Notes of Faith March 20, 2023

Notes of Faith March 20, 2023

The Prayer that Gets Results

O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord who said to me, “Return to your country and to your family, and I will deal well with you”: I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown... Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother... for I fear him... For You said, “I will surely treat you well, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.” — Genesis 32:9–12

One of the most moving and heartfelt reconciliations ever recorded in the annals of human history takes place in Genesis 33:4: “Esau ran to meet him [his brother, Jacob], and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.” Over twenty years earlier Jacob had cheated his brother, Esau, out of his cherished birthright. Fearing retribution, he ran for his life and lived in exile for two decades, isolated from Esau’s threats of retaliation. What caused this amazing change of heart that turned years of hostility into a scene of tears and kisses? It was God moving in the hearts of everyone involved through this prayer of Jacob.

Prayer changes things. More importantly, prayer changes people, and people then change things.

This is a prayer that gets results.

Initially, Jacob appealed to God on the basis of a sure and established covenant relationship with Him. He addressed the “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac.” This unbreakable covenant was established with Abraham (Genesis 12:1–3), repeated to Isaac (Genesis 17:19), and passed down to Jacob (Genesis 28:12–13). Jacob was in a covenant relationship with God Himself. And there is good news—so are we, through the new covenant. We have entered into this unbreakable relationship with Him.

All true prayer begins here where Jacob began, that is, with an acknowledgment of our covenant relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Some pray without seeing results simply because they have never been born into His forever family and entered into a lasting relationship with God, enabling them to approach Him saying, “Our Father.”

The Prayer that Gets Results is Scriptural

Note Jacob threw himself on God’s word and pleaded a promise God had given him earlier, saying,

I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. — Genesis 28:15

Now in his prayer he stood on that Bible promise as he addressed God as “the Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your family, and I will deal well with you.’” Jacob stood on God’s personal promises when he prayed. Your Bible is filled with God’s promises to you; find one; stand on it. The prayer that gets results is based on the promises of God.

Prayer changes things. More importantly, prayer changes people.

The Prayer that Gets Results is Sincere

Jacob continued, “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown.” He was not approaching God in prayer on the basis of his own merit. He avoided a proud position and sincerely acknowledged his total unworthiness before God.

When we realize that God doesn’t grant our requests on the basis of who we are or what we may have done, but on the basis of who Jesus is and what He has done, we will come before God as Jacob did and discover when we look around that the throne room of prayer is covered with the blood of Christ and not our own good works.

The Prayer that Gets Results is Specific

There are no generalities in Jacob’s prayer. He got specific. “Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him.” Many pray and see little results because their prayers are filled with nothing more than generalities when God wants us to request specific things from Him. Jacob told God exactly what his heart desired. For twenty years he had lived under the threat of retaliation, and in an instant God answered his prayer and changed the heart of Esau.

Code Word: Sand

The next time you see sand in an hourglass or a beautiful picture of a beach in some tropical setting, let it remind you that God kept His promise to make Abraham’s seed as “the sand of the sea” in number. And He keeps His promises to you today.

Code Verse

You do not have because you do not ask. — James 4:2

Excerpted from The Prayer Code by O. S. Hawkins, copyright Dr. O. S. Hawkins.

Prayers get answered and sometimes we don’t know they were answered because they were not answered in the way we wanted and assumed that God would respond. We need an intimate ongoing “praying without ceasing” heart attitude that keeps us close to the throne of grace to know that God answers every prayer in His timing and will. Let us learn to be patient yet aware of all that God is doing in our lives and the lives of those around us, family, friends, coworkers, other saints… God is working, even putting things to pray to Him on our heart and mind. Stay near the throne and you will be blessed beyond all your imaginings.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith March 19, 2023

Notes of Faith March 19, 2023

Don’t Get Hangry!

We were made right with God by His grace. — Titus 3:7 ICB

It’s Saturday morning, and you snap at your sister for no reason, growl at the dog, and then flop on the couch because it’s raining and you can’t go outside. You’re just so angry! Suddenly, your stomach rumbles so loud that the dog barks. That’s when you remember that you forgot to eat breakfast. You’re not just angry; you’re hungry too. You’re hangry.

Hangry is more than just a bad attitude. There’s some real stuff going on in your body. One of those things has to do with energy. When you eat, your body turns the food into simple sugars to use for energy. So when you run low on energy, your brain thinks you’re in trouble. It sends out the “fight or flight” chemical called adrenaline (uh-DREN-uh-lin). Being hangry makes it harder to control your emotions, and you get upset about things that don’t usually bother you. What’s the cure?

Eat something!

Give others the same grace God gives you.

People sometimes act angry when there’s actually something else going on. Maybe they’re hungry or tired or worried about something. If a friend snaps at you for no reason, don’t snap back. Put yourself in their shoes. (I don’t mean snatch their sneakers. That would just make them angrier!) Ask yourself what else might be going on and how you could help. Offer to share a snack and listen. Give them a second chance. That’s called grace, and God gives you a whole bunch of it every day. Do the same and give others the same grace God gives you.

