Notes of Faith August 30, 2023

Notes of Faith August 30, 2023

Living Well Among Thorns

Finding Strength in Physical Weakness

Article by Vaneetha Rendall Risner

It’s easy to romanticize physical suffering — especially when you’re not the one experiencing it.

Saints like Amy Carmichael, who spent over twenty years bedridden, and Joni Eareckson Tada, a quadriplegic who lives in constant pain, can evoke peaceful images of unbroken communion with God. We may imagine that it’s easier for them to endure pain and weakness than it is for the rest of us.

Yet the reality of physical suffering is that it’s insistent and intrusive. No one gets used to it. Pain demands our attention. Time slows to a crawl, particularly in the middle of the night, when we’re begging God for the relief of sleep. We feel alone and isolated. No one else can enter the prison that our bodies have become.

Pain Accumulates

If that weren’t enough, physical pain rarely exists in isolation — it’s usually accompanied by loss, weakness, and dependence. Often, we require help with basic daily needs, and we worry about the burden we’re putting on others. We second-guess every request, not wanting to bother someone one more time. Will people get tired and think we’re “too much”? Do they resent their lack of freedom?

We longingly remember the carefree days before our physical struggles altered our lives, when we could do what we wanted. Now we measure our energy in teaspoons rather than buckets. We weigh every decision, every action. Saying yes to one activity means saying no to many others. It is hard not to envy those with fit bodies, who seem to have no cares.

Pain, loneliness, and longing can give way to depression and despair. We cry out to the Lord for relief, but relief doesn’t come. The cancer spreads. Sleep eludes us. The pain intensifies. The medicine stops working. The side effects multiply. Our caregivers grow weary. Our friends stop checking in. Our resources run dry.

Doubt Advances

The vibrant faith we once had begins to fade — which is exactly what Satan wants to happen as we suffer. He wants us to doubt and fall away from God, convinced that he is indifferent to our cries. Satan knows that we’re susceptible to discouragement when we’re physically depleted, so that’s when he attacks. As physical needs scream for attention, Satan whispers to us, “Does God even hear you, let alone really care for you? If he does, why isn’t he delivering you?”

“If God’s greatest blessing is himself, then perhaps sustenance is a more precious gift than deliverance.”

Insidious doubts slip in, making us question beliefs we once held rock-solid: Are we deeply loved by an all-powerful Father? As soon as we recognize the mental shift, we need to stop and cry out to God, asking him to meet us in our sorrow, to deliver us from our pain, and to show us evidence of his goodness and love. Are we fixating on all that we’ve lost, on how God hasn’t delivered us, on how hopeless we feel? Or do we recognize that God is with us, working for our good, and caring for us each moment?

What we think about in the moments of our deepest pain is critical. Our mindset will determine how we approach the questions that bombard us. Here are three common questions I’ve asked: (1) How can God be “for me” if I’m still suffering? (2) How can God use my weakness for good? and (3) What good can come in moments of overwhelming pain?

1. How can God be ‘for me’ if I’m still suffering?

Sometimes God miraculously delivers us when we plead for relief, like at the parting of the Red Sea. Other times he sustains us, as he did with manna in the wilderness. The Red Sea deliverance freed the Israelites, but their need for manna kept them dependent on God. In gathering manna, they had a harder time forgetting their reliance on God. And if God’s greatest blessing is himself, then perhaps sustenance is a more precious gift than deliverance, since it can keep us in constant communion with him.

Take the apostle Paul. He begged God for deliverance from his thorn in the flesh, but instead he received grace — grace to bear the thorn, grace to be content with weakness, grace that would carry him through other trials as well (2 Corinthians 12:7–10).

When we realize that we can depend on God in our weakness, we learn to trust him in everything. Anyone can thank God for quick deliverance from physical suffering, but we often forget him until the next crisis. Yet when he sustains us in our pain, we’re confident that he is with us always.

2. How can God use my physical weakness for good?

We may think our physical weakness is keeping us from maximum fruitfulness, but that’s impossible. Our weaknesses are a part of God’s plan for our lives; they are intertwined with our calling. Paul thought his thorn was hampering his ministry, but God knew that it was the key to his strength: it forced Paul to be wholly dependent on God. When we are depleted and exhausted, lacking any resources of our own — it is then that we fully rely on God.

And in that reliance, we discover the power of God flowing through us — the same power that raised Jesus from the dead (Ephesians 1:19–20). This power keeps us enduring when we want to give up; it showcases God’s glory and brings lasting change. Because Paul relied on God’s provision, he accomplished more for the kingdom with his thorn than he could have without it. His greatest strength lay in his submission to Christ.

Even Jesus’s greatest strength appeared in his greatest physical weakness. Throughout his ministry, Jesus impacted others by his actions. He calmed the storm with a word. He fed five thousand with a few loaves and fish. He cast out demons, healed the sick, and raised the dead. He turned the world upside down.

But at the end of his ministry, from the Last Supper on, Jesus allowed others to act upon him: he was led away, he was whipped and mocked, he was beaten and crucified. When he submitted to his captors, the crowds saw weakness rather than what was really there: Jesus’s strength and power.

Just before these horrific events, Jesus begged God to take the cup of suffering from him. But it was through Christ’s submission to the will of the Father — to torture and humiliation, to physical abuse and carrying his own cross — that God brought about the most astonishing display of his power and grace. (The One who knew no sin became sin ((ours)) that we might partake of the righteousness of God. There was intense pain in Jesus taking on the sin of the world… at which point His Father turned away from Him. Father, Father, why have you forsaken Me. Again, intense pain that none of us will ever know.) Pastor Dale comments

3. What good can come in moments of overwhelming pain?

Even when we’ve experienced God’s grace through our suffering, we may wonder how anything good could be happening as pain steamrolls us. Yet in some inexplicable way, this too can be part of our sacred calling. We can submit our pain to God even as we cry out to him, and we can plead for relief, as Jesus and Paul did, while offering up our pain as a sacrifice to the Lord.

“Perhaps the sacrifice of praise in our pain is the most exquisite gift we could ever offer him.”

Few people on earth will see the impact of our worship, and some will say that our physical suffering is a waste. Perhaps it is a waste — just as the woman with the alabaster flask was “wasteful” (Mark 14:4). She poured out her precious ointment as an extravagant act of worship, and its fragrance spread everywhere. There was no utilitarian purpose; nothing tangible was accomplished — but the impact of her seemingly wasteful sacrifice will echo through eternity, as saints recount her story forever.

