Notes of Faith February 6, 2023

Notes of Faith February 6, 2023

Making Fishers of Men

The boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear.

But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”

And Peter answered Him and said, “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. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”

And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. — Matthew 14:24–32 NKJV

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

Galileans came to expect storms. They were a part of the topography. They still are.

LIFE COMES WITH STORMS

Atmospheric conditions of our fallen world churn serious turbulence. Health crises. Economic struggles. Unwanted invoices and cancer cells that howl down on our lives and turn life into a bull ride.

Peter and his fellow storm riders knew they were in trouble. 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. The boat lurched and lunged like a kite in a March wind.

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

Descriptive phrase, don’t you think? Apt description for the stormy seasons of life. The gusts and the gales turn contrarily against your wishes, leaving you “in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves.”

In the middle of a divorce, tossed about by guilt.

In the middle of debt, tossed about by creditors.

In the middle of a corporate takeover, tossed about by Wall Street and profit margins.

But after as many as nine hours in the sea, the unspeakable happens.

JESUS COMES, COMMANDING THE STORM

The disciples spot someone coming on the water. They assume it’s a ghost and cry out from fear.

At about four o’clock in the morning, Jesus came toward them walking on the water. They were scared to death. ‘A ghost!’ they said, crying out in terror. — vv. 25–26 The Message

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

Neither did we. We expected Him to come in the form of peaceful hymns, or Easter Sundays, or quiet retreats. We expected to find Jesus in morning devotionals, church suppers, and meditation. We never expected to see Him in a divorce, death, lawsuit, or jail cell. We never expected to see Him in a storm. But it is in storms that He does His finest work, for it is in storms He has our keenest attention.

Jesus replies to their fear with an invitation worthy of inscription on every church cornerstone and archway:

Courage! I am! Don’t be afraid!

I like that translation by Frederick Bruner. More common readings, such as “It is I!” or “I am here!” lose the full force of Jesus’ pronouncement. Jesus is not merely announcing his presence on the sea; he is declaring his power over the storm. He’s not saying, “I am here.” He is saying, “I am.” He is saying what God said to Moses through the burning bush:

Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I am has sent me to you’.

— Exodus 3:14 NKJV

This is what God said to Abraham in the desert:

I am the Lord. — Genesis 15:7 NKJV

and to the Hebrews in the wilderness:

I am He, and there is no God besides Me. — Deuteronomy 32:39 NKJV

This is no cry of identity; it is a claim of divinity. Is anyone in control of these winds? I am. Who is in charge of the torrent? I am. Is anyone coming to help?

I am.

“Courage! I am! Don’t be afraid!” With these words Christ claims the position of Chief Commander of the Storm. Peter, much to his credit, takes Jesus at his word.

Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.

— Matthew 14:28 NKJV

Peter would rather be out of the boat with Christ than in the boat without Him, so He calls on the commander to command. And Jesus does.

So He said, ‘Come.’ And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. — v. 29 NKJV

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

I can’t help but wonder how Matthew felt as he wrote that sentence. Surely he had to lower his pen and shake his head. “Peter... walked on the water to go to Jesus.” My editors wouldn’t have tolerated such brevity. They would have filled the margin with questions: “Can you elaborate? How quickly did Peter exit the boat? How cautious was his first step? What was the look on his face? Did he step on any fish?”

Matthew has no time for such questions, however; he moves us quickly to the major message of the moment.

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!’ — v. 30 NKJV

A wall of water eclipses his view. A wind gust snaps the mast with a crack and a slap. A flash of lightning illuminates the lake and the watery mountain range it has become. Peter shifts his attention away from Jesus and toward the squall, and he sinks like a brick in a pond. Give the storm waters more attention than the Storm Walker, and get ready to do the same.

God wants us to look for good news and seek out the accomplishments of His work.

His call to courage is not a call to naïveté or ignorance. We aren’t oblivious to the storms. We just 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. Memorize Scripture. Sing hymns. Read biographies of great people. Ponder the testimonies of faithful Christians. Walk to the sound of His voice. Make the deliberate decision to set your hope on Him. And when your attention turns away, bring it back.

Excerpted from In the Footsteps in the Savior by Max Lucado, copyright Max Lucado.

Keeping our focus, our eyes on Jesus is the only way to navigate this fallen world. We have many trials and troubles but Jesus is always there with us to pass through them. Let us seek the face of Jesus at all times, having courage, trusting in His provision and care.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith February 5, 2023

Notes of Faith February 5, 2023

Deadly Drifting

But if you take your eyes off of him, if you don’t focus on him, you become like a little leaf or a dead fish, and you just float the way the river’s going. And the river is not flowing toward heaven in this world. It’s flowing the other direction. So you don’t have to work hard to go to hell; you just have to drift. Drifting is very dangerous. Very, very dangerous.

“You don’t have to work hard to go to hell; you just have to drift.”

There are some drifters in this room right now. And the good news, the sign of hope for you drifters, is that right now while I’m preaching, God is awakening a desire not to be a drifter. Some of you are sitting there, and you know you’re a drifter. You haven’t read the Bible in a long time. It’s a hit-and-miss affair. You don’t spend any time or vigilance to focus on the Lord, to soak in him. But right now, as I’m talking, the Holy Spirit is saying, “You’d better fix that.” And you want to fix it. And your want to is a really good sign. It’s a really good sign.

If you’re sitting there right now just wishing you could get home a little earlier, and that I would not talk, and this is all for the birds, then that’s a bad sign, and you are in big trouble and need to pray earnestly that God would change that heart. Drifting is deadly in the Christian life. Pay close attention to what you’ve heard. Consider what God is saying.

Fix Your Eyes on Jesus

Let me illustrate for you. I got up at three o’clock this morning. That’s no brag. It’s four o’clock in the afternoon my time; I’m still in Uganda. I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t want to get up at three o’clock. I had no plan to get up at three o’clock. I couldn’t sleep. I said, “Well, if I’m awake, I’ve got to preach over there at Bethesda anyway. I’ve got to preach here, so let’s get up and get ready.”

So I went to the word. Now, everybody knows it’s the 28th, right? After the 25th, you can read anything you want to in the Bible, if you’re on my reading plan. For the first 25 days of the month, they tell you what to read; the last five days of the month you can read anything you want. So I’m totally free. But I say, “I’m going to go on in Mark — I’m going to read Mark 10.” And I opened my Bible and knelt down in my study, and I met Jesus.

The first thing I saw was this: “Suffer the little children to come to me” (Mark 10:14) These disciples were all like, “Get those children out of here — you’ve got more important things to do than children.” And Jesus says, “Let those children come to me, because to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” And I stopped and I thought, You know what he’s saying? He’s saying that the kingdom of God is of such a nature that if you are contrary in your spirit to the needs of children, you are contrary to the kingdom of God. And I saw Jesus. I saw Jesus loving these little children.

