Savor Your Freedom

Savor Your Freedom

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the man who trusts in Him.”
                           Psalm 34:8

Hearing the story of the martyrdom in Kenya earlier this month of two Christians, 8 year-old Winnie Mutinda and 25 year-old John Kikavu, has struck a chord about the freedoms we so richly enjoy. Living in the vacuum of our Western culture, a person can so easily fall into the trap of taking our blessings, privileges, and opportunities for granted. A sense of entitlement can overtake us, and instead of slowing down and enjoying all that God has made possible in our lives, we run from one thing to the next, never savoring the moment or savoring the freedoms that define our lives.

Another story that was publicized this week was the systematic burning of church buildings in several parts of the world in an attempt to spread fear and intimidation and, in so doing, eliminate any Christian witness or presence in those countries. My reaction was to pray, “Lord, help me to enjoy and be thankful for every worship service I am blessed to be a part of.” No more hurrying through, no more looking ahead to what is the next thing on the agenda and certainly no more taking our freedom to worship for granted. How important, if we are to get everything out of our gatherings that God intends, that we take the time to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” We have freedoms and rights that others do not; we must see them as such if we are to reap the benefit of God’s great goodness in our lives.

The principle goes further and I struggled with titling this “savor your freedom”, “savor the moment”, or even “savor your life.” The time you spend with family and friends should be treated as something precious, time that may never be repeated, time that is guaranteed to no one. And instead of taking things in our life for granted, it’s time we started to take advantage of the time and opportunities we have, wringing the most out of them. It’s time we started to show a deeper appreciation for the people that surround us and savor the time that we have together, getting to know them in a more personal and meaningful way.

The young man and the little girl mentioned above were killed when a grenade was thrown into the Christian leader’s home they were gathering in. Their lives were forfeited because of their faith in Jesus Christ, the same Lord whose mercy and grace we can treat as commonplace if we are not careful. Let’s be sure, going forward, to embrace gratitude at a whole new level, a "savoring" level!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Anticipation

Anticipation

“So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with Him in prayer
and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.”
                                                      Daniel 9:3

We can all identify with occasions and situations where our anticipation kicked in and caused us to act in a certain fashion. Maybe we anticipated heavy traffic in winter weather and left a little early for work, or we anticipated the light getting ready to change and hit the gas pedal to make sure we got through without a ticket. At other times, we might have anticipated a problem coming up at work and prepared in advance for the possible eventualities, letting our spouse know that we might be late for dinner. And, of course, you may anticipate Thanksgiving Dinner and have a few extra large meals between now and then to stretch your stomach. The dictionaries’ definition of anticipate says this: “to foresee and act in advance, to thwart by acting in advance, to regard as likely, to foreknow, to prevent by taking countermeasures.”

In Daniel chapter 9, Daniel anticipated those Israelites who had been taken captive to Babylon being released and being allowed to return to Jerusalem, their home and place of worship. How he responded to that anticipation is a lesson on acting in advance to see the promises and purposes of God come to fruition in our lives. When he realized that it was time for God to move, Daniel turned to the Lord and sought Him in humility, with prayer, fasting and a passionate desperation. His response was anything but passive; he didn’t take the promises of God for granted, and he didn’t leave their fulfillment to chance. His anticipation resulted in heartfelt, sincere prayer that moved God to act on His people’s behalf.

The lesson that we each have to grasp and put into practice is not always easy. The bridge between the promises of God and their coming to pass in our lives is nothing less than persistent and passionate prayer. Are you sensing that God is about to do something fresh in your life, your family, or your church? Then it’s time to pray! Are you at a place where anticipation should kick in and cause a corresponding supportive action? Does your response to a promise God is speaking to your heart reveal complacency or anticipation? Daniel’s response showed just how important the fulfillment of God‘s promise was to him – he went all out to see God’s people restored to the land of their inheritance.