Perhaps our offering to God, amid our agony and weakness, will have the same impact. Perhaps it is just as precious, maybe more so, in the sight of the Lord than all the work we or others do for him. Perhaps the sacrifice of praise in our pain is the most exquisite gift we could ever offer him.

Of this I am sure: no act of worship to Jesus will be wasted.

If we can learn to worship in any and all circumstances that we find ourselves we will truly know and experience the love of God. God’s plan is unfolding for each of us as He leads, guides, and directs our journey toward our eternal home. Here, we will find struggle, suffering and pain, but there, only joy inexpressible and things God has prepared for those who love Him that cannot even be imagined! Press on with me through the frailties of life, looking forward to the glory that God has planned for us!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 29, 2023

Notes of Faith August 29, 2023

God's Peace for When You Are Anxious About Tomorrow

As you sink into bed tonight, exhausted, are you already thinking about tomorrow’s meetings, next week’s obligations, next month’s deadlines?

You’re anxious about tomorrow… and the next day… and the next.

Whether you’re a busy mom who’s worried about your child’s future, an overwhelmed college student in the throes of midterms, or a rising executive with demands pulling from every direction, it’s difficult not knowing what tomorrow will bring. This anxiety is something that keeps many people awake at night — but does it do any good?

One result of anxiety is that it can certainly make you feel productive. At least you’re keeping a running tally in your mind of things to do, scenarios that could go wrong, or new ideas to explore, right? But the problem is this: you can’t keep going all the time. Your mind and body need a break. You need a break. Your boss needs a break. Even the president needs a break sometimes.

The best thing you can do for yourself is take time to rest. True rest doesn’t look like collapsing into bed, nerves fried and adrenaline pumping, either. It looks like letting your mind, body, and soul rest in the palm of the Lord.

True rest always involves surrendering to God.

God doesn’t tell us to rest for His own good — He tells us to rest for our own good. God worked six days and rested the seventh. He was — and is — the mastermind behind the entire world, yet He took time to give Himself a break. To cease from working, to cease from creating, cease from doing.

Emulate the Lord’s pattern of work and rest tonight.

While you are in bed you can’t work efficiently and you certainly can’t get anything done. Nighttime calls for rest. There may be unforeseen challenges ahead tomorrow, and there might be things that have been left undone today. But the Lord tells us not to worry about tomorrow because each day has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:34).

True rest always involves surrendering to God.

Sink into your bed letting a wave of relief wash over you; tomorrow is not yet here. You have nothing on your agenda right now except for sleep.

Ask the Lord to lift the burden of anxiety off your shoulders.

As sure as the stars twinkling in the night sky, He will answer your request. As gently as the crickets sing throughout the evening, the Lord will come to you. Rest tonight, dear one. The Lord is near.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. — Philippians 4:6

Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken. — Psalm 55:22

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. — Psalm 34:17 ESV

But in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. — Leviticus 25:4 ESV

Prayer

I come to You with a troubled, anxious heart, Lord. I ask You now to take away my anxiety and fear so that I can rest deeply tonight. Please answer my prayer quickly!

Excerpted from God’s Peace for When You Can’t Sleep, copyright Thomas Nelson.

Achieving rest and refreshment is hindered many nights due to an anxious or busy mind that won’t let you sleep. We are created to work and rest, needing both and when we miss one or the other, problems arise. We need regular periods of rest. Today, I am more likely to share a nap time with one of my grandchildren, no judgment please, because I feel refreshed even after a few minutes to continue the needs of the day. Join me in turning things that make us anxious over to the Lord and truly get some much needed rest.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 28, 2023

Notes of Faith August 28, 2023

You Can Have Peace Amid Suffering

Breathe Deep and Know: Suffering is part of life, but we can have courage and peace to walk through that suffering as we trust in the One who has already given us ultimate victory.

Sometimes we get this idea that if only we had more faith or if we just prayed enough or in the right way, all our suffering would go away, our sickness would be healed, and we wouldn’t struggle anymore. But God never promised this.

In fact, Jesus said that we will have suffering; we will have trouble. What He promises isn’t freedom from suffering but His presence and peace in the midst of it. We can have ultimate peace because He has already ultimately conquered the world.

The reality is that we may not experience full healing this side of eternity, but we can still have peace that comes only from putting our full trust in Him, knowing that He is writing a good story that is bigger than our current struggles, that He has woven His breath through every moment of our lives, that He is with us and loves us no matter what worries or anxieties may fill our minds.

He is a good, good Father.

He is with us in our ache, and He wraps our worries in His abiding love.

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world. — John 16:33

Inhale: I have peace in You;

Exhale: You have conquered the world!

He is a good, good Father.

You Can Trust God In Suffering

Breathe Deep and Know: You can trust God, even in your suffering.

Are you suffering in some way today? Is there a pain, hurt, or illness you want God to heal? We pray for healing because God is the great Healer, and we pray for miracles because God is the God of miracles—and it is good to pray for these things.

But sometimes the hurt doesn’t heal on this side of eternity. Sometimes pain endures and the suffering is long and the struggle lingers. Those who live with chronic pain or mental health conditions know this well. But that doesn’t mean God didn’t hear our prayers or that we don’t have enough faith.

The truth is, God doesn’t always remove the cup of suffering. He didn’t take it away from even His own perfect and beloved Son.

And although we may not fully understand His ways or His will, we can always trust His heart and rest in His wisdom.

When we pray for God’s will to be done, as Tim Keller writes, “It is to say, ‘Here’s what I need — but You know best.’ It is to leave all our needs and desires in His hands in a way that is possible only through prayer. That transaction brings a comfort and rest that nothing else can bring.”1

Father, if You are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want Your will to be done, not mine. — Luke 22:42

Inhale: Father, if You are willing

Exhale: Take this suffering from me.

Inhale: Yet not my will

Exhale: But Yours be done.

Timothy Keller, Prayer (New York: Penguin, 2016), 101.

Excerpted Breath as Prayer by Jennifer Tucker, copyright Jennifer Tucker.

