Christmas Is Awesome, Part 2...Redemption and Reconciliation

In my last post, I had refuted a few ideas some people have that in Jeremiah 10 God Himself had forbidden the practice of bringing Christmas trees into the house and decorating them. I won't reiterate it now, but here is that post: Christmas is Awesome...Refuting Some Issues About Paganism and Christmas

I stated in that post, though, that I wanted to talk about the origin of the Christmas tree and perhaps the origins of other Christmas symbols, because a lot of people have been terribly bothered by the concept of Christianity practitioners commandeering pagan traditions to turn them into Christian ones.

Some Christians are bothered by this, and what's more, many atheists and agnostics use it as a big stick with which they beat Christians over the head.

Really, I had not previously spent much time pondering all this, but this year in particular, I've heard a lot of "chatter" out there in the internets about this issue. So I started poking around and praying for wisdom.

Here are my personal conclusions:

1. Christmas is awesome. You probably already got that one.
2. The Advent season focuses my eyes on Jesus more profoundly than at any other time of the year. So I love it and embrace it.
3. The commandeering of pagan practises involving the natural world has actually deeply moved me and drawn me into a greater love for God.

That last one might have made you go "Um...what?" But stick with me here.

First, you should know that I have not done any for-real research into the origins of our Christmas symbols and traditions. There are scholars who have, and if you are really interested in for-real research, you might go figure out who those scholars are and check out what they found.

What I did was casually peruse the internet, and that does not qualify as real research. It's fun, though, and there is some really good stuff out there if you want to skim the surface of this subject. The University of Michigan Extension put together some fun bullets about Christmas trees, and they have links you can follow if you are interested: How did evergreens become a symbol for Christmas?

Here is a summary of a few things I read out there:

• The tradition of bringing evergreen boughs into the home is an old one that came from somewhere in Europe, probably Germany.
• That tradition may or may not have had an element of pagan practice to it. Most of the sources I saw didn't think so. They think it was related to the love of pretty things, or the nice smell of fir. Or maybe it was something about the symbolism of evergreens.
• At least two notable Christian missionaries have been attached to a story in which they had converts start bringing entire evergreen trees into their homes as a symbol of Christ and his "evergreen" love and faithfulness.

My favorite was a story that was told about Boniface. On a missions trip to pagan parts of Germany in the early 700s, Boniface rescued a baby about to be sacrificed to the god Thor, who the people thought lived in conjunction with a sacred "Thunder Oak" tree. Boniface cut down the tree to show the people that Thor was a false God. Nearby was a little evergreen that he told them to bring into their house to represent Christ.

I'm probably not telling this story well, but I sure liked the way I first heard it on a Phil Vischer What's in the Bible? – Why Do They Call It Christmas? video I bought for my kids. Check out this clip on YouTube:



(If you are interested in the What's in the Bible? series, I VERY highly recommend it! Please see the Jelly Telly What's in the Bible? website.)

So by and large, I didn't find a whole lot that said Christmas trees specifically came from an actual pagan WORSHIP practice.

However, as they state in the Why Do They Call It Christmas? video, we do know that a number of pagan cultures had gods that were honored and worshiped through association with aspects of the natural world, such as trees and significant seasons, significant times of the year. Among those times was the winter solstice.

The Washington Post carried a sweet article in which they described five facts about the winter solstice. They describe the winter solstice: "the exact moment when the sun’s most direct rays reach their southernmost point south of the equator, along the Tropic of Capricorn, at 23.5 degrees south latitude. The time and date of the solstice change slightly each year."

While we mark December 21 as the winter solstice, December 25 was likely a day in which one or more cultures mistakenly thought it was the winter solstice, or at least observed it then. Some cultures did a lot of awful things to worship or appease pagan gods on that day because they connected pagan gods with the natural world. The details about all this—what's true and not true about the dates, the gods, the pagans, etc.—are told in various ways by various people. What they usually have in common is the sincere evil of the practises...like child sacrifice, sexual perversion, and other nasty things.

The story usually goes that early Christian missionaries commandeered December 25 either as a "counter holiday" to worship Christ, so they could draw people away from the pagan observance, or possibly a concession to the people to keep that day as the observance, but swap out the reason for the observance—that is, trade the worship of a pagan god for the worship of Jesus. Perhaps they saw this as a way to "ease" entire cultures out of their paganism.

Some Christians today see this as a compromise—to convert the people, they allowed them to continue in a form of paganism until they assimilated into Christianity. Some snarky atheists try to use this to show how mistaken we Christians are about the reality of God.

I have no doubt some version of this is true. We can look at a lot of Christmas traditions today and in one way or another trace them back to origins that maybe weren't very Christian in nature. We also can observe that paganism has never really gone away. In our current age, practitioners of various new age ideas and beliefs persist in connecting nature with their beliefs of power and magic.

This is scary to some Christians, for sure. I get it. While we are over here marking the birth of Jesus, they are over there using the same time of year and some of the same symbols to worship the creation instead of the Creator. They even think they can draw dark magic from created things to enact hexes and cast other types of spells...though ironically, some wiccan practitioners feel that this sort of hexing carries with it a cost. Some mix in the eastern concept of karma—you hex a person, and karma's going to getcha. It's a soup of pagan, new age, and eastern beliefs and practises that God expressly forbids in the Bible.

And thus, many Christians feel uneasy about what some see as parallel celebrations and observances. Again, I get it. Christians are striving to be holy, as God is holy.

Now...let me take you back to my third conclusion that I stated at the beginning: The commandeering of pagan practises involving the natural world has actually deeply moved me and drawn me into a greater love for God.

Dear friend, as I have been writing this, it is the day after winter solstice. I have bird feeders outside my window upon which I have observed in the last two hours six or seven types of birdies. I have two adolescent, energetic kitties that love bird-watching, and they have been jumping up here on my typing table to paw at the window glass and softly chatter and mew and swish their silky tails. A pretty dang funny squirrel has performed a few acrobatic tricks trying to obtain some of that birdseed, which causes the birdies scatter to take refuge in the bare branches of the euonymus and the maple, and the evergreen branches of the pine, the spruce, and the yew.

My heart is filling up. I'm sitting here worshipping God because I see Him.

I'm a nature-lover, you guys. I see God in nature. Or rather, I should specify that I see HIS nature, when I SEE nature...His creativity, His passion, His love. I see it in my kittens when they interact with these other creatures through the glass. I see it in each finch and nuthatch. I see it in the goofy squirrels. I see it in the trees and the shrubs.

You guys, I see God.

In contemplating this issue about Christmas and talking to God about it, here is the main passage of Scripture that jumped up out of my heart:

Colossians 1:15-20 NIV
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Saints, did you catch that?

in him all things hold together.

Jesus.

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Jesus came to reconcile to Himself all things. Everything, EVERYTHING, comes together through Jesus Christ!

Saints...oh, dear friends...can you see the beauty in that? Let me tell you something, not a single sparrow falls, and God doesn’t see it. When he created everything, He called it "Good." He has had His eye on it for a long, long time.

Pagans, ancient and modern, cannot help but see mystery and wonder in nature. In rebellion, their hearts have rejected the story of God, and they have exchanged the worship of the Creator for the worship of the creation. In so doing, they worship demons. They turn to the doctrine of demons. (1 Timothy 4:1) That is the tragedy in all this. The magic they seek is in actuality the majesty and power of Christ. They seek the spiritual that for-real exists in nature, but they attribute it to the trees themselves, and not to the Creator of those trees.

My take on all this is that Christian missionaries understood these concepts and knew that if souls were to be saved, they must demonstrate for the pagans that the spirituality they sought was not to be found in the trees or the planets or the sun, but rather in the mighty Word who brought all those things into being:

John 1:1-5 NIV
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The pagans FELT that spiritual connection at the winter solstice because it was the time when without fail, the daylight hours would begin to lengthen, day by day. Precious people, dearly loved by their Creator God, knew that as the darkness of the night grew steadily from June to December—WITHOUT FAIL—their weary hearts would find tremendous HOPE in the winter solstice, would observe this tremendous symbol written into the very fabric of time, space, nature.

God was revealing Himself to them. The enemy of their souls had grabbed ahold of this longing God planted in people and twisted their minds so that they sought their hope in paganism. They were blinded. Even though the daylight would lengthen, their souls were deeply trapped in darkness.

But Jesus came for them. He was the light that would pierce that deep soul darkness.

The aspects of God's creation that Satan attempted to use...God redeemed. The days, the times, the seasons...they were all His to begin with, a picture of His faithfulness, His wisdom, and His power.

Genesis 8:22 KJV
While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

He took yet another evil intent by the enemy and turned it to GOOD. He refused to allow the enemy of our souls to rob us of our Hope.

