Take the Plunge!

Even though my wife has been absent from this world for over seven years, I regularly find my self thinking about many of the wonderful memories that we created in our life together.  And when I think about her laughing smile and spunky inherent nature, I always tend to go back to the time she surprised our kids and I when she finally made up her mind and plunged headfirst into the freezing cold, ice-melt fed Little Jamison Creek that flowed right behind our campsite one summer at Plumas Eureka State Park, in northeastern California, near the Nevada border.

After making the dive under the cold, clear water in a deeper area that had pooled next to a fallen pine tree, she literally burst up from the water with a huge smile on her face yelling to us, “You didn’t think I’d do that did you?”  Well… NO… we didn’t.  We had all been egging her on for quite a while and had just about given up when she dove into the Sierra mountain stream.

That’s kind of who she was… she liked to keep things fresh and exciting in our personal relationship, as well as within the daily development of our family.  That was actually one of the MANY things that drew me to her in high school.  Her bright-shining brown eyes tended to always have a mysterious sense of adventure about them… and I LOVED it… from our beginning days as teenagers through her final two weeks after turning 65.

She wasn’t one to just jump into something without consideration and thought… but once she prayed and made up her mind… she plunged in with abandonment and deep determination!  Which is the way she and I both tended to live our Christian walk… Once we set our faith for something that was inline with and based on the promises of God… we abandoned doubt and unbelief and plunged head first into the deep waters of faith.

And you know?  We weren’t alone when it came to plunging headfirst into our faith for the daily adventures of our lives and ministry.

In the Biblical book of Romans, the Apostle Paul uses the example of the faith of Abraham who,

“Staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what He (God) had promised, He was able also to perform.” (Romans 4:20-21 – KJV)

The word ‘staggered’ in the Greek implies someone who hesitates and has withdrawn from their steadfast belief in the truth of God’s Word and/or let their minds wander in thinking about all the potential reasons why God’s promise(s) won’t work for them in their particular situation or need.  These scriptures paint a picture of Abraham’s unmovable faith and trust in the promise that God had given him… concerning the seemingly impossible conception and birth of a child…

“Now that he was about a hundred years old, and Sarah (his wife) was unable to have children.” (Romans 4:19 - God’s Word ©)

And yes!... While the King James gives us a strong idea of Abraham’s faith and the mindset that drove his stand on God’s Word, I literally pushed away from my desk and straightened up in my rolling office chair this morning as I discovered The Message Bible’s paraphrase version of these verses.  I think the Reverand Eugene Peterson (pastor, professor, theologian, and author who translated The Message) hit the nail on the head in capturing the true sense, excitement, total abandonment to doubt and unbelief and personal determination that was living large in Abraham’s life, by vividly declaring that,

“He didn't tiptoe around God's promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. (But) he PLUNGED into the promise and came up strong and ready for God, sure that God would make good on what He had said.” (Romans 4:20-21)

Paul reiterated this over-powering sense of excitement and determination in his closing salutations to the Thessalonian church when he stated,

“The One who called you is completely dependable. If He said it, He'll do it!”           (I Thessalonians 5:24 – MSG)

So… you see… that fresh and exciting mysterious sense of adventure that marked Piper… that caused her to plunge with abandonment and determination into her Christian walk… as well as in her personal life in general… wasn’t just a fluke of nature or a gift that her heavenly Father gave to her alone…  No!  I believe that it is part and parcel of the character of God that comes to live in us (Yes!  That means both you and me) when we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord*… Piper just chose to fully accept and develop that powerful characteristic in her… by her love, study, obedience and tangible application of God’s Word in the daily routines of her busy life.

When is the last time that you plunged headfirst into the promises of God and believed Him for the fulfillment of His Word for a particular need or situation in your life? Whether you’ve done it before or not… today would be the perfect time to jump in and experience the character of God actively working in and through your life.

Then you’ll be similar to Piper who burst out of the icy cold waters exclaiming for all to hear in the surrounding campground (or in your neighborhood) “I didn’t think I’d do that… But I AM GLAD THAT I DID!”

And once you’ve taken that initial plunge… you just won’t be able to keep your abandonment to doubt and unbelief and the determination to see the power and faith of God and His Word… from working in every aspect of your life!

With all that in mind… have a fantastic week… and let me know how your plunge goes!