We may never get to the same faith and trust in God as Jesus had in His Father while we yet live on this earth. We do not like suffering and think that if we had just done things a little different that we could have avoided it. Not so, according to Jesus, In the world you will have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world. This life and its suffering is temporal. It doesn’t last long. Our entire live is but a vapor and vanishes quickly. It cannot be compared with the glory that God has prepared for us that is eternal. Hang in there. Your reward is coming soon.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 27, 2023

Notes of Faith August 27, 2023

How to See Your Wife

Three Ways to Love Her Better

Article by Matt Bradner

The scene was reminiscent of a scary movie. Julia walked out to the church parking lot and found an ominous note taped to her car window: “I SEE YOU!”

Though she thought I was hundreds of miles away, I was actually nearby, watching the entire scene unfold. When she began to nervously look around, I took that as my cue and drove up next to her. As she stared in shock, I asked in the smoothest way possible, “Wanna take a ride?” (Yes, I had rehearsed it many times.) She joyfully got in the car, and a few hours later, I got down on one knee and asked if she would marry me. She said yes.

The cryptic three-word message was actually not the way I intended to start the morning. I had crafted the perfect poem to start our engagement day, but it got lost somewhere between my hotel and the church. With only a few seconds to write something, “I SEE YOU!” was all I could come up with.

We used to think our engagement was perfect except for those hastily written three words. Ironically, after 22 years of marriage, that note has become one of our favorite parts of the day. In fact, one of our marriage goals is to regularly and intentionally communicate what first happened on accident: “I see you.” While many fantasize about falling in love at first sight, we’ve discovered a better dream: a marriage that furthers love with each additional sight.

God Saw

It took a few years of marriage before I realized the power of sight as a way to pursue Julia. Up to that point, I was focused on developing my listening skills. Then, right when I began to make progress on that, God revealed (in perfect Godlike fashion) a new need for development: looking skills. We get a glimpse of the power of sight in the way God describes Israel’s suffering in Egypt:

God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel — and God knew. (Exodus 2:24–25)

By developing our listening and looking skills, we unlock a powerful combination in our marriages. When we listen, we communicate that our wife has been heard. When we look, we communicate that she is known and understood.

Unfortunately, far too many wives are overwhelmed with a sense of loneliness. Day after day, they feel invisible to the man they love. When I reflect on my own marriage and the real reasons why I don’t actively bless my wife as God intends, I admit that one of my main obstacles is optical. I don’t actually see what’s happening around me because I’m not really looking.

Savior with Wide Eyes

My breakthrough started with a study on all that Jesus noticed. Our Savior walked through life with eyes wide open. Jesus noticed Nathaniel under a tree (John 1:48) and Zacchaeus up in a tree (Luke 19:5). He noticed John’s disciples following at a distance (John 1:38) and the touch of one desperate woman while the masses pressed around him (Luke 8:45). Jesus watched in moments we think you shouldn’t, such as when the poor widow put all she had into the offering treasury (Luke 21:1–4). He also watched in moments we know we couldn’t, such as when he himself was the offering.

Even as he hung on the cross in intense agony, his eyes looked beyond his own suffering and responded with love. He prayed for those who crucified him (Luke 23:34), comforted a criminal next to him (Luke 23:43), and cared for his loved ones there for him (John 19:26–27). And through it all, Jesus kept his eyes on the work of his Father (John 5:19–20). Simply put, Jesus’s entire life and ministry deliberately and compassionately communicated, “I see you.”

I don’t wake each day with the burden to perfect who Jesus is for my wife, but I do rise with the great privilege to reflect him.

Three Paths to Better Sight

Empowered by the truth that God keeps me as “the apple of [his] eye” (Psalm 17:8), I made the commitment to be a man who takes literally the command that “each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4). Over the years, I have landed on three practices that promote a marriage culture that sees: stop, scribe, and speak.

STOP

When Moses discovered a bush on fire yet not consumed, he stopped to see what was going on. What happens next is worth reading slowly: “When the Lord saw that [Moses] turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’” (Exodus 3:4). When Moses stopped to see, the Lord started to lead. I believe the same principle is true for each of us in our various relationships, whether with God, wife, or children. When we stop to see, the Lord may start to lead.

Apart from praying, I can’t think of a more effective use of my time than to stop what I’m doing and think about what I’m seeing in the life of my bride. These moments are always beneficial, and the main requirement is that I create the space with a curious spirit.

SCRIBE

After taking the time to stop, I embrace the mindset of a scribe, taking notes on what I’m seeing. My observations are usually focused under a few main categories:

What makes her happy or sad?

What are her consistent dreams or disappointments?

What relaxes her or increases her stress?

What has she mentioned that could be a great “just because” gift?

I’m both excited and embarrassed when I go to scribe. The excitement comes from the awareness that God is leading; I’m seeing things! The embarrassment comes from reading previous observations and recognizing how quickly and easily they slipped my mind. But at least I see them again, because I’m a scribe. I encourage you to write what you see, because there is power in the pen (Deuteronomy 17:18).

SPEAK

Last, after taking the time to stop and scribe what I see, I speak.

My first words are to God on Julia’s behalf. Genesis 25:21 tells us, “Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived.” I love the simple words “Isaac prayed . . . because she was . . .” As a prayer prompt, I will write these very words on a page and fill in the blank with as many things that come to mind: “Matty prayed . . . because Julia was . . .” Sentences like this give me a practical way to take all that I have seen and speak them to the One who cares for my wife most. Perhaps you don’t need a prompt like this to inspire you, but I sure do. I fear becoming the kind of husband of whom it could be written, “Matty did not pray for his wife, but she was . . .”

While the first words are spoken to God, additional words often come later. When I consistently stop to see, I find that my speech to Julia routinely lands with substance and strength. While I never assume the ability “to sustain with a word him who is weary” (Isaiah 50:4), I am keenly aware of where that ability comes from. Speaking such words begins with hearing (Isaiah 50:4), and hearing often begins with seeing (Exodus 3:4). This is the life-giving power that a husband kick-starts when he simply takes the time to see.

The part of the country we call home is adjacent to the Appalachian Trail, with some of the nation’s most beautiful viewpoints. Typically, the higher you go, the more clearly you see. For me, cultivating the simple yet consistent practice to stop, scribe, and speak is akin to walking up three giant steps that give me a higher, more breathtaking view of how good and generous God has been to me through my wife. It’s amazing what you can see when you are looking!

Just celebrated uear number 44 together. Wish it were more but she was only 21 when we got married. Growth through the years I have certainly needed and still desire to learn to love my wife more. To love as God loves! I cannot and most likely will fail many more times, yet the presence of God in our relationship, His giving us to one another makes it as perfect a union as earthly possible. Praying for more learning and practicing loving my wife for many more years to come.

