NewDayvotional

From the pastor for the people

Be Still And Know

Be Still And Know

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Be Still and Know

This year, I approached the Christmas season with eager anticipation and excitement. With the Thanksgiving left overs still in the fridge, I could hardly wait to get my Christmas decorations out of the attic! I went through our living and dining room and took down our usual decor, stored it away and replaced it with cheery reds and greenery! It brought me such joy to surround myself with all the keepsakes and mementos of the season. Equal to my personal enjoyment has been watching my kids take delight in all the little Christmas decorations and traditions within our home.

It’s not always so lovely! Each year, depending on my circumstances or stage of life, my excitement for Christmas vacillates. Last year, I recall it feeling like a chore or more like drudgery to go through the motions of gift buying and decorating. I had to force myself through it each step of the way. Internally, I was counting the days until it was over.

Interestingly enough, whether there are visions of sugar plums dancing in my head or I’m more akin to Scrooge, the busyness of the season is something that is an all knowing constant. The “to do” list seems endless. From parties, baking, shopping, wrapping, decorating, entertaining, class parties, coupled with life’s usual responsibilities, it all just makes my already busy schedule feel even more stretched.

I find that in order to get it all done, I try to strategically schedule every spare minute, often times to the point of sheer exhaustion, only to wake up and repeat the next day. Some days I hit the mark, other days I fall short. But whether I can enjoy a sense of accomplishment or set out to try again the next day, I find either way, it isn’t enough. When my daily routine begins getting so filled, when I begin living to complete a checklist, I have this constant internal nudging that my focus is skewed. I begin to feel waves of anxiety and unrest.

Ironically, the more I schedule, the more I neglect. The more I accomplish the less I invest. Can you relate?

To make the most of our time, our days, our opportunities, we need to schedule, carve out and insist upon allowing ourselves to be still and know.

After weeks of internal unsettling in my spirit, I took a step to breaking the cycle. It’s nothing new, it’s something I know the importance of, it’s something I often encourage others to do… I simply needed to carve out my schedule to sit alone. To be still and know, the He is God. To literally stop all activity, worry, planning and mentally and physically check out and check in with God.

“He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10 NIV

Why is that the first thing I let go of when the busyness of life creeps in? Its embarrassing to admit.

There isn’t a right way, time or place to do this, but for me, in my current stage of life… carving out the quiet time takes planning, thought and commitment. Personally, I need a place where I can be free of distraction and have the items I need within reach to spend some quality time with my savior. I have an old desk in our unfinished basement. My lamp, bible, paper and pen is all I need to take the focus off of myself and change my focus to Him, his plans, his purposes.

The actual space doesn’t matter one bit. It can be in your car, your bed, at your desk… WHERE you spend time with the Lord is your preference, however WHEN you do it, it impacts your perspective, purpose and your peace.

From my little basement space, I write this gentle reminder to you. The fulfillment of a completed check list will just lead to another list. The fulfillment found in Christ can restore, sustain and uplift you.

One of my favorite verses was penned in to a song. It gives me rest when I can feel the busyness mounting in my heart and mind:

“Be Still And Know”

Be still and know that He is God
Be still and know that He is holy
Be still Oh restless heart of mine
Bow before the Prince of Peace
Let the noise and clamor cease

Be still and know that He is God
Be still and know that He is faithful
Consider all that He has done
Stand in awe and be amazed
And know that He will never change
Be still

Steven Curtis Chapman

Have you gotten away from your personal quiet time with the Lord? Has the busyness of the season distracted you from what’s most important? Make a daily appointment with your heavenly father. Put it in your calendar, and keep your commitment, just as you would a doctor’s appointment or an interview for a new promotion. Don’t delay or re-schedule. All the other things will begin to gain new meaning and perspective once you have invited God to be part of them with you. Hey, you might even find that some of those others things aren’t worth your time at all.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2

Merry Christmas!
Rachel

‘Cuz I Said So

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‘Cuz I said so is a parenting staple I have found myself saying lately. It has become a bit of a joke for me and my kids…I repeat it as a song until my kids complete whatever it is I have asked of them. Then, and only then, do I give further explanation.

