and application. Ask God to help you to not just learn from His Word, but to live His Word in real life. 

While there are certainly more ways to study and learn from the Bible and opportunities to go deeper by looking at the original languages (Hebrew for the Old Testament and Greek for the New Testament), learning about the context in history, and reading commentaries on the Bible, this is a great place to start. 

Don’t Just Read The Bible. Understand It.

Jesus told a parable (story) in Matthew 13, called, “The Parable of the Farmer Scattering Seed.” In the story, the farmer is scattering seed by hand and it falls on different kinds of soil. One of the types of soil is the hard, packed ground of the path. The seed can’t sink into the path and just sits there on top. Soon a bunch of birds come down and gobble the seed up. Later, when Jesus explained His story to His followers, He told them that the seed on the path represented people who heard the Word of God, but did not UNDERSTAND it, so it was snatched away from them. 

At Journey Church, we don’t want you to miss out on the life-changing message of the Gospel because you don’t understand it. As the lead pastor, I don’t want you to feel about the Bible the way that I feel about trying to learn Spanish. I don’t want you to feel stuck - that feeling of really wanting to know, but not understanding. The Bible, and more specifically the truths from God in the Bible, can change your life. But only if you read it, understand it, and apply it. I hope this little blog post can help you with that.

Next week, we’re going to tackle PRAYER. What it is and how to connect with God through it.

Be blessed,

Darrick

Different Wiring

In the early stages of World War II, there was a long and hard-fought battle for three small islands in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Those three islands make up Malta, which was a part of the British Commonwealth. Malta was attacked by the Axis powers, first Italy and later Germany, because of its location and impact on shipping lanes to North Africa and other significant ports.

In the book, Spitfire Girl (Spitfires were the planes of the British Royal Air Force), the story of Malta’s determination and resilience is told through the life of Diana Mackintosh, who is still living today at 101 years old. In fact, Diana is more than still living, she is ALIVE. Diana still loves to travel, and according to her son Robert, when she travels, she doesn’t like to travel with anyone over age sixty because she feels they slow her down. 

In reading Diana’s story, I was struck by one description of her from the book’s co-author:

“Her eyes pass over obstacles – in order to fix on opportunities.”

What an amazing way to be described and what a way to live life! As a young woman, Diana watched her home reduced to rubble, experienced the loss of close friends and family members, and felt the hunger pangs of starvation when food was unavailable. But she endured because of a perspective that focused on what was possible instead of what could limit those possibilities.

In their book, Focus: Use Different Ways of Seeing the World for Success and Influence, Dr. Heidi Grant Halvorson and Dr. E. Tory Higgins, posit that all people are motivated by one of two things: opportunity or security. “Some people,” they write, “are focused on the win, while others are focused on avoiding the loss.”

All of us, it seems, are motivated by potential or prevention. People who are motivated by potential are focused on maximizing gains and avoiding missed opportunities. Those people are driven by progress. People who are motivated by prevention, focus on minimizing losses, and keeping things working as they are. They are motivated by security. These mindsets greatly impact how we experience the world. 

So, who are you? Are you like Diana? Are obstacles fuzzy images on the edge of your periphery as you stare down opportunities? Or are you more of a prevention person, focusing on security and stability for yourself and the people around you? The good news is that there is no “right” kind of person. There’s just you and me. And we, oftentimes because of our upbringing, our life story, and our experiences, lean toward potential or prevention. 

Here’s the good news, our faith in Christ offers us hope in either circumstance. If you are someone who thrives on progress and the chance to chase another dream, you have this hope:

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. – Ephesians 3:20 (NLT)

This verse tells us that the biggest dreams we have are not big enough for what God is able to do in us and through us! In fact, Paul also writes in Ephesians that we are God’s masterpiece and that He planned in advance for us to do good things (Ephesians 2:10). So if you are a mountain climber and a dream chaser, know that God created you that way and that He will provide and guide you to the mountain top.

But we’re not all wired that way. So what hope does Jesus offer to those of us who are motivated by prevention? Those who realize that the obstacles don’t just go away because we choose not to acknowledge them? If God wired us that way, what does He offer to us? He offers us the security and the assurance we need to strengthen those around us and to live a life of faith and hope. Listen to this promise:

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT)

We don’t have to give in to anxiety when obstacles come along, and we don’t have to worry about the things we can’t control. We can give those things to God and experience an unreasonable peace. What a trade-off! We give God our problems, fears, concerns, and obstacles we face. He gives us back the peace that will guard our hearts (emotions) and our minds (thoughts). And it is a peace that exceeds our ability to understand it. It is unreasonable. 

