Epictetus was a Greek speaking Stoic philosopher, born a slave at Hierapolis, Phrygia, and lived in Rome until his banishment, when he went to Nicopolis in north-western Greece for the rest of his life. He wrote what is likely the earliest known version of the serenity prayer: “Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens. Some things are up to us and some things are not up to us. Our opinions are up to us, and our impulses, desires, aversions-in short, whatever is our own doing. Our bodies are not up to us, nor are our possessions, our reputations, or our public offices, or, that is, whatever is not our own doing.”

Later, in a diary entry from 1932 by Winnifred Crane Wygal, a pupil and collaborator of Reinhold Niebuhr, she quoted the serenity prayer and attributed it to Niebuhr.

“God grant me the serenity, to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next. Amen.”

If we are not willing to press forward, i don’t believe we’ll ever have victory in our lives not nearly as much as we often wish and hope. You must press, it’s not something anyone can do for you, we all have to do our own pressing, exerting steady force or pressure against something. There is always something pressing against us, and there is nothing worthwhile in this life which happens without our pushing upward and pressing forward. i can confidently assure you, nothing “just” happens. Wishing things were different isn’t going to gain us anything but illusions … and we can conjure all the positive expectations we’d like, but it needs to be said, without Christ, expectation is a lover which will always break your heart. What is it Joyce Meyer says, “We need backbone, not wishbone.” i like that. It takes courage to know good from evil and then practice that knowing, and that is “knowing” not in the sense of “head knowledge”, but throughout scripture, God always intends “knowing” in the experiential sense. More than head knowledge, but heart knowledge.

For many, boldness is not easy to come by, and to acquire it, i believe, requires some suffering … we’ll have to endure, or suffer through somethings and that’s just the truth, that’s just life. i figure we can suffer through the changes God takes us through or we can suffer in our state of no change, but either way we’re going to endure some suffering, so we may as well go with God for the betterment of all things. i still say, the only thing worse than change is NO change, and the longer things stay the same, the more things stay the same.

i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts. i can feel spring in the air, the buds are busting off the tree branches, it’s as if everything is pregnant and about to bust wide open with life. One morning we’ll wake up and, BOOM, we’ll see spring has fully come and the air will be buzzing with color and newness. Gosh, isn’t God amazing!!

i’m in the post office five days per week, enough so that i’ve listened to entitled people complain how slow the service is saying, “why don’t they hire more people so we don’t have to stand here so long.” i’ve actually done time studies as to how long it takes the clerk to take care of each customer. Actually, the clerks are pretty fast. My conclusion was that it’s not the clerk who isn’t speedy, but the people who are unprepared. It’s amazing that the people perceived the clerk was slow, not that they, the customers, were unprepared. Similarly, i find it a profound observation that in the eyes of many people it is God who is not speaking, when the truth is, it’s us who aren’t listening.

i love pomegranate juice, grape juice, and cherry juice. i love using olive oil and i love getting my coffee from a French press. All those things require pressure. The juice must be pressed from the fruit, the olive oil must be pressed from the olives, and water must be pressed through the coffee grounds in order to make a cup of coffee. It requires pressure, and if we’re going to get much out of our walk with the Lord we’re going to have to press through the obstacles and situations in front of us. Think of all the things which require pressure and pressing in order to get good results or gather good fruit. We take our suits and shirts to the dry cleaner and they “press” the wrinkles out. Think of all the things which require pressure to accomplish. Life is no different.

We all have things we need to press forward about. Some of us need to press forward to make a budget and sticking with it this time. A year ago January, the Lord told me He wanted me to start wearing shirts with a collar and buttons, that i was to look like someone others might want to talk to instead of some worn out farmer or crusty construction guy. Silly as it may seem, i’ve actually had to press forward about that every day. When i leave the house i make it a point to wear a nice shirt with a collar and buttons and, odd as it sounds, it has been a struggle. Many say they’re struggling to overcome the devil, maybe they should press forward and overcome that sink of dirty dishes first. It’s easy to decide you’re not going to do drugs anymore, that’s easy 10 mins after you’ve gotten loaded again, but to truly escape the gravity of the situation requires some pressing, pushing forward, pursuing, some taking action maybe even hour to hour. It’s the same as a determination to advance onward to the prize of the high calling of Jesus Christ. Pressing on is not a timid, passive term, it is action and perseverance in motion.

It’s not that the devil has got us in a corner beating us up, we ourselves are the problem in that we don’t want to press past the frustration, we don’t want to press past our old wounds, we don’t want to restrict our appetites. We can’t live life in the now nor hope much for the future if we’re always living life based on the past. From where i’m standing, we don’t seem to want to be pressed about honesty and taking responsibility for our actions. Those old wounds need to quit making front page news every day, if you know what i mean.

Also, among us are those who have made up their mind, deciding they’re not going to live at the beck and call of old wounds. i refuse to let my stomach control me, i refuse to keep being addicted to self-pity and the spirit of “woe is me”. For overcomers, something rises up in us that says i will not be a slave any more, i am not going to live in bondage, i am a child of God, and the children of God aren’t slaves and in bondage. The Lord gives us the gumption to say i’m going to press through and past all those chains and griefs and latch onto Jesus….knotting my fingers in the hem of His garment, refusing to let go even if i am dragged down the street.

