Beautiful

 "Beautiful" is a word that may mean different things to different people, but for all of us, I think it's what we would like our lives to be described as. Sadly, too often our lives are anything but beautiful, whatever our definition may be. There are times, often very long times, when life seems to be made up of nothing but grey sadness. "Ugly" may best describe what is happening. Maybe that's what's happening to you right now.

We were created by Him to love, desire, and appreciate beauty. He also enables us to see beauty in every place we may find ourselves. Yet, this can seem impossible in those places and times when nothing seems beautiful. When all around us can only be described as ugly and hideous......and it only seems to be getting worse. In these times we long for beauty. In these times we wonder if we will ever see or know beauty again.

In Ecclesiastes, a wonderful promise is given. He will make all things beautiful in His time." For those in the midst of deep pain and darkness, that can be a mind-boggling statement. We well know the extent of our hurt, loss, disappointment, and failure. Yet He is bold enough to say to us, "I will do just that! I will make, at just the right time, your life and all that it is, beautiful!" 

We live in a fallen world, and it doesn't lack the means to bring suffering, loss, and ugliness to us. They are in this world and they are real. Yet there is One, Jesus, who says, "In the world you will have trouble, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world." The One who has overcome all the darkness and loss the world can assail us with, tells us that if we will come to Him, trust Him, cling to Him, He will enable us to overcome it as well. As promised in Romans, we become "more than conquerors through Christ Jesus." He will turn the wilderness into a place of joy and give beauty for ashes. He will make all things  beautiful ,,,,,

in His time. 

I close with this story of one who I pastored years ago. He's lost so much in his life. His marriage, home, and his hope. He sank into a dark depression, one that went on and on. In the darkness, He turned to Christ and began to follow Him. In the pain, He followed Him. He pressed on, a step at a time. I'll never forget the Sunday morning when he rose to testify that he'd been driving to his childhood home in the Blue Ridge mountains when he came upon the most beautiful sunset he'd ever seen. He said that previous to that, he'd never noticed any real beauty anywhere, but in Christ, he saw a beauty he was unable to see before. From that moment, everything changed. It changed from the inside out. That's always where His beauty begins. In our hearts, with Him.

Beloved, would you dare to bring your life to He who is Beauty itself? To the Beautiful One? Let Him take hold of you and all the ugly ashes of life. He will give you beauty. He will give you Himself.

Blessings,
Pastor O 

Where?

 "Then Jesus turned to the twelve and asked, 'Are you going to leave too?' Simon Peter replied, 'Lord, to whom would we go? You alone have the words that give eternal life.' " John 6:67-68

In my prayer journal I have written the question, "Will we follow Him even if this is not the life we wanted?"

In a church culture that likes to emphasize all the "benefits" of being a follower of Christ, that He has a "wonderful plan for our lives," such a question is not much considered. That's likely the reason so many suffer shipwreck to their faith. They balked at going down the path that Christ was leading them to and on. That's what happened in John 6. A crowd was following Him up to the moment when He told them that to come after Him meant that they had to do so with every fiber of their being. Commitment had to be total and final. The crowd had been mesmerized by His miracles and wonders. They loved the good bread and fishes he gave out. Giving their all to Him without a guarantee of it continuing was more than they wanted. They turned back. Thus the question Jesus had for the remaining 12. Would they leave as well? Peter answered for all: "Lord, where would we go? Where can we go? There is life in no one and nothing else." 

If such a place and question has not been reached by you and asked of you by Him, I believe it will be, and perhaps much sooner than you think or want. Especially as concerns the days we are living in. Comfort and ease as an expected lifestyle may well be passing away, at least as concerns the outward things. They were a mirage to begin with. When they do, many will turn back. Would you? Will you? 