Wherever you are today and whoever you are, an opportunity chaser or obstacle avoider, know that God has created you in His image (Genesis 1:27) and that includes your disposition toward possibility or prevention. It takes all of us to make life work and all of us to be Christ’s church. However you’re wired, be encouraged today!

Recalculating Devotional: Day 21

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.”
John 13:34-35 (NLT)

One thing I have learned in life is that there is no such thing as a personal decision. Every decision I have ever made has had an impact on someone besides me. The most Darrick-centered decision I could ever make will have an impact on my wife, my family, my friends, our church, someone. Not only that, but often my decisions will directly involve other people. If they didn’t, life would seem a lot easier.

When Jesus was having His final words of instruction with His closest followers, He gave them a new command that sounds pretty simple: “Love one another.” When he did this, He wasn’t just adding another command to the hundreds of Old Testament laws they were trying to live up to. He was summing them all up into one overriding commandment: love each other. How? The same way He had shown love to them – unconditionally. That’s how people would know that they were really Jesus-followers, by the way they loved each other and the people around them.

During the crusades in the thirteenth century, a French military leader was reported to say, “Kill them all, let God sort them out.” Here in John 13, Jesus is saying the exact opposite. He’s saying, “Love them all, and let God sort them out.”

The final question in Andy Stanley’s book on making decisions is the Relationship Question, which is, “What does love require of me?” It’s the question that reminds us that our decisions aren’t just our decisions and that we need to consider how our decisions will impact the people around us.

How life and culture-changing would it be if we all asked that question, “What does love require of me?” when we made all of our decisions?! It would be history-altering. Marriages would be preserved. Families would be reshaped. Communities would be, well, communities. And, Christians, the church would have an influence on our world like we have never seen.

For the last month, we have been talking about recalculating and decision making. I believe God does want to provide divine direction for our lives. The questions we have looked at this week are great tools that make a grid for us to use in making wise decisions. And none is greater than these simple words: “What does love require of me?”

What does love require of YOU today?

Recalculating Devotional: Day 20

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
Ephesians 5:15-17 (NLT)

There are two groups of people that the Bible talks pretty consistently about from cover to cover: the wise and the foolish.

The Biblical writers continuously implore us to pursue wisdom and avoid foolishness. They also remind us to hang out with wise people and avoid fools. When the Bible talks about wisdom and foolishness, it is not referring to people who are smart and people who are stupid. It is not talking about the educated vs. the uneducated or those with high IQs and those with learning disabilities. It is referring to behavior, not thought. The difference between a wise person and a fool is what they
do with what they know.

This week we have been looking at some helpful questions from Andy Stanley’s book, Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets. In the book, he shares five questions we can ask when making our next move in life. The fourth question Stanley encourages us to ask is
the Maturity Question: “What is the wise thing to do?”

There are so many things at play when we make decisions. The situation. Our emotions. Our desires (I really want this!) The expectations of other people (My parents always wanted me to become a…). All of those factors can cause us to make unwise decisions because they make us, or someone who matters to us, happy. So, we need to ask ourselves, “What is the wise thing to do?”

The Apostle Paul encouraged the Christians in Ephesus to do the same thing. Paul told them to be careful how they lived and to make the most of every opportunity. He wanted them to use wisdom to avoid evil and foolishness. When you do that, Paul asserted, you will really understand what God’s will is. In order to filter out foolishness, Andy Stanley expands the Maturity Question in this way: “In light of my past experience, my current circumstances, and my future hopes and dreams, what is the wise thing to do?”

All of us have made decisions and seen how they turned out. We’ve been there before. What was the wise thing to do if we could do it all over again? What’s the wise thing to do
given our current situation? And what would be the wisest route to take based on our future plans? Peer pressure and personal desire can cause us to make some pretty bad decisions. But what is the wise thing to do?

The next time you have a decision to make, try applying the wisdom test to your decision. What is wise in the past, present, and future?