I know, all the parenting experts out there would be appalled. They advise always to explain to your children the reason why they need to share their toys, why they shouldn’t hit so-and-so, why it’s not a good idea to run away from mommy in a parking lot. I certainly do value that whole explaining-why thing, only after they have obeyed. In our house, we expect each of our four kids to obey first, and ask why second.

You may be wondering what I’m getting at here; this ain’t no parenting blog. But, I’m always looking for a good spiritual parallel out of my everyday life. In our current teaching series, we’ve been learning about what makes a good leader. We’ve been comparing king Saul’s lackluster leadership with king David’s honorable legacy. One quality that separates them is obedience.

Saul sometimes obeyed God’s instructions…David obeyed without question.
Saul obeyed the parts with which he felt comfortable, but ignored others…David followed instructions completely. Saul made excuses…David owned up to his mistakes.

When we choose to obey God’s word completely, we are showing him that we trust him. We are acknowledging through our actions that he knows better than we do. And, no offense fellow know-it-all-ers…but God does know better than us.

But, you ask…How do I know I can trust God? How can I obey when it’s hard? How can I be sure it will work out? Well, I can assure you that when you resign yourself to follow God’s word, God shows up in big ways. He did it time and time again in the Bible, and is still doing it today.

So, if you are feeling hesitant, doubtful, and like that thing you know you need to do is just too hard…start asking around. Ask people in your serving roles, ask people in your growth group, ask people how God has shown up in their lives when they put their trust in Him. Read the Bible…like, really read it, scour it for examples of God’s provision. The books of Joshua and I Samuel are a great place to start.

Joshua 1:8
“Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”

I want my kids to trust me. I want them to make good choices and practice obedience in the little things to be prepared for the big things. I don’t want them to make half-hearted and lethargic obedience a habit.

How much more does God, who is perfectly more perfect than imperfect parents, want that for me? God knows the whole picture. We only have a limited view. We think we must have that house, that job, that spouse, that car, that vacation. Or, maybe we make excuses for our unhealthy compromises. I’m only cheating a little bit. They don’t really need the money anyway. They haven’t earned my forgiveness. My words aren’t that bitter/angry/ugly/hurtful.

But, our way is not always the best way. The more we seek to understand God, the more we see that his parameters are for our good. We can either listen to the rhetoric of our do-whatever-feels-right-to-you culture, or find our root in the truth of Scripture.

Psalm 34:8
“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.”

Obedience can be hard. For example, I don’t always feel like sacrificing my Sunday mornings every week to reach out and serve others. But, it is the desire of my heart to put God first, and he says to put others first. When I make the choice to love others, God gives me the peace, energy, and desire to get it done…often in ways I could never expect.

Let this be a reminder to both you and me to pray to him first, to read his word first, to seek godly counsel first, to let go of selfish desires first. I want to reflect and ensure that my life aligns with the guidelines of Scripture. It isn’t always easy. It isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always what I would choose. And, I’m not always good at it. But, God has always shown up when I put him first.

Proverbs 3:5-6
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”

Children do not know more than their parents. They think they do. When my kids wait for a sufficient reason before they obey, they are communicating distrust. When I hear a whiny “why?” from my kids, I roll my eyes, utter “Cuz I said so”, then smile because I picture God doing the same with me.

I ask him “Why?”, he shakes his head and says, “Just trust me…cuz I said so!”

Seeking After The Things of God

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It’s so easy today to get caught up in the things of this world. I mean, you don’t have to search far to find others’ opinions, see what others are doing,  or listen to the chatter of the world. Just stretch out your arm and reach for your smart phone on your nightstand…the world at your fingertips! Yet, as we engage in open access to the world, we’re also opening ourselves up to the temptation to seek validation from a variety of these worldly sources.