This, dear friend, is why I believe that not only do we have the freedom to celebrate Christmas and enjoy as many of the traditions as we like (even the goofy, joyful ones about elves and Santa), but I actually believe that over the eons of the Church age, God has been watching and helping us develop Christmas. He sees us. He knows us. He cares for us.

He knew that this longing for HIM would need rituals and celebrations and joy fests. He arranged it so that everything, EVERYTHING would come together in Jesus.

Celebrate! HE IS!!!!

Prayer

Father, THANK YOU. Thank you for Christmas and everything it represents. Thank you for sending Your Son Jesus. Thank you for the redemption of all of creation. Thank you for not leaving mankind to perish in the darkness, but for providing this method of reconciliation. Thank you for breaking through the darkness and bringing us into Your glorious light.

Many still walk in darkness because they have been deceived by the enemy of their souls. Many openly, violently rebel against you and revel in their sin. But we know that their hearts deep down ache with inexpressible groans. Their attempts to relieve the ache are fruitless. Only You can provide the satisfaction, the relief, and the love they so deeply long for and need. Please, Jesus, work on them. I lift them up to you in prayer, Lord. Bring these souls to you. Reconcile them to you.

I pray for the readers of this blog post, that they will be uplifted and encouraged during this season. The enemy has been trying to overburden us and divide us, but I proclaim victory in Jesus. I come against the actions of the enemy in this, and I pray, Lord, that you would defeat this attempt.

May this post be a fragrant offering to you, Oh, Lord my God. May souls be saved because of this feeble gift I bring You. You raise me up in Your power, Your wisdom, and You have all the glory here. Save them, Jesus! Encourage your Church. Unite us, Lord. Bring all things together in You.

I ask this in the glorious, powerful, beautiful name of Jesus. Amen.

Merry Christmas, Saints. Be at Peace.

Christmas Is Awesome...Refuting Some Issues About Paganism and Christmas

I was going to continue this week with the If book. We've only got a couple posts to go, and that's definitely worth some time!

But this last week, on three separate occasions, I came across messages from books and concerned believers about Christmas traditions and their connections with paganism. Yikes! That bummer bomb has been on my mind ever since, and I wanted to share my thoughts in the hopes that they might alleviate some fears and encourage some of my brothers and sisters in Christ.

My first response to all this is a big 'ole eye roll. Don't mess with my Christmas, people. Christmas? I'm a HUGE fan. Love me some Christmas.

And then my second response was one of compassion for people who genuinely want to serve God and honor Him completely. Their worries and concerns are born out of this correct sense of the purity of Jesus Christ, and the fact that worship of Him should not be sullied by anything that would hint of sin or disrespect. Yes, I do get that...

Here's the spoiler alert, dear friends...my conclusion is that everyone should keep Christmas well and use all the lovely traditional symbols they like. Whatsoever things are lovely, think on these things. Boom.

The Jeremiah 10 Argument About Christmas Trees and Forbidden Pagan Practice

Here's how this particular "pagan" argument went:

There's this author—I am not going to name him here because I haven’t read any of his books—that's been saying according to Jeremiah 10, we should not bring trees inside and decorate them.
Um...what?

I looked this up, and here is what the NKJV says:

"Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord:
'Do not learn the way of the Gentiles;
Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven,
For the Gentiles are dismayed at them.
For the customs of the peoples are futile;
For one cuts a tree from the forest,
The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.
They decorate it with silver and gold;
They fasten it with nails and hammers
So that it will not topple.
They are upright, like a palm tree,
And they cannot speak;
They must be carried,
Because they cannot go by themselves.
Do not be afraid of them,
For they cannot do evil,
Nor can they do any good.'"(verses 2-5)

(By the way, if you look up verse 5 in the NIV—also the NLT—instead of palm tree, it says. "Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field." So if we want, we can start throwing harvest symbols around, too...haha...but we won't go there...)

What people are worried about is where God describes gentiles cutting down trees, then decorating them. The NIV and the NLT are descriptive—those versions say, "a craftsman shapes it with his chisel" before it is adorned with silver and gold.

Now, here is what the book author said...I don't have this book, by the way. I am passing along a quote from an article...and I do NOT think he is right in this statement:

"Even God-fearing Christians today don't realize they're doing the very opposite of God's instructions when they decorate trees with silver and gold and stand them up in their homes and churches every December. God personally says in the tenth chapter of Jeremiah not to do that precise heathen custom, and yet people have been tricked into decorating trees with all sorts of silver tinsel, gold garland and hanging ornaments, and they have no scriptural basis for it. For those interested in eternal life, we need to wake up and start obeying the instructions of our Maker, and stop all this pagan worthlessness."

Yikes! Holy cow. See the bummer bomb?

Is this fellow saying that all those years of Christmas tree traditions is just people practicing pagan customs? AND is he also saying that my eternal life with Jesus is in jeopardy because of it?

WHAT?

Let's break this down a bit...

1. First, that author is saying that Jeremiah 10 refers to our practice of bringing a tree inside and decorating it at Christmastime.

No. That is not what this section of scripture is referring to. I will refer you back to one of my first posts where I was laying the foundation of how we study the Bible: Study Premises Part 1: Our Approach for Reading the Bible. In that post, I quote Bible scholar Ron Rhodes, who stated, "Our goal must be exegesis (drawing the meaning out of the text) and not eisogesis (superimposing a meaning onto the text)."

Now, hear me out...evergreens in the house might have a pagan origin, and in my next post, I will talk about that. But in this case, we are looking specifically at Jeremiah 10 and what this author said.
When we look at the Jeremiah 10 passage and say, "Christmas trees" we have to remember that when Jeremiah wrote God's words, there was no such thing as a Christmas tree. Maybe we could make an argument about God knowing the future and all that, but it's really quite a stretch to coax that sort of interpretation out of this particular passage. When prophetic passages describe future events, the text tells us this. We can show this in many prophetic passages in the Bible. This is not one of those passages.

In this particular passage, God is describing what gentiles at that time were doing in their worship of pagan gods.

2. We see clearly that the text is referring to the creation of idols out of trees. The idol is going to be the thing that is worshiped. The tree is just the material.

And...

3. The text is actually telling us that the idols are nothing and God is powerful.

It's moments like this I wish I was myself a Hebrew scholar so I could properly look at the original language to talk about what the gentile was doing with that tree he cut down. (Maybe I will get to study Hebrew someday.) Translations are telling me the guy takes a chisel to it. Let's look at it in context of other scripture.

Isaiah 40—WHICH, by the way, also contains one of those uber-amazing sections of the Bible, a part that describes the Messiah hundreds of years before Christ came—says in verses 18-20, NKJV:

"To whom then will you liken God?
Or what likeness will you compare to Him?
The workman molds an image,
The goldsmith overspreads it with gold,
And the silversmith casts silver chains.
Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution
Chooses a tree that will not rot;
He seeks for himself a skillful workman
To prepare a carved image that will not totter."

The tree is making an appearance here, as well, but in this case we can clearly see that a craftsman is carving an image out of it. There are some parallels here between the Jeremiah passages and the Isaiah passages:

• The tree is being used to create an image.
• The image can't stand on its own. Either it has to be propped up, or the wood has to be carved in such a way that the weight is supported.
• If you can afford it, you can use silver and gold to adorn it.

And here's the most important point...

• In both of these passages, in context, God is contrasting Himself with these images.

What are these images? Idols! What did these people do with them after they carve them? Maybe decorate them, but for sure, they worshiped them and prayed to them for things.

What's the point God is trying to make?

The idols themselves are WORTHLESS. No power. Look at Jeremiah 10:5, second part of that verse:

"Do not be afraid of them,
For they cannot do evil,
Nor can they do any good.”

So...

idol = nothing
God = everything

Boom. That is the message here.

The worship of pagan gods was evil...don't get me wrong. Those are demons that the people were worshiping, and in their worship, they were doing horribly evil, vile things like sacrificing babies.

But the idol itself was completely lifeless and worthless. God was making a point that supported His original commandment about idols: "You shall not make for yourself an idol..." (Exodus 20:4)
Dear friends, we MUST approach the Bible with whole-Bible context in mind.

The New Testament Provides Context for Christians—Liberty in Christ

Let's jump to the New Testament and see what we find there to help us understand this a little better.

I'm going to paraphrase 1 Corinthians 8 because there is a lot of text there, but please read it for yourself. In this section, Paul turns his attention to the issue of whether believers should eat food that has been sacrificed to idols. He first says that an idol is nothing and God is everything. Therefore, with this knowledge about the worthlessness of idols, you as a believer don't need to worry about it. Go ahead and eat it.

However, some believers don't have the strength of Paul's faith, and they have a hard time seeing this as inconsequential. So Paul says, let's not make a big deal out of this. If a brother or sister in Christ is having a hard time with this concept, let it go. They cannot eat that meat without it bothering them. And if they see you doing it, that might distress them. So you need to be careful, then, and love your brothers and sisters by not eating that meat in front of them. Don't let your "superior" faith and knowledge cause them pain. Instead, act in ways that are loving and kind to them.

