HOW TO LITERALLY HOLD ONTO GOD!

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

—2 Peter 1:3-4

When the apostle Peter mentions how God “has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness,” he can’t help but look forward to the way God will follow through on His “precious and *very* great promises.” The word great means more than size. It’s also a measure of quality, and this dual understanding applies to what God promises to do for us.

Why are God’s promises great? 

First, because they come from a great God. His promises are huge because of who said them. Would you believe your four-year-old if he said in his best grown-up voice, “I promise I’ll make enough money to put food on the table next month”? A promise’s reliability is tied to the one who is making the commitment—and to their ability to fulfill it. (Selah)

Psalm 145:3 says, “Great is the Lord . . . and his greatness is unsearchable.” 

We might as well admit we don’t have a clue how great God is because no one can discover the limits of His greatness. There are none. BUT His promises allow us to explore and experience a measure of how great He really is.

A second note of greatness in God’s promises comes from the way they address great issues.Don’t search the Bible for divine assertions about superficial things. God doesn’t do that. The promises He makes are about big things: fear, unknowns that would paralyze us regarding our future, our family, and our finances. If your god can’t promise you anything bigger than an occasional good parking place or a husband or wife and a decent job your god is way too small!

God’s promises are also great because they respond to our deepest doubts: Am I going to make it? What’s going to happen up ahead? Who will care for those I love when I’m gone? God makes promises about this kind of uncertainty so we won’t have to wonder and worry.

As David declared, “I would have despaired if I had not believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalm 27:13 NASB). His encouragement can be yours: I’m not going to have to wait until heaven—I’m going to see God’s goodness right here on this earth while I’m still alive.

God told Jeremiah “I am the Lord . . . Is anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27). Sometimes we look at our needs or our overwhelming circumstances and we feel beaten before we start. But God asks, What exactly is it that you think I can’t handle? To which we would have to reply, Nothing is too hard for You, Lord.

Does that give you courage and hope? 

It should. Holding on to God’s promises is the closest we get to actually holding on to God. His promises come from a great God, they’re about great issues, they respond to our greatest concerns, and God always delivers on them in the greatest ways.

Based on what you just read, what reasons do you have right now for being able to say, “I’m doing great”? How have you seen the greatness and goodness of the Lord in the last few days? Pray Lord, You are great and Your promises are great. I realize I haven’t begun to experience all You have to show me of Your greatness, but I long to have You make me alert to the evidence. I want to look for Your goodness in the land of the living and point it out to others as I let it renew my hope. Thank You for Your great promises, Lord. Because they come from You, they make today worth living. In Jesus’ great name I pray, amen.

GET SOME "UGLY SLEEP!"

This post is inspired by Camille LeNoir. This parable that we call  "Ugly Sleep" is found only in Mark 4:26-29:

“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
Jesus said "Go To Bed!" 

Jesus had already spoken parables of the Kingdom being like sowing a seed, but in this parable, he gives us the secret knowledge of how it works. 

We love to understand how things work so we feel like we are more in control; we love the how to messages that fill in the blanks with the knowledge we need to be happy and a bit more holy.

But in this parable Jesus explains how the Kingdom works when the seed is sown by telling us “the seed sprouts, and grows though the sower does NOT know how.” You may say that is not an explanation, but a mystery--and you’d be right!! How the Kingdom works is beyond our understanding, BUT!.... it does work! 

Can you live with that? 

(Seriously, think on that!) 

I am very cautious about anyone who is an expert about how God works. The longer I walk with Jesus the less certain I am about ALOT of things.  The more I learn about the Kingdom the less I really understand. This is ugly theology, but trust transforms it into beautiful childlike faith.

In essence, Jesus tells us that after we have done our part by sowing in faith, (bible reading that we didn't understand,  praying for family and friends to know God, charity work, other types of petitions, and the like) ALL we can do is ...... go to bed! 

GET SOME UGLY SLEEP! 

The alternative, which I used to select often, is to stay up striving, worrying, fearing, and doing some faithless praying. 

One of the best examples in my life would be Evonne's teenage years.  I sowed the seed over and over in my kids heart, by example, singing over it, praying for it, crying about it, shouting at it to grow, but rarely did I just go to bed in perfect peace knowing that in the hiddenness and silence God was powerfully at work. 

It is a battle to believe that God’s seed is more powerful than a persons rebellion.

Jesus goes on to describe the growth of the seed as producing “all by itself.” 

The word Mark uses, automato, is only found one other place: in Acts 12:10 where a huge iron gate that is locked “opens for them by itself,” so Peter is able to escape from prison. 

This word is of course where we get our word automatically. Jesus says that the seed needs no help from us, leaving us in a place of humbleness and helplessness. 

Once we have done our part, we must believe that God is faithful to do His. The miracle of resurrection is the basis of our faith for which we wait on Holy Saturday while the “seed is planted.” We will not know how, but we will know who is working. 

