Focus

Focus

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith, who for the joy set before him, endured the cross..."
Hebrews 12:1

Taking pictures in the Philippines opened my eyes to something I had never previously thought about, the need to constantly re-focus our eyes on the Lord. Using my Canon Power Shot A710IS 7.1 Mega Pixels 6X Optical Zoom Digital Camera does not require me to focus the camera when taking a picture. Like most modern cameras, it comes equipped with autofocus, a feature that results in much clearer and crisp pictures of moments and scenes that we want to capture.

Many of the previous generation of SLR 35mm cameras, however, required that the lens be refocused for each and every picture, a process that was a little slower but resulted in much better pictures. But even with autofocus, the new digital cameras have to refocus before each picture, doing it so fast that we cannot even notice at times. In the busyness of life, with all its' daily pressures and demands for our attention, it is very easy to lose our focus and, as a result, make choices and adopt attitudes that are not what our heart really desires.

The question we have to ask is how many of our frustrations, attitude problems and struggles in life are the result of our being out of focus spiritually. We've all taken pictures that are out of focus, blurry images of faces and events we had hoped to have a memory of. The same thing can happen in our spiritual lives, a lack of focus the result of no fault of our own, the natural outcomes of busy lives and hectic schedules.

The encouragement of Hebrews is to fix our eyes on Jesus. The danger comes in thinking that it is a one time decision rather than a constant routine of refocusing and realigning our lives so that our desires and goals match our actions and attitudes. Paul had to write to the Colossian Church and encourage them, mature believers in Christ, to "set your affections on things above, not on the things of the world". And there is no indication that the problem was sin or rebellion-it is a natural process of deterioration that we must recognize and compensate for in daily living.

We each face a different set of pressures and demands in life. We each will probably need to develop a different routine for refocusing our lives on the Lord and on the values that, in times of peace and rest, we have decided to live by. But let's make it our goal to live focused lives, with our eyes fixed on Jesus and His plans for our lives.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Unopened Gift

The Unopened Gift

"For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of
God that is in you through the laying on of my hands."

Now that the roosters, hired here in the Philippines to wake me up by 4:30 every morning, have done their job, I thought it would be a good time to send out our weekly devotion.

The story is told of a young girl and her mom emptying out her grandmothers' house after she passed away. In the process of cleaning everything out, they came across some dishes and the mom offered them to her daughter saying "You can either keep them or give them to the Salvation Army". Upon opening the packages they were in, the daughter discovered expensive, exquisite, handcrafted china-individually painted, inlaid with mother-of-pearl and gold rimmed. Discussions with other family members revealed that the grandmother had received them as a young girl over a period of many years, as gifts on special occasions like birthdays and graduations. The unfortunate thing is that the grandmother, because they were so valuable, had developed a fear of breaking them and had never found an occasion special enough to use them. She had died with the precious gifts she had received still unopened and never used.

This would be a pretty good time to launch into a sermon about using the gifts and the talents the Lord has given each of us but I'm worred I might be too hard because of my current malice towards roosters. We are taught in I Corinthians 12 that the Lord gives gifts of a wide variety and degree to each of us as believers. They are given to be used as a blessing and and a help to other people. But like the grandmother in this story, we can allow fear to keep those gifts from ever being used.

In service last night, I saw a vision of a graveyard (no, I was not delusional from lack of sleep). As I approached the tombstones, instead of seeing the names of people, I saw engraved the names of gifts and talents that were buried there, gifts and talents given by God to be developed and used for His plans and purposes. I watched until a young man came along and began to dig up his talent that was buried there. What stood out was that it was as good as new, undiminished and waiting to be used.

The Lord through Paul had to remind Timothy that he had a gift that he wasn't using and that it was time to stir up the gift that had gone dormant within him. And he followed it with a warning about fear being the root problem in not using his gift. If the Lord has given you gifts and talents, it's time to unbury them, dust them off, kick fear out of the house, and begin to use them to bless other lives.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Stubborn 101

Stubborn 101

"The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the
rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes."
Proverbs 21:1

One of the enduring character traits that most of us have to battle is the tendency to be stubborn. It is that something that rises up in us when change comes knocking at our door, when we are being challenged to do something different than our normal patterns and habits. And it isn't a new problem.

My 1828 Noah Websters American Dictionary of the English Language had a few definitions to help us as we make sure that stubbornness is not something holding us back from trying something new and rewarding, from freedom that the Lord wants us to experience.

Stubborn-unreasonably obstinate
-inflexibly fixed
-not to be moved or persuaded by reason
-unreasonably unyielding in character or quality

I thought about ending the devotion here because this probably doesn't apply to any of us but just in case...... Another dictionary added the word "pigheaded". It made me laugh only because growing up my mom would quite regularly say to my dad "John, you are being so pigheaded". It usually meant my dad was refusing to do something that, to mom, was obviously right but either he didn't enjoy doing or it was different than what he had grown accustomed to.