Here is the Tracy translation for how this relates to the Christmas tree thing...if you are having a hard time with this, I am not going to hit you over the head with it. If it bothers you to drag a tree inside and decorate it, it's OK. Don't do it. It's totally a secondary issue. I just want you to have faith in Jesus!

Paul's writings about this also tell me that if I can freely eat meat sacrificed to an idol because an idol is worthless, if I want to have a Christmas tree in my house, even if I think it might be a tradition that has a pagan origin (we will get back to that in another post), I can go ahead and do it.

Remember, saints, that Jesus Christ saved us and gave us freedom and liberty. Read Romans 14...in that chapter, we see that there are things that are secondary issues—like what you eat or drink, or what you wear, or certain things that you do—that are not expressly forbidden as sin. Because you are liberated in Christ, you can do a lot of things and still be a redeemed soul, born again, saved!
The caution we see in several parts of the New Testament is that whatever you are doing or considering doing, make very sure that 1) it is not an explicit sin as described in the Word of God, and 2) it doesn't lead you down a path where you might be tempted or might hurt someone else.

Don't Overburden Fellow Believers—It's About Love

We know that when Jesus dealt with the religious leaders of His day, He was upset with them because they unnecessarily burdened the people with regulations that really didn't matter that much. God was (and is) interested in our hearts. Are we submitted before Him? Are we faithful to Him? Do we strive to give Him the glory He deserves? Do we love Him and act like it?

Jesus was concerned for the people, and He was watching certain religious leaders pounding them with regulations, but neglecting to show them the goodness and love and glory of God. Jesus came in part to liberate us from these unnecessary burdens and how us how high, how wide, how deep the love of God is!

Oh, my friend! He loves you! His eye is on the sparrow, but you...YOU are in his heart! Do you think He gives a hill of beans about whether or not you put decorations on a Christmas tree? What He cares about is whether you are worshipping worthless things, or whether you are worshipping Him.

God made that tree. God made the silver and the gold. If you are observing Christmas because you are thankful that Jesus came into the world, and you are doing slap-happy traditions to show your joy...why in the world would that be a bad thing?

If you keep Christmas solely in your heart and avoid all the trappings and traditions because that is how you personally best honor Him and show Him your love and gratitude, then by all means...don't decorate!

The point...Jesus is all that matters. One way or another, do not overburden one another.

In my house, we instill joy in our kiddos by posing our toy elves every night so that the kiddos find them in all kinds of weird situations each morning. We instill joy in them by putting up happy, gorgeous decorations and hanging our stockings. We instill joy by making Christmas morning exciting and awesome and ripping open fun gifts. Then we tell them the source of all our joy is JESUS. We are having a month-long joy fest all because of JESUS! Because He is totally worth it! Our salvation through Him is everything to us, and we are practicing being joyful.

I have more to say on the subject of Christmas trees and paganism, but this is an awful lot of words. I will continue this in the next post. Tonight I will bask in the lights of my Christmas tree and give God thanks for the precious gift of His Son.

Prayer

Dear Lord, I may never fully be able to express the gratitude I have for the salvation you have given us. But I do thank you, Lord, for that gift. I honor that gift by celebrating and telling others about the love of Jesus.

Lord, for the reader of this blog post, I pray tremendous blessing. I pray that if they do not know you as Lord and savior, that they would come to you right now and repent of their sins and accept the free gift of forgiveness You offer. Lord, what people who do not believe in You or trust You do not know, is the richness of living a life submitted to You! You satisfy the deepest parts of us and give us a peace that passes all understanding. May that non-believer reach out to you today, right now, and be saved. May these words be a fragrant offering to you, a gift to You that results in what You most desire, to bring people to You.

Jesus, I love you. And I love the people You have made. May they know you. May they be joyful in you. May they honor you with their lives. I ask this in the precious and holy name of Jesus Christ...amen.

Merry Christmas, saints.

"What If" Dreams Part 1: The Good Work and The Big Dream

Exciting Stuff

"...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6)

I got so much incredible stuff out of this section of the book that I am not sure where to start! I swear, I have typed and retyped the beginning of this post three times. Let me take a deep breath and back up a bit...sorry, guys. I'm so excited by what's going on here!

The Big Dream...But What About Inadequacy? What About Pride?

"What If" is all about the Big Dream. That's pretty clear in this section. I have a Big Dream. But I've been super confused about it, and I have been wondering if God has given me this Big Dream, or if it is something I've just carved out of my own imagination in order to suit a human desire for greatness.

So there I am, reading Batterson's section on What if?, and I can see that in the past, I've made God a little too small. Batterson's really quite good at showing us how big God is, and how trustworthy God is to follow through on anything He puts in motion. When God begins a good work in us, He carries it forward to completion. He's not going to respond to me tugging on His shirt sleeve by brushing me off.

See, I did tug on His shirt sleeve. I asked Him what my purpose is. I asked Him what He wanted me to do for Him with the rest of my life. He responded to me by giving me a Big Dream. And honestly, it freaked me out. I've been kind of ashamed to go talk to anyone about it because I've been afraid that it would be humiliating...

"Really? You, Tracy?
You really think you're going to [insert Big Dream here]?
Because you aren't nearly [insert thing I lack] enough.
And you aren't [insert another thing I lack here] enough.
And you CERTAINLY aren't [insert yet another thing I lack here] enough!"

I'm afraid sometimes, too, that the dreams are self-serving. I'm afraid that I am driven only my the desire for my own greatness. I was a little taken aback by Batterson's account of his bold declaration in his twenties, that one day, he would write books that would sell millions of copies. Isn't that prideful? Isn't that just a desire for personal greatness? If I dream a Big Dream, am I just getting puffed up and big-headed?

Batterson declares, "by definition, a God-ordained dream is beyond our ability to pull off." (page 141)

Wow. Yep, I am indeed inadequate. And yeah, the thought that I could do this maybe is a little self-serving. I mean, I LIKE the idea of greatness! But if it really is beyond my own ability, then it's got to be God that pulls it off. There's no place for pride there. Instead, there's got to be humility.

So God really is the originator of the Big Dream? It's surreal to me, and a little counter-intuitive, but I have to answer yes. Yes, God is the one that establishes our Big Dreams. He gives us the notions for the things that are great, the things that are too much for us to pull off.

Let's talk a little about pride, then, and why it scares the heck outta me.

Just the fact that it is a concern tells me that yes, God really IS in this. When it occurs to us that pride is a danger, God says to us, "Good. Now I can work on you. Now I can get that Big Dream going!"
If I have a concern about my own pride, then my response is going to be humbling myself before Him, submitting to Him, clinging to Him as I start to see bits and pieces of the Big Dream come together. God is the originator of the greatness that is in me. If He makes me a great writer and a great teacher, it's His work in me, and I need to submit it before Him. If I take that stance and keep prayer and worship at the forefront of my mind and my heart, then God is going to work that pride right out of me, or keep it from developing.

The build-up of pride scares me because that was Satan's sin. That is what caused all of the evil in the entire world. It's a terrifying trap, and I do not want to fall into it.

If I didn't have enough reasons to keep falling on my face before God, to staying gut-level honest with Him about every little thing I think and feel, and to seek Him for His truth in everything...my Big Dream is going to keep me right there in that position before Him.

THAT is the start of His good work in me! That frees me up to let myself start to pray over this Big Dream and see the possibilities. I can cease seeing God as small and start giving Him credit for being BIG. BIG, BIG, BIG!!!! HUGE!!!

Seek the Presence of God

I love my Big Dream, and I want to see this work come about in me. The way I'm going to see it is if I seek the presence of God. If I take a deep dive into His presence, it's GOING to happen. How do we take that deep dive and see the glory of God?

Get into His Word. Get into prayer. Get into praise. Get into gratitude. Get into joyfulness.

Remember our new habits:

• Be joyful always.
• Pray continually.
• Give thanks in all circumstances.

Batterson states, "When we get into the presence of God, it's like a slight yet sudden shift in barometric pressure. It takes time to acclimatize, but over time, the glory of God will manifest in any number of ways. Two obvious examples are the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. The fruit is character and the gifts are capacities, but both are manifestations. It's the same word used in 1 Corinthians 12:7:

To each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given.

Each of us is a unique manifestation of God's Spirit. We might have identical gifts, but they are exercised through different personalities, in different contexts." (pages 146–147)

Worship creates the atmosphere. We get our minds off the stuff around us, and we get our focus on the Lord. Amazing things start to happen.

He's BIG, you guys. BIG.

We will hit this more in the next post, but please, please keep God at the forefront of your mind. He's started a good work in you, and He has BIG plans to see it through!

