Roller Coaster Favorite Ride

3/15/2012

Acts 1:7- “He said to them: ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.”

Interpretation: We always want to know when God is going to do something for us. We sit and pout and as our eyes remain focused on the not yet filled promise we sigh at our empty hands. Although our hands aren’t usually empty at all, just filled with all these other things we try and hold on to for comfort or contentment, which if we would only let go of, could make room for the things God is waiting to give us. Maybe it’s not that were waiting on God as much as he waits on us. He waited 20 years for me to stop messing around and start living for him and within the first month I had a list of requests I wanted God to do for me, or I at least wanted to know the times or dates, set by his own authority, that they would happen. I still do. God keeps reminding about Psalm 37:4, to “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” I think about waiting in line for a roller coaster. The line is long and when I keep looking at the roller coaster day dreaming myself on it I become anxious and excited, and the waiting becomes uneasy because I am looking ahead to things I shouldn’t even be trying to imagine because I am not yet there. It’s funny that even when I do, it’s never quite like I pictured it. Mostly because we don’t actually de-rail and go flying into the ground crashing and burning after all. If I take my eyes off, however, and focus on the friends who I’m standing with in the line, not only do I feel more comfortable, but the line goes faster! I also think of Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God.” I think about the fall of man, the first lie Satan ever told to Eve was crafted to make her feel as if she was missing out on something, that God was withholding something good from her. I don’t want to fall for that lie. There are things I want in life but I need to continue to delight myself in the Lord, and before I know it I’ll be on that ride.

Application: Today I will write in my journal to God in the morning and throughout the day read the Bible and Out of the Comfort Zone. If I catch myself over thinking about when something I want is going to happen, I’ll read the word instead knowing it’s not for me to know. And that is not a bad thing.

When??

3/14/2012

Acts 1:6- “So when they met together they asked him, ‘Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’”

Interpretation: The people of God have been asking this question of Him since the moment the promise was given. Why do we always want to know what God is doing behind the scenes? And, if we did know, would it even help us to be more patient with Him? We always seem to want answers, but sometimes we’re even unhappy there. They were desperate for Israel to be restored. And I could not even imagine the excitement and mind-blowing and incomprehensible feelings they must have had as they traveled around with Jesus, the messiah, God himself in human flesh. They watched his resurrected body travel around town and now, finally, or so it seemed, Jesus was going back to the one who sent Him, and was coming back the same way he left, in the sky in a cloud of glory. Is it going to be in a few days Lord? Is it at that time you are going to restore the kingdom to Israel? Of course we know the answer is no, but they must have been thrilled. I remember before coming to Potter’s Field I was planning on going to the program in July. I was looking for a black and white answer, a yes or a no in scripture, or someone to tell me exactly what I needed to hear. When it came to be crunch time I decided to pray for God’s will, instead of an answer. And here I am. So God, you’re going to bring me that money I need in a few days right? When I go home? It’s like we can’t see how God is going to accomplish something so we just fill in the blank. And our attempts of trying to figure out how or when or why God is going to do something always fall short, if not backspin in the opposite direction. Something Pastor Don said when we were going through Philippians 4 was on the peace that surpasses all understanding. He said that we try to find peace by reasoning with our own minds. We try to create scenarios or conjure up thoughts that will supply our own peace for ourselves. God, you’re going to restore the kingdom to Israel…must be in a few days, right? But this would not be God’s peace. It would be the peace of man, not the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding. We need to continually trust in God’s promises, while letting God be God in our lives.

Application: I’m going to do my 365 day devotion today to continue to stay in the word and focused on God’s promises.

Pour

3/13/2012

Acts 1:5- “For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

Interpretation:

Pour out your rain on my thirsty soul

Pour through my veins and cleanse my soul

Pour out your rain drown me down inside your love

Pour out your Spirit; send down your Holy dove

Pour on me

Pour through me

My soul was dirty

I need pure, I need pure, to see a rainbow.

Pour down your rain on this dusty old body

Pour through my brain, I want your living holy water

Cleanse my soul, rain down on me your love

Baptize me in the Spirit, transform me from above

Pour on me

Pour through me

My mind was dirty

I need pure, I need pure to see the rainbow

Rain down your grace on my bitter, hardened heart

Drench me in Spirit, come set your church apart

Cleanse my thoughts, and rescue me from pain

Baptize me in truthful streams, my loss becomes my gain

Pour on me

Pour through me

My life was dirty

You gave purity

I need pure, I need pure, I need pure to see your rainbow.           

Application: Turn into a song by next Monday.

Love you Scituate...more than you know.

3/12/2012

Acts 1:4- “On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift of my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.’”

