Though nearly 50 years old now, his words still strike a cord with how close our country stands on the brink of losing all we have come to hold dear. 

No matter how this election turns out, our Lord still reins and He still calls us to 1 Tim 2:1-4….

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0w_eaUVthM

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pbp0hur9RU

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I don’t know about you, but I struggle with my flesh constantly.  The battle between what I know God wants in my life and what I want is always being waged.  Sadly my flesh often wins, but the truth is that the finish line for the deeds of my flesh is the dump.  The things I want, the stuff I must have, the accomplishments I think are so important all end up on the trash heap of failed flesh.

All that the world aspires to, all that I aspire to apart from God, is destined for the dump, to be thrown away, abandoned, forgotten.  The great monuments to Stalin…at the dump.  The amazing car I “had to have”…trash.  The titles we must have to find worth and importance…forgotten.  All that the world offers, all that we want in the flesh is destined for the dump.  (I’ve said this several times for emphasis.  Maybe you don’t need to be reminded of it, but I do.)

I have to admit I often set my desires, my passions on things that will not last….things that cannot satisfy….fame that will quickly fade….things destined to be thrown away when we realize they don’t fulfill.  The finish line for the flesh is the dump…..it’s where we take the things we no longer want.  And soon this pile of trash…forgotten passions, failed fame, tarnished desires becomes a mountain and monument to the failures of the flesh.

I so long to make choices that please God.  I want to want what God wants.  I want to desire what he wants in my life, but I must admit I too often fall short.  The monument to the failures of our fleshly desires should remind us that the flesh will never satisfy,  it simply can’t.
I long to follow Paul’s advice as he speaks to the Colossian church and writes,

“Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.  And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.”

Visit Mike at Finishing Well.

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So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.…

The portion of this passage that had eluded me were these words,“For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.” Then, this week for the first time, I saw it. The pagans don’t have a heavenly Father! They are orphans! Orphans have to be worried about food, clothing and a place to stay because they have no one to watch out for them. They are responsible, but the Christian has a Father. We have someone who is taking care of us. We have someone who loves us and like a child in a home with a dad we don’t even think about the house payment, the electric bill, will we have food…those are the things that Father takes care of. As his child I run into his house and take whatever I want from the fridge without a worry. Father takes cares of all those things so I can focus my attention on seeking HIM and his rule in my life. He has the rest taken care of. He cares for me. I have a father, I’m not an orphan. When I saw this the whole passage came alive for me. I wept over this amazing truth. Even as I tried to share it with my wife the next day I couldn’t get through it without tears…..we are not orphans on our own, caring for ourselves, worried about how we will get food, clothing and somewhere to stay. We have a father. He loves us and is fully able and willing to care for us.

So, today you can resign as general manager of the universe, you don’t need to worry about all the things that take up your thoughts. You are not an orphan, you have a father and he loves to care for his children who will trust him.

Visit Mike at Finishing Well.

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I’m fascinated by this short, simple verse. It’s a prayer of Paul for those suffering in Thessalonica. I would have prayed “May the Lord direct your minds…” but Paul prays for heart direction. There is a knowing of the heart that the mind cannot comprehend. There is an assurance of the heart that the mind cannot grasp. There is a relationship with God of the heart that the mind can only dream about. In this time of rest and sabbatical I have been seeking the face of God. It’s a passion I acquired from David the king. He pursued the face of God. I can only imagine what that looks like because, in truth, it’s a heart quest, not a quest of the mind.

One of the things I find as I get closer to the face of God is his love and joy in my presence. He really loves me! He likes me, he really does. He’s glad to see me. Personally. I feel so inadequate to even be in his presence, unworthy, imposing on his time and attention, but he loves me. As my heart is directed into his love I begin to see myself as he does. I see the me he sees and it brings the same response that Jesus had to the love of the father….steadfastness. As Jesus prayed in the garden, steadfast in his decision to obey the father because of the father’s love for him and for us, he went to the cross steadfast in obedience because he knew the father loved him. I see I cannot walk in steadfast obedience until I know the father’s love. It’s his love that gives me the ability to be steadfast in Christ.

We all go through difficult days, days that challenge our commitment to faith, but the love of God will bring us to a steadfast walk that can only be known to the heart. The mind would say you are crazy, but the heart knows the Father’s love and that makes all the difference.

