Strong Enough

I've heard the phrase, "The Lord works in mysterious ways" all my life.   I don't think it's in the Bible, but there may be something similar from wence it came.  Today's posting is just the lyrics of a song I heard driving home.  It's called Strong Enough and it's by Matthew West.  You can catch a portion of it if you YouTube it, but no one has yet to make a video using it.

I hope Matthew won't mind me using the words in the blog.  But, the song spoke to me.

Strong Enough from Story of My Life, Copyright 2010

You must
You must think I'm strong
To give me what I'm going through.
Well, forgive me,
Forgive me if I'm wrong,
But this looks like more than I can do
On my own.

I know I'm not strong enough to be
everything that I'm supposed to be.
I give up.
I'm not strong enough.
Hands of mercy won't you cover me.
Lord right now I'm asking you to be
Strong enough
Strong enough
For the both of us.

Well, maybe
Maybe that's the point
To reach the point of giving up.
Cause when I'm finally
Finally at rock bottom
Well, that's when I start looking up
And reaching out.

I know I'm not strong enough to be
Everything that I'm supposed to be.
I give up.
I'm not strong enough.
Hands of mercy won't you cover me.
Lord right now I'm asking you to be
Strong enough
Strong enough.

Cause I'm broken
Down to nothing.
But I'm still holding on to the one thing.
You are God
and you are strong
When I am weak.

I can do all things
Through Christ who gives me strength.
And I don't have to be
Strong enough
Strong enough.

I can do all things
Through Christ who gives me strength.

And I don't have to be
Strong enough
Strong enough.

Oh, yeah
I know I'm not strong enough to be
Everything that I'm supposed to be.
I give up.
I'm not strong enough.
Hands of mercy won't you cover me.
Lord right now I'm asking you to be
Strong enough
Strong enough
Strong enough.

Running On Empty

Today I couldn't get past myself to praise the glory of the Lord all around me.  Today, I put the children of Israel, who grumbled and complained to God after He delivered them from Egypt, to shame.  Pity party would be inadequate to express my "woe is me" attitude.

Most days I can supress my inner sadness, but not today.   Life is overwhelming right now and today was the tipping point.  I left work and literally cried all the way home.

In the last week I've experienced multiple disappointments.  And the final straw today was yet another rejection regarding the book.   I'm frustrated because all the rejections are just form letters, which tell me nothing about what's really wrong with my submission.  I'm disappointed because it's so important to me.  I'm disillusioned because I can't look back on my life and say any dream I've had has ever come true.  And so today, I question why I should give a rip about anything. 

I'm a person who strives to excel, and here I am living this life of mediocrity.  I detest insignificance and yet I have never felt any less significant than I do this day.  This turmoil inside me rages and while I want to let God in, I can't open up to let Him in.  I know His Word says He cares.  But, today I'm not so sure.  Today, I have no idea why I'm here since it seems I have no purpose or meaning.  And, so I find I can only cry: "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher.  "Utterly meaningless!  Everything is meaningless."  (Ecclesiastes 1:2).

I'm broken.  I'm sad.  And, I'm empty.

God Doesn't Need Spectacular

God doesn't have big expectations of us.  As humans we sometimes think in order to do God's will we need to do something spectacular.  But, in reality the smallest things we do to further His Kingdom make Him happy. 

Charles Stanley in his online devotional on Monday said, "The Lord isn't waiting for us to do some big, impressive task for Him; He's simply calling us to obey Him one small step at a time."

It took me a long time to be at peace with this realization.  When I began working with the Lakota Baptist Church to provide Christmas presents for the kids, who attend church at LBC, I had great visions of expansion.  In a few years, when people heard what we were doing, we'd have presents for all the kids on the reservation who wouldn't get a present if it were not for this mission.  Almost seven years later, we're only able to provide Christmas presents for about 100 kids each year.  Just what we started with in 2005. 

I had the greatest of expectations from my fellow man.  In my mind, even the hardest of the hard hearted wouldn't deny a kid a Christmas present, but in reality most people just don't care about the little kids located a thousand miles away.  And so, I've felt frustration and disappointment because I can't do more.  And, I feel frustration and disappointment as I see our little ministry struggle just to raise the funds we need to provide for the 100.  Now, we have been able to add to the ministry to provide new winter coats and a VBS and carnival for the kids, but we struggle to make it happen.

The team for this year met the other night to discuss a fundraiser we have planned.  We need at least $10,000 this year and we have roughly $6,000.  I've done all the math and it would take just 100 people to donate $100 over the course of a year to have the funds we need.  It seems small really if you think about how quickly someone can spend $100 today.  And yet $100 from 100 people might as well be $1 million from 100 people.

My friend and fellow blogger, Audra, loaned me a book entitled The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller.  It's a short read, and has some interesting thoughts in it.  One thing that stuck out was a comment by a woman who recently had been saved.  Keller in his book says the woman commented about how scary it was to be saved by grace.  She said it was a good scary, but scary.  Keller was intrigued by her statement and asked her what she meant.  She said if we're saved by works then God can only ask us to do so much.  There's a limit to what He can expect from us.  However, if we're saved by grace, then there's nothing He can't ask us to do.  We've been bought with a price - Jesus - and God can ask anything of us.

God doesn't expect the spectacular, but He does expect us to do something for His Kingdom.  Maybe you can't go to Pine Ridge, but can you give $50 or $100.  Maybe you can't give $50, but can you make a pie or cake to auction at our fundraiser.  Maybe you can't bake, but can you buy a big bag of candy to use at the carnival or a nice toy to be given as a prize. 