Is it enough for you to see no evidence, hear no noise of work going on, to stand helplessly by knowing there is nothing God needs from you, but to go to bed -in trustful peace?

The sower went about his daily life being faithful to his responsibilities, knowing that in the unseen, the underground Kingdom was at work ready to break forth at any moment. 

This hope floods the ordinary moments of life with Kingdom expectations. Free from the need to understand in order to believe and be delivered from the false responsibilities of trying to make His seed grow, we rest in Him.

In many ways going to sleep is like dying, in fact, the New Testament refers to dead believers as “sleeping.” I am not sure teaching little children the traumatic prayer “now I lay me down to sleep, and pray the Lord my soul to keep, and if I die before I wake, I pray my soul the Lord to take” is the best way to get this truth across. Jesus teaches us in this parable, that one of our greatest acts of faith is going to bed with a complete trust that while we sleep He is working, and His kingdom is advancing.

In sleep, we are completely helpless, and totally inactive depending on Him who never slumbers or sleeps. (Ps.121:4) 

The seed will sprout all by itself in the miracle of resurrection, and we will not know how it happened, but we will certainly know Who made it happen. 

Yes, God is working while we sleep, and while we live our ordinary lives, but it is usually unseen and without noise.

To be Kingdom people we must embrace our helplessness, knowing He does not need our help. We should celebrate our ignorance of how His Kingdom works, while we in faith expect the blade to sprout up. TONIGHT, why not try laying your head on the pillow in faith, and practice dying?

Get some “Ugly Sleep,” knowing God is at work.

A tall DECAF, so you can SLEEP! 

Now..... GO TO BED! 

Robbs 

WORSHIP THAT ISN'T WORSHIP

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 

—John 4:23 

The passage we have been studying includes the most influential verses regarding worshipping God. 

How better to understand whether or not our worship is authentic than through the words of God through His Son. When Jesus says, “The true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth,” He provokes us to wonder if we are among the congregation “the Father is seeking.”

By mentioning “the true worshipers,” Jesus is also indicating there are false ones. There are those who *practice*worship and  those who pretend to worship- a distinction that leads to the question: which are you? A true worshiper (whom the Father seeks) or a false one? To put it in simpler terms; do you reeeeaally value God? Is your worship authentic? 

Before you answer, you may want to submit to Jesus’ test. In verse 22, He pointed out to the woman at the well that she was an ignorant worshiper: 

“You worship what you do not know.” 

We face the same dilemma and choice that she did -between worshiping a god out of cultural traditions or worshiping the one true God who has revealed Himself in His Son, Jesus Christ, through the study of scripture. 

The choice is ours.

But ignorant worship is only one kind of false worship. 

Another is hypocritical worship—when you show up for church to get an “A” for attendance, but your heart is far from God. You may go through the motions, but you're really not "feeling-it!" 

Yours might be the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15. You know your life is a mess and that God offers something far better, but you’re still not ready to give up the charade of independent living. You’re idolizing a false freedom that is actually bondage. Many of us can identify with that part of the story.

Or maybe you're not the prodigal son, but his older brother. You're the one who always did the right thing, always said the expected things. You carry your Bible, but your heart is also far from God—that’s hypocrisy too. You get an “A” for performance; you look the part, sound convincing, but when it comes to knowing and being surrendered to Christ you get an “F” for reality. Friends may be fooled by appearances, but God looks at the heart. You can’t fool Him with hypocritical (acting like) worship (you value Him above ALL things.)

True worship also rejects apathetic participation. Nominal Christians have an apathy that is apparent—they look like they can’t wait to get out of a Christ-centered gathering.  When songs of exultation are being sung to the Most High, they're hearts are not stirred, they're looking around, minds are wandering, and the whole assembly seems to be a moot point. 

It's a tragic condition if you can see God touching other people and moving in their lives, but feel nothing yourself—and it doesn't even bother you. 

Apathy has no part in true worship. 

Has ignorance, hypocrisy, or apathy crept into your worship? Are your “lights on but no one’s home” when you're with other believers who are exalting the Savior? If any kind of false worship has "become" your "current" practice, thank God for making you aware of it!!!  Ask Him to help you surrender in serious adoration. 

Carve out some time, right now, to meet with Him by yourself. Read the Gospels and reflect on who He is (His attributes! "Lord You are...") and what He's done for you ("Lord You are my...") - and what He is still working in you! (His promises! "Lord I know You ... ). 

Prepare your heart now, stir up your affections so you can state His worth, and value in spirit and truth.

• Which aspect of false worship do you struggle with most: ignorance, hypocrisy, or apathy?

• For each of these, what is one positive step you could take to address this issue in your life?