Interpretation: The gift Jesus is referring to which the Father had promised them is the gift of the Holy Spirit, who he had spoken about before. In John 16:7 he says, “But I tell you the truth: It Is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” So what was the importance about the disciples staying in Jerusalem? The significance was great. Jesus continued to tell them in Acts 1:8 that they will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on them, and will be his witnesses in “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The implications of them staying in Jerusalem at this time may have scared some of the disciples. At this time there was great chaos around the disciples because of the resurrection of Jesus. They could all expect to be persecuted for proclaiming the good news, yet Jesus tells them to stay until they receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes at Pentecost and Peter and John defend themselves before the Sanhedrin. Many miracles are done and many believers are added to the church. Stephen is martyred later on, and in Acts 8:1 it is written, “On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.” It is God’s will that we stick around our hometowns and spread the good word. If not a specific place of birth, our hometowns could be considered our family, and our network of friends and the people that we know. It is his will that we, as a group of believers, reach to all ends of the earth, without forgetting those people closest to us. Persecution may eventually allow us to brush the dirt off our sandals and move on, but it is important to know where our faith, hope, and power come from. Matthew 10:19-20 says, “But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” The Holy Spirit is God living inside of us, and it is by his power that the work of the Father will be completed.

Application: My Jerusalem is my hometown in Scituate. God has put it in my heart to commit to visiting my high school while I’m home to be a witness to my old teachers, knowing that it is by the power of the Holy Spirit speaking through me and living in me that lives will be changed. 

A man reaps what he sows.

3/8/2012

Galatians 6:7- “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”

Interpretation: Farmer Joe spends all summer planting corn seed on his 5 acres of land. When the fall comes, farmer Joe is excited to go out and see what kind of vegetable he will reap from spending all that time planting corn seed. Maybe potatoes will grow, or carrots, or if he’s lucky a couple apple trees will even shoot up. Of course this is not how things work. I wonder why we believe it is any different with the seeds we sow? Even non-Christians have a concept of karma, where you get what you deserve, re-incarnation, where your new life lines up in accordance with how well you did in your previous one, or even justice, where the good guy in the movie should win and the bad guy should go to jail. How interesting is it that we have this blatant understanding that a man reaps what he sows, and corn seed will grow into corn stalks, yet we put our faith in something as silly as the universe existing due to completely random, dumb chance? If the very reason we were here is for unsystematic reasons, why would anything have order or make any sense? We can all relate to a man reaping what he sows. And God cannot be mocked. People can profess to be Christians and they can make all sorts of claims about themselves, but God sees the heart and tests its genuineness. An amazing thing about Christ is that he doesn’t just give us what we deserve, good or bad, for we could never do anything “good” enough to deserve eternal life, but he gave us beyond that when he decided to die for us 2,000 years ago. Now we can sow belief, or we can sow disbelief, but in the end we will all reap what we have sown, and no one is going to get apple trees out of corn seed.

Application: I need to sow more of God’s truth and love into my heart. I will do my daily devotion book today, and IBS the scripture it gives me. I haven’t touched it for about 3 weeks but I want to be good. And so I must sow the right kinds of seed in my day.

Give

3/6/2012

Galatians 6:4- “Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else.”

Interpretation: Why do we do the things we do? God tells us to test our actions, so we can see the real motives in our hearts when we do specific things. In the last 2 months I have been praying for God to help me improve at playing the guitar, and he has surely been gracious to respond to my requests. I could move different directions with this knowledge. I could look at someone who can’t play guitar as well as me and feel proud of what I have accomplished, setting God’s intervention aside for my own personal gain. Or, I could look at someone who plays guitar better than me and feel slighted and envious, and my pride would still destroy me. Here is the truth of what God asks us to do. God asks us to test our actions. To evaluate and become conscious of the way we speak to others or react to certain situations. He wants to create in us an awareness of the reasons behind our deeds. So while I’m playing guitar, I am being attentive of why I am playing it. He wants me to be proud in him and what he can do for his children, not proud of my own ability, which I know I would not have without him. He doesn’t want us to look to other people to determine where we fit in on a scale of 1 to 10. He wants us to keep our eyes on Him alone. When we stop comparing ourselves to others there is such a freedom, and we can take pride in the things God has blessed us with, instead of our arrogance eating us up and ruining the good work he is doing. I have nothing to be proud of apart from God. As Paul continues to write in Galatians 6:14, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

Application: I love playing my guitar. The next opportunity I have to play it when someone else is playing, instead of pursuing my own desires I will give helpful instruction to someone else, knowing I couldn’t play guitar without God, let alone even own one. 

I am nothing. What a relief.

3/5/2012

Galatians 6:3- “If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”

Interpretation: This reminds me of a verse Jordan and I read on the plane ride to Montana. Proverbs 12:9- “Better to be a nobody and yet have a servant than pretend to be somebody and have no food.” Why do we pretend to be something when we are nothing? Well, frankly, because everything that I have I have worked so hard for. Oh, wait, James 1:17 says “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” Well I only have those good and perfect gifts because I have had such great faith that I was going to receive them. Only, Ephesians 2:8 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” Okay. Well these things I have I deserved. Except 1 Corinthians 4:7 says, “For what makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?” So why do we think that we are something when we are nothing? Nothing that we have makes us different from anyone else, we didn’t do anything on our own to require it and we didn’t even supply our own faith to receive the gifts we have from our gracious God.

Application: Tonight I will write out a list of things God has done for me since I have been here. I want to reflect on these to remind myself that I am nothing, and God is everything.