I love you Robin!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 26, 2023

Notes of Faith August 26, 2023

Always Keep Praying - Ephesians 6:18

Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. — Ephesians 6:18

One of Jesus’s disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray. So Jesus — being the good teacher that He was — gave them a two-part lesson. Just as if they were in a classroom.

First, He taught them a model prayer, which may sound familiar to you. He said,

When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation’.

— Luke 11:2–4

Now, if Jesus had drawn a picture of a man praying, what would the picture have looked like? Would it have shown a man on his knees with his hands folded and his head bowed? Or a man banging on someone’s door in the middle of the night?

If you picked the second answer, you’re right! Because even though Jesus didn’t draw a picture for His disciples, He told them a story. And the story was about a man standing in front of his friend’s house at midnight, calling out for a favor. Jesus was teaching His disciples that they should pray boldly, trusting God to give them what they need. In the story, that’s what happened. The man’s friend got out of bed and gave the man what he requested — because he dared to ask so boldly.

Go to your heavenly Father with any problem or need, without fear.

During another “classroom session,” Jesus told His disciples a different story about prayer “to show them that they should always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1). This story featured a widow who kept asking a judge for justice. Someone had wronged her, and she wouldn’t stop begging the judge to set things right. Finally, the judge gave the woman what she wanted — because she was so persistent.

Go to your heavenly Father with any problem or need, without fear.

He will hear you and answer you. Be confident, because Jesus paid the price for our sins. That makes us righteous in God’s eyes and allows us to “approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need”

(Hebrews 4:16).

MORE GEMS

Devote yourselves to prayer. — Colossians 4:2

Pray continually. — 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Present your requests to God. — Philippians 4:6

Excerpted from Bible Gems to Remember by Robin Schmitt, copyright Robin Schmitt.

If we could live in a constant state of prayer and communication with God, our lives would follow His will and not our own. Prayer is the key to everything on earth. Let us endeavor to pray without ceasing, always remembering God’s will for us, our decisions and choices. He loves us perfectly!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 25, 2023

Notes of Faith August 25, 2023

Happy Anniversary to us! 44 years! Amazing!

How to Build (or Break) a Habit

If we want to be faithful followers of Jesus, we need to pay careful attention to our habits. Because we hand over much of our lives to our habits, much more than we probably realize.

James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, describes a habit as “a behavior that has been repeated enough times to become automatic” (44). Neurologically speaking, habits are “mental shortcuts learned from experience,” behaviors that our “conscious mind [passes off] to our nonconscious mind to do automatically” (46).

Now, take a moment and consider how many actions you’ve taken today while your conscious thoughts were focused on something else. Did you get dressed? Did you eat? Did you tie your shoes or a necktie? Did you apply makeup? Did you operate a smartphone? Did you walk through a cluttered room without breaking anything? Did you drive a vehicle or ride a bike? Did you do so on a busy street? If you were to log, for a week, all the simple and complex tasks you do that require little to no conscious awareness on your part, you would be amazed. And you’d come away with a deeper appreciation for the massive influence your habits wield on your life.

Behaviors that become automatic, ones we stop noticing after they become habitual, are powerful — for good or for ill. Which is why it’s important for us to occasionally take notice of them. And all the more because the benefits or consequences of our habits compound over time.

Compounding Power of Habits

Clear explains the compounding power of habits:

The same way that money multiplies through compound interest, the effects of your habits multiply as you repeat them. They seem to make little difference on any given day and yet the impact they deliver over the months and years can be enormous. It is only when looking back two, five, or perhaps ten years later that the value of good habits and the cost of bad ones becomes strikingly apparent. (16)

For people like us, who like fast results from our efforts and immediate gratification of our cravings, this is a sobering discovery. It helps explain why we often struggle to stick with new resolves. It also helps explain why we formed many of our bad habits in the first place (and why we find them hard to break). If we look to short-term outcomes to measure our success, we’ll likely be discouraged. Because, as Clear says,

Your net worth is a lagging measure of your financial habits. Your weight is a lagging measure of your eating habits. Your knowledge is a lagging measure of your learning habits. Your clutter is a lagging measure of your cleaning habits. (18)

And I would add that your spiritual health and growth and fruitfulness are lagging measures of your spiritual habits. Acquiring good habits and breaking bad ones require patience, perseverance, and faith — exercises that yield many and varied benefits themselves.

“Goals get us nowhere without the good habits required to achieve them.”

We’ve all been taught that if we want to achieve something, we need to set goals. In principle, that’s true. Yet how many goals have you set that have gone unachieved? Why didn’t they work for you? In part, because defective systems trump good aspirations. In other words, your habits undermined your goals. Goals get us nowhere without the good habits required to achieve them.

Building a Habit in Four Steps

So, how do we build the habits required to achieve the prize we desire? And how do we break habits that are impeding our pursuit?

When it comes to habit-building (and breaking), there isn’t just one way. Clear, however, provides four helpful steps he’s gleaned — first from his very difficult experience after suffering a serious head injury, but also from extensive research in the neuroscience of habit formation. The four steps are cue, craving, response, and reward. Clear describes how they work together like this:

The cue triggers a craving, which motivates a response, which provides a reward, which satisfies the craving and, ultimately, becomes associated with the cue. Together, these four steps form a neurological feedback loop — cue, craving, response, reward; cue, craving, response, reward — that ultimately allows you to create automatic habits. (50)

Understanding how this “habit loop” works also helps us when it comes to breaking bad habits.

Below, I attempt to concisely take Clear’s general insights and help us see how we can benefit from them as Christians. Keep in mind that these steps merely describe strategies for habit-making and breaking from the neurological perspective. For Christians, forming habits will always involve more than neuroscience: it will involve faith in God’s promises, joy in Christ, and reliance on the Spirit. So, as you read, exercise your ability to take common-grace knowledge and apply it for spiritual purposes.

1. Cue

Every habit we develop begins with a cue, something that “triggers your brain to initiate a behavior” — a behavior your brain associates with a desired reward (47). Hunger is an obvious example; it’s a cue to eat. Over time, we develop lots of cues around eating: certain times of the day, certain places, certain events, certain activities, certain moods, and so on.