I post these blogs because I have been all of them and can be again..... the past 3 years have found me taking valiant strides to practice staying in the Presence of God, and seeing Him at work around me in everything, thus growing in experiencing Him personally hour by hour. And worshiping Him in Spirit and Truth! 

I wanted to share. 

Pray with me: 

Lord, I can’t think of a more self-destructive pattern than calling something true worship when it is ignorant, hypocritical, or apathetic. And yet I confess that these problems infect my worship. I am prone to wander into these attitudes or practices that take me away from You rather than toward You. O God, burn away in me the chaff and stubble of these false things and kindle a flame of longing for true worship of You in spirit and truth. Teach me as You draw me to Yourself. In Jesus’ Life-Giving, and Sin-Mortifying name, amen.

A "To-Go" cup! 

Robbs

WORSHIP DEFINED

You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them. 
—Exodus 20:4-5

When we allow anything to accumulate on the table of our heart and mind, occupying our time and attention in a worshipful (treating it as valuable) way—that’s a problem. But sweeping all of those things off the table so only God remains as the object of our worship aligns with our ultimate reality. We are for Him, breathing for Him, living for Him, and spending our lives for Him. God as the center of our attention is the essence of "WORTHship."

The second commandment reminds us we have a capacity for creating idols and false gods: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them.” Creating an idol isn’t just making an image. More often it’s placing godlike values on something -that can’t possibly accomplish what only God can do. 

Whenever we worship what is created instead of our Creator, we end up with nothing but the wrath to come.  The warning in this commandment is one of the reasons we come are taught live in community: to sweep our idols off the table.

Do you know what most often distracts our valuing, cherishing, and treasuring God above all things are? I asked 50 people and here are the top five answers:

5. Our families. We let our children or our spouse get in the place of God. This puts the salvation of the entire family in jeopardy. 

4. Money and posessions. We easily worship things instead of God. Jesus said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth . . . For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21). When we worship God, we treasure Him and recognize His worth.... all else looks like trash and fodder!! Especially a paper dollar.-- But more often than many admit... we set our hearts on & trust in—our money & our stuff—it displaces God and we’re in danger of His wrath. .

3. Sports figures and celebrities. We worship people when we think “Oh, if only I could be like him.” "He is 'The Man!" "I'm imitating that swag! I need them Jordans!" That’s worship!!  Do we recognize the convicting accuracy of a television program named American Idol? People are worshiping other people!! 

No BUENO! 

2. Our careers and accomplishments. We trust these fragile, temporal achievements to give our lives meaning and significance—the very qualities only God can supply. Don't believe me? Look at how many Christians react when they lose their "jobs." 

We are not to grieve like one who has no hope. 

Now for #1!! 

1. Ourselves. We turn our needs and wants into our highest pursuit. When we won't allow anyone, not even God, to get in the way of what we desire, we’re worshiping the idol in the mirror.

The discipline of worship is a deliberate act where we sweep clean the table of our hearts & minds and remove all the false gods who would claim our worship. 

We gather with others god fearing believers in God’s presence and ask Him to burn away every worthless thing that would crowd out His rightful place. 

That’s worship at its best and it's where God shows up in GLORY!! 

Whatever we find worthy thinking about, our emotions, our time and our energy, is essentially what we find WORTH and Value in. It's what we worship. 

God is to be ..... THAT. 

It's the greatest commandment and every single thing in the bible "hangs" on THAT! 

Pray with me: 

Lord, I know tangibles (people, things, jobs) can seem more real because I can touch them or see them, but they are absolutely unable to substitute for You. They lead me in false directions and always let me down. What I create can’t possibly be the God who created me. Lord, You alone are worthy of my humble and trusting surrender. Father grant me Your grace to depend on no one or nothing as I depend on You. Thank You for Your faithfulness. In Jesus’ Most Precious and Promise Keeping name, amen

IGNORANT WORSHIP

The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.” 

—John 4:19-22

Here's an interesting transition into talking openly about spiritual matters: “You worship what you do not know.” 

This is how Jesus extended His conversation with the woman at the well, and it's an important statement for us to consider.

The woman had just made what she probably thought was a very tolerant comment about the equal validity of Jewish and Samaritan religious practices. 

“Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 

Fast forward to our culture today and think about the responses people give when Christ comes into a conversation. People may say spirituality is very important, but asking what they mean by that usually provokes a focus on their church traditions and learned practices: “Well, I think you should believe in Jesus, get baptized, go to church,and basically-   spirituality should be part of life in whatever way is meaningful to you.”

But "whatever way is meaningful" is not biblical worship or even *serious* thinking about God. Jesus would rightly say to many today what He said to the woman, 

“You worship what you do not know.”

No one just enters into a "random worship" relationship with God—thus Christ's gentle rebuke is universal. 

He is telling us this out of great love, to get us to a heart and place of truth. 