Pinterest tells us what our homes should look like, Facebook tells us who likes us and what our “friends” are doing, and Twitter tells us what’s trending. Although we like to pass time by exploring social media, we might be unaware of the impact it’s making on us. We can find ourselves thinking, “My house doesn’t look like that,” “I haven’t been on a vacation like them in so long,” or “Why doesn’t my husband bring me flowers just because?” It’s a slippery slope because once we use the social comparison trap, we get sucked in and we quickly find ourselves using others as a benchmark for how we are doing. In essence, our approval for how we are doing comes from the world. We desire to be in the know. But you know who else desires to be in the know? Your Heavenly Father!

The Lord desires to know us intimately and to have an ongoing relationship with us. While out in the wilderness for 40 years, David appeals to God in saying, “Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold Lord, you know it altogether” (Psalm 139:1-4).

Now, there’s nothing wrong with social media. It’s fun to let friends and family know what you’re up to and likewise. In fact, social media is fast-becoming an awesome tool to reach others for Christ! Our smart phones now have Bible apps, so that God’s word can also be at our fingertips. Being connected is not necessarily the root of the problem…it’s knowing when to disconnect and how to ground ourselves in God’s word daily. It’s knowing that our worth and our self-value is found in Jesus and that God alone is the ultimate judge of how we are doing!

Desire for approval from others is nothing new though. In fact, seeking approval from others is exactly why Jeremiah rebuked Israel in the Bible, “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13-14). See, Jeremiah’s frustration with Judah came after a time when Israel had been redeemed and freed from Egyptian bondage, so that they might serve him alone, yet they had fallen to the practice of substituting idolatry for the worship of the Lord. The Israelites were thirsty, but looking to broken cisterns to whet their appetites for fulfillment and value. Yet Jeremiah was clear, only God can sustain our thirst and his cistern will never run dry! So what are we to do when we find ourselves tempted to seek approval from worldly sources, instead of from the only one true source, our almighty God?

  • Get into God’s word daily. My grandmother used to tell me, “Garbage in, garbage out.” She was a strong Christian woman and no doubt was planting the seed of God’s word in my heart early on. What we fill out eyes, ears, and minds with on a daily basis will no doubt reveal itself in our actions and our desires. The old children’s hymn comes to mind, “Oh be careful little eyes what you see, oh be careful little ears what you hear, for the Father up above is looking down in love…” I don’t think that God’s desire for us to guard our influences stops when we grow into adults. God wants us to be continual seekers and appliers of his word to our lives. And if we’re to do this, we’ll need to arm ourselves with the word of God to resist the temptations of this world and the influences that will always be all around us (Ephesians 6:10-18)
  • Resist complacency in your faith. We should thirst and hunger after God’s word and direction in our lives. The best way to resist the temptation to allow our approval and validation to come from others is to be on the move for God! If we are constantly working at our faith, and growing, we will not be stagnant (John 3:36). Get involved in serving God and he will be at work in you, equipping you for his kingdom!
  • Know that you will disappoint others. We can’t always please God and please the world at the same time. Paul tells us “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2) The world operates on the principle of conformity and when we choose to not conform we will be met with some adversity. Jesus tells us that our time on Earth will be met with many trials and sorrows, but to “take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). There is solace in knowing that we do not ever go it alone in this world when Jesus is by our side.
  • Understand that God’s opinion ultimately matters most. We are social creatures and it is very easy to go with the crowd, we’re drawn to others. While God surely wants for us to have relationships with others, he asks the we “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). Only after seeking God first should we then turn to others as a source of information. After all, one day we are to answer to God’s ultimate question of, “What did you do with my son?”
  • Surround yourself with other Christians who will lift you up to God. One of the most powerful aspects of the Christian life is being connected to a group of believers who support you and truly desire God’s best for you! The Bible tells us “where two or more are gathered in my name, there I am with them” (Matthew 18:20) and God knows that it will take some help to withstand the pressures and temptations of this world. We do not have to navigate it on our own. We don’t even navigate on our own when we’re driving an hour away, we have Siri! SO, don’t navigate this Christian life solo. Get involved in a growth group or a small group and surround yourself with others who will take the journey of seeking God first with you!