Now I read further into the story about the rich young ruler, and I heard Jesus say, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom” (Mark 10:25). And the disciples put their hands to their heads and say, “Well, who then can be saved?” And he said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:26–27). And I saw Jesus. “All things are possible with God.”

And then I read the next paragraph, and Jesus looks at him, and he says, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of the chief priests and the scribes. . . . And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise” (Mark 10:33–34). And I saw Jesus.

And then I read a little further, and I saw John and James saying, “Who’s going to be the greatest in the kingdom?” And Jesus looks at them and says, “Get it: if you would be great, you must be the servant of all. If you would be first among them, you must be the slave of all. Because the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life for ransom for many” (see Mark 10:42–45). And I saw Jesus.

And I read one more paragraph further, stopping after each one of these, just letting it soak in — just loving Jesus, just looking, fixing my eyes on Jesus the way Hebrews 12:2 says. And I saw this blind man say, “Son of David, have mercy on me. Son of David, have mercy on me.” “Be quiet.” These disciples never get it. They never get it. “Be quiet. Be quiet.” He wouldn’t be quiet. “Son of David, have mercy on me.” Jesus stops. They said, “Oh, he stopped — you can go.” And Jesus, of all things, says, “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, let me receive my sight.” And Jesus says, “Your faith has made you well. Go.” And he received his sight and followed Jesus (Mark 10:46–52). Sight. And I prayed for half an hour that I would see Jesus this morning, that you would see Jesus.

“Therein lies the key to the Christian life: not hard work for Jesus, not labor for Jesus, but looking at Jesus.”

That’s all I know, folks, about this text, that we are called upon to see Jesus, to listen to Jesus, to consider Jesus, to fix our eyes on Jesus. And therein lies the key to the Christian life: not hard work for Jesus, not labor for Jesus, but looking at Jesus — look at him over and over and over. And if you see him, if he does for you what he did for that blind man, you open your eyes. You can’t leave him. And if you haven’t seen him, pray that your eyes would be opened. That’s what this text is about.

Satisfy Us in the Morning

When I was in Kenya, a week ago now — God was so good. Thank you so much for praying for me. God was so good to me in Nairobi and in Kapchorwa, Uganda, to give me all I needed to keep my tummy safe while eating all that funny stuff over there, and to help me handle jet lag and teach for sixteen hours in those five days. It was so good. And you know how he did it? Every morning, the word was alive — it was alive. And Jesus stood out of the word. He just stood out and said, “Here am I. I will help you.” Every morning when I said, “I’ve got five hours to teach today” — Wednesday, I had to teach five hours; Saturday, I had to teach five hours. I hadn’t prepared a stitch when I went. I just threw everything in a briefcase and said, “Lord, make a layover in Gatwick.”

The point of that was this: one morning in Kenya, the Lord, from Psalm 90:14, said in a prayer of the psalmist to himself, “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” And it hit me like a ton of bricks that God inspired the psalmist to pray for satisfaction from the Lord. “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love.” Do you ever pray that? That’s the most important prayer in the world. “I’m looking to you. I’m not looking to sex. I’m not looking to money. I’m not looking to health. I’m not looking to family. I’m not even looking to effective ministry. Satisfy me in the morning with your steadfast love.” Pray that prayer, and then just keep looking. Satisfy me that I may rejoice and be glad all my days, because if I rejoice and I’m glad in you all my days, the power of sin will be broken in my life, and you will be pleased, and I will be happy.

It’s very dangerous to drift, folks. It’s very dangerous

Lord we pray that we might focus on the author and perfector of our faith, truly see the Lord Jesus. May we seek to imitate what we see!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith February 4, 2023

Notes of Faith February 4, 2023

Crazy Prayers

Draw the Circle

This woman is driving me crazy. – Luke 18:5

I love the parable of the persistent widow. I don’t mean any disrespect, but I think persistent is a nice word for crazy. This woman is crazy, but when the cause is a righteous one, it’s a holy crazy!

We aren’t told what injustice took place, but she was on a mission. Maybe her son was falsely imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit. Maybe the man who molested her daughter was still on the streets. We don’t know for sure. But whatever it was, she wouldn’t take no for an answer. And the judge knew it. The judge knew she would circle his house until the day she got justice or the day she died. The judge knew there was no quit in the crazy woman.

Does the Judge know that about you? How desperate are you for the blessing, the breakthrough, the miracle? Desperate enough to pray through the night? How many times are you willing to circle the promise? Until the day you die? How long will you knock on the door of opportunity? Until your knuckles are raw? Until you knock the door down?

The persistent widow’s methodology was unorthodox. She could have, and technically should have, waited for her day in court. Going to the personal residence of the judge crossed a professional line. I’m almost surprised the judge didn’t file a restraining order against her. But this reveals something about the nature of God. God couldn’t care less about protocol. If He did, Jesus would have chosen the Pharisees as His disciples. But that isn’t who Jesus honored.

Jesus honored the prostitute who crashed a party at a Pharisee’s home to anoint His feet. Jesus honored the tax collector who climbed a tree in his three-piece suit just to get a glimpse of Him. Jesus honored the four friends who cut in line and cut a hole in someone’s ceiling to help their friend. And in this parable, Jesus honored the crazy woman who drove a judge crazy because she wouldn’t stop knocking.

The common denominator in each of these stories is crazy faith. People took desperate measures to get to God, and God honored them for it. Nothing has changed.

God is still honoring spiritual desperadoes who crash parties and climb trees.

God is still honoring those who defy protocol with their bold prayers. God is still honoring those who pray with audacity and tenacity. And the crazy woman is selected as the gold standard when it comes to praying hard. Her unrelenting persistence was the only difference between justice and injustice.

The viability of our prayers is not contingent on scrabbling the twenty-six letters of the English alphabet into the right combinations like abracadabra. God already knows the last punctuation mark before we pronounce the first syllable. The viability of our prayers has more to do with intensity than vocabulary. It has more to do with what we do than what we say.

Don’t just pray about it; act on it.

There are defining moments in life when we need to prove to God that we mean business – and I don’t mean “business as usual.” In fact, it’s only when “business as usual” goes out of business that we’re in business – the Father’s business. That’s when we’re on the verge of a spiritual breakthrough.

If we want to see God do crazy miracles, sometimes we need to pray crazy prayers.

Crazy Is Normal

Josh Sexton pastors a church plant in North Carolina called Relevant Truth Church. God is doing amazing things at RTC. People who wouldn’t darken the doorway of a church are finding a relationship with Jesus Christ at an indoor skate park that has been converted into a sanctuary. But like many church plants, there is more vision than money. RTC was facing the termination of their lease if they couldn’t come up with the $3,500 rent when Josh got an idea while reading The Circle Maker. One of the leaders at RTC relayed what happened.