The same is true of all our habitual behaviors. Seeing the television remote, the Bible on the table, the phone notification, the running shoes, the vending machine, the prayer list, the sensual image — all these can become behavioral cues.

Make good cues obvious: When it comes to creating a good habit, we need to identify new cues that our brains associate with the desired behavior and then think through ways to make the cues more obvious to our brains. Clear suggests we fill out the sentence “I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION]” and then place cues strategically as brain triggers (71). With repeated practice over time, our brains will associate these cues with the beneficial behavior.

Make bad cues invisible: Breaking bad habits also can begin by removing cues that prompt detrimental behavior. Clear says, “Many people think they lack motivation when what they really lack is clarity” (71). So, he advises us to look for these unhelpful cues and write them down. Then think through ways to reduce or eliminate the kind of “sight” that triggers our brains.

Let me give you a personal example of changing cues. Because I decided I wanted to set my mind on things above before going to sleep, instead of “things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2), I decided to charge my smartphone in another room (removing a cue that triggers my undesired behavior) and set my Bible or a spiritually edifying book on my nightstand (inserting a cue that triggers my desired behavior).

2. Craving

The power of a cue is that it produces a craving. Clear points out that a craving is

the motivational force behind every habit . . . [because] without craving a change, we have no reason to act. What you crave is not the habit itself but the change in state it delivers. (48)

In other words, when we think we crave a soda or cigarette or sitcom or social media plunge, it’s not really those things we crave. What we crave is the pleasure or relief our brains associate with those behaviors. In fact, researchers have found that typically more dopamine is released in our brains when we anticipate the pleasure than when we actually engage in the behavior.

Make good cravings attractive: When it comes to creating and sticking with a good habit, willpower isn’t enough. Our brains must learn to associate a new behavior with a craving — the anticipation of the behavior producing some reward. Ideally, the ultimate goal this behavior helps us achieve provides sufficient motivation. Often, at first, we need to find creative ways to make the behavior itself attractive until our brains more clearly associate the behavior with our ultimate goal.

Make bad cravings unattractive: When it comes to breaking a bad habit, again, the inverse is true. We need to teach our brains to stop associating a learned detrimental behavior with a craving for pleasure. We do this by explicitly rehearsing the ways the behavior actually works against our greater pleasure until our brains interpret it as an undesirable and unattractive means of pleasure.

Any of us who’ve tried to change our eating habits in order to drop weight or promote better bodily health understands the importance of these two strategies. Because given how persuasive cravings can be, if we didn’t find creative ways to enhance the attractiveness of healthy foods and decrease the attractiveness of unhealthy foods before our brains made the craving switch, we most likely reverted back to our bad habits.

3. Response

A craving pushes us to respond in a way that will achieve the desired reward. When a particular response is repeated enough times (depending on a number of factors, this might be few or many times), it becomes a habit (like drinking a soda, smoking a cigarette, watching a sitcom, or plunging into social media).

Make good responses easy: When it comes to creating a good habit, “simply putting in your reps is one of the most critical steps you can take” (144). Of course, some habits are easy to establish, while others are very challenging. Either way, “much of the battle of building better habits comes down to finding ways to reduce the friction associated with our good habits” (155). We need to look for ways to minimize obstacles and increase convenience when it comes to desired behaviors. We all know that the easier a behavior is, the more likely we are to do it.

Make bad responses difficult: When it comes to breaking a bad habit, we do the opposite. As Clear says, “When friction is high, habits are difficult” (158). So, we need to look for ways to “increase the number of steps between [us] and [our] bad habits” (213). This is where recruiting accountability partners and restricting our future choices by “burning bridges” are often helpful.

I have a dear friend who put this strategy into practice. A number of years ago, he was actively fighting a sinful habit of viewing online porn, but his job required him to be frequently online. So, he subscribed to a service developed by a Christian ministry that tracked his online behavior and made it visible to his accountability partners. Making it more difficult and painful to indulge his destructive habit helped him break free from it.

4. Reward

In the end, the only reason we develop a habit is to pursue a reward. As Clear says,

The cue is about noticing the reward. The craving is about wanting the reward. The response is about obtaining the reward. (48)

“Christ is a reward for whom it’s worth building and breaking every habit necessary to obtain.”

As Christian Hedonists, we say amen! We believe that the ultimate reward of every good habit — great or small, easy or difficult — is to increase our satisfaction in God. That’s why Paul sought to “discipline [his] body and keep it under control” (1 Corinthians 9:27), so that he could “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14). Paul was pursuing the great, imperishable Reward: that he might “gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8). And Christ is a reward for whom it’s worth building and breaking every habit necessary to obtain.

As I mentioned earlier, in this fallen age our brains don’t always make the association between a particular habit and our ultimate reward. And so, “immediate reinforcement helps maintain motivation in the short term while [we’re] waiting for the long-term reward to arrive” (192).

Make it satisfying: When it comes to creating a good habit, we are wise to look for ways to make it feel as rewarding as it is. Because “we are more likely to repeat a behavior when the experience is satisfying” (185). And since “one of the most satisfying feelings is the feeling of making progress” (204), creating or using some kind of habit-tracker can provide the kind of incentive to keep us going.

Make it unsatisfying: When it comes to breaking a bad habit, you can probably fill in the answer yourself: find ways to make it costly. Again, inviting an accountability partner to monitor your behavior and/or committing to an undesirable consequence can provide enough disincentive to avoid the harmful behavior.

Habits Are Allies or Enemies

Why have I given so much space here to habits? Because of the massive influence they wield in our lives. And because they do so largely outside of our conscious awareness. When our habits serve our goals of living in a manner worthy of our calling and gaining Christ, they are invaluable spiritual and physical allies. When they impede those goals, they are spiritual and physical enemies. Given the compounding effects they have on us over time — for good or for ill — we are wise to occasionally take notice of them so that we can make the necessary adjustments.

I hope what I’ve covered encourages you to think more about your habits, and that you go on to learn more from what both Scripture and neuroscience have to teach you. Because I’ve only just scratched the surface. Habits are complex, affected by our genes, our temperaments, our experiences, our family and friends, our churches, our cultures, our health, our preferences, our strengths and weaknesses, our unseen spiritual influences, and more.

We’ve all been given a race of faith to run. And if we run faithfully with endurance, laying aside every encumbering weight and sin, we are promised a glorious, incomparable, imperishable, eternal prize: Jesus Christ. Paul exhorts us to “run that [we] may obtain [him]” (1 Corinthians 9:24). So, we take our habits seriously. Because they influence the way we run — for good or for ill.