Let us learn to have our joy and to also be happy whether anyone approves of us or not. i have learned to rest in the joy of the Lord if everyone wants me around or if no one wants me around. i don’t know about you but i’m fed up with my circumstances dictating my joy. Knowing Jesus and the power of His resurrection is what drives my heart and life. Why? Because there is no other name under heaven. It’s good to read John 6:68-69, “Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” When you’ve lived life like a bright beacon, and then the circumstances of life have crashed you on the rocks again, only to rise and fall and rise again, you start to notice the pattern of God’s presence…. you begin to know that you know that you know, truly, there is only one Name under heaven, Jesus, beautiful Jesus.

Do you want power in your life? Know Jesus. Our reason and purpose shouldn’t be to know our purpose but to know Jesus, the buck stops with Him. Matthew 28:18, “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” He said “all”, and once again, God is not mincing words here. This is a declarative, and it’s the truth, ”all” means “all” and Jesus wasn’t being flippant.

When the Lord said in John 10:10, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly,” He wasn’t using words and phrases He might have to back up on later…. it was a well thought out, pre-planned statement in the heart of God. How many of us say, “Oh, i’ve got life, or so i’ve been told, but i’m just wondering where the abundantly part is going to come into the picture.”

It’s nice to think we’ll just get saved, live our little lives, and go to heaven, and i’m sure heaven is all together wonderful because God built it, but i don’t want to just go alone. In order to go with God, we’ve got to press forward. It seems to me, by way of observation, the only people who actually accomplish mighty things in His name are those who press on. There are so, so many things to waste our time on being offended and wounded over. These days are some very dangerous times. We are going to have to press past those things, keeping our eyes on Jesus.

i had a dream, and i’ve said this before but i feel it’s important to make mention of it again. i dreamed i was in a little boat, maybe 10ft long and i was in a terrible terrible perfect storm. The lightning was flashing, the rain was coming down in buckets, and the waves were so high i couldn’t see the top. In the dream i was looking at the raging ocean and briefly thought about the certain death i was facing. i turned my head and directly across from me was Jesus holding on, just as wet as i was, but He was smiling, yes He was smiling across at me. Above the roar of the storm, i heard Him speak loudly and He said to me, “Pretty cool, huh?” i woke up immediately thinking about the dream and had a startling thought, no matter what my circumstances are, no matter how good or bad life gets, as long as i can see Jesus, i’m ok.

Maybe you can’t do anything about your situation right now at this time, but someday, someday, with God’s help, you will find the courage to change it. There may still be things you wish didn’t happen, but that was then and this is now. Maybe you can’t change some of it, but those things you can change, get to your feet and take hold of Jesus, declare out loud every morning that in the name of Jesus darkness and circumstances will NOT take over your mind, or your life. Persist! As long as you can see Jesus, it’ll be ok.

This scripture has come up a lot lately, and the Lord will bring it back to us as often as necessary until we get it down in our head. Philippians 3:14, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Press on, push forward, refusing to give up. It is high time we stop letting the devil and our circumstances mow us down like we were weak weeds at the mercy of a lawnmower.

           i believe the Lord wants us to not only press towards Him but to set our mind to push past the things which hold us back. Many, many people are in a holding pattern of sorts, just circling something in their past that possibly should never have happened, regardless as to who’s responsible for it, and they just can’t seem to leave the place of their brokenness. Maybe it’s “offense” which keeps our feet nailed to the floor. Let us not allow ourselves to be overwhelmed in the flood of our circumstances.

For some folks, old wounds have become an addiction and the addicts wander in the cemetery of old hurts and past errors, rereading the old headstones of old things long gone, moaning over old wrongs like a lost spirit out of an old horror movie, saying over and over, “Oh, i so wish it wasn’t so.”

Now listen, you may have driven yourself far past anything reasonable and done a nose dive into a ditch of your own making, and when all was darkest and you were laying in the bottom of the empty place, too exhausted to even crawl up the ladder that was nearby, in the moment, when your heart seems just crushed beyond being able to bleed anymore, right there, at that crossroads, a magical place of miracles as all crossroads are, God was bringing to you the symphony of the morning that will rise to the ears of your heart. Redemption and change were at your fingertips, or “the Kingdom God came near to you” that day. You may not want to believe in the Holy Spirit, or maybe you’ve been taught there is no such person, but yet, well, there He is, coming to you with a voice like birds singing, like wind in the tree tops and the consonants of His words are like bells chiming in the distance, all a melody so sweet you can’t imagine how to tell about it. Yet there He is and He comes to you to give to you His strength to crawl up and go out of your pit.

We can’t allow anger and bitterness to stay with us so long it grows roots. If we let a seed grow in a rock wall, given time and water, that seed will sprout and little by little it’ll grow roots through the crevices and will eventually split the boundary apart….anger and bitterness is the same way, it’ll just grow roots breaking down our boundaries, eating away at the joy and peace in our hearts until we’re just horrible people nobody wants to be around, unless they want something from you. The Lord is so very not interested in you living life that way, and if God isn’t interested in that, who would you say is? And if you said it is the devil, then the next question is, “why do you let him ride?” You know, if you let the devil ride, the next thing you know he’s gonna want to drive.

You’d be surprised at the people who walk around disappointed, angry and bitter.

Philippians 1:9-11, “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” The Hebrew word for “offense” means to stumble or trip over and it’s root word means something like a plague.

Think of offense like being gripped with malice, potentially capable of causing death. The root word of “offense” is in the sense of seriously slamming your feet on rocks. In Jeremiah 13:16, Israel is threatened with being allowed to possess “toe breaking offense” if they don’t repent. The same word is also used in reference to the Messiah being a stone of stumbling.

