Notes of Faith July 6, 2021

He has filled them with skill. — Exodus 35:35 JB

You were born prepacked. God looked at your entire life, determined your assignment, and gave you the tools to do the job.

Before traveling, you do something similar. You consider the demands of the journey and pack accordingly. Cold weather? Bring a jacket. Business meeting? Carry the laptop. Time with grandchildren? Better take some sneakers and pain medication.

God did the same with you. Joe will research animals… install curiosity. Meagan will lead a private school… add an extra dose of management. I need Eric to comfort the sick… include a healthy share of compassion. Denalyn will marry Max… instill a double portion of patience.

Each of us is an original. — Galatians 5:26 MSG

God packed you on purpose for a purpose. Is this news to you? If so, you may be living out of the wrong bag.

I once grabbed the wrong bag at the airport. The luggage looked like mine. Same size. Same material. Same color.

Thrilled that it had emerged early from the baggage catacombs, I yanked it off the carousel and headed to the hotel. One glance inside, however, and I knew I’d made a mistake.

Wrong size, style, and gender. (Besides, my pants would be too short with stiletto heels.)

What would you do in such a case? You could make do with what you have. Cram your body into the tight clothes, deck out in other-gender jewelry, and head out for your appointments. But would you? Only at risk of job loss and jail time.

No, you’d hunt down your own bag. Issue an all-points bulletin. Call the airport. Call the airlines. The taxi service.

The FBI. Hire bloodhounds and private investigators. You’d try every possible way to find the person who can’t find her suitcase and is wondering what gooney bird failed to check the nametag.

No one wants to live out of someone else’s bag.

Then why do we? Odds are, someone has urged a force fit into clothes not packed for you.

Parents do. The dad puts an arm around his young son.

“Your great-granddad was a farmer. Your granddad was a farmer. I’m a farmer. And you, my son, will someday inherit the farm.”

A teacher might. She warns the young girl who wants to be a stay-at-home mom, “Don’t squander your skills. With your gifts you could make it to the top. The professional world is the way to go.”

Church leaders assign luggage from the pulpit. “God seeks world-changing, globetrotting missionaries. Jesus was a missionary. Do you want to please your Maker? Follow Him into the holy vocation. Spend your life on foreign soil.”

Sound counsel or poor advice? That depends on what God packed in the person’s bag.

A bequeathed farm blesses the individualist and physically active. But what if God fashioned the farmer’s son with a passion for literature or medicine? Work outside the home might be a great choice for some, but what if God gave the girl a singular passion for kids and homemaking?

Those wired to learn languages and blaze trails should listen up to sermons promoting missionary service. But if foreign cultures frustrate you while predictability invigorates you, would you be happy as a missionary? No, but you would contribute to these mind-numbing statistics:

Unhappiness on the job affects one-fourth of the American work force.1

• One-fourth of employees view their jobs as the number one stressor in their lives.2

• Seven out of ten people are neither motivated nor competent to perform the basics of their job.3

• Forty-three percent of employees feel anger toward their employers often or very often as a result of feeling overworked.4

Feel the force of these figures. You wonder why workbound commuters seem so cranky? “Fully 70 percent of us go to work without much enthusiasm or passion.”5 Most wage earners spend forty of their eighty waking weekday hours trudging through the streets of Dullsville.

Such misery can’t help but sour families, populate bars, and pay the salaries of therapists. If 70 percent of us dread Mondays, dream of Fridays, and slug through the rest of the week, won’t our relationships suffer? Won’t our work suffer?

Won’t our health suffer? One study states, “Problems at work are more strongly associated with health complaints than any other life stressor — more so than even financial problems or family problems.”6

Such numbers qualify as an epidemic. An epidemic of commonness. Someone sucked the sparkle out of our days.

A stale fog has settled over our society. Week after week of energy-sapping sameness. Walls painted gray with routine.

Commuters dragging their dread to the office. Buildings packed with people working to live rather than living to work.

Boredom. Mediocre performance.

The cure? God’s prescription begins with unpacking your bags. You exited the womb uniquely equipped. David states it this way:

My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be. — Psalm 139:15-16 NIV

Spelunk these verses with me. David emphasizes the pronoun “you” as if to say “You, God, and You alone.” “The secret place” suggests a hidden and safe place, concealed from intruders and evil. Just as an artist takes a canvas into a locked studio, so God took you into His hidden chamber where you were “woven together.” Moses used the same word to describe the needlework of the tabernacle’s inner curtains — stitched together by skillful hands for the highest purpose (see Exodus 26:1; Exodus 36:8; Exodus 38:9). The Master Weaver selected your temperament threads, your character texture, the yarn of your personality — all before you were born. God did not drop you into the world utterly defenseless and empty-handed. You arrived fully equipped.

“All the days ordained . . .” Day of birth and day of death.

Days of difficulty and victory. What motivates you, what exhausts you… God authored — and authors — it all.

Other translations employ equally intriguing verbs:

You cannot be anything you want to be.

But you can be everything God wants you to be.

You… knit me together. (Psalm 139:13 NLT)
I was woven together in the dark of the womb. (Psalm 139:15 NLT)
I was… intricately and curiously wrought [as if embroidered with various colors]. (Psalm 139:15 AMP)

My hands have never embroidered a stitch, but my mom’s have. In pre-dishwasher days when mothers drafted young sons into kitchen duty to dry dishes, I grew too acquainted with her set of embroidered dishtowels. She had embellished sturdy white cloths with colorful threads: seven towels, each bearing the name of a different day. Her artisan skills rendered common towels uncommonly unique.

God did the same with you! How would you answer this multiple-choice question?

I am

_______ a coincidental collision of particles.

_______ an accidental evolution of molecules.

_______ soulless flotsam in the universe.

_______ “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14), “skillfully wrought” (Psalm 139:15).

Don’t dull your life by missing this point: You are more than statistical chance, more than a marriage of heredity and society, more than a confluence of inherited chromosomes and childhood trauma. More than a walking weather vane whipped about by the cold winds of fate. Thanks to God, you have been “sculpted from nothing into something”. — Psalm 139:15 MSG

Envision Rodin carving The Thinker out of a rock. The sculptor chisels away a chunk of stone, shapes the curve of a kneecap, sands the forehead…

Now envision God doing the same: sculpting the way you are before you even were, engraving you with

an eye for organization,
an ear for fine music,
a heart that beats for justice and fairness, a mind that understands quantum physics, the tender fingers of a caregiver, or
the strong legs of a runner.

He made you you-nique.

Secular thinking, as a whole, doesn’t buy this. Secular society sees no author behind the book, no architect behind the house, no purpose behind or beyond life. Society sees no bag and certainly never urges you to unpack one. It simply says, “You can be anything you want to be.”

Be a butcher if you want to, a sales rep if you like. Be an ambassador if you really care. You can be anything you want to be. If you work hard enough. But can you? If God didn’t pack within you the meat sense of a butcher, the people skills of a salesperson, or the world vision of an ambassador, can you be one? An unhappy, dissatisfied one perhaps. But a fulfilled one? No. Can an acorn become a rose, a whale fly like a bird, or lead become gold?

Absolutely not. You cannot be anything you want to be. But you can be everything God wants you to be.

Søren Kierkegaard echoed the teaching of Scripture when he wrote, “At each man’s birth there comes into being an eternal vocation for him, expressly for him. To be true to himself in relation to this eternal vocation is the highest thing a man can practice.”7

God never prefabs or mass-produces people. No slapdash shaping. “I make all things new,” he declares (Revelation 21:5). He didn’t hand you your granddad’s bag or your aunt’s life; he personally and deliberately packed you. When you live out of the bag God gave, you discover an uncommon joy.

When you do the most what you do the best, you put a smile on God’s face. What could be better than that?

1. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1998.

2.National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, “Stress at Work,” 

3. Arthur F. Miller Jr. with William Hendricks, The Power of Uniqueness: How to Become Who You Really Are (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999), 21.

4. Ellen Galinsky, Stacy S. Kim, and James T. Bond, Feeling Overworked: When Work Becomes Too Much (New York: Families and Work Institute, 2001), 11.

*See blog for full list of attributions 

Excerpted from Cure for the Common Life by Max Lucado, copyright Max Lucado.

You are you-nique! What do you feel made to do? What did God pack in your bag?

You were fearfully and wonderfully made from before birth to answer the call of God for all eternity.  What do you hear Him saying to you today?

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith July 5, 2021

All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. —
Acts 2:44-47 

Scripture makes it clear through commands, promises, and examples that the Christian life was never intended to be lived alone. Those who have received Christ are now wired through their new spiritual DNA to live in community. We must have a band of believers to walk alongside us, all pointed in the same direction — toward the Father. Only collectively are we the body of Christ. We need each other to help us become like Jesus and consistently model his life.  

KEY QUESTION: How do I develop healthy relationships with others?  

In Genesis 1 and other Scripture passages, we see the Trinity is, in itself, a community. Three persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — who are so intense and complete in their unity that they make up one essence. We are made in his image to experience this same community. Separate in entity, one in unity. The apostle Paul reminds us of our common bond:  

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. — Ephesians 4:4-6 

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.
— Philippians 2:1-2 

As you have read the accounts of Jesus’ calling His disciples at the beginning of His ministry, have you ever thought about His recruitment style? What was His end goal? Since He is God, He could easily have walked down the beach and assembled an army of 12,000 men to overthrow the government. He could have called together 1,200 and given them amazing powers. But He did nothing of the sort. In fact, He didn’t even call 120. Essentially, Jesus formed the very first “small group,” as they’re called in the church today. He launched His ministry with 12 men.

He put together a tiny community of very diverse and, frankly, mostly unimpressive followers. Why? Because Jesus wasn’t planning a coup or forming a cult; rather, He was building a community.  

He didn’t call those He chose based on résumé, IQ, or brawn. The fact that His original small group formed the church that still lives today shows He chose wisely as He prepared a body of believers to carry out His work — which swept through the known world after His ascension into Heaven.  

KEY IDEA: I fellowship with Christians to accomplish God’s purposes in my life, in the life of others, and in the world.  

The book of Acts contains a passage that beautifully displays the simple power of community to which we are called, while also highlighting the critical commitment we must make as individuals:  

In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!” 

Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them. 

Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive. This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. — Acts 9:36-42 

Tabitha was a widow who had become a vital part of the body of believers, as she was “always doing good and helping the poor” — so much so that the people missed her deeply and sent messengers to summon Peter, hoping he could do something. Miraculously, through the power of God, Peter knelt and prayed, and Tabitha came back to life!  

It is important to see that the degree to which Tabitha had given her life to biblical community was, in the end, the very motivation of Peter to extend her life. She had made herself so integral to these fellow believers that they wouldn’t take death as the final answer. This account of a widow who lived sacrificially provides inspiration for us to graft ourselves deeply into a body of believers to make this kind of difference.  

To properly define biblical community, look no further than the last few syllables in the phrase — “unity.” This is both the point and practice of the concept.  

Christ’s vision is that you will become an integral part of His grand body of believers, ushering in His kingdom around the globe by being grafted into the lives of a local body, making a difference right where you are. The ministry you do for a neighbor truly does impact the world as all believers join in obeying Christ. This is a sort of “one for all, and all for one” battle cry.  

The practice of biblical community reinforces both our belief in our identity in Christ individually and our belief in the church to, together, be His hands and feet to the world.  

KEY APPLICATION: What difference does this make in the way I live?  

“You become who you hang out with.” 

“Show me your friends, and I’ll show you your future.” 

These are just two of a number of catchphrases that describe the impact of those with whom we spend the most time. The book of Proverbs contains many verses that attach the impact of our relationships to the development of our identity.  

We fellowship with other believers to keep our relationship with God strong.  

Biblical community will, first, keep our vertical connection — our relationship with God — strong. Nothing will hold us accountable and encourage us to follow Jesus quite like other Christ followers. The effect of us joining in the mission to “spur one another on toward love and good deeds” is powerful.  (Hebrews 10:24) 

We fellowship with other believers to keep our relationships with others strong.  

Biblical community is the optimum way to keep our horizontal relationships on the right and righteous path. Fellow Christians can help us strengthen our ties to those in the church and outside the church. We can together encourage and build each other up inside the body, while praying for and challenging each other to reach out to those who don’t know Christ.

We fellowship with other believers to accomplish God’s will on earth.  

If you were going to rescue a person who had fallen off a steep cliff, you would want to be tied to as many people up on the mountain as possible, supporting you and holding you as you attempt rescue. As we minister and reach out to those outside the community of faith, it is necessary to stay tethered together for optimum success, lest we also fall.  

There are days we desperately need a good hug to keep going, and other days we need a swift kick in the pants to get back to where we should be. Friends who love God, and love us for who we are, know exactly when and how to do the right thing for us. In the book of Proverbs, Solomon writes, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend” (Proverbs 27:6 NKJV).  

Biblical community is the glue holding us together, through which we have opportunity to grow in favor with God and to keep our relationships right with others. Are you struggling in your relationship with God? Do you find yourself simply wanting to love Him more than you do? Are you finding yourself in continual dysfunction with those around you? Or do you desire to strengthen your relationships to a greater degree? Connecting to, submitting with, and walking alongside brothers and sisters in Christ can get you on the right track, while also keeping you on the path to God’s truth and His will.  

Excerpted from Think, Act, Be Like Jesus by Randy Frazee, copyright Randy Frazee. 

We were made for community! We were not made to struggle through life alone. Are you involved in a fellowship of believers who know you, love you, and speak into your life?  Yes, you are! 