Josh asked me to come to the front during a worship service. He handed me a can of spray paint and asked me to paint a circle on stage. That’s when Josh told us he wasn’t going to leave the circle until God made provision for the church.

With his wife’s blessing, he brought in a bed and ordered a Port-a-John. All he had was his Bible and his prayer journal. Three times a day, his wife brings him meals. My wife and I live down the street, so we’re helping with the kids.

I think Josh came to the place of desperation. If this thing was going to work, God was going to have to show up and show off. I really think he is planning on staying in that circle until God does something huge. Crazy huh?

Crazy? Or maybe it’s not crazy!

Maybe our normal is so subnormal that normal seems abnormal. Maybe we need a new normal. Bold prayers and big dreams are normal. Anything less is subnormal.

And when bold prayers become the norm, so do the miraculous breakthroughs that follow.

I know there may be naysayers who find fault with Josh’s approach, but sometimes you need to do something crazy, something risky, something dramatic. That’s what Honi the circle maker did when he drew a circle in the sand and declared that he wouldn’t come out until it rained. The Sanhedrin almost excommunicated him because they thought his prayer was too bold. But you cannot argue with a miracle, can you? His radical prayer resulted in rain. And Honi was ultimately honored for “the prayer that saved a generation.”

For the record, the Sanhedrin still exists in every organization, every denomination, and every church. But don’t let the nitpickers and naysayers keep you from doing something crazy if you know God has called you to do it. For the record, RTC didn’t just get a new lease on their building; they got a new lease on their faith!

There is a pattern repeated in Scripture: crazy miracles are the offspring of crazy faith. Normal begets normal.

Crazy begets crazy. If we want to see God do crazy miracles, sometimes we need to pray crazy prayers.

Bold prayers honor God and God honors bold prayers.

Excerpted from Draw the Circle by Mark Batterson, copyright Zondervan.

There are some pretty crazy prayers given to us in our Bibles. But our definition of crazy needs to be examined if the Lord responds with answers to those prayers and gives a new dimension of faith to the person praying! Maybe we need to be more crazy!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith February 3, 2023

Notes of Faith February 3, 2023

He Gives Beauty for Ashes

[God will] care for the needs of all who mourn in Zion, give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes... Rename them “Oaks of Righteousness” planted by God to display his glory. They’ll rebuild the old ruins, raise a new city out of the wreckage. — Isaiah 61:2-4 MSG

Stella weeps after giving birth to a baby with no heartbeat. Years later, her four children are piling on top of her, each one’s giggles louder than the next.

Sam panics when he’s diagnosed with cancer. Years later, a routine scan comes back clear as he’s training for running a marathon.

Mae is heartbroken as she watches her husband move out. Years later, their bond is the strongest it’s ever been. They write love notes to each other every day.

These are snapshots of lives that have been touched by the God of beauty, the One who gifts us with renewal and sweet surprises.

Even when things feel hopeless, He says, “This can change. You can have joy instead of mourning and praise instead of despair. You can even become like a strong oak tree, one I planted to show the world My beauty.”

It may take time, but you can count on Him to free you. Ask Him to shine a brilliant light in any dark shadows and fill you up with deep goodness and new joy.

I believe You always have more beauty to give, God.

*

Make Hope the New Default

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. — Romans 15:13

God wants His kids’ hearts to be joyful and peaceful. Our part is trusting. His part is empowering us to overflow with hope, which can become our default mindset.

We don’t have to amplify the negative and downplay the positive. We can choose hope instead of pessimism. We can notice and soak in God’s goodness and let His love and words of promise fill our hearts. We can respond to Him by saying, “‘My hope is in you all day long’ and at night, ‘my body also will rest in hope’”

(Psalm 25:5; Acts 2:26).

In this mindset, every day is a clean slate and fresh start, full of possibilities and potential good surprises.

Henri Nouwen wrote, “Our spiritual life is a life in which we wait, actively present to the moment, expecting that new things will happen to us, new things that are far beyond our own imagination or prediction. This, indeed, is a very radical stance toward life in a world preoccupied with control.”1

Consider some new leading thoughts today: God is preparing amazing things. His abundant goodness sparks anticipation and joy.

Give me the courage and faith to make hope my default mindset. Holy Spirit, make my heart overflow with hope.

*

Bring on the Levity

A merry heart does good, like medicine. — Proverbs 17:22 NKJV

Laughter is the most beautiful and beneficial therapy God ever granted humanity,” said pastor Chuck Swindoll. We definitely need to put humor in our toolbelt for dealing with anxiety. It wields some heavy-duty power.

Laughter releases tension and relaxes muscles, which can last for up to forty-five minutes afterward. It boosts energy, improves immunity, reduces stress hormones, and produces endorphins, which relieves pain and stress.2 There’s no question it relaxes us. And “the calmer we are, the more we remain in a rational or positive mind.”3

Laughing about something other than our circumstances can bring us relief simply by capturing our attention. Humor can also give us a new view of our life situation; finding a way to laugh about our worries and struggles can make them seem less threatening and heavy.4 Levity does mean “lightness,” after all.5

So seek out people who will laugh with you. Get goofy with friends and family. Watch silly animals on YouTube and silly people on TV shows. Tell stories and revisit memories that make you smile. Quote funny movie lines. Be playful and quick to lighten things up. See the humor in life, and you’ll make yourself more resilient.

You are the God of joy and You want joy for me. Help me bring more humor and levity into my everyday mindset.

1. Henri Nouwen, Finding My Way Home: Pathways to Life and the Spirit (New York: Crossroad Publishing, 2004), 101.

2. Lawrence Robinson, Melinda Smith, and Jeanne Segal, “Laughter Is the Best Medicine,” HelpGuide, https://www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/laughter-is-the-best-medicine.htm.

3. “ANXIETY: Find the Humor, Find the Cure,” Anxiety and Depression Association of America, February 27, 2018.

4. Robinson, Smith, and Segal, “Laughter Is the Best Medicine.”

5. “Levity,” Dictionary.com, https://www.dictionary.com/browse/levity.

Excerpted from Calm Your Anxious Mind by Carrie Mars, copyright Zondervan.

Though circumstances don’t always turn out the way as examples given here, our hope in Christ never changes and is more blessed and perfect than the best of earthly hope. Our joy in Christ can and should fill us to overflowing no matter the circumstances.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith February 2, 2023

Notes of Faith February 2, 2023

Practice the Art of Gentleness

Nothing is so strong as true gentleness. Nothing is so gentle as true strength. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Have you ever seen gentleness de-escalate a tense situation? If so, maybe you were the source of that gentleness.

The Bible tells us that a gentle answer can calm a person’s anger (Proverbs 15:1). Gentleness almost always contributes to contentment as well as peace. Throughout His life, Jesus showed us by His example the power of gentleness.