God, when others mess up, help me to give them grace — just like You give me grace when I mess up. Amen.

Explore the Wonder

We humans don’t like to go long without food. We can get hangry pretty quickly. But some animals can go weeks or even months without anything to eat. And then there’s the olm salamander. This cave-dwelling more than 10 years without eating any food at all!

Excerpted from The Wonder of Creation by Louie Giglio, copyright Louie Giglio.

Wow! The things God leads you to read because you need to hear and respond as if He is speaking directly to you through them. This is me today. I messed up because I was not feeling well and anything and everything made me a little angry. And I was hungry as well because eating made me even sicker. Prayerfully, I will be forgiven for messing up and can move forward by and in God’s grace to grow and be more glorifying to His name. Feeling a little better now. Going to get something to eat!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith March 18, 2023

Notes of Faith March 18, 2023

God of Ages Past

The Awakening We Need Today

Article by Greg Morse

Staff writer, desiringGod.org

Over 38 years of pastoral ministry at New Park Street Chapel (later to become The Metropolitan Tabernacle), Charles Spurgeon and the church added nearly 14,000 people into membership. Of that number, how many would you guess were brought into the church through baptism — as new souls won to the Savior?

I would have guessed up to 3,500. Most, I would have reasoned, transferred from other churches to hear the generation’s greatest preacher. Further, 3,500 people baptized — on average 92 a year, nearly 2 per week for 38 years — seems like a downpour of blessing compared to the trickle of conversions I am accustomed to.

In his wonderful book Spurgeon the Pastor, Geoffrey Chang gives us the answer. “Spurgeon took in 13,797 people into membership. Of that number 10,063 (73%) were taken into membership through baptism,” the rest through transfer (20%) and by profession (7%) (110). Meaning, “most of the membership of the Tabernacle was made up of those who were converted through the ministry of the church” (112).

In one generation, over 10,000 brought into one local church through baptism. Can you imagine?

‘Burning Disgrace’

The astonishment deepens when Chang documents how Spurgeon detested lax standards of baptism and membership. Meaning, the church did not baptize on a whim. Those ten thousand did not raise a hand in one moment of passion and wade into the pool a few minutes later. Spurgeon refused to boast of “unhatched chickens” (112). Rather, the church remained serious about regenerate membership, with a process on the front end that towers over many churches today.

Above all, Chang writes of Spurgeon, “he wanted to see people brought into the church from the world” (111). His hunger to see God save souls was contagious. He could not conceive of the church of Jesus Christ not winning her Master’s spoils.

I should reckon it to be a burning disgrace if it could be said, “The large church under that man’s pastoral care is composed of members whom he has stolen away from other Christian churches.” No, but I value beyond all price the godless, the careless, who are brought out from the world into communion with Christ. (111)

“Spurgeon could not conceive of the church of Jesus Christ not winning her Master’s spoils.”

How many pastors and churches today think this way? Or, most convicting to me, how many believe this way? How many really believe God can build our churches primarily through baptism? I struggle to. How many really believe we can see a revival of a neighborhood, town, city, or nation with that old rugged gospel? I struggle to. How many really plead for God to move mightily among us as of old? I struggle to.

Great Awakenings

Stories like these stir a restlessness in me.

I read of God’s work in other lands and times, and wonder at such little resemblance to my own experience. They lived in an epic, it seems. I turn the pages of Scripture to read of my forebears “who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight” (Hebrews 11:33–35). What would they read flipping through the pages of my life?

Continuing on, I read of a mighty gospel “turning the world upside down” (Acts 17:6). In special epochs — distant epochs — I read of major cities casting their idols into the fire (Acts 19:18–19), and of conviction for sin shattering hearts by the hundreds and thousands (Acts 2:37–41). I read of Great Awakenings on our own shores, as many looked up from their snake-bitten condition to Christ and were healed. Homes and streets were filled with heavenly conversation, they say. Multitudes lived with sobriety over sin and a fear of the wrath to come. Hearts seemed fuller, worship more robust, and the next life with Christ the grand desire.

Different times, I sigh. Then seemed to have something happening, something inbreaking, something at stake. Before them waters parted and revivals fell and mountains moved into the heart of the sea. Life was less certain, perhaps (I did not cite the next verses in Hebrews 11, detailing torture, flogging, and sawing in two), but as the fingers of time pressed firmly upon the neck, immortal beings felt their fleeting pulse and lived nearer, at least as I imagine, to the world to come.

Same Yesterday and Today

But on most days, that world and those times feel behind us. We live now — in a world of smartphones, freeways, and antibiotics. Modern man is too scientific, too enlightened — my unbelief contributes — to be won as less sophisticated generations were.

