Into the Fire

Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend.

There are times in life that we find ourselves captive to our circumstances. We can see the peril ahead of us, but deliverance doesn’t come. Maybe you’ve been there, praying for a way out, but instead you find yourself headed straight towards the thing that is going to ruin your life.

The Biblical account of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego fits this profile:

Daniel 3:19-27 (NASB)
19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with wrath, and his facial expression was altered toward Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. He answered by giving orders to heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated.
20 And he commanded certain valiant warriors who were in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, in order to cast them into the furnace of blazing fire.
21 Then these men were tied up in their trousers, their coats, their caps and their other clothes, and were cast into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire.
22 For this reason, because the king’s command was urgent and the furnace had been made extremely hot, the flame of the fire slew those men who carried up Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego.
23 But these three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, fell into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire still tied up.
24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astounded and stood up in haste; he responded and said to his high officials, “Was it not three men we cast bound into the midst of the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “Certainly, O king.”
25 He answered and said, “Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!”
26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the furnace of blazing fire; he responded and said, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, come out, you servants of the Most High God, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego came out of the midst of the fire.
27 And the satraps, the prefects, the governors and the king’s high officials gathered around and saw in regard to these men that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men nor was the hair of their head singed, nor were their trousers damaged, nor had the smell of fire even come upon them.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego knew that staying faithful meant they would have to refuse the King Nebuchadnezzar’s command to worship an idol. They also knew the consequence of refusing this command could be death.

Once these three men made their choice to stand firm, they found themselves with no options but to follow the course of that decision. They were bound up and thrown into a blazing furnace…a punishment that surely meant the end of their lives. Something miraculous happened at that furnace. Unlike their captors, they survived the heat of the furnace and once inside were no longer bound, but free to move around. It was also in the midst of these flames that they found their deliverer. He met them at their point of need and brought them through what seemed liked certain destruction. God even went a step further…no singed hair, no charred clothing and not even the smell of smoke.

There are times that God chooses not deliver us before the uncomfortable situations of life, but instead He allows us to enter into the flames of refinement. It is in those flames that we find ourselves set free and accompanied by the very presence of God Himself.

Today you may be wondering why God isn’t removing you from your circumstances. I want to encourage you to begin looking around in those circumstances for the presence of God. Once you see Him, you will experience freedom in the flames and you will come out on the other side without a hint of char or smoke.

Until next Monday, may God’s richest blessings be yours this week.

Carl

At the end of belief

Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend.

As we go through life, we at times encounter places where our faith is stretched beyond its limits. These are the crossroads and crisis times where our trust in God’s ability to deliver us seems to be less than sufficient. These are the hours of desperation in which a person gropes for even the dimmest ray of hope to enter the picture.

Scripture gives us a picture of a father who was at this point. Mark chapter 9 describes the account of a boy who was possessed by a demon. The demon rendered the boy unable to speak and would often seek to drown or burn the child. The father of this boy saw a glimmer of hope when he encountered Jesus’ disciples, but he found only disappointment in their ability to deliver his son.

During this frustrating and desperate hour Jesus appears and the boy’s father makes a desperate plea for the sake of the boy. The father calls upon the compassion of Jesus, but at the same time reveals his uncertainty of there being any resolution. Take note of this father’s plea. It is both a heart cry that is transparent and the petition of a man who has not other answers:

Mark 9:23-24 (NASB)
23 And Jesus said to him, “‘If You can!’ All things are possible to him who believes.”
24 Immediately the boy’s father cried out and began saying, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”

Today you may find yourself in a place where your faith is being stretched thin. The solutions you have pursued to date have been only dead ends. You would trade the world for a change in circumstance, but you are not sure how much longer you can hold on. If this describes your situation, I encourage you to make this father’s cry your own: “Jesus, I believe you can deliver me, but help me in my unbelief!”

I leave you with one of my favorite promises of scripture:

Psalm 34:17-19
17 The righteous cry and the LORD hears, And delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted, And saves those who are crushed in spirit.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous; But the LORD delivers him out of them all.

Until next Monday, may God’s richest blessings be yours this week.

Carl

Lonely Times

Good morning! I hope you had a tremendous weekend.

Have you ever spent an extended period of time alone? Most of us are surrounded by the touch and input of others. We can hardly imagine a day without the cell phone, television or conversations with others. I have taken a few extended times in silence and solitude, but never more than a few days, and those were of my choosing.

The times of silence and solitude that push you to the limits are the ones you don’t choose. These are the times when your support system falls apart; the times when no one needs your services; the times quite frankly when you are out of sight and therefore also out of mind. It is during these times that we find out what we are truly made of. We discover whether our faith has foundation and stability.

Some of the darkest hours of life come when the resumes go unnoticed, the social invitations stop coming, those who once journeyed with you are no longer present and the circumstances remain unchanging even after continual fervent prayer. It is in these dark hours that voices declare that hope is lost and shout at you to quit, give up or move on.