See in Matthew 11:29 the way He described Himself:

Accept my teachings and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit, and you will find rest for your lives. — NCV

And consider His gentleness with a woman caught in adultery. The Pharisees and teachers of the law were ready to stone her in accordance with Jewish law. Then Jesus made this simple statement:

Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.

— John 8:7

When no one did, when each one walked away, Jesus was alone with the woman. To her He said simply,

Go and sin no more. — John 8:11 NLT

Choose gentleness today. Refrain from judging others. Treat the people you encounter the way you would like them to treat you, the gentle way your Good Shepherd treats you.

Psalm 23 is perhaps the most beautiful expression of Jesus’ gentle ways with us:

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters,

He refreshes my soul.

He guides me along the right paths

for His name’s sake.

Even though I walk

through the darkest valley,

I will fear no evil,

for You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff,

they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely Your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

*

Grace is the face that love wears.

Extend Grace

Grace is the face that love wears when it meets imperfection. ~ Joseph R. Cooke

The world was a kinder place when people interacted face-to-face. It isn’t easy to say rude things when you’re looking someone in the eyes. Slamming someone over social media or with a flippant text message is much easier — and that is happening far too much. Freedom of speech has lost its filter. Thoughtless, disrespectful, hurtful comments run rampant today in social media, late-night talk shows, and even the news.

How do you deal with rude people? When someone is rude to you, maybe your first reaction is to be rude right back. Rudeness responding to rudeness destroys peace. There are better ways to deal with a person’s lack of courtesy and kindness.

Recognize that someone’s imperfections are just that. If a person makes a disagreeable comment on your social media post, cuts in front of you in the grocery line, or, ignoring you, keeps talking on their cell phone, don’t take it personally. Their behavior is about them, not you. So rather than allowing something to upset you and steal your contentment, practice grace by taking the following steps:

Take a deep breath.

Remember what you’re committed to in your heart.

Lead by example and treat them the way you would like to be treated.

Go one step further and offer authentic listening, an act of kindness, or help with something you learn they are dealing with.

Extending grace to difficult people takes practice, but remembering how many times you have received grace makes extending it to others a little easier. Blessing people with grace — with the grace of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, or patience — can help break the cycle of upset in the world. Become a beacon of grace and peace.

Grace is the face that love wears.

Excerpted from Love the Life You Have by Jean Fischer, copyright Thomas Nelson.

Being gentle and gracious do not come naturally. They are things that we must cultivate through our walk of faith and power of the Holy Spirit. But in so doing we will be blessed and filled with the joy of the Lord. Today, let us seek to be gentle and gracious!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith February 1, 2023

Notes of Faith February 1, 2023

Prayers for Fear and Anxiety

Fear and anxiety are at an all-time high the world over. We pray that you find these prayers comforting, exhorting, and hopeful!

Son of God, who subdued the troubled waters and laid to rest the fears of men,

let Your majesty master us and

Your power of calm control us.

Replace our fears with faith

and our unrest with perfect trust in You,

who lives and governs all things, world without end.

~ John Wallace Suter (1859–1942), Adapted

Set free, O Lord, the souls of Your servants

from all restlessness and anxiety.

Give us that peace and power which flow from You. Keep us in all perplexity and distress,

that upheld by Your strength

and stayed on the rock of Your faithfulness,

we may abide in You now and forevermore.

~ Francis Paget (1851–1911)

To You alone, O Jesus, I must cling; running to Your arms, dear Lord,

there let me hide, safe from all fears, loving You with the tenderness of a child.

~ St. Thérèse of Lisieux (1873–1897)

You say that if I give You my burdens,

You will take care of me.

You say that I should cast all my cares upon You,

because You love me,

because You can handle them all, and because it shows my faith in You.

A burden that is heavy enough to sink me is as light as a feather to You.

A fear that can paralyze me

has no power over You.

So I unload it all before You

and hand it over for You to manage.

I put my trust in You — not in my perspective or resources. You can do anything, God!

I will not be afraid, because You are my King and Father. You are with me, and You are for me.

You accept me as I need You and rely on You,

and You walk with me now and always.

You will strengthen me for whatever comes.

~ C. M.

Lord, my emotions could propel me downward or pull a curtain around me, blocking Your light. But instead, I look to You and pray:

Train my mind on Your truth.

Shape my thoughts with Your Spirit.

Fill my heart with Your peace.

Guide me and give me self-control to do what is wise. I trust that what You say is more real than what I feel.

~ C. M.

Make my body healthy and agile,

my mind sharp and clear,

my heart joyful and contented,

my soul faithful and loving. . . .

Above all let me live in Your presence, for with You all fear is banished

and there is only harmony and peace.

Let every day combine the beauty of spring, the brightness of summer,

the abundance of autumn,

and the repose of winter.

And at the end of my life on earth,

grant that I may come to see and know You in the fullness of Your glory.

~ St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274)

You will take care of me.

Everything I could be worrying about right now, I’m praying about instead.

My concerns could take over my mind all day and seize my heart with despair.

But instead I’m taking those thoughts captive

and turning to You.

I want to make my mind obedient to You, the Truth.

I tell You what I need and hope for,

then let the matters rest in Your hands.

I rejoice that I belong to You, and You are a good Father. You’ve provided before, and You will again.

I realize my situation is an exercise in faith-training,

an opportunity to trust You and give You glory.

Now, Holy Spirit, the Great Helper,

give me self-control throughout this day

and help me fix my thoughts where You want them. May I find the good all around me.

May I fill my mind with what’s right and pure—

“the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.”

May I dwell on—and give power to—what is true.

May I find even simple things to delight in.

Help me choose joy; choose hope; choose peace.

~ C. M., quoted materials from Philippians 4:8 The Message

Most loving Father,

who has taught us to dread nothing but the loss of You, preserve me from faithless fears and worldly anxieties.

~ William Bright (1824–1901)

O my Lord and Savior,

in Your arms I am safe.

Keep me and I have nothing to fear. . . .

I know nothing about the future,

but I rely upon You.

I pray that You would give me what is good for me. . . .

If You bring pain or sorrow on me,

give me grace to bear it well—

keep me from fretfulness and selfishness.

If You give me health and strength and success in this world, keep me always on my guard

lest these great gifts carry me away from You.

O Christ, You died on the Cross for me,

even for me, sinner as I am.

Help me to know You,

to believe in You,

to love You,

to serve You,

to always aim at bringing You glory,

to live to and for You.

~ St, John Henry Newman (1801–1890)

Excerpted from A Prayer for Every Occasion by Carrie Mars, copyright Zondervan.

1 John 4:18

18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.

NASU

Trusting God and His perfect love for us should cast away all the fear that we could experience in this world. God’s provision for those who believe and follow Jesus is eternal and the fears presented to us by this world are temporal.

