Spring, Revival, and Hope

Revive: to become active or flourishing again (acc. to the Merriam-Webster dictionary)

It has been beautiful lately in Southwest Michigan.  The sky is a bright blue, the sun is shining happily, and it is unseasonably warm.  These early spring days, the ones when I can feel the warmth of the sun on my skin, do my heart good.  They signal the changing of the season.  Winter is finally giving way to spring.  Winter can be hard with its cold, dark, short, overcast days.  On the other hand, spring is full of life and hope.  Those things that have been sleeping are revived in the springtime.

In addition to the change of the physical season, there is also a change in the church season.  Lent is upon us.  For those unfamiliar with Lent, it is the forty days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday.  It is a time of fasting, simplification, and personal reflection, in preparation to celebrate what Jesus did for us on the cross.  We give God time during Lent to prune back areas that are not producing fruit in order to encourage new life to grow.  Lent allows us to create space in our lives to be revived.  What was once dead is now alive in Christ.  Jesus died so that our sins could be forgiven.  Hebrews 9:12 says, “With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.”  Lent is a season of hope.

This past Sunday (February 12), Pastor Bill mentioned revival being in the air. A season of corporate revival is an opportunity for our spirits to flourish again. Some of us at New Day have been in a difficult winter season. Some may be just entering such a time. Don’t lose heart. Spring is coming! There is new life available to all (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). Revival is within reach for those who want it. There is hope!  

Romans 15:13 (NLT): “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”

***If you find yourself in a difficult season and need support, please feel free to reach out to anyone on the pastoral team.  We are here for you.

God Likes Family

Family is God’s idea for how humans should flourish on Earth. God established the first family in Adam and Eve. He made His covenant with the family of Abraham. It’s through families that we find our identity and home. 

Life with God means life as a part of His family. This Sunday, Kathy Spaulding walked us through John 1: “To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (vs. 12-17). The kingdom of heaven is a family matter. It’s adoption. It’s belonging.

The Lord meets the needs of His people through families. In a family there is not only loving affection, but provision, protection, and wisdom. Benefits and responsibilities. Things we receive. Things we give.

“But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Timothy 5:8). 

Believing in Christ comes with the responsibility of mothers and fathers to provide for their households. When they sacrifice to meet the needs of their household, parents give their children a picture of the Lord, who provides well for His kids. 

When we safeguard our kids, we’re showing the love of our heavenly Father who takes the safety of His children very seriously. Jesus shows the “papa bear” heart of the Father when He says things like: “Whoever causes one of these little ones to sin, it would be better for a millstone to be thrown around their neck and cast into the sea” (Matthew 18:6). God cares quite a bit for the little ones.

That same heart of fierce protection belongs to parents who protect their children for the sake of the Lord. The opposite attitude is the voice of Cain, who says, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The answer is yes. Families have a responsibility to protect one another. 

And more than that, families have the responsibility, as Paul puts it in Ephesians 6:4, to “bring up children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” The wisdom of the Lord is meant to be passed from father to son, from mother to daughter. The entire book of Proverbs is a parent’s gift of Godly instruction. “Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching” (Proverbs 1:8).

God loves families. If for whatever reason you’re without an earthly family today, you can find family among the household of faith. Psalms 68 says our God “places the lonely in families.” He’s a Father to the fatherless and the protector of widows. You can be a giver and a receiver of provision, protection, and wisdom in the family of God today.

The Father Doesn’t Mind a Mess

Since last fall, I’ve been living with my sister and brother-in-law, and by extension with their two children—my 3-year-old nephew and 1-year-old niece! Both these kids are absolute TREASURES and it’s been beyond amazing to be able to have so much uncle time with them every day. However, in addition to the joy of being greeted with an exuberant “UNCLE LEW'' when I enter the room, I have to admit I also frequently get the experience of returning from a long day of work only to be greeted by hugs from faces covered in peanut butter—peanut butter which in turn quickly gets all over the hoodie I had washed just that morning, mind you. 

Now, my niece and nephew aren’t concerned about their severe case of peanut-butter-face and how they may spread it all over me, and it doesn’t change my love for them, but how many of you have ever felt that in your walk with God that you may be covered in spiritual peanut butter, and the last thing you want is to get it all over God by going to Him as you are? I know I certainly have.

Our worldly culture is one that is constantly putting pressure on us to be perfect and flawless 24/7. Be it Instagram photos that show a highlight reel of life, competing to try to outdo others unnecessarily in the workspace, or even ourselves putting unrealistic expectations on our life to be religiously flawless. The nature of the world says we can’t have a flaw because if we do, we’ll be rejected. The nature of God disagrees.