Today, more and more simply dismiss claims of religion, the Bible, and even objective truth. Today, the throb for that inarticulate something is often dulled by the endless buffet of amusements. Today, the breach between this world and the next is wider. The graveyard lies farther away. Loved ones are pulled through the door less unexpectedly; and when they are, we soothe ourselves with good vibes and vague hopes. Death’s noose is loosened just enough that few consider their end.

I am tempted to believe that the God of today is less immense, less relevant, and generally more nonintrusive than in former years. Like a president who has served his terms, he retired to his heavenly estate to enjoy the quiet life. We preach of God, but how often do we meet him? We teach classes on the Great Commission, but how often do we baptize? But what makes my soul bleed is this: How often have I even noticed the scarcity — or cared? Look up from your screens and worldly interests, Jesus says: “I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest” (John 4:35).

Spurgeon, seeking to rouse the church (and his own soul), likened many Christians to the disciples falling asleep in Gethsemane:

Christ is up yonder interceding, and we are down here sleeping, the most of us. Christ is up there showing his wounds, and pleading before the Father’s throne that he would visit the sons of men, and give him to see of the travail of his soul, and here are we, not watching against his enemies, nor helping him by our prayers; but are busy here and there wasting precious time, while immortal souls are being lost. We are sleeping like men in the midst of harvest when the grain is waiting for the sickle. (“The Church Aroused”)

His sermon text: “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (Ephesians 5:14 KJV).

Ye of Little Faith

Perhaps this is all an errant assessment — romanticizing the past and overlooking present triumphs. God has certainly not retired. Does a single hour pass without heaven rejoicing over the repentance of a sinner?

But from my view, in my own limited experience and spheres, something feels lacking. Perhaps you feel it too. Less soldierly, more civilian. Less awake, more drowsy. Less expectant, more complacent.

Risk great things for Christ? Stop scrolling and watching and coasting, and live in this greatest of all stories? Leave the Shire for adventure? No, I too often think with Bilbo, “Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner! I can’t think what anybody sees in them!” (The Hobbit, 6).

“The gospel that sent a thunderclap through the world is the same we tell forth now.”

The difference is not with the times as much as it is with me. The God of yesterday — the God of Moses and David and Paul and Luther and Whitefield and Spurgeon — is the God of today. The gospel that sent a thunderclap through the world is the same we tell forth now. The Spirit, the mission, the urgency, the enemies have not changed. His promise to be with us now and unto the end of the age has not undergone amendment (Matthew 28:20). My faith and wakefulness and prayer and questing (or lack thereof) better explain castles untaken, souls unwon. Sentinels sleep upon the watchtower.

Driest Pool

I’ve needed to repent before our Lord for my small estimations of the King’s power and his willingness to work powerfully today. Maybe you have reason to do the same. Through even this one example of Spurgeon’s ministry, I’ve become more restless not seeing people added to the church regularly:

More rainless than the desert sand,

No place more parched in all the land,

This drought — above all droughts — abysmal,

The empty pool, the dry baptismal.

Satan laughs, accusing fraud:

“Behold the shortened arm of God!

Behold the fountain, now a tomb;

Behold the barren, lifeless womb!”

Satan nor his works renounced,

No triune loyalties pronounced.

No signal of heaven’s addition,

No evidence of Great Commission.

Spurgeon kept the baptismal pool filled — even when no baptisms were scheduled (81). His people would always have the mission set before them. May our pools be figuratively filled with importunate prayers, compassionate tears, and joyful proclamations of the excellencies of our glorious Christ. May we be fully awake, fully alive, sowing much. And let us look to the God of our ancestors to answer us from heaven.

God is indeed, the same, yesterday, today, and forever. He is still calling His children into His eternal family. We are but conduits of testimony, teachers of truth, and blessed to be part of His work. May we give every effort, trusting in His grace and love for those yet to join us through the power of the gospel in the person of Jesus Christ.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith March 17, 2023

Notes of Faith March 17, 2023

An Abrupt Turn

"St. Patrick’s Breastplate,” a powerful prayer attributed to Saint Patrick of Ireland, begins in this way:

I arise today

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,

Through belief in the Threeness,

Through confession of the Oneness

of the Creator of creation.1

“I arise today through a mighty strength.” Oh, wouldn’t that be nice to say every morning? I want that to be true of me, but what is true for so many of us on too many mornings is “I arise today through a fog of forgetfulness.” We have to claw our way out of the cloying depths of unbelief back into the dawning light of truth and breath.

Different mornings provide alternative options of discouragement. Thoughts that frequently take our hearts captive upon arising include:

It’s going to be a bad day.

I don’t want to get up.

You are a failure as a mother, father, friend…

You do not love well.

You are alone.

You are on the outside.

You are a selfish person.

This is all too hard.

And repeat.

Do you know what yours are?

This morning, I arose through a veil of guilt and accusation. Today’s litany coming against me was a shorter version. The accuser was battering my heart with Failure. Failure. Failure.

The crushing weight of shame was reinforced by memories (cruelly twisted but seemingly real interpretations) of my failings, evidence parading across my mind that I was not being a good friend, wife, or mother.

