Day 53 - Drugs and Losses

"A man who used to be involved in our ministry met me after church. He has been on and off drugs for months. Mostly on. He was wearing a tattered shirt and he was very thin. He said hello and tried not to cuss. Eventually he did while he was talking about things he was seeing because of the drugs. I asked him if he was staying clean and he said no. He told me that God told him to smoke dope. I told him that God would never violate his Word and smoking dope was against the law and against the Word so God would not have told him to smoke dope. He kind of clammed up after that but he did ask why he was seeing things coming out of his hands and stuff written on them. I told him that the drugs had opened his eyes to the spirit realm and that he needed to get clean. He expressed his love and shook my hand. I saw him out by the burned down meth lab house by the entrance to the church sitting by the gutter drain. My heart broke for him. I recalled another drugged out guy who was standing in the lawn there staring off in to the distance. He probably had no idea I was driving by. I went into prayer and intercession for him."

I hate this post. I hate it because one of our people who had victory over drugs went back to it. I hate the devil and I hate evil. I hate the fact that this man's life and family and future have been ruined. 

This man isn't the only one. I know many who have went back to the things they left to follow Christ. We cannot afford to play with sin and evil. The old saying that he who plays near the mud hole will eventually fall in is true. If you play with fire you will get burned. 

We have to watch what we are watching, guard our hearts and make sure that we have godly relationships. Accountability, disciplines of church attendance, prayer and the Word of God are all so important. Not just going through the motions of dead religion but a personal and passionate relationship with the Living God. 

I am still praying for that man to return and the he be saved. I pray for you. I pray for myself.

How can we guard against slipping back into old ways? What has kept you strong in your relationship with the Lord?

Day 52 - Pray Pray Pray

"We prayed together and gave it to God."

Prayer is so simple it often escapes us. Prayer is talking with God. Prayer is connecting us to God. 

There is a release that happens when we pray. I love the image the book of Psalms gives when it tells us to commit our way to the Lord. It is the image of a camel under a burden who kneels down and rolls the burden off itself onto the ground. 

What a picture of what happens when we pray! We roll the care and the burden off our backs as we humble ourselves and give Him our faith and trust for the outcome. 

M.C. Hammer was right, we need to pray just to make it today. 

How do you feel when you pray? Do you feel that prayer is simple or complex?

Day 51 - Decluttering

"We store so much stuff thinking that some day we will use it. I think throughout my lifetime once a year, every year, my family had cleaned out our garage or our storage spaces. Once every few years we clean out the junk drawer. If fact we have several junk drawers currently. We need to get rid of those things. Most of the stuff in them we don't use. It would actually be nice to have a drawer with nothing but a pen and note pad in it. I can never find what I actually would use!"

I have heard it said that The U.S.A. is the only place where we have storage units we rent to store things we don't use. Recently television shows have made this phenomenon popular with titles like Storage Wars, American Pickers and Hoarders. People just have tons of stuff these days. Some have argued against the consumerist waste and for the case of the collector. I get that but there is a fine line between a collector and a hoarder. 

In my house we have a rule that if we haven't touched something in a year then we need to consider if it should stay in our home. This obviously excludes categories of things like our important papers and our keepsakes. But for the most part we have a ton of stuff that we never use. Every year when we do our purge we end up with a bunch of yard sale items or donations. 

All this talk of cleaning reminds me that I still haven't got to those junk drawers. 

How do you manage your clutter? What would you add to this conversation? 

Day 50 - True Strength

"I had the privilege to preach the Word tonight. It was a good night. I counted eleven hands and more than that showed up at the altar. I ministered on God our strength."

The world is looking for strength in various forms. Strength in numbers. Strength in money. Strength in fame. Lately they are looking for strength in a serum or a mutation. 

The truth is that we have no strength outside of God. we can build the biggest, richest, strongest empire and still we would be a speck in the universal scale. When you think of a God who speaks and planets exist and who destroys his enemies with the breath of His mouth you realize where true strength lies. 

Jesus said that apart from Him we can do nothing. Never was a truer word spoken. His advice for us is to remain in Him. It is like a lamp that stays plugged into the wall. As long as it stays plugged in it gives light. If we will stay connected to Jesus we will have the power available to us. 

Have you felt weak and yet God moved on your behalf? What ways has God given you strength? 

Day 49 - Stuff you have to do

"Jess and I spent the better part of the day doing our tax preparation. Every year at least one or two days is spent preparing to file."

There are things in life you just have to put your head down and get to work on. If you don't do them they won't get done. As awful as tax prep and many other painful operations of life are I am thankful for things like returns, the feeling of a job well done and the sense of accomplishment when you can mark something off your list. These rewards can go a long way. Little by little you get stuff done and then you can relax and play. 

What sort of tasks do you dread but know you have to do them? What is your reward for completion? 

Day 48 - Giving it all

"We leave it all out there. We spend and are spent. I guess you could say we go big and then go home (and crash)."

In any endeavor of life we should give it our all. Anything worth doing is worth doing well. I found out that in college if I wanted to get a passing grade all I had to do was show up and turn in all required work on time. Life is no less. If we show up and do what is required we will pass our days. 

The problem is that I don't want to just get by. I want to excel and thrive in life. I think we all want meaning and a greater purpose. Real purpose outlasts our time and goes on perpetually. For the Christian we see beyond the natural and finite into eternity. 

In a world of mediocre and halfheartedness we have to preach a radical gospel and live a radical life. Nothing less will do. In fact Jesus calls us to wholehearted commitment from the get go. Taking up your cross means you are headed to die. That is total commitment. 

What kills commitment? How can we invest everything into life?

Day 47 - Toys

"The kids played on the computer drawing thing today. It is funny because they will pull out toys they haven't played with in months and it is all the rage. Something that was collecting dust suddenly becomes a point of contention because everyone wants to play with it all of a sudden."

Kids are often windows into human nature. They hold an innocence lost at the fall in one had and sin nature at its boldest expression in the other. Here in this little thought from last year I see both. 

First is the innocence and the joy of being together. We can find that if we will dust off simple things we have neglected like fellowship, corporate prayer, church, praise in the assembly, etc. we will find that joy once again. I love having a good conversation with an old friend or family member. There is a joy that comes when I get an e-mail or a message from someone I haven't connected with in a long while. 

While I wish we could stay in that innocence the fact is that the sin nature likes to try to resurrect every now and then. We don't like to share. Whether it be the attention, our friends, blessings, etc. something good can turn bad quickly. If we can yield our rights, desires and selfishness to the joy of love and others we will overcome. Celebrate someone else and they will celebrate you, do unto others...

Have you experienced the innocence and the joy of others recently? How can we stay joyful and avoid selfishness?