Everyone

And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life. Matthew 19:29 I hesitate to tell too many of my life experiences with my Lord for fear of coming across as presenting myself as some kind of hero of the faith. I am not. At all. I know how weak I truly am. But the above Scripture has had deep meaning in my life for many years now, and that meaning was brought home once more this very morning. I made the decision to follow Jesus Christ 47 years ago this month. Wherever He led, I would go, no matter the cost....but I never imagined how much that cost would be. It began almost immediately as I left my old life behind, and in doing so, so many of my friends as well. That involved some pain, but I was young and I knew I couldn't stay in the environment I had been living in and still go on with Him. I trusted Him in this and He didn't disappoint. When I left for Bible College, I entered into a whole new world and one of the choice blessings I received were the many fantastic friendships I made there, most of which have continued to this day. He kept His word. I entered the ministry in 1984, and it is where I really began to learn of what it meant to suffer loss for His name. Most of all in my own family. The hardest part of ministry is watching people walk away from you for a number of reasons, but what they all had in common is that on some level, they wanted me to heed them before Him. Refusing to can make people angry and angry people can lash out and do very unloving things. I felt the deep sting of abandonment and betrayal more than a few times. People I thought would never do so, did. It's a story shared by every faithful pastor. Yet again, for everyone that left me, He would raise up from many different sources, those who would prove to truly be friends of the heart. Once more, He kept His word. Eventually, I would pay the deepest price. My wife, who I had believed was my life partner, began to hate the lifestyle of a pastor's wife. She sought for me to make compromises that I just couldn't make. She wanted a lifestyle for us that I knew I could never live. Whatever love she once felt left her, and was replaced by a cold, bitter anger and seeming hatred. She left, and she took her daughter, who we had raised as my own, with her. I will never forget the indescribable and heart wrenching pain I felt on the day she was taken away. A young girl that I loved completely as my own. I would not see or know anything of her for more than a decade. Yet even in this loss, He was faithful, and He has remained so. I lost my family, but what He did in response was to bring in seemingly endless numbers, people of all ages to simply love and be loved by. In 42 years of ministry, I have had the blessing of loving and being loved by so many wonderful people of God. I have formed some of the deepest friendships and relationships that will go on into eternity. What I have gained from Him has greatly outweighed what I lost. I was reminded of that this morning when a young girl, now a teenager, came up to me in church. When I pastored in Northern Viginia, I would each week pick she and her mother up for church. That little girl would sit in the backseat and banter the whole way with me. She was quite the character, but I loved her and knew she loved me. I hadn't seen her in years, but the bond was still there. She's just one of the many countless blessings I have received from Him as I keep on keeping on in the Kingdom. Through it all, through all the losses and cost, He has kept His word. He will always keep His word. Trust Him. The cross of Christ is soaked in His blood. We cannot expect that if we truly follow Him, it will not be soaked with ours as well. In the midst of the cost, He gives His greatest gift; Himself, a truly incomparable gift. . Blessings, Pastor O

Himself

God, in both the Old Testament and New, is always calling us to Himself. In Isaiah, He calls His people to "come, and let us reason together." In the Gospels, Jesus, in response to two of His disciples' questions, calls them to "Come and see." Then of course is His beautiful invitation to all who are weary and broken to "Come unto Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden." It is always to Himself that He calls us, yet we miss that truth so easily. Alicia Britt Chloe said, "We ask for angst dissolving answers; He offers Himself. We pray for peaceful paths; He offers Himself. We desire detailed directions; He offers Himself." We're missing that in our insistence on His giving us answers, or help, or deliverance from hard places, He offers us something far greater. He offers us Himself. We want rest, or peace, or strength, or joy, or answers, or deliverance. We miss that He is all of these and more. We want something He does or gives. He wants to give us Himself. How sad that we settle for so little of Him when He longs to give us so much more of Himself than we could ever imagine. We're missing the great truth that in all those things we see as threats, or needs, or fears, and in which we want His help, that they all must bow to His Presence. We miss that none of these could hold power over us when He is with us and in us in the fullness of His life. In Himself we find everything we could ever need or want, but we're missing that. In comparison, we're asking for cheap tinsel when we could have all the riches of the Kingdom that are found in Him. Somewhere in this day, week, month, or year, we'll be faced with need. In some places, desperate need. May it be that we don't just ask for His work, blessing, or answer. May we seek the best part, as Mary did when she sat at Jesus' feet. May we want nothing more or less than Himself. That is a desire that He will always fulfill. May it be fulfilled in us today. Blessings, Pastor O