But the prayer continues:

I arise today

Through the strength of Christ’s birth with His baptism,

Through the strength of His crucifixion with His burial,

Through the strength of His resurrection with His ascension,

Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.2

Wow. Well, okay then. We don’t arise through our strength to figure it out or to pull it off or to change or to become an amazing person who loves everyone at all times perfectly. We certainly don’t arise today by arguing ourselves and the oppressor of our souls out of accusation.

We arise today and every day by turning our gaze onto Jesus and what He has accomplished for us — because we needed Him to accomplish it.

We don’t arise today by our strength but by His.

We simply don’t have the capacity to get out of bed in the morning when we’re buried under a landslide of accusation and shame, the evidence of our faults piled high, ready to convict us and send us into a prison of self-loathing.

No.

While still feeling the weight of failure this morning, I turned my gaze onto my Jesus and His finished work on my behalf. I began to ask Jesus for the truth and to tell it to myself: I am not a perfect friend, but I am a good one. I fail as a wife and mother, but I am not a failure.

We arise today and every day by turning our gaze onto Jesus and what He has accomplished for us.

I took my gaze off my performance and turned it onto the King and His character: His faithfulness. His goodness. His mercy. His strength. His might.

I arise today, through

God’s strength to pilot me,

God’s might to uphold me,

God’s wisdom to guide me,

God’s eye to look before me,

God’s ear to hear me,

God’s word to speak for me,

God’s hand to guard me,

God’s shield to protect me,

God’s host to save me

From snares of devils,

From temptation of vices,

From everyone who shall wish me ill, afar and near.3

I hide myself in Him, and in Him I find my strength to rise. For He does not accuse us; He blesses us. He invites us all further up and further in to be changed into His likeness, and not to gaze at our weaknesses or fears but to gaze at Him. Perfection. Might. Our Victor. Our Savior.

Christ with me,

Christ before me,

Christ behind me,

Christ in me,

Christ beneath me,

Christ above me,

Christ on my right,

Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down,

Christ when I sit down,

Christ when I arise,

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.4

This morning, like so many days in my clay-footed life, I need mercy. My Father offers it to me. Jesus has won it for me. The Holy Spirit beckons me to receive it. I need mercy, and I know it. In that knowing comes a great gift. I turn my heart again to my kind and understanding God and confess to Him that I need mercy. His answer swamps my heart with a too-good-to-be-true reality that leads to a crumbling of hopelessness and shame. My self-loathing collapses into His love. My self-condemnation melts into His arms that welcome and soothe. I have blown it. The blowing now has become the wind of the Holy Spirit. Ruah is here. His breath shepherds my heart into my Father’s, and there mercy triumphs over judgment. I may stay in bed a bit longer, but now it is not out of despair. Now I cozily snuggle into His forgiveness, His love, His heartbeat of hope.

The turning of my heart from lies to truth can happen as quickly as whiplash. It is the good kind, the kind that brings life. Sometimes I am not strong enough to orchestrate it, but our God is stronger. Always. And for that I am defiantly joyful. He invites us all to make the turn, and when we look to Him, He gives us the power to do it. We can have hope, no matter if we wake to accusation or to celebration, because our God is with us.

“St. Patrick’s Breastplate,” Our Catholic Prayers, last modified 2018, http://www.ourcatholicprayers.com/st-patricks -breastplate.html.

“St. Patrick’s Breastplate.”

“St. Patrick’s Breastplate.”

“St. Patrick’s Breastplate.”

Excerpted from Defiant Joy by Stasi Eldredge, copyright Stasi Eldredge

My mom would have turned 105 today. I celebrate St. Patrick’s day in honor of a god-fearing wife, mother, and grandmother. She was gifted by God to do great work for His name’s sake here on earth and I am sure that her eternal celebration with her Savior has just begun, though with Him now for 12 of our earthly years. I have not always been honoring to Christ hut I am being made more like Him every day. The pruning and chastening hurts but for a short time and the transforming into the likeness of Christ lasts forever.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith March 16, 2023

Notes of Faith March 16, 2023

God's Whoever Policy

John 3:16 is the most searched-for verse in the Bible according to BibleGateway. For more than a decade, March 16th has been a day for many Christians to share with people around the world the good news declared in the Bible in this one verse.

Will you join us in sharing it with someone today? Save the image above to your device and start sharing (+ find more social images at the bottom of this email!)

Finally, if you missed Max's 3:16 OBS last year, you can now go through the study at your own pace! Order your study materials today and get three John 3:16 art prints, lifetime streaming access to 5 study videos with Max, and other freebies! We pray that you are blessed by today's exclusive excerpt. Here's Max with more...

Sometimes I detect my favorite fragrance wafting from the kitchen: strawberry cake. I follow the smell like a bird dog follows a trail until I’m standing over the just-baked, just-iced pan of pure pleasure.