Article by Jon Bloom (@Bloom_Jon) serves as teacher and cofounder of Desiring God. He is the author of four books, including Not by Sight and most recently True to His Word. He and his wife have five children and make their home in the Twin Cities.

We all create and sustain good and bad habits. We need more good spiritual habits and less bad sinful habits. It is never easy to create good ones and keep them going. It is never easy to break bad ones that have become a pattern of life. God desires for us to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. Create good habits and forsake the bad ones. By His grace and in His power (the Holy Spirit within us), we can do this!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 24, 2023

Notes of Faith August 24, 2023

The Woman Who Washed Jesus' Feet

Read Luke 7:36–39, Luke 7:47 NLT

One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. When a certain immoral woman from that city heard He was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. Then she knelt behind Him at His feet, weeping. Her tears fell on His feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing His feet and putting perfume on them.

When the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, He would know what kind of woman is touching Him. She’s a sinner!”

“I tell you, her sins — and they are many — have been forgiven, so she has shown Me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”

Could two people be more different? He is looked up to. She is looked down on. He is a church leader. She is a streetwalker. He makes a living promoting standards. She’s made a living breaking them. He’s hosting the party. She’s crashing it.

Ask the other residents of Capernaum to point out the more pious of the two, and they’ll pick Simon. Why, after all, he’s a student of theology, a man of the cloth. Anyone would pick him. Anyone, that is, except Jesus.

Jesus knew them both and picked the woman.

What’s more, He tells Simon why.

Simon is angry. Just look at her — groveling at Jesus’ feet. Kissing them, no less! Why, if Jesus were who He says He is, He would have nothing to do with this woman.

One of the lessons Simon learned that day was this: Don’t think thoughts you don’t want Jesus to hear. For Jesus heard them, and when He did, He chose to share a few of His own.

“Simon,” He said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.”

“Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied.

Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people — 500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”

Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.”

“That’s right,” Jesus said. Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer Me water to wash the dust from My feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn’t greet Me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing My feet. You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint My head, but she has anointed My feet with rare perfume.

“I tell you, her sins — and they are many — have been forgiven, so she has shown Me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”

— Luke 7:40–47 NLT

Simon invites Jesus to His house but treats him like an unwanted step uncle. No customary courtesies. Or, in modern terms, no one opened the door for Him, took His coat, or shook His hand.

Simon does nothing to make Jesus feel welcome. The woman, however, does everything that Simon didn’t. We aren’t told her name. Just her reputation — a sinner. A prostitute most likely. She has no invitation to the party and no standing in the community.

But people’s opinions didn’t stop her from coming. It’s not for them she has come. It’s for Him. Her every move is measured and meaningful. Each gesture extravagant. She puts her cheek to his feet, still dusty from the path. She has no water, but she has tears. She has no towel, but she has her hair. She uses both to bathe the feet of Christ. As one translation reads, “she rained tears” on His feet (v. 44 MSG). She opens a vial of perfume, perhaps her only possession of worth, and massages it into His skin. The aroma is as inescapable as the irony.

We love, because He first loved us.

— 1 John 4:19 NASB

You’d think Simon of all people would show such love. Is he not the reverend of the church, the student of Scripture? But he is harsh, distant. You’d think the woman would avoid Jesus. Simon’s “love” is calibrated and stingy.

Her love, on the other hand, is extravagant and risky.

How do we explain the difference between the two? Training? Education? Money? No, for Simon has outdistanced her in all three.

But there is one area in which the woman leaves Him eating dust. Think about it. What one discovery has she made that Simon hasn’t? What one treasure does she cherish that Simon doesn’t? Simple. God’s love. We don’t know when she received it. We aren’t told how she heard about it. Did she overhear Jesus’ words “your Father is merciful”? (Luke 6:36 ESV). Was she nearby when Jesus had compassion on the widow of Nain? Did someone tell her how Jesus touched lepers and turned tax collectors into disciples? We don’t know. But we know this. She came thirsty. Thirsty from guilt. Thirsty from regret. Thirsty from countless nights of making love and finding none. She came thirsty.

And when Jesus hands her the goblet of grace, she drinks.

She doesn’t just taste or nip. She doesn’t dip her finger and lick it or take the cup and sip it. She lifts the liquid to her lips and drinks, gulping and swallowing like the parched pilgrim she is. She drinks until the mercy flows down her chin and onto her neck and chest. She drinks until every inch of her soul is moist and soft. She comes thirsty and she drinks. She drinks deeply.

Simon, on the other hand, doesn’t even know he is thirsty. People like Simon don’t need grace; they analyze it. They don’t request mercy; they debate and prorate it. It wasn’t that Simon couldn’t be forgiven; he just never asks to be.

So while she drinks up, he puffs up. While she has ample love to give, he has no love to offer. Why? The 7:47 Principle. Read again verse 47 of Luke chapter 7:

A person who is forgiven little shows only little love.

Just like the jumbo jet, the 7:47 Principle has wide wings. Just like the aircraft, this truth can lift you to another level. Read it one more time. “A person who is forgiven little shows only little love” (NLT). In other words,

we can’t give what we’ve never received. If we’ve never received love, how can we love others?

But, oh, how we try! As if we can conjure up love by the sheer force of will. As if there is within us a distillery of affection that lacks only a piece of wood or a hotter fire. We poke it and stoke it with resolve. What’s our typical strategy for treating a troubled relationship? Try harder.

“My spouse needs my forgiveness? I don’t know how, but I’m going to give it.”

“I don’t care how much it hurts, I’m going to be nice to that bum.”

“I’m supposed to love my neighbor? Okay. By golly, I will.”

So we try. Teeth clinched. Jaw firm. We’re going to love if it kills us! And it may do just that.

Could it be we are missing a step? Could it be that the first step of love is not toward them but toward Him? Could it be that the secret to loving is receiving? You give love by first receiving it.

We love, because He first loved us. — 1 John 4:19 NASB

Long to be more loving? Begin by accepting your place as a dearly loved child.

Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. — Ephesians 5:1–2 NIV

Want to learn to forgive? Then consider how you’ve been forgiven.

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. — Ephesians 4:32 NIV

Finding it hard to put others first? Think of the way Christ put you first.

Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. — Philippians 2:6 NLT

Need more patience? Drink from the patience of God (2 Peter 3:9). Is generosity an elusive virtue? Then consider how generous God has been with you (Romans 5:8). Having trouble putting up with ungrateful relatives or cranky neighbors? God puts up with you when you act the same.

He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. — Luke 6:35 NIV

Can’t we love like this?

Not without God’s help we can’t. Oh, we may succeed for a time. We, like Simon, may open a door. But our relationships need more than a social gesture. Some of our spouses need a foot washing. A few of our friends need a flood of tears. Our children need to be covered in the oil of our love.

But if we haven’t received these things ourselves, how can we give them to others? Apart from God, “the heart is deceitful above all things” (Jeremiah 17:9 NIV). A marriage-saving love is not within us. A friendship-preserving devotion cannot be found in our hearts. We need help from an outside source. A transfusion. Would we love as God loves? Then we start by receiving God’s love.

The secret to loving is living loved. This is the forgotten first step in relationships. Remember Paul’s prayer?

Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.

— Ephesians 3:17 NLT

As a tree draws nutrients from the soil, we draw nourishment from the Father. But what if the tree has no contact with the soil?

Many people tell us to love. Only God gives us the power to do so.

We know what God wants us to do.

This is what God commands:... that we love each other. — 1 John 3:23 NCV

But how can we? How can we be kind to the vow breakers? To those who are unkind to us? How can we be patient with people who have the warmth of a vulture and the tenderness of a porcupine? How can we forgive the moneygrubbers and backstabbers we meet, love, and marry? How can we love as God loves? We want to. We long to. But how can we?

By living loved. By following the 7:47 Principle: receive first, love second.

Excerpted from They Walked with God by Max Lucado, copyright Max Lucado.

Do you love God, or just think that you do? You do not want the Lord to say, “Away from Me, I never knew you.” If you really love the Lord, He said you will be obedient to His Word. Many do not even read or listen to His Word and therefore cannot be obedient and therefore cannot love the Lord.

The most important of the commandments: Love God and love others as yourself.

Doesn’t sound impossible, but it is without the love of God coming from within you. Ask for His help and provision to love as He loves and you will be overwhelmingly blessed!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 23, 2023

Notes of Faith August 23, 2023

Traveling Day! Today is our grand-daughter Sarah’s birthday, our grandson Maverieck and our daughter-in-law Casey shared a birthday on the 21st, our anniversary is the 25th and our son Michael’s birthday is September 10. We will celebrate those in Kentucky this coming Saturday all together. It is easier that way.

Blessings from the hot and humid east side of the country!

Sorry for the delay in daily devotions but the computer was having issues which I hope I have resolved now…

Subtle Suffering

Today's inspiration comes from:

Who's In Charge of a World That Suffers?

by Billy Graham

You may never be called upon to suffer physically because you are a believer in Jesus Christ. However, there is more to suffering than physical pain; there is more to persecution than being put in chains.

If we are followers of Jesus Christ, who are not compromising with the sinful ways of the world, we may be called upon to suffer in subtle ways which are inescapable.

Suffering, in its many-shaped definitions, is a part of life in a sinful world. Two Christians released from a country where the government was hostile toward Christianity were asked how it felt to be persecuted for their faith. They replied, “We thought it was the normal way for a Christian to be treated.”

The Christian who expects to escape life’s difficulties has an unrealistic attitude and has failed to understand the Bible or the history of the church.

We must suffer before we are rewarded.

The concert pianist or master musician knows he cannot escape the hours, days, and months of grueling practice and self-sacrifice required before the one hour of perfect performance.

The student cannot escape the years of struggle and study before that great graduation day.

The astronaut who hopes to participate in the space program knows it will require stern discipline to prepare for the exciting day on the launching pad.

The athlete who wants to be a member of the Olympic Team must count on years of training, discipline, and hard work.

Several years ago a courageous and determined Japanese gymnast helped his team win a gold medal by performing some near-perfect gymnastic feats with a broken leg! Any star athlete will tell you that it takes pain and suffering to achieve success. But, as in the case of the Japanese gymnast, the pain and suffering are worth it!

If You Suffer

Consider the apostle Peter tender message on the subject of suffering:

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you… If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name… So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. — 1 Peter 4:12, 1 Peter 4:14, 1 Peter 4:15, 1 Peter 4:16, 1 Peter 4:19

Persecution has been a part of the heritage of the Jews throughout their long history, but in the passage quoted above Peter was writing to both Jews and Gentiles to help them in their new faith in Christ and what it means to suffer as a Christian.

It is never easy to be a Christian.

The Christian life can still bring its own loneliness, unpopularity, and problems. It is human nature to dislike, resent, or regard with suspicion anyone who is “different.” This is one of the great problems of the world today. Tribal differences, class differences, ethnic differences, cultural differences separate people. Such differences often lead not only to misunderstanding, but to war.

When the Christian brings the standards of Jesus Christ to bear upon life in a materialistic and secularistic world, it is often resented. Because the moral and spiritual demands of Jesus Christ are so high, they often set the Christian “apart.” This can bring about misunderstanding, fear, and resentment. When people do cross-cultural evangelism, they should learn to use methods in presenting and obeying the gospel through sensitivity without compromise in God’s truth. However, the redemptive, ethical, and moral aspects of the gospel can never be contextualized. They are the same in every culture, in every ethnic and racial grouping.

Persecution is also a test. One of the answers to the “why” of suffering is given in the Bible:

for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith — of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire — may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. — 1 Peter 1:6-7

The great fire of Rome began on June 16, A.D. 64. Christians were blamed and persecuted. But Peter was not necessarily writing about those Christians, but the ones who were suffering from reproach. Peter was also looking ahead and saw the intense fiery trial shortly to come upon the church. I am convinced that the current popularity of evangelical Christianity in America will be short-lived. The Bible teaches, and history confirms it, that it never hurts the church to go through the furnace. Peter indicated that persecution is not a “strange” happening as far as Christians are concerned. He tells his readers, “Don’t be surprised when it comes. Be surprised if it doesn’t come!”

Abraham obeyed God and reached the Promised Land to find a famine. Jacob obeyed God and found his family turned against him. David obeyed God and hid in caves because King Saul sought his life. Paul obeyed God and found himself in prison. Paul said,

In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. — 2 Timothy 3:12

No believer is ever left to suffer alone. Christ is always present.

