Discovering God For The First Time, Again

 by Chris Jones

People say, “You don’t read the Bible for information.  You read for revelation.”  I mostly like that quote.  I’m not sure to whom it’s originally attributable.  I’ve heard Joyce Meyer say it, among others.  The one thing it has inspired me to do is read the Bible as if I’ve never heard of God.  Perhaps that sounds strange.  However, If God reveals himself to us through His word, I want to know Him.  Don’t mishear me.  I’m not interested in getting a general idea of who God is.  I want to know Him exactly as He is.

I pray that God reveal Himself to me unlike He’s ever shown Himself before.  There are mysteries yet to be unlocked, details yet to be known.  I’m not satisfied to develop an understanding of God as other people think of Him.  Jesus has made it possible for us to personally approach His throne.  I, for one, want to take advantage of that opportunity.  I want to hear His voice.  I want Him to speak truth directly to my heart.

In this process, I’m beginning to find a God who is far more loving and awe-inspiring than anyone could express.  I’m re-discovering that God fills the spaces of every gap left by science.  I’m reminded that if you depend on church attendance to discover God, you’ll only ever hear a small percentage of what the Bible has to say about Him.  My desire to be a father like Him grows stronger despite the ever-increasing realization that I’ll never be that man.

I serve a God who is endlessly and overwhelmingly good.  I want to know Him, and take Him to the world.

Firing On All Cylinders

 by Chris Jones

How do you get to a place where you’re operating at maximum efficiency?  It’s a great question.  How would you ever know?  Does it have something to do with your friends or surroundings?  Is it more about your giftings and strengths?  Is it just a matter of chance and freak timing?  I think everyone wants to do something great with their life!  For Christians, it’s be better stated to say that we want God to do something great through us.

I’ve always felt led to pray that the Holy Spirit breathe creativity into my life, much in the same way that Solomon prayed for wisdom.  I want to be inspired with God’s thoughts.  I want to be motivated by a plan that can only come from Him.  It’s a great responsibility to be the people through whom God accomplishes His will.  It requires us to ask.  It requires us to listen.  It requires our obedience.  It requires us to selflessly give ourselves to His call.

Is there something great you’re supposed to be doing?  Is there something God has put on your heart?  Is there a fresh vision He’s unfolding before you?  Maybe it’s a dream that seemed to have died long ago.  Allow Him to revive it.  Pray for clear vision.  Pray for motivation and inspiration.  He does not leave you powerless to accomplish His will.  Let God do something great through you.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit, give Him the absolute maximum that your life can produce.

What is something you feel God is calling you to do?  Share it with us in the comments below.

God’s Abundant Blessings

 by Chris Jones

A funny thing happened on the way to work yesterday.  I was talking to God about various needs that exist in our family.  At one point I said, “God, show me your abundant provision.”  The words were barely out of my mouth when the door in front of me burst open.  Through it walked a well-dressed man, who appeared very wealthy.  Laughing to myself, I said, “No God.  Show your abundant provision in MY life.”

That night, we received just such a blessing, an unexpected gift that completely satisfied a significant and very costly need in our family.  As soon as I was told of this, I thought about my earlier conversation with God.  I shouldn’t be surprised that He would show His provision, in response to my request.

I think about Philip at a moment like this.  Why Philip?  He’s the one Jesus asked, before feeding the crowd with the fish and bread, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?”  You can read this story in John 6.  Philip’s reply reads something like, “Forget about ‘where’, Jesus.  Let’s talk about ‘how’.  We don’t have anywhere near enough money for that kind of purchase.”

It’s interesting that Philip’s focus immediately turned to the thought of where the money would come from.  This isn’t at all what Jesus asked Him to consider.  Ultimately, all Philip needed to do was receive.  Jesus already had it all planned out.

What might have happened if Philip responded differently?  If Jesus so desired, He could have rained down bread from Heaven.  Do we forget this?  What will it take for us to live confidently in the knowledge that God can provide to meet all our needs.  Size doesn’t matter.  Cost doesn’t matter.  Sometimes, that provision comes through hard work and preparation.  Other times, it’s a simple matter of us just asking and receiving.

Next Generation

 by Chris Jones

I had a cool experience Sunday.  I participate as a member of the video team at our church.  Yesterday, I had my eleven-year-old son in the booth with me, running video.  This was his second week in “big church”, since he graduated from kid’s church at the beginning of this school year.  He did an awesome job!  He got the words up for all the songs.  He was ready for every transition.  He followed Pastor through his notes.  Needless to say, I was a very proud daddy.

