Notes of Faith October 5, 2021

I’m running the race
I’m running the race to win
I’m running the race
I’m running the race to win
Sometimes I felt like giving up
And falling down within
But I’m still running the race
I’m running the race to win
(Dallas Holm/Signal 1983)

One of my favorite uncles sent me a birthday card years ago. On the front were cartoonish characters running in a race. Some were tall and thin, some more medium in stature, and some short and stocky. The caption on the front of the card read: “In the great race of life, there are long distance runners, middle distance runners and short distance runners.” Upon opening the card, you saw a picture of a rather nerdish bystander sitting on the curb by the roadside as all the runners ran by. The caption read: “And then there are those of us who sit along the sidelines and laugh at how funny the others look in those shorts!” It’s a somewhat funny, if not silly little card, and yet I believe it carries with it a truth that may apply to us all.

Recently, while watching the summer Olympics, I was struck with the level of training, discipline, and sacrifice it takes to perform at the top levels of track and field in particular. Two runners who especially caught my attention, not only for their strength, speed, and skill but for the beauty and grace by which they exhibited their athletic prowess, as well as their character, were sprinters Allyson Felix and Sydney McLaughlin. Allyson Felix is now the most decorated female sprinter in Olympic history at the age of 35, which in “sprinter years” is getting on up there. Sydney McLaughlin is a relative newcomer at the young age of 22 but recently set the new world record for the 400m hurdles at the Tokyo Olympics.

Allyson and Sydney have enough gold, silver, bronze medals, and records to make any world-class athlete envious. Yet in every interview I witnessed with them, they, first of all, gave “All glory to God.” I know nothing of their personal relationships to the Lord, nor of their doctrinal positions (if any) on issues in scripture. I just know that in an environment of ever increasing “me first” mindset, it was refreshing if not inspiring to see these young ladies reference God before themselves.

I’m sure even for the nerdy bystander sitting on the sideline, observing “how funny others may look in those shorts,” it surely made an impression on even them.

The apostle Paul must have been somewhat of a sports fan himself, especially in running, for he visits and revisits this theme in his writings.

In Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth he uses this race imagery to emphasize the need for discipline, self control and focus so that the believer may win the race and receive an imperishable reward. “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. And everyone who competes in the games exercises self control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.” (I Corinthians 9:24-25)

Remember, Corinth in Paul’s day was a bustling hub of worldwide commerce, degraded culture, and idolatrous religion. The church that Paul founded in the midst of this pagan culture was uniquely stressed by its very environment and had grown into a very unbalanced spiritual community, especially regarding their understanding of spiritual gifts and the sacred nature of observing “The Lord’s Table”. Observance of this ordinance had degenerated into a self-indulgent love feast.

It is in the midst of this chaos that Paul steps forth to be the trainer of an undisciplined team who will surely lose if they are not properly instructed how to win. Through the years I’ve sometimes wondered at this portion of scripture because it seems to suggest that we’re all running in a race but only one can win. If that’s how it is, then there are surely going to be mostly disappointed Christian losers. Perhaps we’re not running against each other, and I think we’re not. Let’s look at another one of Paul’s sports analogies, change one word and I believe we will gain proper understanding. “For we wrestle (race) not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)

Now we see the gravity of the situation; the intimidating power of our opponent and the absolute necessity to train, discipline, and sacrifice for this is surely not a race we can afford to lose!

“Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I buffet my body and make it my slave (“Present your bodies a living sacrifice - Romans 12:1), lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.” (I Corinthians 9:26-27)

I have throughout the years heard this portion of scripture presented to suggest that even Paul was concerned after all he had done that he might not make it to the end, perhaps losing his very own salvation. This, of course, cannot possibly be the meaning of this verse. Do you think the greatest theologian who ever lived, who writes to us most prolifically in regard to God’s pre-ordained plans to save and keep His own, from before the foundations of the world, has any concern about faltering at the finish line? The issue here is not about the ultimate finish of the race but the disqualifications that can occur along the way.

Recently at the Tokyo Olympics, there was an American sprinter who eased up a little toward the finish of a qualifying heat, and for that one millisecond miscalculation, he missed competing for a prize in the final. He’s still a sprinter and will probably race again, perhaps winning medals, but he was forever disqualified from arguably the biggest race of his life.

There are “prizes” to be won along the way of life’s race. For what purpose, you may ask? As we train, discipline, and sacrifice for Christ in life’s great race, we are awarded such “prizes” as sure faith, wisdom, peace, joy, love, and a list of the merciful gifts of His grace that stretch beyond the space herein to list.

We know that ultimately for those who finish the race for Him; “There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day.” (2 Timothy 4:8)

I don’t think we’ll have individual trophy rooms in Heaven. I think there perhaps will be one great trophy room to the honor and glory of God that will display all that was accomplished by Him, through Him and for Him.

The book of Revelation seems to indicate there will be an occasion to honor and worship our Lord and Savior in a most unique and humble way as we are afforded the opportunity to lay our crowns, given by Him to us, back at His feet.

Perhaps the “prizes” won along life’s race will be as jewels in the crown of righteousness which we will delight to give Him.

One final thought...I have a good friend who used to run track at the University of Oregon. Their program is widely known, especially for success in distance running. My friend once told me that in a long distance race there are ultimately two races within the race. First, there are those who have run hard, jostled, and strategized to the front of the race with hopes of winning. There is a second group, perhaps ill-trained, tentative, and devoid of a sound race strategy, who find themselves lagging behind with no hope now of competing for the prize. They are not running to win; they are running not to lose.

There’s a term for this that dates back to the early 1600s: “Devil take the hindmost”. It is a phrase that best describes a situation in which someone thinks only of himself and his own interests, leaving others to deal with their own fates. Hindmost is an adjective that describes the person who is farthest from the front or who is in the back of the line. The idea behind the meaning of the saying, “devil take the hindmost,” is of a group being pursued by the devil. It begs the question, “Are you running to win or just trying not to lose? Is your eye still on the prize? Can you say with Paul: ‘I press on toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.’ (Philippians 3:14) Or are you just trying to keep pace ahead of the devil?”

Train harder, discipline yourself, and sacrifice all for Him so you might win the prizes of His grace and glory along the way and the crown of righteousness upon crossing the finish line.

Keep on Running the Race to Win!

In Christ,

Dallas Holm

I don’t know if many of you remember Dallas Holm, a singer song writer, teacher of the Word, and a man I would love to meet here on earth, sure that I will in heaven.  I have emailed with him and he graciously allows me to forward to you his thoughts and studies from God’s Word.  Enjoy this and others I send your way.  Look him up and listen to his music.  May you be blessed by his challenge today!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith October 4, 2021

“What’s salvation?”

The chaplain took his time explaining to me the concept of salvation, which is that Christ’s death on the Cross and subsequent resurrection saved me from God’s judgment of sin — sin that had separated me from God. Instead of experiencing the consequence of sin, which was death, I had the assurance of knowing that when I died I would have eternal life with Christ.