I had such a time come into my life. I've shared before about some of the deep losses I've experienced, so I won't go too much into them here. Suffice to say, I know what it's like to have the stark reality of having lost most everything dear to me, and then have that question asked of me. Would I turn back from Him? Would I leave Him and look elsewhere for life? In my pain and loss and in my doubts and questions, I still could come to only one answer and one conclusion: to whom would I go? Where would I go? I knew I couldn't go back to the lifestyle of drugs and parties and the attempt to dull all the pain through them. I already knew that this would lead to my death. I also knew that even though this current place was one I would never have wanted or chosen, and was a place where He seemed absent, a place where all my questions remained, a place where anger and doubt could creep in, it was not a place that could take away a reality I knew was true. That reality was Him. I had experienced Him enough prior to all this that I knew He was real. I knew He was a miracle working Lord. I knew to seek another way was death. The way He called me to, with all the loss, pain, and risk, with all the questions, was the way I had to go. Where else could I go? He had the words of life. He still does.

We are coming into days where we may encounter challenges, losses, and heartaches to the degree we never thought possible. In those places, we'll be faced with that choice: will we turn back from Him or will we go on with Him? How will you answer? Is your reality with Him so deep and true that you can answer with Peter, "Where will I go? You alone have words of life. You alone give life." I know this; You, we, need to have the answer before He asks. Have you already determined that nothing, absolutely nothing will cause you to turn back from Him? If not, I exhort you to do so now. If you wait for the crisis to happen, you may not have the strength or faith to choose Him. Neither Peter or any of the other disciples had any idea of the trials and challenges yet to come for them. They would stumble, even fail Him in the midst of it all, but they wouldn't turn back.He also knew that though they might fall down, their hearts would not let them stay down or go away from Him. The choice of whose they were had been fully made. Has it been made with you? Will you make it now....before the crisis comes? Where will you go? Where are going right now?

Blessings,
Pastor O

The Exchange

 In the 31st chapter of Jeremiah, the Father is speaking to His people Israel, a people whose disobedience and rebellion had led them into a captivity within the empire of Babylon. They were far from their homeland and their lives were ones of chaos and despair. A chaos and despair of their own making. Even so, the heart of their God sought them out there, and called to their sorrowing hearts. He said, "I have loved you, My people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to Myself." In this captive land that was not their land, He spoke three powerful promises to them. "Tears of joy will stream down their faces and I will lead them home with great care.....For the Lord has redeemed Israel from those who are too strong for them...

....I will turn their mourning into joy. I will comfort them and exchange their sorrow for rejoicing."

I don't know where you are today as you read this, but be sure, He does. Like the Israelites, you may be overwhelmed in the midst of chaos and despair. Maybe you're there as the result of your own choices. Maybe you're there because of the actions of others. Whatever the reason, you know it to be a place of desperation. Such a place as you've never known before. Can you trust a God who is greater than all the chaos and things you fear?

It could be that though you're not facing any particularly intense danger or circumstances, you do feel yourself to be wandering, moving through this time in your life where the only distinguishing characteristic is the dreary sameness of it all. You may not be in sorrow, but neither can you remember when you were truly happy, or content. You've heard about His joy, but you wonder if you'll ever really know it.

Maybe your place is one of just wondering, "does anyone, including God, really care about me or love me?" You feel alone, forgotten, abandoned, and rejected. You've felt this way for a long time. You long for acceptance and unconditional love, but will you ever find it? 

In these places, in all places, He longs to reveal not only His love and care to you, but Himself as well. That you would not only know about His unfailing love and care, but that you would experience it, live in it as well. To know and experience them in the deepest parts of your being. To know that you can regardless of how you may have gotten to this place, be it your own failures or another's. He wants you to know that as you wander through the grey surroundings of your personal wilderness, He will, if you will come to Him, "lead you home with great care." Come to Him, because in Christ, He has already come to you. 

If you find yourself in circumstances far greater than your ability to deal with or overcome, know that He will "redeem you from those too strong for you." He will turn your mourning into joy and exchange your sorrow for rejoicing. It's a guarantee written in the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. 

Why not stop where you are right now and call to Him from your heart? He's there. He's always been there. He'll answer. He'll come because He already has come. He'll lead you out with care, love, and power. He won't fail because He is love and His love never fails. It will not fail you now. 