Recalculating Devotional: Day 19

The men said, “This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.’” Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe. He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.” With these words David sharply rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way.
1 Samuel 24:4-7 (NLT)

Ever been ready to make a decision and have that nagging feeling in your gut that you should reconsider? Or you heard a voice in the back of your mind warning you to rethink things (the voice might even sound like your mom). Maybe it was before you took out that big loan for the car you really couldn’t afford. Maybe it was before you said yes to a second date. Or maybe it was during that business partnership you’d been working on for months. You couldn’t put your finger on it, but there was just something that didn’t feel right.

When you felt that tug, what did you do? Did you listen or did you chalk it up to the late-night pizza you ate and plow ahead? In Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets, author Andy Stanley identifies five questions we should ask ourselves when making decisions. One of those questions he calls the ‘Conscience Question’ and it’s this: “Is there a tension that needs my attention?”

While we don’t want to live by gut feelings and second guesses, there is value in paying attention to those feelings.

David had been anointed to become the next king of Israel (see 1 Samuel 16). The only problem was that there was a current king of Israel named Saul and he wasn’t interested in giving up the throne. In fact, he was trying to eliminate the competition by killing David. He tried multiple times and had failed. Then God gave David a chance to turn the tables and take the throne. David and his small army of mercenaries were hiding in a cave from Saul and his army. As fortune would have it, while Saul was looking for David, he felt nature's call. So, he went into a cave to relieve himself (can you believe this is in the Bible?) And – you guessed it – it was the same cave David was hiding in.

As Saul began to do his business in the cave, David’s men saw a golden opportunity. It seemed like God had served Saul up to them on a silver platter. David could take him out and take the throne. And David may have thought about it. But when he did, there was a voice telling him not to do it, because if he did, he would be messing with the guy who God had currently chosen as Israel’s king. So David was “conscious-stricken” for what he was thinking and told his men he could never do what seemed so easy and so right. David’s gut check saved Saul’s life, and it preserved David’s integrity.

So what about you? How do you respond when making a big decision? What do you do with the tension? Could God be using the tension to get your attention?

Are you trying to make a decision in your life right now? Is there a tension that requires your attention?

Recalculating Devotional: Day 18

But Joseph refused. “Look,” he told her, “my master trusts me with everything in his entire household. No one here has more authority than I do. He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.”
Genesis 39:8-9 (NLT)

When I was a kid, I really liked reading the “Choose your own adventure” books. At the end of those books, you had the opportunity to choose from a few alternate endings to the story. The story changed depending on the ending you chose.

All of us are writing a story with our lives, and the story we choose to write will determine how the story ends and how people will tell our story someday.

As a pastor, one of the privileges that I have is officiating funerals. Whenever I am preparing for a funeral, I make sure to meet with the family to find out as much as I can about the deceased. The best way to do that is to ask the people who knew them the best to tell me about them. It’s always interesting to hear the stories that people share.

All of us have and are writing a story with our lives. Yesterday I shared a question (Am I being honest with myself, really?) that author Andy Stanley says is a key to making good decisions. Today, I want to share a second question, “What story do I want to tell?” Stanley calls that the legacy question. What story do I want my life to tell, and, maybe more importantly, what story do I want others to tell about me.

The decisions we make and the directions we take all contribute to the story of our lives. We don’t tend to think about it that way. Decisions are for today and stories are for tomorrow. But your life is really a compilation of the decisions you make day after day.

Someone in the Bible who had to think about the story of his life was a young man named Joseph. You can read his story in Genesis 37-50. Joseph was the son of a wealthy man and he was hated by his brothers out of jealousy. In fact, they hated him so much they sold him as a slave and he ended up the property of an Egyptian named Potiphar.

Joseph had a lot of reasons to be bitter and give up in his life. But in challenging times of his life, Joseph kept thinking about his story. In Genesis 39, he has been continuously propositioned by Potiphar’s wife and she isn’t being subtle. Joseph is alone with her and has the opportunity to sleep with her and get away with it. But he chooses to run from temptation instead of giving in to it. Why? Because he knew what he wanted his story to be. He didn’t want to be, “Joseph who slept with the boss’ wife.” He wanted to be, “Joseph who did the right thing, even when no one saw what he was doing.”

When we are making decisions about the route we want to take in life, we need to ask, “What story do I want to tell?” The decisions you make today determine the story you can tell tomorrow.