The chaplain seemed very excited about me. He gave me a Gideon Bible, with the King James translation. This particular Bible consisted of the New Testament and the book of Psalms and the book of Proverbs from the Old Testament.

*

When I returned to my cell, I read that Bible inside and out. If I was awake, I was reading one of the Gospels or one of the Epistles. I went to sleep reading my Bible and when I’d wake up, I’d discover that I’d slept right on top of it.

Every hour I was awake, I was reading that Bible. I’d spend five, six hours reading, then fall asleep, wake up, do some push-ups and calisthenics, and get back to reading from where I left off. I didn’t understand half of what I was reading, but that didn’t even bother me. Neither did the thees and thous that sounded so foreign to me. Even though I didn’t quite understand the message, I knew that whatever I was reading made me feel good.

Several weeks after I received the Gideon Bible, I stopped reading. I looked around my bare cell, thinking. Then I heard God’s voice speak to me. He said, When you get out of here, you’re going to gather your homies together and tell them that you want nothing to do with the gang life anymore because you’re a Christian.

“Okay,” I replied. “I will do that.”

I took God’s direction to mean that I would say that to gang leaders after I got paroled, but that was a long way off because I still had more than seven years left on my sentence.

A few days later, I was in my cell, reading my Bible. Nothing out of the ordinary. Suddenly, and unexpectedly, my gate opened, which had never happened before in that manner.

You have to understand that in the world of incarceration, there is no such protocol. The system is the system. They never break the system. They never open a prisoner’s gate until they’ve come to the wicket and told you to step all the way to the back of the cell, get on your knees, cross your legs, put your hands behind your head, and interlace your fingers. That’s how it was done every single time my cell was about to be opened.

For my gate to suddenly open like that didn’t totally freak me out, but it was weird. I looked up from my chair and saw the warden and the CO gang coordinator who greeted me when I arrived from Delano, the same two who told me they were going to make sure that I served the rest of my time in the SHU, in solitary.

The warden spoke first. “I don’t know why we’re doing this, but we’re going to put you in mainline,” he said.

*

Mainline. That meant I would leave solitary confinement and be transferred to the main prison population to serve the rest of my sentence with other prisoners.

I didn’t say anything. I was too stunned to react because this wasn’t supposed to happen. I had been thrown in “the hole” and was supposed to stay in solitary for at least seven more years to finish my twelve-year, eight-month sentence.

“When am I going to mainline?” I asked, afraid to get my hopes too high.

“Right now.”

There was nothing to pack. I had the clothes on my back, the shortest toothbrush in the world, and my precious Bible. A few minutes later, one of the guards delivered a fresh set of state blue jeans, a white T-shirt, a pair of socks, and sneakers. I changed into the new garb, grabbed my Bible, but left my toothbrush behind.

Within twenty minutes, I was processed into the B yard and a Level IV unit with two dozen men. Two COs escorted me to my new cell, which was empty.

For a moment, I would have a cell to myself.

I looked around at my new home and thought about how much my life had changed in the last half hour. Then I remembered what God had told me: When you get out of here, you’re going to gather your guys together and tell them that you want nothing to do with the gang life anymore because you’re a Christian.

My heart was ready. I knew that declaring I no longer wanted to be a gang member meant that I was forfeiting my life. I was aware of that, but I was ready to do whatever He wanted me to do.

Even if my actions got me killed.

Excerpted from The Shot Caller by Casey Diaz, copyright Casey Diaz.

Have you ever wondered if someone you love is too far gone to meet Jesus and be saved? Maybe they’re addicted to drugs, or living on the street, or partying every night, or just ignorant of how much God loves them. Keep praying! And let Casey’s remarkable, spirit-filled story of salvation encourage you in your prayers.

Amazing stories of God’s grace need to be heard that others might repent and come by faith to Jesus and be saved!  You may have one such story to share.  Your story will reach someone that God has prepared to bring to Himself.  Keep praying for these lost sheep and share, share, share, your story.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith October 3, 2021

When was the last time you heard God speak to you in your spirit? 

I believe God desires to communicate with each of us on a daily basis — in fact, as often as we need to hear from Him, which may be several times in a day. He always has a message for us that is more timely than the daily news and more important than the message that any person on earth can give. 

A woman once told me that her mother-in-law had died a few weeks earlier after a very painful experience with stomach cancer. I began to offer my sympathy when the woman interrupted me and said, “I’m glad this happened.”  

I was a bit taken aback. “You are?” I asked.  

“Oh, yes,” she said. “This wasn’t a negative thing at all. It was the most positive experience in her life and certainly one of the most positive experiences in mine.”  

Most people would consider stomach cancer to be anything but positive. I was interested in hearing more of her story, which she was happy to tell.  

“My mother-in-law was one of the most bitter, spiteful, difficult women I have ever met. I knew from the first minute she laid eyes on me that she was determined to be my enemy,” she began. “In fact, my husband and I eloped so we wouldn’t have to deal with her at our wedding ceremony.

During the fifteen years that I knew her before her diagnosis with cancer, I never heard a kind word from her lips — except to our daughter. She had a soft spot in her heart for our daughter, but not for anyone else. She wasn’t mean only to me, but to my husband, to her other two sons, and to everyone she encountered. Repairmen told me that they dreaded a call from her home, and even the kindest clergyman we know had a difficult time with her rebukes and sarcasm.”  

“She must have been a woman with a great deal of inner pain,” I said.  

“Yes,” she replied. “I didn’t realize how much inner pain she had, however, until after her diagnosis. Up to that time, I just figured she was a hateful, mean woman. I didn’t take the time or make the effort to see beyond her façade.”  

“She may not have let you see inside her,” I said.  

“I believe that’s right,” she agreed. “She had a stone wall around her heart. And she kept this stone wall in place for several weeks after her doctor told her she had cancer.

Initially, she was given only a few weeks to live. It was amazing to everyone who knew her and knew her condition that she lived nearly five months.”  

“And you believe that was the grace of God?” I asked.  

“Yes,” she said. “What happened was this. She refused all offers of help except those from my husband and me. We were the only ones she would allow to enter her home to fix meals for her and to change her bed and do her laundry.

When the pain was intense, she’d ask us to read to her or to stay and converse with her to help take her mind off the pain. As the days went by and she saw that I was caring for her with love and concern — not with criticism or hate — she began to tell me her story. I began to understand why she was filled with such anger.”  

“Was it something from her childhood?” I guessed.  

“Actually from her teen years,” she said. “A woman in her church accused her of stealing funds that the youth group had collected for a ski trip. The accusations were made in a very hurtful and public way, and my mother-in-law was given little chance to defend herself or to reply to the charges.

She hadn’t taken the money, but ironically, about the same time she had found twenty dollars in a small coin purse in the gutter of a street near her home. She had spent the money, figuring that she was the beneficiary of finders, keepers. When she offered this explanation as the reason she had had more spending money of late, the woman refused to believe her story and not only called her a thief but a liar.  

“My mother-in-law became so angry that she dropped out of church and turned her back on God. For years she had told me she was an atheist. After her diagnosis she modified that to say she didn’t believe in God because if there was a God, He should be just and righteous, and there had been no justice on her behalf in this unfortunate situation.”  