During worship I brought his attention to all the people around the altar, praising God.  I made sure he took a second to look down and see what was happening.  I wanted him to understand his contribution to that moment.   God was obviously touching lives, and he played no small part in creating an atmosphere for it.

It’s easy to miss the role we play in God working in people’s lives.  He puts us in the right places at the right times, as He moves according to His will.  I want my sons to always recognize the contributions they make to the Kingdom of God.  I don’t want them to think they have to be front and center to have an impact.  I want them to understand that every link in the chain is important, no matter how inconsequential it may seem to us.

I know he’ll remember these lessons, and pray that he’ll always determine, as it says in Colossians 3:23-24, to do everything for the Lord.

Confident Trust and Patient Endurance

 by Chris Jones

It’s been a rough last couple of days!

Yesterday, my laptop decided to get weird on me. I couldn’t get it to boot.  Frustration quickly set in.  If it’s happened to you, you know the feeling well.  We depend so greatly on these devices, especially when you’re trying to manage a blog.  I worked late into the night without any success, waking up for the aggravation to settle on me fresh the following morning.

I so appreciate my wife sending me sweet little pick-me-up messages throughout the day.  I certainly wasn’t doing anything to help myself.  Honestly, I kind of just wallowed in self-pity for a good part of the day, as work piled on.

Mid-way through the day, I noticed the You Version (Bible app) verse of the day.

Hebrews 10:35-36 (NLT) “So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you!  Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.

Why do we so willingly trade victory for defeat, throwing away the confidence in which we should live?  Is it really so difficult to endure, with patience, the road bumps in life?  I’m thankful there is a God in Heaven who provides to meet our needs.  His timing and His ways are perfect.  We will always have all we need to walk the paths He lays out for us.  Just keep walking.

Right Of Way

 by Chris Jones

There are few things that really drive me nuts.  Chief among them is people with poor driving etiquette.  What are they trying to prove anyway (riding on bumpers, laying on their horns, not yielding the right of way)?  People seem to be at their most inconsiderate of others when they’re in their cars.  Perhaps it’s because they don’t have to deal with people on a personal level.  Each of us is surrounded by our own steel cage, removed from more intimate, physical contact.  It’s as if we have a certain agenda and nothing else matters, nothing else exists.

Changing lanes has become a test of wills.  If you signal your intent, shouldn’t people adjust their speed to accommodate?  It seems the rules may have changed.  Who decided this?  Now, if you see someone attempting to change lanes, standard protocol is to ride the bumper of the car in front of you, leaving no room to merge.

Philippians 2:1-4 (NIV) says, “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”

What will this world ever know of Jesus, if Christians can’t master this principle?  Do we need to learn to better yield to others?  How might we need to adjust our pace to allow them to merge into our lane?  It seems we’d rather point out all the ways their lives are incompatible with our flow.  Does any of that really matter?  If we receive the slightest signal that someone wants to come over, shouldn’t we make their transition an easy one?

In their introduction to Christ, is it more important that we win an initial battle of right vs. wrong, or that we welcome them into that same tender and compassionate spirit that gives us grace that we don’t deserve?  It wasn’t anything about our preparedness or any pace of life that we achieved that allowed us to merge into His grace.  Thank God for those who allowed us to limp along, even being delayed as they helped us get up to speed.  Be watchful, patient and full of grace.  Step outside the steel cage of any religious spirit that keeps you from seeing people as people.  Yield your right of way to make room for them to merge into God’s grace.  Be patient as they limp along.  Bring them up to speed with patience, love and understanding.  Allow people to travel in our lane, the one that inevitably will lead them to the life-changing power of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Heading For A Breakdown

 by Chris Jones

Ask most people and they’ll tell you, with a twinkle in their eye, about their dream car.  Maybe it’s the fastest thing on the road.  Maybe it’s the biggest truck at the hunt club.  Whether it’s financially unobtainable, or practical and cost-effective, it seems everyone has their opinion.

Ask me about my dream car and I’ll tell you, “I’m already driving it.”  YUP!  It’s a faded-red, 1994 Honda Civic VX, pushing 210K miles.  OH BABY!!!  Don’t be jealous.  Obviously, it’s not the vehicle of my dreams.  I do, however, LOVE THAT CAR!  It’s small, fuel-efficient, PAID FOR, my first car and I can pack that joker out.

Occasionally, I’ll provide audio/video support at conferences of up to 500 attendees.  I can get an entire audio/video system (including a 12 foot screen), duplicating equipment, media and luggage across the state and back at 42mpg.  All that equipment is definitely a puzzle going in.  Everything has to be loaded a certain way, or it won’t all fit.  Almost every time I unload, I’m asked, “you got all that stuff in there?”  The Ringling Brother’s clowns would be impressed.