Blessings,
Pastor O

Prayers

 In my journal are many prayers. Today I share three of them with you, all based on Scriptures in I John. If you're reading this, they're prayed for you.

I John 5:12...."So whoever has God's Son has life. Whoever does not have His Son does not have life." Lord Jesus, may Your life fill every area of my life, of our lives. May there be no place where we are lifeless.

For this prayer to be a reality, Jesus Christ must have truly entered into your heart by faith. If you have received Him as Savior, then He must also be your Lord. That means no area of your life can be off limits to Him. Your past, present, and future, are all yielded to His leading and Lordship. Where Christ lives, we have the fullness of His life. If there is any place that we hold back from Him, where He isn't welcomed, in that place, we have none of His life. We are lifeless in that place. In that place death reigns. May there be no such places in your heart or mine. May we be filled with His life and may there be no place for death in any of its forms.

I John 5:18...."We know that those who have become part of God's family do not make a practice of sinning. For God's Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot get his hands on them." Lord Jesus, may we live and be held so securely in Your hands that the evil one, despite all his schemes and ploys, cannot get a hold of us. We're held tightly in Your grip of life.

For this prayer to be our reality, we have to consciously choose to follow and obey His leading each day. That choice was made in an overall way in the above prayer. Now our lives will be challenged to choose His way and life each moment of each day. Satan, the enemy of our soul will never cease to tempt, seduce, and pull us from Jesus Christ. He has a seemingly endless supply of schemes to secure his ends. We cannot overcome him in our own strength. We overcome Him in Christ, who overcame him at the cross. A life held in Christ's hand is a life that is totally secure in Him. Such a life is drawn to Him and shuns sin in all of its forms. By His grace we may live in His security. We have the choice as to whether we will live in it or not. May you, we, choose to do so this day and every day.

I John 5:21...."Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God's place in your lives." Lord Jesus, there are so many false gods and destructive desires that endlessly seek to draw us away from You. The enemy's favorite ploy is to offer what is good in order that we would miss, even reject what is best, and the best is always You.

Throughout His Word we are exhorted to "guard our hearts." The last Scripture gives excellent reason why we must. Satan will use any and all means that he can to seek to draw our hearts, attention, and commitment away from Christ and place it upon someone or something else. In the end, he seeks to get us to depend upon him and his ways rather than Jesus Christ, He who is The Way. Wherever the devil succeeds in doing this, death and not life will be at work in us. May it be that your heart and mine are constantly guarded by His presence and that our journey is one that goes ever deeper into His heart and never away from it. May nothing be able to take His place in our hearts.

These are my prayers for you today. May they be yours as well. For you, and for all those that you pray for today.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Werewolves

 Scripture calls us to "follow hard after God." The root meaning of that is to cling to Him with all our strength. I think a secondary understanding is that doing so is just what the words say; hard. Following Him wholeheartedly isn't easy. Indeed it's costly. It takes us through hard places and hard times, and most often as we walk there we'll hear Him say little else except, "Trust Me!." We want more than that, but He doesn't often comply.

I heard a woman named Jennifer Rothschild, who suffered blindness at the age of 15, say that "There are seasons when we weary of our allowed darkness." We can all say "amen" to that. We can get very weary. Maybe you're very weary right now. So, what she says next may not be what we want to hear, yet we must listen anyway. "We can thrive in the dark, but only through the Light of His Word." How many of us would describe what we experience in the dark as "thriving?" Yet I believe she's right.

When I was a small boy, I greatly feared the dark. I was not helped by the reality that I had two older brothers who really enjoyed giving me detailed descriptions of the werewolves, ghosts, and witches who were lurking outside my window. My father would tell me that there wasn't anything there in the dark that wasn't also there in the light. He obviously hadn't seen the werewolves that I KNEW were there and about to pounce. I needed a weapon, and the only one I had was my brother's old, dull boy scout pocket knife. It wasn't much, but somehow it made me feel safe. Bring on the werewolves! I was ready!