God has special and specific promises for your life. When the time comes that you sense in anticipation that “now is the time,” may your heart be stirred to action, causing the Lord to rise up on your behalf, to intervene against all opposing forces, and to answer your prayer.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Stepping Back

Stepping Back

“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of
  the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”
                                               Habakkuk 2:14

From the middle of the lake, seated in a small fishing boat, the picture of the lake that you are left with is imposing, daunting, and at times overwhelming. The distance to the shore, the size of the waves and the sheer unharnessed power that the lake represents leave you feeling weak and small by any comparison. Maybe that’s why it’s hard to reconcile that picture with the image gained from looking at the very same lake from the vineyard covered hills that surround it. What stands out is that the journey from hard and intimidating to awe-inspiring and breath-taking only requires that one step back and look at the scene from a wider, broader and more all encompassing viewpoint.

In the same way, looking at the situations in our lives from too close a vantage point can leave us with a personal perspective that is disheartening and discouraging. We can get so focused on the here and now that we lose sight of the big picture of what God is doing over the long haul. We can get so caught up in the everyday that the process of character building and faith development never come into focus. We can be so centered on what is going on today that we fail to see anything in the light of a God whose plan for our life is worked out over a span of time, a span rarely measured in days, weeks, or even months.

As we get caught up in the busyness of life, the need to step back and look at what is happening in our lives from a different vantage point becomes crucial. Try this: find the largest picture in your house; stand with your nose about an inch from the picture and take in the sight. Then step back, one step at a time, observing the change that takes place and how the picture is only beautiful when looked at from the right perspective. So many are discouraged, not because God isn’t doing anything in their lives but because they are so focused on the up close that they are unable to see the big picture of a God who has an incredible plan for their lives.

Step back, away from the temporary trials of life, away from the process of life-building that God must do in each of us, and catch a vision of a God at work in us so that life goals are accomplished, and plans and purposes attained. The result will be greater encouragement, a leap from strength to strength, and an understanding that results in patience and perseverance.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Moorings

Moorings

“You are not restrained in us, but you
are restrained in your own affections.”
                       II Corinthians 6:12

After almost two weeks of studying, meditating on, and preaching about the story of when Jesus told Peter to launch out into deeper waters and throw the nets out again, something was still missing. The proverbial missing piece of the puzzle couldn’t be found. More than I can remember for some time, this message seemed really important to me, moving to deeper waters spiritually, living a life of faith, and, because of that, finding greater fruitfulness in the Lord.  And it has become my prayer: Lord, lead me into the deeper waters of the Christian life. In the midst of those prayers, God spoke just one word:

Moorings – the ropes, anchors, and chains that keep a vessel secure and stable

Quite honestly, I had to turn to Webster’s 3rd for an explanation. The tie-in was clear; for all our desires to go deeper in the Lord and for all our good intentions to be fruitful in the Lord, we have to address those areas in our lives that are like moorings. Those are the areas that keep us tied to a shoreline Christianity, anchored to a life of weak faith, and with little or no fruit to show for our efforts. Eugene Peterson, in The Message Bible, words the verse above this way: “We didn’t fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t small but you’re living them in a small way.” We can have all the possibilities that God has purposed lying open before us, yet be moored in shallow waters that leave us living our Christian lives “in a small way,” frustrated but not knowing how to change things.

The job of identifying and loosing those moorings is left to each of us. For one, it may be an attitude we’ve adopted that keeps us focused on circumstances and not on faith. For another, the rigor of obeying God when he asks us to go the second mile may be something we’ve always said no to. Thinking we have God all figured out, what He would or wouldn’t require of us, is a surefire way to stay tied to the shoreline. And sin issues have to be dealt with, inward sins of the heart, and outward actions that grieve the heart of God and hold us back spiritually. 

That there are deeper waters for you to live your Christian life in should be a great encouragement. That there may be moorings to cut loose so that you can launch out into greater things in God is a challenge you will have to face. My prayer is that you will have the courage to address those areas inside you that are holding you back from all God desires.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church