Heb 10:24-25
 let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith July 4, 2021

Founding Father and one of the three authors of the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755–July 12, 1804), wrote this concerning the nature of liberty:  

The fundamental source of all your errors, sophisms, and false reasonings is a total ignorance of the natural rights of mankind. Were you once to become acquainted with these, you could never entertain a thought that all men are not, by nature, entitled to a parity of privileges. You would be convinced that natural liberty is a gift of the beneficent Creator to the whole human race; and that civil liberty is founded in that and cannot be wrested from any people, without the most manifest violation of justice.  

And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. 

— Galatians 4:6–7 

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me

To preach the gospel to the poor; 
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, 
To set at liberty those who are oppressed.” — Luke 4:18 

For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” — Galatians 5:13–14 

“To Live Is Christ”  

The apostle Paul’s letter to believers in Philippi is a note of thanks for their help during his time of need. He also lovingly urged the members of the church there to center their actions and thoughts on the pursuit of the Person and power of Christ. Paul’s central point was simple: only in Christ are real unity and genuine joy possible. With Christ as our model of humility and service, we believers can enjoy a oneness of purpose, attitude, goal, and labor. Paul then reminded the Philippians that their ultimate citizenship is in Heaven.  

However, the words of Adlai Stevenson (1900–1965), who served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 1961–1965, remind us of the privilege of being an American citizen:  

When an American says that he loves his country, he means not only that he loves the New England hills, the prairies glistening in the sun, the wide and rising plains, the great mountains, and the sea. He means that he loves an inner air, an inner light in which freedom lives and in which a man can draw  the breath of self-respect.  

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteous- ness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. — Philippians 3:8–10 

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the up- ward call of God in Christ Jesus. — Philippians 3:13–14 

For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly. — Psalm 84:11 

Excerpted from God’s Promises for the American Patriot by Dr. Richard G. Lee and Jack Countryman, copyright Dr. Richard G. Lee and Jack Countryman. 

Happy Independence Day! Be grateful for the freedom Jesus came to bring us! 

He brought us freedom from the power of sin and death providing salvation and eternal life!  Believe in Jesus and be truly free!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith July 2, 2021

Article by David Mathis
Executive Editor, desiringGod.org

The Best-Known Hymn in History
Why We Keep Singing ‘The Doxology’

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise him all creatures here below;
Praise him above, ye heav’nly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

These 25 words, known to many around the world today as “The Doxology,” comprise what is likely the single best-known verse of all Christian hymnology and poetry.

On the surface, these lyrics are surprisingly modest and memorable. Few of us remember first hearing them, and few recall straining to learn them. Yet, as simple and accessible as these four lines are, Christians have been singing them now for more than three centuries. Because simple doesn’t mean shallow. Plain does not exclude profound. Which is one of the striking truths at the heart of our faith — and one of the great evidences for its truth — from the Gospel of John, to the early creeds, to the most widely known and enduring lyrics we share with the global church today.

“The greatest realities about God and his world can be captured in the humblest of terms.”

The greatest realities about God and his world, when understood aright, can be captured in the humblest of terms, even as they are bottomless in their depth. And yet we find an enduring quality in “The Doxology” absent from many of our passing modern choruses. Substance hides in the brevity and singability. Though short, the hymn is a coherent progression, rather than a loosely connected attempt at memorable phrases, and turns on the profound theological truths of God’s aseity and generosity, and God as Trinity.

Morning, Evening, Midnight

Thomas Ken (1637–1711), who crafted these plain and profound words in the late 1600s, wrote them as the final and “doxological” stanza of three hymns he published, first for students at Winchester College at Oxford University.

Ken, who was an Anglican minister, royal chaplain, and eventually bishop, first penned verses for his students at Winchester to sing upon arising in the morning, and at bedtime each evening. Later he added a third hymn, to rehearse at midnight, were students to have trouble sleeping. Each hymn was a confession of faith, and an invocation of divine blessing, tailored to its particular moment of the day. And each hymn ended with the same 25-word doxological verse in praise of God, three in one.

Ken’s hymns have by no means been lost today. However, it is his final verse — our beloved “Doxology” — that has endured, so well-known is it that it needs no placeholder in our hymnbooks. Christians the world over simply know it, almost without fail — both Ken’s timeless words and the tune, which Ken did not write, but which much later began to accompany the song. The tune, called Old One-Hundredth, originally designed to accompany the singing of Psalm 134, and later Psalm 100, first appeared in the Geneva Psalter in 1551 and was written by Louis Bourgeois (1510–1561), who served as head of choirs and music, alongside famous pastor and theologian John Calvin.

Source of All Good

What, then, has been the power of these 25 words? Why have they endured, and for many become one of the most basic and repeated expressions of the Christian faith?

For one, our God is indeed the one from whom all genuine blessings flow. He himself is the Blessed One (1 Timothy 1:11; 6:15), the only one in whom is fullness of joy and pleasures forever (Psalm 16:11). Yet, unshakably happy as he is, he is not a God inclined to keep to himself but gives generously. He is happy enough to be outgoing.

God delights to give, to overflow with joy, to bless his creatures and share his own happiness in them and then with them. He is the giver of “every good gift and every perfect gift” (James 1:17). “From him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:36).

Three in One

This blessed God is also sovereign over all. He is both the singular source of all true good, and he is the Almighty. He is the Creator and Sustainer of all nature, and all the heavenly hosts above, and “all creatures here below.” Here and there, above and below, he is God and “does all that he pleases” (Psalm 115:3). As the great humbled king of Babylon learned to declare in his own doxology, our God “does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand” (Daniel 4:35).

“God is glorified in our heartfelt expression of praise. God made us for praise. He made us for doxology.”

Still, this God, utterly complete in goodness and power, has revealed himself to his people. He is one and three — one God, three persons, working in history to redeem and restore his people from their sin and rebellion. He is a God three times for us in a great salvation, which is arranged by the Father, accomplished by the Son, and applied by the Spirit.

And so, we praise him as three in one, and one in three, just as we baptize “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19), and pray with the apostle, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14).

Our Joy, His Glory

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. “The Doxology” has served as a ready-made form, and occasion, for Christians to connect the very purposes of God in all he does with our heart’s deepest desire. God made our hearts to ache for happiness. And he made the world, and us, to glorify him. And in this act of praise (which “The Doxology” directs and assists), our souls both rejoice and go public in expressing their delight in him.

God is glorified in our heartfelt expression of praise. God made us for praise. He made us for doxology. He made the world that he might be praised. And these simple yet profound words serve that simple yet most profound human act of devotion — and all the more when we join our voices and sing together.

Are you singing with me?  What a great way to start the day!  May you be blessed as you begin this and every day praising God!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith July 1, 2021

Mr. Risk-Taker

In the work God has given me through the years, I’ve had to make a lot of difficult decisions. Left to myself, I might have erred too often on the side of safety and security. But there’s a man in the Bible who inspires me to keep stepping out and taking risks with wholehearted confidence in the Lord.

I’m convinced you’ll be able to go forward — unafraid to take risks — if you can embody his spirit.