“So she had been angry and bitter for decades,” I said.  

“Yes, for forty-nine years. The more she suffered with her disease, the more she concluded that there was no God of mercy or kindness. She couldn’t explain away, however, the peace that my husband, daughter, and I felt in our hearts — or the kindness and love that we showered upon her. Bit by bit, she began to soften. She even started asking us to read some of the Psalms to her when she was in pain. We had a couple of conversations about Heaven too.”  

“Did she accept the Lord as her Savior before she died?” I asked.  

“Yes, but it happened in a way that I would never have anticipated,” she said as tears welled up in her eyes.  

“One day when I went over to fix dinner for her, our daughter went along. She said, ‘Granny Lou, I love you. And Jesus told me to tell you that He loves you too.’ I froze in my tracks. I steeled myself for what I felt sure would be my mother-in-law’s reply, probably something like, ‘That’s nice for you to believe.’ Instead, she said, ‘I know He does, dear. He told me so Himself last night.’  

“She looked up and I’m sure she read my face, which no doubt expressed great surprise and pleasure. She said, ‘I saw Jesus last night. He came to the foot of my bed in a pool of bright light and said, ‘Lou, I’m here to tell you that I love you. I want you to come live with Me.’”  

“Wonderful!” I said.  

She continued, “I was so stunned, all I could stammer was, ‘That’s great, Mother Lou.’ She said, ‘I know you probably think it’s strange He would come calling on me like that, and I was pretty surprised myself. I asked Him, “How could You love an old hag like me?” He said, “You won’t be an old hag when you are living with Me.” And then He was gone.’  

“Not long after that, she asked my husband to pray the sinner’s prayer with her. And about a week later, she died.

Just before she died, she said, ‘I wasted a lot of years railing against God. Instead of my doing all the talking against Him, I should have done a little more listening to Him.’”  

“What a tremendous testimony!” I said.  

“My mother-in-law isn’t the only one with a testimony,” she said. “The Lord did a great thing in my own heart through this. I discovered in caring for my mother-in-law that I had failed to love as Christ loved. I repented of the hatred I had held toward my mother-in-law and asked God to forgive me and to help me love her as He loved her. He softened my heart and gave me compassion and tenderness toward her that I would never have believed were possible. I find myself looking at difficult people with new eyes. In fact, I’m considering taking a volunteer position with the hospice program. I believe the Lord still has things to teach me and ways to use me.”  

“I feel certain that He does,” I said.  

“One thing I know with certainty,” she said as our conversation drew to a close, “God can cross any barriers we might put up. I’m grateful that He still had something to say to my mother-in-law. I have a new faith that He still has something to say to me too.”  

Yes, a thousand times yes! God does still have something to say to each one of us. He never reaches the place where He doesn’t have a message that is precisely for us.  

Excerpted from Can You Still Trust God? By Dr. Charles F. Stanley, copyright Charles F. Stanley. 

Romans 5:8 says that God demonstrates His love for us in the Cross. Jesus is the display of His love! 

What is your story?  It could be a tremendous testimony for the sake of Christ.  Share yours with grace and love.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith October 2, 2021

Have you ever tried to walk around your house in the dark? With arms stretched out wide we feel our way around, running into dressers, patting walls with our hands, feeling for the familiar to find our way. It’s hard to see where we’re going without the light. It’s painful to run into things we didn’t know were there, it can be uncomfortable to not know where our next step may lead. It’s easy to lose our way when our eyes can’t see.

I wonder if the same can be true about our wilderness seasons in life. Those times when we feel like we are aimlessly wandering around in the dark, and the divine presence of light feels far out of reach. As we wander, we wonder, where is He? Why isn’t He showing up for me here? Why did He allow this to happen? What now?

We all face seasons in our life and our faith journey where the distance between Heaven and earth, Him and us, feels endless.

Sometimes like David in the Psalms we cry out:

How long, Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? — Psalm 13:1-2

The reality of our humanity is that none of us are exempt from the pain and brokenness of this place. We all walk through tragedies and trials, seasons of life where God seems more like a distant elusive entity, rather than a close loving Friend.

Maybe like me, you planned out your life, but it didn’t pan out the way you wanted it to.

Maybe the dream you had in mind never became a reality.

Maybe there was a relapse instead of remission.

Maybe there was divorce instead of reconciliation.

Maybe you were healthy but then illness came out of nowhere are you are waiting for healing.

Maybe you want to start a family, and though you’ve been trying for years, your arms are still empty.

Maybe you deeply desire to be married, and though you’ve gone on date after date, you are still single.

Maybe you were enjoying a stable, smooth life, but now you’re sitting in a season of depression that is dark, ugly, terrifying, and debilitating.

And maybe for the first time ever, you are wrestling with suicidal thoughts that you never thought you would have.

Truth is, sometimes the lights go out in life and we feel left alone in the dark with our pain. So how do we find our way back to the light? How do we take the next step forward when we our eyes can’t see? How do we live with the pain?

Friend, I don’t have all of the answers, but what I’ve discovered through my own season of deep pain and grief is that the light is always there, we just have to searching for glimmers of it.

God wants nothing more than to be close to us in our pain. He is sitting right beside us as we weep, He is our listening ear as we vent our frustrations, He is our steady anchor of truth in a sea of confusion, He is faithful, He is good, He is kind, and He will always make a way. There isn’t anywhere we can go to escape His loving light.

One of my favorite passages from the Psalms illustrates this so well:

Lord, You know everything there is to know about me. You perceive every movement of my heart and soul, and You understand my every thought before it even enters my mind. You are so intimately aware of me, Lord…. You know every step I will take before my journey even begins. You’ve gone into my future to prepare the way, and in kindness You follow behind me to spare me from the harm of my past….

Where could I go from Your Spirit? Where could I run and hide from Your face?… Wherever I go, Your hand will guide me; Your strength will empower me. It’s impossible to disappear from You or to ask the darkness to hide me, for Your presence is everywhere, bringing light into my night. — Psalm 139:1-11 TPT

Friend, He is “bringing light into your night.” Keep holding on. Keep asking Him to help you live with the pain, keep putting one foot in front of the other even when you cannot see where you are going. He is preparing a way and strengthening you along the way. You are not alone. You are loved. Keep going.

Written for Devotionals Daily by Kayla Stoecklein, author of Fear Gone Wild.

Psalm 139 is one of my favorites.  It tells me of my personal worth to God.  It speaks of my design, making, and watchful eye of God throughout the life He gives me.  Be strengthened in knowing that you belong to God.  No one loves you more than your Creator.  Trust Him for every step especially in these dark days.  You will never be alone.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith October 1, 2021

You are secure in the hands of a living and loving God!

When I was twelve years of age, I took on a summer responsibility of managing the houses of vacationing neighbors.

It was their idea, not mine. Three families who lived side by side were planning to be out of town for a month. They each needed someone to cut their lawns, feed their pets, water their gardens.

