Over the Round

Over the Round

“For a man’s ways are in full view of the
Lord, and He examines all his paths.”
                                             Proverbs 5:21

Looking out towards the horizon is a sure reminder that the roundness of the earth keeps us from seeing too far into the distance. Even from the observation deck on the 86^th floor of the Empire State Building, Europe still remains invisible, impossible to see over the round of the earth. The same is true from the window seat of an airliner cruising at 35,000 feet over the Atlantic seaboard; England, France, Portugal and Spain to the east are still too far over the horizon of the vast Atlantic Ocean for us to take in. As for God, now that’s a different story; His vantage point is heaven, He sees all things. To our God, there is no such thing as a horizon, there is nothing “over the round,” and nothing, absolutely nothing is hidden from His sight.

The same principles apply in life. None of us really know what lies ahead in our lives. We can surmise what awaits us based on our current circumstances. We can worry and lose sleep over our own assumptions about the future but the truth remains that we cannot see over the round of our lives; that perspective, that ability remains exclusively in the power of our God. Though many will try, no one can predict what tomorrow will bring. We’ve been taught many principles for living that are based on God Word and we rightly understand that certain choices have an end. But at the end of the day, the only certainty we can bank on is that only God sees over the round of our lives.

And so when the wind blows in our lives and we face trials with uncertain outcomes, we can rest in the fact that God sees the direction those winds are blowing us and, as the scripture above states, He is examining the path we are on. From His viewpoint in heaven, He sees clearly and exactly the end of our struggles, where they are leading us in our character development, how they will prepare us for our future, and what part today plays in our preparation for the many tomorrows still ahead. He sees what we cannot and, because of that, we can trust Him to orchestrate our futures.

We so often have to make conscious choices to trust the Lord. Knowing that He sees over the round of my life, past the limited horizon in my field of view, is a very settling thought. Being assured that He has only my best in mind, I can trust in a God who sees the beginning from the end out of eyes of love, mercy, grace and compassion. Today, I can leave it all with God!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Fiber of Our Character (Part 2)

The Fiber of Our Character (Part 2)

“And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit
within them ….. and give them a tender, responsive heart.”
                                                     Ezekiel 11:19

In the midst of having the many fibers that keep out the cold, the wind and the rain, materials that insulate us from the harsh weather conditions we face here in the Midwest, we have to guard against a mindset that keeps not only the weather out but people too. Ingrained in many of us is a self-preservation mode that keeps out anyone or anything that might threaten us, a hard shell that develops over the years because of offences, rejections and hurts. And it all too often ends up keeping not only people at arms length but the Lord Himself.

We play a vital role in each other’s lives whether we want it that way or not. In fact, I have come to believe that the Lord created each of us with weaknesses, deficiencies and voids that can only be filled by other people. Call it a “built-in” need that, no matter how hard we try, we can’t meet ourselves. And so the mindset that we can do it ourselves, that we can go it alone, leaves us in the place of trying to accomplish something the Lord never intended or equipped us for. No wonder so many are frustrated in life as, in reality, they’re fighting against the very way the Lord created them.

The scripture teaches us that “as iron sharpens iron, so a person sharpens his friend.” If your desire is to be a better, “sharper” person, the input of trusted friends, family members, and fellow believers is essential. For those who battle self-esteem issues, a conscious effort to allow others in has to be made. Forget what the world says; he is the stronger person, not the weaker, who can accept suggestions, advice, and even correction from other people. The notion that something is wrong with us if we need others’ help is so contrary to the Word of God. Moses needed Jethro’s wisdom and advice when he was doing too much himself, David needed Nathan to speak the truth to him about his sinful actions and Peter needed Paul to warn him about his hypocrisy when he refused to eat with the Gentiles. We all need other people, people God-sent with the right word at just the right time to help us in our Christian walk.

Knowing that the enemy will say otherwise, we want to have hearts and minds that are “able”. Try and remember it this way, God wants us to be teachable and adjustable, tender and open to being sharpened by those whose motives are right and whose love is sincere.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Fiber of Our Character (Part 1)

The Fiber of Our Character (Part 1)

“We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God
We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.”
                                        II Corinthians 10:5

Walking to the car in a driving rainstorm last weekend reminded me of the advances that have been made in the development of man-made fibers. We now have materials that are incredibly lightweight, wind resistant and water repellant, able to withstand temperatures that I hope I never find myself in. Because of those breakthroughs and the progress of technology, in situations where years ago we would have found ourselves cold and wet, we can now stay warm and dry. The cold does not get through the layers we have on, and the rain never makes it past the outer defenses that our coat represents.