And then there is Diefenbaker, our 85 lb Siberian Husky, the epitome of stubbornness. When Dief doesn't want to do something, he digs in all four paws and we have yet to discover what will get him to move (other than pizza of course). Unfortunately, that tendency to 'dig in", to be unmoveable, can be so destructive when it is in a person's life. Being stubborn can block the road to our trying new things that will bless our lives, can keep us from stepping out when change is our only hope and can prevent us from taking a risk that would enhance our lives and our families' lives.

Why do people keep doing the same thing over and over hoping the result will somehow be different-so often it is an unwillingness to step out in faith because of fears that inwardly grip our hearts. Proverbs 21:1 talks about being in the place where the Lord can turn us in whatever direction He wishes. I'm praying for a new softness in each of our hearts, a new openness to change, and a new willingness to try new things, knowing that it is often the only pathway to blessing.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Self-Inflicted

Self-Inflicted

"In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves."
II Timothy 2:25

Rather than use words that are not as acceptable, and can be devastating to loved ones, newspapers will talk about wounds that are "self-inflicted", those injuries that we cause to ourselves. They can range from the most serious situations that take a life to kitchen accidents that are as embarassing as they are painful.

But there may be areas where our wounds, our problems and difficulties in life, are not that obvious, but are self-inflicted nonetheless. Paul was referring to that when he spoke of people who oppose themselves. They do things that are contrary, directly opposite, to the outcome they are hoping for in their life. Here are a few examples that hopefully will stir us to search our hearts for any areas where we are hurting ourselves:

Stabbing ourselves with our words!
Proverbs teaches us that life and death are in the power of the tongue. Our words have the ability to bless our life or to curse it. When we speak negatively about ourselves or about someone we love, when we complain about the circumstances of our life, about what we have or don't have, or concerning other situations that affect us, we end up hurting ourselves. Words have creative power. Remember, the Lord spoke the world into existence! Make it a habit to guard your words-no more self-inflicted wounds that come about because of the words of our mouth (see Psalm 19:14)

Strangling ourselves by not tithing
The list of promises and the flow of blessing that come to those who are faithful in tithes and offerings is pretty impressive. Most of us would welcome the Lord "throwing open the floodgates of heaven" for us. Rebuking the devourer and overflowing blessings are promises to those who express their trust in the Lord and demonstrate their obedience by tithing, giving a part of what we are blessed with back to the Lord. Just as strangling cuts off the flow of blood, not tithing cuts off the flow of God's blessing in areas not of our choosing. Another area of self-inflicted wounding to be avoided.

Poisoning ourselves with bitterness, unthankfulness, ..........
None of us would knowingly poison ourselves, eating or drinking something that would hurt or harm us. But bitterness is a type of poison that can do serious damage. So can listening to another person complain. So can an unthankful heart. And if we wouldn't drink poison in the natural, why keep doing it in spiritual areas. The result is even more devastating, even if it is unseen to the human eye.

Sometimes, the blame for the problems we find ourselves in is found right in the mirror, that person whose face we see reflected back to us. And we've all heard the saying about being "our own worst enemy", a reference to those problems we cause ourselves, the self-inflicted wounds that the Lord is challenging us today to eliminate. Search your heart and the choices you make. Commit to the changes that are needed. I'm pretty sure you'll be a lot healthier as a result.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

You're Forgiven

You're Forgiven

"For if you forgive men when they sin against you,
your heavenly Father will also forgive you."
Matthew 6:14

Attending the funeral today of a 22 year old young man gunned down on the streets of Detroit was an opportunity to show support for two of our students who had, without warning, lost their brother last week. Because of the circumstances of his death, the funeral home was a place of weeping and sadness as they held the memorial service to say goodbye to someone they loved.

During the service, people were invited to come forward and share memories about the young man, a son, a brother, a grandson, a nephew, a cousin and a friend, who would surely be missed. I want to share with you the following testimony given by one of his friends in the hope that it will stir each of us in the area of forgiveness:

"Anthony and I had our problems over the years but he wrote me a letterseveral months ago asking for my forgiveness but I never answered that letter. Then I ran into him and he again asked for my forgiveness for some things he had done wrong, he even gave me a hug, but I wasn't interested in his apology, I never told him he was forgiven. When I heard he had been murdered, I realized that I would never get the chance to tell him he was forgiven. Life is so short, we need to learn to put our differences aside, to realize we all make mistakes and to forgive our brothers and sisters when they do things that hurt us."

The young man then turned to the casket and said "Anthony, you're forgiven". It was a powerful moment in an emotional saying goodbye to a loved one, a lesson on the importance of forgiveness.