In Romans 8, the Apostle Paul speaks about the relationship between the believer and God, perfectly summarizing the whole concept in verse 15: “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The word “Abba” is an intentional one, translating nowadays to “Dada”—the messy, informal, and purely trusting way that a child would cry out to a parent, unconcerned with perfection and flawlessness. 

This is the gift that God has given to us through Christ that is so strongly juxtaposed against the nature of the world. Rather than needing to run and hide in our imperfection and flawed humanity, we are invited to run towards God as a little child would, and are met with love, not rejection. 

So my encouragement to you, friends, is a simple but powerful one. When you feel tempted to cover up and hide due to struggle and shame, take a cue from my niece and nephew and set aside your concern for perfection. Run to your Abba, because His love is waiting just for you, spiritual peanut butter faces and all.

The Soundtrack for Your Life

Last week, as my worship team was concluding our set, and as the music softly played as Pastor Bill was praying, I remember thinking to myself, “I love listening to these worshippers play. I wish I could hear this music playing all the time, like a soundtrack for my life.” I chuckled to myself at the thought, but I’ve been thinking about it ever since. What does the soundtrack to my life actually sound like?

King David is known for being a man after God’s own heart. He was fearless in his dialogue with God, and I can imagine all the time he spent as a young person in the pastures, alone, with just his harp and his sheep. It was there that he cultivated a lifestyle of both speaking to God and worshiping God, not knowing that it was all in preparation for both serving a king and being a king himself. David is known for taking liberties with God that other people wouldn’t normally take, like helping himself to the showbread in the temple to feed himself and his soldiers, or dancing half-naked when the ark of the covenant was brought back to its rightful place! He was able to exercise that level of freedom because he had personal experience with God, he understood God’s loving character and favor for him, and he was a seasoned worshiper. He had invested a lot of time and trust in the relationship! 

The soundtrack of our life is what we are listening to, our inner conversations with ourselves, and what comes out of our mouths and the mouths of those we spend our time with. Does that sound like honest prayers to God, hearing His voice, and worshiping Him? I can tell you, when it is, navigating life’s ups and downs is A LOT more bearable, and I have much more grace, courage and endurance.

The Lord is always working and speaking. He speaks through his Word (the Bible), through his Spirit (His voice) and through godly people whom he is using to minister to us. Our job is to listen, follow, and invest time into the relationship. When we do, we’re people after God’s own heart, and the soundtrack of our life sounds like a river of living water! I bet you can imagine that sound right now if you close your eyes and picture it. Isn’t the sound so peaceful, like soft music? 

Jesus, I thank You that YOU are the living water. I pray that You would increase the sounds of heaven in our ears, as we pray and seek You and become a people after Your heart. May the river of living water be the undercurrent for all that we say and do. Amen.

Sanctity of Human Life

The intention of Sanctity of Human Life Sunday is to remember that all life is valuable to God. From the unborn to the aging as well as those with special needs. 

As Christians, we need to reflect God’s love for those He holds dear. That includes the unborn and the men and women who created them. So often, well-meaning people say things to protect the unborn without care for the women who many times feel they had no choice. 

When I was 15, I found myself pregnant and felt that I had no choices. The most important people in my life and even my own doctor, encouraged me to get an abortion. I did. I lived with guilt because I knew that I had ended my baby’s life. Anytime the topic came up, people would say the most disparaging things about those who had an abortion and my shame multiplied. For years I would pray and ask God to forgive me, but I could never forgive myself. As I got older and met people who longed for a baby, the guilt grew worse. I would share with my closest friends that I had had an abortion; however, I was very fearful that people would find out. 

One Saturday, I attended a Healing and Restoration seminar at church. At one point, the speaker shared about forgiveness and forgiving yourself. I asked God to forgive me and He responded, “I already have; now you need to forgive yourself.” I was stunned when I realized that all the years I held onto the guilt and shame, God had already forgiven me. I prayed and released it all. 

That gave me the courage to share my testimony publicly when I preached on forgiveness. When I was finished, several women came up to share their stories of how they had also carried hidden guilt and shame from their abortions. What came as the biggest surprise was the men who despaired that they had no choice in the decision to terminate their babies’ lives. 

Proverbs 24:11 says to “rescue those being led away to death.” We need to speak up for the unborn but we also need to reach out and show compassion to those who are agonizing over what they have done. 