That man is Caleb. Do you know him? Many people don’t know a great deal about Caleb because he only occupies thirty verses in the Bible. But what verses they are! What a man of faith! In this chapter, I want to show you how this Old Testament hero left a legacy of courage for you — a powerful example of risk-taking, future-grabbing grace.

In the book of Numbers, Moses sent twelve men — Joshua, Caleb, and ten others — as an advance party to reconnoiter the promised land. These men left the safety of their encampment, forded the Jordan River, and slipped into Canaan. Their mission: to make notes of the land, observe the enemy, study the fortifications, estimate the population, and bring back enough intelligence to aid Moses in planning the coming invasion of the land God had promised the Israelites. The Bible tells the story this way:

So they went up and explored the land from the wilderness of Zin… Going north, they passed through the Negev and arrived at Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai — all descendants of Anak — lived. — Numbers 13:21-22 NLT

The city of Hebron had been the ancestral home of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but now it was inhabited by an evil tribe of huge warriors known as the descendants of Anak. The sight of these warriors terrified some of the spies.

The scouts quickly harvested some pomegranates and figs from the orchards of Canaan, and two of them lugged back an enormous cluster of grapes, carrying it on a pole between them. Imagine the excitement when the spies returned to Kadesh Barnea! Their mission had taken forty days, during which no one knew if they had survived or perished. Day after day, sentries at Israel’s parameters watched for them. Now they were back — all of them safe and sound.

But they were not united.

How to Live Life in the Safe Zone

In professional football, NFL coaches study the smallest statistic to find every possible advantage. But according to author John Tierney and research psychologist Roy F. Baumeister, many coaches make the same simple mistake week after week. It happens on fourth-down-and-short situations, when their team only needs a yard or two to keep possession of the ball. Nine times out of ten, instead of the riskier decision to try to win by going for another score, the coach settles for trying not to lose and sends in the kicker to punt the ball to the other team.

Statistics show that trying for the goal and the win is actually the better strategy. So why do coaches punt on fourth down? Tierney and Baumeister concluded there’s another factor involved. They call it “the power of bad.”

Simply put, our brains are wired to give more importance to negative events than positive ones. So “bad” events influence our decision-making more than positive ones. That means no matter how much we want to succeed, avoiding “bad” events can easily become our primary goal.

Back to the coach. He knows if he chooses the risky play and fails, and the other team goes on to score, the fans and press will be unforgiving. Sportscasters will denounce him as reckless and use phrases like loss of momentum and the turning point in the game. If his team loses by a narrow margin, that failed fourth-down attempt will be blamed for the loss and replayed endlessly afterward.

That image of potential failure is hard to overcome. So the coach plays it safe. The fear of failure has lost many a game.1

Have you ever heard these names: Shammua, Shaphat, Igal, Palti, Gaddiel, Gaddi, Ammiel, Sethur, Nahbi, and Geuel? No? These are the names of the ten spies who risked their lives on an espionage mission only to lose heart, doubt God’s power, and miss God’s will (Numbers  13:4-15). They came back so discouraged they disheartened the people of Israel.

Those men made three terrible mistakes. They fell into three traps you and I must avoid at all costs.

Maximize the Opposition

God wants you to go forward. He has adventures, challenges, victories, and meaningful tasks for you. As you look at the bridge to your future, are you looking at the ropes or at the holes? Jean Hanson wrote, “If you’re one of those people that are afraid to take calculated risks, worry about every little thing, and have a hard time making decisions in your life, it’s time to take a break and do a little work on yourself… I learned a long time ago that being timid and conservative will get you nowhere.”2

In Numbers 13, the ten spies magnified every threat. They looked at the “bridge” God had designed for the future, and all they saw were the holes. The Bible says,

But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” — Numbers 13:31-33

Notice all the holes the ten unbelieving spies fixated on:

• We are not able to go up against these people.

• They are stronger than we are.

• The land devours its inhabitants.

• The men are of great stature.

• The men are giants.

• They are from Anak, the land of giants.

• We are like grasshoppers in our eyes.

• We are like grasshoppers in their eyes.

If you propose to move forward in life, especially if you aspire to leadership, you’ll have to learn what it means to take risks — to live by faith. Scripture says,

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. — 
2 Timothy 1:7 NLT

 Whenever we compare ourselves to the opposition, instead of comparing the opposition to God, we can get into a state of fear. If that’s a pattern in your life, the first step forward is recognizing it.

When Jesus left Galilee to travel to Jerusalem near the end of His life,

His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. — Luke 9:53

Jesus knew the Cross awaited, yet there was no looking back for our Lord, no comparing, and no fear. His way forward was clear and He faced it head on.

You must do the same. Recognize the risk and properly evaluate the opposition. Then, when you have an inkling of God’s will for your life, set your face toward it and go forward.

Minimize the Opportunities

While the ten spies maximized the opposition, they also minimized the glorious opportunities that lay ahead of them. They only had a dim perception of what God had in store for them; they believed in their hearts that God was setting them up for destruction, and their unbelief was contagious.

You can read it for yourself in Numbers 14:

So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, ‘If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?’” — Numbers 14:1-3

Their perception of God would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic. After all the Lord had done for them! He delivered them from slavery! Parted the wide waters of the Red Sea! Accompanied them with cloud and fire! Gave them His Law! Provided food and drink in the wilderness! Promised to make them a great nation in a land flowing with milk and honey!

How could they so quickly forget?

More importantly, how can we? When we forget all the blessings God has provided for us in the past, we’re apt to minimize His ability to guide us in the future. We may even dread the future and where we think God is leading us. If so, we’re exactly where the devil wants us: in a place of avoiding risks and playing it safe. Oh, we of little faith.

What I’m telling you is this: don’t minimize the opportunities God has for you in the future. Don’t put all your efforts into avoiding loss or turn your face away from the future He has planned for you. Instead, go forward with confidence and courage to do the task He has set for you.

1. John Tierney and Roy F. Baumeister, The Power of Bad: How the Negativity Effect Rules Us, and How We Can Rule It (New York: Penguin, 2019), 11–12.

2. Hanson, “Worry and Fear Kept Me From Taking Action.”

Excerpted from Forward by Dr. David Jeremiah, copyright David P. Jeremiah.

Fear can keep us trapped, hold us back, cause us to shrink down instead of step out in faith. Today, let’s pray for faith and boldness like Mr. Risk-Taker, Caleb! Remembering the great things God has done for us in the past will give us courage and strength to go for it!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith June 30, 2021

Article by Jon Bloom
Staff writer, desiringGod.org

In story after story, book after book, the Bible reminds us that no one is immune from deep, disorienting spiritual wrestlings. It’s a testament to the Bible’s unvarnished honesty, a reason we find it intuitively trustworthy, that it records the most earnest pursuers of God — the most prayerful, the most diligent, the most theologically educated — experiencing extended seasons of spiritual darkness, disturbing doubts, and even faith crises.