Jesus told the story in Matthew 18:21-35 of a servant who, though he was forgiven of a large debt, refused to forgive his fellow servant a much smaller amount owed. The master of that servant, because of his unforgiveness, ordered him cast into prison until he repaid the entire debt he owed. That story is often entitled "The prison of unforgiveness". It is so easy to lose sight of all we have been forgiven of, to forget how merciful the Lord has been to each of us. Unfortunately, when that happens, we can fall into the trap of not forgiving as we have been forgiven. We magnify the wrongs we have suffered from others while minimizing the mistakes we have made. And the result is we find ourselves in the prison of unforgiveness, bound up by our unwillingness to let go of hurts and injustices, and by our inability to utter those simple words, either face-to-face or in our hearts, "you're forgiven".

The young man who spoke those words today needed to be released from his own unforgiveness. He needed to experience the freedom that comes when we forgive our friends and family members for wrongs committed. Let's all make it a point to be quick to forgive, to not hold on to offences, to forgive as we have been forgiven, knowing that as we forgive others, in like manner, the Lord will forgive us.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Pain Killers

Pain Killers

"He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted.....to give them
beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning and the garment
of praise for the spirit of heaviness." Isaiah 61:1,3

Enrolling in a new school in the middle of the year can be difficult for the most social of students but for these two middle school students, not yet teenagers, it was only one more thing in lives turned upside down by events that, in many ways, had left them numb to their circumstances.

The newspaper headline had read "3 Dead In Boat Crash On Lake St. Clair". Like so many tragedies we read about, we get a sense of the devastation that an accident like that causes but it is rarely personal. That changed here when the two students referred to above came for their first day of school two weeks ago. It was their parents who were killed in that tragic boating accident. Without a saying goodbye as we are able to do with loved ones who are sick, this loss came without warning or preparation, announced by a visit they could never have been expected.

As I was trying to explain to their classmates what had happened in these two lives and appealing for compassion, love and understanding, the Lord spoke something so very simple to me; He said "Be a pain killer." I knew right away what He meant. My thoughts raced to the natural pain killers we take for headaches, broken bones, root canals, after surgeries ..... in so many situations. Those pain killers' job is to take the pain away as the healing process of the human body does it's work. If you've had your wisdom teeth pulled, think of it. You took some strong pain killers for a day or two, sometimes longer, until the pain dissipated. They weren't the source of healing but they were necessary to bridge the gap until healing took place.

For these two young lives, the pain of this loss will be around for many years. There is no overnight cure for the hurts they are carrying. But the Lord is desiring us to stand in the gap and, quite literally, be pain killers. We are to allow the love of Christ to flow out of us in such a way that we ease their pain as the healing process takes place.

In the same way, in different degrees, you may know someone suffering heartache from the loss of a loved one, from the loss of a job or problems in relationships, the list can be pretty long of the hurts and wounds that cause pain in each of our lives at one time or another. And while we may not be able to bring healing, or to offer the solutions to the problems being faced, we can take to heart those simple words the Lord spoke to me and "be a pain killer".

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

No Substitutions Please

No Substitutions Please

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves
and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then
I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
II Chron 7:14

Searching the menu, I finally found what I was looking for - "two eggs, hash browns, toast, two sausage, two bacon, and ham ----- $3.99" with one condition added below "no substitutions please". You could get a good price on a great breakfast, you just couldn't make any changes. No asking for all bacon (crispy of course), or all sausage links and, especially, no trying to get pancakes instead of the hash browns.

As I have been thinking about the promises of God found in the Bible, blessings that He offers us, breakthroughs that He wants to give each of us, the conditions associated with those promises have really stood out to me. Isaiah 1:19, for example. promises that "we will eat the best of the land" -that our lives will be blessed with the best that the Lord has. But it includes a condition, something we have to do if we are to walk in that promise; it will only happen "if we are willing and obedient".

The scripture from II Chronicles 7:14 above promises that the Lord will send revival if His people will do certain things, humbling themselves, praying, seeking the Lord and turning from sin. It is an incredible promise of what the Lord will do if God's people will take the steps He outlines.

But we need to realize that, just like the restaurant offering a breakfast special, these conditions to God's blessings and promises have an unwritten "no substitutions please" attached to them. So often we try to bargain with the Lord. We want all that He has promised us but we are hoping to receive them on our own terms. We cannot substitute good works for praying and seeking God's face. We cannot substitute faithfulness in giving for humbling ourselves and turning from sin. And showing up at church every Sunday will never be a substitute for holy living.

God's promises are all "yes and amen" as Paul wrote in II Corinthians 1:20. Let's all purpose in our hearts to follow the path to blessing, the roadmap to change, and the recipe for a breakthrough outlined in God's Word. But when we are tempted to negotiate with the Lord about what is required of us, remember today's devotion "no substitutions please"!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church