 

 

*Have you made Jesus the personal Savior and Lord of your life?  It’s really easy to do and the results will change your life forever!  You’ll feel an unexplainable new freedom and peace that you never thought possible. In Romans 10:9 Paul gives us the simple directions by explaining, “that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” 

And yes… it’s as simple as that.  Once you do that, I would recommend that you find a good, BIBLE teaching church to attend, pick up and read the Bible daily (I suggest you start in the book of John and then move on through the epistles), and start talking with God (praying) on a regular basis!  Welcome to the family!

 

Tornado Season!

Well… PRAISE THE LORD!  It looks like we made it through another TORNADO SEASON here in Tennessee.  I guess I should be pretty relieved as our TORNADO horns in Mt Juliet only went off once about a month or so ago… in the middle of the night… of course!

That was an interesting experience for me, as it was my first TORNADO adventure in Tennessee.  This season was quite a bit calmer here then when I lived in Oklahoma.  The actual storm that triggered our sirens though, wasn’t much different than an Oklahoma severe weather event… except for when I stepped out onto my apartment balcony in the midst of the sirens, heavy rain, strong winds and booming thunder and lightning.  I think that I must have lived in Oklahoma long enough to have garnered the typical male response to an incoming TORNADO… thinking… Oh Gee…I gotta check this out!

But… I quickly got a reality-check when there was one of the loudest thunder claps that I’ve ever heard… immediately followed by the crack of a hot, super-bright, electrical discharge that flooded my senses with the strongest scent of ozone that I have ever experienced!  That kind of shook me and I quickly retreated back into the living room of my apartment.  I’m glad that I had enough sense to only take one step onto the balcony and not the full distance out to the railing!  I think that someone must have been watching over me!  What do you think?

In that moment of less-than stellar responsibility… I learned that there are certain situations where I should not have the ability to throw caution to the wind (literally in this case…) and think that I am safe in any environment!  But you know… as I was studying the Word… as a thunderstorm was moving into our area early this morning… the scriptures I’ve been studying for about a week now, brought to mind a very specific time of when the Lord had taught me about the need to control the environment surrounding my wife and I.

I’ve told of the experience before, so I won’t bore you with the whole story, but suffice to say, when Piper was first beginning to deal with the encroaching debilitating symptoms of Alzheimer’s, the Lord clearly spoke to my heart early one morning and in no uncertain terms, explained the importance of me controlling the atmosphere around her. 

It was already becoming very apparent to both of us, that not everybody around us… be it extended family, friends, the medical professionals or even strangers that we encountered on our walks or times at the store… were in faith for the journey we were forced into.  So along with everything else I was doing for my sweet wife’s physical care, the Lord also impressed upon me the need to keep an atmosphere of faith, joy, peace and encouragement in our home and as much as I could… outside of our house as well.

Sounds easy right?  WRONG!  And I learned real quick that in order to have any sense of success in this directive of the Lord… that I needed to keep myself in a consistent and ever-growing attitude of faith, joy, peace and encouragement.

Hummmm… and just how do I do that?  Well… The verses of scripture that brought me back to this memory this morning are found in I Thessalonians 5:16-19 where the Apostle Paul closes his first letter of encouragement to the church in Thessalonica (as well as to you and me today) saying,

1)   “Rejoice evermore. 

2) Pray without ceasing. 

3) In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 

4) Quench not the Spirit.” (KJV) 

I specifically numbered each verse as they seem to be set in a logical systematic order in which to follow… and as these steps worked for me in my situation back then, I believe it is also a current day directive of the Lord written to each of us for the varying situations we find ourselves facing each and every day.

First of all, Paul encourages us to “Rejoice evermore.”  The God’s Word© translation makes it a bit more up-to-date by saying “Always be joyful” while the Message Bible seems to be a little more accurate to the original Greek stating, “Be cheerful no matter what!”  Strong’s defines the familiar word “REJOICE” as “to be full of cheer, to be calmly happy” which to me says that our calm and cheerful demeanor is simply to be a well-practiced mindset that we operate in all the time... no matter where we are or what we are facing.  It is the steadying, basic and foundational asset that we have to control the atmosphere around us.

Next, we are told to “Pray without ceasing.”  Does that mean that we are to stay on our knees at the side of our bed in prayer all the time?  No, of course not… but I do believe it is talking about our need to stay in an attitude of prayer by keeping our spirits alert to the voice of the Lord throughout our busy days.

Smith Wigglesworth who was one of the great Apostles of Faith in the first half of the 20^th century was once asked how long he prayed everyday and he responded saying that “I don’t ever pray more than twenty minutes…” and then after a pause, continued by declaring “but I never go twenty minutes without praying!”  In other words… he stayed alert to the leadings of the Holy Spirit in his life and kept the lines of two-way communication between God and himself open all the time.