The Bible reveals that these dark times are not unique to us. Take note of Joseph’s life:

Genesis 40:23 (NASB)
Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

Joseph had been sold out by his brothers, sent to a foreign land as a slave, raised to a place of prominence in his master’s home only to be falsely accused of a crime he didn’t commit. Joseph’s life of favor has now been replaced by a life of confinement and solitude. His only hope was a flimsy promise from the king’s cupbearer that he would remember Joseph once he was set free, a promise that went unfulfilled for another two years.

We don’t know Joseph’s private thoughts during that time, but we can only assume they were filled with doubts, despair and a questioning of God’s love. What Joseph didn’t see was the larger plan. He needed to be in prison to meet the chief cupbearer, who would ultimately bring him before Pharaoh. It was his interaction with Pharaoh that would bring him into a place of prominence making famine provisions that would ultimately save his people. A difficult path indeed, but each step was necessary to bring forth the carefully orchestrated plan of God.

Today you may find yourself in a lonely place; a place that in many ways seems desolate and nearly abandoned. You may be questioning why God has allowed you to be cut off and wondering what heinous sin you’ve committed to deserve such a punishment? This is the place where the foundation of your faith will be tested to its limits as you trust in things which at this moment are unknown and unseen. It is upon this foundation of endurance and faith that God will display the beauty of His workmanship in your life.

If you find yourself in a place of isolation this week, I encourage you to spend a few moments thanking God for seeing the bigger picture. Acknowledge that He sees the things that you don’t and as best you know how articulate your trust in His greater plan.

Until next Monday, may God’s richest blessings be yours this week.

Carl

Getting By with a Little Help from My Friends

Good morning! I hope your weekend was tremendous and that you are hitting the ground running.

Over the past several days, my family and I have been in the process of moving from one home to another. Each day last week, I moved a load of boxes from one location to the other. On Thursday I spent the day steam cleaning the carpets in the new house. On Friday, I finished steam cleaning and moved the boxes that were already in the new home from the tiled floors to their respective carpeted locations. Saturday was the major moved of the larger household items, the assembling of beds, hanging of curtains, etc… Sunday was more unpacking and shuffling of furniture.

These things are tiring for even the most energetic person, but for me I face the additional challenge of having an arthritic compression fracture midway down my back. As the day goes by the muscles in my back begin to lock up to the point that I can hardly move or stand up straight. For me to successfully accomplish a major feat such as a household move requires help from my friends.

As I was considering what to write this morning, the following example of scripture was brought to mind:

Exodus 17:11-12 (NASB)
11 So it came about when Moses held his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed.
12 But Moses’ hands were heavy. Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set.

The Amalekites had come to make war with the people of Israel. Whether the people of Israel were to be victorious rested in Moses’ ability to keep his hand held up with the staff of God in it. Naturally, over time Moses strength began to fade and his arms began to drop from weariness. Unfortunately these drops of the arm led to a surge from the Amalekites. The only way for Israel to be assured a military victory was for Moses’ hand to stay airborne. It was the help of Moses’ friends that made this feat possible. They gave Moses a place on which to sit and each man took hold of an arm and held his hands up high.

For me to successfully accomplish the task at hand this weekend was going to require more than my bad back on lone rusty pickup. I need friends with energy, who were willing to sacrifice their time and vehicles to make this endeavor possible. I needed them to step in to help carry the burdens I could not carry alone. The task was simply too big.

Sadly, too many of us are trying to accomplish the major undertakings of life alone. In our solo efforts, we find that we are running out of steam, determination and hope. The task ahead is simply more than one person can manage in their own strength. It is during these times that we begin to see the value of true friendship. A real friend sees the bigger picture. They realize that their hand holding efforts will ensure a greater victory for all involved.

My friends weren’t just responding to a guy with a bad back who needed a few extra pickup trucks. They were seeing the bigger picture. They know that my home is a place of ministry, a place where people find love, shelter and acceptance. My home is a place where others come to discover God’s greater purpose for their lives. It is a place where God transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary.

Today I want to challenge you with this question: “Who is standing beside you?” I hope that you can readily name the men and/or women who stand on either side of you, holding you up when you just don’t have the strength within you to press on. If you can’t name those people, then I encourage you to seek God’s provision for the Aaron and Hur in your life. Their presence may mean the difference between victory and defeat in your next battle.

Until next Monday, may God’s richest blessings be yours this week.

Carl

Examining Your Foundation

Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend.

This past week I spent some time with a man who is both a friend and trusted advisor. He has taken a great interest in my work over the past 18 months, but has taken particular interest in the church planting ministry that I launched in November. As we were talking, he addressed with me his concern over my foundation. As I probed into his statement, he accurately assessed that I was beginning to rapidly put together a structure, but my foundation was not set. He further elaborated that I may even need to pull back the reigns on the ministry, because the monthly provisions for my family were not fully in place.

There was great wisdom in those words. A structure is only as good as the foundation it is built upon. The foundation determines to what degree and at what pace the structure can be erected. It also determines the longevity of what is built, and the types of adversity the structure can withstand.

This conversation has had me thinking about the following passage of Scripture:

Luke 6:47-49 (NASB)

47 "Everyone who comes to Me, and hears My words, and acts upon them, I will show you whom he is like:
48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation upon the rock; and when a flood rose, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.
49 "But the one who has heard, and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house upon the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great."