Once, on the program "Antiques Roadshow," someone brought a solid gold sword, awarded to a Civil War general by the President himself. It was inscribed with the words, "Courage, Valor, Honor." Commenting on this, Rothschild said that the Father does the same in giving us His Word of promise. In His Word we find hope, courage, perseverance, strength, and most of all His Living Word of Life, Jesus Christ. He not only speaks in and through His Word, He is the Word Himself. He and His Word are our sword, and it was said of the truly great warriors of old that no one could tell where their sword ended and their arm began. If we're to be true overcomers, the same must be said of us. Can people tell where His Word in us ends and we begin, or are we truly as one?

The darkness will remain to some degree in this life. Sometimes to a very great degree. There are going to always be things that we don't understand, roadways ahead that we can't see. His words to us are simply, "Trust Me!" Trust what He's spoken and continues to speak. Trust when you don't know but know that He does. He asks a lot because that is what following hard after Him entails. It calls for a total investment of yourself coupled with total trust in Him. Trusting in the darkness. Thriving in the darkness as we walk in the Light of His Word. His Word made flesh in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ who has conquered all darkness, including the darkness we may presently be walking through.

If we'll do so, we will, like Moses, "enter into the thick darkness....where God was," and is. Let the werewolves, real and imagined, come. They are defeated. Not by a dull pocket knife, but by the power and victory of His Word. We will come through and we will thrive. Let us trust Him, even in the deepest darkness. He is there, and He reigns....forever.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Unfailing Love

 Back in the early 90's, I was seeking to share about the life to be had with a young guy I worked with named Ron. Ron was trapped in a life of drug use, anger, bitterness, and hopelessness. One day he lashed out at me, saying that what I was telling Him of that life didn't seem to be working for me. I was a pastor who wasn't in full time ministry. My marriage had broken up and I was working at a job that gave little satisfaction. From his perspective, I'd lost everything. How could I talk about a Jesus who makes all the difference when the results indicated to him that He'd made no difference to me at all?

Questions like these will come to all who journey through life with Christ. We will encounter pain, suffering, and loss. Jesus said that we would. To the world, it's a fair question; how can we trust Him when He seems to have forgotten us? How can we follow Him when He seems to be leading us nowhere except ever deeper into the wilderness? I find answers for these questions in John 11 with the account of Jesus, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. 

Jesus was with His disciples when word came to Him that His beloved friend, Lazarus, was sick. Sick unto death. His disciples expected Him to go to Lazarus immediately, but instead, He stayed where He was for two more days. Finally He set out, and the disciples held to the hope that Lazarus could be saved. Jesus simply said, "Lazarus is dead!" When He came to the village where Lazarus had lived, along with his sisters Martha and Mary, He was met first by Martha, and then Mary. Both said the same thing to Him. "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." Left unsaid was the question, "Lord, why weren't You here? Where were You? Why would you allow this?" Watching all of this were more than a few "Ron's," asking the question, "This man healed a blind man. Why couldn't He keep Lazarus from dying?" What they meant was that the Lord must not have cared, couldn't have helped anyway, or....both.

You likely know the rest of the story. Lazarus was in a sealed tomb and dead for three plus days. In Jewish thinking and belief, he was past all hope of being brought back to life. Jesus ordered the stone removed and then called Lazarus forth from his grave. He did come out, and to the joy and amazement of all. Yet, there was no joy or amazement before this. Just pain and loss. Life with Christ can be like that at times. And we can come to Him with the same questions as Martha and Mary....and Ron. Maybe you're coming to Him with those questions right now. If so, these words of Christ must come to live in your heart. When Martha hesitated to order the stone removed as Lazarus had been dead for more than three days and the body would be decaying, He said, "Didn't I tell you that you will see God's glory if you believe?" That is our answer in all of our "Why's?" In the death of our dreams, hopes, and plans and in the center of our current wilderness, He calls us..."Believe Me!" Believe Him and we will see His glory. Martha and Mary did. Lazarus did. I did. 