And once the first two directives of the Lord are up and running in our lives, it becomes increasingly easy and “normal”, as The Passion Translation says, to find ourselves “giving THANKS in the midst of everything.”  The Bible in Basic English tells us,

“In everything give PRAISE: for this is the purpose of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 

The actions of giving THANKS or PRAISE seem to be almost interchangeable when it comes to the worship of our God, but in reality, they each have a separate focus.  The Bible Hub* informs us that PRAISE focuses in on who God is, while THANKSGIVING emphasizes what God has done in our individual lives.  But in either regard and for the purpose of our verse in I Thessalonians 5:18, either action specifically takes our thoughts off of any difficulty in the situation that we are dealing with and focusses our attention on the love, truth, ability and over-coming power of the Lord and the truth of His Word for the need at hand.

And then… once the Lord has an open door to work in the midst of whatever it is we are facing… “Quench NOT the Spirit” as He begins to assist you.  Or as The Passion Translation puts it,

“Never restrain or put out the fire of the Holy Spirit.”

Once He starts working in the situation, stay in faith and sensitive to whatever it is that He is doing… AND… to what He may have for you to do in the situation as well!

And so… As I stayed sensitive to… what I like to call the “HINTS” that the Lord was regularly giving me… back when I was caring for my wife, it became increasingly easier to be aware of what other’s around me were doing and thereby for me to say and do the right things at the right times… and change and/or keep the atmosphere around my wife and I in a more positive, joyful and faith-charged atmosphere… just like the way that bolt of lightning changed and charged the atmosphere around my balcony during that TORNADO producing storm...

And… since we know that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever”**

You and I can have the same results – TODAY - by following Paul’s directions and walk in such a way where our reactions of THANKSGIVING and PRAISE… in the midst of anything that happens in our lives… both good or bad… causes our faith to focus on the goodness of God and hereby allow Him to work His miracles in the daily situations of our lives… be it TORNADO SEASON or not!

 

* https://biblehub.com/topical/p/praise_and_thanksgiving.htm

**Hebrews 13:8

Personal Responsibility

My wife and I were different than most of the people at her American Baptist church that she grew up in and I, along with her, participated and served in leadership positions for over eight years… before and then after we got married. 

If you were to read the doctrinal Statement of Faith on the back of the weekly bulletin, we could put a check of agreement to every bullet point… but we believed in more!  To us, there were things missing from that list.  There were parts of the Gospel message that were seldom… if ever… talked about.  We believed that our precious friends in that wonderful congregation were missing some of the most exciting and powerful promises in the Word for the daily events of their lives.

After our high school graduation, we were drawn to the Charismatic Movement that was being reported on in the local newspaper and was beginning to stir up long forgotten discussions amongst the denominational churches in our area.  There was a growing congregation in our city that held weekly “Prayer” meetings where attendees talked about seeing the manifestations of the Gifts of the Spirit that had not been widely seen or experienced by the Christian denominational churches since the great Healing Revival of the 1940’s and 50’s.

To make a not-too-long story short… we jumped in with both feet and have never looked back since!  We were always very discreet about it at church, but yet… lived out our beliefs as vividly as we could in front of the youth and young adult groups that we ministered to, as well as with our friends and fellow congregants of that church.

Following the birth of our second child, Piper and I both knew that we had a major decision to make.  She and I hungered for more teaching and involvement in this exciting part of the Full Gospel message and also wanted more for our kids.  So, we prayed (a lot) and made the difficult decision… taking PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for our Christian growth… and left the Baptist church to join a small, Full Gospel, Word of Faith congregation that met in a rented space at a resort/motel on the far southern part of town.

And I know that Piper would vigorously nod her head from heaven today and TOTALLY agree with me… that it was the BEST decision that we ever made… for both of us and especially for our family… which continued to increase to four kids over the following years!

