Not trusting in God but looking for hope in others is #fail

Isaiah 30:12-17New Living Translation (NLT)

This is the reply of the Holy One of Israel:

“Because you despise what I tell you  and trust instead in oppression and lies, calamity will come upon you suddenly—  like a bulging wall that bursts and falls. In an instant it will collapse and come crashing down. You will be smashed like a piece of pottery— shattered so completely that there won’t be a piece big enough to carry coals from a fireplace or a little water from the well.” 

This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:
“Only in returning to me  and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength. But you would have none of it. You said, ‘No, we will get our help from Egypt. They will give us swift horses for riding into battle.’ But the only swiftness you are going to see is the swiftness of your enemies chasing you! One of them will chase a thousand of you. Five of them will make all of you flee. You will be left like a lonely flagpole on a hill or a tattered banner on a distant mountaintop.”

I read these verses today and was hit at how trusting in the wrong things I and the world can be.  Last night in youth group we talked a little bit about how we are influenced by the "truths" that the world tries to tell us instead of the Bible.  How we will even justify what things are right and wrong, but never look to the Bible or God about it.  It is scary to think sometimes we trust and hope in what someone says instead of finding it out through the truth aka The Bible and God.  WHY?!?!?!?   Time and time again in the Bible we see that is a bad idea. Read the book of Judges and you will see...even in this verse!

I laugh at the part in the passage when it gets to the Egyptians.  "Hey God you are cool and all, but I want to get help in my time of need from these Egyptians.  They are a powerful nation and look they have these awesome horses to even help us in our battle.  Don't really need You when we got swift horses!"  Haha, now this is me being dumb with what I read in the verse, but it has a little truth.  They would rather rely on the strength of the Egyptians for their time of battle versus the power of God!  A powerful nation vs. God...God always wins!

So are you trusting in the truth God tells us in the Bible or are you despising it by allowing your life to be influenced by a powerful nation like America or the oppression and lies of the world?  Return to God and rest in Him...it will be great for you :)

Seeing God through the Gift of a Baseball.

While I was packing I unpacked one of my favorite gifts!  A dirty used baseball signed by Thomas!  Now that might not seem much, but this gift taught me to give with a loving heart...even if it is something you love.  I was in Quito Ecuador doing a mission trip at Alliance Academy International helping out in the chapel all week long.  We taught kids how to pray...more than bedtime prayers and prayers at meal times.  But during this week it was my birthday!  So I didn't tell the kids this, but they found out from the teachers who had been praying for us by name before we came and they had my birthday from my form.  Well the day of my birthday I was given gifts from a lot of kids.  I got drawn pictures, a painting, a lot of hugs and then this baseball.  Thomas gave me the ball and told me it was one of his favorite balls and he wanted me to have it on my birthday.  I felt so blessed and had him sign it.  So I now keep it around...not so much to play with, but to remind me to give from my heart and to be selfless about my giving too.

Acts 20: 32-35
“Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

It is more blessed to give than receive.  We are told to give to the poor and help the needy.  Thomas helped me by giving me a joyful day and blessing me forever with the thought of giving selflessly.  Just like Paul worked hard to support himself, but also gave and received from many.  He was blessed and loved in that since.  So show how much you love and care for others this week.  Maybe give a little bit of your time to listen or buy someone coffee this week.  Buy the person behind you their meal...etc etc.  Give and you will be blessed!  That is what I was reminded of this week.

Learning about God at the Fair with the mountain lions.

So this week I went with some of the youth to the fair in Rapid City.  I saw a lot of cool things and had a fun time, but one thing that stuck with me were parents with little kids.  At every ride there was a "You have to be this tall to ride this ride" kind of sign.  These signs had a spot that you could be this tall to ride with a parent.  Well there were multiple occasions when the kids couldn't ride alone and needed a parent.  That is when the mountain lions in each of us came out...  Parents would verbally attack the ride operators and try to get their kid on the rides without them.  SIDE NOTE: A lot of the parents there only bought ride wristbands for their kids and not themselves so they couldn't go with them on the rides.  I even saw a parent sarcastically bow to the ride operator and say, "Thank you my liege!" and walk away with sad kids.  One of the operators said, "I hate being the bad guy!"  What is the point you might say...One of the instances reminded me of a Bible passage.  There was a kid and she stood at the board, which clearly showed she was in the ride with a parent zone.  The mom said, "you are at the line (she was not) to ride by yourself."  The child then says, "No mom I have to ride with a parent"  The mom was not going to hear that and told the operator she was at the line and got her kid on the ride.  