God sent His son to die for everyone and to set people free from ALL of their shame.

Wait…What? It’s All Greek To Me!

“The word of the Lord came to” a prophet is the phase identifying the legitimacy of their calling. But the phrase doesn’t make a lot of sense—at least in English. I’ve always understood it as God somehow revealing Himself and His truth. That is completely accurate. It is often associated with a vision but it isn’t limited to visual manifestations. And it definitely refers to audible words. 

In Luke 3:2, the same phrase is used for John the Baptist, indicating that he was in the company of the prophets. “The word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.” Here the Greek word is rhēma, a general term for spoken or active communication. Nevertheless words don’t speak, people do. Saying a word “spoke” may have a symbolic meaning, as in “That poem really spoke to me.” But that is not how it is used in Scripture. The word of God “spoke” to the prophet commanding them to do or say something. 

As I woke this morning, a thought came to mind: Throughout the Old Testament, when the word of the Lord spoke, it was Jesus the Word speaking. This is not a novel idea—most Bible scholars teach that every manifestation of God in the Old Testament was Jesus. That is what the first chapter of John teaches. Verse 14: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” And verse 18: “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”

Therefore, every time anyone has seen a manifestation of God, it was Jesus. Theologians call these experiences theophanies—the appearance of a deity. If no one has ever seen God and Jesus the Word “has declared Him,” that seems to mean when the word of the Lord came to a prophet, it was Jesus speaking. The Word speaking, declaring, and revealing God. We know that in John, “Word” is the Greek logos, a synonym of rhēma but with a broader meaning including: something said, reasoning, thought, and logic. 

Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). Here another Greek synonym for “word” is used, phōnē, referring to the actual sound. A person’s voice (phōnē) uses words (rhēma) to communicate meaning (logos). All of this is accomplished through the work of the Holy Spirit. 

You and I, like the prophets of old, have access to the word of the Lord, but our access is exponentially greater! We have greater access to the written word of God than any generation before. As Christ-followers, we have greater access to the Holy Spirit than anyone in the Old Testament. This inspires me to read the Bible and believe for greater understanding and the ability to live out God’s Word in ways that no generation has ever seen. Saints, let’s make the most of what God has given us—read His Word, hear His Word, live His Word!

Why Do We Gather?

“See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today’, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.” (Hebrews 3:12-14)

These verses share reasons why gathering as a church is so important! Christians are meant to regularly encourage one another to keep prioritizing God and to resist sin’s deceitfulness. The goal for the Christian is to remain faithful to God till the very end. Life will hurl marvelous ups and devastating downs our way, but we are called to stay the course and remain faithful. It is simply not enough to give or receive encouragement once or twice.

Our weekly gathering is also valuable because it’s there where we proclaim the gospel. Whether someone hears it for the first time or the thousandth time, the grounding truth and hope of the gospel is vital for all of us to hear and share regularly. 

We also gather as a church to lift high the name of the Lord, to honor Him with the praise and worship due His name. The King of Kings is worthy of praise and it’s at our weekly gathering that we can corporately do just that. 

Because gathering corporately is so important, Serve Teams become vital. It is they who work together to host our weekly gathering! All churches are called to: “Grow up in all things into Him who is the head-Christ-from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” (Ephesians 4:15-16)

In our human bodies, we have 360 joints whose function is to connect bone to bone. What a vivid picture of how we each have a small but vital part to play in the overall healthy function of our church body. 

God is building His church. He has no Plan B. So we do best to pour our focus and effort in the direction of what He is up to. That is what being a follower of Christ is all about. In 2023, New Day will go where God is leading us. And what a delight to follow Him together! 

1 Peter 4:10-11 says, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms… so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.” 

Bless you as you prayerfully consider how you will use your gifts to volunteer this year.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! 2023 is here! 2022 was a year of transition at New Day. Marilee and I took on the Lead Pastoring role and we all adjusted to a new day at New Day. Even in the midst of transition, the Lord worked powerfully in leading us forward. From the very start, we felt like we’d been shot out of a cannon or like we’d jumped on a treadmill that was already moving at top speed! God has been busy building his kingdom here at New Day and in our community! One great example is our New Day Nature Trails restoration project and the associated community outreach. The Lord inspired this project, and he continues to use it to reach our community with his Good News!

