Living with a Consumed Heart

Waiting at the Pool

Jesus was walking through Jerusalem and passed by one of the porches surrounding the Pool of Bethesda. He looked in sympathy at the people He saw there. Some were lying on mats on the hard ground, some sitting alone, others talked quietly with the person who was keeping them company. The two things that they all shared were all were sick and all had their eyes on the water in the pool.

The pool had the reputation of being a source of healing. Word had spread that an angel was sent from God to stir up the waters. There was just enough power imparted by that angel that one person would be healed if they could get into it while it was moving. Of course, spots near the pool’s edge were hard to secure and everyone pressed as close as possible.

As Jesus walked by, His eyes were drawn to one man lying close to the edge of the crowd, lying on a woven mat with legs that were thin and wasted from disuse. As the man glanced up at Him, Jesus knew from the look on his face that he had given up hope of ever reaching those swirling waters.

Jesus stooped with a smile and asked, “Do you want to be made whole?” The man sighed heavily as he pointed out that he was far from the pool and had no one to put him into the water.

As he looked up into Jesus’ smiling face, the man felt a strange fluttering in his chest. The long forgotten emotion of hope sparked to life inside him. Jesus simply said, “Rise, take up your bed and walk!”

Do you know what the man did next? Let me tell you what he did not do. He didn’t look around for someone to be a cheerleader urging him on. He didn’t take a vote among the infirm people around him to see if they thought it would be okay. He didn’t stop and hold a committee meeting on the implications of Jesus’ words and he didn’t say he needed to pray about it first.

The man sat up, pulled his legs up toward him, and stood up. He picked up the mat that he was lying on and rolled it up to carry it home.

This man’s miracle wasn’t found in a pool. It was found in looking at Jesus. His hope wasn’t in the reputation of a supernatural encounter in the form of an angel, but in the face of the Son of God. His wholeness didn’t come through spiritual performance and keeping the rules. Wholeness came by hearing Jesus and just doing what He said.

I cannot tell you how many pools I have camped out beside in my life. Sometimes the pool looked like a conference with just the right speaker. Sometimes it looked like following the latest self-proclaimed prophet or prophetess on social media. My pool has even looked like striving to pray and fast enough to earn the Lord’s attention.

The real problem with the pool mentality is the limitation it overlays on my Christian walk. It makes me need to be in the right place, connected to the right people, and doing the right things before I can receive from God. Just between me and you, I am done with the pool.

My hope is found in the face of Jesus. My wholeness is found in simply believing what He says and acting like it is true. I don’t have to run from conference to conference to find that out. I just need to pick up my Bible and let Him speak. Can I tell you a little about what God says about me?

He says, I am valuable (Mt 10:30-31), I am chosen(Jn 15:16), I am loved (Jn 16:27). He says that I am a child of God (John 1:12), that I have eternal life already beating in my chest (Jn 3:18)and that He is giving me a life worth living (Jn 10:10).

How about these promises? His word says I am a new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17) and that I am more than a conqueror even when things are tough (Rom 8:37). He promises I will have strength to do whatever I need to do in life (Phil 4:13).

Let me ask you today, have you been caught in the same pool chasing mindset in which I found myself? You will never find your worth, your wholeness, your identity in someone’s affirmation or attention. You need to stop waiting by that pool and lift your eyes up to Jesus. He is not far away and He just wants you to believe what He says.

The Mission is Ready

It was necessary for Him to go through Samaria. (Jn 4:4)

Jesus was on His way to Galilee and this is what the Gospel has to say about the journey: It was necessary for Him to go through Samaria. Even though this is the most direct route, somehow I don’t think this was a shortcut. In my experience, God seems to have little concern about me taking the easy way in life. I don’t think shortcuts are high on His priority list. But it was NECESSARY for the Lord to go this way.

I believe that He was led by the Holy Spirit to a divine appointment with a desperate heart. He walked into Sychar and sat down by the well as the disciples went looking for food. I imagine that He was looking at the path that led into the village with expectation, and that He smiled when He saw the woman with the jar walking His way. Jesus was on a mission.

We know the story. The woman was a person with a past. Her wrong choices had led her down sinful paths and cost her respect and dignity. Relationship after failed relationship followed her and she walked alone, heart questioning, pondering weightier matters than the townspeople would have believed.

As she stood and talked to Jesus, He offered her the Living Water of salvation, talked about her dysfunction, discussed meaningful worship, and the nature of God. Then He drops the bombshell! He told His secret– the one He let the disciples figure out on their own, the one He refused to let demons divulge–to this disreputable woman from the wrong side of the tracks! He just opened His mouth and told her that He was the Messiah!

You know, this gives me so much hope! You see, my past didn’t look just like hers, but it was still checkered. I had made wrong choices in life. I wasn’t held in high regard. It was a different set of tracks, but I was on the wrong side of them too. And Jesus still found it necessary to keep an appointment with me. Do you remember that day that you found Him waiting to meet with you? Do you remember the joy you found as you drank from that well of Living Water when you were first saved?

