Sacrifice: A Goal-Setters Nightmare

I love to set goals. I am a born procrastinator and slacker. If there's not a deadline attached to a goal, I'll never get it done. Even with a deadline I'm one of those who could wait until five minutes to the deadline to get it done. And with the adrenaline rush of deadline comes a burst of creativity that doesn't disappoint. But I hate this character flaw. 

Consequently, I've fallen head over heels in love with goal setting. Obviously, goals with a date. I am prayerful about my goal setting. It's not that I hear a reverberating voice from God telling me which goals to set. But I'm prayerful as I set goals. And so far, I've never had God tell me not to set a goal. All of the goals I set have to do with self-improvement, family unity and growth, and ministry. I've accomplished some things in my life that I'm very thankful to have been a part of due to my goal setting.

I've written and published an illustrated children's book. I've recorded many albums. I've written many songs. I've directed many church events that have greatly impacted people's lives. All of this because of my goal setting habit. 

But I've experienced, for the second time, God asking me to sacrifice a goal. These have been excruciatingly difficult. While I won't divulge my current sacrifice offering, I will tell you that the first He asked for was "my" Hadassah girls' conference. Hadassah was my pride and joy. I loved it so much. I fought Him over it. And after I killed the goals (past and present) on the altar of surrender I mourned their loss, just as one mourns the death of a loved one. I've struggled more with bitterness over the sacrifice of a goal than I ever have over the betrayal and rejection of a friend.

Those of us who are goal-setters understand the attachment to a goal that is formed. To accomplish a goal it is investigated and studied. The goal turns out to be full of unexpected mystery and intrigue. The goal must be woo'd like a lover. It is hoped for, prayed over, and chased. Sleep is lost in the pursuit. Tears are shed. Joy is felt. A relationship is formed with a goal. 

If the deadline draws near and the marriage of plan to accomplishment is not made, the idea isn't chucked. We simply set a new date and keep going. You no more give up on a goal than you'd give up on a prodigal child, or a lifelong friendship.

You just don't.

That God would ask me to sacrifice a goal was earth shattering and life halting. 

I admit that each of the goals God has asked for I've carried to the altar with a picture of Abraham and Issac in the back of my mind. I've laid my goals on the altar fully expecting a ram's bleat from the thicket to halt the proceedings. And when the angel of the Lord didn't stop my hand from plunging the dagger of death, I felt I had died as well.

The deaths of these goals altered huge chunks of my day. Hours that used to be spent on reaching these goals were suddenly vast spaces of empty time. The people I used to communicate with to reach the goals were suddenly no more in my text-feed. The thoughts that used to consume my downtime were suddenly useless thoughts. Indeed, they became painful thoughts. I had created a self-identity from the processes of these goals, and that identity was as deceased as the goals. 

This "death of self" is the point and the win, actually. For I can't walk in newness of life if I don't die to self. New birth is essential to bigger and better things. Our initial salvation new-birth experience isn't the only time death-to-birth is required. In fact, we're suppose to take up our cross daily. Paul said and exemplified, "I die daily." We die so we can be reborn!

I understand that just because we're pursuing goals doesn't mean we're not dying daily. In fact, in order to pursue goals we deny our flesh and kill our affections and lusts every day. But God sees when we've grown accustomed to the rigors of a certain discipline, and we are no longer affectively sacrificing to the death of self. We sometimes become accustomed to the hardships, and can not only survive, but build a tolerance. That does us no good. 

Anyway, I don't want self-identity. 

I want to be crucified so that Christ is alive in me. (Galatians 2:20)

I want a Christ-identity.

When people try to put their finger on what is different about me from the public at large, I want them to recognize Christ, not me. (Acts 4:13)

My goals have put me in positions to minister to a lot of people in one setting. I know God is not opposed to my goal setting. But I have learned that He may ask that I lay the prize, pick-of-the-litter goal on an altar of sacrifice and let it go. 

I hope and pray I have the faith and trust to do so every time. 

You Got Dis; Patience

I used to think that I had no patience because I felt so anxious while waiting for the conclusion of a matter. From prayers, to dinner, patience doesn't mean you feel good while you wait. It means you wait even though you really do not feel good.

The King James Version word for, "patience," is, "longsuffering." It's a more apt description of the process. 

