Father Heart of God

J. R. Cobb was a guitarist and song writer; and he wrote a big hit called Spooky, went on to be in a band that meant a lot to me in the 70’s – when I was just an infant – the Atlanta Rhythm Section who had such songs as So into You, Oh, Atlanta, Doraville, Homesick and Dog Days – Anyway, in 1994, J.R. wrote a song recorded by Wynonna called Rock Bottom and in that song there is this lyric – “Rock Bottom is solid ground, and a dead end street is just a place to turn around.” Although, at difficult and trying times it may appears as if we have hit rock bottom; as believers we are far from rock bottom, as believers we are on solid ground, in life we may hit a few dead end streets, but as we turn around we can rest assured Our Father in heaven is there for us.

For me that is so reassuring, it also helps me to understand that when we hit those dead end roads that there is a process for turning around. In business, we are trained to understand human reaction to bad news, to dead ends and it is something called the SARA model. Heard of it? I have had to go through this many times when I found out about certain decisions or circumstances. The S stands for Shocked and as these dead ends occur I am shocked and I just can’t believe this is happening.

Next, the A stands for Anger and I usually go thru this period of Anger – not really anger more like extreme disappointment thinking all that work, all this time for what?

Then I hit the R or the rejection mode – I say to myself; no this can’t be, there must be a reason that I can turn around, there must be something I can do to convince or change the decision or circumstance. And then and only then did I hit the final A – acceptance saying ok it is real, now what.

You know Sara can be spelled another way with a H at the end and for me after I accept I can then move to the H’s of Help, Healing and Hope and as believers aren’t we blessed to have the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit? As I was recently going through this process I found myself in the book of Philippians, a book that many people call the book of encouragement, as Boice says “no book in the Bible is so filled with joy as Philippians – a joyful book of only 104 verses that also covers major Christian doctrines such as Christian love, hope, aspiration, joy and confidence.” As I was reading I found myself dwelling in Philippians 3:12-14; There is not time to really break this passage down, but a little context we should consider is that Philippians was written by Paul while in prison and most agree around AD 60 and Paul was Martyred in around AD62, so while Paul had every reason to be down, give up, be distressed, he wasn’t any of those things and he wrote his most confident joyful letter. There is so much in these 3 verses that we could talk for hours, but I will just highlight a couple of things that just shook me to the core.

12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.


So as I come to terms with where I am, where we are my encouragement is to press on no matter the circumstance – whatever that means, I am to press on in faith, I am to press on in humble confidence, I am to press on in Christ, I am to forget what is behind and strain (straining must indicate it might be tough) toward what is ahead; my focus is Christ. As I come to feel that way I am reminded and overwhelmed by the promises of God that he is with us and will not forsake us, that he loves us – oh how he loves us that as we turn around from our dead ends he is there with the arms of a father wide open, that he is our Father in heaven and we are his Children, that we can trust and rest in the father heart of God.

One final illustration, anyone know who Derek Redmond is? He was a world-class track athlete from Great Britain; a world champion in the 400 meters; he held the British record in the 400 meters and won gold medals in the world championships which lead up to the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. This was a man who had trained almost his entire life to compete for a medal in the Olympics. I don’t know if Derek Redmond is a Christian or not, but his story gives me a clear picture, great encouragement and blessed assurance of the Father heart of God.

Derek Redmond in the semi-final of the 400 meter event was off to a great start and as he was into the first turn he tore his hamstring going down in great pain. Imagine the disappointment a lifetime of work gone in a blink. He sits crushed for what seems like forever, and then something happens. He picks himself up; he presses on determined to finish the race! He presses on forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. He struggles, limps, hops toward the finish line. As he struggles forward you see a commotion in the crowd when a man burst through security, it is his father. His father runs along side and wraps his arm around his son and together they finish the race.

Abba Father, we thank you for your heart for us your children. That no matter what is going on in our lives you are there as we press on. We thank you for your great love, your grace and mercy. Amen!

Press on everyone; we have a Father in Heaven there for us.

Grace and Peace!

Is the Grass Always Greener?

I am sure most of you have heard that old saying that the grass is always greener on the other side. Lately I have been wondering why that is, if you stop to think about it even when you get to the other side the grass will be greener elsewhere; at least in our minds. I think it is human nature; part curiosity, part uncertainty. It is a strange phenomenon and can actually negatively impact things.

In general, people think what they want is better than what they have and so many times it just does not work out that way. In fact, it could lead to taking so many good things for granted. Do you ever wonder what people on the outside looking in at our lives would say as they are looking at our grass? Hmmm…

So you might ask yourself; self what is so bad about this greener grass mindset? If this mindset dominates your thinking then you could be missing out on the incredible things you have; you could take your current situation for granted. So what can we do to insure that we are not letting the green grass mindset dominate?

First we can learn to be content in our circumstances. Does that mean we should never strive for better; to be better…no! But, it does mean we should strive not to take the many blessings of life for granted. Hebrews 13:5 tells us;

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Second, we should always have a proper focus on Christ to enable us to see just how green our grass is. Hebrews 1:1-3 reminds us;

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

You know I understand that things will never be perfect in this broken world, but with a proper focus on Christ we might begin to see the radiance of God’s glory, we might begin to understand things to come and we might begin to see that with a relationship with Christ our grass is so green!

Grace and Peace!