The greatest detriment to the lives we are building is the poor foundation work, we all too often settle for. We may hear the words of God, but how often do we fail to implement those very things into our lives. We know we are cutting corners, but we don’t think anyone will ever notice the shortcuts. Unfortunately turmoil has a way of exposing our frailties, shortcuts and shortcomings. The places we chose to hear, but not obey become glaringly obvious as we watch the structures of our lives come crashing down on the shifting foundations upon which they were built.

Today, I encourage you to evaluate your foundation. Have you taken the time to dig deep and lay your foundation on the bedrock principles of God? If you have, the storms may be fierce, but they will not topple the things God has directed you to build. In the end the structure will stand, unmoved by the tempest, because the foundation never shifted.

Until next Monday, may God’s richest blessings be yours this week.

Carl

Preparing for the Unseen

Good morning! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with friends and family.

The talk on the lips of the American public these days is the economy. I’ve been chuckling every weeknight during The Tonight Show as Jay Leno breaks into a short burst of one-liners that begin with “The economy’s getting bad I tell you…” The forecasts for the next 18-24 months do not look good for the American economy to say the least.

So the question becomes this, “what preparations have you been making with the resources God is making available to you?” This question got me reflecting upon the story of Joseph this morning. Joseph was sold into slavery, jailed under false accusation and generally mistreated, but Joseph never lost sight of God. Joseph’s faithful service to those who held him captive ultimately led to his rise to prominence in Egypt. It was through this rise to prominence that Joseph was able to provide for his people during 7 years of famine. Look at Joseph’s words as recorded in Genesis:

Genesis 45:5-7 (NASB)
5 “And now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.
6 “For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting.
7 “And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.

Sometimes in life we get so self-absorbed with what is wrong in our own piece of the picture that we fail to step back and look at the bigger picture. Joseph heeded the warnings of famine and made adjustments in the land of Egypt that ended up being the provision for the inhabitants of the land when food was scarce. He got beyond the “wrongs” of the past and turned a negative into a positive.

So what has God been doing to prepare you and your family for the things that lie ahead? Perhaps it is time to step back and look at the greater picture. God may have allowed you to go through a job change you didn’t want, because your industry was getting ready to fold. He may have moved you to another part of the country, where the provisions of life are not as difficult to come by. He may have denied you the loan, so you wouldn’t be weighed down by a debt you couldn’t maintain. Of course the preparations are not all negative. Perhaps the bonus or raise you received was given so you could build a cash reserve if things get lean. Maybe that same windfall was given so you could provide more fully for those in need.

Whether the worst fears of the economic forecasters come to pass remains to be seen, but no matter what the outcomes may be, God is already putting the resources and people in place to see His people through the lean times. Today, I encourage you to evaluate the tools that God has given you for provision and care. Thank Him for already making the adjustments in your life that are needed to whether the storms of the future.

Until next Monday may God’s richest blessings be yours this week.

Carl

Life's a beach

Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend.

Over the weekend we went with some friends to the beach. This was a milestone event for their family as their 2 year old daughter, Brooke, made her first visit to the beach. As they arrived, Brooke saw the waves rolling in and declared that she would stay in the car.

After joining up with us, Brooke got excited watching my kids play in the surf. Then her mommy & daddy went out into the water. It wasn’t long before Brooke transformed from reluctant beachgoer to seasoned beachcomber, but there was a catch. Brooke entered the water safely in the grasp of her parents. Even though she was overwhelmed by the waves, she was confident in the safe grasp of her parents. Before long Brooke was staring down waves twice her size, but confident that she would not be overtaken.

This event reminded me of a passage of scripture I had read recently:

Isaiah 41:13 (NLT)
I am holding you by your right hand—I, the Lord your God. And I say to you, ‘Do not be afraid. I am here to help you.

Many times we are like Brooke. The Lord has guided us to a new place in our lives. A place with great uncertainty that reminds us just how small and fragile we truly are in comparison to the circumstances of life. We see the waves of challenge and difficulty as they crash down on the shore before us. We watch as the landscape changes with each new wave. The shells deposited by the last wave are now swept out to sea and even the sand under our feet is shifting.

As we stand there looking at the intimidating surf, a reassuring voice says: “Come on, lets go.” You feel a strong hand grabbing hold of you and before you know it you are no longer on the shore, but now bouncing around in the surf. You see the waves breaking in front of you, but the strong hand lifts you up at just the right moment and the wave passes by never overtaking you. By the time it is all over this “beach” experience has become a special time in your life and you are almost saddened that you have to leave it. Your Heavenly Father has not only kept you safe, but He has enlarged your understanding and appreciation for the experience gained.

Today you may find yourself chest deep in the pounding surf of life. Follow Brooke’s example and place your hand into the strong hand that will never slip, never leave and never fail. Take confidence in the fact that your Heavenly Father will not only hold tightly to you, but He will lift you up at just the right moment so that no wave overtakes you.

Until next Monday, may God’s richest blessings be yours this week.

Carl