Speak Lord, Your Servant is Listening

"Speak Lord, for your servant is listening." --Samuel

I was a young man when I first took a risk to trust God with what I perceived to be an opportunity to obey His voice.

I understood the concept of doing what was written in the Bible--prescribed if you will--thank God, don't murder, don't cheat, don't take someone else's meat.  Seriously though, it was a common belief in my thinking that to obey and follow God was simply doing what He had already communicated through the written word.

But I had not considered what it meant to hear His voice "here and now". Could God actually speak to me, stir my heart with fresh direction, inkling to do something that hadn't been done before... and what would the consequences be for suggesting that He had, or sacrificing other priorities in order to make this response to the unseen authority my primary task above all else?

When Faith Seems Small ...Or Not at All

A dear mentor of mine once said, "God accepts the littlest 'Yes' you give Him."

How small my faith feels some times.  But even God says that if your faith is as small as a mustard seed--and that is pretty small, tiny, puny even--God can take it and do great things.

A man once said to Jesus, "Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief."

Little things seem to matter to Jesus ...big time.  Quite clearly, if He is for us--He is for us!

"A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out..." --Matthew 12:20

May your heart be encouraged today with the knowledge that God is for you, and that He takes the most minute faith and blesses it for His glory.

If your faith feels bruised, fragile--or your heart's flame merely smoldering--may your heart be filled with courage to know the gentle love of God to strengthen and fan to flame that which seems to be all but dead wihtin you.

And if you have no faith at all, may you find the courage and humility to believe in Jesus.

What Makes You Come Alive?

Alright.  I can't sleep tonight, though I really want to.

Too much on my mind and heart.  I toss. I turn.

And here I am.

I am bursting with thoughts of being His workmanship, created for good works in Christ.  My heart swells with excitement to share this those who will hear.

I am--we are--His workmanship.  Knit together in our mother's wombs.  Known in the secret place while yet unformed.  Called.  Chosen...to be His children.  Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, of Jesus Christ.  Made alive in Christ.  Filled with His Spirit--the very Spirit of God--the hour we first believed.

Temples of the Holy Spirit of God.  His very presence living inside of you and me!

Gifting us to bless the rest of the Body to which we belong.  Sending us to invite all who thirst and are hungry to the table of communion with God in Christ.

What makes you fully alive in Christ today?  What has He created you for?  What stirs your soul and inspires greatness in your walk with God?  What keeps you awake at night, flipping you this way and that like a spatula flipping a pancake. (Okay, that was a bit corney.)

What are the dreams that are brewing deep within, made especially alive when your thoughts are fixed on your Creator and Redeemer and Father and Friend?  What makes you burst?  What has been quenched and squellched with all sorts of reasons and rationalle as to why it can't happen?

How has God created you to bring glory to Him?

What would make you fully alive today or, in my case, very late tonight?

"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." --2 Corinthians 3:17

Worried and Upset About Many Things?

"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things..."

As I was reading and reflectng on this oft-debated passage--and trying to get beyond the usual arguments of work versus rest--I was impressed by what I was NOT reading.

Jesus does not tell Martha how horrible she is, or order her away from His presence.  He does not tell her that He is not her friend any more, or that He is disappointed with her. 

Jesus loved Martha very much.  She and her siblings (Mary and Lazarus) were some of His closest friends.  And though He corrects her, He is clearly NOT condemning her.

Something else was not being said.  Contrary to popular belief, Jesus was NOT telling Martha that she should not work or serve.

Due to the old argument, I had come to accept that there was a reason why Jesus was rebuking Martha for her work ethic.  "Martha, Martha, you work too hard" or, "what are you doing making me a meal when you could be over here with me" are NOT Jesus words (although the motive for her work may be in question).

It would seem that Jesus is getting at Martha's heart, "...you are worried and upset about many things." 

Perhaps her worries and her upsettedness are distracting her from resting in Jesus' presence, perhaps even fueling an unhealthy sense of busyness that inhibited her from enjoying the company of Jesus and Mary for a bit.

Either way, Jesus seems to be quietly reaffirming His love for Martha while gently exposing her worried and upset heart.

In this, I realize my own worry and upsettedness, how at times this condition of the heart fules a frantic (restless) sort of work or service. 

At times I am aware that I am busying myself in order to justify avoidance of relationships, be it with people or even Jesus.

When my heart is troubled with things I could trust God with, or occupied with cynicism, criticalness, or anger over some injustice, I find that I am being tossed about by these storms rather than resting in what I know to be true...rather than resting in the One I know to be True.

...and even then I am a bit embarrassed to come into His presence.  I hesitate to think that He realy wants to be with me after allowing myself to get so worked up and tossed about.  It takes a while to come back down from my hightened state to begin accepting His unconditional love and limitless forgiveness for me. 

And sometimes it takes a good deal of humility to undo a pride that insists making things right myself.

Either way, I am grateful for that still small voice that speaks into my self-impossed storm.  A voice of correction that brings re-direction and a strange sense of acceptance and peace.  "Chris, your heart is worried and upset about many things.  Stop.  Come sit with Me for a while, and I will calm your storm."