Ask. Seek. Knock.

Ask, seek and knock, and I will answer, says the Lord.

YAY!

Echoes

Today was an ‘echo’ day.  God repeated an earlier promise to me (view here: http://youaretheoneiwant.wordpress.com/2010/03/25/he-speaks/).

Bill & Marsha Burns sent out this scripture today – my divine echo :)

Look, the LORD your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it, as the LORD God of your fathers has spoken to you; do not fear or be discouraged.  Deut. 1:21

“Confessions of an Insignificant Pastor”

A man recently wrote a book called Confessions of an Insignificant Pastor.  Wow!  The title alone floored me.  Who admits that? 

Here are some of the powerful words he wrote:

When I’m better…then I’ll let God use me. Friend, you’ll never be completely whole until you step out in faith and allow God to use your failures and pain to help others. Come down off the shelf. It’s your imperfection that gives you the stage for ministry to others.

People will be encouraged by your journey as a fellow struggler. Healing comes when we display our scars to others so that they can be encouraged and healed. We don’t minister out of our perfection but rather out of our confession of imperfection. God wants to use your scars as a magnet that draws other hurting people to Jesus Christ so they too can be healed. Don’t allow your pain to be wasted.

I was hit by a question.  Have I forgotten that it’s not about me and how strong I am?

We spend years of our lives perfecting our skills, defining our ‘niche’: what we do well that helps others.  This is good stewardship… like if you are gifted at music, then you should learn the piano! 

But sometimes our quest for excellence exceeds godly stewardship.  It becomes a drive for perfection.  This means we’ve forgotten.

We’ve forgotten life means showing our weaknesses and vulnerabilities to help others in theirs.  Service or ‘ministry’ just means you lower yourself to help others.  Until you lower yourself, you won’t reach people.  You may inspire and teach them or even motivate them to “do something with their lives”, but you won’t really touch them.  The change in them will be shallow, short-lived, or both. 

True influence means unveiling yourself in order to show people the way. 

Is this easy?  Heck no!  But it’s necessary if you want to be a leader. 

Many people mistakenly believe leaders shouldn’t show weakness.  People will lose respect for me.  They won’t follow someone who doesn’t have it together.  Granted, if you’re really struggling with a huge issue, you may not be in a position to be a leader yet.  You may need to deal with ‘it’ first.  But every true leader is weak. 

You’ve heard it said Never trust a leader without a limp, so how do leaders translate this into everyday life? 

Instead of communicating with people a false sense of having all the answers, leaders can be transparent enough to admit their weaknesses.  Honestly confessing mess-ups will encourage their followers to step up, admit their own struggles, and invite others to help them change.  James 5 says, “Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”

I have a confession of my own: it’s taken me 26 years to realize life is hard.  I grew up in a bit of a bubble, which has made adjusting to reality a wee bit more challenging.  Now that life’s staring me squarely in the face, I’m realizing I don’t know how to share with others that I’m struggling… although I want to!

But what if this ‘insignificant’ pastor is right – what if our transparency is what opens the door for us to connect with others, to help them and be helped?  What if I just need to suck it up and admit things have been hard lately? 

A guy I dated years ago told me something curious about this.  A well-respected leader in several circles, he said God had been teaching him that Vulnerability breeds vulnerability.  When he opened up to those under his leadership instead of giving into the perfectionism charade, people responded much more readily to him.

A couple years later, my former pastor Greg Dumas (in Tampa, Fla.) echoed this same sentiment!  God told him that if he opened his heart to the congregation, people would be much more responsive than when he just preached at them.  So he tried it.  His church has exploded in growth the last four years, becoming the 32nd fastest-growing one in the country, largely because he’s open, raw and real (and obedient!).  And people are drawn in droves.

I think I’ve bought this lie, awaiting the day I have it together before stepping out and reaching people where they’re at.

Have you?

I wonder how many people are suffering because I’ve been unable to admit to myself and them that I’m a failure, too, and that sometimes I hurt? 

I wonder.  I want to change this, but first I must be honest. 

