Forgetting God

Yesterday I read and article titled, "In Nothing We Trust," and I just had to comment on it here.

The author takes great pains to show how people in Muncie, Indiana have been failed by their institutions. Banks, schools, politicians, churches, business; all take a hit. Muncie is used as a microcosm of America, and a lot of these things hit home here in Gainesville as well.

Since 2002, all our major institutions have suffered a loss of confidence, according to polling data, except for organized religion and HMOs. But their gains were so paltry, and they started from so far down, that it could scarcely be considered a "win."

Conspicuously missing from these polls is God Himself. I would love to have seen how the Almighty fared in comparison to the rest. After all, you can think little of your church leaders while still loving the Lord...I think.

This could be a great opportunity to reach the lost, who are running out of human options. All around us the case is made that mankind is sinful and self-absorbed. But they now have to make the leap that they are no better, and that they need a Savior as well.

May 3rd is the National Day of Prayer. One of the things we need to do is to examine ourselves, and make sure we are worth listening to. After all, if we don't walk the talk, we are just another class of hucksters who don't use our own products.

2 Chronicles 7:13“If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, 14and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

The Easter Tebow

I heard that Tim Tebow was preaching at a church in Texas this Easter Sunday. I was not surprised. And I was not surprised by many of the comments. They were mostly positive. Some of the negative ones had to do with the people who were just coming to church to see a celebrity.

I have to admit that I wish I could be there and hear his message. I recently read his book, and I find him to be a very inspiring young man. There are a lot of Christian athletes in the NFL, the NBA, and in Major League Baseball. But there is something special about Tim. He just seems so GOOD.

I am not casting stones at other famous people who believe in Jesus, but they seem like most Christians: decent enough people, but only in an above average kind of way. I think of myself this way, too. I am a good man, but I am good in the way of most decent people. Tim Tebow seems to be transcendentally good. He's not perfect, but he is so far above most decent people, that it's noteworthy.

If you are a gifted millionaire athlete and you "give back to the community," that is the decent thing to do. But Tim Tebow has been doing good, ministering to the poor in the Philippines and visiting sick kids in hospitals since he was a teenager. He seems to have no skeletons in his closet.

Today, he is loved and hated, lauded and criticized in public, and scrutinized as no other athlete, or celebrity, that I can remember. And he never complains. He does his job. He is a great sport about all of it.

He is not only gifted in ways that few of us are. He also cultivates that Fruit of the Spirit that few of us do. If you are unfamiliar with it, here it is from the 5th chapter of the Book of Galatians:

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³  gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

All Christians will claim to have love, and that can be manifested in many ways. But as you go down the line, it starts to get specific, and some of us end up settling for 4 out of 9 or some other fraction. And some of us say, "Patience just isn't my gift."

But patience is not a gift. It's a FRUIT of the Spirit. It is evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. Likewise, faithfulness, which we may also call reliability, is not a gift of the Spirit. It is evidence of your relationship with Jesus. And He said,

^{Mathew 7:16} You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

What follows is sobering...

²¹  “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²²  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ ²³  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

 So, you can have gifts, but bad fruit. It would be a good idea to examine the fruit in your own life. I have been doing this, and it is leading to some active pruning. I complain too much to have joy. I am too critical to have kindness. I get angry too easily to have peace. I could go on.

The good news is that the Fruit of the Spirit is available if I will repent and change my ways. I have to stop stifling the work of the Holy Spirit, and start letting Him teach me how to respond to life. And if I do that, I will be different. I will be transcendent. And my prayers will carry a lot more weight than they do now.

Have a Happy Easter. Prepare to begin your walk with the Lord, again.

Praying: Is that all?

People want to do something that matters. I understand that. We all want to do something that makes a difference. But when someone says that they will pray for you when you need help, it is natural for the recipient to be a little disappointed. It reminds me of the day that Peter and John met the beggar at the gate called Beautiful.

Acts 3:1Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. 3Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. 4And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” 5And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 6But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” 7And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. 8And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9And all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

I can imagine the lame beggar going from glad to sad when Peter told him he had no silver or gold.  But he was over the moon with what the disciple of Jesus had given him: a miracle of healing.

Of course, this is an easy call. Obviously, this was better than doing a simple bit of charitable giving. But what about the prayers of the saints that are for something less flashy, or something that is deferred. We probably roll our eyes and say, "Thanks for nothin," under our breath.


Doing good works is important. So are miracles. And I wonder how much of either takes place without the anonymous intercessor doing battle with the forces of wickedness in the heavenly realms, or those prayers that have been stored up in heaven like the great bowls in Revelation 5:8.

"And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints."

God does want us to act. But I want God to act even more.

Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. Psalm 127:1

So, is God really pleased with a bunch of praying do-nothings?

 John 6:28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

People who desire to know God and follow Jesus are always wondering what sort of deed will please the Father. It is so hard to understand that God already loves us, just as we are. And it's even harder to grasp that He wants to provide for us even the things we want to give to Him as an offering.