Press past your offense, past your anger and bitterness. We can’t stop there and linger in the twilight and the dark, there are better things to do.

           “Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens. Some things are up to us and some things are not up to us. Our opinions are up to us, and our impulses, desires, aversions-in short, whatever is our own doing.”

Offense is akin to the plague. i don’t know about you but i get weary of brutally slamming my feet into rocks, and yet many seem so willing to carry offense like a plague with them everywhere they go, allowing it to influence everything about their lives, constantly bearing about the heavy, intrusive, burden of offense. Don’t we all know there is always something to be offended about, hell makes sure of that. The mature thing to do is to consider carefully, “Can i do anything about it?” and if not, set your mind on the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, in fact, even if there is something you can do about the situation, again, above all, set your mind on the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. Here’s a follow-up question: Upon what or whom do we center our minds and hearts? If our hearts and minds aren’t set on Jesus, what or who are we set on? If we aren’t serving the King of Kings, who are we serving?

We, who are in Christ, must learn to press past offense and its potentials to see the big picture, Jesus Christ, the point and focus of the entire universe. If we’re waiting to be validated by the approval of someone with a recognizable name and titles, we need to know that approval is a lover that will always break our heart. Chances are slim we will ever get the approval we desire from church dignitaries, or those who stand on an elevated platform.

i heard someone say once that the present is the making of soon-to-be-history.  Stop looking where you are and focus on where you’re going, every step counts and it’s either a stepping up or a stumbling down. In Christ, even if we stumble, He empowers us to turn our stumbling down into stepping up. He has turned our morning into dancing and loosed us from the coarse adornments of this world which chafe us to blood. Jesus set us free from having to do penance, wounding ourselves when, by the blood of Jesus, we need not suffer any longer.

We are pressing on, pursuing, pushing, exerting steady force or pressure toward attaining Christ. Not that we have already arrived, but i can assure you we have left, and every day, we press on to make Jesus our own, because Christ Jesus has made us His own.

If we can’t say something nice about those who don’t like us, then, well, this may be a little blunt, but, just shut your mouth. Bless those who despise you. Ain’t it the truth, there have been times when someone has mentioned another person’s name and they’re just saying such nice things and we’re thinking, “Oooo! If i could just tell you what i know!” Every time we feed into our offense and bad attitude we are helping to keep it alive. Romans 12:21 says We overcome evil with good. These are things i can do something about and i choose to press onward and upward. How often do we practice our offense and anger and we end up taking it out on people who have nothing to do with it? Let’s be so good to people they can’t help but notice Jesus in us. Hospitality is one of the earmarks of our faith which is in opposition to letting our anger and offenses dictate prejudice, which is judgment based on unfounded facts. God brings reward and no one or thing can prevent His reward for the Lord is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Think about it!

           Who is going to pay you back for doing the right thing when life is hard is a great big “what’s in it for me?” attitude. “God grant me the serenity, to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time;

enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will;”

Proverbs 25:21-22, “If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.”

And expounding on the part about heaping burning coals on his head more clearly, the burning coals part is the fiery love of God which melts even the hard hearts of those who oppose us. Jesus died so we could have the life He desires for us, and in fact, we have to give up our lives like Jesus did, so others may experience the overwhelming love of God and live instead of being held captive by death, hell, and the     grave. God has healed our hearts giving us the power to own a renewed mind, and delivered us from the downward spiral of the world, where darkness has tried to keep us slaves and captives to offense, to keep us occupied with constantly battling with things we have no power to change. Let God be the great equalizer He is….and He will restore what darkness has stolen from us. Believe it, it’s true.

i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts, cool jazz and contemplative conversation, speaking to people about three inches below the surface of their presentation face.

To truly escape the gravity of our situations requires some pressing, pushing forward, pursuing, some taking action, and determination to advance onward to the prize of the high calling of Jesus Christ and stop feeding into our own offense and evil forebodings. Pressing on is not a timid, passive term, it is action and perseverance in motion. Come go with me, it’s time to change the planet and the Lord has empowered us to press forward, losing the goodness of God on a lost and dying world.

Pray for your neighbor this week, set your feet toward home friends, we’re almost there. Amen, and amen.

Faith is not having conclusions. Faith is not being qualified. In our Western version of Christianity we are, basically, fed a line of thinking which says “If you have faith, you will have answers and conclusions. If you have faith you will prosper and never suffer, and if you are poor and are suffering, obviously you don’t possess the faith to rise above it all. And if you are sick or poor, it is your own miserable lack of faith which keeps you there.”

That is simply not true. Suffering is as much a part of Christian living as not suffering and we are always measuring each other as to who is more sinful, more blessed, closer to God (or not) than we are. Always measuring. “So-and-so must be more sinful than i am because they have way more problems than i ever thought of having. i don’t see what could be wrong with them, but look at them, things aren’t well with them, and things are well with me, therefore, i must have more faith and more favor with God with less sin in my life than my neighbors.” That is simply not true.