Pine Ridge is a hard place.  Nothing spectacular happens when we're there.  We just love on a bunch of poor kids who have a hard life ahead of them, and pray that for one or two the love we bring to town once a year can make a difference. 

Maybe you think God is telling you to go to Pine Ridge, or Ecuador, or Africa, but you don't have any special abilities.  God gives you what He needs from you.  You can help make a difference too if you're just willing to do something.  God doesn't need you to do the spectacular.  He just needs you to show up and to do.

The True Meaning of Tolerance

Tolerance.  We hear this word used a lot today.  Mostly, it's touted by special interest groups trying to push their own agendas, and clearly these groups have no idea what the word really means.

Tolerance doesn't mean I have to agree with someone's opinion, belief, practice, lifestyle, etc.  But, the special interest groups act like this is a requirement or you're intolerant.

Tolerance as defined by the online dictionary is "a fair, objective and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc. differ from one's own."  To practice tolerance means to "agree to allow the right of something that one does not approve."

Did you catch that last part?  To be tolerant doesn't mean I have to approve of the special interest's agenda. Tolerance doesn't mean I must condone, accept as right, agree to embrace something I believe is wrong.  Tolerance means I can agree to let someone else believe differently than I do and agree they have the right to do so.

Somewhere along the way, the special interest groups have redefined tolerance.  Tolerance to them means I have no right to not approve of their agendas, lifestyles, beliefs, and practices.  To them, if I don't agree with them then I'm intolerant.  Nevermind that I would never discriminate against a person based on their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, etc.  Nevermind that I think it's wrong to mistreat any human being based upon their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, etc.  That's not good enough.  I must embrace things I don't approve of or else I'm a hate monger, narrow-minded, an imbecile, a weak-minded Christian, and of course intolerant.

I believe the Bible is the Word of God and it clearly explains what is right and wrong.   But, according to those who so strongly believe in tolerance, I have no right to believe as I do, and; therefore, I'm intolerant.  In other words, all of these people and groups really only believe in tolerance when it promotes their agendas, opinions, ideas, practices, and beliefs.

Jesus says Christians will be hated and persecuted because we believe in Him and the Father who sent Him.  And, I need only to look at comments that some of my friends on Facebook make to realize how true this is for Christians today.  The amazing thing to me is these people never think they may be hurting one of their friends by the ugly intolerant comments they make.  Or maybe, they don't care since I'm a Christian and they're not.  They're practicing the very thing they espouse to hate so much - intolerance.

What I do know is I'm not as tolerant as I once was.  Not because my belief about treating people as I would want to be treated has changed.  It hasn't.  I'm less tolerant because I have been insulted, demeaned, and shown intolerance because I believe in Jesus, God, and the Bible.  And, I suspect many other Christians feel the same way.  Our comfort though comes from Jesus himself:  "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."  (Matthew 5:11-12). 

The Impossibility of Living a Holy Life Without Christ

I've made my way to the book of Numbers in my daily Bible reading.  I finished Leviticus last week and will finish Numbers early next week.  What has really jumped out at me as I've re-read these books is the impossibility of me, all by myself, living a life holy before God.

Read Leviticus 17 - 20 and see if you could keep all the laws, rules, and commandments in order to be holy before a Holy God.  It's just not possible.  It's evident no person could.  Compared to God, we are absolutely unholy.  Now, this conclusion; however, doesn't mean I shouldn't strive to be holy.  I most definitely should.  It just is so clear I can't do it myself.

I've never fully appreciated until now how absolutely helpless I am without the saving grace of Jesus.  We're unholy to God because we sin and don't even know we've sinned.  God can't look upon us because we're committing sins we don't even know are sins. 

The enormity of measuring up would be more than we could bear if it were not for Jesus.  Our hope lies in the fact that He took all our sins, known and unknown, and carried them to Calvary.  He is now our intermediary, who pleads our case before the Father.  Without Him there is no hope.  I'm so glad, I can call Him my Savior because He is. 

One Solitary Life

My intention was to post this on Monday to finish out the Easter season; however, the roaring tornadoes kept me offline.

I first read the poem One Solitary Life when I was a kid, and used it to begin and end my 12th grade English Thesis.  It was such a beautiful tribute to my Savior.  I wonder how many public schools would let you write about Jesus now?

The poem honors the most influential life ever.  I hope you'll enjoy the short video.

One Solitary Life Movie

The Third Day

"On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.  They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.  While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.  In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them.  'Why do you look for the living among the dead?  He is not here; He has risen!  Remember how He told you, while He was still with you in Galiee: The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and on the third day be raised again.'  Then they remembered His words." (Luke 24:1-8)

The dawn of the most glorious Sunday in the history of mankind has arrived.  The darkness is over.  Jesus, the Messiah, has risen from the grave, and He holds the keys to eternity.  The power of death has been shattered.  Satan has lost and is doomed to the very pit of Hell.

And for all who believe in Jesus, the Christ, the living God, the Son, the Saviour, our Redeemer, for all who believe in Him, eternal life awaits.  Oh death where is your victory?  Oh death where is your sting?

The very hope of mankind rests on the events that took place on this third day for without the resurrection, we are all doomed.  Praise be to God, Jesus lives.  Hallelujah He is risen!!!

(The video link below is not the greatest YouTube movie ever, but the song by Jeremy Riddle is glorious.)

He Is Risen