Turn

Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace. Helen Lemmel I have always loved this song, and have so many times found it to be completely true. Why then do we so often fail to live out this truth? Why do we instead keep looking upon our problems, needs, afflictions, pain, regrets, and seeming impossibilities, all of which obscure and mar His face? This fallen world is not home for the followers of Christ. Home is found in His eternal Kingdom. Yet we can become so obsessed with what is happening here, that the truth of His Kingdom fades from our consciousness, and this world, which is fading away, becomes the focus of our reality. When that happens, the face, heart, and Person of Jesus Christ is obscured, sometimes wholly so. We've all been there, and we know that it's an awful place to be, yet we allow the enemy to so distract us with the events of this passing world that we become blind to the one that will never pass away. This realm, and all the pain, problems, and needs it contains becomes more real to us than Him. It doesn't have to be so. He doesn't mean that it should. He said that in this world we'd have trouble and suffering, but He also said that we are to be filled with hope and expectation in the midst of it. He has overcome it all, and in Him, so do we. Joni Eareckson Tada has deeply impacted so many lives with her recounting all the times she has faced the terrible pain and suffering that has accompanied her being a quadriplegic. Her pain is constant, but it is especially so in the midnight hours. She speaks of how, in those times, she has learned to gaze upon His face by speaking His Word and His promises that are found there. She softly sings hymns of praise and thanksgiving, and most of all, she prays that He would (once again) come to her with His comfort, joy, peace, and grace. As she does this, she gazes upon His face in ways that only those who have walked such a path of suffering will understand. It cannot be explained, but it can be experienced. He has promised that it shall. There's an old hymn that goes, "It will be worth it all, when we see Jesus. One look at His dear face, all sorrows will erase." I stand on that truth. One day, when we're fully with Him, there will be no more pain, no more sorrow, but in the meantime, we walk through many hills and valleys, but He walks with us, and beloved, if we look for Him, turning our eyes towards where our hearts know Him to be, we'll see His face, and no matter how dark the night or deep the valley, we'll be able to go on.....as we turn our eyes upon Jesus. Blessings, Pastor O

Game Over?

I watched a wonderful short video this morning simply titled "Checkmate." In it, the speaker tells of a group of sports champions touring an art museum. They came to one particular painting titled, "Checkmate." The painting shows the devil and a man playing chess. The devil is obviously winning, having removed most of the man's pieces. Being the devil, he has a wicked grin in his anticipation of winning not just the match, but the man's very soul. The man sits with his hand on his brow, a look of desperation on his face. The tour guide says that the painting depicts Satan's victory over the hopeless man and he takes the group onward. In the group is a world champion chess player, and he tarries, studying the work. The guide soon notices the chess master missing and goes back. He finds him gazing at the painting and wonders why. He tells him that the meaning of the painting is obvious; the devil has won. The chess master replies that it would seem so, but as he studies the painting he has noticed something. Something only a master would see. It's true that the man has lost almost all his pieces to the enemy, but there remains one that almost all observers of the painting miss. There remains to the man one piece; the King, and looking at the position of the King, says the chess master, "The King has one more move." I am no chess player, but I do understand the meaning of checkmate; "Game over." I have been in such places in my walk with the King. Places where the enemy seems to have me in checkmate. Places where it appears sure that the game is over, but appearance is not reality and it is not truth. We serve a King who always has "one more move," a King who is always in command of His position, even in the most seemingly hopeless situations. If we will hold on, if we will not "yield the board," we will witness our Lord making "one more move." The move that will put the devil to flight. The move that will defeat every one of his pieces/weapons. It's a truth that stands in the midst of every battle between the enemy and those who are His. Maybe you're in such a place today. Maybe it seems that every weapon you have has been defeated. Maybe it seems like there is nothing else you can do and no place else you can run to. Maybe you can "see," even feel the enemy laughing at you, savoring your defeat. Take heart! Your King remains on the field. Your King always has "one more move" to make in your defense. One more move to bring victory out of what seems a sure defeat. Galatians 6:9 says that in "due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart." Game over? Only for the devil. It was over for him at Calvary, at the empty tomb. The King has kept him in checkmate ever since, and in Him, so do we. Believe for His "one more move" regardless of how everything seems. He will make it, and you will see the victory that is already yours. Blessings, Pastor O

