the waves and winds still know

Today's (yesterday's?) post is from Brendon. It has been exciting this week to compare notes with a number of people at church and see that God is teaching us each about varying aspects of trusting Him fully.

Over the past month or so, I've had a sudden powerful urge to learn.

The main problem I face is that I don't know where to start. By that, I don't mean that I don't know where to go to get an education, or where to go for any prerequisites. What I mean is that there are so many different things I want to study, that I don't know what order to pursue them in.

This is something I've often been in prayer about, asking God to reveal his plan for my life to me. I've been blessed in that whenever I get overly frustrated at work, with the feeling of time being wasted, God gives me an opportunity to do His work. Each time, it feels like a reminder, "I'm still using you here. Persevere."

God is showing me, bit by bit, that my knowledge isn't relative to His ability to use me. Although I can't stem the desire to learn (nor do I want to), I have God encouraging me to be patient. I've found trusting Him to organize my education, finances, and long term goals to be the hardest thing I've ever done. After so long of doing everything my way, to meet my ends, and by myself, relinquishing control is tough.

It feels like God is calling me to walk on water with Him, as Jesus did to Peter in Matt. 14:29. But like Peter, I constantly look at the wind and the waves, lose faith, and begin to drown. What a gracious God, that every time I cry out "Lord, save me!", He stretches out His hand like Jesus did for Peter, and pulls me from the waters.

Verses 32-33 say, "When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. And those who were in the boat worshipped Him, saying, "You are certainly God's Son!"

The boat and the worshipping at the end of the trial are a strong reminder of what is to come. A reminder of why God asks me to persevere.

Because one day, the wind will stop and I'll be the one getting into the boat. One day, I'll be the one who gets to worship at the feet of my saviour. Until then, I'll have to rely on God's love to keep me from the wind and the waves.

crazy stewards

I settled into a night of travelling tonight with a couple Puritans (including this one) and Through Gates of Splendor, which opens with a familiar quote from Jim Elliot, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

Then as we touched down for a long layover in Las Vegas I saw all the lights flashing in this dark, dark place and thought of Philippians 2:14-16:

Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.

You can't hide a light in the dark.

Why do I try so hard to hide mine? To dim it so that I fit in?

Then, thanks to YouTube and free wi-fi, my sister and I watched this documentary on the life of singer Keith Green. It's about an hour long (in installments) and definitely worth the time it takes to watch it.



Not everyone's light will shine the same way Jim Elliot's did, or the same way Keith Green's did. And that's a good thing (I'm exhausted just reading about the energy of those guys!). But does my light shine as brightly as it was created to? Am I a faithful steward of the life I have been given?

Where would my stewardship fit into this story?

praying Scripture for each other

[Note: As I read through this post I see that it could be understood to tend toward a brand of legalism that relies a particular formula to come before the Lord in prayer. This is not at all how it is intended. My intent is to, in writing praise to God for giving us His Word, encourage this blog's readers to experience the wealth of His Word in a new way.]

This year I've been learning about praying Scripture for people in our lives. For some reason I'd either missed all previous teaching on this or had never heard it and it just had never occurred to me. But it's been a treasure trove for some of those times when I don't know what to pray for as I ought.

So, on the off chance that I haven't been the only one in the dark about this, I thought I'd post about how it works.

It's simple. You take a passage of Scripture and turn each phrase into a prayer for a person or persons. So, the other night I thought that I should pray for a friend who needed wisdom to make a decision. I ended up reading Ephesians 1 and praying through verses 15 to 20. Here's how those verses go:

Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,

Paul here basically gives an outline of what he prayed for the believers at Ephesus, which makes it even easier to follow. So you might begin by giving thanks to God for the person you're praying for, and for that person's love for the saints, and then take each of the rest of the phrases and break them down into a prayer.

In praying through the passage, more than in my previous readings of it, I noticed the magnitude of what God has promised us in Christ, and the amazing gravity of the things we can pray for each other.

What would happen if we were constantly bringing our brothers and sisters to the Lord in prayer asking

- that they would see ever more clearly the lordship of Christ and the glory of the Father
- that they would have a spirit of revelation and wisdom in the knowledge of Him
- that their prayers to know Him more would be answered
- that the eyes of their understanding would be enlightened
- that they may know the hope of His calling
- that they may know the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints
- that they may know the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe
- that they may know that the power we have in Christ is the same mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead

???

And that's only one passage.

He is good!

Peter

Having arrested Him, they led Him and brought Him into the high priest’s house.

But Peter followed at a distance.

Now when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them. And a certain servant girl, seeing him as he sat by the fire, looked intently at him and said, “This man was also with Him.” But he denied Him, saying, “Woman, I do not know Him.”

And after a little while another saw him and said, “You also are of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not!”

Then after about an hour had passed, another confidently affirmed, saying, “Surely this fellow also was with Him, for he is a Galilean.” But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are saying!” Immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.

And the Lord turned and looked at Peter.

Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.”

So Peter went out and wept bitterly.

Luke 22:54-62

For the disciples, the night of Jesus' trial was a disaster. All their dreams had fallen to pieces. Their fellowship was broken, their Lord was arrested, and they scattered.

Peter's version of the story hit me hard tonight. Peter was full of energy and verve and bravado and plans -- plans to be at the right hand of the victorious Messiah, brandishing a sword and seeing that what was wrong was made right.

Then in a couple of hours everything changed.

Bravado and plans changed to denial and shame.

It is hard to imagine the heartbreak contained in the sentences, "Then the Lord turned and looked at Peter," "Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord," and "So Peter went out and wept bitterly."

* * *

How did the Peter of that night become the Peter we meet in Acts 2, or the Peter who wrote 1 Peter and 2 Peter?

Re-reading Peter's story tonight made me think differently about a passage from his letters that we seem to hear a lot:

Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.

1 Peter 3:13-17

Something happened between "Woman, I do not know Him," and "always [be] prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you . . . with gentleness and respect."

* * *

Let's not take this Easter week lightly.