Matthew 18: 2-6

Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them.  Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.  So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.  “And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me.  But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.

I like this passage for different reasons...it cautions me to make sure I am teaching truth from the Bible when talking to youth.  It also teaches me that I should be more like a child :)  That child at the fair knew the truth and was humble and honest, but the mom was not going to have her child miss the ride.  The mountain lion parents at the fair were teaching the children to manipulate people to get what you want and also to treat those who work for you with disrespect.  I am glad I serve a God that loves me even when I mess up and I can go to Him to seek forgiveness, but the truth is the kids around us look at us to learn and for me that is a crazy thought.  I need to be the example of Christ to those around me and lead by example to what a person of God does.  As well as lead those children towards God and not put stumbling blocks in front of them.  Pray for our kids as they start school and pray for youth group this year that God would move through it.

Learning about God through packing.

So soon I will be moving to a new apartment across town so it is time to pack and clean.  It takes me awhile to pack and clean because I play with things that I have not touched in a long time.  You start putting stuff in a box and all of a sudden it looks so appealing again.  The question is when was the last time you picked up the Bible and spent time with God?  Sometimes our personal life with God is like when I pack.  We plan on spending time with God everyday but then stuff gets in the way, and you know what it is in your life.  Then when we go to church, camp, a mission trip, a retreat or anything where we see how cool God is.  This is when we "play" with the item we had stored for awhile.  We pick the Bible up again and spend time with God, but then we find ourselves putting it back down and don't see it again till we go to that place that motivated us to pick it up.  Why does this happen?

A few observations that I have.  The first is that we are reading the Bible wrong.  Sometimes people have a check list or want to read a chapter a day.  Good in thought, but eventually you make spending time with God a task instead of a hang out time with God.  Then when you miss one or two days you hate yourself and get fed up with reading the Bible.   We are too meditate on what the Bible is saying and really apply it to our lives.  Take time after reading the Bible, however much you read, and ask God, "How do I apply this to my life?"  Let God show you and take time to listen instead of just asking God a list of things you need.

Another observation comes from our selfish attitude, "There is nothing in it for me." or "It is boring!"  Again you are reading the Bible wrong.  When we become a Christian we are made in a new creation and strive to be more like Christ.  We cannot know how to do that without reading the Bible and spending time with God.  Read the Bible with a mindset of how can I apply this to my life? or what is God teaching me through this?  Take time to really reflect on it during the day.  This is how you develop more into Christ and really get everything out of the Bible.  

The last observation is that people read one verse and make it mean whatever they want it to mean.  Again you are reading the Bible wrong...haha do you see a pattern.  The problem with some people is that they read one verse or have a devotional that takes one verse and make it mean anything they want.  They don't take the time to get the context of the whole passage or study it more.  That can be a problem and is reasons why we get a lot of random crazy theologies.  So make sure you take time to really get the context of the whole passage.  You do not have to read a commentary to know it, but that is one of the best places.  I tend to read the chapter before and after the passage I hear in church.  biblestudytools.com is a good site to use if you really want to dig into the context and the history of the passage.

So now that I basically told you that you read the Bible wrong let me give some tools that helped me get the most out of my Bible reading and spending time with God.  There is a reading plan called Time With ABBA.  Read the passage but underline or write out verses.  (I write out all of it to keep the context...the kings of Israel would write a copy of the whole law when they became king).  Then you underline/highlight in different colors characteristics of God, sins that you see, and promises/things God does for us.  Then once that is done you pray by praising God who he is based on what you saw in the Bible, then you ask forgiveness either from you, your town, your church, your nation...etc the sins you saw in the Bible, and then you claim/ask God to bless you with the promises or the things God does for us.  This works well for me because when I go through the day I notice more what I read in the Bible and I learn more about who God is.