So what about 2023?! We will kick off the year with a focus on God’s Word, prayer, and fasting. You will continue to have the option of reading the Bible together as a family of believers. Check out the details here: https://newdaycommunity.org/bible. You can read the Classic, Express, or Youth versions of this reading plan and be synchronized with other New Dayers. Or feel free to read a different plan—that’s okay too. The goal is to be a people of the Word. Always in the Word. Always letting biblical truth set the tone in all areas of our lives. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalms 119:105).

21 Days of Prayer & Fasting returns this year! Join us in praying and fasting to start the year seeking the Lord with all your heart. The guide for this event can be found here: https://newdaycommunity.org/fast. Our prayer and fasting guide is synchronized with the reading plan this year. Your times of reading and prayer can be connected to each other and connected to your New Day family. So cool! You are also invited to join us for times of corporate prayer each of the first three Tuesdays of January (the 3rd, 10th, and 17th at 6:30 PM) hosted by Pastor Cameron. “The LORD is near to all who call on him” (Psalm 145:18).

The beginning of 2023 is a time for planting and watering. I can’t wait to see what will grow over the course of the year (and for years to come)! I am so excited to read, pray, plant, water, and seek the Lord wholeheartedly together. Let’s rock 2023 together for His glory!

Will You Be Filled?

Earlier this week, about 15 people from our church walked the streets of the surrounding neighborhood and sang about the birth of Jesus. Over and over, front doors opened to reveal the delighted faces of people who were glad to hear the songs of Christmas.

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation … Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 52:7, 9)

On Sunday mornings, we’ve been unpacking the songs found in the first chapters of the Gospel of Luke. We’ve looked at the songs of Mary and Zechariah, and on Christmas morning we’ll be looking at the song of the Angels. But there’s a fourth song found in Luke, sung by a man named Simeon.

Scripture says he was just and devout, and he was “waiting for the consolation of Israel.” The Holy Spirit had told this faithful waiter that he would not die until he had seen the Savior.

As Mary and Joseph are taking baby Jesus to the Temple to dedicate Him to the Lord, in obedience to the Jewish regulations, the Holy Spirit arranges an encounter with this Simeon. Simeon sees the baby, and just as with the other faithful waiters in the previous chapter, Simeon is filled with the Holy Spirit and begins to praise and prophesy. He sings:

“My eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” (Luke 2:30-32)

He reveals that Jesus is not only the glory of Israel, but also a light to the Gentiles, who have been grafted into the family of God. If you’re a Jew, this is good news! Your King has come! And if you’re a Gentile, this is good news! You are invited into the family of God through the work of Christ! God loves every nation, tribe, and people. Salvation is for absolutely everyone.

“Mary did you know?” Yes. She knew. She heard the songs and prophecies of Gabriel, Zechariah, Elizabeth, Simeon, Anna, and her husband Joseph. The identity of her child was not a hidden mystery. The Holy Spirit is active and spreading the news through every willing heart.

Do you have a willing heart this season? Will you allow yourself to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and to be moved to sing praises and prophetic songs that declare that the King of Kings has come?

A Holiday KISS (Keep It Simple, Silly)

Lately I am starting to understand that my brain has learned to thrive in chaos. While this may seem like a valuable skill, it has actually become an unhealthy coping mechanism.  My brain has grown to need chaos and will generate it, which creates much stress in my life. One example is that I frequently allow my to-do list to become extremely long by adding more and more to it. One completed task is replaced by numerous more that are just as pressing. How can I ever get everything accomplished?  AAAAA! I become overwhelmed, which negatively affects those around me. When my brain tries to create chaos, I remind myself to Keep It Simple, Silly. Focusing on a few simple truths helps me to readjust: Life is good. The world will not end if I do not get everything accomplished right now. It’s okay to take a minute to breathe. I’ve got this!  

The holiday season can mean the addition of chaos and stressors unique to this time of year.  Gifts to purchase, social engagements to attend, meals to prepare, houses to clean for guests, difficult family situations to navigate…the list goes on.  It can be easy to dive into the holiday traditions with an overwhelming, unhealthy fervor and mindset, creating chaos around us.

When life is chaotic, overwhelming, and stressful, take a moment to readjust and focus on the simple truths found in Ephesians 1:4-8: 

“Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.  God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.  This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.  So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.  He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.  He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.” (New Living Translation)

You are loved. You are chosen. You are faultless. You belong. You have a family. You are forgiven. You are valuable. You are showered with kindness, wisdom, and understanding.  Breathe.  You’ve got this!

Great Joy!