One of my favorite examples is Asaph. If you’re familiar with the Psalms, you likely recognize him, since he’s named as the composer of Psalms 50 and 73–83.

But Asaph was far more than a poet. He was among the most prominent spiritual leaders of his day. King David appointed him as one of the three chief Levitical worship leaders to oversee all the vocal and instrumental aspects of the tabernacle ministry (1 Chronicles 6:31–46; 15:16–17). Which meant Asaph was immersed in all that related to the worship of God. He carried significant responsibilities and was a well-known public spiritual leader.

And he had a profound struggle with doubt. He almost lost his hope in God. As a poet, he captured his struggle, and what delivered him, in verse. We know it as Psalm 73.

God Is Good to the Pure in Heart

Asaph was highly literate and well-educated. In his day, few would have had a deeper knowledge of the extant Hebrew Scriptures. And as a chief singer in an oral culture, he would have had most, if not all, of Israel’s corporate worship songs memorized. Therefore, he would have known:

from the song of Moses that God’s “work is perfect, for all his ways are justice” (Deuteronomy 32:4);

from the song of Hannah that God “will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness” (1 Samuel 2:9); and

from the songs of his king and friend, David, that “the Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed” (Psalm 103:6), and “the Lord loves justice; he will not forsake his saints. . . . But the children of the wicked shall be cut off” (Psalm 37:28).

Such descriptions of God’s character were foundational to Israel’s (and therefore Asaph’s) understanding of God. The great stories from Israel’s history reinforced the belief that “truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart” (Psalm 73:1), for he “lifts up the humble; [but] he casts the wicked to the ground” (Psalm 147:6).

Foundation Begins to Crumble

However, even as Asaph led others in celebrating these foundational beliefs, his personal foundation was crumbling. He could feel his spiritual feet slipping (Psalm 73:2). Because as he sang of God’s goodness and justice, he also “saw the prosperity of the wicked,” which seemed to tell a different story (Psalm 73:3).

Given Asaph’s mature age and education, and the kind of reflection his vocation required, this issue wouldn’t have been new to him. But sometimes, due to a confluence of factors, our perspective on reality changes. Questions that didn’t trouble us before, or perhaps only mildly, now greatly disturb us. Seen in this different light, they seem to threaten our foundational beliefs about God. Doubt sets in, and we begin to feel our spiritual feet slipping. Having endured and observed faith crises myself, I’d wager Asaph experienced something like this.

As one who led thousands in singing about how much the Lord loved justice and defended the oppressed, Asaph now found it deeply disturbing that the wicked appeared to live such blessed lives. They weren’t afflicted by disease, had plenty to eat, were free from the anxieties weighing on most people, and saw their wealth increase (Psalm 73:4–7, 12). Besides that, they were cruel, proud, and blasphemous, all with apparent impunity from God’s judgment. And since God didn’t seem to notice or care, everyone else pandered to them (Psalm 73:8–11).

Cynicism Sets In

Asaph, meanwhile, had faithfully “washed [his] hands in innocence,” and what was his reward? He’d been “stricken” all day long “and rebuked every morning” (Psalm 73:13–14). The incongruence didn’t make sense. Where was the lifting up of the humble and the casting down of the wicked? His trust and hope in God’s promises were ebbing, and bitter cynicism was flowing.

“No one is immune from deep, disorienting spiritual wrestlings.”

He wasn’t talking much to others about this struggle for understandable reasons. In his influential position, he could betray the trust of the friends and ministry comrades he loved dearly, and he could potentially damage the faith of the saints he was charged to lead (Psalm 73:15). But inside, he envied the wicked and thought, “All in vain have I kept my heart clean” (Psalm 73:3, 13).

Asaph’s faith was in crisis. And wrestling with his questions and doubts, especially in the context of his visible, public ministry, increasingly felt like “a wearisome task” (Psalm 73:16).

Sight in the Sanctuary

But something happened to Asaph that transformed his doubt-filled cynicism back to faith-filled hope. He didn’t see God finally lift up his humble saints and cast down the proud and wicked. Instead, he once again saw something that changed his perspective on reality, this time during an extraordinary experience he had when he “went into the sanctuary of God” (Psalm 73:17).

Asaph didn’t record the specifics of what occurred, but it’s clear he experienced a transformational moment of encounter. Not unlike the two discouraged, doubting disciples who ignorantly walked with Jesus toward Emmaus until suddenly they saw him (Luke 24:13–35), discouraged, doubting Asaph suddenly saw something that changed everything.

The living and active word of God pierced into his depths and addressed his innermost thoughts (Hebrews 4:12). He encountered the Truth and the Life who gave him the sight of faith that healed his blindness (John 9:39). And the enlightened eyes of his heart told him a different story (Ephesians 1:18).

Suddenly, Asaph saw the wicked he had envied, whose sin appeared to yield such blessings, and he “discerned their end” (Psalm 73:17), the terrible end of “everyone who is unfaithful to [God]” (Psalm 73:27):

Truly you set them in slippery places;
     you make them fall to ruin.
How they are destroyed in a moment,
     swept away utterly by terrors!
Like a dream when one awakes,
     O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
(Psalm 73:18–20)

And he saw the life God had given him, including the strikes and rebukes that appeared to yield such privations, and discerned his end, the glorious end of everyone who is faithful to God:

Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
     you hold my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
     and afterward you will receive me to glory. (Psalm 73:23–24)

Now Asaph saw that God truly is good to the pure in heart; he really will “guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked [he will] cut off in darkness” (1 Samuel 2:9). But when he had sought to discern this reality from what he could observe in this life only, he was blind to it. Perceiving it required looking through the lens of eternity.

Revived Worship

Asaph’s transformed or restored perspective helped him make sense again of what had disturbed him. It also revealed how “brutish and ignorant” he had been in his bitter unbelief (Psalm 73:21–22). And as his revived hope flowed, and his cynicism ebbed away, this chief worship leader worshiped:

Whom have I in heaven but you?
     And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
     but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
(Psalm 73:25–26)

In that powerful moment in the sanctuary of God, God again became Asaph’s sanctuary.

For me it is good to be near God;
     I have made the Lord God my refuge,
     that I may tell of all your works. (Psalm 73:28)

Three Gifts from Asaph

In composing this remarkable psalm (under the Holy Spirit’s inspiration), Asaph gave us a wonderful gift. First, in humbly exposing his personal faith crisis, especially as a prominent, public spiritual leader, he helps us see that no one is immune to significant struggles with doubt.

“Hoping in God in this life only just leads to losing hope in God.”

Second, he shows us that if a confluence of factors affects how we view foundational scriptural truths, calling them into question, we should proceed with great care and patience, since we have good cause to doubt our doubts. As convincing as matters may appear to us at the time, what might actually be fueling our doubts is not a more clear-eyed perspective but a distorted perspective. When Asaph lost sight of eternity, it changed the way he saw everything.

