Receiving Your Crown

Sunday morning retuning: Have you been “bothering” your Father the last couple days?  You can’t really do that remember? [Luke 11:5-13]  Go to Him with bold, daring and persistent prayers.  He loves to answer.

I like to think about eternity and heaven.  God has put a longing for more that our eyes can see and our minds can imagine.  [Ecclesiastes 3:11] I have often said, and I think the Bible bears it out, that every good this in this age is but a shadow of something better in the one to come.  I had one of these tastes of heaven happen to a friend of mine over the weekend and it reminded me of that conviction I hold.

I am proud to say that I know personally Miss Ohio 2013, Heather Wells.  Not only that but Heather has used at North-Mar the very talent that she exhibited at the Miss Ohio pageant.  Here is a little taste of it, self-choreographed to Alabaster Box, by Gospel recording artist Cece Winans.

Another friend relayed to me an interview they saw where Heather was explaining why she chose this song.  Though I was not able to locate that, I am certain it was similar to why she has used that talent at North-Mar, to bring glory to Jesus, and so she does.  She is outspoken about her faith and a song like this at this moment communicates that beautifully.

It was neat to watch this clip of her crowning on Saturday evening.  She has worked long and hard to prepare for this moment and her mom and grandmother have prayed for her and supported her all along the way, but you can hardly be ready when the moment finally comes and this incredible honor is bestowed upon you, deserving or not.  Did you see her point to the skies and say “Thank You”?  That was precious.  Heather enjoy this remarkable achievement and God bless you as you prepare for the Miss America pageant!

But what does this have to do with my heart being tuned to give God praise?  I am glad you asked.  For those of us who are trusting in Jesus, we have a crown in store for us.  Did you know that?  Paul says so in 2 Timothy 4:8, my second favorite book. Unlike the lost list of things Heather had to do to prepare for her crown, did you see the only requirement Paul mentions for those who will receive this crown?  Longing for His appearing.  Sounds easy right?  But it requires a singular focus which is sometimes very difficult to maintain.

Cultivate a longing for His appearing and the age it will usher in…and look forward to receiving your crown!

Jesus, help us to long for you, and the day when we will receive our crown because we did so.  We love you and can hardly wait for that day to come.  Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy

Prepared and Expectant…but Still Surprised

Sunday morning retuning: The challenges for personalization of our Lord’s prayer over the last two weekends has been stirring.  As you cry out to Abba, do you expect him to answer?  You should, even though you will likely be surprised by how He does.

I enjoyed a few days at Stony Glen Camp last week with each of my two middle sons individually doing all sorts of outdoor, boy-centered, projectile launching activities.  One of which was shooting 22 caliber rifles on their range.  Last year was my first experience doing this and I had forgotten much of what I learned, but appreciated the refresher, and the opportunity to share this experience with Isaac and Josiah respectively.

I want to share some insights I gleaned and have been reflecting on since then.  Most importantly is the issue of safety.  You always want respect your gun by treating your weapon as if it is loaded.  One way you do that is always having the safety engaged so as to prevent accidents.  Our faith is like a loaded weapon and we should treat it with the same kind of respect, always respecting its latent power.  2 Timothy 1:7

If you are hoping to shoot something, you must first take aim.  Our peep sight guns offered a series of concentric circles that needed to be lined up in order to hit the target.  Putting the target in the middle of those circles insured a greater degree of success, though there are several other factors.  We must set out sights on the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus if we desire to be successful in this walk with Christ. Philippians 3:13-15

One of the things that I had never thought of was the need to hold your breath when you shoot.  If you do not, your changing body position can greater effect your shot.  You must inhale, take the shot, then slowly exhale to ensure the most accurate aim.  The patience and focus this required was more demanding than I would have at first imagined, but made a huge difference in the overall accuracy of the shot.  It required a diligence of my entire being.  Psalm 130:5

I think the instruction that surprised me most was the need to slowly pull trigger to the point where you are surprised when the shot finally fires.  The reason for this is that pulling quickly can effect result.  When you pull slowly the shot is again more accurate.  This had some of the most profound implications on my spiritual life.  We have to be focused, prepared, expectant, even pulling the trigger on what God has called us to do, and yet we will still be surprised when it happens.

And when the shot finally fires, it is essential not to move.  Any small movement can change the path of the bullet as it goes down the barrel.  Our instructor encouraged us to wait two seconds after the shot fired before we moved.  I was amazed how much more focus that required as well.  Again, it is important not to move on too quickly even after God has moved, but to stay focused on what He has just down so as to savor it and soak it in, and not effect its direction.

Probably the most aggravating thing was waiting to see how you shot.  You had to wait until everyone was done, and the range was clear, before you could retrieve your targets.  That was agonizing to have to wait to see if you were successful in your attempts to hit the target.  How much this correlates to our Christian life!  Only when we get to heaven will we truly see how well we have lived according to the perspective of our Gracious Father.   Matthew 25:21

Keep your eyes open for the things Christ may want to show you about Himself and His purposes in your everyday life.

Jesus, teach us how to take aim, wait expectantly, and trust you for the results of the life I am living for the glory of Your name.  I want to be prepared and expectant, but surprised when You do Your work in my life each day.  My eyes are on You!  In Jesus name. Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy

Of Ceiling Fans and Mundane Tasks

Sunday morning retuning: So how are you doing at developing your Mary heart in your Martha world?  Are you learning to live you life in Jesus in spite of all the distractions of life?  While not easy, but learning to do so is necessary.  

For those of you who were with me last week and have been wondering if I left those bare wires hanging out of my ceiling, be at rest knowing I did not.  Last Tuesday between writing my Tunings and rehearsing with our worship team for Sunday, I completed the installation of the fixture that is powered by those wires.  Here’s proof.

As I reflect on the timing of said installation, it is interesting to me that I completed it between the two aforementioned activities, writing and rehearsing.  There were some other more mundane activities which I did not mention wedged in around those two, but let me just use those two as a point of reference for the purposes of applying what we saw and heard in Luke 10:38-42 Sunday.  [For those who were not with us, that is the story of anxious Martha and worshipful Mary.] 

You see, you might be tempted to think of the worship team rehearsal, and maybe even the writing of the Tunings, as more worshipful activities than the installing of a ceiling fan, but I want to caution you.  Jesus indictment on Martha was not that all her activities could not be worshipful, but that they apparently were not, and that Mary had chosen a better posture, at His feet, more than a better activity.  As we were reminded on Sunday, Jesus is the needful or necessary thing.  The challenge in application is discerning how to deal with apparent distractions of life, and there are many.

As Pastor Scott challenged us, we have to say no to some things, but other things demand a yes.  Take the following for instance.  Can you tell me what YES this is?

We need to figure out how to say yes and then practice the one needful thing in a vast array of activities, like laundry, and lawn mowing and etc.  Pray regularly for the grace to see Jesus in the midst of the mundane yesses of your daily life. 

Jesus, we want to learn to live in You in the midst of a distracting world.  Teach us how to maintain a worshipful heart in the midst of the mundane moments of our lives, as well as the distracting, exhilarating, terrifying, hilarious, etc. ones.  In Jesus name we ask these things.  Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy