Sweet Bread From A Fruitful Quiet Time

I always stress the importance of a quiet time with God to my youth. I try to explain to them that God is the only one who can work out eternal matters in a span of a few minutes. For example, God uses my quiet time to draw me nearer to some of His greatest mysteries. He uses that time to wipe away the infectious mucus of the world from my eyes so that I may see Him more clearly. He sees that my thirst is great and that many times I am walking in spiritual dehydration, and so, He quenches my thirst by pouring Himself into my soul through His Word. He foresees the famine my soul will encounter during the day and graciously gives an abundant outpouring of Himself to satisfy my heart. My quiet time is an amazing time; even in some of its more driest times.

I want to share a couple of things I gleaned from my time with God. He showed how sweetly sovereign He is in His faithfulness, and how if I would trust His faithfulness, I would be greatly satisfied; as a believer and a parent.

Old Testament

2 Chronicles 34:1-36:23

“Josiah was eight years old when he became King….and he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right or the left…..for in the eighth year of his reign , he began to seek the God of his father David. “
2 Chronicles 34:1-3

• God began a work in Josiah at an early age; 8 years old. For the next eight years God was working out Josiah’s salvation. So that by the time he was 16 years old, he was seeking the one and true God. The fruit of his seeking showed itself in a passion for God ‘s supremacy in his heart and every part of his kingdom. He eradicated all the idols, altars, and molded images. He sought to purify the land and restore the cities. His heart longed for God to be exalted in His temple and more importantly, in His people.

1. This Gives me hope:

• My children can live radically for Christ. I do not have to set the bar below sea-level at them “hopefully” being saved and spiritually productive by the time they are adults. By
  God’s grace, they can live with a passion for His supremacy in their own little life; at
  pre-school or elementary school, on the play ground or at a sleep over. There are a lot
  of areas right now that they can put Christ on display.
  
• When my children become teenagers, I do not have to expect them to rebel against our household and God's authority. I believe this is more of a Western problem than a typical problem. Josiah became passionate for God at 16 years of age. He chose to rebel against his sin (2 Chronicles 34:3-7) and to restore His people. He tore his clothes and humbled himself at the reading of God’s word. He set out to display God’s glory for His name sake. Oh how I pray that my children would be as passionate for Christ and His supremacy as
  Josiah was for God the Father.

2. This gives me purpose:

• As a parent I must strive to diligently teach my children the supremacy and worth of
  King Jesus. As a parent I must be innocent of the blood of my children by giving them
  the full counsel of God. (See Deuteronomy 6 for instructions.)

3. This makes me tremble:

• Josiah’s son Jehoiachin, at eight years old was evil in the sight of the Lord ( 36:9). Just
  because my children are in a Christian home, does not mean they are not totally
  depraved of any righteousness and in need of God’s sovereign grace. Through prayer,
  pleading, and saturating my children with Godly character and His word, I hope to see
  them saved and joyfully obedient to the Lord our God.
  

God was faithful to keep His promise:

• Because Josiah humbled himself before God and did what was right, God promised
  Josiah that he would be gathered to his grave in peace; and his eyes would not see the
  calamity which God was going to bring on Judah and Jerusalem ( 2 Chronicles 34: 27-
  28). In Chapter 35, Josiah is shot and killed by some archers in a war with Necho, king
  of Egypt. On the surface, as I read this, I thought this seemed to contradict the promise
  given in chapter 34; ( he would be gathered to his grave in peace.) Being shot by an
  archer in war is not exactly peaceful. After further consideration and examination of
  the promise, I see God was faithful to Josiah and kept his word. Because God’s people
  forsook Him and burned incensed to other gods and provoked Him to anger; God was
  going to bring all the calamity He had promised to bring that was written down in the
  book of the law. But because Josiah humbled himself at the reading of Gods word and
  had a contrite heart, God promised to spare him from the curses and the plagues that
  were coming. Therefore, Josiah did die in peace considering that he did not suffer the
  wrath of God. This was the peace God had promised and was faithful to deliver.
  Josiah was a great king for Israel and was missed dearly. The people mourned the loss
  of Josiah for some 200 years later.
  