Yet I’ve learned to still my fork until Denalyn gives clearance. "Who is it for?" I ask. She might break my heart. "It’s for a birthday party, Max. Don’t touch it!" Or, "For a friend. Stay away." Or she might throw open the door of delight. "Whoever." And since I qualify as a "whoever," I dig in.

Thankfully for us, God’s gospel includes a "whoever" policy that’s always open for business.

For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. — John 3:16 NIV, emphasis mine

Whoever unfurls 3:16 as a banner for the ages. Whoever unrolls the welcome mat of Heaven to humanity. Whoever invites the world to God.

Jesus could have so easily narrowed the scope, changing whoever into whatever. "Whatever Jew believes" or "Whatever woman follows me." But He used no qualifier. The pronoun is wonderfully indefinite. After all, who isn’t a whoever?

The word sledgehammers racial fences and dynamites social classes. It bypasses gender borders and surpasses ancient traditions. Whoever makes it clear: God exports His grace worldwide.

For those who attempt to restrict it, Jesus has a word: Whoever.

Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge Him before my Father in Heaven. — Matthew 10:32

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. — Matthew 10:39

Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother. —Mark 3:35

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. — Mark 16:16

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him. — John 3:36

Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. — John 4:14

Whoever comes to me I will never drive away. — John 6:37

Whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. — John 11:26

Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. — Revelation 22:17

The downturns of life can create such a sad state of affairs that we wonder if God still wants us. But God’s "whoever" policy has a "however" benefit. Just ask Lazarus, the street sleeper with dogs licking his sores. There’s no need to clean up or climb up. Just look up. God takes you however He finds you.

This policy also features a "whenever" clause. Whenever you hear God’s voice, He welcomes your response. Sometimes we think the invitation has expired. We’ve waited too long. But just ask the last-minute vineyard workers in Jesus’ parable who were paid the same wages as the all-day workers: God offers eleventh-hour grace.

We may struggle with such a thought. A last-minute confessor receives the same grace as a lifetime servant? Doesn’t seem fair. But request grace with your dying breath, and God hears your prayer. Whoever means "whenever."

And there’s one more clause: whoever means "wherever." Wherever you are, you’re not too far to come home. Just ask the prodigal son.

We may lose sobriety, solvency, and sanity. We may lose jobs and chances, youth and vigor, idealism and dreams. But we never lose our place on God’s "whoever" list.

Originally published at Foxnews.com. Copyright 2022, Max Lucado.

So thankful that God chooses, calls, draws to Himself, and gives the gift of faith to believe. God’s work provides what only God can do…save people destined for eternal death and separation from Him. It was costly. It cost the Father, His One and only Son. There is grace upon grace in that statement. We are on the receiving end of the work and gift of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that we might be offered as a pure and blameless gift from the Father to His Son for all eternity. Indeed, God so loved . . .

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith March 15, 2023

Notes of Faith Marh 15, 2023

What Is Your Soul Telling You?

I love a good movie soundtrack. They can bring feelings of melancholy and pain; hope and joy. I feel other-ly and myself all at the same time. I feel possibility, inspiration, and imagination at work. We also have soundtracks for our lives that instantly fill us with emotion. A time. A place. A person. Well, your soul has a soundtrack too. It could be a playlist of pain or perhaps chronic stress, like static you can’t tune out. Or the low hum of white noise akin to anxiety. Maybe there is silence where you are aching to hear something, anything. Possible your soundtrack is an ever-shifting eclectic mix of happy and sad tunes. Your soul is speaking.

No matter how loud or languid, your soul is playing a tune. Whether joyful or despondent, it’s telling a tale and offering precious information that is elemental for change. It’s time we stopped turning down the volume, skipping to the next song, or completely zoning out while a pain playlist is set to repeat. Today is the day to start truly paying attention to the soundtrack of your soul.

One cold, dark December night, I was forced to begin paying attention to my soul. Relationships in my family of origin were swiftly shifting. I experienced the loss of a loved one. I was overwhelmed with emotional pain. Looking back, I knew I was confused, scared, uncertain, exhausted, and facing chronic stress, but I couldn’t see beyond the burning emotion in the moment. I now understand that there was a lot going on in my soul — the inner life of my mind, will, and emotions where my spirit (the eternal me) as well as the Spirit of God dwells.

Scripture says that in Christ we become new creatures, meaning our spirit is instantaneously made new (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). Yet it is our soul (our mind, will, and emotions) that needs constant renewing (see Ephesians 4:23-24). The renewing is what transforms our lives (see Romans 12:2).

• Renewing requires our participation.

It requires us to pay attention to what our soul is saying, and to identify and clear out the clutter that stands in the way of change. And it starts with simply being still. Noticing what’s been neglected, what hasn’t been working, what you’ve been avoiding.

Own Your Responsibility

As I observed these things in my own life, I realized I own my choices and their outcomes. I own my actions. I own my attitudes. I own my behavior. I own the opportunity to do something about all my pain, all my clutter — this is my responsibility. To overcome, first we must own. We have to tell the truth and take responsibility. We aren’t responsible for what was done to us.