Romans 10:11 says, "Whoever believes on Him shall not be ashamed." As writer and pastor R.T. Kendall says, "God will clear His name." Little more than a month or so after Ron's biting observation of my life, the Lord opened the door for my re-entering into full time ministry. Since then He has given to me far more than all that I had lost. The wilderness time had been very hard, and I had my own share of questions, but I kept determined to believe, even when my heart grew faint. What He gave back to me was far more than all I had lost. In his book, The Unfailing Love Of Jesus, Kendall says that it's likely that if Jesus had been there Lazarus wouldn't have died, but neither would he have been raised from the dead, which was a far greater thing. Wherever you may feel that death in some form has taken a grip on your life, stealing joy, hope, and life, BELIEVE! Believe Him. Hold to Him. You will see His glory. God, who cannot lie, has promised. The promise is sealed with the blood of His Son.

Blessings,
Pastor O

The Search

 Long ago the LORD said to Israel: “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself." Jeremiah 31:3

It's a new year, and we'll be bombarded with all kinds of new year related advertising. Two of the most prevalent will be directed at either finally getting in shape or finally finding love. It's the latter that I want to focus on today.

It seems impossible that anyone, particularly a single person, is not made very aware of all the various "dating sites" that are available, and there seems to be a never ending line of people seeking to make use of them. "Find Love In 2024," will be a rallying cry for many. It's a powerful appeal because everyone wants to find love. Everyone wants to be loved. We can be desperate in our search. We can also leave a long trail of destruction in that search. Destruction of ourselves and of those we've encountered along the way. I know. I was part of the desperate crowd. You may have been as well. Maybe you still are.

We were created for love, to love and be loved. Our human ancestors Adam and Eve knew that love. Perfect love in their Creator God. Then, through their disobedience, sin entered into the world and their relationship with Him and His love was severed. He didn't cease to love us, we lost the ability to truly love Him. Yet their hunger for that love remained. Sin caused them, and in turn, us, to seek to find that love in a multitude of counterfeit ways. More than that, our understanding of love became severely flawed. We desperately wanted love, but we didn't know what real love was, and neither did we know how to give or receive it. We are wounded people looking for a love that can only be realized in Him. As a result, we end up wounding each other. Wounded parents wound their children. Wounded husbands and wives wound each other. And that which we were created for seems further and further away from our ever realizing. And it can go on even after entering into a saving relationship with Christ. He has to teach us how to love. How to not only give love, but receive it. I know, because He had to do so with me.

We live in a fallen world and that fallenness touches every aspect of our lives, especially in our relationships. We can not escape the wounding that comes with this broken world. In our families, marriages, and every kind of intimate relationship. We keep asking fallen, broken people to give us what only He can. The preponderance of broken marriages and relationships is proof of this. We always think the next one will be THE ONE, but it rarely, if ever is. And we will live in this cycle of defeat and destruction until the reality of Jeremiah becomes our reality. It took many years, but it finally did for me. I pray it will for you as well.

For years I looked for a person to give me what only He could give me. Perfect, unconditional love. Love that met me where I was, accepted me as I was, and filled that void that I kept asking people to fill but never could. Love, His love, that captured my heart, mind, emotions, and spirit. Love that was so full, so rich, so satisfying, that even if there was no particular person in my life, I was still living with a deep sense of fulfillment and satisfaction. Like the old Keith Green song goes, His love broke through. I had finally and fully found love. His love. And nothing was ever the same again. He filled the void. He was, is, the only One who can.

I don't know if this registers with you, but I'll close with this story told by James Robison about his wife Betty. She had always struggled to believe God loved her. As a result, she felt crippled emotionally and spiritually. She sought Him, but the emptiness continued. Finally, one night as she and James lay in bed, he reading and she praying, she began to softly weep. Alarmed, James asked what was wrong. She simply replied, "He's loving me." She was captured by His love. She was made whole. So too, in ways I can't explain, was I, and healing and wholeness have been the result. Healing and wholeness that continue to take place in me. I no longer look for love, I simply receive it. His love. Beloved, may it be so for you this year, this week, this day. Embrace His love, for He surely reaches to you in order to give it.

Blessings,
Pastor O