In sum they wanted to make sure their properties were cared for. They invited me to take the job. More accurately, they asked my dad to ask me to take the job. He didn’t ask me. He told me. I didn’t want to do it. After all, I had Little League games to play, a bike to ride, and uh, uh, uh... Those were the only two reasons I could muster. They got me no traction.

Before I knew it, I was sitting down with each of the families, making a list of the tasks I needed to manage on their behalf. I recall walking home from their houses feeling something I’d never felt before. I felt overwhelmed. Forgive me if my weight seems nothing compared to yours. Keep in mind, I was only twelve years old. To cut grass, feed pets, and make sure doors were locked in three households for a month? I mean, one family had a goldfish. I’d never fed a goldfish. I envisioned finding the little fellow floating on his side, dead from being under- or overfed.

But there was no getting out now.

On the first day of my unsolicited career, I hurried home from baseball practice, jumped on my bike, and pedaled like crazy to the residences. Three lawns needed mowing.

Three houses needed attending. Three sets of locks needed checking. Three families had pets who needed feeding. Three gardens needed watering. This was too much for any human being to handle.

Just when I was about to learn the meaning of the phrase “panic attack,” I saw it. Parked in front of the middle house. White, wide, and fresh off a day in the oil field.

My dad’s pickup.

He was there. The garage door was open, and the lawn mower was on the driveway.

“You start cutting the grass,” he said. “I’ll water the plants.”

With those words everything changed. The clouds lifted. I could face the task because my father was facing it with me.

Your Father wants to do the same with you.

Seasons of struggle can be a treacherous time for the human heart. We are sitting ducks for despair and defeat.

We turn away from others, turn our backs on God, and turn into fearful, cynical souls. Despair can be a dangerous season. But it can also be a developing time, a time in which we learn to trust God, to lean into his Word and rely on his ways.

The choice is ours. To help us choose the wise path, God gave the wonderfully wild story of Esther...let’s revisit the hinge passage in the book. Mordecai has stripped himself of his Persian disguise. For fear of the death of his people, he is the picture of anguish. He wears sackcloth and ashes. He cries out to Esther to intervene.

She resists. Dare she risk her life and make an appeal to the fickle Xerxes? Mordecai’s reply is surprisingly sober.

If you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?
— Esther 4:14

Mordecai is not engaging in empty rah-rah rhetoric. He is deadly earnest. His message is a one-two punch: a call to faith and a call to action.

The call to faith: Relief will come! Did Mordecai know how the relief would come? Could he provide the game plan for deliverance? I see no reason to say he did. I can only assume that he stood on God’s Word. He remembered God’s promised deliverance of the Jewish people.

God would . . .

• Be their God, and they would be His people (Jeremiah 32:36–38).

• gather them from all the countries (Ezekiel 37:24–28).

• send a king through them and to them to establish an eternal kingdom (2 Samuel 7:16; Matthew 1:21).

He recalled the covenants. Confusion? Yes. Crisis? No doubt. But above them all was the covenant-keeping character of God.

Relief will come! This was Mordecai’s message for Esther. And this is God’s message for you.

Feeling undone by the struggle? Then let God unleash the power within you to face it. Shift your focus away from the challenges at hand, and ponder the power of your almighty God.

Do you recall the question He asked Abraham and Sarah?

He promised them a son, though both were past child-bearing age. Sarah laughed at the thought of bouncing their newborn on her knee.

Then the Lord said to Abraham,

Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘I am too old to have a baby’? Is anything too hard for the Lord?” — Genesis 18:13–14 NCV

That is what we need to ask. Is anything too hard for God?

Does He ever give up because the problem is too great? Does He ever throw up His hands and quit? Does He ever shake His head at the sound of a prayer request and say, “I can’t handle that problem”?

The answer, the welcome answer, is, “No, nothing is too hard for the Lord.”

You must start here. Don’t measure the height of the mountain. Ponder the power of the One who made it.

Don’t tell God how big your storm is. Tell the storm how big your God is.

Your problem is not that your problem is so big but that your view of God is too small.

Accept the invitation of the psalmist:

O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. — Psalm 34:3 KJV

Our tendency is to magnify our fears. We place a magnifying glass on the diagnosis, the disease, or debt.

Stop that! Meditate less on the mess and more on the Master.

Less on the problems and more on his power.

Sometimes I wonder if the church has forgotten the vastness of God. Visit a congregation on a given Sunday, and you’ll likely find a group of people sitting in comfortable chairs, hearing a comforting message about a God who keeps us comfortable.

Do we know Him before whom we gather? Do we understand that demons fear and flee at the sound of His name? That angels have been singing “holy, holy, holy” since creation and still haven’t sung it often enough? That a glimpse of God’s glory caused Isaiah, the prophet, to beg for grace and Moses, the patriarch, to duck under the protection of a rock? Do we comprehend His grandeur? His glory, fire, and power? If we did, we’d likely enter the sanctuary wearing helmets and body armor.

Are we suffering from a loss of awe? And if we are, what are the consequences?

Here’s what I think. A wimpy God makes for a wimpy heart. But a great God makes for a solid saint. Let Him be big.

Excerpted from You Were Made for This Moment by Max Lucado, copyright Max Lucado.

Is life overwhelming you right now? Do your circumstances feel out of control and too big for you to deal with? God is right there with you. He will help you. This is the moment you were made for! Have you thought about that? God can and will use you if you yield to His Spirit’s call on your life.  Let Him lead and you will be blessed.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith September 30, 2021

As famous lakes go, Galilee — only thirteen miles at its longest, seven and a half at its widest — is a small, moody one. The diminutive size makes it more vulnerable to the winds that howl out of the Golan Heights. They turn the lake into a blender, shifting suddenly, blowing first from one direction, then another. Winter months bring such storms every two weeks or so, churning the waters for two to three days at a time.1

When Peter and a few other disciples found themselves in the middle of Galilee one stormy night, they knew they were in trouble:

But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. — Matthew 14:24

What should have been a sixty-minute cruise became a nightlong battle. The boat lurched and lunged like a kite in a March wind. Sunlight was a distant memory. Rain fell from the night sky in buckets. Lightning sliced the blackness with a silver sword. Winds whipped the sails, leaving the disciples “in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves.”

Apt description, perhaps, for your stage in life? Perhaps all we need to do is substitute a couple of nouns...

In the middle of a divorce, tossed about by guilt.
In the middle of debt, tossed about by creditors.
In the middle of a recession, tossed about by stimulus packages and bailouts.
The disciples fought the storm for nine cold, skin-drenching hours. And about 4:00 a.m. the unspeakable happened. They spotted someone coming on the water.

‘A ghost!’ they said, crying out in terror.
— Matthew 14:26 MSG

They didn’t expect Jesus to come to them this way.

Neither do we. We expect Him to come in the form of peaceful hymns or Easter Sundays or quiet retreats. We expect to find Jesus in morning devotionals, church suppers, and meditation. We never expect to see Him in a bear market, pink slip, lawsuit, foreclosure, or war.

We never expect to see Him in a storm.

But it is in storms that He does His finest work, for it is in storms that He has our keenest attention. Jesus replied to the disciples’ fear with an invitation worthy of inscription on every church cornerstone and residential archway.