Finally, Asaph, who lived a millennium before Jesus was born, reminds us how essential it is to remember that “here we have no lasting city” (Hebrews 13:14). The biblical life of faith in this world has always been a sojourn to “a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (Hebrews 11:16). It has always been true that if we hope in God in this life only, we should be pitied (1 Corinthians 15:19).

And in fact, as Asaph experienced, hoping in God in this life only leads just to losing hope in God. We might as well just “eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (1 Corinthians 15:32). It is only through the lens of eternity that we see the goodness, justice, and faithfulness of God. And only in the light of eternity do we long to be near God and find him to be our portion forever.

Get into the Psalms.  Listen to God and the heart of the one God uses to express life.  We can learn much, be encouraged, challenged and given hope, for God fulfills His promises. 

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith June 29, 2021

Many decades ago, one of my college friends gave me a small picture that has meant a great deal to me. There is nothing remarkable about it from an artistic standpoint, but it has given me great comfort during some important times nonetheless. In fact, not long ago, I asked the Lord for direction about a difficult situation. I felt very alone.

Confused and unable to discuss my difficulties with others, I got down on my knees in a quiet room and cried out to God to help me, strengthen me, and change the situation that was causing me pain. I asked, “Father, please don’t leave me like this. Show me what to do.” As I was praying, I looked up, and there was that picture. In it, the Lord Jesus is standing behind a young man, pointing out the right course for the fellow to take. The Master’s hand is on his shoulder, as if saying,

I am with you always. — Matthew 28:20

and

This is the way, walk in it. — Isaiah 30:21

In that instant, God showed me that He was in complete control of the situation and that He would help me get to the destination He planned for me. Like the young man in the picture, I needed to stay focused on the path that the Master was pointing me to. And if I would obey Him — even when the road seemed dark — He would certainly bless my faith in Him.

I tell you this because, inevitably, there will be times in your life when you just don’t know what to do. You may feel overwhelmed by the questions that plague you and shut down — becoming paralyzed and unable to move forward.

Or perhaps you lie awake at night, consumed by the details of your circumstances and rehearsing them repeatedly in the hope of making some sense of them. Either way, you feel trapped, because you have no idea how to proceed.

You will feel as if your anxiety is tearing you apart. And that is what fear does — it scatters your thoughts, pulling you in different directions with all the “what ifs.” But this stands in direct opposition to what the Father desires for you.

Jesus said,

I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. — John 16:33

Peace. It is a word that in the Greek means “joined or bound together.” For example, through Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross, we can have peace — or be united — with Him and be fully reconciled to the Father (Colossians 1:20).

However, peace also means an internal sense of harmony and tranquility. Everything within us is calm — confident “that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). It is Jesus’ goal that we would possess the inward composure that comes from having a personal relationship with Him and enjoying His provision.

And He has given us the gift of prayer for this purpose.

Philippians 4:6-7 promises,

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. — Philippians 4:6-7

The word there for guard means to “garrison you about, hem you in, and protect by a military sentinel.” As you exercise the gift of prayer and walk with God, He encompasses you as your Protector and Provider — and no one can break through His defenses. The Father encircles you with His own matchless presence, and the only way anything can get to you is if He Himself opens the door and allows it. That is the greatest security you and I could ever ask for.

Do you need peace in some area? Are you facing a situation that is confusing — that is tearing you apart? Do you lack a clear course of action?

Jesus knows exactly what you really need and how to provide it in the most loving and edifying way possible. He is committed to seeing you become all He created you to be.

Jesus’ hand is on your shoulder, and He’s pointing you in the right direction — the right path for your life. Are you listening to Him and submitting to His guidance? Or are you living your life the way you want to — in your wisdom rather than His?

All of us need a reliable guide to instruct us, and none is more trustworthy than the Savior who laid down His life on our behalf. But perhaps you are unsure — can you truly trust the Lord with the situation that is currently causing you so much stress and anxiety? Here are two reasons why I am confident you can and should.

The first reason trusting Jesus to guide you will bring you peace is because you know He will never lead you astray.

As I said previously, His character is above reproach. His comprehension of all things past, present, and future is beyond compare. He not only has the wisdom to counsel you, but He loves you and always has your best interest at heart. Deuteronomy 31:8 promises,

The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.

God will never mislead or abandon you, no matter what decision you must make. He will direct you in the best path possible if you will follow Him. If that doesn’t give you peace, I don’t know what will!

Second, trusting Jesus to guide you will bring you peace because He is leading you on a road that is unique to you.

This world offers many one-size-fits-all solutions to our problems, and often they do not work or cause even more damage. But Jesus’ knowledge of you is perfect — He understands your personality, strengths, weaknesses, joys, sorrows, needs, temptations, desires, and concerns. Also, He created you for a distinctive purpose. Ephesians 2:10 explains,

We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

When the Lord formed you, there were special assignments He planned for you to accomplish, which are tailor-made for your giftedness and temperament. Your being is satisfied, finds meaning, and is fulfilled in knowing Him and achieving those purposes.

This all means that the road you are to take must be specially crafted for you — specific to your makeup and to the reasons you were created as you were. This is why it is so important for God to set your course — because only your Lord and Savior knows your true potential, how to overcome the dangers ahead, and how to arrive at your destination in the safest and most effective way possible.

And this is why His leadership should give you peace — He knows exactly what you really need and how to provide it in the most loving and edifying way possible. He is invested in you and is committed to seeing you become all He created you to be.

In Psalm 32:8, He promises,

I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.

Will you trust Him to do so? I hope you will. He knows exactly where you are, what you need to do in the situation you’re facing, and how to get you to the wonderful destination He’s planned for you. He is your Protector and Provider and has everything necessary to get you to the goal even when the path seems impossible. Only the Lord can meet those high standards that can ensure your peace.

Pray to Him and trust Him to be your leader in every situation, because surely He will bless you with His peace that transcends understanding as you follow Him.

Lord God, thank You so much for always being with me — for never leaving or abandoning me. I am so grateful that You are leading me through this great gift of prayer. Like a loving Father or a gentle Shepherd, You direct me on the path I need to take — to drive out sin, heal my wounds, develop my gifts, build my character, and teach me more about You. Thank You, Lord.

You encompass me as my perfect Protector and Provider — and no one can break through Your defenses. You guide me with Your hand on my shoulder and encircle me with Your own matchless presence. I thank You that the only way anything can get to me is if You allow it for my ultimate edification and benefit. What great tranquility that gives my heart — that all things will work together for my good!

You keep me secure in Your steadfast, unending, unshakable love. Thank You, Lord! There is no peace like the peace You give, Lord Jesus! In Your matchless name I pray. Amen.

Excerpted from The Gift of Prayer by Charles Stanley, copyright Charles F. Stanley.