Having those same fibers in our character would be an even greater blessing than the Columbia and North Face fleeces and parkas we wrap ourselves in to stay warm.  The ability to repulse wrong thoughts that attack our mind is invaluable. The ability to identify thoughts and ideas as either coming from the enemy or as the product of our imagination is an aspect of character that must be developed in the life of every believer. Those thoughts and the imaginations of our minds can be seen in several easily identifiable areas:

·         Wrong thoughts about your future, lies that nothing will ever change in your situation, and lies that your future holds no hope or promise.

·         Imaginations that other people are in some way against you (when, in reality, they are facing their own trials and difficulties, struggling themselves.)

·         Pervasive lies about God, minimizing His love for you, denying that He is on your side and that He has your very best in mind in everything He does.

·         Subtle deceptions that something or someone other than God is the key to your happiness, fulfillment, and contentment.

Many have rightly termed it “the battlefield of the mind”, the struggle to take control of our thought life, and to reject and repulse those thoughts that are contrary to what God has so clearly revealed to us in His Word. My prayer is that the natural fibers available to us in our clothing will remind us of a fiber that God wants to develop in our character, a fiber that will withstand every attack, that will repulse the lies that bind and the thoughts that defeat, freeing us to live the life God intended with a mind that is clear, alert, and focused on the things of God.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Oxygen Masks

Oxygen Masks

“Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from
the fire and save them, to others show mercy ….”
                                  Jude 22-23

Four flights, four sets of instructions that we are all familiar with: “your seat cushion may be used as a flotation device in the event of a water landing”, “please note the location of exits in the event of an emergency evacuation”, and “oxygen masks will drop down if we lose cabin pressure”. None of these were very comforting considering our flight’s route was over northern Canada, Alaska, the Bering Strait, and the uninhabited frozen wilderness of Northern Russia before we landed at Japan’s Nagoya airport. But a magazine I read while away helped me to see one aspect of these instructions, putting on the oxygen masks, in a new light.

The instruction to put on your own oxygen mask before helping others with theirs contains a lesson for each of us in our quest to make a difference in the lives of others. Are we the one God wants to use to encourage someone else to trust the Lord? Maybe we even quote a scripture or two in our effort to stem the tide of worry and anguish in a friend’s life, something life “commit your future to the Lord; trust in Him and He will act on your behalf”. But we have to put our own oxygen mask on first; we have to have that trust worked out in our own lives to effectively minister trust to another.

Name an aspect of Christianity that you would like to see the Lord use you in and you will find that your message is effective only to the degree that you are walking in that truth yourself. Encouraging someone to walk more closely to the Lord, stressing the importance of faithfulness in the Christian life, pleading with a family member that God, not the world, is the answer to their problems, and teaching on a host of subjects from holiness, character, and love to forgiveness, humility and seeking the Lord – our own oxygen mask has to be on first. One by one, we have to make sure that these traits are a part of our Christian walk, or our words will be empty words, likely to have little or no effect on others.

The Christian life is a series of choices that define our lives and mold our future. Some define the hope, the confidence, and the life we have in Christ while others affect our ability to minister to those around us. Because our lives matter to God, and because so many others depend on what we do, the time to live out our Christianity fully engaged, totally surrendered, and with a willingness to sacrifice for the cause of Christ has never been so great. May God’s life overflow from you to many others in the days ahead!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Clouded from View

  Clouded from View

    “I pray that the eyes of your heart being opened, you
       would know the hope to which He has called you.”
Ephesians 1:18

Looking out from the veranda of the Bible school one morning this week, the city of Manila, an expansive metropolis of 15 million people, was entirely clouded from view, enveloped in a thick cloud of black smog that covered the city like a blanket. The many skyscrapers which on a clear day dot the skyline were invisible on this morning, the victims of many years of aging vehicles pouring out diesel fumes in a third world country fighting to modernize. The scene had taken over my morning devotion and caused me to ask the question: What is clouded from my view Lord, about you, about myself and about the way I look at others?

The tendency to see ourselves in a better light than we look at others with is well documented. Other people’s faults, weaknesses, and problems take on a life of their own in our minds and cause us to shrink back from them, while our own similar issues are understandable, excusable and tolerable. I think it was Jesus who said that with the same judgment we judge others with, we will be judged ourselves. It is time for each of us to take off the rose colored glasses that we use when we look in the mirror, and begin to see ourselves more honestly and clearly. In so doing, the goal of becoming more and more like the Lord will become a greater possibility than might ever have been realized.

The second benefit to doing that, seeing ourselves as we really are, is that we will look at others with new mercies and understanding. We won’t be any different and they won’t be any different but we will have a new willingness to accept others and pray for them because we see in them the same weaknesses and struggles, in different forms, that we ourselves face. If God has already given us a breakthrough in an area, it should cause us to be compassionate, trusting Him through prayer for the same victory in our brother or sister’s life.