Prayer

Lord, I'm in tears as I sit here writing this and thinking it over. I am so grateful for the Big Dream you have planted in me, and I want very much to see it accomplished! More than anything, I want to see Your glory manifest in my life so that your Kingdom will expand and souls will be rescued!

I want any reader of this post to see Your glory manifest in them, as well! I pray for those readers right now, that they would start to seek You more and more, that they would work hard at creating that atmosphere through worship. Speak to their hearts right now, Lord. Impress on them how HUGE You are, and how You desire to keep pushing forward that good work in their lives! Nothing, NOTHING is beyond You, Lord, and if they will just seek you for the Big Dream, you will accomplish Your purpose for their lives!

I ask this in the BIG and mighty name of Jesus Christ! Amen!

"As If" Faith Part 2: Nurturing Your Faith and Knowing Who You Are

Reminders

1 Samuel 7:12 (NIV)
Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer [which means stone of help], saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”

In this passage from the book of 1 Samuel, we see that the prophet Samuel set up a "reminder stone"—a small monument to the faithfulness of God. Every time he would encounter it or remember that he set it there, he would be reminded that in all circumstances right up to the time when he set it there, the Lord had been faithful.

It is in this spirit that we as believers must take steps to embed within our hearts the promises God makes to us. He is faithful. And His faithfulness must motivate and drive us.

To live with an "As If" faith, we must make it a habit, a routine practice of reminding ourselves of God's promises, of His nature. In our book for this study If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God's What If Possibilities, chapter 9 is called "The Anchoring Effect." At the risk of encouraging readers to become pack rats, author Mark Batterson encourages us to set up physical reminders around us, objects that "anchor," speak to us about God's faithfulness in the past, and thus encourage us for the future as they remind us of WHO God is. He calls these objects "mezuzahs" (in essence, a sign of faith—Google this!) and says that "The Israelites would often use stones to build altars. I use just about anything and everything you can imagine." (page 90)

The concept appeals to me greatly. For example, my husband and I have made it a practice over time to purchase at least one Christmas ornament for every trip we take together, or for significant celebrations we commemorate by going places or doing special things. We started doing this during a very trying time in our married life together, when we celebrated an anniversary by going to Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA. (This was back in the days when we had moved out to the Philadelphia area for a few years.) Money was tight and stress was high. We were homesick and dealing with tremendous heartache.

Our anniversary is December 18th, one week before Christmas. Longwood was gorgeously decorated, both inside the conservatories, and outside on the grounds. In the freezing cold, we walked arm-in-arm, enjoying the elegant light displays and the peace of a clear, starry, Christmastime night. The visit was a balm to our weary souls. That night, we purchased an ornament from the gift shop, a sculpture of a beautiful red cardinal perched upon holly and fir. To this day, each Christmas when I fasten the cardinal to our Christmas tree, I am reminded of that night and the great Prince of Peace who pulled us through that era of our lives.

He is faithful.

We have since drawn our children into our practice. On every vacation, the kiddos help me shop for Christmas ornaments. Then as we decorate our tree, we say, "Oh, remember that trip? That was the time that we...[insert fun memory here]." Christmastime is precious as we bathe in those memories and reflect upon the blessings of God.

A few months ago, when I started this blog, I wanted an ongoing visual reminder of the hope I've had for how God might take this little effort of mine, and the ways in which He might use me in ministry. While right now, I plug away with my studying and writing, praying that this work would bear fruit and help bring people into the Kingdom of God, I have not yet seen that fruit in a tangible way. But I know that even as I wait, God is working WITHIN ME. I am encouraged by these daily reminders on my wall:

The Lord promises wisdom. He promises power. He wants us to earnestly seek Him in this, and cause His Kingdom to grow. He wants His word to be spread. My little creative effort with Mod Podge and canvas provides for anyone who enters my home a tangible reminder of the mighty work God wants to do in our lives. It helps push me every day to seek Him, even on those days when I honestly don't feel like it!

Developing an "As If" faith sometimes requires these extra reminders to provide fuel for the fire. Batterson puts a lot of emphasis on tangible things you can do to fuel your faith—in his book, he makes this a thematic element. He calls out optimism and attitude. He suggests writing down life goals, keeping a gratitude journal, developing a thank-you-note habit, and gathering around you anything that will keep your mind focused on the goodness of Jesus Christ, regardless of your circumstances. He says that behaving and thinking "As If" has amazing potential. An "As If" attitude can drive your choices and lead you down mental paths that bring the goodness of God to the world around you. Contrast this with a focus on the things that go wrong...which do you think is better for your faith? For the faith of those you encounter every day?

Who Does God Say You Are?

Developing your "As If" faith requires understanding who God says you are.

I wanted to touch on this idea because we live in a world that has a lot of really awful things to say about us. If you spend enough time out there, you are going to hear that you aren't attractive enough, talented enough, smart enough, rich enough. Remember, though, that when Jesus prayed for His disciples, He specifically stated:

John 17: 15-19 (NIV)
"My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; Your Word is truth. As You sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify Myself, that they too may be truly sanctified."

Notice Jesus did not pray that God would remove them from the world. They would be exposed to all the nasty messes the world would dish out. They would be subject to attacks of every kind. "If the world hates you," He said, "keep in mind that it hated Me first." (John 15:18, NIV)

Yes, Jesus prayed for their protection, but more importantly, He prayed that they would be sanctified. To be sanctified is to be set apart for the work of God. It is to be made holy. Jesus was praying that the work of God would be manifest through them so that they could get out into the world and spread the gospel. Anything bad that happened to them at the hands of the world, therefore, served God's larger purpose of bringing people to Him. The world dished out some rotten stuff to the disciples—they suffered and died for the sake of the Kingdom. But those actions of the world, rooted in the attitudes of the world, did NOT express the Truth of God.

Can you imagine if the disciples had used the state of the world to tell them what was real, what was true? The gospel of Jesus Christ would never have been spread! Instead, the disciples, and the Church they founded in Jesus's name, defied the supposed "truth" of the world and fixed their eyes on Jesus. What the world said was of no consequence...the only thing that mattered was what God said.

And what God says is that YOU are more than a conqueror—we get this straight from the Great 8: "we are more than conquerors." (Romans 8:37)

Romans 8:31-34 (NIV)
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

The apostles stubbornly clung to this truth. They held onto it right up to the moment of their deaths. Death for them was not a moment in which they were defeated, but rather it was the moment that ushered them into the presence of the Lord, where we can confidently say that He embraced them with a hearty, "Well done, good and faithful servant" (Matthew 25:23) and rewarded them for their faith and perseverance.

Dear friend, if you struggle in this world, if there's depression or anxiety or pain or frustration or grief, if there are unthinkable circumstances from which you need deliverance, remember that God has promised you that NONE of that will be wasted. The Lord will work it all for good. Take up the attitude that even though you have trouble in the world (John 16:33), this trouble does NOT nullify the promises of God to you. His faithfulness to you endures.

Focus on who Jesus says you are. Keep your eyes on Him...keep your attitude positive and embrace the optimism that nothing the world dishes out will cause God to stumble. The enemy wants to discourage you and keep you from being a force for the Kingdom of God. But if you STUBBORNLY take up an "As If" faith, trust me when I tell you that even the slightest, weakest prayers you pray will cause some destruction upon the gates of hell. That is the POWER the Holy Spirit wants to give you, if only you will set your mind on Him.

I'll end here with Batterson's words:

"When you're in trouble, take heart: He has overcome the world. [John 16:33] When you're lonely, don't forget: He will never leave you nor forsake you. [Deuteronomy 31:6] When you feel like you've lost your way, remember: He orders your footsteps. [Proverbs 16:9]" (page 97)

You are more than a conqueror!

Prayer

Father God, thank You for the "As If" faith that You can give to us. Thank You that You have provided wisdom for us so that we can nurture it. I pray for anyone who reads these words, that they would find inspiration in them, and new resolve to become stronger and stronger in You through their own attitude and focus. I pray that they will be able to get their eyes off of the world and onto You. May this become a discipline for them, even when their feelings oppose it, or their circumstances fight against it. Bless them, Lord, with the "As If" faith that can make such a huge difference in Your Kingdom. May we all, as Your servants, be granted opportunities to snatch others from the fire. May we not shrink back from the tasks You have laid before us, but may we find in You Wisdom and Power. I ask all this in the beautiful and mighty name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen!"

"As If" Faith Part 1: Reflection and the Power of Living "As If"

We live for the applause of nail-scarred hands.
We long to hear, 'Well done, good and faithful servant.'"

If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God's What If Possibilities, page 99

I admit to you that this blog post comes from a very sensitive area of deep pain for me. For much of my life, I have felt that I was not good enough, not worthy to be called into ministry for the Lord.