We have an incredible connection with God Himself! His hand is on your shoulder, guiding you, leading you, protecting you, shielding you, trading your anxiety for His peace.  Pray!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith June 28, 2021

Joseph

Son of Jacob

Graduate with honors from the University of Hard Knocks
Director of Global Effort to Save Humanity Succeeded

How? How did he flourish in the midst of tragedy? We don’t have to speculate. Some twenty years later the roles were reversed, Joseph as the strong one and his brothers the weak ones. They came to him in dread. They feared he would settle the score and throw them into a pit of his own making. But Joseph didn’t. And in his explanation we find his inspiration.

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. — Genesis 50:20 NASB

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. — Genesis 50:20 NIV

But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. — Genesis 50:20 NKJV

In God’s hands intended evil becomes eventual good.

Joseph tied himself to the pillar of this promise and held on for dear life. Nothing in his story glosses over the presence of evil. Quite the contrary. Bloodstains, tearstains are everywhere. Joseph’s heart was rubbed raw against the rocks of disloyalty and miscarried justice. Yet time and time again God redeemed the pain. The torn robe became a royal one. The pit became a palace. The broken family grew old together. The very acts intended to destroy God’s servant turned out to strengthen him.

“You meant evil against me,”

Joseph told his brothers, using a Hebrew verb that traces its meaning to “weave” or “plait.”

“You wove evil,” he was saying, “but God rewove it together for good.”

God, the Master Weaver. He stretches the yarn and intertwines the colors, the ragged twine with the velvet strings, the pains with the pleasures. Nothing escapes His reach. Every king, despot, weather pattern, and molecule are at His command. He passes the shuttle back and forth across the generations, and as He does, a design emerges. Satan weaves; God reweaves.

Excerpted from You’ll Get Through This by Max Lucado, copyright Thomas Nelson.

One of the most potentially frightening aspects of being a Christian is knowing that when you put your trust in Jesus, all Hell takes arms against you intending evil upon your life. And, yet what trumps that fear and evil is knowing, no matter what comes, God is the Master Weaver. He takes what was intended for evil and reweaves it for good.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith June 27, 2021

A Prepared Place for Prayer

Daniel had a specific place designated for prayer: an upstairs room in his home to which he withdrew three times every day.1

His preparations may have been as simple as setting aside this particular place where he could be undistracted and undisturbed. I’m convinced we all need this kind of sacred space for time alone with God.

My prepared place for prayer is the corner of my living room. On one side of the chair where I sit is a fireplace in which I light a fire on cold winter mornings. On the other side is a table with a drawer in which I keep several translations of the Bible, three small devotional books, a Bible-study notebook, a personal journal, my reading glasses, pencil, pen, legal pad, iPad, and tissues. I want everything in place so that once I sit down to pray, I don’t have to keep jumping up to find what I need.

I have also set aside a place for prayer in my ministry office.

I did this when, in my early-morning devotional study of Exodus, I was struck by the fact that Moses had set aside a tent outside the camp of Israel and designated it for prayer. I selected a room in the center of the building and placed enough chairs in it for every staff person who serves at AnGeL Ministries. I had the walls painted a navy blue to give it a quiet, secluded atmosphere. At one end of the room is a small bench in front of a large cross. At the other end of the room is an easy chair with a table beside it on which is a lamp, a box of tissues, a Bible, and a card box containing prayer requests people send to our ministry. Outside I hung a small framed sign: The Meeting Place.2

While God meets us wherever and whenever we call out to him, a Daniel-like commitment requires preparation in order to maximize the impact of our prayers. Do you have a designated Meeting Place? Would you consider establishing one? Make the commitment to place prayer at the heart of your home or office.

I understand that not everyone has the space to set aside.

When my sister’s children were young and she was living in a small house, she kept her Bible-study materials in a cardboard box underneath her sofa in the family room. When she had a few moments, she pulled out her box and had everything she needed for prayer. She found a way to make it work within the context of her circumstances — something we all can do.

A Prepared Time for Prayer

I know business professionals who go to their office an hour earlier in the morning to have time for prayer. Their “materials” have been downloaded on electronic devices.3

Would you not only consider designating a place in your home or office for prayer, but would you make the commitment to do so?

Prayer helps us anchor our faith in God. It’s like setting our spiritual compass so that, regardless of the twists and turns during the day, the needle of our focused faith always turns to God.

Daniel’s life was anchored in prayer. He established the habit of meeting God in his designated place for prayer three times a day, and he maintained that commitment even in the face of life-threatening attack.4 Do you have a set-aside time to meet with God? When do you pray?

For years, I battled getting up early in the morning for prayer. I knew that any time during the day is acceptable to God, but I couldn’t seem to shake the conviction that early-morning hours were the ideal time. The woman who taught me how to study and teach the Bible, Miss A. Wetherell Johnson, said that when our prayer time is at night, it’s like tuning our violin when the symphony is over. While it’s wonderful to end our day in prayer, she urged me to pray in the morning when the day before me is a blank page yet to be lived out.

I was also aware that a morning time of prayer is frequently referred to in the Bible. Just in the Psalms alone there are repeated references:

“In the morning, O Lord, You hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before You and wait in expectation.”

“I cry to You for help, O Lord; in the morning my prayer comes before You.”

“Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in You. Show me the way I should go, for to You I lift up my soul.”5

While these examples encouraged me, the one that drew me to make a commitment to an early-morning time with the Lord was the example of Jesus Himself. Mark reveals that after a pressure-packed day of intense ministry,

very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.6

I felt God was directing me to establish a prayer time in the morning. But I’m not a morning person. So although I felt convicted of disobedience when I slept to the last minute, I made no real decision to get up early and pray. There were actually times when I slept in and complained to God that He hadn’t awakened me for my prayer time! Or I would wake up, but then would deliberately roll over mumbling, “God, yesterday was frantically busy, and I got to bed so late last night. I’m just too tired today. I know You understand.”

Yes, He did understand, but He also understood that I had never really made the commitment. I had good intentions but not obedient actions.

And then God spoke to me very firmly and clearly. I was studying and meditating on His letters to the seven churches in Revelation in order to teach them to others. Let me paraphrase His words that lovingly scalded and scolded:

Anne, I hold you in one hand and the Holy Spirit in the other hand, like balance scales. I’ve weighed your life against His, and you don’t measure up. I know what you’ve been doing.

You are in ministry, traveling around the world, telling other people about Me and getting them to listen to My voice, but you are not listening to Me yourself. You have a reputation of being alive — people regard you as an exemplary Christian — but from My perspective you are falling short, spiritually dying on the inside. The prayers of your prayer team are not a substitute for your own prayers. Wake up!…

I have not found your deeds complete in My sight because you are prayerless. Remember, therefore, what I have told you and repent.7

Talk about a wake-up call! I went down to the gadget store at the local mall, bought a clock that sounded like a seven-fire alarm when it went off, and set it for thirty minutes ahead of when I usually got up to start my day. The first morning it went off, it scared me silly. My heart was thumping out of my chest, my poor husband was startled out of his wits and yelled, “What in the world is that?” and I knew there was no chance I was going to roll over and go back to sleep.