Because we see people that we admire enduring difficult things with poise, we think that since we don't feel how that person looks that we don't have patience. But patience isn't indicated by how a person feels. Patience is simply put, not giving up.

When a person runs a marathon, it's possible that they need to walk a bit during that 26 mile run. They may limp a bit. They may crawl a bit. And for the rest of their life they can legitimately say that they "ran" that marathon. Why is that accepted in the running community when they literally did not run the full measure? Because they didn't quit! In the same way, you are exhibiting patience IF YOU DONT QUIT! 

Whatever you're enduring, whatever is causing you pain and suffering for a long time (ahem, "longsuffering") that suffering is not an indication that you "don't have patience." The pain means you're STILL IN THE RACE! 

STOP saying, "I have NO patience." Words are creation. In reality you simply are anxious, not impatient.

We can learn the discipline of biting our tongue in our anxiousness. Similar to ancient days, before anesthesia, they might give a hurting soldier a piece of leather and tell them to, "bite down on it," as the medical staff inflicted a needed pain to give the soldier an extension of life. When we feel that anxiousness and desperation we need to also, bite down on it; our tongue, that is. 

Scripture gives us instructions to help keep us in the race, enduring to the end.

Cast down imaginations.

Truly, this is our worst enemy. Satan doesn't need to do hardly any tempting because we conjur ourselves into failure. Our imaginations so rarely create hopeful scenarios. Our imaginations quickly leave us in a heap of failure. And crazily enough, these mythological ideas release real chemicals in our brains which continue into real depressive states! 

STOP IT! 

Bring (Force) every thought into the obedience of Christ. 

Christ is our way maker. God is the miracle worker who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask, or THINK. (Think: imagination.) He's NOT however, a genie. He's a Father who sees how the present difficulty is teaching us how to handle yet another situation later, which will require more strength than the current trial. Today's trial is merely building your stamina to handle the future's success.

Cast your care on Him.

Another word for, "care" is, "anxiety." We must find places to pray. We must duck into rooms to release the pent up anxiety. We must allow tears to come while at His feet. We must allow ourselves to moan in prayer. The scripture says that when we do this the spirit is asking God for what our soul needs, because our brain doesn't realize what we need. Praying in the Spirit does WONDERS for every aspect of our trials. 

Keep your eyes on the prize.

Christ was patient on the cross because he had his eye on the prize. He endured the cross. He despised the pain. But he was able to reach his success because he had a prize in mind. The relief and release is going to be a wonderful experience! Jesus has reward for his children who are longsuffering.

6. Rising Above, Vacation Devotion

Genesis 8:1-5

Genesis 8:4 (KJV)

And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

Life is tough. It's a challenge to get through the valleys and climb up the mountains. There are those who have chosen to live in the valleys, but the valleys represent death and depression. They're not meant to make habitable, they're meant to travel through.

After the flood had killed every living thing on the earth, can you imagine how horrific it must have been on Noah's descendants to travel? As they descended down Mount Ararat, not only did they endure the stress of relocation, but they would have come across more carcasses than would have been acceptable to ones psyche.

This is truly one of our lessons as we travel through our valleys. Not only are we enduring our own pain, but we are thrust into the valley where all we see is the pain of others. Being in the valley greatly magnifies sorrow. It magnifies death. While attempting to obey God's command to spread across the earth and multiply, we find ourselves thick in the mire of death, pain and suffering. Not just our own, but everyone's around us in the valley as well. And yet, we have a mandate, to get to the next mountaintop. God walks with us through the valley, but he gets very liberal with rewards once we make it to the mountain top.

These valleys, where every other traveler is also experiencing the death of something, are hopeless places.

WE MUST GET TO THE NEXT MOUNTAIN.

Great things happen at the tops of mountains! There is no success like making it to the top of a mountain. I've read books and watched documentaries of mountain climbers. Some of them are missing appendages due to a climb. Some have witnessed death on a climb. Their experiences are so horrific, besides being wary of heights, I'd be too scared of duplicating their losses to want to climb. But, not these! They are so obsessed with the glories of reaching the mountain tops that their bad experiences are in no way a deterrent. 