I’m reminded of my friend Moses’ words to me several years ago, one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever been given: Releasing your resentment and revealing your feelings is the first step to healing. Amen.

Addicted

In the words of John Mayer, we all self-soothe somehow… me?  Music.  People.  Cooking.

What are yours?  When life’s edgy, money’s low, pain comes, or you’re alone.. where do you turn?

We’re all designed to be comforted.  I know I need it. 

Like today… my ambitious plans for the day were scrapped by a sudden need for rest and peace.  After spending my morning with a friend, I found myself needing encouragement this thunderstormy afternoon.  But my friend was on an airplane elsewhere.

Far from family and lifelong friends, I have just a few trusted Atlanta friends right now.  I’ve met loads of people, but trust takes time.  For reasons such as distance and others, sometimes people can’t be there for us… so we learn to turn elsewhere.  

Without human comfort, many people seek unhealthy ways to escape pain.  This is a false comforter, and it’s meant to take your mind off the present and bring you elsewhere.  We call ‘em coping mechanisms.  Gone unchecked, our methods of coping become addictions, and the longer we feed them, the more fierce the battle for freedom becomes. 

Walking out one’s freedom can be excruciating because an addict has conditioned himself to send pain packing in the form of a bottle, a meal, or a host of other things.  He’s never learned to deal with life; he’s just run away.  To kick an addiction, he has to re-learn how to face troubles head-on.  In recovery, the addict often experiences for the first time emotions he froze out years earlier. 

When they break free, many former addicts say they feel like they suddenly ‘came to’, like awakening after a long absence.  How can that be?  They were living life one day at a time like the rest of the world, so where did they go all those years?

They fled the present.  They got so wrapped in the arms of their comforter that they detached from today.  They weren’t living their lives at all — they were running all those years. 

I’ve done that, too. 

Over the years I turned to people, but many didn’t know how to handle what I was going through because they hadn’t personally experienced it, or for others, they had but hadn’t dealt with it.  Where once we connected, I now felt a massive void with old friends and family who couldn’t walk with me through my experience. 

The more misunderstood and alone I felt, the more I burst to share with someone who could offer comfort or peace or answers.  I wanted to share with them the true me, including my story.  But to my surprise, I found most people wanted me to pretend my way through the healing process and ‘fake it til you make it’.  But hiding persistent pain unraveled me.  

To pretend you didn’t walk through pain doesn’t make it any less real, it only isolates you from the present and the people around you.  It hinders progress.  It encourages you to live on the surface of life, in a shallow contrived personality, not in your true self.  It beckons you to hide your heart, not unveil it.  So I learned that in order to move forward, I must acknowledge my past without dwelling on it, just simply say This is part of God’s story in my life.  He will redeem it. 

Our pain is not evil… but leaving people alone in it – that is evil.  In the words of Ben Harper:

My eyes burn with unshed tears
My body is weak from so many silent years
Too many people say goodbye before they say hello
Step into the morning and disappear

If we pass by a hurting person roadside, bleeding and broken, we in essence heap dirt on their grave because we’re letting them die.  It’s not always a physical death (the Good Samaritan comes to mind); sometimes it’s an emotional or spiritual death.  We cannot sit by and watch their hope die, their peace be stolen from them, without a fight.  Without helping.  There are some things in life people cannot bear alone.  Enter friendship :)

Human nature’s knee-jerk reaction is to run from ugly reality and towards shiny happy things, pretending life is always beautiful.  Not only do people run from their own personal pain but from yours, too.  For this very reason, pain often isolates us.  Nothing’s wrong with you for hurting; people just don’t want the reminder.  Your pain snaps them back to the present, the one they’ve been fleeing, and leaves them needing comfort. 

So now you’re asking- What’s the good news Debbie downer?  Hah, I’m glad you did!

The good news is we aren’t alone, ever, even when our closest friends aren’t “getting it”.  He is our hiding place in hard times, and Beloved that is not a pretty sentiment; it’s true!  As real as the chair you are sitting on is our Father above who watches, sees, and will repay any evil done to you.  He redeems pain (Ps 103:4), collects our teardrops (Ps 56:8), and demands payment from the thief, who when apprehended must repay seven times what he stole from you (Prov 6:31).  Vengeance is His; He will repay (Rom 12:19)! 

