Seasons of Life

The holiday season is officially upon us.  It won't be long before we're all knee deep in wrapping paper and Christmas ornaments.  As the popular Christmas song says, 'It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.'  

But for many, the holiday season is far from wonderful.  Many of us have loved ones that are serving our Country overseas.  For those who have lost a loved one in the past year, the pain of that loss is accentuated during the holiday season.  The truth is, for a lot of people, the Holidays are a real struggle.

One of my favorite stories in the bible is in John 12.  That chapter tells the story of one woman’s extravagant love for Jesus.  In this familiar passage, Mary takes some very expensive perfume, and anoints Jesus with it, and then begins to wipe His feet with her hair.

It’s interesting to me that every time that Mary is mentioned in the Bible she can be found sitting at the feet of Jesus.  In every season of her life, she would make her way to the feet of Jesus.  In seasons of busyness and stress {Luke 10}, in seasons of grief and loss, {John 11} and in seasons of joy and rejoicing {John 12} Mary is found at the feet of Jesus.

What a wonderful encouragement that is to all of us.  No matter what season of life we may find ourselves in, whether it be a season of busyness and work, or a season of grief and sorrow, or a season of joy and thanksgiving, we ought to follow Mary’s lead, and make our way to the feet of Jesus.

God Bless,

--Daniel    

Wrestling with God in Prayer

'For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.' Ephesians 3:14

If you’ll look at this prayer, here’s one of the things you’ll discover.  When Paul prays and asks God to dwell in their hearts.  He’s asking for something that he’s already said is a reality.  And when Paul prays that they would be filled with the fullness of God.  Again he’s praying for something that he’s already told them is true.  So all of these things Paul is praying for are things that he’s already told them are true.  So why pray for them at all? 

You see, Paul understood something that’s crucial.  And that is this, information alone doesn’t lead to transformed living.  Here’s what I mean by that.  Paul could sit there and tell them all kinds of wonderful things about God and about what He’s done for us and about salvation and grace and all these things but unless the Spirit of God moves in those peoples hearts and takes that information and breathes life into it, then it will just sit there in there heads.  They might be well informed.  They might have perfect theology.  But it will do nothing to transform their lives.  That’s why Paul stops where he does, after he’s just shared the most amazing truths about the person and work of God, to pray that the Spirit of God might take that message and massage it into the hearts of the Ephesian church.  Because Paul knows that information without divine revelation never leads to transformed living.  But when all of this information about God is combined with divine revelation from God’s Spirit, then watch out.  That’s where transformation occurs.  

So we need to be careful.  Otherwise we’ll end up becoming like the guys who write Valentines Day cards for Hallmark for a living. They say all these wonderfully romantic and sappy things.  But they don’t really mean any of it.  It’s a job.  But God has called us to be more then that. God is not a crossword puzzle.  God is not a math problem.  Christianity is not Jeapordy.  It's not about knowing all the answers and filling in all the correct bubbles.  It’s about experience, and life, and relationship and pain and joy and tears. 

That’s why I love the Psalms so much. Their basically a stack of prayers, most of them written by David.  And in so many of them, David’s calling out to God to show up, to be real.  To act, to listen, to save, to heal, to touch, to work, to shape, to speak.  That’s what God wants for us.  He wants a relationship.  That’s why David was called a man after God’s own heart.  Because he was constantly pursuing God’s heart, chasing it down, seeking it.  That’s what prayer is all about.