With great joy I return to serve Jesus by serving His bride here at New Day! My joy is especially great hearing how well you have done in my absence. Our congregation's pursuit of the mission Jesus gave us of loving God and others, learning all that He has taught, and leading others into relationship with God, has not only continued but excelled in my short absence. You have fulfilled well Paul's exhortation: 

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12-13 NKJV)

Here’s the same passage in The Message version: “What I'm getting at, friends, is that you should simply keep on doing what you've done from the beginning. When I was living among you, you lived in responsive obedience. Now that I'm separated from you, keep it up. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God's energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure.”

My sabbatical enabled me to have time and space to disengage from the responsibilities I carried as senior pastor for the past 23 years, and previously as the assistant pastor for 12 years. Other pastors are shocked when learning the length of my tenure, as five years is the average. My ability to continue serving is a testament to the character of our congregation. New Day's ability to retain and honor long-term relationships is a true distinguishing characteristic. 

Your embrace of Bill and Marilee Menser as lead pastors, continuing without skipping a beat and actually picking up the pace, is a phenomenal example of Kingdom-mindedness. Jesus is both the head and the foundation of the church. As pastors, our goal is to equip the congregation to follow Jesus as head and build their lives upon Jesus our foundation. Jesus ordained authority and a diversity of gifts and roles, as is clearly taught and demonstrated in the New Testament. But ultimately, the success of any ministry is dependent on the centrality of Jesus in all that we do and the unity of the congregation in pursuit of Jesus’ calling. 

As I reintegrate into the life of our congregation, I will do all that I can to support the ministry of Jesus and His delegated authority given to Bill and Marilee and the rest of the pastoral and leadership team. I will also continue to build our international network, Harvest Alliance. My title of Missions Pastor is fitting, as my heart is to help us as a church fulfill the Great Co-Mission locally, regionally, and internationally. As Philippians declares, it “is God's energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working” in us to accomplish His good pleasure. Let’s lean into God’s energy to “will and to do” His pleasure!

A Colossians Exercise

This week we will wrap up a four-part series on the New Testament book of Colossians. What I have presented each week is called exegesis: “critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially of scripture.”

I thought you might like a guided exegetical exercise, so you can do some study of your own on this amazing letter from the Apostle Paul. So get out a sheet of paper and here we go!

Let’s work on this verse for today’s exercise (zooming in on the phrase in bold):

(Colossians 2:6-7) Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

Write the verses above on your sheet of paper (or at least our key phrase). Then think about thanksgiving. Do any other verses come to mind off the top of your head? Look them up and write them down. Then use your favorite concordance (or google) to search for other verses on the topic of thanksgiving. Here are a few I found (Phil 4:6, Col 4:2, Eph 5:4, Rev 7:9-12).

What themes are you seeing throughout your catalog of thanksgiving verses? I’m noticing how thanksgiving is a key element to prayer, it should be a constant presence in our lives as Christians, and it is worshiping the Lord to give him thanks. Write down a couple of verses you found and the themes you see.

The next thing I did was look up the Greek word Paul uses for “thanksgiving”—eucharistia. My Bible dictionary shows me related Greek words and the root word. This is really cool, because the “charis” that you see in “eucharistia” means “grace”! And the root word is “chairo”, which means “to rejoice”! So built into Paul’s encouragement to be “abounding in thanksgiving” is that we rejoice in the grace of God!

Now you can repeat the process we did for thanksgiving by looking for Bible verses about grace and rejoicing. Are any of the grace and rejoicing themes similar to the themes you saw for thanksgiving? Or maybe revisiting your thanksgiving themes with grace and rejoicing in mind adds layers or wrinkles to your understanding?

The Bible is the inspired word of God, written by the Holy Spirit in partnership with his people. It is so deep! So layered with truth and with his love for you! Keep reading it! Keep studying it! Keep sharing it with one another! The Lord bless your times of exegesis!

What Great Love

Encounter the love of the Father today. Let his love wash over you afresh. Soak in the truth of God’s love to an even deeper place inside of you.

“See WHAT GREAT LOVE the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.” (1 John 3:1 NIV, emphasis mine.)

The rich and holy love of the Father is a foreign thing to this world, but His children can know it and know it often. So let yourself be washed in and reminded of his love today. Just as Paul prayed this prayer for the Ephesian church, I pray for you: 

“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3: 17-19 NIV)

One of the themes deposited into our church from Revival Weekend was the revelation that revival is sustained within healthy families. I believe the foremost important revelation for someone in a family to learn is how deeply they are loved. It’s from that knowledge that everything else flows: the ability to return the love of the love-giver, the desire to obey, the motivation to share love with others; it’s the catalyst to receive and give forgiveness, and it supplies the framework for how to love oneself. 