However, we are responsible for what we choose to do with our pain. It takes courage to own, because accepting truth takes courage.

God’s responsibility is to set free — which is already done by the completed work of the cross. While God has already completed the work of freedom and it is ours, we often find that there is a process and path to experiencing the fullness of freedom. God is always looking for our participation. We know that our freedom is paid for. That the great wide-open awaits us. Yet if we don’t remove the chains, if we don’t walk out of the tight spaces, we aren’t experiencing the abundant life Christ paid for. It is the child of God who understands their freedom who can slide the broken chains off.

Every God-born person conquers the world’s ways. The conquering power that brings the world to its knees is our faith. The person who wins out over the world’s ways is simply the one who believes Jesus is the Son of God. — 1 John 5:4-5 MSG

As our chains are removed, we can build a new story for ourselves. You can choose to use your imagination to reframe a situation and dream up new possibilities — to envision God’s promises in Technicolor. You can always tell yourself a new story. Your character can develop. Your plot can twist. The role you’ve been assigned in someone else’s story is not your assignment.

Overcome the Clutter

I start new stories by speaking. Why? Because usually there is a narrative that needs interrupting. As we know, it is important to pay attention to the soundtrack of our soul, but to overcome we need to speak to our souls — to give a new line, a new direction, to reframe. Our mind and emotions love to be the star of the show, but at some point, if we want to overcome, our will must take the lead.

Speaking to your soul is one of the most powerful ways to not only unpack your soul clutter but to get it out of the house. In unpacking my stories and I hold them up to the light of God’s unchanging Word — the truth. By doing this, I’m learning to reframe and reroute storylines so they don’t hold me back from becoming the person I want to be in Christ. It is our choice to break free from this kind of clutter and overcome.

I find that there are two ways to view overcoming. First and most importantly, we must understand that we are already overcomers. The pressure is off. It’s not on you.

If you are a child of God, then you already are an overcomer.

Second, overcoming is something that we do — it’s not an elusive arrival; it’s participation with the Spirit. It’s ongoing-ness. We can practice overcoming. We practice being who we are.

Overcome also means an overwhelm of emotion. These two words, overcome and overwhelm, seem to hold hands. Imagine overcoming your soul clutter (emotional pain, fear, anxiety, depression) by being overwhelmed with peace and joy! This is the new story we are going to tell ourselves. We are overcomers! We are overcoming! We are overwhelmed with peace and joy!

Adapted from Unclutter Your Soul: Overcome What Overwhelms You by Trina McNeilly, copyright Trina McNeilly.

The full power and glory of God lives within every believer in Christ. Why is it that we do not yield to the Holy Spirit and let Him guide our lives to be obedient and pleasing to God? We must be aware by faith that He is there and wants the very best for us. Let us continue this earthly journey wearied by sin and strive toward the mark of Jesus, our Lord and Savior! You are an overcomer in Christ!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith March 14, 2023

Notes of Faith March 14, 2023

For the Body

This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! — Ezekiel 37:5

*

To breathe is brave.

Never underestimate the power of an exhale.

There will be some nights

where you will look up and lose track of all the stars you see,

and there will be some nights

you can’t lift your head,

but in both

of those nights

and every other

night in between,

you are strongest

when you take

the time to breathe.

It takes courage

to live through heartbreak. Breathing is no small feat.

When you find yourself falling into the pit of anxiety, remember the ladder of hope that reminds you there is no reason to be afraid. There is still a way out of this, and you are still capable — not perfect, but capable — and you have permission to try to climb again. Even if your hands shake, and your knees are weaker from the fall, you can still trade your fears of tomorrow with hope for today: the courageous decision to climb on anyway out of the pit of anxious thoughts.

There is no reason to live afraid.

*

To breathe is brave.

There will be times when the last thing you want to do

is hear

that you have

to keep going.

The last thing

you will want to do is feel

you have to keep pushing.

Let the breaths leaving your body second by second remind you

how seconds soon turn into minutes, and these minutes soon turn into hours and hours

then turn into days

and even though you once thought

you were stagnant,

you have made it

a miraculously long way through the darkness.

Excerpted from All Along You Were Blooming by Morgan Harper Nichols, copyright Morgan Harper Nichols.

Phil 3:14

14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus

NASU

One day at a time!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith March 12, 2023

Notes of Faith March 12, 2023

In Our Hard Times

Turn My Mourning Into Dancing

If God is found in our hard times, then all of life, no matter how apparently insignificant or difficult, can open us to God’s work among us. To be grateful does not mean repressing our remembered hurts. But as we come to God with our hurts — honestly, not superficially — something life changing can begin slowly to happen. We discover how God is the One who invites us to healing. We realize that any dance of celebration must weave both the sorrows and the blessings into a joyful step.

