Grace Compels

Thinking a lot in the past few days about the power of grace. Read Luke 7:35-39. Read Luke 10:30-37. As you do look for the grace of God.

Compel is a word that I have studied. Some of the definitions of the word I have found are:
-to force to submit.
-to have a powerful irresistible effect.
-to influence.

Many times we look upon grace as a lyric to a song or just something that we are grateful that Jesus was filed with and gave us on the cross. But when we look at grace in it's pure sense, we see it as a force, we are compelled to action.

I am praying today that God would give me a more pure view of grace. I am praying that this view would compel me to action, holiness and mission. I am praying the same for those who read this.

Thanks for reading.

Tomorrow, I will be preaching these scriptures as we look at the old hymn "Solid Rock" These are wonderful verse to write down, memorize and meditate on. I thought it would be good for anyone who is interested to read through them and even pray through them prior to the message tomorrow.

Psalm 20:7
Matt 7:24-27
Proverbs 3:5-6
Acts 4:12
John 14:6
2 Cor 5:21
Hebrews 6:19
Lam 3:21-23
Matthew 26:28
Eph 1:7
Heb 9:22
Isaiah 61:10
Philippians 3:9

Thanks for reading!

The King's Speech.

I finally watched this film tonight. What a beautiful statement. We have the main character who is a broken man (both in is stammering and in his failed search for love and affirmation from his family).

Because of his awareness of his brokenness he shrinks from the purpose of his life and uses his brokenness as a vessel to run from his purpose. He lacks faith, he is aware deep in his consciousness of his purpose but when he gets close to probing the depth of his consciousness to bring it to the surface, his lack of faith wins and he hides.

But the heroes of the film that lead to the redemption of this great man enter to pour security and faith into him. The obvious hero is the therapist. He forces the man to deal with the root of the problem rather than changing the surface behavior that everyone can see. It is that fact that leads the man to his ultimate fulfilled purpose.

The less obvious hero is the wife. She is the truest hero in my eyes. I say that, probably because I see so much of my bride in her. She nurtures and unconditionally believes in her man. The ferocity of her devotion to him will not allow him to hide in his brokenness. She firmly and gently nudges him to his purpose. God has given me such a bride and helper. For that I cannot speak words thankful enough to my God for her.

I have prayed a prayer tonight that those who read this and those to whom God has called me to shepherd and those whom I interact with, will be granted someone to pour courage into them as I have had and as George VI has had. And that courage would spur you on to the realization of purpose and mission in this life which ultimately leads to perfectly intense contentment in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanks for reading and God bless you today.

C S Lewis Song

I was introduced to the music of Brook Fraser a few weeks ago and I stumbled upon the C S Lewis Song. It is a great song with two simple prepositions in the chorus that carry so much weight that I am compelled to write this blog post about them.

The first is, "Speak to me in the light of the dawn, mercy comes WITH the morning." This lyric, at first or superficial glance, can be cliche. Many songs have been written and poetry penned with something about God's mercy being new every morning or the sunrise reminding us a the new mercy we have everyday. As we see a sunrise or experience a new day, God refreshes us. There is truth in this idea and it is also Biblical. (Lamentations 3:22,23)

But I want to point out a simple use of the word, "with". There is an idea born with this word. It is a beautiful idea that the new mercies of the Lord come even without our asking or knowledge of needing them.

Each new day comes WITH new mercies. They are a pair, they cannot seperate. So whatever yesterday brought to you, today mercy comes WITH the morning, just like fries come with your number three value meal.

The second preposition comes in the chorus as well. She writes, "I wait for hope to come FOR me." Hope, in a spiritual context, is not crossing your fingers and hoping for something to happen. It is a future reality, a confident expectation of something that is to come.

Tonight, I will leave work and go get Cooper and take him to baseball practice and then take him to the Cardinal baseball game. Cooper is at home right now waiting his dad to come FOR him.

Take a listen to the song and breath in deep the mercy that is yours and the hope that is yours.

Thanks for reading

Preaching to yourself

My mind in the last few weeks and months has taken me to a notion of my need to hunger for God and take responsibility for cultivating my relationship with him. Scripture is clear that this is the case.

While reading Psalm 42 this morning, I had this thought. Read the Psalm with this in mind: David is preaching to himself. Many, many times in our lives our hearts or spiritual selves are dark, dry and difficult. It is in those times that we must fight. It is in those times that we must remind ourselves of the Steadfastness of the love our God.

So, as you go today, preach the gospel to yourself.

From The Pursuit of God

I am rereading A.W. Tozer's classic The pursuit of God. I reread my favorites once a year or so and this is one of them. Sometimes I can't get past a chapter or a page because of it's depth and weight. The second chapter is one I can't quit reading. The following few paragraphs are taken from it. The chapter is titled, "The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing".

Before the Lord God made man upon the earth He first prepared for him by creating a world of useful and pleasant things for his sustenance and delight. In the Genesis account of the creation these are called simply “things.” They were made for man’s uses, but they were meant always to be external to the man and subservient to him. In the deep heart of the man was a shrine where none but God was worthy to come. Within him was God; without, a thousand gifts which God had showered upon him.

But sin has introduced complications and has made those very gifts of God a potential source of ruin to the soul.

Our woes began when God was forced out of His central shrine and “things” were allowed to enter. Within the human heart “things” have taken over. Men have now by nature no peace within their hearts, for God is crowned there no longer, but there in the moral dusk stubborn and aggressive usurpers fight among themselves for first place on the throne.

Ben's Story

Ben Somers is a friend of mine. I have known his family for at least 15 years. For many of those 15 years we have been praying for Ben. His father and I were part of a four person prayer group that met weekly for 3 years. Much of our prayer time was spent focusing on Ben.

After that prayer group stopped meeting, I became the youth pastor to Ben's brother Chad. Chad and I got close and I began discipling him. Much of our time was focused on prayer for Ben and what God was teaching Chad through difficult times with his brother.

This is Ben's Story.