Visit Mike at Finishing Well.

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“We are a fragrance of Christ.”  What an amazing thought.  God has scented us as Christians to be a fragrance of Christ in the world around us.  You don’t have to tell anyone you are a Christian, they can “smell” it.  We have an aroma.  It’s the presence of God, of live in us that gives off a scent to everyone we meet.

I have often been with someone who didn’t know I was a Christian and shortly in the visit they will ask, “You’re a Christian, aren’t you?”  They can “smell” us!  But what is it they smell?  What is the fragrance we give off?  It’s the fragrance of life.  It’s a scent that isn’t common on our planet where everything dies.  The only smell we know is the stench of death, but when the perfume of life shows up it’s a smell everyone knows.  It’s a smell that reveals something the world is missing.

For the Christian, as they “smell” the presence of another believer, they smell the sweet fragrance of life.  Another person who has life living in them, the presence of God. It’s a sweet fragrance and a wonderful reminder of the life we share.

For the world, as they “smell” the presence of a Christian, it highlights the reality to them that they don’t have life, they live in death.  It’s a fearful awaking for their senses.  It’s a smell they don’t like, a realization of their lack.  Often it’s the reason those in the world disdain Christians….we remind them of the truth that they do not have life, but simply await the final death.

Without a word the presence of a Christian communicates that life is available, that we have something the world lacks.  Without a word the world “smells” the presence of life in us.  This witness of the fragrance of life calls us to a Godly lifestyle because the world is watching, their noses know who we are, it’s critical we live to the glory of God because we can’t hide who we are.  The world around us, by the fragrance of life that comes from our very presence, knows we are Christians.

Live your life well, your fragrance precedes you…..the world already knows who you are.  Live in a way that glorifies the one who gave you life. Know that the fragrance of life oozes from your very presence and witnesses to the life you have.  Live as a child of life that the world will be drawn to the one who gave us life.  And never forget…..the fragrance of life precedes you as walk through your days.

Visit Mike at Finishing Well.

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It’s a much quoted verse, but I think we miss so much that it’s trying to say. May I rewrite it in Mike’s paraphrase?

“Hush, be quiet, stop, rest, don’t move….just pause for a moment and know that I am God.

That I am God over your joys and over your sorrows.

That I am God when you are at peace and when you are afraid.

That I am God when your health is good and even when it isn’t.

That I am God when you have food and when you are hungry.

That I am God when there is abundance and when there is nothing.

That I am God when you have a job and when you don’t.

That I am God when you have hope and even when you are in despair.

That I am God over everything.”

The one theme I see throughout the bible is this very important truth- The Lord is God, He is Lord of everything, both good and bad, both smiles and tears.

He’s Lord and you can trust him, he’s got it all under control. So, be still, rest, relax, let down your frown, exhale, stop worrying, stop trying, stop everything and rest in the Lord who simply wants you to know that HE is LORD.

One of my favorite verses is Psalm 29:10. In this short verse is a very important truth. Here it is, “The Lord sat as king at the flood, the Lord sits as king forever.” At the worse time in human history God was seated on the throne fully in charge. At the worse time in your life God is seated on his throne fully in charge of your life. Relax, he’s got it. Stop, cease, be still. The God of the universe loves you and is Lord of your everythings. Trust him. “Be still and know that HE is God.”

Visit Mike at Finishing Well.

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Waiting is a pause in our lives, as if the picture is frozen on the screen and we wait for someone to once more push the play button. Waiting is hard.

Waiting involves the passing of time as we anticipate the thing, the one we wait for. Anticipation. Expectation. Frustration at times are all part of this thing called waiting. As I read Psalm 37 this morning, one of my favorite Psalms, it’s clear that God invites us to wait….to wait for Him. Several times in this chapter the invitation is given to wait for the Lord. There are good reasons for this. We conclude God is late, has gotten busy somewhere else, has forgotten us, but the truth is that we have simply missed God’s ways and timing and so we find we wait for the one who is never late.

“Wait for the Lord and keep his way” David writes. In this short phrase are the instructions for those of us waiting, while you wait walk with God until he arrives. The truth is he is always with us, never leaves us, but waiting involves a patience with God’s timing, God’s plans, God’s ways. It involves my choices to walk well while I wait.