At last I had achieved victory over those blankets in the morning! But when I calmed down, I was still sleepy as I went to pray. Therefore I knew I had to make even more preparation for my early-morning prayer time.

This is what I came up with. After bounding out of bed in the morning the moment the alarm went off, after doing my stretches on the floor to loud worship music, after walking-jogging outside for two-and-a- half miles, after getting a triple shot of espresso in my latte at the coffee house, then I would come back wide awake for my prayer time.

And that worked!

It still works for me today, although I no longer need an alarm to get me up. Getting up for early-morning prayer has become one of the joys of my life. And thirty minutes is no longer close to being sufficient, although there are days when my obligations don’t allow me to carve out any more time. When my schedule remains open, my daily time with the Lord can stretch into hours. I love it! I can’t wait to meet the Lord in my designated place at the designated time. But it took a firm decision, practical preparations, and dedicated follow- through to get me to this point. Storming the gates of heaven requires acting on your commitment.

There is one other aspect to my preparation that I quickly learned the hard way. It’s quite obvious but not always as easy to practice. If I am to get up earlier in the morning, I must — this is not optional — go to bed earlier the night before. So I do.

While every aspect of our prayer doesn’t necessarily need to be uttered in one place at one time, I believe the Daniel Prayer requires a set-aside place at a dedicated time to truly be effective. You can decide the place and time that are most helpful to you for focusing on prayer. The important thing is that you follow through with a consistent commitment.

1. Daniel 6:10.
2. Exodus 33:7-11.
*see blog for full list of attributions 

Excerpted from Storming the Gates of Heaven by Anne Graham Lotz, copyright Anne Graham Lotz.

Make every effort to be like Jesus and pray continually at all times about all things…but it will help to have a habit of a designated time and place for those of us who do not have the heart of Jesus.  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith June 26, 2021

“The Psalms have a unique place in the Bible because [whereas] most of Scripture speaks to us, the Psalms speak for us.” 

No truer words have been spoken. When we open up the book of Psalms, we find 150 of the most compelling, captivating, and heart wrenching prayers ever uttered. And a full third of these can be categorized as “laments.”  

What is a lament? It is a psalm of complaint that names, often in graphic detail, the agonies and injustices of life. As Martin Luther once said, in a lament “you look into the hearts of the saints” and what you see there is a potent mixture of pain… and hope. In my study The Epic of Eden: The Book of Psalms I say that to read a lament is to watch an ancient believer as they stand against the storm.  

For a modern believer to pray a lament is to allow the ancients to join you in the midst of your storm.  

Most of the laments in our Bibles are written in response to one of two crises: (1) social persecution, and (2) illness. I find it so interesting that these are the blows that can knock the strongest to their knees — then and now. To find oneself isolated from what had been your community; or to have your body fail you, these are the darkest of days. This is the isolation of a pain that no one else can feel. When there is either no hand to help, or no hand that can help.  

Equally interesting to me is the fact that whereas we are allowed to ask for help with the second (illness) — announce it as a prayer request, post details on social media, have hands laid upon us at the altar — the former is something we hide. You will likely not be sharing about your husband’s pornography addiction that is decimating your young marriage. Or that your boss has passed you over for a promotion you deserve because of the deceit of a colleague. And you for sure will not be posting that you’re in need of prayer because you’re being investigated at work for potentially discriminatory behavior, or that your daughter is struggling with suicidal thoughts because of an abortion.

That kind of “knock the wind out of you” betrayal, bias, slander, and injury… we don’t share those with the community. And it is expressly in this hour where the power of lament tips the scales. 

Every psalm of lament in your Bible has five elements.

(1) An address of praise to God for His mighty acts in the past; (2) a complaint of distress; (3) a protest of innocence; (4) a petition for deliverance; and always (5) a declaration of confidence in God’s faithfulness and a vow to praise Him… regardless. These literary features may be mixed and matched as the psalmist wishes, but each one is in there.  

So let’s take a look at Psalm 70, a brief but powerful lament which embodies the pain and fear of a person who’s gotten the wind knocked out of them. 

1Hasten, O God, to save me!  
O LORD, come quickly to help me!  
2May those who seek my life be put to shame and confusion;  
may all who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace!  
3May those who say to me, "Aha! Aha!" turn back because of their shame.  
4But may all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;  
may those who love Your salvation always say, "Let God be exalted!"  
5I am poor and needy; come quickly to me, O God.  
YOU are my help and my deliverer! 

O LORD, do not delay. 

I hope you can hear that the person who wrote this prayer was scared. They had enemies. And as they looked out on the playing field, the chances that those enemies were going to prevail looked pretty good.  “Please hurry, God,” she cries, “I can’t hang on much longer!” 

How about Psalm 62? 

3How long will you assault a man?  

Would all of you throw him down - this leaning wall, this tottering fence?  

4 They fully intend to topple him from his lofty place;  
they take delight in lies.  

With their mouths they bless, but in their hearts,  they curse. — Psalm 62:3-4 

This person has been falsely accused. In fact, there are folks who are actively plotting to destroy this man with slander. Have you been there? Perhaps you’re a pastor and there is a faction in your church that wants you out. You’ve challenged the status quo, you’re gaining a following, complacency is retreating, and folks are actually starting to talk about outreach and diverting more money to the missions budget. So the old guard has started spreading rumors. “Have you seen that new car pastor got last year, wonder where that money came from?” “Hey have you seen how much time he spends with that new woman who just started coming? I hear he’s already recruited her for his personal discipleship group?” But the psalmist, who knows all about what havoc slander can wreak in an honest man’s life, reminds himself: 

5 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;  
my hope comes from Him.  
6He alone is my rock and my salvation;  
He is my fortress,  
I will not be shaken.  
7My salvation and my honor depend on God;  
He is my mighty rock, my refuge. — Psalm 62:5-7 

How many of us have experienced that 4:00 am wake up, drenched in sweat, overcome with fear at the crisis bearing down on us? If it hasn’t happened, you probably just haven’t lived long enough yet. But this Psalmist knows, so he coaches his soul. He recites the mighty acts of God, he reminds himself of the truth… even in the darkness. And better yet, this Psalmist reminds us of the same. 

8 Trust in Him at all times, O people;  
pour out your hearts to Him,  
for God is our refuge…  

11 One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard:  
that You, O God, are strong,  
and that You, O Lord, are loving.  

12 Surely You will reward each person according to what he has done. — Psalm 62:8-12 

Athanasius was right. “The Psalms have a unique place in the Bible because [whereas] most of Scripture speaks to us, the Psalms speak for us.”

Written for Devotionals Daily by Sandra L. Richter, author of The Epic of Eden.

Are you in a crisis? Is your health failing you? Is persecution knocking at your door? Go to the Psalms and pray them to the Lord. You can find comfort in the laments and prayers of our ancient brothers and sisters who cried out to God in circumstances beyond their ability to handle. 

Pastor Dale