Let us trust in the Lord!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith January 31, 2023

Notes of Faith January 31, 2023

The Beauty of Silver Hair

Why Churches Need Older Women

Article by Dave Furman

Guest Contributor

Sometime in late 2009, on a chilly winter morning in Dubai (still 90 degrees!), Mack and his wife, Leeann, came up to me in the back of our church’s worship center. They communicated their intention to join our church-planting team working to establish a new church on the north side of town. They were the first to do so. As the months unfolded, Mack, as a founding elder, certainly played a huge role in the new plant. His evangelistic zeal and joyful leadership proved contagious. However, Leeann was the unsung hero.

Over the years, through Leeann’s leadership and discipleship, a number of women matured and began to lead Bible studies with other women throughout the church. One of these leaders is named Happy (whose personality matches her name brilliantly). Happy has since returned to her home in South Africa and has continued her ministry there, but during the first decade of our church plant, Leeann led our women’s ministry and then handed the baton of leadership over to Happy. The spiritual fruit was tangible and beautiful.

“No matter the predominant generational demographic of a church, older women are always a blessing.”

I would never call either of these women “old,” but they are certainly older than me and older than most in our congregation. In an environment where virtually all expatriates leave our city to retire in their home country, older members are a special blessing to our demographically young congregation. Yet no matter the predominant generational demographic of a church, older women are always a blessing.

Older Women Teach Younger Women

Leeann, Happy, and many other women have modeled what the apostle Paul wrote to Pastor Titus:

Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

(Titus 2:3–5)

Neither male elders, male preachers, nor the word of God itself negate the need for older women to teach younger women in the church. Every church needs older women who will model godliness and teach younger women to follow their example.

MODELING GODLINESS

First, faithful older women model godliness and Christlike humility. They are reverent in behavior. They walk with God, and out of their relationship with God they model Christ to the other women in the church. Along with these positive descriptions, Paul gives two examples of irreverent behavior they are to avoid. Both areas indicate a lack of self-control.

Older women are not to be slanderers. Older women model what it means to guard their mouths by not gossiping and harming the church. Our words carry great power, and a wise older woman reminds younger women of the truth of Proverbs 12:18: “There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” An older woman glorifies her Savior and gives grace to those who hear her when she does not let any unwholesome words come out of her mouth, but only what builds up, as fits the occasion (Ephesians 4:29).

Older women are not to be slaves to much wine. In other words, older women are self-controlled. Alcohol does not enslave them, nor do the typical preoccupations of this world. They live moderate, commendable lives that other women in the church can emulate.

TEACHING GODLINESS

Second, older women are to teach younger women “what is good” (Titus 2:3). Instead of speaking slanderous words, they train younger women to care well for their family and home. Older women have a plethora of wisdom to share with younger women about singleness, marriage, parenting, and other aspects of life. Regardless of one’s situation, older women have likely walked the same paths younger women are now walking. This teaching includes a study of how to love their husbands and children and what true biblical submission looks like. Such topics cannot be relegated to a classroom; they involve life-on-life discipleship.

This teaching Paul has in mind also includes areas like self-control and living pure lives in kindness. And older women teach all of this “that the word of God may not be reviled” (Titus 2:5) — that the godliness of a church’s women will display the goodness of God.

Older women are needed to serve all over the local church. They are needed to meet with other women in their homes for Bible studies. They are needed to teach other women in public and private. They are needed to meet one on one (or in small groups) in intentional discipleship relationships. It’s one of my greatest joys of pastoring to hear when people in the church meet with one another simply to open the word and study together.

Older Women Bless the Whole Church

While God calls men to lead and preach in local churches, godly older women tutor the whole church through their faithful ministry, their commendable example, and their Scripture-shaped words. As all watch their godly example of teaching and training younger generations, the result is infectious. Others in the church see their ministry and are challenged to follow in their path as they follow Christ.

“Godly older women tutor the whole church through their faithful ministry.”

By their example, older women instruct the whole church. I still remember learning from Leeann and Happy about godly speech. They were always slow to speak, but at the same time, they were quick to compliment and encourage. Their example still challenges me to build up my fellow church members with God’s word. Alongside those two, I can’t count how many conversations or testimonies I’ve heard from older women in our church that have encouraged me personally as a pastor and as a Christian.

I’m so thankful for Leeann and Happy and the long legacy of sages with silver hair who have blessed our church. I am thankful for their ministry to the younger women, but I am especially thankful for the impact they’ve had on the entire church. They have taught me about living a godly life and equipping the next generation.

Pastors, church leaders, and church members, we would all do well to learn from the older women in our congregations. They have much to teach us about life, ministry, and godliness.

God has blessed our church with godly silver-haired women. They have been and are now a great blessing to me personally and to our church. They are an example to follow toward maturity in Christ. Let’s give honor where honor is due and bless those who bless us. Thank you ladies, for your zeal and maturity in Christ!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith January 30, 2023

Notes of Faith January 30, 2023

Article by Greg Morse

Staff writer, desiringGod.org

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name . . . (Matthew 6:9)

How many lips have formed these words since the Lord Jesus first taught them? How many languages have uttered them? How many different people, in how many different circumstances, have bowed their heads and hearts to pray as Jesus famously instructs?

The dying have prayed it. The uneducated have prayed it. The unbelieving and villainous have even prayed it. Children have prayed it. The great and wise have found room for it. Every continent on earth has heard it whispered. Tribes in remote villages and kings in tall palaces have bowed and repeated after the Jewish prophet from Nazareth. Has there been a prayer more prayed; have there been words more often spoken?

“For some of our wandering prayer lives, the best thing for us to learn is how not to pray.”

And yet, for as many as have repeated our Master’s teaching on how to pray, how many can repeat what words come directly before them — namely, the ones teaching us how not to pray? How many realize that our Lord’s instruction on prayer is both positive and negative — that it doesn’t simply stand alone but is given in contrast? For some of our wandering prayer lives, the best thing for us to learn is how not to pray like a Pharisee or a pagan.

Prayers of Pharisees

Do you love to be noticed and admired by others when you pray?

Jesus’s first how-not-to aims at the hypocrite, embodied in the Pharisee. When the Pharisee prayed, he wanted not so much to pray as to be seen praying. As a bird in mating season, he sang forth loud, preening look-at-me prayers.

“And when you pray,” Jesus begins, “you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others” (Matthew 6:5).

Such a man pours his best zeal and focus and interest into public prayers. He positions himself on street corners or within small groups. What may seem stirring and deeply spiritual to many does not impress the one above who knows their anxious thoughts: Are others looking? Are they impressed?

Jesus shows us an example of such a look-at-me pray-er, who cannot help exalting himself even without an audience.

Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.” (Luke 18:10–12)

In other words, “God, thank you that when you look at me — and when I look at me — we both behold such a pleasing sight! Unlike this man, loathsome to both Gentile and Jew alike, you have made me quite the spectacle. Twice per week my belly aches from fasting. My spice racks withhold not your due!” “Be merciful to me a sinner” lives miles from his mind in the distant town called Justified.