Another tool that I have used in the past is REAPing. (Read, Examine, Apply and Prayer).  Read the passage first.  Then you examine, which is looking at the passage and understanding what it is saying.  This can be down by writing in your own words, studying the context using different tools or asking other Christians to help you understand it.  Then you take what you learn and apply it to your life.  Then you write a prayer to ask God to help you with what you learned and trying to apply to your life.

There you go...when you do this then you will see God work in your life and transform you to be more like Christ.  But remember to take time to listen to God instead of doing all the talking.

God working through the sick!

So in July the youth group went on a mission trip called BUMP where we went to Cross Cultural Church in the Twin Cities and helped them with Vacation Bible School and service projects to bless the church.  It was a great week of God working, but it was also a great week of God supporting us with strength and energy.  

One of the hardest lessons but most fulfilling things we need to learn is to fully trust in God and allow Him to work through us.  A lot of the time we plan a long time and structure every second of the day.  This leaves no wiggle room for God to move and we hardly let it go if God has something else for us.  It is hard to give Him full control, but it so much easier when you are sick.  That week on BUMP most of our team was sick and most of the stuff we did and the energy we had to do things is thanks to God.  

No matter how much we planned or practiced it was all in God's hands and He was working in the hearts of the kids and us that week.  One of our goals for the week was to double the kids we had the first day to the end of the week.  We had 30 kids the first day and by the end of the VBS week we had 61 kids come to VBS.  Praise God for the work that He does and allows us to experience!  All I can say that God is awesome and even takes a team that is sick and does something amazing for His Kingdom!  

Fully relying on God might of been what God wanted to teach us that week and that we need Him to do amazing things!  Prayer was our friend that week and we did see a lot of answered prayers through Him.  This reminds me of a mission trip that I went on in college.  We planned and were ready and the week before going our leader prayed, "God please let our plans fail so You can move."  WHAT!!!!  Well of course our God is awesome and listens to us and guess what...a lot of our plans failed that week and we had to rely on God to come!  With wrong rental vehicles, it snowing in Arizona during spring break, to daylight savings confusion, and missing plane causing us to be stranded for 3 days.  But the cool thing is that no matter what we plan God has something better for us.  God knew what we needed and let us have a powerful trip of kids getting to know God for the first time and for us to see God in a new way.  

That is what I love about God...no matter where we are God is moving!  If you are sick God can use you, if you are stuck in New Mexico for three days God is going to use you, if you see the same person at a coffee shop every morning God wants to use you!  God is awesome!  So if your plans fail look to God and see what He wants you to do!

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

So during the VBS week the youth and I got up in the morning and spent time in the Bible and time in prayer.  Well one day a few verses I read popped out at me and it took time to really think about what it meant to me.  

Phil. 4:9  "Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me - put it into practice.  And the God of peace will be with you."

Luke 6:46 "Why do you call me 'LORD LORD, and do not do what I say?'"

One of those verses was powerful but reading both the same day was like a punch in the face.  Sometimes the simple VBS lessons are the ones that really hit you the most instead of the deep intellectual sermons.  The VBS lessons were about Faith, Asking God for help, Forgiveness, and Jesus is the greatest treasure.  Simple lesson right?  Well they are simple to understand and simple to teach but they are not always simple to live out.  These verses were read on the day we were talking about Asking God for help.  This is an issue I face with and always need a reminder.  I need to ask God to help me out always and not when plan A-Y didn't work out.  