I once saw a stonecutter remove great pieces from a huge rock on which he was working. In my imagination I thought That rock must be hurting terribly. Why does this man wound the rock so much? But as I looked longer, I saw the figure of a graceful dancer emerge gradually from the stone, looking at me in my mind’s eye and saying, “You foolish man, didn’t you know that I had to suffer and thus enter into my glory?” The mystery of the dance is that its movements are discovered in the mourning. To heal is to let the Holy Spirit call me to dance, to believe again, even amid my pain, that God will orchestrate and guide my life.

We tend, however, to divide our past into good things to remember with gratitude and painful things to accept or forget. This way of thinking, which at first glance seems quite natural, prevents us from allowing our whole past to be the source from which we live our future. It locks us into a self-involved focus on our gain or comfort. It becomes a way to categorize, and in a way, control. Such an outlook becomes another attempt to avoid facing our suffering. Once we accept this division, we develop a mentality in which we hope to collect more good memories than bad memories, more things to be glad about than things to be resentful about, more things to celebrate than to complain about.

Gratitude in its deepest sense means to live life as a gift to be received thankfully. And true gratitude embraces all of life: the good and the bad, the joyful and the painful, the holy and the not-so-holy. We do this because we become aware of God’s life, God’s presence in the middle of all that happens.

Is this possible in a society where joy and sorrow remain radically separated? Where comfort is something we not only expect, but are told to demand? Advertisements tell us that we cannot experience joy in the midst of sadness. “Buy this,” they say, “do that, go there, and you will have a moment of happiness during which you will forget your sorrow.” But is it not possible to embrace with gratitude all of our life and not just the good things we like to remember?

If mourning and dancing are part of the same movement of grace, we can be grateful for every moment we have lived.

Everything is grace.

We can claim our unique journey as God’s way to mold our hearts to greater conformity to Christ. The cross, the primary symbol of our faith, invites us to see grace where there is pain; to see resurrection where there is death. The call to be grateful is a call to trust that every moment can be claimed as the way of the cross that leads to new life. When Jesus spoke to His disciples before His death and offered them His body and blood as gifts of life, He shared with them everything He had lived — His joy as well as His pain, His suffering as well as His glory — and enabled them to move into their own mission in deep gratitude.

Day by day we find new reasons to believe that nothing will separate us from the love of God in Christ.

Of course, it is easy for me to push the bad memories under the rug of my consciousness and think only about the good things that please me. It seems to be the way to fulfillment. By doing so, however, I keep myself from discovering the joy beneath the sorrow, the meaning to be coaxed out of even painful memories. I miss finding the strength that becomes visible in my weakness, the grace God told Paul would be

sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness. — 2 Corinthians 12:9

Gratitude helps us in this dance only if we cultivate it. For gratitude is not a simple emotion or an obvious attitude. Living gratefully requires practice. It takes sustained effort to reclaim my whole past as the concrete way God has led me to this moment. For in doing so I must face not only today’s hurts, but the past’s experiences of rejection or abandonment or failure or fear.

While Jesus told His followers that they were intimately related to Him as branches are to a vine, they still needed to be pruned to bear more fruit (see John 15:1-5). Pruning means cutting, reshaping, removing what diminishes vitality. When we look at a pruned vineyard, we can hardly believe it will bear fruit. But when harvest comes, we realize that the pruning allowed the vines to concentrate their energy and produce more grapes.

Grateful people learn to celebrate even amid life’s hard and harrowing memories because they know that pruning is no mere punishment, but preparation.

When our gratitude for the past is only partial, our hope for the future can likewise never be full. But our submitting to God’s pruning work will not ultimately leave us sad, but hopeful for what can happen in us and through us. Harvest time will bring its own blessings. I am gradually learning that the call to gratitude asks us to say,

“Everything is grace.”

As long as we remain resentful about things we wish had not happened, about relationships that we wish had turned out differently, mistakes we wish we had not made, part of our heart remains isolated, unable to bear fruit in the new life ahead of us. It is a way we hold part of ourselves apart from God. Instead, we can learn to see our remembered experience of our past as an opportunity for ongoing conversion of the heart. We let what we remember remind us of whose we are — not our own, but God’s.

If we are to be truly ready for a new life in the service of God, truly joyful at the prospect of God’s unfolding vocation for our lives, truly free to be sent wherever God guides, our entire past, gathered into the spaciousness of a converted heart, must become the source of energy that moves us onward.

Excerpted from Turn My Mourning Into Dancing by Henri Nouwen, copyright Estate of Henri Nouwen.

God’s grace is poured out upon us even when we don’t realize it. It is all to easy to take it for granted. But the closer you are to Him, the more intimate relationship you have, the more you will praise Him for His grace. It is His will, His desire, His love that makes it possible for us to be saved, through the offering of His Son Jesus, to receive the punishment for our sin, and provide His righteousness as we by His grace, believe in the work of Jesus to redeem and forgive us. God’s grace is truly amazing!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith March 11, 2023

Notes of Faith March 11, 2023

A Great Idea

I praise You because You made me in an amazing and wonderful way. What You have done is wonderful. I know this very well. — Psalm 139:14

You are a great idea! I don’t mean you have great ideas — though I’m sure you do! I mean that you yourself are a great idea. How do I know that? Because you are God’s idea — and He only has great ideas.

