SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO BE IN THE "DARK"

 

SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO BE IN THE "DARK"

 

It’s been well over a month since my last blog entry or podcast for Insight360. A variety of reason for the cause but the main reason is quite frankly that I just haven’t been doing well.

I said before that I’m no Pastor, Scribe, Monk or Theological giant. I’m just a guy that is trying to live out his faith day by day by day. Living as a disciple and follower of Jesus Christ. The LORD blessed my wife and I with an amazing unexpected trip. We were able because of her job to spend a week on the Island of Oahu in Hawaii. An absolutely amazing trip and something that I honestly never thought I’d be able to do. This turned out to be one of those times I could actually cross off an item on my “Bucket List”.

That said, I remember as my trip was coming to a close that as I walked out of the door from this little tropical island paradise and the little house we stayed in (AirBnB  by the way is the way to go) this random feeling of deep depression and Dred came over me. It stuck with me for the next 24 hours as I had to take a red eye from Hawaii to San Francisco and then spent 12 hours in the air going from San Fran to Dulles in Washington D.C. It was awful. I didn’t sleep at all and on top of that I was dealing with this “thing”.

I couldn’t place my finger on what exactly had me down. There were some obvious ones like work, busy life with “stuff” that had to be done, etc…but something else was driving me low. Yesterday it hit me as I curled over in the shower on my knees in prayer (literally naked before the lord). My past and all my failures were piling up on me as well dreams not yet lived and that feeling as though they are a million miles away never to be touched. I also had this overwhelming sense of despair and disappointment.

Have you ever felt that? It’s terrible and I’m an emotional kind of person so when this kind of thing hits me it usually sticks to my bones and like most men I retreat into my cave until I’m ready to come out. Thankfully my wife is away on business so she doesn’t have to put up with that kind of crap.

SIDE NOTE: The fact is if you’re a guy when you go into your cave your better half has to live in the cave with you and it’s not fun.

So, today I missed my workout since my wife is out of town I’m holding down the fort and had to take the dog out for his 45 minute walk. I enjoy that because it provides some very real quiet time at 5:30AM. I like to put my headphones on and listen to classical music or music that’s meditative. As I was walking I found myself praying or at least searching for the words to pray. I was reminded of a verse in the bible:

Philippians 4:6-7: Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I just needed some peace but in this verse God is clear that he’s not making you “feel” the peace if you know what I mean. He simply says that the way you handle anxiety is through prayer, petition and thanksgiving and that as a result the Peace of God will “guard” your heart and your mind. Meaning, even though you don’t feel at peace God is guarding you when you trust in him.

With that I was free to just pray. I’ve certainly prayed and petitioned him a lot lately so my prayers turned to thanksgiving. Here’s some very basic prayers I prayed that put my mind and heart on track for the day and lead me out of the darkness this morning.

• Lord, thank you for your peace.
• Lord, thank you for your mercy.
• Lord, thank you for your great love that you have shown to me in Christ.
• Lord, thank you for the stars in the sky.
• Lord, thank you for the way creation proclaims your beauty (The stars were really out this morning)
• Lord, thank you that I am not defined by my past.
• Lord, thank you for yet another day to breath and live in you.
• Lord, thank you for my health. Thank you that despite the history of cancer in my family you have protected me and my family from that disease.

 Do you see what happened? It wasn’t till somewhere in the middle that I realized the Holy Spirit was guiding me through a moment of simple thanksgiving. Thanking God for the most simple of things. Life, salvation, health, the stars, the quiet, etc…It made me realize that despite the anxiety and trouble I’ve been feeling God is in control. He is still continuing to lead me and guide me along this path and even when it feels like he’s not speaking…He’s actually speaking into the silence or even using the silence to get my attention. You see, the trouble, the challenges, the anxiety and even the silence changed my perspective, changed my mindset and drew me in to Him.

I started writing this entry at 8am it’s now after 10am. Do I feel like a giant? Have all the stresses gone? Am I feeling on top of the world and keeper of my domain?

Nope.

BUT, I know that HE is with me in this thickness. Like Meshach, Shadrach and Abendigo he is with me in the fire.

Have Faith, Live Free and Live Fearlessly….even when you're in the dark.