A Question of Faith

Things can seem so overwhelming in this fallen world; economy, unemployment, illness, storms, earthquakes, crime, wars… Many years ago I was facing one of the most trying times of my life. I found myself troubled, worried, and so very weary. There was just no escaping this “feeling” of fear and depression. For one of the first times in my life I turned to the Bible. It seems as if everywhere I read a few powerful themes rose up; God is a God of love, God is faithful and a God that can be trusted.

I took great comfort in those truths and a statement came to mind; It is a question of faith! Whatever we may be facing it is truly a question of faith. That brings to mind Jeremiah 17:7;

But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.

This simple statement; It is a question of faith, was such a great reminder that I wrote it down on a 3X5 index card. I started carrying it in my pocket and as I faced my trying circumstances I would pull that card out and look at it; what peace, what comfort!

Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us;

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 
6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Oh what a God we have. I carried that little card for a very long time, but a few years ago a good friend was facing a very difficult time and as he and I were talking I told him this story and handed him my card.

If you are troubled; have faith!

If you are worried; have faith!

If you are weary; have faith!

If you are facing untold trials; have faith!

In 1 Corinthians 4:6-9 we read;

6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

Father, we thank you that through faith in Christ as Lord and Savior and by the power of the Holy Spirit that we can rest assured come what may. Even when we are hard pressed, perplexed, persecuted, or struck down, we know that by faith we can trust in your surpassing power. Abba, Father we love you…Amen!

Grace and Peace!

Unconquerable Hope

It is amazing how God stretches me to learn, to grow; placing people, questions and scripture together at just the right time. I have a friend who is a teacher at YWAM and he recently sent me an email asking about Matthew 15:21-28.
This is a passage I have often wondered about myself but upon study we find so much:

Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession.” Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” She said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” “Yes, Lord” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

First a little context; Jesus and His disciples have traveled about 50 miles to Tyre and Sidon and while still among mostly Jew this territory had tremendous gentile influence. Next, Matthew identifies this woman as a Canaanite and if you remember from time of Judges the Canaanites were not just Gentiles, but were the enemies of Israel (and what does Christ teach us about enemies). Also, we need to consider the people involved; Jews, Disciples, Gentiles so there could be multiple lessons

Picking up in verse 22 - this woman was crying out - the word means so much more than just crying out - there is a sense of loudly talking and praying associated with this word and look how she recognizes Christ as Lord and as Son of David - she recognizes Christ as messiah when most Jews did not or would not accept that so you can begin to see what Hendriksen calls the "great contrast between the unbelief of the Jews and the faith of this woman, born a Gentile". Move to verse 23 and notice how Christ responded (with silence), but the disciples responded and look how they responded…"send her away"…Mounce writes that in this verse the insensitivity to suffering by Jesus is explainable by the rest of the lesson on faith, but the disciples were without excuse; they were annoyed and considered this woman a bother (where was the Christian love).

In verse 24, Jesus explains the he is for the lost sheep of Israel (Jews) so while he seems to refuse immediate help for the woman, and most people tend to downplay this, but notice he also did not send her away; refusing the request of the disciples so maybe this is more for the disciples than the woman. Then in an amazing display of faith the woman kneels before Christ (and reading of different versions help here, look at KJV); that word kneel in Greek is proskyneō - and also means to worship - amazing! So in this verse we see the reverence of this woman in agony worshipping Christ and the intense love she has for her daughter; she simply cries out, "Lord, Help me" - a prayer we all need…

Then comes verse 26 and Christ answering in a somewhat concerning manner - it is not right to give the children's bread to the dogs… SO there are probably two concerns to consider; first, why did Christ use this seemingly harsh phrase and second why did he delay in helping? First, the phrase is certainly cultural and in Greek there are several words for Dog - some mean savage, ugly dogs but not this one - in Greek this word is Kynarion - which is like a little puppy or house pet - well loved! Barclay remarks about this verse saying "we can be quite sure that the smile on Jesus' face and the compassion in his eyes robbed the words of all insult and bitterness" - which brings us to the delay - why delay in helping? Well for one thing this is certainly not the first time in the bible there is a delay in answering/helping - Abraham and Sarah had to wait patiently and persistently; Many of the Psalms written by David cry out on the wait; Jairus in Mark 5; Lazarus in John 11, so we can see this pattern of delay which is usually a lesson in faith. In this case it could be said that this woman displayed great faith, but also that her faith was refined as you can see by her answer in verse 27. Hendriksen calls this verse a "glorious expression of faith" and in this verse you can see her humility - she doesn't resent be called a dog as long as she is loved, you can see her eternal hope as she turns even what seems to be a negative response of no help into reason for optimism (even dogs get crumbs), you can see her "unswerving faith in Christ" as she sees Him as Lord, Savior and Master, and finally you can see her perseverance in faith - oh my! Barclay wrote of this as an "Indomitable persistence springing from an unconquerable hope" - Amen and a lesson for us all.

Then in verse 28 we see the daughter healed instantly and Christ declaring O woman, great is your faith - His love is so great that he praises expressions/examples of faith - another lesson for us all! So while this passage can be concerning there is so much in it - a lesson on the right position of our hearts as disciples of Christ to learn to love well especially those in need, a lesson on faith - patience and persistence in faith, it is a lesson on the great love of Christ and that no matter the trials before us there is Hope in Christ!


Grace and Peace!