I believe that the Lord has appointments set up for the church. There are people all around us, trying to find satisfaction and fulfillment by drinking out of old cisterns that cannot quench their spiritual thirst. Some drink from the wells of alcohol, marijuana, heroin, and meth. Some drink time after time from the allure of building their wealth and possessions. Still others are pulling water from leisure activities and family events. But at the end of the day, they are still thirsty. They still need their jars filled at the cistern again.

I believe that the Lord has divine, Holy Spirit directed appointments set up for these people, and He is sending me and you to sit on the side of the well and offer Living Water to these thirsty souls. The people coming may be wearing business suits and neckties, but don’t be surprised if they have cigarettes in their pockets and gauges in their ears. They are probably people who don’t know how to act in a church or what to wear on Easter morning. But Jesus doesn’t care! He is longing to reveal Himself to them. Are you willing to partner with Him on the mission? He finds it NECESSARY for you to go to Samaria!

Dynamic Kingdom

As I bent in prayer, I heard the Lord whisper,
“My House shall be full. I long to see the nations flowing into it, and they shall. There are many who sit complacently in dry religion, comfortable on padded pews. But My kingdom is dynamic and active, full of life and energy. I have not called My people to sit and wait for Me to return for them, but to be active. I have written the Great Commission in their hearts. My House shall be full.”

When I think about Jesus standing and looking out over the sea of humanity, yearning to save and deliver, embrace and transform men and women, it stirs my heart. Once He looked at me like that. I was the one that was lost and hopeless, depressed and oppressed. I have been that one that He saved and delivered from the power of darkness. I have known His sweet embrace and been transformed. And I have been the one He smiled at and said, Now go tell others. Isn’t that your testimony too?

We are the Church, the Body of Christ. His DNA has been grafted into our spirits. We are the extension of the Lord’s ministry on the earth today. The tempo to which He walked through Israel beats like a drum in our chest, ever saying: SEEK AND SAVE. The Great Commission is our heartbeat and our compelling purpose. It is who we are meant to be, Church. Let’s tell the world.

Pray with me?

Father, we ask for holy boldness to come into us. Fill us afresh with Your Spirit and set our hearts ablaze with the fire of the Gospel. We want to participate in what You are doing in the earth. Make us soul winners for the sake of Jesus.

Coffee and Evangelism

Evangelism can be a scary word. We all have that secret fear that we cannot adequately share the Gospel message. That doesn’t mean that we don’t love the Lord or that we don’t think that the people around us need Him. We are just not very confident in our ability to communicate the Good News.

Sometimes when we think of evangelism, we think of itinerant circuit riders –fiery preachers who rode from town to town carrying the gospel. Other times, we think of big tent revivalists like Oral Roberts or Billy Graham. We aren’t wrong about those men being evangelists, but somehow that kind of ministry seems so far removed from our everyday lives.

But the word evangelist in the New Testament comes from the root euaggelizō which means to bring or announce good news. What is the good news we have to proclaim?
Jesus saved me.
Jesus healed me.
Jesus walked through the fire with me.
Jesus delivered me.
Jesus heard me.
Jesus never left me.
Jesus changed me.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

The Lord may never tell us to stand under a tent and preach or send us to ride the circuit, but we still have the good news and our hearts still burn with the message. Who do you know that is going through a hard time right now? Maybe they don’t need you to bring a sermon to the table right now. They may just need you to invite them for a coffee and let them hear your testimony of how Jesus brought you through the storm.

Pray with me?
Father, We just want everyone to know about the love and mercy we have found in Jesus. Let the good news of the Gospel of Jesus drip from our lips, flow from our hearts, be spread through our testimonies, shared by our hands, lived out loud in our lives! In that mighty, glorious name of Jesus’ we pray.

Kisses of the Word

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Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—For your love is better than wine. Song of Solomon 1:2

There is just something about a kiss, an intimate expression of affection. I may have many friends and acquaintances, but none of those people get a kiss. Such a display would be inappropriate and uncomfortable at best. No, kisses are reserved for those closest to us. They are reserved for my sons, for my mother and father, for my sisters. That token of love is given to those with whom I do life.

A kiss requires proximity that will seem awkward in the wrong context. An invasion of the recipient’s personal space must take place if a kiss is to be exchanged. When my sons were small, I would bend close to their beds in the evenings to place my face next to theirs. Sometimes I would give the kiss, but sometimes I would receive one instead. In the nearness, our love was whispered in good nights and that sweet demonstration of emotion–a kiss.

Kissing is intentional. I have never accidentally placed a big smooch on anyone. I choose who will receive this most personal display of my affection and I choose when it will be given. To be less selective about whose face I will press my lips would cheapen the emotion I want to share.