We learned a lot about PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY in and for the APPLICATION and consistent ACTIVITY of our faith in our daily lives over the 48 years of our covenant relationship.  And I can say without a moment’s hesitation… the portion of Scripture that I have employed most often when it comes to taking PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY in my Christian walk (for every area of my life), is found on the most torn, stained, wrinkled and smudged… worn-out page… in just about every Bible I own… in the first chapter of the Old Testament book of Joshua!*  I have found that it makes more sense to me to read some of the verses in a reverse order, beginning with Joshua 1:9 and then Joshua 1:5… where the Lord instructed Joshua after the death of Moses, as He handed the reigns of the rulership of the Jewish nation over to him saying,**

“Have I not commanded you (add your name here)?  BE strong, diligent, confident, disciplined, assertive and courageous!  Do not tremble, BE timid nor BE dismayed or discouraged, for I the Lord your God am with you wherever you go.  And thereby NO one nor NO thing will be able to oppose you successfully as long as you live. For I will be with you just as I was with Moses. I will never (never, never) neglect you or abandon you.” (Ryrie Study Bible – New American Standard Bible - 1978 / God’s Word ©)

But the good Lord didn’t just leave it there.  He not only gave Joshua a direct command and a word of encouragement… He also told him EXACTLY what he needed to do in order to be successful in the job that the Lord had anointed him for.  In Joshua 1:8 He basically told the new leader that this is the KEY to make it all work… He pointedly told Joshua,

“This book of the law (or for us current day Christians – having the addition of the New Testament, ‘This Revelation of the gospel of Jesus Christ’) shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure that you practice everything written in it.  For then you’ll get where you’re going and will make your way prosperous and you’ll have great success!” (a combining of the NASB/The Message)

I can’t tell you how many times my determined obedience and practice of these specific verses brought troubling circumstances into the realm of victory in my life… Like a discrepancy in my monthly income that I had to deal with this morning!  I found myself bouncing around the kitchen… audibly Praising the Lord… a couple of hours ago when I hung up the phone after a conversation with my financial consultant… with tears beginning to form, as I thanked the Lord profusely for His hand in the affairs of my life. 

But then… for a fleeting moment… I stopped my child-like response to the Lord’s faithfulness to His Word thinking that “I should be used to this by now…”  But then broke out laughing in the solitude of my kitchen declaring… “I’m glad that I’ll NEVER get used to His tangible involvement in my life!”  I mean… After all, doesn’t Ephesians 5:1 tell us: “Therefore be ye imitators of God as beloved CHILDREN?” (KJV/EMTV)  Is there anyone else out there who responds to God’s faithfulness in this same manner?

So now… bringing us back to the thought and/or practice of us taking PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY in and for our Christian faith, I want us to take a peek at what always tends to catch my attention whenever I study these verses… and that is… the number of times the words “You” “Yours” “You’re” “Ye” and “You’ll” is inserted into the Lord’s command and encouragement to us… the students of His Word… throughout all these verses.

I count about 16 times… How about you?

And with that in mind… I can’t help but to think that The Lord is trying to emphasize a point here!  To me, He is wanting to bring us back to the foundational Biblical truth… that each one of us… yes… both you and me… are directly and PERSONABLY RESPONSIBLE to how well these promises from God to us… are activated and there by allowed the freedom to work in our lives.

I know how in my past… it usually seemed easier to blame someone else or some extenuating circumstances… including God Himself… when things didn’t go as I had prayed and/or as I would have preferred (or for what I’ve heard called “a Faith Failure”) in my life.  But you know… I don’t see that way of thought in these verses.  I see the Lord teaching us to take PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for our daily faith walk.  And to do so, by pondering, meditating and SPEAKING out the Word and accordingly, the results that we’re EXPECTING to come to past (by faith) in our lives… both day and night!

How about you?

The Lord made it pretty clear to Joshua back then… and to US today… that He wants us to “MAN or WOMAN UP” and take the PERSONAL RESPONSIBILTY necessary to experience victory and thereby “to get where you’re going and make your way prosperous and have great success!”

Then who knows… you might just find yourself dancing around your kitchen… like a gleeful little kid… JUST LIKE ME… as you too experience the FAITHFULNESS of God to the promises in His Word… happening in your life… Today, Tomorrow… and to Infinity and Beyond!

Have a FANTASTIC week!  We are in the midst of a thunderstorm out here in Tennessee… so we’ll see how it progresses.  Now that Fiver has left us (and in particular, without having to deal with his panic and discomfort during noisy weather)… I’ve discovered that I actually enjoy the soothing ambiance a good heavy rain - complete with the dramatics of thunder and lightning!   Weird huh?  I’ll see ya all next week…

*A New Testament equivalent of Johsua 1:9 (also worn out in my Bibles…) is found in 2Timothy 1:7.  I especially like the translation in The Remedy New Testament.

**and I have added many of my notated words that have given me a greater depth of knowledge for the practical application of these verses in my life over the years.