Gordon

LESSONS LEARNED

 

Lessons Learned: 

It’s admittedly been a few weeks since my last post and life seems to have taken over a bit and that’s my fault. Pretty much since vacation I’ve been off my rocker a bit and over the past couple of weeks I’ve been working towards getting back to my early morning rise and shine habits of prayer, devotions, bible study and meditation and my evening reading. Between my FT job, the side hustle I'm working on, Insight 360, Church, Marriage, my daughters practices, games, teaching her to drive (Help me Lord),etc...Well frankly some days have been better than others. A lot of hills and valleys.

Have I been busy? Yes. Have I been lazy? Yes. Have been managing well enough. Nope. I have been learning to learn my lessons? Not well but striving to do so in HIS strength.

That’s life though right? There is a constant struggle between doing what you know you’re supposed to and giving into temptation or bad habits the ordinary daily routines that seem to take up every corner of your life. God is good though and thank goodness for his mercy and that my self-worth, righteousness, holiness, good works, etc…do not depend on my actions alone but on my faith in Christ.

So, here are somethings I’ve been learning along this short little journey of pot holes, hills and valleys. Some of this may feel random but they are things I believe the Lord has been teaching me. 

1.       Gods grace is big enough. In fact it’s bigger than anything I could possibly imagine. Bigger than my mistakes and much larger than my little grain of sand life. Every single day no matter how good of a day I have had it will never measure up to what HE wants from me. It doesn’t even come close. I do not measure up. I can trust though through what Christ has done for me that he has met all those expectations for me. Because of this my life is new every single day. Every morning when I wake up his Grace is new for me.

2 Corinthians 5:17 – BEHOLD !!! The new has come

2.       1Peter 5:10 GOD has promised to Restore me, Confirm me, Strengthen me and Establish me. God is changing me and making me more like Jesus. Better than I was yesterday. Through his sanctification I am being changed and renewed daily. I can engage in life, take risks and bear HIS image every day. My salvation is confirmed through HIS work and activity in  my life and he gives me the strength to do the work. With GOD as my foundation he has established me as a son and I can live my life fearlessly.

3.       Ephesians 5:15-16 / Psalm 31:15 / 1 COR 7:29 – I can Redeem the Time. I am called to a productive use of my time in the labor of the KING. “CORAM DEO” Live before the face of GOD.

All of my time is actually GODs time. He has given me each and every moment of my existence. What I think is “my” time is actually by Gods delegation. I have been granted a stewardship of my time and I must give account.

·         I can redeem my time with a focus and concentration. I need to be careful of Idleness because that is when I fall to the battles of temptations and inner struggle.

·         I need to be conscious of where my focus is

·         Redeem my time that is consumed by the ordinary by thinking of it as the eternal.

4.       THE RACE: You do not win the race by starting the race. You win the race by finishing the race. The question Paul asks the Galatians in his letter to them I should probably ask myself often: “You were doing so well, who made you stop obeying the truth?” and in 2 John 1:8 – “Watch out, that you do not lose what you’ve worked so hard for that you may be rewarded fully.”

To finish the race means you have to take initiative.  You have to start training and stick with the training and be consistent.

Place importance on Bible Study, Self-Examination and Prayer

5.       FAILUREs: Face them and then forsake them quickly. Let go of my focus on the bad habits and overcome them by focusing on the good habits. Focus my heart, mind, soul and strength on what I want NOT on what I don’t want. I am not the sum of my past. The past has influenced today but I am not defined by it. Yesterday is over and done.

6.       Rick Warren’s F.A.I.T.H goals

a.       F – Focus on measurable goals for yourself

b.      A – Attainable goals. Goals that can stretch you

c.       I – sett personal goals. Goals that are not attributed to someone else

d.      T – Trackable, set a date

e.      H – Heart felt, set goals that you can be passionate about.

Move on.

Have Faith, Live Free and Live Fearlessly

 

Here's a great song by Alicia Keys and John Mayer about Lessons Learned that I think is appropriate.

 

TALK IS CHEAP - Chapter 1 of the Book of James

 

 

 

TALK IS CHEAP

 

I love the book of James in the New Testament. Here’s why. James is a book of “action” and James doesn’t mince his words either he cuts right the chase with statements like “faith without works is dead.” , “Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.”,  “wash your hands you sinners.”, “you adulterous people...”.  Key words throughout this book are Resist, Submit, Joy, trials, sin, sinner and  or themes such as befriending the world means you’ve become an enemy to God. The language is strong and in your face. It actually reminds me a lot of Jesus which doesn’t surprise me given that most theologians and scholars attribute this book to the literal, earthly half-brother of Jesus Christ himself. Can you imagine what it must have been like to grow up with Jesus as your brother or having someone like that linked to your family. “Oh, James you’re the half-bro to that desert preacher Jesus...”.