While you'll never find me purposefully climbing anything in the natural, but a rock wall. In the spirit I too will climb life's mountains, no matter the cost. I will because I MUST get through and out of those Valleys of the Shadow of Death. I must get out of the valley because God demands I reproduce more gifts, more ministries, more joys, more testimonies. I'm a MAJOR comfort-creature. I can't stand for anything to change. I'd rather curl up and die in the valley than journey to the next mountain. But, I am built for climbing. I'm lazy about it, but I'm good at it. 

I've been in many valleys in my travels to new mountains. I've discovered that many of my fellow travelers are stuck in the valleys because they can't climb. They're as ignorant of the spiritual climb as I am of the natural climb.

Due to my rock wall climbing I've had lessons on climbing. But I'm so forgetful, I have to have a new lesson every time! My daughter, who forgets nothing, has to stand by during my lesson. She literally mouths the words along with my instructor. She's even filled in holes the instructor missed!

I know I need a partner.

I know my partner asks, "Belay?"

I know that when I'm ready I say, "Belay on."

But I don't remember what "belay" even means. 

And from climb to climb I can't remember how to tie the rope around my harness.

[true story]

In the spirit there are those who haven't been able to wrap their minds around Hope, as I have. Hope is NECESSARY to climbing out of the valley. I "get" faith and praise as easily as my daughter "gets" the climbing instructor's info. Not everybody grasps faith and praise as easily as other journeyers.

But God will not leave those in the valley just because they don't "get" the traditional climbing methods. There's another way to the top of the mountain. It's no more pleasant than the climbing method. It's sometimes a longer route, therefore patience is a necessity. It's no less frightening. 

It's a flood. 

Don't assume God intends to drown you just because your life is experiencing a flood that is destroying all you know and love. The water is pelting you from above, the ground that once held your home is being broken up. The land where you once harvested life-giving fruit is now spewing uncontrolled fountains of water.

Fear not. 

The ark has been prepared for your safety. Stay in the church. Stay with the captain. Storms are NOT the time for jumping ship. Even, as in Paul's storm, when the ship itself broke apart, he stayed with a BROKEN ship.

The key to surviving this flood is to STAY WITH THE SHIP. 

God may send a raging flood to lift you to the mountaintops, rather than a traditional climb.

2 Corinthians 3:18 (KJV)

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, [even] as by the Spirit of the Lord.

2. Spiritual Carnality, Vacation Devotion

Genesis 6:

Genesis 6:22 (KJV)

Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.

I have friends who are both ministers in their church, and work a public job. It surprises me when they see their public work as less important than their ministry. I see BOTH vocations as ministry. I see the public job as God paying them to work in His harvest field. The duties of the church must be done as well. But that is a very closed-off role. 

The passion and drive to be full time in ministry is a noble one. It may even be of God, in order to keep us in both fields. If we didn't have the drive for ministry we'd surely give in to the exhaustion at the end of a workday. And it's likely that the blessings and favor of God would not be on our public job if we weren't giving so much to our ministerial job. Regardless, we do have that higher calling of ministry, so tired or not, we do our church "job" after our public one.

Our first leanings to "knowing" we're hearing God's voice is if the instruction is "spiritual." I mean, if the instruction is something like, "Pray," or "Fast," or even gifts of prophecy. But we should not discount that God has always worked through "carnal" means as well.

God gave Noah detailed instructions about a boat. A BOAT! What in the world is "spiritual" about a boat?! God didn't give him prayer guidelines. God didn't tell him how or why to fast. God didn't tell him to convince others to join him in salvation. He just told him how to do a very physical, natural thing.

I feel certain that he did, in fact, pray and preach. (The New Testament calls him a "preacher of righteousness.) But what God told him to do was a very flesh and blood, wood and tar thing. He was not alone, Paul and other New Testament ministers had bi-vocational ministries as well.

Don't quit your day job. God is using the bi-vocational minister more and more. 

Don't think that college is "not ministry." Don't assume that being a hostess in a restaurant, or a construction worker, or a lawyer, or whatever your non-ministry job may be, is "non-ministry." There is likely more ministry happening there than in the church.

There are some who will take on the church full-time. Their efforts to make sure their hands are "dirty" from working in the harvest is HUGE. When working full-time in the church, it's easy to spend weeks without bumping into a single person who needs Christ. (Or who realizes they need Christ.) Granted, having music, and the spoken Word polished and ready for saint and sinner in a church service is paramount. Being available to go pray when the sick call for an elder is integral. The mechanics of church administration is a full-time job. But full-time church work is not all it's cracked up to be.