The Jews of Luke 13 seemed to feel that bad things happened to bad people of poor faith, and good things happen to good people who have lots of faith. This is called retributive theology, which says, “If i am good to God He will be good to me, and if things don’t go well for me then surely i must have done something wrong.” Do good, get good, do bad, get bad. Jesus said that is absolutely not true. Job was a righteous man according to God (Job 1:8) and there was not another person on earth like him, yet he suffered a lot of heart wrenching things. Jesus was the most righteous man there ever has been, ever will be, and He suffered heart and body ripping, terrible things also. Was it that they were sinful or their lack of faith which caused their suffering? Did Abraham leave not knowing where he was going because he didn’t have the faith worked up to get that level of answers and conclusions? Or was God just being ambivalent with him, jerking Abraham around? You may think that’s silly, but hey, i’ve met more than a few believers who told me they’d have to “work up their faith to get the level of answers they wanted”? “Work up your faith”? How do you do that? Faith doesn’t come in instant faith spray on cans from Walmart, or in bags and all you have to do is add water, and presto, you’ve got some extra faith. It comes a great deal differently than that.

Because we have no answers doesn’t mean we have no faith!

In Hebrews 11, did Sarah have to wait for 10 years after it was prophesied to her that she would have a child because she didn’t have any faith or because she was sinful? Did the early heroes of the faith become martyred because they didn’t have the faith to escape persecution and they somehow deserved to die because they were faithless and sinful? Do we not have answers to important questions because we don’t have faith? Or are we not able to come to some of life’s necessary conclusions many times because we don’t have any faith? Many times we don’t know what God is doing, but we are required to trust Him until His purpose and direction comes clear. i don’t understand many times, but i’m willing to believe and wait because i believe God is right in what so ever He does.

Having no answers doesn’t mean a lack of faith!

Being willing to wait in the interim space of having no answer is faith, and in that space of waiting with no answer and no conclusion God creates faith. Sometimes, waiting is like exhaling and waiting too long to inhale, and there grows an ache and an urgency that begins in our body, sometimes waiting is like the ache between an exhale and an inhale.

Job’s counselors were NOT willing to live in the space of no answers and no conclusions, and as of today, many many people equate “having answers” with “having faith”.

Jobs friends or counselors told Job (Job 8:20) that if he would just confess he was corrupt and in sin that in no time God would give him blessing and prosperity and he’d be back on top of the world again. If he had admitted to something that wasn’t true just so he wouldn’t have to suffer Job would have violated his firm adherence to his moral code of honesty, even though he didn’t have any answers. Faith and joy are not grasped and possessed by admitting wrongs which did not occur, no more than not being responsible for our actions and being indifferent generate real happiness.

Having faith doesn’t mean having answers, but more being willing to trust God and live in that space of time without answers and without conclusions. Having faith is sometimes like being in that space of waiting between an exhale and an inhale, the space of no answers and no conclusions, and to me, it always feels like there’s not enough air and i am dying.

Let us trust God who is completely trustworthy. He is faithful and righteous, and even when we don’t know the answers, God is still with us who believe on Christ, and we can be assured that our answers will come at the right time, the best time, in God-time, and it will be enough.

Be still in the time of waiting, take advantage of that time rather than resenting having to wait. It is God’s timing that we are between and exhale and an inhale, trust him, He is building extraordinary faith in you!

i’m Social Porter for Living In His Name Ministries.

Accents. Life is bright more often than we think. The glow of fellowship after a meal, the warmth of coming home to a friendly place, going to sleep knowing God has got your back and things are well with you.  Seeing friends who are glad to see you and you them. That’s some of the wonderful things we gather to ourselves when we know God. Let’s not forget the glow of the goodness of God in the midst of all the distressing circumstances around us.

i was in a meeting yesterday and i noticed there was much talk about the things that might not be, the fear of what might not happen, or the fear of the bad which might happen. i noticed the lifestyle of deep concern over the phrase, “might be”, or “might not be”. i realized people don’t take out insurance because of the good things that might happen. All the same, it’s true, unkind things can and do happen to us all, but what about the good things which come our way also, what about the bad things which didn’t happen? There are many bright things in my life and i was thinking how easily i forget those times.

What bright moments have been salted into your day this week?

In the news a while back there was a story about a young man on a motorcycle who was in an accident and became pinned underneath a burning car. The bystanders rallied together and literally lifted the car off of the man then pulled him free. Presently he’s alive and recovering. That certainly was a bright moment, but how about the smaller ones, little things, the smell and flavor of your coffee or tea this morning? Fresh baked brownies, the leather smell of a sports car, being warm when the snow is blowing outside, the bird that came and sang outside your window? The phone call you got from someone who didn’t want anything from you and was just calling to say “hello, how are you?”? Maybe the view you had of the sun rising across the other side of a pasture, or the laughter of children playing? All of those are things worth remembering as well as the negative accents. It’s not like we should forget anything that wasn’t good which happened to us, after all, we don’t grow and mature when everything we do is a success. But let’s take a moment to remember the good times, the pleasant moments, the colorful accents of our days.

When i was growing up my sister had an old Brownie camera, and then one Christmas she got a Polaroid. You know, the one which, after you take a picture, it slides out the film that develops right in front of your eyes. i think i’ve got thousands and thousands of Polaroid pictures in my head – the time the neighbor boys, myself and my brother played football all afternoon. In my head is a snap shot of us all laughing, dirty, skinned up, but laughing. Forever in my mind as a good time. Or my son’s favorite hunting dog when he tree’d his first racoon. i’ve got a snap shot in my head of that moment! i can still see the pleasure on my son’s face and the dog’s face. Or my wife’s eyes reflecting in the stripe of sun light coming through the shades in the morning.