What story do you want your life to tell? What do you hope people will say about you twenty years from now?

Recalculating Devotional: Day 17

This is what the Lord says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land. “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit. “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.”
Jeremiah 17:5-10 (NLT)

In one of the all-time classic rock songs, The Who sing about a coming revolution and how they can’t wait to be a part of it. They’re not going to miss out on it, and in their words, they, “won’t get fooled again.”

It’s easy to get fooled, especially by the internet, and it’s possible to fool others too. But the person that I find I am most likely to fool is the person I see in the mirror every day. I have a great capacity for telling myself what I want to hear and then believing it. I get fooled again, all the time.

In his recently released book, Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets, pastor and author Andy Stanley writes about, “five questions to help determine your next move.” The first question, "the fooling yourself" question is what he calls the ‘integrity’ question, which is, “Am I being honest with myself, really?” Stanley makes the point that if we are going to make better decisions, we have to start by being honest with ourselves. We need to be willing to ask ourselves, “Why am I doing this…really?” and then be honest about it.

“Why am I avoiding him…really?”
“Why am I spending this money…really?”

Sounds simple, but it can be a challenge. Telling ourselves the truth can be hard.

In the book of Jeremiah, there is a king that wants Israel to stop being a puppet state for Babylon and decides to make an alliance with Egypt to accomplish it. Jeremiah tries to warn him that it’s not going to work out and attempts to get the king to be honest with himself to no avail. In describing the situation, Jeremiah writes, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things…” (Jeremiah 17:9).

He knew what you and I know, that we all have the capacity to tell ourselves what we want to hear. But if we are going to navigate life well, we need to make better decisions. And better decisions begin with asking the right questions. A great place to start is with the simple question, “Am I being honest with myself, really?”

Is there currently a situation you are in or a decision you need to make that you need to be honest with yourself about? Really?

The Second Chance

On May 25, 1979, I was on a school bus for a 5th-grade field trip. We had spent the day at the Shedd Aquarium on Chicago’s lakefront and we were on our way back to school. As our bus lumbered through the tollbooths and lanes of traffic, we were suddenly surrounded by lights and sirens in all directions as emergency vehicles flew past us toward O’Hare Airport, one of the busiest travel hubs in the world. When we got closer to the airport, we could see a large column of black and gray smoke rising over the terminal. Later, I would find out that a DC-10 aircraft had crashed during takeoff and all 271 people on board were lost.

One person who wasn’t on American Flight 191 that day was Denis Waitley. Just a few minutes before the ill-fated takeoff, Waitley had missed his flight. After running like a madman from one end of the airport to the other, he had missed the boarding process and the jetway door was closed. As he stood at the gate, pleading with the woman behind the counter, the plane backed away from the gate. Denis was filling out a complaint form and rebooking a new flight when the plane he should have been on crashed.

Denis Waitley realized his life had been spared because he wasn’t where he was supposed to be. Waitley never rebooked that flight. He kept his original ticket and hung it in a prominent place in his office so he could see it often and be reminded of the gift that he had been given – a second chance at life.

You may have had a close call like that in your life. A near-collision in rush hour traffic that shook you up. A diagnosis that seemed like a death sentence until you recovered.

Many people who have received a second chance at life say they will never forget it and that they live their lives differently because they see each day as a gift. Maybe that’s why people connect with Tim McGraw’s song, “Live Like You Were Dyin’.”

While most of us have not had the wake-up call that Denis Waitley had, all of us can share his perspective. Waitley wanted to make sure he never forgot the gift of life and how he had been spared from Flight 191. In the same way, if you are a Christian, you have been given a second chance at life.

When we think about what God did in sending Jesus into this world, and what Christ did through his suffering on the cross, we sometimes miss the point. We talk about salvation like Jesus came to turn bad people into good people. But that’s not what the Bible teaches us. Jesus didn’t come to turn us from bad to good. He came to change us from dead to alive.

In his letter to the church in Ephesus (located in modern-day Turkey), the Apostle Paul writes:

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,… But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” (Ephesians 2:1,4-5)

That means every person who has trusted in Christ and been reconciled to God through Him, has been given the same second chance at life that Denis Waitley had. We have been given new life in Christ. We haven’t just been made good, we’ve been made alive. We’re not just cleaned up, we are resurrected! So, how do we make sure we don’t forget or take this new life for granted? Wailey kept his boarding pass to remind him of that moment. We too have something to remind us of our second chance at life. The cross of Christ.