You can’t pick and choose the parts of the Bible you like. You can’t embrace parts of God that feel desirable to you and say, “Well, this is the God that I want: all love, no wrath; all grace, no justice, all pleasure, no pain; all convenience, no conviction.” 

If you try, you’ll end up with something else. True worship requires understanding. 

There is a real God. He wrote a real book and He has a real Son. And you can worship Him, if you do the second thing Jesus told this woman. 

“We worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.” Think about that. 

Understanding leads to relationship. Personal knowledge is where worship (worth-ship: extoling His value) has to begin—it flows out of a real knowing, a real experience with the Spirit through a real relationship with Jesus Christ.

In saying “salvation is from the Jews,” Jesus was referring to the Old Testament record of God’s redemptive plan for all mankind; forming the nation of Israel. (Unity of the Bible: Daniel Fuller). 

All the promises given to Abraham, the first five books of the Bible given to Moses, and Christ Himself, the long-promised Messiah, are all Jewish in heritage. So He could rightly make this salvation claim.

And true salvation leads to true worship—it is knowing wrath resides on you, then seeing a savoring the beauty of Christ who is the image of God, embracing Gods grace by putting your faith in Him, the forgiveness of sins, rescue from the road to wrath & hell, and the gift of living to enjoy him forever. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Have you really considered your sinfulness? Have you considered what wrath is? (-it's not taught in most churches-) Have you considered the gift of being made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ? Have you turned away from your sin (by His grace) and asked for His forgiveness? 

If you think you might have, you haven’t. But you could move from haven't, to knowing with certainty—

Trusting in Jesus alone for your salvation is the most important decision you will ever make. And there is no authentic worship (valuing, delighting in, cherishing, or treasuring Christ) apart from that decision—it has to start with a relationship with God in Christ. That’s the beginning of worshiping Someone you know. He is made known through His word. Read it and look for Him. How He thinks, what He does, why He does it, why He says what He says.......

Don’t roll the dice on this one. 

Salvation is a really big deal. 

Pray with me:

Lord, thank You for the priceless gift of knowing Your Son, whom to know is eternal life. Thank You for revealing Yourself as the God who wants to be known, enjoyed, trusted, and worshiped with all I have. Thank You for showing me that knowing You is open-ended and ongoing—I will spend all of life and every moment of eternity and never get to the end of knowing You. The more i know You, the more i will want to worship and love You with my whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. For You alone are worthy. In Jesus’ name, amen. 

Don't let this cup of coffee go to waste! This cup is on the house! 

Robbs

SUFFERING THAT STRENGTHENS FAITH

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. (James 1:2–3)

Strange as it may seem, one of the primary purposes of being shaken by suffering is to make our faith more unshakable.

Faith is like muscle tissue: if you stress it to the limit, it gets stronger, not weaker. That’s what James means here. When your faith is threatened and tested and stretched to the breaking point, the result is greater capacity to endure.

God loves faith so much that he will test it to the breaking point so as to keep it pure and strong. For example, he did this to Paul according to 2 Corinthians 1:8–9,

We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not in ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

The words “but that was to” show that there was a purpose in this extreme suffering: it was in order that Paul would not rely on himself and his resources, but on God — specifically the future grace of God in raising the dead.

God so values our wholehearted faith that he will, graciously, take away everything else in the world that we might be tempted to rely on — even LIFE itself. His aim is that we grow deeper and stronger in our confidence that HE himself will be all we need.

He wants us to be able to say with the psalmist, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:25–26).

Brief and Powerful. 

Like a shot of espresso. 

You'll need this cup for the days ahead. 

Robbs

SUFFERING THAT CRUSHES FAITH!

“They have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.” (Mark 4:16–17)

The faith of some is broken instead of built by suffering. Jesus knew this and described it here in the parable of the four soils. Some people who hear the Word receive it at first with gladness, but then "suffering" makes them fall away.

So affliction [joblessness, poverty, being hurt in relationships, singleness, unfulfilled material dreams, etc] does not always make faith stronger. Sometimes it crushes faith. And then come true the paradoxical words of Jesus, “The one who has not, even what he has will be taken” (Mark 4:25).

This is a call for us to endure suffering with firm faith in future grace, so that our faith might grow stronger and not be proved vain [unsuccessful, false] (1 Corinthians 15:2). “The one who has, more will be given” (Mark 4:25). 

Knowing God’s design in suffering is one of the main means of growing through suffering.

If you think your suffering is pointless, or that God is not in control, or that he is whimsical or cruel, then your suffering will drive you from God, instead of driving you from everything but God — as it should. 

So it is crucial that faith in God’s grace includes the faith that he gives grace through suffering.

Embrace suffering, because God is sovereign over our pain. Ask Job, David, Paul, Peter, and Robbie! They'll show you! 

This is a 5 Shot Americano, and a hard truth for many to swallow. I hope you swallow it. Your place in eternity depends on it. 

Robbs