Leviticus 23:40 has a Polaroid picture in it of a bright accent. “And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook;” Hmmmm … beautiful trees. Does just saying that inspire a picture in your mind? It’s as if the Lord is pointing out beauty. He calls them “beautiful trees”. Do we notice? Do you remember the big old tree in the park, or behind your house? The bark, the leaves, the shade? Remember how it looked and when you played near it or in it? Can you see it? All through the Bible God speaks of beautiful things, like He’s pointing them out for us to notice. God does not tell us things or point things out to us just so we can know. The passive version of the word “seeing” is very different than “purposefully taking note”, and then there is the idea of “seeing” meaning “to look with eyes wide open in amazement”. Can you see? Take note of beautiful words like in Genesis 49:21, beautiful cities in Deuteronomy 6:10, beautiful houses in Deuteronomy 8:12, beautiful children, women, or men, Queen Vashti in Esther 1:11, “was beautiful to behold”. Psalms says the city of our God is beautiful the way it is positioned, that praise is beautiful, that holiness not only is itself beautiful but make us beautiful, and that God makes all things beautiful in its time. God points out to us that Moses was a beautiful child. 1 Peter 3:5 speaks of a beauty not necessarily seen with our eyes, it speaks of an inner beauty that was gentle and gracious. Colossians 3:11-12 reveals to us that the glory-strength God gives, is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us.”

What is beautiful in your life? All throughout the Bible, God is pointing out these types of things that we would take notice of the beautiful, the bright, the accented, His highlights. Star filled skies, sun rise, sun set, little girls eyes, seasons – like winter and spring, summer and fall, holidays, eating together, good companionship, the smell of the forest and the flowers, fresh cut lawns, evenings on the front porch. Do we notice that God is highlighting those things to us, or are we so neck deep in the mire of the world we constantly miss the bright and beautiful around us? The Lord set the Proverbs 31 woman as a standard of beauty … her accents are a glowing luster of goodness.

God hasn’t invited us into a disorderly, unkempt life but into something holy and beautiful—as beautiful on the inside as the outside. All the things around us which God has made beautiful and bright, none compares to Jesus. Psalms 50:1-2, “The Mighty One, God the Lord, Has spoken and called the earth From the rising of the sun to its going down. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God will shine forth.”

He is called “the perfection of beauty”. He is more beautiful than flowers, and according to God, as far as earthly things go, flowers take the cake. Do you notice? What kind of snap-shots to you have of the beautiful and bright things in your life?

In Psalms 90:17 we are beautiful when the beauty of the Lord is upon us. Isaiah 28:5: The Lord, Himself, will be our crown of glory and beauty.

Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”

Amid the media barrage of bad news, vicious circumstances, and questionable reporting, let’s lean into Jesus, think on the bright and beautiful things around us. Remember the memories you’ve got of good times, good friends, good fellowship, worship and praise. Like Philippians 4:8 says at the end, “… think on these things”.

What do you think?

       Recently, a man says to me, “Why do we so often defer to anyone and everyone except God?”

You know, that’s a real good question. Why do we do that? National Geographic has published several articles in the last year which consistently made scientists out as having discovered everything from the origins of the universe, to the source of happiness. The titles, as advertised on the cover, would lead anyone to believe archeologists and scientists have found the true source of everything, yet when you read the article, the writer is careful to use words like, “probably”, “maybe”, “it’s possible”, and “we think it might be likely”. The articles almost always exclude God in any fashion, and point the reader to everything NOT God. Through that kind of publishing people are influenced to defer to scientists, archeologists, their family doctor, college professors, or even the pastor of their church, virtually anyone above God. Why?

Leviticus19:15, scripture reads, “You shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.” For “defer” or “deference” in this case, it doesn’t mean to prolong or procrastinate but to hold another up above others. In the word itself, God has hidden a more specific explanation, meaning that when we defer to another, we are making a conscious choice to open ourselves to God for life, or to be closed to Him for our own alienation. The word represents a giant life-determining fork in the road as the beginning of greatness or the beginning of degradation. The paths of our lives have many intersections, many circling back to the main road, and some which lead off into only God knows where. Who we choose to defer to isn’t a small fork in the road but a major, galactic intersection. It may seem small, that little five letter word “defer”, but the direction we aim our feet determines our heart and mind set, and our heart and mind set determines the direction of our feet, they play together as one influences the other in how we conduct ourselves and the details of our lives. Who or what we defer to influences what we see and hear, and the more we are influenced, the more we steer toward our deference’s. Jesus said in Matthew 13:12, “to those who have, more will be given, and to those who have not, even what they have will be taken away“. That’s like saying, the more we go towards the influence of our deferences, the more we’ll be influenced by those we defer to.

In the end, either we defer to God or we defer to the world. i don’t believe for a second that we can defer to God a little and the world a little. The Lord will not be mingled. In our heart of hearts, many seem to believe there is some sort of middle of the road of faith. i think that’s called being “lukewarm”, which is to never really buy into all the Lord has, and never really buy’s into all the world offers without God. And i can say with confidence, ain’t nobody smart enough to do life without Him. Regardless of what we may think, there really are only two choices, Heaven or hell. Who’s side are you on? It’s the same question God asked Adam in the garden when He said, “Where are you?” He wasn’t exactly asking for a geographical location, He was asking, “Who’s side are you on buddy? My side or the devil’s side?” It was a choice Adam and Eve made, consciously choosing to defer to the snake over the word of the Lord.

For what reason do we often defer to anyone but God? Anger? Unbelief? Self-centeredness? Hurt? Indifference? Or maybe they have something you want and if you don’t do as you’re told you won’t get what you want. Probably all of those and more if we’re honest.