In 1707, Isaac Watts published one of the most well-known hymns in history. The song is “When I Survey the Wonderous Cross,” and the first verse goes like this:

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride

When I survey (look at) the cross, I am reminded about the new life I have been given. It’s a reminder that it is only by the grace of God that I can experience this new life, and it’s a challenge to live my life with purpose and meaning.

In the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan, James Ryan is in a cemetery, looking at the gravestones of the men who sacrificed their lives to rescue him and get him back home. He is visibly moved, knowing that he was given a second chance at life because of what they had done. Through his tears and trembling, he implores his family, “Tell me I’ve lived a good life. Tell me I’m a good man.” Ryan wants to know that he has lived life well in honor of his fallen comrades. May we also live our lives with purpose as we look to the cross and experience new life in Christ.

Recalculating Devotional: Day 16

As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and he was now returning. Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah. The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the carriage.”
Acts 8:26-29 (NLT)

Not too long ago, I was talking with a friend of mine who is a great cook. I was asking her about some of her favorite dishes and how she had learned to cook and bake. At one point I asked her if she was passing her knowledge and skills down to her kids. She told me that one of the biggest challenges in doing that was that she doesn’t have many
of her recipes written down. She just cooks by “feel” and even when she gets ahold of a new recipe, she always likes to change them up and try new things, often making them differently every time she cooks that dish. While the outcome is amazing, it’s tough for other people to learn those recipes or get them to turn out as well as the original.

That’s the way that I often feel when I am looking for divine direction for my life. I want God to provide specific, step-by-step directions that will take me from start to finish and give me a guaranteed outcome. But so often, I feel like I have just enough information and faith to take the next step.

In the book of Acts, one of the early leaders of the church is a guy named Philip. In Acts 8, God gives him some very specific direction for his life. He tells him which direction to head (south) on a specific road (the desert road from Jerusalem to Gaza). So Philip headed south on the desert road. Once he got going down that road, he ran into the treasurer of Ethiopia, who was reading the Old Testament book of Isaiah and trying to figure it out. As Philip walked by on the road, God spoke again and told him to go and walk alongside the Ethiopian’s chariot. Again, real specific and very clear.

There have been so many times I wished that God would guide me that clearly. But recently, as I read that passage again, I noted something that I had missed. While God spoke clearly to Philip, He only gave him small steps of obedience to follow. Get on the desert road between Jerusalem and Gaza. Check. Go south. Check. Walk next to that chariot. Check.

I realized that part of the reason God’s guidance in my life sometimes feels “fuzzy” is because I am trying to bring the entire route into focus. I want to see and know it all. But God is directing my steps. My next step. And the step after that. So, I am learning to listen and obey one step at a time. If you’ve ever felt the frustration of trying to figure out your route, try taking it one step at a time, and watch where God takes you.

Is there a clear next step that God has been showing you? What could help you take it? What could keep you from taking it?

Recalculating Devotional: Day 15

Moses replied, “Because the people come to me to get a ruling from God. When a dispute arises, they come to me, and I am the one who settles the case between the quarreling parties. I inform the people of God’s decrees and give them his instructions.” “This is not good!” Moses’ father-in-law exclaimed. “You’re going to wear yourself out—and the people, too. This job is too heavy a burden for you to handle all by yourself.
Exodus 18:15-18 (NLT)

Moses was a pretty capable guy. He had been through a lot in his life and had a deep well of experience to draw from, but he was wiped out and he was struggling. The nation of Israel had been living in captive slavery for over 400 years and Moses was the person God chose to lead them out of slavery. Because of his role as THE leader, everyone brought their disputes and disagreements to Moses.

Most biblical scholars estimate that the crowd Moses led through the desert was around two million people, and Moses, alone, was the judge who settled all their problems. The people were getting frustrated having to wait in line for days (weeks? months?) to get their case heard and Moses was burning out quick. Imagine settling people’s disputes all day long, six days a week, for weeks and weeks on end. Moses didn’t think he had a choice in the matter. It was his job and he was going to see it through until it killed him. Then one day his father-in-law, Jethro, stopped by to visit, and gave Moses the best advice he could have ever gotten: “Stop.”