I thought about these two verses and VBS....Do you know how less stressful life would be if we had faith that God is real, powerful, all knowing, faithful, loving, just, sovereign, merciful, full of grace, and the list goes on and on.  Or what life would be like if we truly believed "I can do all things through Christ how strengthens me" (Phil 4:13)?  We would go to Him for help on everything and go, "Well God is awesome and can handle this situation better than my plan A.  So let me give it to God in prayer, listen to Him and do what He says."  If we do this I would know what I am doing is in God's perfect will.  I would trust that He is going to strengthen me through it and accomplish what He wants to be done through me.  I mean the Philippians verse does say that if we take what we learn, received, heard, or seen in God and put it into practice we would experience the peace of God!  Sign me up for stress free living.  Earlier in the chapter it says "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7).  So what are we doing stressing and being anxious.  Give our troubles to God in prayer and thanksgiving and know God is with you and will guide you through.  

Let me explain something because I am getting an idea of thoughts that might be coming up.  NO this does not mean that life is going to be easy or that all your troubles will be fixed and you will be rich.  This is not the fake prosperity Gospel preached on tv...cough cough Joel Osteen (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pastor-rick-henderson/osteen-meyer-prosperity-gospel_b_3790384.html) cough cough.  What I am saying that we should call upon the LORD in prayer when we need anything and give Him control of the situation.  That way we know and have faith whatever happens is part of God's plan for our lives.  Look at Joseph's life in Genesis 37-50, Jonah's, or even Jesus in Mark 14: 34-36  “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”  Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”  Jesus knew death was upon Him and He went to God and prayed.  Spoiler alert:  God did not take the cup away from Him, but Jesus knew that God was going to be with Him to the cross and that whatever happens was in God's perfect will.  In the end we have been saved by the blood shed by Jesus on the cross!  So let your actions show that you are trusting God and giving everything you need help in to Him.  That is what I learned at VBS and found that every time I needed help or was anxious and went to God first it turned out just fine and better than expected.

God in Alaska

So this past week I went on an Alaskan Cruise with my family.  It was great to see people I have not seen in a long time and also to meet some new additions to the family.  On top of that it was my grandparents 60th Anniversary!  So it was a great time to celebrate together and have fun.  The thing I liked about this cruise were the views.  So when I took breaks from eating I could go outside and see God's handiwork!  Sometimes I would look at the views and it didn't look real or someone added a filter to it.  It was so amazing to wake up and look outside and thank God for what He has made.  Here are a few pictures that my cousin Brandon took that I like.  But the funny thing is I didn't have to travel on a boat to Alaska to see beauty or appreciate God's creation.

         Don't Miss the Miracle by Helen Keller              

I have often thought it would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days at sometime during his or her early adult life. Darkness would make him or her more appreciative of sight; silence would teach him or her the joys of sound.

Now and then I have tested my "seeing" friends to discover what they see.  Recently I was visited by a very good friend who had returned from a long walk in the woods, and I asked her what she had observed.  "Nothing in particular" she replied.  I might have been skeptical had I not been accustomed to such responses, for long ago I became convinced that the seeing see very little.

How was it possible, I asked myself, to walk for an hour through the woods and see nothing worthy of note?  I who cannot see, find hundreds of things to interest me through mere touch.  I feel the delicate symmetry of a leaf.  I pass my hands lovingly about the smooth skin of a silver birch, or sign of awakening nature after her winter sleep. 

Occasionally, if I am very fortunate, I place my hand gently on a small tree and feel the happy quiver of a bird in full song.  I am delighted to have the cool waters of a brook rush through my open fingers.  To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcoming than the most luxurious Persian rug.

At times my heart cries out with longing to see all these things.  If I can get so much pleasure from mere touch, how much more beauty must be revealed by sight.  Yet, those who have eyes apparently see little.  The panorama of color and action, which fills the world, is taken for granted.  It is human, perhaps, to appreciated little that which we have and to long for that which we have not, but it is a great pity that in the world of light the gift of sight is used only as a mere convenience rather than as a means of adding fullness to life.

Helen Keller has a point.  Even on the cruise you get distracted by the food, entertainment and sleep.  There was so much beauty surrounding me that it was amazing.  When was the last time you appreciated what was around you?  Take time this week to thank God for the things He has made and for the things He has given you.  Take time to look at the beauty of God's creation and enjoy!

~Nick