‘Don’t be afraid,’ He said. ‘Take courage. I am here!’
— Matthew 14:7 NLT

Power inhabits those words. To awaken in an ICU and hear your husband say, “I am here.” To lose your retirement yet feel the support of your family in the words “We are here.”

When a Little Leaguer spots Mom and Dad in the bleachers watching the game, “I am here” changes everything.

Perhaps that’s why God repeats the “I am here” pledge so often.

The Lord is near (Philippians 4:5 NIV).

You are in Me, and I am in you (John 14:20 NIV).

I am with you always, to the very end of the age (Matthew 28:20 NIV).

I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of My hand (John 10:28 NIV).

Nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow — not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love (Romans 8:38 NLT).

We cannot go where God is not. Look over your shoulder; that’s God following you. Look into the storm; that’s Christ coming toward you.

Much to Peter’s credit, he took Jesus at His word.

‘Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.’ So He said, ‘Come.’ And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus”.
— Matthew 14:28–29

Peter never would have made this request on a calm sea. Had Christ strolled across a lake that was as smooth as mica, Peter would have applauded, but I doubt he would have stepped out of the boat.

Storms prompt us to take unprecedented journeys.

For a few historic steps and heart-stilling moments, Peter did the impossible. He defied every law of gravity and nature; “he walked on the water to go to Jesus.”

My editors wouldn’t have tolerated such brevity. They would have flooded the margin with red ink:

“Elaborate! How quickly did Peter exit the boat?
What were the other disciples doing?
What was the expression on his face?
Did he step on any fish?”

Matthew had no time for such questions. He moves us quickly to the major message of the event: where to stare in a storm.

But when [Peter] saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save me!’ 
— Matthew 14:30

A wall of water eclipsed his view. A wind gust snapped the mast with a crack and a slap. A flash of lightning illuminated the lake and the watery Appalachians it had become. Peter shifted his attention away from Jesus and toward the squall, and when he did, he sank like a brick in a pond. Give the storm waters more attention than the Storm Walker and get ready to do the same.

Whether or not storms come, we cannot choose. But where we stare during a storm, that we can.

I found a direct example of this truth while sitting in my cardiologist’s office. My heart rate was misbehaving, taking the pace of a NASCAR race and the rhythm of a Morse code message. So I went to a specialist. After reviewing my tests and asking me some questions, the doctor nodded knowingly and told me to wait for him in his office.

I didn’t like being sent to the principal’s office as a kid. I don’t like being sent to the doctor’s office as a patient. But I went in, took a seat, and quickly noticed the doctor’s abundant harvest of diplomas. They were everywhere, from everywhere. One degree from the university. Another degree from a residency.

The more I looked at his accomplishments, the better I felt. I’m in good hands. About the time I leaned back in the chair to relax, his nurse entered and handed me a sheet of paper.

“The doctor will be in shortly,” she explained. “In the meantime he wants you to acquaint yourself with this information. It summarizes your heart condition.”

I lowered my gaze from the diplomas to the summary of the disorder. As I read, contrary winds began to blow.

Unwelcome words like atrial fibrillation, arrhythmia, embolic stroke, and blood clot caused me to sink into my own Sea of Galilee.

What happened to my peace? I was feeling much better a moment ago. So I changed strategies. I counteracted diagnosis with diplomas. In between paragraphs of bad news, I looked at the wall for reminders of good news.

That’s what God wants us to do.

His call to courage is not a call to naïveté or ignorance. We aren’t to be oblivious to the overwhelming challenges that life brings. We’re to counterbalance them with long looks at God’s accomplishments.

We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. 
— Hebrews 2:1 NASB

Do whatever it takes to keep your gaze on Jesus.

This is what Peter learned to do. After a few moments of flailing in the water, he turned back to Christ and cried,

‘Lord, save me!’ Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith,’ He said, ‘why did you doubt?’ And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 
— Matthew 14:30–32 NIV

Jesus could have stilled this storm hours earlier. But He didn’t. He wanted to teach the followers a lesson. Jesus could have calmed your storm long ago too. But He hasn’t.

Does He also want to teach you a lesson? Could that lesson read something like this:

“Storms are not an option, but fear is”?

God has hung His diplomas in the universe. Rainbows, sunsets, horizons, and star-sequined skies. He has recorded His accomplishments in Scripture. We’re not talking six thousand hours of flight time. His résumé includes Red Sea openings. Lions’ mouths closings. Goliath topplings. Lazarus raisings. Storm stillings and strollings.

His lesson is clear. He’s the commander of every storm. Are you scared in yours? Then stare at Him.

God’s Word for You

Allow these passages from God’s Word to remind you that God will help you through your fears.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. — Joshua 1:9 NIV

The Lord doesn’t just take away our fear; He replaces it with strength and courage.

But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob,

And He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
Nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God.
— Isaiah 43:1–3

The Lord has called you by name and you are His. Allow this truth to comfort your fears.

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
— John 14:27

These are the words of Christ. Receive his peace as a gift that has already been offered to you.

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear.
— 1 John 4:18

Your fear is not of God or from God. His love casts out fear.

Read the following prayer, silently or aloud. When you have finished praying, spend a moment in silence, listening for the voice of God.

God, thank You for reminding me of Your power today. Just as Jesus walked on water, so can You calm the storms around me. I often feel afraid when life gets stormy. I can’t see my way out. I feel vulnerable to what I cannot control. Help me fix my gaze on You today. Remind me of who You are and what You are capable of. Ease my fears and replace them with peace. Calm my anxious thoughts. Help me love those around me and be present with them, which is hard to do during a difficult time. Whenever I feel afraid, or my thoughts feel out of control, may I see the image of Christ walking on the water extending His hand to help me. May I trust Christ more than myself, more than others, more than what I tend to focus on during times like this. May my gaze always be fixed on Him. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

1. Shelley Wachsmann, The Sea of Galilee Boat: An Extraordinary 2000 Year Old Discovery (New York: Plenum Press, 1995), 39, 121.

Excerpted from God Will Help You by Max Lucado, copyright Max Lucado.

Where do you typically fix your gaze during a stormy time in life? On God, on others, on a coping mechanism? Why do those things draw your gaze when Jesus is the One who can calm the storm? 

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,

Look full in His wonderful face

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim

In the light of His glory and grace.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith September 29, 2021

Whether you are regarded as somebody or nobody in your family, job, school, or church, you are somebody to God.

Whether you achieve great or small things, your infinite worth and value to Him are undiminished. God thinks highly of you and wants you to see yourself as He sees you.

He wants you to live a life of spiritual, emotional, and relational wholeness — a thriving life.

Some may say, “But that’s not biblical; the Bible says not to think highly of yourself.” That’s not quite accurate. Romans 12:3 says,

Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment.

God’s Word does not tell us to have a low view of ourselves, but to have an accurate view of ourselves. How should we think of ourselves? A healthy self-image is seeing yourself as God sees you — no more and no less. That is God’s standard. That is a healthy self-image and identity. The question is, “How does God see me?”