Do not underestimate the importance of where God has you in bi-vocational ministry.

It's a very spiritual carnality.

4. Amazing Grace, Vacation Devotion

Genesis 6:1-9

Genesis 6:7-8 (KJV) 

7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

I used to picture this differently. I used to imagine a very large metropolis, like New York, or Miami. Some technologically advanced city FULL of people who care nothing for attempting to please God. In their selfishness they build a party-city where sexuality has no sacredness, addictions are abliged, and murder is as common as breathing. Then, in the midst of this corruption stands this one beautifully holy man with his morally upright family. And that could be a correct supposition. 

But, at this point in my life I have seen much and experienced much. Particularly in the realm of grace. Particularly of being in great need of it. 

When "the perfect people" were aghast at Christ's associations with sinners, Jesus said, "The whole need not a physician." Christ came to fix broken people. Christ came to give hope to hopeless people. The religious people didn't feel broken, sick, or hopeless. The religious people felt very proud of their righteousness. They loved their rules and laws of religion to the point of infatuation and obsession. Their obsession blinded them to the needs around them. 

Christ refused to waste his time with those "who need not a physician." 

God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Not only did he avoid the pompously righteous in the New Testament, but we find this same behavior in the Old Testament as well. We hardly have any insight or direction from the official priests of the Old Testament. Instead God sought those outsiders, young or old, who felt an outcast. Through these prophets and judges God spoke to the people. 

God does not NEED to extend grace to a perfect person. They are perfectly at peace with their state of righteousness.

When the Bible tells us that "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord," that is not suppose to convey, "God found a perfect person on the earth." Rather, that is to tell us...

Noah was in great NEED of grace.

This word "found" in the Hebrew means both "to find," and "to be found." 

If Noah and his family were "perfect," there'd be no need for grace. 

The Lord didn't call Noah "righteous" until AFTER he followed the instructions and built the ark, in Genesis 8:1.

Noah's family was no more "role model" than any other family on the earth. Which is why they didn't behave in a pristine manner after their Ark Experience. They had no prior teaching about drunkeness. They didn't have a pastor to show them the ways of God. 

God never has, and he never will, use vessels for their perfection. He looks for people who accept their imperfections. Then, as an extension of much needed grace, he assigns a task. That we have been called to a ministry on this earth is NOT a sign that we've "made it." But rather proof that we need help. God uses our assigned task to save us.

Let us not become haughty or arrogant in our roles of ministry. Lest we end up this generation's sadducees and Pharisees. God extends grace to us so that we can extend his grace to those who NEED a physician; me & you. 

The day we no longer need Christ as our physician, is the day amazing grace is squelched toward us. 

Do what God has called you to do IN SPITE of your shortcomings and failures. God is not surprised by our weaknesses. 

His grace is sufficient.

3. Make Peace With the Journey, Vacation Devotion

Genesis 8:1-4

Genesis 8:3 (KJV)

And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.

I have one word for the Ark experience: BORING! 

They didn't have smartphones. They didn't have Netflix. They didn't even have books or newspapers! My imagination tells me that the women on board may have brought a loom to continue making cloth. But in reality, it's likely they had nothing to do on The Good Ship, except feed animals and shovel poop.

On the other hand, NOT boring. Because that's a lot of compost to make. 

Life on the Ark was a test of sanity, for sure. The first few hours in there may have been nothing but frightening. A supernatural experience brought the animals into the ark. God himself shut them all into the Ark. And while it was safe, it was anything but peaceful.

If this family were not particularly "animal people" before (you know, those fams that have a farm in their backyard. & sometimes one in the house too!) they couldn't have felt very safe about the elephant or lion. Or giraffe. Or, if they were me, the dog. (I'm a scardy-cat.) Besides the caution they'd have about their newfound pets, they'd never heard raindrops before.

Even the tiniest first drops of rain would have seemed like the end of the world. THEN, once the earth had broken up causing the "fountains of the deep" to add to the flood coming from the sky, that would have been a terrible noise! Then, the first time that huge Ark was lifted off the ground by the water would have included the wood groaning and creaking in a horrific way. This family had never needed sea-legs before. Suddenly, they were a family of the waves. 