Now, Jethro went on to give him some wise counsel about restructuring, but it all started with, “Stop, this is not good.” As we are trying to navigate our way through life, some of the best guidance we can receive from the Lord might be, “Stop, what you are doing is not good.” I know we all have places to go and people to see, and life seems to get faster and faster every day. But when you’re lost, sometimes the best thing you can do is stop. Maybe that’s what the Psalms mean by, “Be still, and know that I am God.”

When I have gotten lost, whether on a highway or a hiking trail, one of the biggest mistakes I have made is to go faster. To hit the gas or turn my hike into a jog, thinking the faster I go, the sooner I’ll find my way. We are always wanting God to show us where to go and how to get there, but have you ever felt like the guidance God had to give you was, “Stop. Slow down. Be still and let Me be God. I want to lead you, but right now, you need to wait.” God’s delays are not denials. If we can trust God to direct our paths, we can also trust Him when He says stop

Have you ever felt like God said, “Stop,” when you were asking Him for direction? How did you react to that? How did it turn out?

Recalculating Devotional: Day 14

So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.
Galatians 5:16-18 (NLT)

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. – Poet Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken"

That line from poetry is probably one of the most famous lines in American poetry, maybe American literature. It is often quoted by speakers to challenge her or his audience to take the road less traveled – to not follow the crowd or to do the hard things that most people don’t want to do. All of us have come to places and moments in our lives where there is a fork in the road, and we have to decide which route we will take.

In fact, most of life is like that. Someone once said, “your life is the accumulation of every decision you’ve ever made.” The forks in the road or decisions that I have made that tend to stick with me the most were the ones where I clearly knew the right path, the wise path, and the healthy path, but still chose the other path. Usually, I have done that because the other path led me where I wanted to go, despite the consequences.

In Galatians, a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in a region called Galatia (modern-day Turkey). In his letter, Paul compares the results of our sinful nature (sexual immorality, drunkenness, envy, greed, etc.) with the ‘fruit’ of the Holy Spirit (love, joy, peace, etc.). There is a fork in the road, Paul seems to be saying, and you should choose the right path – the road less traveled. How to do this? Be directed by the Holy Spirit and let Him guide your lives.

The Holy Spirit wants to provide us with divine direction, leading us down the right roads and keeping us from the pain and consequences of wrong road living. Like a GPS for your soul, God wants to help you navigate the turns and choose the right path, even when it is the road less traveled.

Have you ever realized that you were headed down the wrong path and chosen to keep going anyway? What is it that kept you going that way? What do you think it means to let the Holy Spirit guide your life?

Recalculating Devotional: Day 13

You have made a wide path for my feet to keep them from slipping.
2 Samuel 22:37 (NLT)

I’m not much of a mountain climber. In fact, I’m not a mountain climber at all. I don’t even own a Patagonia coat. But about fifteen years ago I was in Chile, near the border
of Argentina, and I accidentally climbed a mountain (it was probably actually a foothill) in the Andes. My friend Rob and I were there to help plan a mission adventure for high school students. The camp we were staying at was at the foothills of the mountains and one day, Rob and I decided to do a little exploring. We kept getting higher, and pretty soon the trees and grass we had been walking through became rock and cliffs. For some reason, we kept deciding to climb, “just a little higher,” until eventually, I knew we had reached the point of no return. There was no way I was going to try and descend back down the rock face we had just climbed. So, we had to keep going until we made it to the top.

Eventually, we did get there, took a bunch of pictures, and rejoiced that we were still alive and in one piece. Then we discovered the really good news. On the backside of this foothill/mountain, we had just climbed, there was a path that led back down to the main road. And it wasn’t just a path. It was a wide path. Dirt road-like in most places. It made the trip back to our camp much easier than the trip to the mountain top.

In 2 Samuel 22, David, the king of Israel, was singing a song of praise to God. He was thanking God for all the things He had provided to David over his lifetime. And in verse 37 he sings, “You have made a wide path for my feet to keep them from slipping.”