New Testament

Acts 21:1-17

The apostle Paul’s passion for the supremacy of Christ gives me passion for Christ supremacy.

1. After being told by Agabus that he would be bound and delivered into the hands of the Gentiles, Paul passionately responds by saying, “What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready to not only be bound , but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the LordJesus.” (Acts 21: 13) By this time Paul had suffered many things for the name of the Lord Jesus including being beaten and imprisonment (Acts 16). Through these sufferings Paul better understood Isaiah’s revelation of God’s promise to all of His elect; “Do not feat for I am with you, do not be afraid for I am your God; I will strengthen you and help you and uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10) Paul knew that death was not to be feared but to be embraced (Philippians 1:21-22). This trust in God’s sovereign faithfulness lead Paul to live radically satisfied in Christ alone. So much so that he held nothing back and went to the place that gave him the most opportunity to be closest to Christ, even if it cost him his earthly life. This trust is best exemplified in verse 14, when Paul would not be denied his hearts desire; “The Lords will be done.”

May we live with a passion for the supremacy of Christ by trusting in the sovereign faithfulness of our God.

Holiness: A Priortiy In Our Happiness

One of the benefits I have as being a teacher in the public school system is having my summers off. Being that I am so busy during the year teaching and coaching, the summer offers me much needed make up time with my family and my reading. So far I have tackled Tony Dungy’s Biography “Quiet Strength” in which I will comment on in a later blog. I have also read a wonderful book called “What’s So Great About The Doctrines of Grace” by Rev. Richard D. Phillips. I have really enjoyed the insight and the passion he brings into understanding this doctrine and making it applicable in your everyday worship. It is a much needed book and one I highly recommend it to anyone who is in need of a deep drink.

The other morning while I was reading the chapter on election, Reverend Phillips wrote something that sent me off into a sermon preaching to my soul the necessity of holiness in my pursuit of happiness. He said, “This is the great priority of the Christian life-not happiness, but holiness.” Let me give you a little context to this statement and a couple of things that I believe it means and does not mean.

Phillips says that unconditional election promotes holiness not license. One of the arguments that comes against the doctrine of election is that if mans salvation is totally dependant on God’s mercy, then what motive do we have to live holy? Why should we struggle with our sanctification? Phillips argues that this way of thinking stems from a gross misunderstanding of salvation as a whole. God is holy and demands that we be holy. Therefore, when He predestined the elect to salvation, He predestined them to holiness. Ephesians 1:4 “He chose us…..that we should be holy and blameless before Him.” Holiness is the mark of a believer in Christ. And holiness comes through the work of sanctification; which is the will of God. “For this is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Thess. 4:3). With this context Phillips writes that holiness is the Christians number one priority.

At a first glance it almost looks as if Phillips is saying that holiness and happiness are not able to coexist together; “This is the great priority of the Christian life-not happiness, but holiness.” {My emphasis on the words not and but} The negative connotation of the word “not” in this sentence seems to imply that being holy and being happy are at odds with each other. And this would seem to settle just fine in today’s perception of God and the church. However, I do not believe Phillips is implying this perspective in his statement.

Consideration Number One: America’s Happiness Is Not Godly Happiness

There are a couple of things I consider would be Phillips intent in this statement. First, he is very aware of the moral deprivation of our culture and a sensual society dieing on their ambition to live happy. He knows that America has bought into pagan hedonism and has manufactured its own “good news” called the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel. He is well aware of our addiction to consumption and our self imposed right to life, liberty, and early retirement (so we can have a second career riding in our yachts and collecting sea shells living gloriously for ourselves until we die 25 years later). He knows America well and does not want to give any inclination that these things are holy and are in any way the source of genuine happiness. Therefore he counters the idea by placing a greater weight on holiness over happiness.