In life we are sometimes forced to become a family of the waves. Life will at various times begin to rain down change upon us. We will have brand new experiences that are frightening. From new jobs, to new schools, new friends, and new Ministry. God, in His position as Alpha and Omega, able to know the end from the beginning, sees we need newness of life. Getting us to that new life may not be easy. But he's put us in a place of safety to wait out the storm. 

As with Noah, even the place of safety can feel scary. But trust it.

As with Noah, the place of safety can be LOTS of work to maintain. Do the work.

In this time period of change for your family, don't waste all your time on our present day's entertainment. It will distract you from what God is trying to teach you. Play games together, work on a project together, do outreach together. 

Will you bicker? Probably. 

Will you get irritated with each other? Likely.

But, the storms require that you learn how to do this new thing together.

Once the scary part is over, like Noah, you'll have the maintenance part of keeping your ambiance clean and livable. Noah's family floated in peace (or perhaps a better description is, "floated in boredom") for seven months before the Ark hit something, and with a thud (again, probably frightening) the Ark stopped moving. 

Changes bring us to new things that are WONDERFUL to life. But getting to the new good requires change. Change can be very uncomfortable, no matter what age we are. 

Accept life's changes and become a student of peace. You'll get impatient as you float along with nothing, but work, to do. But once you learn to be peaceful, you'll feel better about patience. 

God will never leave you during your journey to change, He will help you find peace, and He will protect you.

Access Him and His love often.

1. Take the Cruise, Vacation Devotion

Genesis 7:1-24

Genesis 7:23 (KJV)

And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained [alive], and they that [were] with him in the ark.

Noah's Ark is more than a story about a man saving his family and animals from a flood. The story is symbolic of ourselves and how to protect ourselves. Life sends storms such as the pain of rejection, the loss of possessions, failures and upsets. These storms can drown us in sorrow if we don't protect ourselves by the "Ark" God has provided.

The same way Noah is the caretaker, responsible for the wellbeing of the Ark and all its inhabitants, God has ordained that the pastors in our congregations are as Noah; caretakers of the people and the church. 

Our pastor's provide our souls with nourishment from the Bible, which is the Bread of Life. The teaching of God's Word is soul-meat, strengthening us. Our pastors have committed to make the Ark of the church a safe place. In order to do that, they will have rules to enforce. 

For instance, some animals cannot eat what other animals can eat. Noah had to make sure some animals stayed out of other animals' pens. Noah had to insist that stalls be cleaned up and maintained. It was inconvenient and frustrating for both animals AND Noah at times. But Noah was responsible to uphold the standards even if it was difficult. 

Our pastors are no different. Sometimes their responsibility is frustrating and irritating. It's downright inconvenient. But he's been ordained as the overseer of the Ark. It is our job to be thankful for the safety he's trying to provide and to get in sync. 

Our church is our Ark where we find shelter and protection from the storms of life. The people who didn't get their lives in order as God had asked didn't merely "miss the boat." They DIED when the flood came! Any animal that didn't heed the call was killed by the flood. Being on the Ark saved their life. 

Being in the church saves us when the storms of life come. We cannot afford to miss the boat. Life is ravaging! Between people, finances, personal glitches in our DNA that cause addictions that can kill us, the floods of life will come. We will find ourselves (and those we love) destroyed outside of the Ark of the church. God provided us a Noah-pastor, and an Ark-church.

In our current culture, many people take vacations on cruise ships. As a vacationer you pay one flat fee and everything you need to have a nice time is included; protection and safety, food and drink, entertainment, games, lodging and shelter. I've been on a cruise even in a storm and it's never made me sick, or in any way been a bad experience. But, if I do not GET ON THE SHIP none of these things are available to me. 

The Bible let's us know that our safety and well-being is God's priority. That doesn't mean that he is a fairytale genie, granting all of our wishes. It means that our NEEDS are guaranteed. God desires to protect us, shelter us, give us joy, and whatever else we need. But if we don't get on His boat, in His Ark, we do not have these good things available to us. 

God called the people and animals into the Ark for their safety and provision. And He also calls ALL humanity to get in the Ark of the church. God is not racist. God does not save some people, but not others. He has extended a call to anyone willing to listen.

We must heed God's call and get in the Ark of the church, then STAY in the Ark of the church. When the storms come and when the floods of life rise, we will be protected and provided for if we're in the Ark of the church.