David had spent many days and nights in the wilderness, climbing mountains and racing down them, either in pursuit of his military enemies or running from them. He did all of that in sandals or bare feet. David knew the value of wide, non-slip pathways. But David wasn’t just talking about geography. He was talking about his life. He was thanking God for leading him, for giving him divine direction throughout his life. He was thankful for God providing wide-pathways and making them clear. That’s the beauty of following God’s direction for our lives: He wants to make the path wide and keep us from slipping.

How has God made wide paths in your life? Is there a decision that you need to make where you could really use a wide, clear path forward?

Recalculating Devotional: Day 12

So Moses told the people, “You must be careful to obey all the commands of the Lord your God, following his instructions in every detail. Stay on the path that the Lord your God has commanded you to follow. Then you will live long and prosperous lives in the land you are about to enter and occupy.
Deuteronomy 5:32-33 (NLT)

Moses is one of the most well-known people in the Bible and perhaps all of history. Even people who don’t attend church, read the Bible, or know much about Christianity tend to know a little bit about Moses (Ten Commandments, part the Red Sea, etc.) You can find his story at the beginning of the Bible, in Exodus-Deuteronomy.

The tribes of Israel had spent 400+ years as slaves in Egypt and kept crying out to God to get them out of there. God heard their prayers and He sent Moses to deliver them from slavery and lead them to a new land where they could live and thrive as a nation. That trip took a LONG time and while the people were getting ready for a new home, God wanted to get them ready to be a new people. So, one of the jobs God gave Moses was to write down and teach them a set of laws to live by, since they were no longer slaves, but an independent nation. The Ten Commandments are at the core of the law God gave Moses, but there is a lot more to it.

Toward the end of his life, Moses reminded the people about the law that God had given and how important it was to remember it, and more importantly, to follow it. In Deuteronomy 5 he writes, “…be careful to obey all the commands of the Lord your God, following His instructions in every detail.” Then he tells them to “stay on the path.” Some versions of the Bible translate it this way, “do not turn to the right or the left…”

You see, the Israelites had a tendency to kind of stray off the path. They liked to live on the edge of what God had instructed them to do. They wanted to kind-of-sort-of-almost do what God said, but they tended to drift.

Honestly, I do the same thing. Instead of asking, “What does God want for me?” I ask, “What can I get away with and still be ok?” Maybe you do the same thing. There’s something about wanting our own way that’s hard to shake. But while we want our own way, God wants what’s best. Moses told the people that if they would stick to the path and not stray to the right or the left (no political commentary intended), they would experience long and prosperous lives. When we ask God for direction and then follow the path where He leads us, we will end up right where we want to be.

Where are you most likely to stray from God’s path for your life? Is it worth trading a long and prosperous life for?

Recalculating Devotional: Day 11

So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
2 Corinthians 5:16-17 (NLT)

One of my best friends is a guy named Bob. In the 1980’s, during the farm crisis, Bob, like a lot of his friends and neighbors, lost everything. He told me how hard it was to see his livestock sold and his machinery driven away. He was in the hole for a lot of money and most of his family and friends were encouraging him to declare bankruptcy like everyone else. But Bob said no and met with every one of his creditors, promising that no matter how long it took, he would repay every penny, even though he had no idea
how. He felt that was what God wanted him to do.

Not too long after that, Bob got a job driving a dump truck, and eventually, he started his own excavation business. God kept blessing Bob’s new business and he kept working hard and within a few years, he had repaid every one of his creditors, much to their surprise. Today, Bob’s business is flourishing and he has been a blessing to hundreds of people, including me.

It is an incredible turnaround story and I love telling it. But if you ask Bob about that turnaround, he will quickly tell you that it isn’t the biggest turnaround in his life. That, he will tell you, is when he gave his life to Christ. That’s when everything really changed in his life. Bob has experienced what Paul meant about in 2 Corinthians 5 when he wrote, “…anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” Talk about a recalculation!

When we become Christians (followers of Jesus) the old us gets left behind and we get to start brand new. In fact, the literal definition of the word repentance is, “a 180-degree turn.” Whenever I miss a turn when I am driving, my GPS will recalculate my route, and often its smooth voice tells me to “make a U-turn”. God does that same thing for us when we put our faith in Him. He helps us to recalculate and sets us on a new path. Our old route is gone, we’re on a new trajectory!

Have you made the decision to follow Jesus? If so, how has your life been recalculated? If not, what has stopped you from making that u-turn?