“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!” the maiden in this verse of Song of Solomon cried out about her beloved shepherd. I cannot tell you if she deliberated on such a bold request or if it simply came spontaneously from her heart. It was a cry born of passion and filled with confidence. It was an invitation to proximity, a declaration of love. It spoke of intimate relationship and delight.

Is that the sound God hears from your heart? Are you hungry for deeper intimacy and intentional proximity with your beloved Shepherd? Is knowing about Jesus insufficient because your heart burns to know Him in a more intense and personal way?

If so, let me invite you to pray with me:

Father, I love You. I want to know You as fully as any human can. I ask You tonight, let Jesus kiss me with the kisses of His mouth. I ask this intentionally, so I ask You to respond with intentionality. Come close on purpose, Lord. Mountains tremble and hills melt like wax when you come near, so I ask you to change the landscape of my life with Your proximity. You are my delight.

My Pen

My tongue is the pen
Of a ready writer
My pen is the instrument
of a speaking God

He gently whispers
Of grace and forgiveness
Of mercy unending
And perfect love

He sings with rejoicing
Of victory and triumph
Of the wonders of heaven
And glory above

He thunders unceasing
Of honor and majesty
Of power unyielding
And holiness divine

So I pick up my pen
My heart full of fire
Words fall like raindrops
From lips immortal

My tongue is the pen
Of a ready writer
My pen is the instrument
Of a speaking God

Thinking about a Throne

I sat on my deck with my Bible open in my hands and read the words of the awestruck prophet: In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. (Isaiah 6:1, NKJV) As I lifted my own eyes, I heard the still small whisper of the Lord stirring in my spirit, “What do you know about My throne?”

I had a few quick responses that I fired off: Your throne is a throne of grace. It is established in the heavens. Your throne has its foundations in Your character of righteousness and justice.

I wasn’t wrong, but I have learned over years of prayer and time in His word that the Lord seldom asks a question to which I really know the answer. Usually He is trying to stir me to seek Him out, to delve into the Scriptures until I can see Him looking at me through the pages. I pulled up a concordance, a dictionary, and a pad of paper and began digging. Can I share some of that with you?

In long ago times, when a king had successfully invaded and conquered an important city or nation, he would come and sit on a throne in that place. The fact that he could put his throne in that city meant he had authority over it. Though he could sit on that seat, everyone else was left standing. This indicated his superior position in regards to those who had opposed him. It left no doubt who was in charge.

When Isaiah saw the Lord, it was during a time of political turmoil. Uzziah’s reign had been a time of peace and prosperity, but he was lying cold and still in his tomb. A new monarch sat on the throne now. The prophet must have wondered what would happen to the nation. He must have wondered what he himself would face. Would the new king listen to his prophetic warnings as Uzziah had?

In that personal whirlpool of doubt and fear, Isaiah saw the Lord and He was not pacing back and forth, wringing His hands. He was sitting on His throne as King. He had chosen to set His throne in the heart of Jerusalem where the prophet would understood He was in control.

Isaiah saw God sitting on His throne–in a position of rest in the place of authority. Not only that, He was far too big to fit inside the temple where the people went to worship Him. When he understood this, the prophet was freed from worry and intimidation. If he had nothing to fear from God, Isaiah need not fear any man sitting in any type of authority.

The Lord hasn’t changed. He sets His throne on every difficult place in my life. Whether I am facing financial concerns, dysfunction in relationships, heartache or confusion, that is just where He will set His throne and reveal Himself as the One in control.

I begin to pray, telling the Lord just how overwhelmed I am feeling and how unfair the situation, and He will let me continue until I am ready to look up. As I lift my eyes above my problems and focus on Him, I see Him, not worried, not pacing. He is King, sitting on His throne–in a position of rest in the place of authority in my life. If I fear Him with reverence and awe, I need not fear anything (or anyone) else.

God will not fit into my religious expectations and He won’t stay shut up in the church building. He is God and He doesn’t fit inside the boxes we offer Him. He sets His throne up in my life wherever He wants, and I am so grateful for that.

Pray with me? Lord, I invite You to set Your throne up in my life. You are a great God and You can handle my problems. I look up now. I will not live in fear.

Welcome to my faith blog!

I love the Word of God. Can I say that and not appear odd? I have Bibles everywhere–on shelves, in my car, in boxes to give away. My life has been transformed as I have read, studied, and meditated on the scriptures.

In the verses of my Bible, I have become acquainted with men and women who, like me, have faced adversity, wrestled with doubt, and finally turned their face (and faith) upwards in trust. I have found myself in the sacred pages, and much more importantly, I have found God there–and He was far more wonderful than I could have imagined.

I hope you will join me as I explore my own faith journey as well as digging into the narratives of the Bible and applying it to our lives. I will share prophetic words as the Lord allows, poems that I write, devotions, and the occasional post to let you know things that are going on in my life. Feel free to leave me a comment or send me a message. I would love to connect with you.