God says that you are of infinite worth; you are loved and unique. This isn’t wishful thinking. This isn’t “self-help.” This isn’t about pulling yourself up by your bootstraps or thinking happy thoughts. It’s about truth, obedience to God, and a right understanding of His Word. It is a right understanding of what He says about you, and about living the life you were meant to live.

We can’t just drum up some subjective standard of our worth as the basis of our value and life. We need something outside of ourselves, as humans, to define our worth. There has to be an objective and universal standard of value from an outside source greater than ourselves. If you paid for a one-pound bag of flour, only to get it home and find that it contained only 1⁄4 pound, you might be confused, even angry. Say you take it back to the store and confront the store manager, who says, “That’s our standard. We call that a one-pound bag. What you call it is up to you.” That would be ridiculous, of course, because justice and commerce depend on reliable, objective, universal standards (there’s even an International Bureau of Weights and Measurements that defines such standards).

Many of us use a similarly ridiculous measurement of our own value and worth. We accept a person’s criticism or compliment as our standard. We measure our value based on our success or failure, our looks, or our status. But there is a universal and unchanging standard we can look to for our worth.

You Are of Great Value

You are valuable. Anyone who communicated to you that you are worthless or unimportant was mistaken. It is essential that you see yourself as valuable, because that is how God sees you.

Society says that our worth is based on our accomplishments, success, looks, status, retirement plan, and life insurance policy. Even Time magazine valued the average human life at $129,000.1 That’s absurd. There is a universal and objective standard that determines our value, just as there is a standard for weights and measurements. This universal standard comes from the Creator, the manufacturer, the all-powerful God of the universe. We know this inherently as humans. This is why we abhor slavery, murder, rape, and human trafficking.

You are valuable because you are made in the image of God (see Genesis 1:27), meaning that you possess distinct dignity, value, a rational mind, moral desires, and relational capacity.

The entire earth was entrusted to you to rule and reign over (see Genesis 1:28). God created humans with His own hands and breathed into them the breath of life, unlike animals or other created things (see Genesis 2:7). He created humans as the pinnacle of His creation and said they are “very good” (see Genesis 1:31). No one in the history of the world has the same personality, characteristics, or physical attributes that you have. You are an original. God chose to create you exactly how you are with your unique gifts, personality, and physical features.

Though sin entered the world through Adam and Eve, and you were born with a sinful nature (Psalm 51:5), you were still created in the image of God (Genesis 9:6). Nothing you do or have done will ever diminish God’s love for you or your intrinsic value.

One of King David’s psalms details beautifully just how much we are worth to God.

What are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. You gave them charge of everything You made, putting all things under their authority.
— Psalm 8:4-6 NLT

You are also infinitely valuable, irreplaceable, and indispensable (1 Corinthians 12:22) because God gave His only Son to reconcile you to Himself, paying an incalculable ransom that says that you are infinitely valuable. Your value wasn’t created by Jesus’s death on the cross; it was shown by Jesus’s death on the Cross. At Calvary, God declared to Heaven, hell, and the whole earth that you are worth the gift of Jesus Christ, His dearly loved Son. If you ever put a price tag on yourself, it would have to read “Jesus,” because that is what God paid to save you (see 1 Corinthians 6:19–20; 1 Peter 1:18–19). Your value isn’t derived from anything you have done or can do; it is not a self-created value. You are of great value because that’s who our loving God created you to be. Humility is knowing who you are and Who made you who you are and giving God the glory. Your value cannot be determined by other people — not even yourself.

Only your Creator can determine the value of His creation.

You Are Lovable

The Bible speaks repeatedly and powerfully of how much you are loved. For example:

Jesus prayed to His Father, “You love them as much as You love Me” (John 17:23 NLT).

God loves you as much as He loves Jesus.

Jesus says to His followers, “As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Now remain in My love”
(John 15:9).

Jesus loves you as much as God the Father loves Jesus.

The Bible says to us, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1).

God loves you so much, He made you His own son or daughter.

God’s Word declares, “He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all — how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).

God loves you so much, He gave everything for you.

You may have grown up feeling ignored, unwanted, despised, or even hated. The people who conveyed that image to you were in error. God created you in His image and loves you as His own child. God makes no mistakes. If He loves you — and He does — you are eternally lovable. It is essential that you see yourself as lovable because that is how God sees you.

Jesus didn’t endure rejection, ridicule, torture, and death for the sake of trash. In love, He went to the Cross to redeem and restore a relationship with that which was lost — you.

One of the most well-known verses in Scripture shows how great His love for you is, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son...” (John 3:16). God doesn’t merely tolerate or love you as a result of Christ’s work on the Cross. Rather, His love was the fuel that sent Jesus to the Cross for you.

See how Psalm 17:8 expresses God’s love and affection toward us. It says, “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.” At face value, this may not seem to carry much weight. But the Hebrew word for “apple” literally means “little man.” When you stand close enough to someone, you see a tiny reflection of yourself in that person’s pupil. You see yourself as the “apple” of his or her eye. In this psalm, David is saying this is who you are to God. You are the “little man” reflected in God’s eye. You are always in His vision. You are always the object of His affection and obsession. This is how much you are loved and valued.

Kathleen Kingsbury, “The Value of a Human Life: $129,000,” Time, May 20, 2008, http://content.time.com/time/health/article /0,8599,1808049,00.html.

Excerpted from Free to Thrive by Josh McDowell and Ben Bennett, copyright Josh McDowell Ministry.

Before you can truly thrive, you need to know and embrace your true value. God is the One who created you and declares your worth and He says you are loved just as much as Jesus! How amazing is that?

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith September 28, 2021

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him. — Psalm 34:8

You say it, I say it, we all say it.

It usually comes out when we purchase our first home, deliver a healthy baby, find a perfect front row parking spot at the grocery store, hit the road for summer vacation, or get promoted at work. “God is so good!”

There couldn’t be a more reassuring truth. He most certainly is good. We say it because it is one of the best ways to express our appreciation to God for how things are working out in our favor and for giving us a temporary state of happiness and excitement. Would we say the same thing, however, if things were not working out the way we desired?

Do we truly embrace the fact that God is good, even when our circumstances are not?

Could there be more to His goodness than just the bright side of our story? If we’re going to grow closer to Jesus than ever before and find our ultimate purpose in who He is (and not merely in what He can do), we must ask ourselves these kinds of challenging questions. They are essential to our growth.

God Is Good All the Time

When things are going right, we rightly declare God’s goodness, but the Bible clearly shows us that God is still good when things are going horribly wrong. This is because goodness is part of God’s nature. He is always good, because it is innate to who He is.

God allowed Satan to afflict Job with suffering as part of a test (Job 1:6–12). Even still, God is good. Paul begged the Lord to remove a “thorn in the flesh,” but God did not (2 Corinthians 12:7–10). He is still good. When King Nebuchadnezzar commanded Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to bow down and worship the idol he’d raised, they refused. The king threatened to have them thrown into a fiery furnace. Their response? They declared that their God was able to deliver them, but even if He didn’t, they would not worship any other gods (Daniel 3:17–18). Those men knew that God is good, even if He didn’t deliver them from a blazing death.