Persecution for the Christian has many benefits. It gets us praying. It drives us deeper into the Scriptures. And it burns away the sins and the dross in our lives. Everybody of significance in the Bible experienced suffering.

When you are identified with the name of Christ you will go through it. The Scriptures teach over and over that we need to be tested and purified.

We can endure persecution because we know the purpose behind it which is to glorify God. Sixteen times in 1 Peter the apostle talks about the glory of God. He says in effect: I’ll tell you what you really need. Go through the furnace, and when you go through the furnace to the glory of God, the Spirit of God comes upon you, and there is a joy in your heart and you glorify God.

Through persecution we also partake of the sufferings of Jesus Christ. When a man has to suffer and sacrifice for his faith, he is walking the way Christ walked, and sharing the cross that Christ carried. The Scriptures teach that if we “share in His sufferings… we may also share in his glory” (Romans 8:17). In Philippians 3:10 Paul says,

I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.

Many times Paul returns to the thought that when the Christian has to suffer he is in some strange way sharing in the very sufferings of Christ (2 Corinthians 1:5; 2 Corinthians 4:10-11; Galatians 6:17; Colossians 1:24).

To suffer for the faith is not a penalty; it is a privilege. In doing so, we share in the very work and ministry of Christ. If we are united with Christ and His sufferings, we will also be united with Christ in His resurrection. To know Christ is to become so identified with Him; that we share His every experience. It “means that we share the way he walked; we share the cross he bore; we share the death He died; and finally we share the life He lives forevermore.”1

However, it is also wonderful to think that in our Christian life the power of His resurrection precedes the fellowship of His sufferings. In other words, the power of His resurrection is available to us from day to day through the Holy Spirit. We enjoy the sense of God’s presence in the midst of suffering here and now. I have talked to people who are experiencing deep pain or severe difficulties, and they have said, “I feel God is so close to me.” When Stephen (Acts 7) was on trial for his life and when it was certain that he would be condemned to death, his face appeared to the onlookers as if it were the face of an angel (Acts 6:15).

When the three Hebrew children were thrown into the fiery furnace and the king looked in, he saw a fourth who was like unto the “Son of God” (Daniel 3:25, KJV).

No believer is ever left to suffer alone. Christ is always present.

There is a legend of a pioneer missionary to some distant island who led his first convert to Christ. Later the converted man was tortured to death by his fellow natives. Years later when the missionary himself had died and gone to glory, he met this martyred convert and asked him how it felt to be tortured to death for Christ. The man looked at him a moment and then replied, “You know, I don’t remember!”

To suffer as a Christian takes many different forms. Some persecutions may be of the more subtle types.

What did Jesus mean when He said,

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. — Matthew 5:10

Among other things, Jesus may have been referring to hassles that Christians endure from the world because they live differently from the world, and are persecuted in many different forms. The Bible says that Christians are distinguished as aliens in a worldly society. This causes the non-Christian to feel guilty or antagonistic, seeking ways to retaliate in some way toward those who live according to a higher standard — the standard of Christ.

How different are you? Is there anything that distinguishes you from the secularist, the agnostic, or the atheist? In His parable of the sower, Jesus describes those who fail to maintain their stand for righteousness:

Since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. — Matthew 13:21, italics mine

However, Jesus makes it clear that there is a reward for faithfulness in the face of persecution or deprivation.

‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus told Peter, ‘no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for Me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields — and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.’ — Mark 10:29-30

In very plain terms Jesus reminds His disciples in John 15:20:

Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.

When we are persecuted for our faith, we are in good company!

William Barclay, The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975), 64.

Excerpted from Who’s in Charge of a World That Suffers? by Billy Graham, copyright The Billy Graham Literary Trust.

Suffering is never wonderful but it may be allowed by God to build your strength and faith and bring glory to His name!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 22, 2023

Notes of Faith August 22, 2023

Making Fishers of Men

But 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.

It is in storms that He does His finest work, for it is in storms He has our keenest attention.

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. — Matthew 14:25–26 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. — Matthew 14:29 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!’ — Matthew 14:30 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.

Do not fear! Do not fear! Do not fear! I AM!

Heb 11:7

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

If we believe in the Great I AM, we should have no fear concerning anything. Believe, and be at peace in the world in which you live!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith August 21, 2023

Notes of Faith August 21, 2023

Scandalous Reckoning

Mary of Bethany

Days before Christ's crucifixion, only one person seemed to understand the gravity of the situation: Jesus was going to die. Although He had said it many times that He must come to Jerusalem to die, the disciples could not seem to grasp it. Mary of Bethany, at least in part, somehow understood.

That's why she chose to do something that shocked and confounded the men who followed Jesus. They didn't get it. But that didn't matter to Mary. She knew what she had to do.

The disciples were in denial. Their focus remained steadfastly in the present. They couldn't see that what she was doing was admirable. Instead, they worried about the cost of the perfume (it was worth a large sum of money); the customs of the day (it was traditional practice to give to the poor on the evening of the Passover); and their own opinions (without waiting for direction from Jesus, to whom the action was directed, they started to rebuke her).

Mary remained squarely transfixed on the horizon of events, though even she did not anticipate all that would transpire.

Mary remained squarely transfixed on the horizon of events, though even she did not anticipate all that would transpire.

She could not have fully comprehended the significance; it was still the mystery of God. But the events taking place were not entirely lost on her, as they apparently were on the others. Intuitively, she sensed that what lay before her Lord was unimaginable pain, suffering, and death. And she came to terms with it.

Her ceremonial preparation for His burial confirmed her understanding.

As she carefully poured the nard on His head, the perfume traced the familiar features of His face; a brow she'd seen furrowed with concern; cheeks she'd seen wet with tears at the death of her brother; lips that had spoken truth to her. Her extravagance confounded the witnesses, but her comprehension of Christ's destiny touched the very heart of God.

Prayer

Dear God, I give everything I have to You, for You have made me rich with Your love.

Reading

Matthew 26:6-13

Luke 10:38-42

John 11:17-12:11

Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her. — Matthew 26:13

Excerpted from NIV Women's Devotional Bible, copyright Zondervan.

Many women believed in and worked to support His ministry as well as followed where He went. They are created in His image and very important in the daily impact of the truth of God as they pass it along. All who hear the truth and will come to Christ in faith will not be disappointed!

Pastor Dale