When God sat down to create the very first man and woman, He said,

Let Us make human beings in Our image and likeness. — Genesis 1:26

God didn’t say, “Let us make oceans in our image” or “flowers in our likeness” or “giraffes in our likeness.” Nothing else in all of God’s creation is made in His likeness. Not plants, or weeds, or trees. Not elephants, anteaters, or even the cutest little puppy. Not stars, or mountains, or seas. Only people — including you and me.

You are God’s great idea!

What does it mean to be made in God’s likeness? It means you are made to look like Him. Maybe not on the outside. But on the inside, in your heart and mind and soul. Does that mean you’re perfect? Nope, nobody is. Except Jesus, of course. But it does mean that you take after Him. You get your kindness and your courage from Him. And when you love and help and forgive others, that’s when you look the most like Him.

In this world, people will sometimes see your mistakes as a reason to laugh at you. Some people might call you names. Others might decide not to be your friend because of where you live or the way you look. Don’t listen to them. Instead, remember this:

You are made in the image of God.

You’re a diamond, a precious jewel. You are so important to God, so loved by Him, that He sent His only Son to save you.

You can’t see them, but God’s fingerprints are all over you. So be sure to thank God today for His great idea of making you!

Remember

You are God’s great idea!

Excerpted from You Can Count on God by Max Lucado, copyright Max Lucado.

The only thing created in the image of God is mankind! We are created to reflect the glory of God! How God-reflective are you?

Pastor Dalale

Notes of Faith March 10, 2023

Notes of Faith March 10, 2023

Jesus, Help Me with My Problems

Merciful Jesus,

I ask You to smooth out the tangled-up places in my life, including those in my mind and heart. I come to You just as I am — with all my knotty problems and loose ends. Many of my difficulties are complicated by other people’s problems. So it’s hard to sort out how much of the mess is mine and how much is theirs. I want to take responsibility for my mistakes and sins without feeling responsible for the sinful failures of others. Please help me untangle my complex circumstances and find the best way forward.

I’m realizing that Christian growth is all about transformation — a lifelong process. Some of the knots from my past are very hard to untie, especially those that involve people who continue to hurt me. Instead of obsessing about how to fix things, I need to keep turning toward You—seeking Your Face and Your will. As I wait with You, help me to relax and trust in Your timing for smoothing out my tangled-up places. Show me how to live with unresolved problems without letting them distract me from You. I rejoice that Your abiding Presence is my portion — and my boundless blessing!

In Your magnificent Name, Amen

2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV; 1 Chronicles 16:11 NASB; Lamentations 3:24 AMP

*

Sovereign God,

Help me to make friends with the problems in my life. Many things seem wrong to me, but I need to remember that You’re in control of everything. Your Word assures me that all things work together and are fitting into a plan for good for those who love You and are called according to Your purpose. I can access this magnificent promise through trusting You.

Every problem can teach me something — transforming me little by little into the person You designed me to be. Yet the same problem can become a stumbling block if I react with distrust or defiance. I realize I’ll have to choose many times each day whether or not I will trust You.

I’ve discovered that the best way to make friends with my troubles is to thank You for them. This counterintuitive act opens my mind to the possibility of blessings emerging from my difficulties. Moreover, when I bring You my prayers with thanksgiving, my anxiety diminishes and Your Peace that transcends all understanding guards my heart and my mind.

In Your wonderful Name, Jesus, Amen.

James 1:2; Romans 8:28 AMPC; Philippians 4:6-7

*

My Lord,

Help me to thank You for everything — including my problems. As soon as my mind gets snagged on a difficulty, I need to bring the matter to You with thanksgiving. Then I can ask You to show me Your way to handle the situation. The very act of thanking You frees my mind from its negative focus. As I turn my attention to You, my difficulty fades in significance and loses its power to trip me up. You guide me to deal with the problem in the most effective way — either facing it head-on or putting it aside for later consideration.

Most of the situations that entangle my mind are not today’s concerns: I’ve borrowed them from tomorrow, next week, next month, or even next year. When this is the case, please lift the problem from my thoughts and deposit it in the future — veiling it from my eyes. Then draw my attention back to Your Presence in the present, where I can enjoy Your Peace.

In Your perfect Name, Jesus, Amen

Ephesians 5:20 NLT; Philippians 4:6; Psalm 25:4-5 NKJV; John 14:27

Excerpted from Jesus Listens by Sarah Young, copyright Sarah Young.

As true followers of Jesus, we know that He hears us when we pray, and therefore know that He will answer. Our cares and burdens are lifted. Our anxious worries and thoughts give way to His peace. By His grace our problems become useful for transformation, more and more each day into the likeness of Christ!

Pastor Dale