Now personalize this truth. Is God still good if you lose your job, if you lose your home, if you can’t have a child, or if a doctor says you have six months to live? Answering that question will test your view of God.

God’s goodness is based on His character.

Which means that your career advancement and good health are unrelated to whether He is good. He is good and He is good all the time, no matter what our circumstances might be.

The Biblical Reality of God’s Goodness

Scripture is not silent on this subject. Countless passages point to the goodness of God throughout the ups and downs of life. For example, the apostle John wanted to shape and protect the way Christians viewed God, as do I. So when false teachers misrepresented the gospel, He reminded believers,

This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.
— 1 John 1:5

Regarding John’s writing style, Charles Spurgeon said, “The apostle John’s style was to give you a truth then guard that truth.” In this case, John’s statement that “God is light” is doubled down with the declaration that “in Him there is no darkness at all.” What John is saying here can be paraphrased this way: “In case you were wondering if God isn’t all light, or if maybe some element of Him can sin, that’s not possible. If you somehow think that His anger, wrath, sovereignty, and judgments are His dark side, and His goodness, love, joy, mercy, and grace are His light side, that’s not possible. He is all light and always light.”

God isn’t like some of today’s movie superheroes, complete with a troubling dark side that must be hidden or tamed.

Every aspect of who He is and what He does is good. This truth impacts how we view Him in our darkest moments, because we can still know that He is light. He is good. We don’t need to cry out in anguish, wondering if He still has a handle on things or if He has suddenly turned into a monster. Such a thing will never be. God is good.

Discussion about God’s goodness in the midst of horrible situations in our world begs the question, why did God create evil? But that question contains a false assumption.

Nowhere in the Bible are we taught that God created evil, has evil in Him, or is the author of evil. We know from the Bible that God can cause calamity and bad events to occur, and therefore, certainly allow it (Lamentations 3:38; Amos 3:6; Isaiah 45:7), but since there is no evil in Him, we can trust that His purposes and judgments are still ultimately for good. Someday, we know, He will eradicate evil. Since God cannot eradicate Himself, we can fully affirm that He is not at all evil. Instead He will judge all evil one day.

Most helpful of all for your immediate situation is that God can take something evil and make it work out for good. That is a truth we need to keep close to our hearts.

God Works All Things for Good

Romans 8:28 is a very important passage to address when we’re talking about the goodness of God in all circumstances. Paul writes,

We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. — ESV

Often you may hear a person or a preacher say that this passage means that everything happening to you is going to turn out for your good, that the blessing is just on the other side of this burden, that your prosperity is going to come from the pain. Basically, this approach to Romans 8:28 sees good as your definition of good. This is not the right way to handle this passage.

No matter how well intentioned, another inappropriate handling of Romans 8:28 is to throw it around after a tragedy as though it makes everything fine. Does it have a place in the wake of painful events? Yes. But most of the time, it’s needed only after the initial mourning process slowly begins to give space for reflection and deeper conversation. How many of us know that in the early stages of pain, we just need prayer and for others to mourn with us, not statements (no matter how true) about how it’s all going to be okay? There are many tragedies that will never be okay. We simply learn to lean on Jesus, grateful that He is holding on to us.

So what does Romans 8:28 mean, and how does understanding it fit into our growing closer to Jesus? First, it is speaking specifically about “those who love God,” “those who are called according to His purpose.” Those phrases are directly aimed at believers, which means this is not a general promise you can throw around at people, like a prosperity gospel preacher telling a crowd that God will make them happy, healthy, and wealthy. Second, this passage says “all things,” which means that the good, the bad, and the ugly will happen. No one is immune to the “all things” in life. Third, this passage reminds us that God’s definition of good is what will ultimately be accomplished, and His good will be good for us. One of my favorite explanations of this passage is by Randy Alcorn.

The focus is not on isolated events in the believer’s life, but on the sum total of all events. Do you see the difference between saying “each thing by itself is good” and “all things work together for good”? Think about it. The difference is tremendous. The verse does not tell me I should say “it is good” if my leg gets broken, or my house burns down, or I am robbed and beaten, or my child dies. But it does say that God will use these events and weave them together with every other facet of my life in order to produce what He knows to be the very best for me... Once I heard a pastor say, “I’m tired of hearing people tritely use Romans 8:28.”

So am I. But I am not tired of Romans 8:28 itself and pray that I never will be. When you use this powerfully explosive verse (and you should use it), handle it with care. But whatever you do, don’t stay away from it. The truth it contains can change your whole outlook on life.1

In light of the great truth contained in Romans 8:28, and all that the Bible teaches about the goodness of God, we do well to internalize at least three powerful truths that can transform our perspective in the midst of pain.

God Is the Giver of All Good Things

Our pride tells us that we are responsible for earning good things, good income, and even good results from hard work.

That may be true to an extent, but it’s not the whole story.

While you are the one who goes to work each day to earn income, and you are the one who goes to the gym to improve your health, and you are the one who performs with excellence and gets a promotion, all of the good things in your life are from God. More than that, even the ability to work hard or do anything good is a gift given to you by God.

James 1:17 reminds us,

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

When we see good things through this lens, entitlement shatters and gratitude soars. Entitlement emanates from a heart that believes it deserves everything it gets.

Entitlement tells us, “You shouldn’t be dealing with this right now. You’re such a good person. You deserve so much more!” We silence entitlement by reminding ourselves that we are undeserving recipients of so many good things from God. Suddenly we can be in the middle of pain, cancer treatments, relational conflict, or an anxiety attack and still maintain a heart posture that overflows with thanksgiving toward the Giver of good.

God Is Good Even When Our Circumstances Are Not

All through the Bible, God’s people encounter both immensely good times and horribly hard times. Yet through it all, the Bible declares God’s goodness. The psalms are filled with declarations of God’s goodness, made by David even when he is going through pain. Enduring King Saul’s jealous rage and attempts to kill him (1 Samuel 18:11; 1 Samuel 19:10), experiencing injustices and betrayals (1 Samuel 23:15–29), waiting years to take his rightful place as king, running like a fugitive from his own rebellious and tyrannical son (2 Samuel 15:13–17:22), David still declares the goodness of God. Psalm 106:1 exalts God, exclaiming,

Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.

Psalm 107:1 repeats these words, and so does Psalm 118:1 and Psalm 136:1. The theme of thanksgiving is prevalent in these praises, which reminds us again that we can praise God in the midst of pain. He is good, even when our circumstances are not!

1.     Randy Alcorn, “What Does Romans 8:28 Really Mean?” Eternal Perspective Ministries (March 21, 2010)

Excerpted from More Than a Healer by Costi Hinn, copyright Costi W. Hinn.

God is good. All the time. When our situation is good, He is good. When our circumstances are terrible, confusing, and painful, He is still good. 