Beyond Hope?

I watched a teaching by Francis Chan this morning that really impacted me. He was speaking about the passage in Exodus 34:6, where Moses passionately desires to see God. In the translation Chan used, he said that "the Lord descended and stood beside Moses," saying, "I am the Lord, merciful and gracious." There is so much to say about what is happening here, but what moved my heart so strongly was that of Almighty God coming down to where Moses was and standing right there with him. It was what Moses desperately wanted and needed, and God, in His gracious mercy, came to Him. No, it was not a bodily presence, but a spiritual one. Moses beheld the glory of God. This moved my heart to think of all those who need such an encounter with Him today. All those who need the God and Savior who comes down to us in our deepest darkness, valley, and need. Christ came down to us that He might live for us, die for us, and rise for us, but He has never ceased to come down to us wherever we are, whatever our need, and whatever we've done or has been done to us. There is something so powerful about this truth, and the instances in His Word where it happened abound; when Paul stood before Nero, the Roman emperor, alone and abandoned by all, but "Christ stood with me." He comes, wherever we are, whatever the need. He comes as He is and nothing can keep Him away...if we truly desire His presence. Joni Eareckson Tada said that, "Jesus goes where no medicine, no surgery, no counselor can go." We may be in the place considered to be "beyond hope," but it will never be beyond Him and His ministry to us. Beyond His promises to us. God is a merciful and gracious God, and He shows it perfectly in and through His Son, Jesus Christ. Wherever you are today, however deep or seemingly hopeless your situation, He will come down to you. He will stand with you. He will go where no one and nothing else can go....and He will minister His life to you there. Call upon Him. He will come....and leave the means of His coming to Him. There is no place that is beyond our hope in Him. Blessings, Pastor O