So take a moment today, close your eyes, and connect with the Father. Breathe in his love for you, then breathe out His love. Breathe it in, breathe it out. Let his love fill you; let his love saturate every part of you. God’s love is the catalyst that will sanctify you. It’s the thing that makes you look more like him day by day. 

Let us never forget the foundational things. May we never breeze past this solid cornerstone. Let us never approach His love as old hat, but instead be bathed in the radiance, the goodness, and the nearness of the truth of His GREAT LOVE for us. Bless you, loved ones.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is right around the corner. I love that it is an American holiday that focuses on thankfulness. Many people in our country will be pausing to be thankful. As Christians, we have been given the charge to not just be thankful once a year, but to continually give thanks. 

“Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NLT).

When I read this verse, I have mixed feelings. How can I always be joyful? Never stop praying? Be thankful in all circumstances? Can we do all these things

First, always be joyful. This is not saying that we must always be happy. We should not confuse happiness with joy. Joy comes from knowing that our God reigns! “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” (Romans 8:28 NLT). If you are a follower of Jesus, you have this assurance. He will accomplish His work in our lives and it will be good.

Second, never stop praying. Does this mean we must pray 24/7? No. It does mean we should continue to pray. Prayer is having a conversation with God. Prayer includes asking God for His help and guidance, but that’s not all. Prayer is building a relationship with Him. Like any relationship, we must continue to have conversations if we want the relationship to continue. Our relationship with God is our most important one. So, keep praying! 

Third, be thankful in all circumstances. For a long time I thought this read, be thankful for all circumstances. I could not wrap my head around thanking him for the hardships in my life. But this verse says to be thankful in the circumstances. Whatever we are going through, we can still be thankful for God working in and through us. 

We can fulfill the Word of the Lord when we are joyful and continue in prayer. Spurgeon says, “When joy and prayer are married, their firstborn child is gratitude.” 

Let us be the people God has called us to be and “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever” (Psalms 107:1 NLT).

Objections

Most objections to Christianity fall into one of two categories: either, “I’ve not seen the supernatural” or “I haven’t been convinced.” The world is looking for either the perfect display of miraculous power or the perfect argument that convinces their mind. 

As people charged with preaching the gospel, we can often feel ill-equipped to address these objections. I know I’ve read scriptures like, “Always be ready to give an answer...” and felt like having the perfectly appropriate answer for every atheistic argument is intimidating and impossible. And how do you prove the supernatural at the drop of a hat? “If God is real, turn this bottle of water into wine!”

“For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

If you read through the first two chapters of 1st Corinthians, you’ll notice Paul testify over and over that Christ is the wisdom and the power of God. For those seeking a supernatural sign, Christ healed the sick and walked on water. He calmed the storm and rose from the dead! 

For those who are looking for reason and logic before they believe, Christ is the wisdom of God. He’s the reason and the answer. Our faith is authored and finished by Him. We don’t need to rely on curating scientific and methodical arguments, because the Word of Christ is enough. 

In fact, Paul goes as far as to say that he’ll preach nothing except Christ crucified. He forsakes “eloquence and human wisdom” in favor of preaching the message of Jesus plainly, and letting the Holy Spirit work on hearts and minds. Ultimately the gospel is not spread with our miraculous proof or logical arguments. It’s a divine work of the Holy Spirit. Scripture says that no one calls Jesus Lord except by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

It’s so freeing to realize that obedience to share the gospel plainly is all that’s required. Jesus is not up in heaven biting His nails, hoping that our arguments will be good enough to convince people to follow Him. 

The verse from 1st Peter that used to intimidate me goes like this: “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord and always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”

What’s the reason for the hope that we have? 

Jesus. Plain and simple.

Grace is Opposed to Earning

Jesus teaches us that it is our heart and motivations which matter. For example, if I am faithful to my wife, but lust after another, then I am guilty. I think I can wrap my head around the idea of not doing a big bad thing, but still having a heart that makes me guilty. What I have a hard time with is seeing when I am “doing something good” but my heart is in the wrong place. This can become an “earning mindset.”  

We work hard to earn our paycheck. I use the term “earn” when I talk to my students about their grades. “Well done! You earned that A!” It is also something we are now hardwired to apply to all aspects of our life:  “I worked so hard this year; I’ve earned my vacation!”  “I've been eating so good lately; I’ve earned this dessert.”  “I’ve been practicing all summer; I earned my spot on the team.”  In our American culture, we learned that if we work hard, we can earn what we want in many aspects of life. It is no wonder that we have applied this to salvation and our walk with God as well.  While I know it is impossible, the reality is that I find myself regularly trying to earn my salvation.