I have never met a person who did not experience bad things.  All of us will have them.  But those who belong to God can and should know that God brings us through such things ultimately for His glory and our good.  Then end result of all that we go through on earth is holy perfection!  We will be made like Jesus!  In the moment of pain, suffering, grief…it has been too difficult for me hear from others the truth that I already know.  Let us be gentle and loving toward those who are suffering in this life.  The Lord is leading each one by His will to the glory on the other side.  (That is, those that belong to Him.)  God’s timing in all things is always perfect.  We look back and see His wisdom, truth, power, and providence to guide, protect, and bring us to our eternal home with a love that only He possesses.  Trust the One who gave you life, that He loves you more than you could possibly know and understand.  His love is perfect and all His ways are good!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith September 27, 2021

All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen. — Revelation 7:11-12

You might know something in your mind, but it becomes tangible and sticks with you when you write it down. The same can be said for repeating something out loud. It’s another way to solidify the truth in your heart that you have so many reasons to give thanks.

Spend a few minutes reading out loud the gifts you’ve written down so far. How did reading them aloud affect your mindset and your mood?

Did you think of more gifts during the process? Write them down — and say them out loud too!

Give Thanks Before Others

Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who is seated on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power.” — Revelation 4:9–11

Choose a friend, coworker, child, or relative. Tell him or her a reason — or several reasons — why you’re grateful. Your honesty will bless you both.

What are your thoughts about expressing your gratitude to someone else? Are you hesitant or eager? Why do you think you feel this way?

Do you have someone you can share your thoughts and feelings with? Do you know how you want to share your thankful heart? Write it down here first, like you’re writing a letter. You don’t need to be formal; just describe why you’re grateful.

The Purpose of Gratitude

Always give thanks for everything,” Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:20 (TLB).

Okay, Paul, we think. But you don’t know about . . .

No doubt you face difficult circumstances. Paul did too — we’re talking stonings, shipwrecks, and starvation. He faced hard times, and because of them, he knew we’d need a reminder: always give thanks.

It takes work and intention to be grateful — to see what you have and not what you’re missing, to focus on your gifts and not on your losses. It requires setting your mind on the right things and putting forth effort day by day, again and again.

It’s challenging, friend. But it’s so worth it.

How do we know? Paul told us, after grasping for gratitude firsthand. Even behind prison walls, Paul found gratitude a key ingredient to a hopeful perspective and a happy life. Not because it took away his chains but because it changed the way he saw them:

I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare [the gospel] boldly. — Ephesians 6:20

Gratitude can do the same for you. You may be stuck in difficult circumstances. The rough road you’re walking may stretch for unknown miles. But gratitude can renew your mind (Romans 12:2) and transform the way you see your circumstances.

Said another way,

gratitude is a new window you can use to see the world.

You may peer out and see the same old life, same old circumstances, and same old struggles. But among them, now you also see something good. Something hopeful.

Something praiseworthy. Something to be thankful for.

Excerpted from The Weekly Gratitude Project, copyright Zondervan.

Being grateful to God changes our perspective! We can change the way we think about our circumstances no matter how wonderful or how challenging by changing our focus. What are you thankful for today?

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith September 26, 2021

Article by Marshall Segal
Staff writer, desiringGod.org

You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told. (Psalm 40:5)

As with so many of our favorite hymns, “The Love of God” was born in adversity. Frederick Lehman (1868–1953), who wrote the hymn with his daughter, had experienced the failure of his once-profitable business, which left him packing crates of oranges and lemons in Pasadena, California, to make ends meet. Again and again throughout history, deep and enduring trials seem to have a strange and beautiful way of swelling the waves of worship.

Perhaps the most memorable lines in the hymn, however, were not Lehman’s, but words someone had found scribbled on the walls of an insane asylum a couple hundred years earlier, words that had been passed along to Lehman and held profound meaning for him.

Could we with ink the ocean fill,

And were the skies of parchment made;

Were every tree on earth a quill,

And every man a scribe by trade;

To write the love of God above

Would drain the ocean dry,

Nor could the scroll contain the whole,

Though stretched from sky to sky.

The lyrics, it turns out, were a translation of an old Aramaic poem (now almost a thousand years old). And while no one knows the name of the insane asylum patient, the circumstances of his suffering, or how he came across the poem, the lines sparkle with surprising clarity, hope, and, well, sanity. A kind of spiritual sanity that often eludes us.

More Than Can Be Told

That Lehman treasured the lyrics is hardly surprising. Living just a handful of miles from the Pacific Ocean, he would have known, with acute awareness, the roaring vastness of the sea, the tall and swaying elegance of palm trees, and the bursts and hues of California sunsets. Day by day, he held the brilliant orangeness of its oranges and smelled the lively tartness of its lemons. The ocean, the trees, the sky, the earth were enormous and familiar friends of his — and yet each so small next to the love he had come to know in Christ.

When Lehman looked at the sky, he saw a hint of something wider still. He sang, like David, “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:3–4). The sky above him awed him, and then humbled him. If God could stretch out heavens like these with his hands, why would he pierce those hands in love for me?

When Lehman looked out over the ocean, he heard a hint of something deeper still. “You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19). The ocean taught him of forgiveness, of a dark, far-off, forgotten place where God submerged our canceled sins. How could God possibly forget what we had said, and thought, and done? Well, he could bury them beneath the sea. And so he does.

“O Lord, how manifold are your works!” the psalmist sings. “In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great” (Psalm 104:24–25). The ocean is big, and crowded, and wild, and yet you, O Lord, are bigger still, and your love, wilder still. And while the ocean sang its choruses, the sand beneath his feet would occasionally interrupt: “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand” (Psalm 139:17–18).

“If God could stretch out heavens like these with his hands, why would he pierce those hands in love for me?”

When Lehman stared at the towering trees above him, he tasted a hint of something higher still. He surely could not count the trees that surrounded him, and their numberlessness reminded him of the unsearchable greatness of God. He may have read of math like this in the Psalms: “You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told” (Psalm 40:5). More than can be told. Is there any better summary of the love of God?

Every Man a Scribe

Were we to fill that ocean with ink and stretch out scrolls to cover those skies, and were every tree, of every kind, a pen, and every one of us a scribe, we still could capture only hints and whispers of the boundless love of God. We would drain the ocean dry. And then still have so much more to say.

Let that never keep us from saying as much as we can. We ought to thank God for those, like Frederick Lehman, who help us taste and see and feel realities we will never fully grasp. We ought to thank God for the poor soul clinging to faith in that asylum. If he had not scrawled those words on that wall, from his embattled memory, would we have ever heard them? We ought to thank God for the pen that crafted those original lines, in Aramaic, so many years earlier. Who could have imagined just how far his words would float, like a letter in a bottle, and how many hearts they would brighten and strengthen over centuries?

And we ought to ask God for fresh words that might open worlds like these for others. How might we help others feel the love beyond expressing? If words fail us, we could start by writing the beloved lines where someone might someday see them.

I have always loved poetry.  Somehow, good prose seems more thoughtful and deep in wonder and meaning.  The Word of God has given us many psalms, and songs and spiritual prose to contemplate, to worship and praise with, to be lifted up by the truth they speak.  Be encouraged today by the words from within (the Holy Spirit) speaking the “Love of God.”

Pastor Dale