Do you pray to impress others? To build up a spiritual résumé? How is your life of secret prayer? Do you ever stand so tall or shine with such saintly luster as when you know others are watching? You must not be like them, Jesus teaches, for “they have received their reward.” Instead, “go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:5–6).

Prayers of Pagans

Have you come to the end of your prayers and realized you can’t remember anything you just prayed? You spoke Christian-speak — observed the phrases of prayer, drew near to God with your mouth, and honored him with your lips while your heart was far from him. Prayer on autopilot.

“And when you pray,” Jesus teaches next, “do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words” (Matthew 6:7).

The pagans prayed empty mantras, stale platitudes, barren banalities. Prayer for pagans often proved little more than a formula — say these words so many times, and the gods will hear and reply. Just babble invocations in order to awaken your deity from his slumber, and he will eventually bless you. The priests of Baal modeled this in their showdown with Elijah, praying, “O Baal, answer us!” from morning until noon (1 Kings 18:26).

So too with us.

Although we do not pray to stones or wood or the sun, Jesus does not want his disciples praying true words to the true God falsely. Emptily. I don’t know about you, but mealtime prayers can be the first ones vampired of their lifeblood (what does it even mean to “bless this food to our bodies”?). Too many times, my mouth has moved, prayers were spoken — but not really from me. A pious ventriloquism.

Our Lord exposes a hidden insecurity underneath empty-phrased pagan prayers: “They think that they will be heard for their many words.” The pagans are uncertain about the divine heart toward them — so they appease or impress or update the unknowing and unconcerned gods. They try to get their attention, throwing dust at the heavens, desperately wishing for someone to answer.

Such an insecurity resonates with my say-more prayers. Am I really being heard? Prayer can seem less reliable than, say, a text message, which tells me it was delivered. Not so with prayer. I feel as though I pray carrier pigeons — as each flaps away, I hope some will arrive at the destination.

Praying empty phrases with many words, then, can turn into a probability proposition. The more pigeons, the greater the odds God receives the message. Third-times-a-charm mentality. But Jesus allays our rambling fears: “Do not be like them,” he instructs, “for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:8). Before you approach your Father’s throne, he knows. He knows your needs — his eye has not turned from you. The pagans pray to the unknown god. We pray to a Father.

Prayer for Christians

Jesus introduces “Our Father who art in heaven” with “Pray then like this” (Matthew 6:9). Then connects the instruction on how not to pray with the how-to Lord’s Prayer.

I believe Jesus gives us this prayer, in part, to contrast with the how-not-to errors of the hypocrites and pagans. In his short prayer, Jesus gives us an alternative to the look-at-me prayer of the Pharisee and the say-more prayer of the pagan.

Against hypocrite prayers, he teaches us to pray,

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:9–10)

Jesus teaches his disciples to pray that God in all his glory be seen, not us. Instead of our names being hallowed, our kingdoms coming, our righteousness being seen and praised and admired — or the various ways we ask for these — we want God’s to be imposed and cherished. This prayer, spoken from the heart and not just the mouth, transforms hypocrites to worshipers, deorbiting the heart from revolving around self to God. And when God’s fame is truly our heart’s desire, we will come to love secret prayer.

Against pagan prayers, Jesus adds,

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one. (Matthew 6:11–13)

“When God’s fame is truly our heart’s desire, we will come to love secret prayer.”

Instead of waking a snoring deity, anxious to appease the god we do not truly know, we pray to a heavenly Father. And therefore, instead of seeking to impress or play probability games with the divine ear, we can pray simple, childlike, and even concise prayers to our Father (this prayer totals 57 words in Greek, 38 in Luke’s account), knowing that we have his ear through Jesus Christ. We ask him for the needs we already know he knows about. He is a Father, bidding his sons and daughters come close to tell him all the requests of their hearts.

One of the best ways to pray is to know how not to pray. Instead of praying self-exalting prayers that cry, Look at me! we pray in secret, and we pray for God’s glory to be loved and admired. Instead of praying empty-talk, babbling, insecure prayers, we pray about daily bread and forgiveness, knowing that he knows our needs and has forgiven us in Christ before we ask him.

Praying for God’s will to be done and how you can be used for His honor and glory, praying for His family to grow, for sinners to come to the Savior Jesus Christ by grace through faith, praying for those in your field of influence and connection for their earthly and spiritual needs, will bring answer to your prayers. It is all too easy to focus on ourselves and not the Lord and others around us. The world needs God and we must take Him to them, as we are commanded to do, then let the Lord finish His work in the hearts of those with whom we have shared the gospel. Pray and share the gospel today!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith January 29, 2023

Notes of Faith January 29, 2023

Be Still, My Soul

A Hymn for the Hardest Losses

Article by Jon Bloom

Staff writer, desiringGod.org

After nearly two decades, the memory is still vivid: standing in the living room with the phone to my ear, listening as my friend and pastor, Rick, described to me through sobs how one of the young, vibrant couples in our church had just been in a terrible car accident. The husband had survived. But the wife had not. And neither had their unborn son — their first child, whose birth they had been anticipating with so much joy.

I stood stunned, trying to process this new reality. I could see her laughing with a group of people after church the previous Sunday. Now, she was suddenly gone — taken, along with her child, in a violent event that unfolded in a few seconds. Rick asked me, the leader of the worship ministry, to begin thinking and praying over possible music for the funeral that would likely be held the next week.

If my memory is accurate, the first song that came to mind, almost immediately, was one of my favorite hymns: “Be Still, My Soul.”

Song for Deepest Sorrow

I have loved this hymn since my late teens. When sung to a beautiful arrangement of the tune “Finlandia,” it has, to my ear, perfect prosody — that’s the term musicians use to describe how “all elements [of a song] work together to support the central message of the song.” And the central message of “Be Still, My Soul” is the resurrection hope Jesus gives us in the face of the devastating death of a loved one.

The powerful lyrics come from the pen of a German woman named Katharina Amalia Dorothea von Schlegel and began appearing in German hymnals in 1752. Little is known about Katharina. Some believe she may have been a “Stiftsfraulein,” a member of a female Lutheran “stift” (convent) in the town of Köthen (one hundred miles southwest of Berlin), and that she had been significantly influenced by a pietistic Christian renewal movement.

No record survives of the specific event(s) that inspired her to compose this deeply moving hymn. But such specifics aren’t necessary since we all experience the kind of devastating losses she writes about. And when they come, we often find ourselves enduring an internal hurricane of disorienting grief, in desperate need of the peaceful shelter of hope. And the gift Katharina has bequeathed to us — in the four verses most English hymnals contain (she wrote six) — is this profound poetic reminder of the one shelter for our sorrowful, storm-tossed souls: the faithfulness of God.