God’s Holiness Is Our Happiness

The other consideration I thought of is that our happiness is found in God’s holiness. One of the main themes of the bible is the pursuit of God’s glory in the redemption of lost sinners. In this pursuit God offers Himself as the prize of our salvation. He is our inheritance. His glory is our satisfaction and the fulfillment of every need our soul longs to be met. We get a taste of this in in Psalm 16:11 where God promises to "make known to me the path of life and that in His presence there is fullness of joy; at His right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (paraphrase)

Our soul longs for the fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. Furthermore, the New Testament shows us that Jesus is the pathway to life and that He sits at the right hand of the Father (John 3:16; John 14:1; John 14:6; Acts 7:56; John 13:1-3; Hebrews 1:3). If we examine Hebrews 1:3 a little closer we see that not only is Christ sitting at the right hand of the Father, but that He is the radiance of God’s glory. Christ is the exact imprint of God’s nature. Being that God the Father promises us the fullness of joy in His presence and pleasure forevermore at His right hand, and that Christ is the pathway to life who sits at His right hand being the radiance of His glory; then it is safe to say that our souls long to be enthralled by the presence and glory of God; namely Jesus. Jesus Himself alludes to this when He prays for us in John 17. In verse 24 He prays "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.” Jesus’ desire for us is to be near Him and behold His glory. To be near Christ is to be near the Father. And in the presence of the Father is the radiance of His glory (His Son Jesus) in which beholding brings joy. The closer to the Father we are the more joy we experience.

What Does this Have to Do With Holiness?

As we stated before in Ephesians 1:4, God predestined us for holiness. God is holy. It is a part of who He is. He is nothing less than perfect and desires His people to be that way. Knowing that we could not do that on our own He gave us His Son Jesus to be our holiness. But instead of translating us directly to heaven the moment we were saved; He found it more glorious to give us the Holy Spirit to work to sanctify us for a time on earth. This sanctification is the process of becoming holy; i.e. becoming more like Christ (the radiance of God’s glory). This in turn gives us the same kind of fellowship the Father and Son enjoy (John 3:35; 5:20; 16:27-28). The more we work out our sanctification (in which God is the primary acting agent) the closer we draw near to God. This closeness offers us waves of joy that overcome us the closer we draw near.

Therefore, making holiness our first priority is in fact a pursuit of our greatest happiness. This is so because the happiness is not of ourselves but of an all powerful, all righteous, eternal God. The happiness is genuine and sustaining. In this context the two go hand in hand together. For holiness, in Christ, will be our happiness.

Running On Faith

On June 29, 2008, I ran my first 5k in Colona, IL; “The 2nd Annual Hennepin Hustle.” The run consisted of a flat 3.1 mile trek around a beautiful canal full of greenery and birds singing their morning song. My wife, children, and mother-in-law were awaiting me at the finish line. My brother-in-law Andy was there as well by phone congratulating me and telling me he was proud of my accomplishment. My father-in-law was gracious enough to get up early and ride with me to the race and participate by walking. I had a tremendous amount of support there to encourage me to run and finish. It was a very beautiful moment for me. A moment I will always cherish.

It was also the first step in my life long goal to run a marathon. It has not been easy getting to this point and I still have a long road ahead of me. When I began the process of really making this a reality, which started last July, I was extremely over weight and well out of shape. When I moved to Texas in July of 2006, I was at the heaviest I had ever been; 310 pounds. On my 5’10 frame, this was the makings of a heart attack or stroke.

In May of 2007, I turned 30 years old. Realizing that if I did not change my ways soon that I would not live to be around to turn gray and outspoken with my wife, and possibly see the legacy that God would build of radical Christ loving children; I knew I had to start doing something. So I began to run. I live next to a cemetery (divine irony and very fitting) that is semi paved with a quarter mile track. I started slow and would run one minute and walk two minutes. I did that off and on for several weeks until I was ready to be more aggressive. As God provided a teaching and coaching job for me in July, my workout teetered a bit, but I remained faithful to run as much as I could.

In January of 2008, I realized I needed an immediate goal. The marathon was obviously a long way off. I needed something I could accomplish now. So I set a goal to run a 5k and finish the race in under 40 minutes. And I wanted to do it by my thirty first birthday. I increased my workouts and watched my diet. By this time my weight was down to about 285 pounds and I was able to exercise for 30-40 minutes straight. By the time May 24th rolled around I was running 2 miles straight at a 12 minute mile pace. Unfortunately, the Friday before I was to run my first 5k, I hurt my neck badly and was not able to run. I was doing push-ups with my 7th grade athletics class and something popped in my neck. I was out the entire Memorial Day weekend. This was not the first set back I had to deal with.

