Appreciation

Appreciation is one of those very simple things that we desire. Appreciation lets us know that we are doing something that matters enough for others to notice us. If you ask the majority of people if they truly feel appreciated, the answer is usually "no". Spouses feel unappreciated by their partners. Children can feel unappreciated by their parents. Parents can feel unappreciated by their children. Workers can feel unappreciated by co-workers and bosses. Pastors can feel unappreciated by people in the congregation. Members of the congregation can feel unappreciated by the pastor. So here is my advice to you if you don't feel appreciated...

Appreciate others. If you are waiting for some magical thing to happen where you suddenly are adequately appreciated, you are going to be in for a loss. Have you ever seen most people when the are appropriately appreciated? This flood of emotions comes out of them because the reality is they didn't feel appreciated for an amazing amount of time. I nearly broke down an cried when someone genuinely called me "an awesome pastor". I realized something, instead of waiting for others to appreciate me, how about I just spend lots of time appreciating others! We sit back and feel sorry for ourselves instead of stepping up and genuinely appreciating what others are doing. You might make their year!

Oh, and don't forget to accurately appreciate your Lord and Savior the way he deserves!

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The Pain of Love

Love is one of the most misunderstood things in the world. God is one of the other most misunderstood things in the world. God is love; so this really isn't all that shocking. People associate love with a variety of emotions. Pain happens to be one of the emotions mentioned when referring to love. This makes perfect sense when I see the pain endured by Christ because of his great love for us.
I often wonder if the physical pain of the nails, the beatings, and the crown of thorns paled in comparison to the spiritual pain Jesus felt. In that one moment, Jesus bore the spiritual weight of the entire universe. And was it ever heavy with all the evil things in there. A choice was made by him to love us so much that he was willing to die to continue that love. He did not want to be separated from us. What amazes me is that he loved those who would choose to be separate from Him for all of eternity. Yet he agonizingly loved them anyways! He mentioned in one of his sermons that it is easy to love those who love you back; but there is something special to love your enemies. He said it and he did it!
This has been a week of pain for me. I have loved as accurately as I know how. I knew the pain would be great and quite honestly the only way for me to deal with that pain appropriately is to marvel at the love Christ showed me. Praise him for his painful love and thank you that I can painfully love others.

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Frustrating Times

Imagine that you had a disease that was ruining your life and eventually would end it. Imagine the pain, frustration, and sadness that would constantly take place. You've been to a few doctors here and there, but not many of them gave you any hope. Finally, a doctor steps in and informs you that he has cure to this disease. No pills would need to be taken and no major surgery would have to take place. Rather, one must choose to exercise and eat healthy each day. If that was done, then the person would no longer suffer from this disease. I would hope that you would choose to take the doctors advice. However, only 1 out of 10 people ever make a lifestyle change to prolong their life when faced with a life threatening illness. They would rather continue in the bad habits, then sacrifice to make better choices. It boggles the mind.
Unfortunately, I have found this same statistic in many Christian circles. Most people want God to do amazing things and radically transform their lives, but... not if they have to give up that "one" thing. I am so stinkin' tired of dealing with people not willing to give up the "one" thing! Seriously! Quit it! Just stop! I spend my life speaking the same life-breathing words that touched me in Scripture and yet that person will not let go of some of those sins. It boggles the mind.
*sigh* I want to get mad, but it just leads to being sad. When will people give up the darkness and embrace the light?

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Joy

Why are so many people miserable?

I get those who do not yet have a relationship with Christ or even believes He exists. I imagine I would be miserable too. In fact, many nonbelievers I meet at least act perfectly happy. But, I have found the vast majority are miserable and like I said, I get that.
I get those believers who are living out a sinful life. If I were giving God the middle finger each day, then I would be pretty miserable too. I get it, I definitely get it.
I get those believers who are suffering terrible tragedies in their lives. Sometimes you just weep and mourn because so much is going on around us. I get those people too.
So, to recap... I understand why nonbelievers, sinful believers, and suffering believers appear to be miserable. But what about the rest of em?

Ask yourself this day if you have a legitimate reason to be miserable. If not, perhaps more effort needs to be made to fix it. Pray to God, Surround Yourself with People Who Express Joy, and take comfort in God's sovereignty!

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Fast: Day 6

Hunger pains no longer hit me. It's more the craving of something warm in my mouth and the function of chewing. Oh how I miss it! However, the positive is that as my body feels cleaner so does my spiritual life. Much of the clutter that was there before has been removed and there is a desire to keep it removed. What clutter is in your life? Should you take a break from the clutter or remove it permananently? Think about it.

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Fast: Day 4

Continuing on. The hunger pains don't really hit me much anymore. In fact, when I do drink my juice, sometimes I have difficulty finishing it. Time spent with the Lord has been good in between normal work day things. I must profess that I don't feel as though the Lord is really speaking to me about anything today. And that brings me to my point of topic...

Sometimes we need to spend time with God understanding that we may not get a "word" or some special "revelation". Rather, we should enjoy just the spending time. I must admit that in my own life it is difficult for me to just "spend time" with others. I always feel that there has to be some kind of purpose, even if I don't know what the purpose is going into the time spending. What I need to learn is that time spent with God is very good even if something new hasn't come to me. Rather, I can take joy in the silence and enjoy that I'm improving my relationship with him. Today, I would encourage you to not seek answers so much as to just spend time in worship before Him.

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Week of Fasting

From January 1-7th the Bethel Community has been fasting and praying. We are doing this to grow closer to our Lord and also put us in an excellent position to hear from him regarding major decisions. Today, is January 3rd. Three whole days and we have already had so many blessings take place because of this. Mostly, God's message to all of us has focused on love and obedience. We obey when we follow the two great commands to love God with everything we and to love others. Jesus adds to love just as He has loved us. Sort of takes the sting out of obedience, doesn't it? We are commanded to love so that we understand what it means to be loved. What a beautiful circle produced by God that we gain understanding from. I will have more updates later in the week. Today's service was excellent and flowed quite nicely with all who had things to say. May we continue on!

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