Dallas Willard said, “Grace is not opposed to effort.  It is opposed to earning. Effort is action. Earning is attitude. You have never seen people more active than those who have been set on fire by the grace of God.”

Works are not wrong.  As with everything else, it is the heart behind it that matters.  You and I could be serving the church doing the exact same things. I might get bogged down in obligation and the need to earn my salvation or earn God’s love. This takes the joy away from my service and puts all the focus on what I am doing. For you, however, it could be life-giving and joyful because you are not trying to earn anything. Rather, you are just loving God and being secure in who you are in Him. Accepting God’s free gift that we cannot earn allows us to put love into action in a way we never would have been able to if we were trying to earn something.  

God, help us to stop trying to earn that which you are offering to us for free. Let us be motivated by love and devotion to You and to our neighbors. Break the earning mindset that has held us captive and kept us from receiving Your joy. Thank You for freedom. Thank You for redemption. Thank You for the free gift of Your love. Help us to walk in it daily as we love those around us. Thank You that You have paid the price and we have nothing we need to earn from You.

Sanctuary

A few weeks ago, as I was praying before our most recent River Sunday, I felt eager anticipation for experiencing the holy, manifest presence of God. I prayed people would experience Jesus in greater measure. I prayed that being in the most holy place would have a profound impact on each spirit, enabling them to step into greater freedom, taking advantage of the opportunity to wait on God in pursuit of greater sanctification—right there in the New Day sanctuary. “Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am Holy,” is God’s directive (Leviticus 11:44).

 My train of thought lingered on the term “sanctuary.” The word means a few different things. It can be used to describe the most sacred area of a place of worship. It can mean a temporary place of refuge to escape the consequences of being accused of a crime or being in violation of a law. A wildlife sanctuary is a place where predators are controlled and hunting is illegal. All of those definitions demonstrate that a sanctuary is a place of profound safety.

We enter our church building each week, and come into the sanctuary, to worship the Lord. If it is a place of refuge and safety (which it is), then why can that place, where the presence of the Lord is made manifest in worship, be so uncomfortable? Why, when we are there to worship and encounter God, do we feel resistant and do the very opposite action—avoid engaging our whole heart?

I believe it is because we all sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We are meant to be consecrated and set apart, but sin easily besets us. We come into the holy place, and we feel conviction and guilt. We associate the feeling of guilt as a bad thing. Sometimes that feeling is a bad thing, when it’s a false sense because there is no wrongdoing. But sometimes guilt is a good thing! It’s the appropriate emotional response to sin. Thankfully, God’s promise is that if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us and CLEANSE us of ALL unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). That’s why we need to run into the presence of God, not away from it! (Plus, it is a sacred space, and the ultimate predator—Satan—has no authority!)

 In the Old Testament, the Lord established sanctuary cities where the accused could run and gain safety from the consequence of their accidental sin. For New Testament Christians, the Lord established his sanctuary right inside of us. We are the dwelling place for the Holy Spirit, and we can find sanctuary immediately with prayer and repentance, right inside our hearts. We don’t even have to run miles and miles! We need only to pray! This phenomenon, along with the corporate gathering, are two fantastic opportunities to experience God’s sanctuary. That’s such good news.

Fully and Splendidly Alive

“Did you ever think, when you were a child, what fun it would be if your toys could come to life? Well suppose you could really have brought them to life. Imagine turning a tin soldier into a real little man. It would involve turning the tin into flesh. And suppose the tin soldier did not like it. He is not interested in flesh; all he sees is that the tin is being spoiled. He thinks you are killing him. He will do everything he can to prevent you. He will not be made into a man if he can help it.

What you would have done about that tin soldier I do not know. But what God did about us was this. The Second Person in God, the Son, became human Himself: was born into the world as an actual man—a real man of a particular height, with hair of a particular color, speaking a particular language, weighing so many pounds. The Eternal Being, who knows everything and who created the whole universe, became not only a man but (before that) a baby, and before that a fetus inside a woman’s body. If you want to get the hang of it, think how you would like to become a slug or a crab.