 

James essentially says “talk is cheap...get to work. I want to see results.” He’s like my fitness instructor. It’s interesting as well that he starts out the letter by NOT pulling rank. He could have been like “Hey, it’s James, brother of Jesus, I’ve known him a really long time. I knew him long before you did...” but he doesn’t. He refers to him as LORD. Something to think about.

 

I just started reading the book of James again and it’s clearly about encouraging Christians to basically get to it and start acting like Christians and live a life that shows the world and proves to the world that the Good News of Christ is the real deal. That the Gospel does in fact change everything and if you are a true believer then the gospel is at work. Some view James's writing as a contradiction to Paul's teaching of justification by faith alone. The great Martin Luther even called it “The Epistle of Straw” feeling the book was indicating that you could only be saved by works when Paul clearly teaches the opposite. Most today will agree that really is no “issue” with Paul and James. Paul and James (having worked together) essentially stressed different portions of the same gospel.

 

Here are a few things that have encouraged me this week as I read and studied the first Chapter asking only three things as I read it. What does this chapter say about the GOD, The world and me?

 

• True faith takes ACTION with practical godliness when one is being tested (1:2-27).
• Faith again takes action by responding to testing with joy (1:2-4).
• You must ask God for wisdom in times of testing (1:5-8).
• True Believers must adopt God’s eternal perspective when confronted with poverty and riches (1:9-11).
• Someone with true Faith will persevere under testing and NOT blaming God for temptations (1:12-18).

I think it's interesting that James ends the first chapter by talking about Religion and what "true" religion is. He didn't talk about when to show up or how often to show up, he didn't break out into a discussion about the kind of worship music you should sing or not sing. He didn't talk about numbers or how many things a church should do. Nope, he said true religion basically is a reaction to true faith. It's taking action and striving to act out of our faith.

 

So as always folks, Have Faith, Live Free and Live Fearlessly. Enough chit chat...get to some living.

 

 

Insight 360 PODCASTs on Soundcloud.com

CO-HEIRS

PODCAST: CO-HEIRS with CHRIST

AN AUDIENCE OF ONE

 

 

I was incredibly shook this morning by a statement that John Moorhead said on the Ransomed Heart Podcast as he was being interviewed by Morgan Snyder from Ransomed Heart Ministries. John was diagnosed with Cancer in 2006 and passed away in March of 2015. In a lot of ways this was a man who was at the end of his life and essentially communicating the deep truths of the Gospel and how they had transformed his perspective on life during this interview.

In the podcast John said “You never know what life really has to offer until we manage to let go of what we believe life should offer.” Our culture is a culture that tells us that if it feels good then you should do it and that life “should” feel a certain way. We live in a world of “Shoulds”.

·         I should have that promotion because I deserve it

·         I should have that big house because….

·         I should be a better person or I shouldn't be sick

·         I should be making more money

·         I should be more of an exciting person

·         I should have more friends than this

·         My life should look a certain way because that’s what I was told it should look like and if it doesn’t then I’m screwed.

If this is hitting you the way it hit me then you’re catching my point. So then how do you stop the shoulds? How do you push back on the Shoulds?

John gave some great thoughts and insight on this. Again, this is coming from a man who was at the end or as he said “Nearing the end of his beginning”. Morgan Snyder also quoted Tom Cruise from the movie Jerry McGuire when he said “I’ve lost the ability to bullshit. It is the ME that I’ve always wanted to be.” This was the starting point for talking through how to push back on the Shoulds. The idea first that there are no boundaries. We can in fact be free in our relationship with Jesus and be sons to the Father and allow him to Father us. That the world is in fact a safe place. A safe place because as he said “the world is God bathed.” It is a safe place no matter what because God works all things for good, He will provide for you, he will use every single circumstance to father you that you might become more like Jesus.