‘The Lord Is on Thy Side’

She begins in verse one by reminding us of the unshakable foundation on which we stand by faith:

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.

Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.

Leave to thy God to order and provide;

In ev’ry change, He faithful will remain.

Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heav’nly friend

Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

The first line is a near quote of Psalm 118:6: “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.” But the rationale for why we have any right to make this otherwise audacious claim is gloriously stated in Romans 8:31–32:

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

In the swirl of grief, we may wonder, “All things? Then why did God not spare my loved one from death and me from such anguish of separation?” To which the Holy Spirit, through the great apostle, graciously, hopefully, and gently replies,

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(Romans 8:37–39)

Soul, be at peace: your faithful Lord is on your side. And he will lead you through this vale of deep darkness to the eternally Son-lit, joyful land of everlasting love (Psalm 23:4, Revelation 21:23).

‘All Now Mysterious Shall Be Bright at Last’

In verse two, Katharina reminds us of the great promise purchased for us when the Father did not spare his own Son for us: freedom from the curse of living with the knowledge of good and evil — the knowledge we insisted on having, while lacking the capacities to comprehend or mange it.

Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake

To guide the future, as He has the past.

Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;

All now mysterious shall be bright at last.

Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know

His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Now, God’s purposes in allowing evil to wreak such grievous havoc are largely shrouded in mystery, and so can appear senseless. But it will not always be so. For Jesus came to undo all of the effects of curse. First, he came into the world to undo the curse of death (Genesis 3:19). And then, when we finally experience life free from remaining sin and beyond the threat of death, we shall be given knowledge more wonderful than what we sought from the Edenic fruit: we shall know fully, even as we have been fully known (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Soul, be at peace: your faithful Lord will soon make all you now find so mysterious bright at last.

‘Jesus Can Repay All He Takes Away’

In verse three, when the sword of grief has pierced our hearts at the deaths of our dearest ones, Katharina applies the balm of gospel promise to our throbbing wound.

Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,

And all is darkened in the vale of tears,

Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,

Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.

Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay

From His own fullness all He takes away.

That last line echoes the great faith-filled, worshipful declaration Job made upon the news of the deaths of his dear children: “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). But Katharina’s words declare the biblical promise of a greater restoration than Job experienced on earth. For God has promised that even the severest losses will someday seem like “light momentary affliction” compared to the “eternal weight of glory” they produce (2 Corinthians 4:17).

“Your faithful Lord will never depart and will repay from his own fullness far more than all he takes away.”

But this verse also describes a Christian’s paradoxical experience in the very anguish of bereavement. For those who, while grieving, place their trust in their best and heav’nly friend receive a foretaste of the riches of Jesus’s fullness as they come to “better know His love, His heart.” They often experience new dimensions of the reality of what Jesus meant when he said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5), and “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

Soul, be at peace: your faithful Lord will never depart and will repay from his own fullness far more than all he takes away.

‘We Shall Be Forever with the Lord’

One week after that tragic car accident, we gathered in the sanctuary to remember the lives and grieve the deaths of that young wife, daughter, sister, friend, and expectant mother, and the baby boy she and her devastated husband had looked forward to bringing into the world. But we did not grieve as those “who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13).

My clearest memory of the funeral was being so deeply moved and comforted by the way I heard my brothers and sisters sing “Be Still, My Soul,” especially the last verse:

Be still, my soul: the hour is hast’ning on

When we shall be forever with the Lord.

When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,

Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.

Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past

All safe and blessèd we shall meet at last.

“There is coming a day when ‘we will always be with the Lord.’”

Here is every Christian’s “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13), the reason Jesus is for us “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). Katharina’s words helped us encourage one another in the hope that there is coming a day when “we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17–18). They helped us together preach to our souls,

Soul, be at peace: your faithful Lord will soon gather us all together again, safe and blessed, in his presence — where his full joy will be our full joy, and where all that gives him pleasure will be all that gives us pleasure forever (Psalm 16:11).

Then, having done our best to still our souls through faith in God’s faithfulness, we escorted the earthly remains of our sister and baby brother to the cemetery, where we sowed their perishable, weak, and natural bodies into the ground in the hope that Jesus will raise them with imperishable, powerful, spiritual bodies (1 Corinthians 15:42–44). And upon the grave’s marker, the loving husband and father, whose loss had been incalculable, yet who in faith believed Christ had greater gain for the three of them, had this text inscribed:

As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness. (Psalm 17:15)

Ps 46:10

"Be still, and know that I am God.”

ESV

Matt 28:20

“And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

ESV

We are never alone in grief or joy!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith January 28, 2023

Notes of Faith January 28, 2023

How the Root of Insecurity Is Tied to Your Identity

I leaped out of bed when the alarm signaled it was time to wake up and hit the pavement. Ten minutes later, I was outside pressing “start running” on my fitness app and putting in my earbuds to listen to a worship music playlist. I was excited to run because the cool, crisp mornings between winter and spring are my favorite time of year.

I made it home just in time to give my seven-and ten-year-old sons sweaty hugs and my husband a sweaty kiss before they left for the day. Then I started my post-run routine of showering, stretching, making a pot of tea, and having some quiet time with the Lord. I was looking forward to my Bible study time because the cancelation of many of my speaking engagements allowed me to study for the fun of it without the pressure of preparing to give a message.

The Holy Spirit had led me to take an interest in the life of Jonathan, King Saul’s son. A lot was written about his father, and even more was written about his best friend, David, but I had never looked closely at Jonathan.

I started reading in 1 Samuel 14, which tells the story of how Jonathan waged an attack on a Philistine outpost with only his young armor-bearer by his side. As Jonathan made his way to Mikmash to fight two dozen Philistines by himself, his father, the king, rested comfortably under a pomegranate tree in Gibeah with six hundred soldiers. The juxtaposition of the two scenes was striking.

When Jonathan and his young armor-bearer reached the outpost, they saw that the Philistines were positioned on a cliff. This put Jonathan and his armor-bearer at a strategic disadvantage because it robbed them of the element of surprise. The climb to the Philistines’ position would also use precious energy they needed for the battle.

Nevertheless, Jonathan turned to his armor-bearer and said,

Come, let’s go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised men. Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few. — 1 Samuel 14:6

I repeated that last line to myself: “Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.” Something about it resonated. When the Lord is for us, we can be outnumbered but are never unprotected.

Insecurity Exposed

I read a couple more chapters and then decided it was time to start my day. I quickly checked my Facebook page to respond to comments and messages and then did the same on Instagram. Although I normally go straight to my Instagram notifications, that day I caught a glimpse of my newsfeed first. And that’s when the downward emotional spiral started.

After scrolling for what felt like an eternity, I counted no fewer than eight friends posting the exciting news that they were joining an amazing roster of speakers for a major women’s conference that was going virtual because of the pandemic. Since I don’t follow many people on social media, it seemed like the only thing in my newsfeed was an avalanche of exciting announcements about speaking at the Full Blossom Conference.