When I began this process ( in 2006) I had to overcome several obstacles. First, I had a severe staff infection all over my body. The infection produced sores that would inflame at times and a rash that burned in my groin area. God allowed that to continue for 9 months. After that went away my back continually went out of alignment and caused a lot of pain while I ran. There were times when my knees hurt so bad I could barely lift them up the three steps to get onto my porch. I had to overcome a great deal of spiritual and mental fatigue as well. There were days when my mind could not wrap itself around the idea of running three miles at a time and would be discouraged and distracted. Also, my soul would grow weary. It is amazing how many different voices will preach to my soul telling me to give up or that I would fail just as I have in the past. Over and over I would hear this as I am trying to run. It was at that time I pleaded with God to only hear His voice, the voice of truth. The voice of faithfulness. A lesson I have learned from all of this is that God is faithful.

The first day I went out to run the quarter mile track around cemetery, I remember praying to God a very deep hearted but simple prayer; please do not kill me while I run. Please let my heart continue to beat properly and the blood to get where it needs to go without any problems. This is a prayer I continue to pray today. Every time I run it is a testimony of Gods faithfulness. It is by His grace that I have the air to breathe and lungs that are healthy enough to use it. It is by His mercy that my legs work well enough to run for any length of time. It is only by His patience that I have not died in my gluttony; which is a sin. God is faithful. And He will be faithful according to all he desires for me.

Just as God had been faithful in the past runs, God was faithful on June 29th. God woke me up at 4:20am to spend time with Him in His word and in prayer. He warned me of how my pride could swell up and try to suffocate my soul from God’s life giving word if I try to run on my own strength. He showed me that in (1 Chronicles 21: 1-22:19). He also showed me in Acts 9 how the Apostle Paul was called to be a chosen vessel to suffer for God’s name sake and that I may be called to suffer for His name’s sake as well. And just as God was faithful with the Apostle Paul He will be faithful with me; and this race is proof.

God allowed my father-in-law and I to safely arrive at the race and hour early which allowed us to visit and fellowship. The race began at 8am and God was there with me leading the way. God was faithful to encourage me when I grew tired and wanted to quite. He did this by allowing me to run a 10:30 mile, the fastest I have run since I started. God was faithful to humble me with a stitch in my side that slowed me down by about 4 minutes and let two people pass me. For my attitude was getting haughty and I might have made the same mistake King David did in Chronicles. God was good to allow me to see this work and worship him in it. God was faithful to carry me the last half mile by allowing my wife and children to arrive at the race safely to encourage me to finish strong. God was faithful to allow me to finish in a time of 36:30; under the 40 minute goal I had set previously.

Running has become a time of worship for me. There are times in my life when I am blinded either by sin or suffering or circumstances from the faithfulness of God. In running, this is not the case. Every time I run I see God being faithful. The very fact that I finish and walk into the house is a testimony in and of itself. However, God, through running, has moved me to pray more fervently and sing more vigorously praises to His name. There are times when my physical exhaustion is likened to my spiritual exhaustion, and when the two meet I am forced to plead with God for strength. Many times God shows me my sin while I mediate during the run and corrects me with his word. Most times, He captures me with His beauty in a morning sun rise and His gentle touch by a cool breeze on a warm night. Often I hear His creation praising Him through the wrestling of the leaves in the trees and the singing of birds in the fields of hay settled along the road.

God has shown Himself glorious to me in running. I pray that He continues to move me to run and worship Him in it. Lord willing, I hope to run a few more 5k’s before moving onto a 10k. After the 10k I hope to prepare for half marathon and then a full marathon. My goal is the qualify for the Boston Marathon. If God is wiling, I hope to fulfill this before I turn 40 years old. God only knows and by His grace I hope to magnify Him in this work. Until then, please pray for me to be faithful and continue in the work. I know I have hard road ahead of me. However, I know I serve a God who is faithful.