There is hope for the addicted.  Instead of reaching for what brings us fleeting comfort, let’s reach for Him.  Here’s a beautiful Starfield song demonstrating His presence even in our pain:   

In the shadows, I can hear Your voice
Singing to me
In the valley, I can hear Your heart
Reaching for me now
And I wait flooded with the strength of Your peace

You’re my defender, the shield of my heart
You are my hiding place
When terror surrounds me, You keep me from harm
You are my hiding place

In the darkness, I can feel Your light
Wrap around me
In my suffering, I can feel Your joy
Rising in me now
And I wait, flooded with the strength of Your peace

Here before You, Jesus
In this place
Here before You now
Face to face

Under the shelter of the Most High
Will I be saved, and will I abide

He is our hiding place.

My Deliverer, You Set Me Free…

Confession!

This Mandisa song used to seriously annoy me.  It seemed uber cheesy. 

Confession over :)

Today her words rang in my ears (against my will)… but then I realized how relevant they are in my life today.  Ready — steady – go!

I was so helpless
Where did the light go
I had no hope left
Deep down in my soul
I was watchin
I was waitin
I was prayin
I was stayin down on my knees
That’s right where You found me

My Deliverer, You rescued me from all that held me captive
My Deliverer, You set me free
Now I’m alive and I can live
So every moment I will give You praise
My Deliverer

There’s no pretending
I can’t do it myself
I’m so dependent
Lord I need Your help
I’ll be watchin
I’ll be waitin
I’ll be prayin
I’ll be stayin down on my knees
That’s right where You’ll find me

My Deliverer, You rescued me from all that held me captive
My Deliverer, You set me free
Now I’m alive and I can live
And every moment I will give You praise 

The Year of the Lord’s Favor

Isaiah 61

Good News for the Oppressed

 ¹ The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me,
      for the Lord has anointed me
      to bring good news to the poor.
   He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted
      and to proclaim that captives will be released
      and prisoners will be freed.  

² He has sent me to tell those who mourn
      that the time of the Lord’s favor has come,
      and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies.

 ³ To all who mourn in Israel,
      He will give a crown of beauty for ashes,
   a joyous blessing instead of mourning,
      festive praise instead of despair.
   In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks
      that the Lord has planted for His own glory.

 ⁴ They will rebuild the ancient ruins,
      repairing cities destroyed long ago.
   They will revive them,
      though they have been deserted for many generations.

 ⁵ Foreigners will be your servants.
      They will feed your flocks
   and plow your fields
      and tend your vineyards.

 ⁶ You will be called priests of the Lord,
      ministers of our God.
   You will feed on the treasures of the nations
      and boast in their riches.

 ⁷ Instead of shame and dishonor,
      you will enjoy a double share of honor.
   You will possess a double portion of prosperity in your land,
      and everlasting joy will be yours.

 ⁸ “For I, the Lord, love justice.
      I hate robbery and wrongdoing.
   I will faithfully reward My people for their suffering
      and make an everlasting covenant with them.

 ⁹ Their descendants will be recognized
      and honored among the nations.
   Everyone will realize that they are a people
      the Lord has blessed.”

 ¹⁰ I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God!
      For He has dressed me with the clothing of salvation
      and draped me in a robe of righteousness.
   I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit
      or a bride with her jewels.

 ¹¹ The Sovereign Lord will show His justice to the nations of the world.
      Everyone will praise Him!
   His righteousness will be like a garden in early spring,
      with plants springing up everywhere.

The 8 R’s

Here’s a list of great keys to overcoming tough things we face every day, from my friend David Raines:

The 8 R’s     
1.  Recognize it     
2.  Take Responsibility for it     
3.  Repent from it     
4.  Renounce it      
5.  Remove it      
6.  Resist it      
7.  Rejoice in the truth that sets me free in “Thoughts, Words & Deeds”
8.  Restore others - Preach it!