The result of this was that you now had one man who really was what all men were intended to be: one man in whom the created life, derived from his mother, allowed itself to be completely and perfectly turned into the begotten life. The natural human creature in Him was taken up fully into the divine Son. Thus in one instance humanity had, so to speak, arrived: had passed into the life of Christ. And because the whole difficulty for us is that the natural life has to be, in a sense, “killed,” He chose an earthly career which involved the killing of His human desires at every turn—poverty, misunderstanding from His own family, betrayal by one of His intimate friends, being jeered at and manhandled by the police, and execution by torture. And then, after being thus killed—killed every day in a sense—the human creature in Him, because it was united to the divine Son, came to life again. The Man in Christ rose again: not only the God. That is the whole point. For the first time we saw a real man. One tin soldier—real tin, just like the rest—had come fully and splendidly alive.”

This passage comes from Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. It does such a marvelous job of explaining what Christ did by becoming a man, what he did in death and resurrection, and what he wants to do in us.

Jesus invites you into his journey: “Come, follow me.” A new creation existence beyond your wildest dreams waits for you. What it takes to get there is following him through the process of transformation. Tin must become flesh. And when it does, we become fully and splendidly alive in Christ!

A Measure of Effort

All the pieces of the armor of God are vitally important, but today I feel drawn by the Holy Spirit to key in on the Shield of Faith. God continues to highlight aspects of faith to me, most recently sharing this revelation: applying faith to what we are up against takes a measure of effort each time. We can’t assume applying faith will happen accidentally or automatically. 

“In addition to all this [other pieces of spiritual armor], take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” (Ephesians 6:16)

A shield is a unique piece of the armor of God in that it is moved around in response to threat, unlike a helmet or breastplate, which stays in place once put on. Before God lists the pieces of spiritual armor He makes available to us, He tells us the reason why we need them. He explains that our battles in life are not against flesh and blood, not against the things and people before us, but actually against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. That doesn’t mean we won’t struggle with difficult things in the natural realm, but it does mean there’s something bigger going on beyond what meets the eye. 

We must TAKE UP faith—it’s a shield for us. We’ll burn to death without it. Flaming arrows being fired at us is not a surprising thought if the reality is ever before us that we are in a raging battle in the spiritual realm. God forewarns us that we can expect these attacks. We are in a time of war, not a time of peace in the spiritual realm. 

We must make the effort necessary to take up our shield and aim it against the arrows that come. Thrust it toward the arrow coming our way and apply belief in God—belief in who He is, in what He says He will do, and in who He says we are in light of Him. 

We take up faith by proclaiming our steadfast commitment to believe, love, and serve God no matter what. We keep our heart soft and close to God as we search out answers to our questions along our spiritual journey. We maintain confidence in God, a confidence that is so substantial it becomes a substance, it becomes evidence.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)
Faith is our ongoing call to action. Let’s be reminded today that applying faith is not a passive part of standing firm in Christ. It takes a measure of effort, and it works!Tsss, can you hear the sound of the enemy’s flaming arrow being extinguished as it hits your shield of faith?

Salt of the Earth

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” (Matthew 5:13)

Ray and I were talking about this verse, and it led to quite a discussion. You see, salt (a.k.a. NaCl) is a chemical compound made of sodium and chlorine. These two are very happy to be together and it actually takes a lot to separate them. So, NaCl doesn’t “lose” its flavor. So then—what could Jesus have been talking about?

Jesus was speaking metaphorically. However, that doesn't mean we can just discount what he said. Throughout biblical times, salt was used as a preservative. One of the ways that they preserved meat was by putting it on rocks that had salt in them. But once the meat had leached the salt out of the rock, it wasn't useful anymore. Additionally, salt came from different sources. Salt that came from a mine was more pure in nature, whereas salt that came from the Dead Sea was full of impurities. Those impurities made the salt less salty. Since Jesus was speaking to people who would have used salt from the Dead Sea, we can assume his audience would have understood how some salt wasn't as salty as others.

What comes after this verse are Jesus’ teachings about anger, revenge, adultery, and loving our enemies—in all of which He tells us to be different from the world. His point of losing our saltiness is based on taking on impurities or worldliness. Becoming just like the world, then, makes us ineffective to be set apart or to preserve the truth. 

Because salt was the only way to preserve food, it was a valuable commodity. People used it as currency to trade. It was precious and necessary. 

Jesus was speaking to ordinary people—fisherman, shepherds, laborers. And He said, “You are the salt of the earth!” He is declaring that they are valuable! This saying has become one that speaks of ordinary people full of kindness, honesty, integrity, diligence, and sincerity. You are to be just that, the salt of the earth!