In my efforts to not be hurt by others, the enemy often accuses me of being indifferent, and i’ve struggled with believing i actually was. Here of late, i’ve discovered something though. i know i defer to God with all my heart and i’m peddling my little tricycle just as hard as i can go in the name of Jesus, but yet i struggle with believing i’m indifferent versus caring too much. i’ve realized my apparent nonchalance is not indifference, but trust. i’ve also realized my own tendency to go over the top to maintain favor, or to defer to everyone i encounter, being Mr. Go Along To Get Along. Often, i find myself among others in ministry who are viciously, while smiling, competing for roles of power, working day and night to build an incredible Christian resume. They seem to operate under the theological assumption that they use their gifts for the greatest opportunities to the fullest capacity, which results in success driven leadership. We defer to them because they often “imply” to us, in the way they treat others and how they present themselves, that we should defer to them …. and we even defer to that implication, thinking it is “the way you’re supposed to do this thing”. We need to defer to God instead of deferring to someone who has a knack of turning everything into an emergency where they are the only ones who are skilled firefighters.

i say we should defer to God and God alone. Not what does your pastor or some scientist think, but what does God think? Like when Elijah encountered the dry bones. The Lord asked, “What do you see”, Elijah’s heart was revealed in his deferring to God by his reply of, “You know Lord, You know.”

Ask yourself, how much effort do you spend, making sure you maintain that other person’s favor in order to keep the relationship? If you didn’t defer to them, would they still be onboard with you? In our society, our identity is measured by our contribution, and it’s actually easier than we think to translate our standing with God to a platform of performance. It feels more like a contortion than deferring. Believe me, “they” don’t “know”, but God does and He’s the only one we should defer to, first and last as a habit.

What do you think?

i’m Social Porter with Living In His Name Ministries.

Pondering … what a pondersome thing to ponder upon.

Pondering is powerful stuff. When i was a kid i was told to let my mind wander to imagine life from a different angle. “Go and dream! Dream big, loud, splashy. colorful dreams” they said. Then, by another adult, i was told to stop dreaming do much because i wasn’t present in the room at school. It was very conflicting. i wondered, could i dream big yet still be present and in the room enough to learn the subject on the blackboard in front of me? Yet, to this day, pondering upon the Lord is my great addiction. There’s not many things in this life i can do all i want till i’m satisfied, and pondering and chasing after Jesus is number one … and two, and three on the list of priorities. Interestingly, pondering on the Lord always leaves me satisfied, and always inspires my need to know Him more, all at the same time.

Luke 2:19, “But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” The Greek word, sumballo (soom-bal-o) is translated “pondered” here, and it means “to combine together for comparison.” For us, the word represents our method, which the Lord has given us, that we would learn to come to conclusions, for good or not, either way, it speaks of a process. To “ponder” the days events is to remember the words and events of the day, do a comparative analysis searching for God’s direction, in hopes that it all might yield more light into the astonishing unfolding days of our lives. As we ponder, we keep adding to our valuable treasure pile, little bit here, a little bit more there, holding it all as possibly important. We put some things on the back burner and some things to the front as we unpack our ponderings, spreading them out on the table of our heart to make “circumspect decisions”. We take it all out, roll it around, consider it this way and that, each time rearranging the pieces a little differently. As i ponder the events of the day in the evening, i might put the morning phone call from a friend in front, behind the scripture i read. Then upon remembering a dream from the other day which seems relevant to things in the moment, i might file it visibly behind the first two. A few days from now, i might rearrange it all until the word of the Lord begins to come clear, with every rearrangement held up to the Lord and compared to the other valuables in my bag.

That is pondering from God’s perspective. It’s not just dreaming of whatever and letting anything float through our minds, it is more specific and is a tool God invented to help us “work out our salvation with fear and trembling”. Note the words in Philippians 2:12, “work out”, which means to lay your hand to. Think, consider and take action in order to accomplish it. In addition, i’ll add that to “work out” also implies to not ignore the things which hinder you, in the sense that we’ll have to “live with it, until we deal with it.” What are you willing to live with which is not good, in order to avoid being uncomfortable and inconvenienced?

In 2 Kings 19:14, we see that Hezekiah has received a letter from the armies of Syria which had surrounded the city to destroy it and take captives. Scripture says, “Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD and spread it before the LORD.”

You see there where he “spread it before the Lord”? That is a Hebrew idiom meaning he split the letter up in parts and pages to get a better circumspect view, then made an invitation for the Lord to join him in pondering the events of the day. In the following verses, he goes on to ask God for His wisdom and help. Not only did he spread it out to ponder, but in vs16 he talks to the Lord about it all, just as if they’re physically sitting together making conversation. He’s basically saying, “Look at this ridiculous letter. Check it out Lord, this is just crazy, and what’s worse, this arrogant king-person is calling you names, and that’s just wrong, wrong, wrong. What do you wanna do here, ‘cause i’ve looked at this from all different angles and the path concerning what to do is just not clear.” He had pondered to a conclusion that only God knew what to do, and he believed the answer would come.

Sometimes, we need to, “mature an idea, uninterrupted, brooding on the matter”, letting our thought patterns become more like a staircase than simply filling out a block diagram. Many things the Lord extends need to be treated like wine. Don’t get in a hurry, let it mature, trust that the Lord will make it come clear in due season. You’ll see.