I must confess to you that I have been a feeble prayer practitioner for many years. I have spent a lot of time trying to glorify God with my own goodness and cleverness and sincerity. And now He has my attention. I get it. I can do nothing without Him. I can produce nothing outside of Him. Everything I do is vanity. I must humble myself and ask Him to pour out His Spirit and then simply declare how amazing He is.


And so, it is hard to get people to pray and seek God because it means that we really don't have anything better to do. Of course, when He tells us to do something, like when He told Ananias to pray for Saul that he might receive his sight, you jump right on it. But I will bet you that God spoke to Ananias because they were in the habit of communicating.

Acts 9:10Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” 11And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, 12and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” 13But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. 14And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” 15But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. 16For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” 17So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; 19and taking food, he was strengthened.

You be the judge. Ananias was a praying man.

The Leap of Faith

I got this video from another Vineyard church in another city because I was trying to get up to speed with what my own church is doing. Even though my wife and I have a small group, and our church is doing the Leap of Faith through its small groups, I was still sort of distracted and not quite grasping what this was all about.

Well, it seems to me like it's similar to Operation Rolling Thunder in that it's a plan for creating revival in your city through prayer and outreach, except in the Leap of Faith, the outreach seems a little better defined. Therefore, I am for it!

For a look at what it is we are doing here at the Vineyard in Gainesville, FL, go to our website and give the user manual a quick read!

Pray for Dads, and the people who need them

Last week I watched the movie, Courageous, with people from my small group, and we were all impressed. Although it was a clarion call for dads to step up and be Godly fathers, it also makes us aware that good dads are in short supply.

Over the years I have been involved in children's ministry, and we always had a few kids with absent fathers. Although I know I was probably a good role model for those kids, I really don't think I gave enough of myself to them. They needed me more than a couple of hours per week on Sunday.

Of course, I was still raising my own kids. Isn't that more important? Am I really the dead-beat dad's child's keeper? Well, now my kids are raised, they need me a little bit less (maybe). And as I walk my dog around the block every day I have to pass a house with a bunch of kids, a mom, and a revolving cast of men. It looks complicated, and like a lot of work. I am praying about this.

Anyway, we all see these situations and just walk by. Is this what we are called to do? By all means, get your own house in order. But then what? Let us pray for these broken families that are leaving wounded children behind. We all know some.

The state of our souls

A few weeks ago, when the President gave the State of the Union address I did not watch it. I follow the news pretty closely and did not anticipate learning anything new. And, I must confess, I thought it would only make me mad.

I really struggle with my attitude toward our national leaders, and our local leaders. The Bible tells us, "First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." (1 Timothy 2:1-4)

So, when my wife and I were in our car, listening to the local Christian radio station, I was quite arrested by the radio announcer praying for our country and its leaders, with all sincerity. In spite of my dissatisfaction with our local and national state of governing affairs, I was struck with the idea of how much worse things might be without those who are praying. Who knows what evils are being held back by the relative few who are carrying this burden of prayer?

According to Paul's letter to Timothy, the goal of those prayers is, "that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity." Our godliness and dignity are particularly tested because we, as citizens of a democratic republic, share the burden of governing through our own Constitutionally protected participation. After all, Ephesus and Palestine were not "red states" that voted for Caesar. You couldn't harbor ill will toward your neighbor for voting for a particular bloody dictator.

For this reason, we are not just praying for our leaders here in America. We are also praying for our neighbors, who we want to be saved. We must keep our own souls from becoming soiled with a bad attitude toward people with offensive bumper stickers. On the bright side, at least our fellow citizens are wearing labels that may help us to pray for them while they are in traffic!

Let us be able to report that it is well with our souls, regardless of what is going on around us. It makes us able and likely to pray in our nation's time of need.

Praying and speaking out

In this past week, an organization that raises money to fight breast cancer was publicly ridiculed for withdrawing funding from Planned Parenthood, and called "bullies" for doing so. In other words, they were bullied into putting that money back.

Right on the heels of this story, it came out that Catholic hospitals will be forced to offer abortions as part of their employees' health care coverage. The Catholic Church, however, is digging in and promising to fight this to the end.

Let us pray for out Catholic brothers and sisters, that they will remain steadfast. And let us also consider doing what we can do to help in a tangible way. We should also speak out against this government hostility to our values and against the lives of the innocent.

If any of you are ambivalent about this issue, please take the time to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to help you clarify the difference between right and wrong, good and evil.

If you think that someone should help pay for abortions for "poor" women as a part of "contraception" or "family planning," ask yourself a question. Would you give money in an offering taken up to pay for Sister Lulabell's abortion?

As horrible a thought as that is, keep in mind that when the government decides to do these things, it does so without your permission. Nobody is "asking" you to do this. But the politicians who run this grisly machine will be asking for your vote in November.