As a teenager, I found myself intrigued by this idea of a call from God. I'd go to summer church camp every year and hear testimonies from my young peers about being called to be a pastor, being called into missions. I wanted that, but I also knew that it wasn't "in me," somehow. Later, as I attended a Christian liberal arts college, I'd see students of Biblical Studies who knew that they were pursuing a call of God, while I just floundered around, wondering what to do with the rest of my life. The pieces never did fit properly.

I wanted a calling.

It is not that I never sought God's will for my life. I did, and I did often. I just never seemed to hear from Him. To this day, I have a lot of questions about that, but as my life zig-zagged until I landed in my present circumstance, I grew convinced that the greatest thing I could do for my own peace and sanity would be to trust Him.

My favorite Christian band, Mercy Me, has a song on the radio right now called "Dear Younger Me." Indulge me as I quote the lyrics:

Dear younger me
Where do I start
If I could tell you everything that I have learned so far
Then you could be
One step ahead
Of all the painful memories still running thru my head
I wonder how much different things would be
Dear younger me,

Dear younger me
I cannot decide
Do I give some speech about how to get the most out of your life
Or do I go deep
And try to change
The choices that you’ll make cuz they’re choices that made me

I have often had the same thoughts as this songwriter...what course corrections might I have made when I was younger if I only knew then what I know now?

Who I am today is made up of what I was and did yesterday. Is that all a part of God's plan?

Perhaps these questions and observations simply serve as a distraction. Yet there is comfort and peace in knowing that regardless of the zigs and zags life takes—the moments of deep grief and ache, and the moments of success and triumph—God holds it all in the palm of His hand, and He uses every bit of it to shape us, to form us into a vessel for His purpose.

The one thing I would be inclined to tell my younger self, is that no matter what the circumstance, you have the power to choose to live "as if"… Living with an "as if" mentality is powerful. Batterson cites a few vital "as ifs":

“Pray as if everything depended on God. Work as if everything depended on you.” 

   – Saint Augustine

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as if nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is.” 

   – Albert Einstein

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” 

   – Mahatma Gandhi

“Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can be and should be and he will become as he can be and should be.” 

   – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

If my younger self had only understood the power of living life with this mentality, perhaps my faith would have grown stronger, quicker. Perhaps my prayer life would have been more grounded.

Perhaps...it may not be terribly productive to look back and allow condemnation to overtake one's self, but reflection and comparison of the past with the present can provide insight and help deepen wisdom. The Lord takes all things and works them together for our good (Romans 8:28).

I'm going to split this "As If Faith" segment into a few blog posts—I'm not sure how many. This portion of Batterson's book is powerful...as I just stated, living "as if" is itself quite powerful. It can be life-changing. I therefore want to really take some time with it. I hope you will stick with me as we explore the "as if" concept.

If I knew then what I know now
Condemnation would’ve had no power
My joy my pain would’ve never been my worth
If I knew then what I know now
Would’ve not been hard to figure out
What I would’ve changed if I had heard

Dear younger me
It’s not your fault
You were never meant to carry this beyond the cross
Dear younger me

You are holy
You are righteous
You are one of the redeemed
Set apart a brand new heart
You are free indeed

Every mountain every valley
Thru each heartache you will see
Every moment brings you closer
To who you were meant to be

Dear younger me, dear younger me

– Dear Younger Me, Mercy Me

Prayer

Father, I thank You that You do indeed hold every moment of our lives in the palm of Your hand. Thank You for the richness of this life lived following You. Thank You that I can cast every care upon You (1 Peter 5:7). Thank You that You collect every tear (Psalm 56:8) and every prayer (Revelation 5:8)...thank You that absolutely nothing of my life is wasted. What comfort, what peace, and what joy I take in this knowledge.

Lord, I lift up anyone who reads these words in this blog post. I pray for them, that if they, too, come to this subject from a place of deep pain, that You would bless them with the assurance of Your love and Your ability to use absolutely every circumstance, every moment from their past, every event of their present, to build a terrific purpose for their lives, to further Your kingdom, to see souls saved and people snatched from the fire (Jude 1:23). This is the greatest prayer that we have, that You would use us to usher people into Your kingdom, rescuing them from the coming wrath and an eternity without You.

I worship You, my Father, for You are holy, You are righteous, You are loving. You never, ever give up on us. You delight in us. Nothing in your economy is ever, ever wasted. You make our feet like the feet of a deer on high places. We are steadied in You. We are joyful in You. (Habakkuk 3:19)

Go before us in all our circumstances, making us more like You every day. Encourage the reader of these words. May these words be a fragrant offering to You, Lord. If there is any person who reads these words that does not know You and has not placed their faith and trust in you, I pray that they will recognize their need of You, and that they will come to you, fully submitting their life to You. I ask all these things in the precious name of Jesus, Amen.

"If Only" Regrets Part 2: Condemnation vs. Conviction, and Developing New Habits (chapters 1-7)

Note to anyone who is following the alignment series with First Assembly of God—I am a little behind the church's schedule in this study. I'm chalking that up to a busy life with two little girls! Momma doesn't always get to write and present in a timely way. Also, I felt that some of these concepts could be more deeply explored in various ways on the blog, as we expand upon the themes taught by the pastoral staff at First Assembly.

In the book If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God's What If Possibilities, all of the concepts author Mark Batterson focuses on are centered around Romans 8, what theologian and pastor John Piper calls "the Great 8." This is because, as Batterson and Piper put it, Romans 8 is "the greatest chapter in the Bible." (page 15)

When I was in my early 20s, I "almost-memorized" a big chunk of Romans 8. I was working with a church youth group and decided to present a dramatic reading of a few sections of the Bible, pieced together. I think a lot of things I did in those days were pretty darn dramatic, and not in a good way! This little piece of drama, however, was one of the best things I think I could have done for myself. I spent a lot of time with my typed-up script becoming as familiar with it as possible. In readings like this, the presenter holds the script as they read, but generally, most of the content really is committed to memory. In spite of what might have been grandiose intentions on my part, the fact is, large chunks of Romans 8 became written on my heart. (Isn't it good to know that God can take the weirdest things we do and work them for our good?)

The Great 8, therefore, has a special place in my heart.

Here is where Batterson devotes a lot of attention, when he talks about "if only" regrets:

Romans 8:1 (NIV)
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Batterson very rightly calls this a life-changing statement. He defines for his readers what condemnation is, versus conviction:

• Condemnation is guilt over sin you have already confessed to the Lord.
• Conviction is healthy "pressure" from the Holy Spirit regarding your unconfessed sin.

In my last blog post, I talked about how important it is for us to be fully surrendered to God, that falling on your face before Him is one the greatest things you can do for yourself. At the end of your life, you will be able to say that you have NO REGRETS about complete and total surrender to the Lord.

God can be completely trusted with everything in your life. When you let go of your doubts and fears about what He wants for you, what His purpose is for your life, then you can see His purpose in your life realized!

My friend, that is the greatest hope I have for my life. I do not want to lie on my deathbed wishing that I had surrendered to Him, knowing that if only I had done that, I could have had that purpose fulfilled.

The enemy wants to distract you from that. He wants to do everything in his power to ensure that you are not fully surrendered to God. The act of surrendering requires focus, and he wants to get your focus off God and onto something else...

...like...the past you have already repented of?

Exactly.

Condemnation, Your Heart, and Developing New Habits

If you find your past sins rising up in your memory, and painful pressure hitting you about them, and then you find that terrible feeling growing...then THAT is the enemy of your soul, testing the waters, looking for a way to paralyze you, to keep you from the purpose God has for you.

Now, your own heart, apart from the enemy, plays a part in this, of course. Your own heart is usually the culprit initiating the condemnation. The Bible says:

Jeremiah 17:9 (NIV)
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

Even without the enemy lobbing his condemnation bombs at us, really, we do pretty well all by ourselves. We as humans with our fallen hearts and sinful natures have a very nice way of condemning ourselves. But that enemy is smart. That condemnation from my own heart creates a little opening, a little stone out of place in the wall. The enemy is always testing the wall, looking for the holes, the cracks, anything where he can get his claws in and start tearing down the defenses.
And once he gets in, he's going to take that thing your heart started and make it grow. The condemnation can get overwhelming and become paralyzing...

If you allow it.

You don't have to allow it.

If you have placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and have received the forgiveness of sin that He offers, then YOU are now royalty. You are a child of the King. You have special privileges and rights as His child. If you fall under attack, you can call upon the name of Jesus and He will provide everything you need to fend off the attack.

Don't let the enemy gain a foothold in your life through condemnation of things from your past. Learn to recognize that random thought that crosses your mind, and IMMEDIATELY take it to Jesus. You may find that you have a lot of battling to do with your own heart, if time and time again that condemnation comes up. You, however, can make it a habit to recognize and push back.