In Acts 4:15 it says they “conferred with each other”. The word “conferred” is the very similar word translated as “pondered”, like the example of Mary. They combined ideas, good and bad, made good points and argued over counterpoints to decide an issue. A similar scene can be observed in Luke 24, where two men were walking to Emmaus, and scripture says they “talked, and discussed” as they walked, in other words, it wasn’t idle chatter, they were deep in a serious conversation, pondering the recent things which had happened. They discussed, and reasoned together with the intent of understanding the heart of the Lord. Then Jesus appeared and began to explain it to them, though in the moment they didn’t recognize Him. At the proper time, the eyes of their understanding were opened. It was a huge AH-HA moment.

In Acts 17, when Paul was in Athens, vs18 says he “conversed” with the philosophers who gathered to exchange ideas. The word “conversed” is the same word previously translated “ponder”, meaning that Paul listened, laid out ideas, points and counterpoints, they spread out their ideas so they could see them and held each one up, comparatively, to see if it, “held water”, so to speak. They pondered together.

Proverbs 4:26, “Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure.” Interestingly, “ponder” there is a slightly different word, which, in this case, it means to “roll flat, fold back together, revolve, and weigh,” like someone kneading dough. That is God’s idea of pondering. It is a tool which the Lord gave us to help make good choices in life, yet there are many who simply take the words of a respected person for granted without “working out” what the Lord is saying to them, specifically. Hear this: No one but you is responsible for the people you prefer to defer to, concerning what you believe, how you came to that conclusion, and why you think it’s a good idea.

If we don’t hold each piece of our ideas, thinking, and insight up to the Lord, rolling it flat, weighing the information, then folding it all back together again, what are we actually doing except blindly following along. The Lord never, ever, asked for blind followers.

What do you think?

i’m Social Porter with Living In His Name.

     Have we considered God’s idea of prosperity> i know what i think it is, but what does the Lord say about it? That is the absolute bottom line isn’t it? Not what we think or imagine, but what does God say?

So much of my life has been spent struggling to keep my head above water in keeping the bills paid, keeping food on the table, keeping the house warm and tight. Don’t get me wrong, the Lord has always made a way, sometimes quite spectacularly, nevertheless, being well and being able to provide for my family has always been such a stinkin’ struggle it is unbelievable. i’ve never considered myself a prosperous person, at least according to my definition of what i thought it meant. You know … i’ve been wrong. i’ve realized in the last few years that i’ve been merely surviving, and God says i’m supposed to be prospering.

So, one day, while walking, i entered into a conversation with the Lord out of concern because i knew i had spent most of my life merely surviving, and wondered out loud as to what He meant when He used the word “prosperous”. Shortly, a question or two floated across my mind. “If your bills were paid, would you see yourself as prosperous?” Yes. Then i wouldn’t have to worry if we’ll pay the electric bill or not. That would be amazing. “If you and your wife were the spitting images of health, would you see yourself as prosperous?” Yes. Then i wouldn’t be so troubled about if we couldn’t work, how would we make money to pay the bills. That would also be amazing. “If you drove a nice car, had heat when it was cold, had hot and cold running water, comfortable furniture, a great smart phone, your bills paid in advance, and were glossy-photo examples of health, then would you see yourself as prosperous?” Uh oh. Now i’m beginning to see where He’s going, and i’m suddenly, none too comfortable.

When i got home, i set off on a journey to better understand God’s view of prosperity, and for a large part, it’s not what i thought, nor is it what i was often taught. God’s idea of prosperity is bigger, and way better than i imagined. Isn’t it absolutely absurd to teach other believers that if they aren’t wealthy, they are on the outs with God, or that there is sin in their life. i find that especially cruel to burden people with that sort of crazy doctrine. How would we explain that kind of thing to the believers who live in desperate places, or is our man-made idea of prosperity only for the elite in America?

Straight out of the gate, David declares in Psalm 33:12 that any nation whose God is the Lord is prosperous, prosperous often being translated as blessed. Jesus is our perfect and just weight by which we measure our well being. He called Himself “the door”, so through Him do we possess our righteous reflection, through Him is all our aspiration of well being, continually capturing our breath as unto the Lord. THAT is prosperity. Christ alone is our standard of humility, and by His living in our heart, we exude the impression and spark of His person. THAT is living in prosperity. Jesus is the image through and by whom we come to covenant peace, wholeness, beauty, and a perfect heart in the eyes of the Father.

13 times in Matthew, Jesus used the word “blessed” which is to say “prosperous, go straight, to set right”. That is prosperous in the sense of parents with fine children, mothers with admirable sons who are strong and do not break, and a bridegroom who has won an excellent bride. It is used in the sense of those who have found great joy in love, and those who have good wisdom and understanding. With prosperity comes a striding of honor, not strutting in self-elevation, but striding of honor. God appointed honor and respect is also called prosperity. The Lord considers us prosperous when our inner Christ-likeness is visible and shining.

Proverbs 20:7 is translated using the word blessed for prosperity, so we can say the children of those who are righteous and walk in integrity are prosperous. The words used for blessed or prosperous has a core idea of dynamic forward motion, literal, figurative, or spiritual. Please! Think about that! i would choose Holy Spirit driven dynamic forward motion anytime over the temporary wealth of this world.