There’s only one, not-so-small problem though.  That car just wasn’t designed to haul that much weight.  This discovery was made evident one day at the service station.  After years of overloading, my rear bushings were destroyed.  Lesson learned: I can’t just use my car any old way I want without there being some damage and costs down the road, unintended consequence of years of doing it my way.

I hear this lesson when Jesus talks to the woman at the well in John 4.  Read it for yourself.  She comes, looking to draw water.  Jesus reveals that He has something that will satisfy her soul.  She’s surprised when He begins to call out all the stuff she thought she had so neatly tucked away.  All the secrets she took through life, not realizing the damage from years of doing it her way.

There are definite long-term consequences when we attempt to live this life without regard for the plan God has for us.  Maybe it seems to work at first.  Perhaps we think we impress others with all the things we juggle in life.  Others might have themselves fooled into believing everything will be OK, as long as they just keep their junk neatly tucked away.

Take a serious look at what you’re hauling through life (the good, the bad, the ugly).  Are you heading for a breakdown?

Running To The World

 by Chris Jones

…and now for something completely different.

I had something I wanted to post tonight.  Instead, I spent some time responding to a comment in a blog I’ve enjoyed reading over the last week or so.  You can find the particular post I responded to here.

I thought I’d share the response I posted. You can read it below or by following the link above. I’m sharing it here, in case anyone passing by my blog might find these words helpful.

*****

It’s my pleasure to respond. I appreciate the challenge of defending my beliefs. Unlike the “street preachers” you posted about, I look for more personal ways to promote my faith. Although I realize there is little chance my testimonies change much for most people, I’m thankful to have opportunities to share them.

For me, I need more than man’s suggestion that there’s an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-this and all-that somebody who requires me to follow whatever list of rules to avoid some unimaginable punishment. To believe any portion of such a story, I need something like a preponderance of evidence (at least the best I feel I can assemble).

If I were to approach this scientifically, I believe it would go something like this:

I hypothesize that God (in the Christian religion) is real. This is epitomized by the belief that He sent His Son, Jesus, to the world, so we could be united with God for eternity in Heaven. I theorize that, if my hypothesis is true, following the teachings of Jesus Christ should yield the suggested results. Those results include: receiving the power of the Holy Spirit, performing supernatural healing, encountering and casting out demons, and receiving provision for the life He has called us to live. The test is, does living the life He has called us to live produce those results. If the answer is “yes”, I must consider that God is real.

I’m definitely not a “blind faith” type of guy. I need to see it. Admittedly, my experiences are limited. They are, none-the-less, compelling to me.

Those experiences include: seeing numerous, instantaneous, medically-confirmed healings, witnessing demonic possessions and deliverance, involving physical feats the person would be incapable of performing, specific answers to innumerable prayers, physical encounters with unseen forces, abundant provision for the life to which He has called me.

The easy thing is to call me a liar or suppose the myriad answered prayers are nothing more than coincidence. It seems the proposed test needs to be personally applied to yield a conclusive result for any individual.

It’s unfortunate that Christians live such lackluster lives. My desire is that I live such a life that draws attention to Jesus Christ, causing people to ask the questions, “is there something about this man that I need to know?” He has changed my life. I live, believing He is who the Bible claims.

I know you and I see these things differently. Regardless, I have tremendous respect for your patience to read my thoughts. I truly appreciate you sharing your opinions concerning these matters. Those insights are valuable. It’s not my intent to be belligerent, or force my views on you or your readership. Please let me know if my comments ever become obnoxious.

As you say…peace be upon us all.

Finding The Right Partner For The Job

 by Chris Jones

This business of growing a social network is daunting. I honestly feel like I’m spinning my wheels. While all the practical wisdom suggests that starting with a blog like this is the way to go, I wonder if it’s really leading anywhere. Am I doing it right? Am I trying hard enough? Am I talking to the right people? I want to be faithful to what I feel God has given me, but how?

I can’t help but feel like I just need to find the right partner, someone who’s been through all this before. I need someone who can be a constant source of good advice. I need someone who can help me make the right connections, and say the right things at the right times. A good partner would be invaluable.

1 Corinthians 1:7-9 says, “Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Can this be true? I, with all my imperfections, questions and perceived inabilities, already have everything I need to work through to the end?

It’s true for all Christians. In life, we have a greater partnership than we could ever dream. We take with us a constant source of strength and ability. It’s a guarantee that our efforts will be effective. The results may not always be exactly what we expect.  However, we may always be assured the purposes of His Kingdom will be advanced.