When it comes to God, He is not to be the product of our imagination but the God revealed to us in the pages of the Bible. Our God is a God who loves to show mercy, to forgive, and to pour out His grace. But He is also a God who is looking for a people who will serve Him on His terms not their own, a people who will love Him with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. And I wonder if we sometimes convince ourselves that we are giving God our best when the reality of our Christian walk is clouded from our view. I pray, therefore, that the Lord will cause each of us to serve Him with a vision that is clear, a heart that is open and a life that is being changed.

From the Philippines,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Non-negotiable

Non-negotiable

“Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed,
giving thanks to his God, just as  he had done before.”
                                       Daniel 6:10

The question is ‘Just what in your walk with the Lord, in your personal set of beliefs, is absolutely non-negotiable?’ What is it in your life that you would absolutely refuse to compromise on or negotiate with anyone else about, no matter what the circumstances or consequences involved?

In Daniel’s day, moved by jealousy, the other leaders had a law passed that forbid anyone in the kingdom to pray to any god or man for a period of thirty days, except to the king. And the penalty for anyone who broke the new law was being thrown into the lion’s den, a fate that meant certain death. For Daniel you would think that this would be a big problem. Here was a man who made it his habit to pray three times a day, with windows open no less, to his God. What would he do in the face of the consequences of continuing to pray? What would God realistically expect of one of his followers? God wouldn’t really expect someone to risk their life, probably lose their life over prayer, would He?

For Daniel, this area of his life was non-negotiable. After the law was passed, Daniel went home, opened his windows, got down on his knees and gave thanks to the God who had shown Daniel such mercy, favor and protection. His time of communion with God and of acknowledging God in his life was non-negotiable, even at the risk of the lion’s den. We talk about being radical in our faith and commitment to the Lord; Daniel lived it out in real life. God meant far too much to Daniel for him to compromise and dishonor God by stopping his prayer and devotion time for thirty days. If it meant being thrown into the lion den, then so be it.

For Joseph, committing immorality with Potiphar’s wife, and sinning against his God in the process, was a non-negotiable area; at the expense of his position and the risk of prison, Joseph fled as fast as he could, lost everything and ended up in jail. John the Baptist lost his life because he spoke the truth to Herod. For him, speaking the truth and obeying what the Lord called him to do was absolutely non-negotiable. And so we return to the opening question, ‘Just what in your walk with the Lord, in your personal set of beliefs, is absolutely non-negotiable?’ Daniel’s refusal to compromise his values spoke volumes about what God meant to him. My prayer is that your stand for Christ, your list of non-negotiables, will do the same.

From the Philippines,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Preparations of the Heart

Preparations of the Heart

“The preparations of the heart in man, and
   the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord.”
                                         Proverbs 16:1

While some shopping has been done, and my office floor is disappearing with bibles and other supplies for the Philippines, last minute preparations will begin in earnest as soon as service is finished later this morning. Stops at the Christian bookstore, Kroger and Target are already on the list. The scale will be needed to attempt to get under the 50 lb limit per suitcase. And “making a list, checking it twice” will take on a whole new meaning so that nothing is forgotten, not clothing or a toothbrush, not Bible notes or our passports, and certainly not the cookies that are essential for late night studying.

But the Lord spoke to me this week from the King James Version of Proverbs 16:1 about the most important preparations needed in each of our lives, and those are “the preparations of the heart”. If we are hoping to be used by God to touch other lives and to fulfill the things He has called us to, then nothing compares to having hearts that have been prepared under the watchful eye of the Lord. We are to serve the Lord with humble hearts that realize “there go I except for the grace of God” and with tender hearts filled with compassion for the hurting and needy. Pride has to be worked out of our hearts so that we are brought to the place where God gets all the glory, for anything and for everything that is accomplished in us and through us.

The refiner sits and watches carefully as the fire causes the impurities to come out of the silver and gold and rise to the surface. We too have a Refiner and He too is watching carefully as we go through the fires that reveal areas in our hearts to be cleansed and purified. The Lord’s goal is to be able to say, at progressive stages of our lives, that we are ready for the plans and purposes He has for us. Our job is to acknowledge the process and yield to the preparations so necessary in each of us.

Coming into God’s presence is never one-dimensional; we have so much to thank Him for and so much that we still are hoping to see Him do in our lives. But there is the God side about being drawn into His presence, what He wants to do in each of our hearts. God doesn’t just go through the motions; He has a plan and He is purposefully at work in your life to accomplish his good purpose. He is preparing your heart because He has so much more ahead for you, a future that is making you ready for even today.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church