The tendency to allow your heart to condemn you can itself become a bad habit, if you allow it. To put a stop to it, you must develop some better habits. Where do those better habits come from? The Lord has given us a good place to look for them:

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Let's recap those new habits:

• Rejoice always.
• Pray continually.
• Give thanks in all circumstances.

I used to find this daunting: "Pray continually." How in the world does that happen? I heard a story once about Corrie Ten Boom. (If you do not know who she is, please Google her!) She had learned to incorporate into her life the habit of talking to Jesus all the time, just as she would talk to anyone else around her. While there are definitely times when you want to be heads-down in your prayer closet, the fact is, you cannot always be in that "prayer closet posture."

But the Lord is always with you. (Hebrews 13:5) You can make a habit out of talking to Him as you go about your day. That is continual prayer.

Likewise, you can practice rejoicing throughout your day. Thanking God throughout your day. No matter what circumstance you are in, discipline yourself to find the things to be thankful for and to rejoice about. If you fill your mind with these good habits, there won't be any room for your heart to condemn you. And if there is no room for your heart to condemn you, then that will be one less crack in the wall for the enemy to squeeze through.

Conviction

We stated earlier that conviction is healthy "pressure" from the Holy Spirit regarding your unconfessed sin. Batterson describes the Holy Spirit's voice as comforting or guiding, but also convicting. Part of the Holy Spirit's work in your life is to help make you more like the Lord. Did you know you are always under construction? And the Lord is your contractor!

Philippians 1:6 (NIV)
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Ruth Bell Graham, the wife of Billy Graham, passed away in 2007. Her headstone reads: "End of construction—Thank you for your patience." As long as we are alive here on earth, the Holy Spirit will never stop working on us, perfecting us, making us more ready, more fit, for the purpose He has for us. We definitely have an earthly purpose in the here and now, but we also have an eternal purpose after our time here on earth is over. We will reign with him. He will have more and more for us to do, even after this life is over. You are being prepared on so many levels!

Because of this, when you have unconfessed sin in your life, the Holy Spirit will convict you of it. It's the Lord's way of continually working on you.

When you detect this conviction, it is very important for you to heed it and pray. Confess that sin to God and ask Him for His help with overcoming it.

Earlier we talked about replacing bad habits with good ones. We also talked about the importance of complete submission to the Lord. Here is why it is so important for us to develop the good habits and completely submit to God:

• If we do not, if we stubbornly refuse to heed the conviction of the Holy Spirit, that can become a bad habit.
• If we allow that to become a habit, something we just get used to doing over and over, the Bible says that we will become deaf to the voice of the Holy Spirit—our hearts will harden.
• If we become deaf to the voice of the Holy Spirit and develop a hard heart, His work in us cannot continue.

That leaves more gaps in the wall, and provides the enemy with a lot more opportunities.

I was going to make sure to quote scripture here about how the hardness of heart happens and the consequences of it, but when I researched to find a single scripture to present here, I was overwhelmed by the number of times the Lord speaks about this in His Word, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament! Clearly, if we want to grow in the Lord, if we want to see His purpose for our lives fulfilled, we MUST NOT be hard-hearted. We must learn to submit to the voice of the Holy Spirit when He convicts us, because He is trying to perfect us. The choice to do so is ours.

A Few Final Notes

There is so much to say about the work of the Lord in us! I cannot possibly blog every piece of it. But I do want to leave you with a few things you can think about—in the video that goes with this section on "if only" regrets, Batterson has a few excellent sound bites for us:

• Tune in to the convicting voice of the Holy Spirit. But tune out the condemning voice of the enemy. Turn the dial to Romans 8:1 and stay tuned.
• Each time the enemy reminds you of your past, remind him of his future! (Revelation 20:10)
• Christ is no longer nailed to the cross, but your sin is! See 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV): "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
• Half the gospel is the forgiveness of Christ. The other half is that the righteousness of Christ is given to us. So when the Father looks at us, He sees only the righteousness of His Son! THAT is why there is no condemnation coming to us from God!

He loves you! He has the very best in store for you!

In the next post, we will continue to look at Batterson's book and videos and talk about "as if" faith. I am excited about this. I love watching God grow my faith!

Prayer

Jesus, learning more and more about you is such an enriching, exciting experience! I pray for anyone who is reading this blog and following along with this teaching—I pray that the truth of Your Word would sink down deep into them. Make them overcomers, Lord. Make them strong and mighty in you. Grow them in Your Wisdom. May they seek you for the power You want to give them as they go after a life submitted to You. If anyone is reading this and does not yet believe in You, Lord, then I pray that they would accept You as their Lord and Savior. May they believe in You. May they confess their sinfulness before you and accept the forgiveness you freely offer them. I ask all this is the incredible name of Jesus—Amen!

"If Only" Regrets Part 1: Avoid the "If Only" Regrets – Seek God's Purpose (chapters 1-7)

For our study from the book If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God's What If Possibilities, I am writing the material in these blog posts based on the content both in that book and in the accompanying study videos author Mark Batterson supplies on Right Now Media.

About Regrets

There are two kinds of regrets: regret for the bad things you have done, and regret for the things that you did not do—missed opportunities.

The longest-lasting regrets people have are more often the things they didn't do. In the shorter term, yes, we all have regrets about bad actions we have taken, but as the years go on, we feel more deeply the things we really wish we had done.

I tackled one of those things for myself this year. For various reasons, I have not been very happy with myself in my inability to love others the way I think I should. I am definitely a selfish creature by nature! Some time ago, I began to wonder what life would "look like" if I were somehow able to love others a little better.

I am a mom to a couple very active, enthusiastic little girls, a wife to a brilliant, good-hearted man who devotes his heart, time, and energy to many worthy endeavors, and a full-time employee in a demanding corporate work environment. Taking time to love others has been a huge challenge. Time is limited...what am I do? How might I add "love others" on top of all this?

In the If book, in a later chapter, Batterson will encourage his readers to select a word for the year—the idea is to create for yourself a focus, an ideal you can concentrate on for the year. This is a small action that can provide you with something to strive for, something to live up to. I was happy to read his "take" on it, because early this year, for the first time, I had done that. When January 2017 rolled around, I had pulled out my journal and prayed, then I wrote down the word "encourager."

You see, I might be hard-pressed to take lots of time to perform loving actions for a lot of people, but I knew with a little effort on my part, I could shift my interactions with anyone I would come in contact with and be very deliberate in offering encouraging words to them, rather than giving them heaping helpings of pain.

I have heard it said that your feelings can follow your actions. I wondered, if I made the effort to be encouraging, maybe I would find that I was actually starting to feel better about people? Maybe I would actually feel more loving towards them? I have also heard it said that praying for a person does the same thing...first you pray for the person, then you wind up feeling better about them.

Well, it's mid-October. I had prayed that God would make me an encourager this year. And to date, He has honored that! I haven’t been perfect. I definitely have had my selfish, angry, petty moments. But I have observed the Holy Spirit moving in me, in response to that prayer. If I have been able to love on people, to encourage them, it is because of His power at work in me.

I committed this aspect of my life to Him as a discipline, then I took a few hard steps to look at how I interact with others. The Holy Spirit has helped me form more positive thought patterns in regards to other people, to see the good in them, and to choose to enhance that goodness in them by verbally speaking it aloud to them. The fight against my own selfishness will go on, for sure, but if I stay the course and do not revert, this is one potential end-of-life regret that I can kiss goodbye!

Do you see how when we talk about the "if onlys," we are not necessarily talking about big, huge actions, like quitting your job or going back to school? Sometimes, the actions can be internal, more subtle. For example, maybe you start a new discipline—every morning, as you wake up, you make God the first person you say hello to. What would that do to your day? To your week? To your year? Would that make you draw closer to Him? Would that translate into an end-of-life observation, that you drew closer and closer to God every day? You, too, could then kiss an "if only" regret goodbye!

Sins of Commission vs. Sins of Omission

Batterson observes that so much of what we as a body of believers focus on are sins of commission—don't do this, don't do that. Huge portions of the Bible describe these sins and help us understand that these are things that harm our spirits and pull us away from God, who is Holy. Sins of commission hurt us, hurt God, and hurt others. We definitely regret what we've done when we sin like this.

But what about sins of omission? That is, what about the things we are called by God to do, but we deliberately do not do them?

This is a scary one for me to talk about. It's the idea that you can move along in life doing nothing wrong, but still do nothing right. These are the things that I'll lie on my deathbed and feel keenly as deep regrets...unless I do something about them.

As you and I grow in our walk with Jesus, we must be willing to fall on our faces before Him and ask Him to fulfill His purpose for us.

When we are thrown into a horrible pit of grief and pain—perhaps because of a debilitating illness, the loss of someone we love, or an act of betrayal committed against us—during those times of deepest distress, we likewise must deny ourselves and just fall on our faces before Him. We must place our lives in His hands as an act of surrender and submission.

My friend, I want you to experience His heart in this...if there is anything you are going through, you must hang on to the knowledge that God doesn't abandon you in the middle of it. Your sin of omission during the worst times of your life will be not clinging to him. It will be not believing that He loves you.

If you are going through something horrible like that...if you are in a pit, fight the urge to blame God, and instead cling to Him. Your action of deliberately grabbing ahold of God in these terrible times will make all the difference in how you recover and what your life will "look like" when you emerge from the pit.

But what about when times are good? When you are just going along, enjoying life, and, as I stated earlier, not doing anything wrong?

You still must fall down before Him in His sovereignty, asking Him, petitioning Him to reveal His purpose in your life. He has a purpose for you. He has good things He wants you to do. You can just go along and live your life and never concern yourself with any deeper purpose the Lord may have, but at the end of your life, you may look upon your inaction to seek Him as a deep regret.

Do you want to kiss that "if only" regret goodbye? I keep repeating this, but I'll say it again...

Fall on your face before Him. Ask Him to reveal His purpose to you. Draw as close to Him as you possibly can...do not hold Him at arm's length! That would be an "if only" regret, your sin of omission.

Once you have surrendered to Him, then if He asks you to do something, do it.

OK, I said this one was scary for me to talk about, because I say all this, and I have no idea what He might call me to tomorrow. I sometimes feel like I have to force myself to trust Him. What if He takes my fondest dreams away from me and instead wants me to do something painful or hard? What if He wants me to go through something difficult in order to reveal a greater purpose for me?

How am I supposed to trust in Him? How can I achieve that kind of rock-solid faith? I don't want to go through life waiting for the other shoe to drop!

This is why we established our premises at the start of this study. God is all-knowing. God is love. The Bible is true. The Bible says that Jesus is our Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). Jesus gives us perfect peace, no matter what is going on. We take every fear to Him. Let me show you what the Bible says:

Isaiah 26:2 (NIV)
You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.

2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

The Holy Spirit within us gives us peace and fills us with His power to take captive our fear and replace it with our faith. It is through a close walk with Jesus and asking the Holy Spirit to give us His power that we become people of solid faith.

This....this!!!! This is what is going to head off any "if only" regrets. This is what is going to enable us to go where the Lord calls us, and do what the Lord calls us to do. Get ahold of this, saints!

There's a story in the Old Testament that I think of sometimes when I feel like I need to get ahold of some aspect of God, some principle of life...

In Genesis 32:22-32 there's this very weird story about Jacob. Jacob was not necessarily a super-righteous guy. He had done things in his past that weren’t so great, like conspiring with his mother to deceive his father and receive the blessing that belonged to his brother Esau. Esau had been so angry that he had planned to kill him, but Jacob had run away and stayed away for years with his father-in-law Laban. A whole lot of stuff went on during those years (Genesis 25-35 tells the full story of Jacob), and there came a time when Jacob took all of his family members and possessions, his flocks, his servants—everything—and left Laban. Laban was not happy about that at all, so Jacob had reason to be worried about Laban coming after him now, too.

Now Jacob was taking the whole kit-n-caboodle and was getting ready to go back and see Esau, and he was a little concerned about how that was going to go, too. At this point, we can see that Jacob is probably one exhausted individual. Jacob was an aggressive character whose name essentially meant "deceiver." His dealings with his family hadn't always been on the up-and-up, and now he was probably pretty darn stressed about what was both before him and behind him.

Jacob sent everyone on ahead of him and was spending the night alone, when the Bible says, "a man" wrestled with him throughout the night:

When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 

Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." 

But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." 

The man asked him, “What is your name?” 

“Jacob,” he answered. 

Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” 

Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” 

But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. 

So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

Jacob wrestled with God! Tough, aggressive Jacob refused to let go until he got a blessing. And God gave it to him.

Our God is all-powerful, so why does it say that "the man" could not overpower Jacob? I think God was testing Jacob's mettle. It sounds to me like God purposely put a physical limitation on Himself so that He could verify how stalwart this character Jacob really was. Not only that, but maybe God knew that Jacob needed to see it in himself that night. Jacob must have picked up on this, because he stubbornly refused to let go until he received a blessing. It was during this wrestling match with God that the Lord:

1. Tested Jacob.
2. Injured him.
3. Blessed him with a new name, and thus, a new purpose.

Do we trust God enough to get stubborn with Him about his purpose for us? Even if it means that we might need to suffer in the process? Jesus wants us to be stubborn about seeking him. He says to us:

Matthew 7:7 (NIV)
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Jesus even told a parable about the stubborn person who, in the middle of the night, refused to stop knocking on his friend's door until the man got up and gave him what he asked for:

Luke 11:8 (ESV)
I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs.

Friends, this can be scary and hard...we have to dig in, grab ahold of God, and show our mettle. Don't let go of Him until He reveals your purpose. He develops us in this way. Yes, we might suffer in the process—maybe worse than a hip out of joint—but we must trust Him enough to continue to hang on tight, knowing that the blessing of His purpose is coming.

Remember what Jesus said:

Matthew 7:9-11 (NIV)
Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

God will always give us the very best. If we ask Him to reveal His purpose for us and bless us in it, then we can totally trust how He goes about doing it. He loves us deeply and has in store for us the very best He can offer. Actively petition Him for it, and as we have said previously, we can kiss that "if only" regret goodbye!

In the next post, we will talk more about "if only" regrets and more about the good things God has for us!

Prayer

Dear Lord, I continue to lift up to you the readers of this post. I pray that they would be encouraged by it, and that they would eagerly desire to seek Your purpose for their lives. May Your Word penetrate their hearts. I pray that they will draw ever closer to You and be blessed by Your promises and Your Word. Go before them, Father, and do great and mighty works in them. May they seek Your wisdom and Your power for every circumstance they face. I ask this in the mighty name of Jesus, Amen!"

"If" Introduction

This is the text from the introduction to our study based on the book If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God's What If Possibilities.

If

It’s a tiny two letter word, but it’s pregnant with possibilities.

There are 1,748 ifs in the Bible. Most of those ifs function as conditional conjunctions on the front end of God’s promises. If we meet the condition, God delivers on the promise!

So all that stands between your current circumstances and your wildest dreams rests on little if.

One little if can change everything.

One little if can change anything.

We are going to study four ifs:

• If only regrets
• As if faith
• What if dreams
• No ifs, ands, or buts about it courage

Prayer

Lord, thank you so much for establishing a purpose for each of us. I pray for anyone who reads this blog or participates in this discussion. My greatest hope for them is that they will grasp a sense of purpose and petition You for it eagerly. May Your purposes for them be fulfilled, and may they grow in You! May the pursuit of Your purpose for their lives be their highest aspiration. May they develop the habit of seeking You daily for it. Bless them, oh, Lord. Bless them mightily and greatly. Protect them from the tactics of the enemy. Grow them in wisdom and in power. I ask this in the awesome name of Jesus! Amen!

Study Premises Part 2: Aspects of the Nature of God

Now that we have described the premises for how we approach Scripture, let's talk about some aspects of the nature of God. This will help us understand how we must regard Him and get to know Him. Understanding the nature of God helps us understand a lot of the "whys" of our Christian living.

Not only will this help us understand, but this apostate culture we live in is full of people who simply will not take the time to really consider Who God is. When we are confronted by others regarding what we believe and why we believe it, having a basic understanding of God's nature helps provide us with the answers we need.

Please note that the aspects of God highlighted in this post do not constitute an exhaustive list. Many theologians have written extensively about the nature of God...this post would go on for a long, long time if I attempted to talk about every aspect of God's nature!

God is...

Holy

"Holy" means "set apart" or "separate." God is separate from evil, separate from sin. We are born with a sinful nature, and that sin within us is therefore what keeps us separate from God. But Jesus died to atone for our sin. That atonement has been made and is a free gift to us. If we accept it, then we can be with God because He no longer finds sin within us.

There is no evil in God whatsoever—he is completely pure. He wants us to be as much like Him as possible, which is why the Bible says "be holy, because I am holy."

Leviticus 11:44, 45 (NIV)
"I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy... I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy."

If you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ, then you have accepted His gift of forgiveness and salvation. We who have been forgiven must not continue to sin. There is somewhat of a paradox here, because we still have that sinful nature, and as fallible human beings, we do continue to sin. Yet, the Holy Spirit within us enables us to avoid sinning, if we continue to ask for His power to be at work in us. If we stay in that close fellowship with Him, then our propensity to sin can diminish, even as our walk with Him grows.

Thus, we strive to be holy—set apart—but do not always succeed. Thank the Lord that He is gracious and forgiving. Our sins are already covered!