Disarmed

No weapon forged against you will prevail and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. Isaiah 54:17 I have written before about my time during the first months of my marriage failing and having to step out of ministry, and of my living on a deserted church campground for a time. The campground was the property of my denomination, and a cottage had been graciously offered for my use. It was also where I had been ordained just two short years before, as well as the place where our District churches gathered each year to report on the just ended year and about how God had been moving. I was thankful for a place to go, but it was a hard place for me to be. The enemy's assaults on me made it even more so. To get to the cottage I was staying in, I had to walk every day past the Tabernacle where I'd been ordained and where the churches gathered each year as a District. Each time I could "feel" the mocking laughter of the devil. He reminded me that this holy place was one that I would never again stand in as a pastor. One I would never really have a place in again. I can't tell you just how real all that was to me. Everything that was happening in my life seemed to undergird the enemy's words. I could not see a way where I would ever be standing in that place again. Yet, I decided I wouldn't walk on my feelings or appearances. I believed that He had promised me that I would, so I did the only thing I could do. I kept on, though I had no idea of just where I was going. A year later, while working at a bank, He began to move in amazing ways in my life. A former classmate at the Bible College contacted me. He said the Lord had put me on his heart, and that he should call me to his church to be his associate. A door opened and I went through. I spent two years as a bi-vocational pastor on his staff, and then the Lord moved again, and again through a former Bible College classmate. His church had lost its building due to debts, but there was a small group from his congregation that wanted to go on as a church. They would not be able to support a pastor and his family, but they could support a single pastor. The Lord put me on his heart and he contacted me to see if I would come. Another door opened and I went through once more. Planting a new congregation is anything but easy. The challenges were immense and it was in Northern Virginia, a graveyard for church plants. The trials and hardships were many, but in all of them we were overcomers. We pressed on. Moreover, we thrived. No, we didn't become a megachurch, but we reached people who likely would never have been reached otherwise. We impacted many, many lives. What I remember best is what took place at the end of my first year, right back at that campground and that Tabernacle. Back at that District gathering once more. I remember almost nothing from my report that day except my final words. I gave glory to God saying that I rejoiced to be back standing in the place the devil said I'd never stand again, doing what he said I'd never do again. All the weapons he'd thrown at me through seemingly endless sources had failed. He couldn't keep me from the purposes the Father had for me. I pastored and led that fellowship for 27 years. I not only saw Him move in miraculous ways, but I came to know Him in ways I never dreamed possible. Truly, He restored for me all the years that the locusts had devoured. No, I never became a "name" in our denomination. I never kept company with those who were. That was never His purpose for me anyway. Keeping company with Him was. He'd been completely faithful. Satan lost...again. The Father, through Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit was victorious again...as He always will be. So, if you find yourself in a barren place today, hearing the voice of hell in your ear, press on. Expect and believe for the miracles that He'll do in and through you. Blessings, Pastor O

He Comes

Say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong and do not fear, for your God is coming to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you." There are so many paintings of Jesus Christ coming and saving those who are in desperate need of Him. I think my favorite is the one that shows Him reaching down to one who is underwater and drowning, with the intent to rescue them from certain death. It comes nearest to reminding me of my own saving experience with Him, and I've a life experience to compare to it. In my childhood, there was a lake in a western Pennsylvania state park that my family would go to every summer. It was always a great time. The lake itself had a rope stretched across the swimming area, preventing non-swimmers like me from going further out into deeper water. I would always go to it with the intent of testing the limits. One time, as I was walking along the rope, I stepped into a hole. I was immediately underwater and didn't know how to get out of it. I floundered about, getting my head above water, and then sinking again beneath it. After several repeats of this, and in near panic, the lifeguard, who was not far away, saw me and dove into the water to save me. He brought me to shore, and I knew he had saved my life. I've thought often of that day, 47 years ago this month, when Jesus Christ came to a floundering, drowning young man, and saved me. I don't have any memory of even noticing that lifeguard who before he jumped into the water to save me, but he was there. He was looking all about him. There were other people around, but none of them saw me. He did. He came. He saved me. It was much the same in my spiritual experience. All my choices had led me to a place where I was slowly but surely drowning. Like my childhood self, I was floundering, sinking, becoming more and more unable to keep my head above water. I remember being in a room full of people, partying as usual, yet feeling lost, broken, hopeless. None of those around knew it or saw it. Yet Jesus, who I hadn't really been aware of for many years, was there. He saw me, and He came in the midst of me floundering about to save me. My drowning went on for a couple more months, but all the while He was there, guarding me, leading me to Himself, till the August evening, when in the dining room of the home I grew up in, I came into His saving embrace, and He lifted me out of the hole that was destroying me, and took me safely to the shore of His Kingdom. I have been with Him, and more, He has been with me ever since. I don't know where you're living this day or how long you've been there. I don't know what enemy, obstacle, danger, or threat comes against you. I don't know how deep the hole is that you are trapped in. What I do know is that He sees you and He comes to you. When that lifeguard came to me, I didn't fight against him as panicking people are prone to do. I allowed him to embrace me and take me to shore. Jesus comes to you where you are right now. Enter into His embrace. He has come to save you from whatever it is "killing" you. Let Him. Cease fighting. Cease running. The Lord who reaches down to where we are in order to lift us to where He is, has come. Let Him save you. Blessings, Pastor O