“Why wasn’t I invited to speak?” I asked aloud. “It’s like Susie asked everyone we mutually know except me.”

With each new post, I felt what can only be described as the stab of an emotional ice pick to the heart. My mind was clouded with hurt, so I stopped scrolling, closed Instagram, and looked out my living room window into a beautiful day. The skies were blue and filled with fluffy white clouds. Birds bounded from limb to limb on the tree just outside my window. But the beauty outside couldn’t overcome the ugliness churning inside me.

An old, familiar hurt resurfaced inside — the hurt of being unwanted.

I’ve had a full speaking schedule for years, despite never once advertising myself as a speaker or asking to speak at events. And I receive more speaking invitations for business and church conferences than I can accept. I’ve been invited to speak on multiple continents and keynoted major conferences across the United States and abroad. Yet, somehow, not being invited to speak at this conference bothered me.

I’d heard of Full Blossom before and had never desired to speak at it, but after I saw many of the people in my ministry circle invited to speak there, my exclusion catalyzed a self-worth inquisition.

Comparison makes what never mattered before the thing that matters most.

As I sat down at my desk and opened my laptop, I felt a magnetic pull back to Instagram. I had back-to-back video conferences every thirty minutes for the next seven hours, so I set my phone down and logged on for the first meeting. Within ten minutes, I had discreetly unlocked my phone, opened Instagram, and continued the scroll. An irresistible and poisonous thread tugged on my heart and distracted me from work.

I went to Susie’s profile and saw post after post of her gushing about each speaker: how incredible they were and how perfect the conference would be because of them. My chest tightened, and a lump grew in my throat as I watched a video of her enthusiastically naming several of my friends as speakers. Although she spoke about them, my heart heard her speaking to me: Nona, I know who you are. I’ve seen what you do. And you’re not good enough. You’re not what I’m looking for. You’re just average.

I had not only constructed the full-blown, play-by-play narrative for why Susie hadn’t invited me but also decided I needed to unfollow everyone she had invited to speak. My heart felt like it would shatter if I saw one more friend’s post about the awesome conference I wasn’t invited to speak at. I didn’t want to wade through endless reminders that they were speaking at the conference and I wasn’t.

“Why did she pick everyone around me but not me?” I asked aloud again. The more I thought about it, the more my hurt turned to anger. But in my anger, I heard the Holy Spirit ask a different question: “Why does it matter?”

“Why does it matter?” I responded incredulously. “Because everyone who’s anyone will be speaking there. And I’m not. This will be the largest online women’s ministry gathering of the year, and I will be absent.”

“So you think you matter only because of the speaking invitations you receive?” the Holy Spirit asked.

“No,” I said. “I know I matter to You. I just... I just...” I stammered as the weight of the truth settled on me.

“Go ahead,” the Holy Spirit prompted, “say it.”

“I just want to matter to them too,” I whispered, tears forming in the corners of my eyes.

“I know, Nona. You want to matter to them because you’re insecure,” the Holy Spirit said matter-of-factly.

“Insecure?” I responded with disbelief. “I’m not insecure! Far from it. I know who I am in You. I preach about it regularly. Besides, I have everything I could ever want and more than I could ever have imagined. I’m definitely not insecure!”

The Root of Insecurity

With love and conviction, the Holy Spirit said, “Nona, you think people are insecure if they don’t like how they look or don’t like what they have or don’t like what they do. Those are expressions of insecurity, but they’re not the root of insecurity. The root of insecurity is when your identity is built on an insecure foundation.”

As I considered what the Holy Spirit said, I felt defensive. “My identity is secured to You, Lord. I know what the Word says about who I am, and I believe it. How can You say I’m insecure?”

“Yes, you know what my Word says, and you also believe it,” affirmed the Holy Spirit. “But knowledge and belief are not the same as faith. As long as you know my Word in your head and believe it in your heart but don’t practice it daily, your identity will continue to be secured to the affirmation of others. You have built your identity on people’s approval. People show their approval with likes on social media, but I demonstrated my approval through love on the cross. I approved of you before you were formed in your mother’s womb. And my approval is unchanging.”

The truth in these words hit me like a Mack truck. So much of my life had been spent trying to win people’s approval, and maybe yours has too.

The approval of others is never permanent, and it often depends on variables that are beyond our control. People use things such as height, weight, wealth, popularity, theology, position, or political affiliation as “approval filters” to determine whether we’re good enough for them. Yet God approved of us before there was anything to approve of. God created us on purpose, with purpose.

The Holy Spirit said, “Nona, the reason you’re hurt by not being invited to speak at that conference is because you measure your worth based on how much people approve of you compared to others. When you aren’t secured to the stable foundation of who I say you are, you drift with the shifting currents of others’ opinions about you. When you drift from Me, you have to secure your identity to people’s opinions to stay afloat. Your insecurity didn’t start this morning. You’ve been insecure most of your life.”

I sat in silence with my eyes closed, reflecting on what the Holy Spirit had said. Before I knew it, my eyes were brimming with tears. The Holy Spirit was right — as always.

Somewhere along the line, I had surrendered my purpose for performative applause. God had valued me before I even had the ability to perform my way into his love. Though God determined I was worth dying for at my worst (Romans 5:8), I made the mistake of conflating my eternal, intrinsic value with likes, follows, shares, and speaking invitations. And the craziest part of it all is that no one knew. Not even me. It happened subtly, over time.

With every larger platform I stepped onto, my heart had slowly detached from the secure foundation of God’s approval and attached itself to the insecure foundation of other people’s approval, creating insecurity.

“Lord, You’re right,” I said. “You say in your Word that people honor You with their lips but their hearts are far from You. I now understand what You mean. I have honored You with my lips, but I’m not honoring You with my life. Lord, I need Your help. Please deliver me from insecurity.”

“Nona, what you’re asking will require more than you expect, but if you trust Me and obey Me, I will help you get to freedom. You must no longer look to others for approval; you must look only to Me.”

“Lord, I’m ready,” I said.

“No, you’re not. But that’s what My grace is for.”

Just as Jonathan was outnumbered against the Philistines, we can feel overwhelmed by seeming to never measure up. But the same divine grace that enabled His victory is the same grace that enables our victory over insecurity too.

Adapted from Killing Comparison by Nona Jones, copyright Nona Jones. Shared from biblegateway.com.

Comparison kills. It kills our attitude, motivation, and faithfulness. God indeed loved us and did everything for us while we were in rebellion to Him. We did not know Him, love Him or serve Him, and yet He gave His life for us. This had nothing to do with any of those things and yet we try to compare ourselves with others. We just need to trust God and revel in the relationship He calls us to with Himself and not be concerned with worldly relationships. He made us all and calls us to do His work as He has gifted us. Be happy, even glorified in the work that He has called you to do!

Pastor Dale