These are my own thoughts on this matter based upon the studying I have done over the years. I think Scripture supports this, but it is a tough concept. Paul struggled with his own sin nature and expressed his frustration in Romans 7. He expressed it as an illustration to his audience...the grace of God is absolutely necessary for us as we battle our sin nature.

Part of knowing how to be "set apart" is to understand what sin is. God's got it covered, though. The Bible contains everything we need to help us understand what sin is—the Law of God defines sin. The Bible also describes for us how to avoid sinning. So as God has commanded us to be holy, He has provided for us everything we need to accomplish it.

Finally, I wanted to share with you a sample of some of my favorite passages about the holiness of God. They are found in the book of Revelation, where we observe the inhabitants of heaven praising God and calling him holy:

Revelation 4:8 (NIV)
"...Day and night they never stop saying: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.”

It's an amazing picture, and it demonstrates for us how important this aspect of God is. His holiness is so important that he receives never-ceasing worship for it.

Incredible stuff.

Absolutely Sovereign

God reigns over the universe. No one judges Him. He has absolute authority.

The human experience may make this seem problematic. Human beings who are given absolute authority over a nation are often corrupt and evil, making lives miserable for those under them. But that is not who God is. Because of God's holiness, because there is not even a trace of evil in Him, He can be fully trusted as our sovereign.

And since He is our sovereign, we must live in full submission to Him, without rebellion. It is a privilege to be fully submissive to God, because He reigns righteously and justly and always has our best interests at heart. The very best thing we can do for ourselves and the world around us is to be fully humbled and submissive to God.

Please note that if you are unwilling to regard God in this way, then really, any discussion we might have about God and His will for your life is moot. The sin nature in human beings makes them prone to rebellion, and they tend to put themselves on the throne, rather than God. But today, right now, in this life, God is using your own tendencies to sin to train you for your future destiny as the Bride of Christ! There are several places in the Bible that state we will reign with Him...consider this life's trials and temptations to be your training ground for that future. (For more on this topic, I highly recommend the book Destined for the Throne by Paul E. Billheimer.)

Just

God is perfectly just. His judgments are completely right.

As I described above, because of His holiness, He cannot tolerate evil. In fact, there is not a trace of evil in Him. His nature will not allow sin to go on unatoned for. Therefore, if a person rejects Jesus and His gift of forgiveness, then the sin in that person's life goes unforgiven, unpaid for.

That means that the sinner who has rejected Christ will have to pay for their own sin. The Law of God is absolute in this regard. Evil will not be allowed to continue. It must be eradicated.

The absolute rightness of God's judgments means that at some point, the wrath of God will be justly applied. Those who have accepted the gift of forgiveness that Jesus has supplied do not need to fear the wrath of God—it does not apply to them:

1 Thessalonians 5:9 (NKJV)
For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Those who reject Christ are probably blissfully unaware that wrath awaits them. This saddens me. I know it saddens God, who loves them. God doesn't want anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9). Jude urged believers to "save others by snatching them from the fire." (Jude 1:23, NIV)

Like so many other aspects of the nature of God, humans struggle with this. It seems appalling that such wrath should fall upon anyone. But then we consider people who have done truly horrible things, and we suddenly feel that THOSE people should indeed suffer wrath (think Hitler). We are fickle in our judgments, perhaps because we do not fully understand the concepts of God's Law. God tells us to trust Him, to trust in His righteousness, His holiness, and His perfection.

This is why He wants us to leave final justice up to Him. We as humans do the best we can, but no system of human justice is perfect. Our all-knowing God (another aspect of His nature) sees and understands everything, and therefore has the capability to be perfectly just in all His actions, and in His wrath.

All-Powerful (Omnipotent)

There is nothing God cannot do. My favorite Scripture about the all-powerful God is the second half of Romans 4:17 (NIV):

...the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.

That Scripture has given me so much HOPE. When I have been faced with circumstances that seem simply impossible to overcome, I have gone back to this passage. It's helped remind me that I have direct access to THE all-powerful God, and I can ask Him for anything! He tells us that as long as we are operating within the confines of His will, we can rest assured that He hears us and will answer.
Let me just tell you...I have watched Him do things that men have deemed "impossible." I am so thankful that He is all-powerful!

Much like the concept of God's absolute sovereignty, the fact that He is all-powerful causes problems to those who look at God as having a nature similar to the fallible nature of humans. They want to impose upon Him the actions they feel He SHOULD take because, after all, He can do anything. But yet, He doesn't always act as humans feel He should.

It is at this point that many, many people reject His existence utterly, because it doesn't fit the schema in their way of thinking: "If there were an all-powerful God, surely he would [insert opinion here]!"

Fortunately, God is also patient! See the book of Job—this kind of thinking might have gotten poor Job into even deeper trouble than the mess his life was in, but the Lord instead corrected him. Job's attitude was perhaps understandable, given the circumstances, but when the Lord spoke to him, ultimately, Job fell on his face before God and repented. Job indeed recognized God's all-powerful nature.

The story of Job allows us to hear God expressing His own nature to us and how we must relate to Him. To take any other stance is downright unbiblical.

One final thought on the omnipotence of God that I touched on in my last post about the Bible...an all-powerful God is fully capable of ensuring that His Word is passed to us without error. This is where a lot of people trip up when they affirm that God is all-powerful, but that the Bible is full of errors and therefore is not our final authority. If God is indeed all-powerful, and if He wants us to have His Word as the final authority on all matters, then nothing could ever stop Him from making sure that it has been passed on to us intact throughout the centuries.

All-Knowing (Omniscient)

The Psalmist praised God for the fact that He is all-knowing:

Psalm 139:1-4 (NIV)
You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.

I take tremendous comfort in the fact that God is all-knowing. It means that He knows me better than I know myself. It means that He thoroughly knows everything that is going on with me, and therefore I can pray rather simply when I need to ask Him for something—I do not need to explain myself to Him. He welcomes us talking to Him about anything that's going on in our lives, of course! But we don't need to explain things to Him. We can rest in this knowledge, that because He already knows what's going on, He already knows the best situation or solution for us. We can simply ask Him to do it.

It also comforting that God knows not only the past, but the future, as well. World events might be frightening to us, but when we understand that our all-knowing Father sees it all, we can trust that He has us in the palm of His hand.

There is so much more we could say on this subject, but there are just a couple more points I'd like to make...

Regarding our personal lives...Why do we fool ourselves into thinking we can sneak anything by Him?

Regarding Biblical prophecy and some of the discussions we will have on it in later sessions...Our all-knowing God has provided prophetic proclamations in the Bible to help us understand the things that are to come. The Bible is about 27% prophecy. Studying prophecy in the Bible helps us get to know God better and helps us make sense of what we see happening in the world around us.

Again, I cannot tell you how comforting this aspect of God is to me! The God who KNOWS me so well, loves me. We want desperately to be known...guess what? We already have that in God!

Immutable (Unchanging)

God does not change. The Bible says:

Hebrews 13:8 (NIV)
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Malachi 3:6 (NIV)
"I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed."

James 1:17 (NIV)
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

This means that we can absolutely count on Him. If His nature is always the same, then anything we find in the Bible about Him and about His promises is still true today.

Ever-Present (Omnipresent), Eternal, Transcendent...etc.

There is a whole lot more to say about the attributes of God. None of what I have presented here is complete. In this section, I have clustered together a few aspects of God because we find them summed up in the incredible way God described Himself to Moses in Exodus 3: "I Am."

He is the great I Am. He has always been and always will be. He is always present, everywhere, all at once. He is not confined by anything, time nor space.

And He is transcendent—while a lot of the attributes of God are knowable, there is MUCH about him that is unknowable. He transcends all boundaries we as humans might want to put upon Him, simply because WE are bound to them, and we do not know any other way.

God tells us that His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8). We may not understand them, but He wants us to rest in Him, to trust in Him: "Be still and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10, NIV)

Essentially, God is telling us as much about Him as we need to know, and for the rest, He is telling us to trust Him. The Bible tells us that He is light and in Him there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). It tells us that He is good (Psalm 34:8). It tells us that He is love (1 John 4:8).

Knowing all of this about Him, we can accept the aspects of Him that are mystery to us, because we know that we can trust Him fully.

Final Thoughts

You can completely trust God. You can completely rely on His Word. He is Your Creator. He knows you thoroughly. He loves you completely. No human can live up to that...there is no substitute for God in your life. Full submission and worship is the natural outcome of knowing God, so do everything you can to get into His Word, get into prayer, and get to KNOW Him!

Prayer

Father God, you are amazing. I worship you for Who You are. I pray for all who read this, that You would make Yourself very real to them. Speak to their hearts and minds. If they have not accepted the free gift of salvation Jesus offers them, may they do so. May they truly come to know You and live the life You want for them. I ask this in the precious name of Jesus. Amen!