We can begin to practice living before an audience of ONE. He sees and understand all of our circumstances and how we perceive life incorrectly because of our brokenness. We can live our lives expecting GOD to be faithful. Through intimacy in Christ, by living like God does indeed pursue us, our prayer life and knowing that Jesus is our companion in life we are in abled receive God as he is NOT as we want him to be or feel him to be at any given point.

So, push back on the shoulds. Have Faith, Live Free and Live Fearlessly.

If you have time please listen to this podcast. It is so rich and so full of grace and joy. I think you will find it enlightening to say the least.

https://www.ransomedheart.com/podcast/finishing-well-part-1

Gordon

SOUL CARE

 

 

 

 

 

When one of the religious scribes asked Jesus which commandment is most important, He answered: “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength”

(Mark 12:28–30)

 

When you Google the definition of Soul Google defines it as “the spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal, regarded as immortal.” There is also evidently “Chicken Soup” for the soul and it has been said that the eyes are the window to the soul.

So, what exactly is God trying to tell us when he say’s to love him with all of our Soul?

Jesus says in Matthew chapter 16 that “for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world yet forfeits his soul”? I believe it’s important to take a look at the original meaning of the words in the Hebrew and Greek.

In the Hebrew language the word used for Soul is Nephesh which is the feminine noun use of the word. It means: living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite or emotion. The greek word defines Soul as (a) the vital breath, breath of life, (b) the human soul, (c) the soul as the seat of affections and will, (d) the self and finally a human person, an individual. The Greek for Soul interestingly enough is psuché which kind of looks like Pysche doesn’t it? The phonetic Spelling is “psoo-khay'”.

So, when God created Adam he formed him from the dust of the earth and gave him life by breathing into him creating a literal Soul Creature. The breath of life from God himself + the dust of the earth and all that we are made of creates the Soul. I/We are souls. When God commands us to love him with our Soul he means literally to love him as one created by God. To love him with everything we are and with everything we have.

Soul sounds so deep and untouchable. When I first visualized “Soul” I had this picture in my mind of a ghost. But that is not the real deal here. Me/You…We are the soul. So how do you love with your soul?

To love the Lord with all your soul means to love Him in the way we live, in the choices we make and in the behavior and lifestyle we adopt. 

We are to love God with our:

·         Passions / Hungers

·         Perceptions

·         Thoughts

 We are also to love him with how we:

·         Talk

·         What we do with our hands

·         How we utilize our talents, gifts and strengths

·         How we react to challenges

·         Our entire being is to display that we love God.

So What Now:

Think about the choices you make every day. Choices flow from what we treasure. Start by asking yourself some questions.

·         What turns your motor on and gets you going?

·         What are you passionate about?

·         What are you hungry for?

·         Does the object of your passion have mastery over you? Are you worshipping an Idol of some sort?

·         How is your heart?

·         Is it causing a gap in your relationship with the Lord?

·         How about your perceptions? Do you see the world as it really is? Is your perception of the world Christ centered, based on biblical truth? A worldview is the framework from which we view reality and make sense of life and the world.

·         What is your framework for making sense of life? The good, the bad, the ugly.

·         How do you respond to challenges, obstacles, difficulty or suffering and pain?

·        Your talents or gifts. How are you using them? Are you using them for the sole purpose of personal gain? What’s your motivation?

·         Are you even using your gifts or just living each day until you get to Friday so you can call it quits.

Your thoughts: Garbage in Garbage out. What are you putting into your head? Are you filling it with garbage?

Soul Care Pillars

·         Prayer - James 1, Philippians 4, James 1, Psalm 131

·         Spiritual Friendship, Community-Ephesians 4:16, Galatians 6

·         Solitude/Silence - Psalm 46, Mark 1:35-37

·         Soul Searching - Psalm 139:23-24, 1 John 1

·         Journaling-Your soul is alive and has a quality of life ... Journaling is a good tool to use to care for your soul.

Now when Jesus says “what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul.” It means something even deeper than just some weird Ghost of you that sits behind your eyeballs looking out at the world.

 

Begin the day by asking how your soul is? How is it?

·         Does anything have mastery over you?

·         What am I valuing today?

·         Do I have a toxic mindset?

·         Are their toxic influences in my life?

·         Do I have an toxic attitudes?

·         Is there any negative self talk I’m listening to?

 Take care of your soul and love God with all your soul.

 

Have Faith, Live Free, Live Fearlessly

Gordon