“But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.” There is a reward for waiting. The reward is God’s business, but the waiting is ours.

There is a reason for the waiting. We may not always know what that is, but wait we must and trust God to work while we wait.

There is a rest in waiting. It means I have someone I’m trusting for what’s ahead and I dare not proceed until he arrives. It’s an awareness that I must not walk alone the road ahead, but wait for God to walk with me, to lead me and guide me.

There is a peace in waiting. It’s the realization that I wait for one who will accomplish all I wait for. The God who made heaven and earth asks me to wait for him. Why wouldn’t I? How would I dare proceed without him? Waiting for God is the most logical decision of all!

What are you waiting for? Direction? Answers to prayer? A job? Healing? Peace? God’s response to your waiting? “Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret….” In other words, don’t worry. God’s coming. He will sort it all out for you. Rest in him, relax, don’t worry, he’s coming….he’s never late.

Wait for the Lord.

Visit Mike at Finishing Well.

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It’s a good question because it brings us to the very reasons for our faith. For the atheist there is no truth apart from what can be discovered by science. If science can’t observe it, dissect it and explain it then it’s not true or real. Science becomes the filter everything must go through to be true, but science is a very limited discipline. It can only evaluate what it can see, test and observe. So, what would be considered valid evidence to believe something?
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There is much that is real, true and valid that science simply cannot evaluate. For example we know that George Washington lived and was our first president, but science cannot evaluate that. There is no scientific method or resource that can prove this, nor was science designed for this. And so, according to the scientific method alone, George Washington didn’t exist. Now we all know that’s just silly. There are other sciences and ways to validate and prove true things that science simply cannot evaluate.
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Evidence? What evidence would be required for us to distinguish something true from something false? The example I gave above is one that can be proven and believed in by other information. There is history, eyewitnesses, articles written at the time….multiple stories. And so, we believe. It’s not a leap of faith to believe in George Washington. It’s history! There’s evidence. It’s believed because there were real people at that time who knew him, saw him, wrote about him and we believe their words.
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What evidence would you need to believe something? What evidence is there of God? What do we have to believe in God and how do we know we are believing something that is made up vs. something true? Science cannot unpack this for us. This is outside of their parameters. They cannot go there, but it doesn’t mean it’s not true. It doesn’t mean God doesn’t exist any more than believing George Washington never existed because the scientific method cannot prove it.
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What evidence is there for God? Psalm 19 tells us the universe is the first evidence that God exists. Science would deny that as evidence for God and give credit for this amazing universe to their god called “chance.” I think it’s easier to believe in the God of the bible than the god of chance. Your odds are much better. Second, there are eyewitnesses of God’s work. They talked to him, saw his work and documented it. There are multiple witnesses of God’s work. Do any of these men and women count in our discussion? I think so. Just because all of the stories have been compiled into one volume called the bible doesn’t mean their eyewitness testimony is not true.
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There are the predictions of things to come in the Old Testament that actually happened as predicted. They happened with 100% accuracy. Can we consider this proof? In fact the birth and life of Jesus Christ fulfills hundreds of prophecies made many decades before his birth. The odds of one man fulfilling just 8 of these specific promises, let alone all 300+ prophesies is almost impossible. But we have Jesus. A real man who claimed to be God. And yes, he did claim to be God. That is not up for discussion. His claims were verified by his miracles, his Deity proven by his resurrection and all of this was recorded by hundreds of eyewitnesses. The evidence for the life of Jesus is more believable than the evidence for our first president George.
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What science can’t measure or evaluate other things can. Science is not the filter for everything. It is limited. When the atheists of the world claim there is no evidence for God they are simply talking about evidence according to science. There is much that a blind man can tell me as he smells, touches and hears the world around him, but what he can’t do is tell me what he sees. He’s blind to a whole world around him because he cannot see it. Just because he cannot see doesn’t mean that what he doesn’t see does not exist. Those of us who see are amazed at the blind man’s claims and cannot convince him of the reality we see.
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Just because the blind man of science claims he cannot see God doesn’t mean he’s not there for anyone with vision to see clearly.
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Faith or science? Evidence for God? I’ll take the evidence for God clearly seen all around us and witnessed by those who told their stories in the bible. I know I believe in the true God because the evidence is everywhere….science simply won’t or can’t see it.

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