I’m constantly developing my daily discipline of relating to God. I am putting my self-value into the promises of his word, sure that the Lord alone will be my benchmark for approval. What will you do today to make God the authority over your worth?

How to Cultivate a Pure Heart: Part 6

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The Bible gives us at least six ways we can cultivate a pure heart. In this post we’ll look at the sixth way we can do that.

God says, if I’m going to keep my heart pure, then #6, I need to pray for my heart. After regularly examining his heart, the next thing we learn that David did to become a man after God’s own heart is this: He prayed for his heart. Listen to this sampling of prayers David prayed:

  • In Psalm 19:14 David prayed, “May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight…”
  • In Psalm 51:10 David prayed, “Create in me a pure heart, O God…”
  • In Psalm 86:11 David prayed, “…give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.”
  • In Psalm 139:23-24 David prayed, “Search me, God, and know my heart…See if there is any offensive way in me…”

I’ll bet I know one thing that’s NOT on your prayer list – your own heart! We pray for all kinds of things but we don’t pray for our own heart and that needs to change if we’re to cultivate a pure heart.

 

Now Solomon learned the art of praying for his heart from his father David. So one day when God appeared to Solomon and told him to ask for anything he wanted, Solomon replied in 1 Kings 3:9, “…give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?” Solomon prayed for the right kind of heart to lead. And in 1 Kings 3:12 God granted his prayer request, promising, “ I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart…”

So we need to pray these prayers that David prayed! Cry out to God: Give me a pure heart and an undivided heart! Then trust God to do it! Here’s two more prayers you can pray in addition to the prayers David prayed.

  • 1 Kings 8:58. Heavenly Father, please turn my heart to You, to walk in obedience and keep your commands, your decrees and your laws.
  • Ezekiel 11:19. Heavenly Father, please give me an undivided heart and put a new spirit in me. Help me not to have a hard heart, rather one that’s always open to you.

You want a pure heart? I challenge you to pray those two prayers for the next week to see first-hand the difference it will make in your life.

How to Cultivate a Pure Heart: Part 5

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The Bible gives us at least six ways we can cultivate a pure heart. In this post we’ll take a look at the fifth way we can do that.

God says, if I’m going to keep my heart pure, then fifth, I need to examine my heart. It was said of David that he was a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22). Well the question begs: How did David get such a heart? David had the kind of heart he had because he regularly examined his heart, looking for anything that might corrupt it. In Psalm 4:4 David wrote, “Tremble and do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent.” Search here means examine.

I recently had my annual physical. If you get one each year you know that if you’re a man the doctor will tell you to do regular testicular exams, keeping an eye out for any unusual bumps. If you’re a woman the doctor will tell you to do regular breast exams (also to keep an out for an unusual bumps). The reason they tell you to do this is because if you develop cancer, they want to catch it early. It’s so much easier to treat it early on vs once it’s taken roots and settled in and progressed in its various stages.

Well this is the very reason David would check his heart regularly. If any sin sprouted and took root he wanted to catch it early on for it’s easier to pull weeds than to uproot a tree. Both are possible but one is so much easier than the other.

So when’s the last time you had a spiritual heart exam? When’s the last time you laid in bed at night and checked for bumps in your character, and then were quiet before God? David said “search your hearts and be silent.” Why did he say to be silent? Because this gives God the opportunity to speak to your heart and show you what needs to go. How specifically do you examine your heart you might ask? David tells us how he did it. We learn from Psalm 139:23-24 that David would say, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” That’s how we examine our hearts too. We ask God “Is there any offensive way in me?” and then we stay quiet allowing God to speak to our heart.

Maybe you’re scared to do this for fear of what the Lord might point out, but let me encourage you with this verse that points out WHY God wants to probe our hearts. God said in Jeremiah 17:10, “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” God doesn’t probe our hearts to condemn us, rather to get rid of that which is blocking his blessings from our lives. So don’t be afraid of God’s examination. You might hate going for a check up with your doctor, but there’s nothing to fear going for a check up with your Great Physician.