A prosperous person is one who walks in fullness of life, or to walk in the fullness of your space, and of someone the Holy Spirit comes mightily upon, like in Judges with Samson. In Proverbs 20:7, blessed or prosperity has honor and wisdom, with wisdom being a consistent mark of prosperity from cover to cover in the Bible. Did you get that? Wisdom is a consistent mark of prosperity. A lack of wisdom is also an earmark of poverty. Near to the Lord is to be prosperous, and far from God is to be among the poor. Jesus said in John 12:8 the poor will always be with us, and the use of poor there doesn’t mean those who don’t have stuff, but more a spiritual, moral, or ethical poverty.

How many times have i been told by some well meaning soul, that the reason i wasn’t prosperous (as in important and wealthy) was because there must be sin in my life. Yea, i’ve been told that. Their idea of poverty was barely having enough money, not having a nice car or a comfortable place to live and influential friends. Friends, if we think material possession is prosperity, God has told us different and we have refused to listen, which, again, the word “stupid” comes to mind because we have refused to listen.

The Lord says a little about being well off, fat, and having plenty of everything, and many times that is right on. But by far and large God’s idea of prosperity is seen in the wonderful word picture of Galatians 5:22-23. The O.T. idea of prosperity, and this is amazing, so listen, the O.T. picture of prosperity is of an ox that is so robust, and has a neck that is so massive, it literally snaps the yoke from it’s neck. No longer a slave. THAT is God’s idea of prosperity. His intent is to make you and i so robust and massive, all yokes of bondage snap off our necks. Pretty incredible, and way different than the picture of prosperity we’ve often been taught from the pulpit.

Having lots of stuff and your bills paid doesn’t necessarily make you prosperous, it just makes you having lots of stuff and your bills paid. Having lots of stuff is not indicative of God’s blessing and anointing upon you. More importantly, do you exercise wisdom and understanding, are you prosperous in having received the message of salvation? If God shares His heart with you, THAT is prosperity and by the fact He is even involved with us is prosperity. Our strength for right conduct is indicative of thriving prosperity. Outward success is aligned as “fleeting earthly happiness”, and there is a rebuke in Malachi 3 to those who decide that they are prosperous according to outward success.

We are prosperous in Christ, the humble door who is the reflection and image of righteousness and is alive in us. You and i, as children of the most high are highly favored, and greatly blessed. Oh, yes you are! We are to be prosperous not merely surviving.

What do you think?

i’m Social Porter with Living In His Name Ministries.

Prayer is the breath of our spiritual life. A Christian life without prayer is like not breathing and expecting to continue to live. Prayer is our lifeline to God, it is something we, as Christians, must do regularly, even as often as we take in air. A wise man once said, “… Prayer is the breath of a newborn soul, and there can be no life without it.” Many people speak of having a “prayer life” as casually as they speak of breathing, but it isn’t just some structure or form of our spiritual life, but the thing we do which keeps our life in Christ going. It is a lifestyle, not just a “thing” we do.

There are many advantages of living under the banner of God’s love, one of those wonderful benefits is answered prayer. In Matthew 16:9-13, Jesus outlines how to pray and what to pray. In prayer we acknowledge God’s sovereign fatherhood when we say, “Our Father, who is in heaven.” We get to praise Him by name for His name represents His nature, we praise His very being when we say “Your Name is holy, sacred and set apart” or “Hallowed be Thy name.”

In our time of prayer we use that time for confession, repentance or the pursuit of the path home, forgiveness …. and asking God for His grace in our relationships with other people; our forgiveness of others goes hand in hand with God’s forgiveness for us. Psalms 103:3 “Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies”. If we expect our prayers to be answered, one of the keys is that we forgive others, as seen in the words of Jesus in Luke 6:37 “…Forgive, and you will be forgiven”. Probably, one of the most powerful prayers anyone could give voice to is one word to God, “help”. And we can’t be rethinking His answer. Many times we ask the Lord a question, what He said was “not now”, but we rethink it to meaning “no”. Friends, not “no”, but “not now”. Be patient and listen for the rest of the story from Him. Easier said than done, but it is wisdom,

Through prayer we align with God and He keeps us on the path of His kindness and purposes, keeping us in His power and anointing, and defends us from evil. He answers our prayers for help and in Him we find “lovingkindness and our fortress, He is my high tower and my deliverer, My shield and the One in whom I take refuge” (Psalm 144:2).

We are guaranteed God will hear us and will answer us in 1 John 5:14,15, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” In John 14:14, Jesus said, “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”

In Psalm 86:7, David said, “In the day of my trouble I will call upon You, For You will answer me.” This is still true for us today. He may not answer right when we want Him to, but He WILL answer.

Answered prayer, our petitions we hold up before the Lord will be and are addressed. It is a feature of our relationship with God Almighty that is completely unique within any, ANY system of belief. The universe doesn’t answer people’s questions. It has no voice, no eyes, no ears, no compassion, no mercy, no judgment, no purpose, no dreams, no ideas, no personality. The universe is deaf, blind, and dumb with no ability to rescue you in your time of need, But. God, our God, not only does give us hope, mercy, purpose, dreams, ideas, hearing and seeing, He has all those things and more. His listening ears are always listening, and He even answers our prayers. These are a few of the things God gives to us His children, with abundance.

1. Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
   That calls me from a world of care,
   And bids me at my Father’s throne
   Make all my wants and wishes known.
   In seasons of distress and grief,
   My soul has often found relief,
   And oft escaped the tempter’s snare,
   By thy return, sweet hour of prayer!

If you ask God, He will answer. Test Him out, talk to Jesus, He has exactly what you need. The Lord will always act in your best interest, He will hear you when you call, and He will answer.

i’m Social Porter for Living In His Name Ministries.