Jan 6 2015

I Don’t Understand, God

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6

Sometimes, we need to be reminded that God is our Creator, the giver of life, the Master of all things.

When we look for help in this world, we always try to go to someone or something that can give us an answer, whether it be a Youtube how-to video, or someone we know that has experience with the problem we’re having.

In all matters though, God knows more. Therefore, HE should be the first person we go to with our concerns, our problems, and our distress.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart – Don’t have part of your heart trusting in yourself, others, or something else. You have to give it all to God. Don’t let there be an ounce of doubt.

Do not lean on your own understanding – When I try to figure things out all on my own, I usually don’t figure them out. I can ask the question over and over again – Why God, why? – but that’s not for me to try to figure out.

In all your ways acknowledge Him – God has to be a part of your everything. Your joys, your sorrows, your good times and bad.

He will make your paths straight – its a lot easier to see what’s ahead when you’re going straight. I want my path to lead right toward Heaven. I want my path to lead right toward making an impact for Him.

I praise God today for still working on me.

Jan 5 2015

The Forgiveness Conundrum

I’m a big believer in forgiveness. If you look at some of the strongest leaders in the Bible – they are people who experienced great sin, AND great forgiveness. All of us have the opportunity to be forgiven by God, like those spiritual giants in the Bible. David, Peter, Paul, just to name a few – did things that most of us would say “Maybe I can forgive them, but they’ll have to move on elsewhere for what they’ve done.”

And that’s the rub isn’t it? We want to forgive people, with conditions attached. I’ll forgive you, but you have to do this, this, and this.

I’m in the middle of a great book by Dennis McCallum entitled “Satan and His Kingdom: What the Bible Says and How it Matters to You.” In a chapter of the book entitled “Battling Satan Inside Your Church” the author gives a quote that smacked me upside the head. It says this:

“‘Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others’ (Colossians 3:13). Anyone means ‘everybody minus nobody.’ This is explicit language ruling out all excuses. Paul qualifies it even further, saying that our forgiveness should be ‘just as the Lord forgave you’ ( NASB ). And we know the forgiveness we receive in the finished work of Christ is absolute and all- encompassing. Even when our attitude is poor, Jesus’ death provides for our complete forgiveness.”

Wow. Let’s break this down a bit.

Anyone means “everybody minus nobody” – Don’t we tend to be more forgiving towards some and less forgiving towards others? They’ve never messed up before, so maybe I’ll be more lenient toward them. They really insulted my ego, so I’m not going to be as forgiving toward them. That’s not how it goes. Anybody means everybody minus nobody.

Our forgiveness should be “Just as the Lord forgave you.” – Jesus doesn’t say “I forgive you, but I can’t work with you any longer.” Jesus doesn’t say “I forgive you, but when judgement day comes, I’m going to put you in a different part of heaven because of what you did.” Jesus doesn’t say “I forgive but will never forget.” Thank goodness Jesus doesn’t put such conditions on his forgiveness. Jesus simply forgives, and moves on.

The forgiveness we receive is absolute and all-encompassing. – We really tend to have a problem with this don’t we? The conditions we place on our forgiveness take away the “absolute and all-encompassing” part, doesn’t it? We are completely forgiven. Can you completely forgive others?

Even when our attitude is poor, Jesus’ death provides for our complete forgiveness. – This tells me, that even if the person who offended you may not ask, may not care, or goes out and does the same thing again the next day – we provide forgiveness. If you go to the verse in Colossians 3:13 where it says “Make allowance for each other’s faults” you go in knowing this…WE WILL ALL MESS UP. We should anticipate it. We should expect it.

Think about the people who have wronged you. Have you forgiven them? How have you forgiven them? Are there self-imposed conditions attached? Is there a “I forgive but won’t forget” clause attached? Free yourself of those things – forgive, forget, move on. Not only will you bless their life in immeasurable ways, you may just do the same for yourself.

Today I praise God for forgiving me without condition. He just forgives.

Jan 4 2015

Booyah!

While growing up, our family did not have cable. I never fully appreciated ESPN or Sportscenter until I got to college, where you could imagine it would be on in the lobby pretty much 24/7. At night, I remember sitting in my room with various roommates, and we would catch up on the day’s sporting events, and one of my favorite hosts was always Stuart Scott.

After multiple battles with cancer, Scott passed away today. I spent some time today watching some of the tributes made about him and his journalism career. Many thought he was unorthodox in his approach to sports journalism, with his catch phrases and his attitude and his style, but that’s what made him memorable. That’s what made you want to tune in and listen.

Its a great testament to who he was when you read all of the celebrities, athletes, politicians, etc. who went to Twitter today and wrote their farewells. You can read some of them by going here: ESPN Stuart Scott Farewells

These are the things that make manly men tear up and weep a bit. I, too, pretended to blow my nose so I could wipe tears away while my wife was on the couch reading.

It makes you stop and ask yourself – what impact are you leaving behind? What do people think of you? What are you doing to make your world a better place? You’re only here for a little while, what are you doing with that precious time?

Jan 3 2015

When Saying Thank You Doesn’t Seem Like Its Enough

“O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name!
I Chronicles 29:13

We’ve been teaching our little girl to say “thank you” pretty much ever since she was born. Its a simple phrase that brings about such great feelings when someone does something for you. Its a simple formula really: someone does anything for you = you saying thank you.

Its good for us to say thank you to God also. After all, who has done more for any of us than God? Sure, there may be days, weeks, months, or even years where things seem to have only gone poorly or the wrong way. However, God continues to stand by our side.

The interesting thing about this passage is what it says in the verses beyond it. It says this:

13 “O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name! 14 But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us! 15 We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace.

David recognizes that our time here is short. What possible good could it do to thank God, when we are just a mere blip on the radar of the universe? The simple answer is that God loves that blip. Even if you feel like you are here for a moment and then gone, or if you feel like there’s no way you can matter to God in the grand scheme of things – understand that God loves each and every one of HIS children. And for that we owe Him thanks AND praise.

Today, take time to just make a simple list of things to thank God for in your life.

Jan 2 2015

Want to be Stronger in just 1 day? Read this!

The Lord is my strength and my song;
he has given me victory.
This is my God, and I will praise him—
my father’s God, and I will exalt him!

Exodus 15:2 (NLT)

What things has God given you victory over, and what things do you still need to conquer?

We must remember to praise God during the times of conquering, and the times we are being conquered. That means when things are going well, and when things pretty much stink.

One other thing we have to remember is to let God fight for us. We can’t do it alone. He provides the strength, He provides the victory. Let God be your strength today.

Jan 1 2015

2015: A Year of Praise

As 2015 begins, I want to remind myself, my family, my friends, all of us – that God is awesome and worthy of our praise. You see, 2014 wasn’t the best year for us on many levels. I wrote about a major milestone in our lives which began an unexpected transition about 3 months ago. Through this time, we’ve learned we have some truly great friends, family, and even realized how large the Kingdom is by having complete strangers hold us close to them and their prayers.

I’m not the first to go through a rough end of a year, and I won’t be the last. My problems are petty compared to most, but they are my reality. One thing I have to remember through all of this is that I not blame God, but rather, praise Him. Its time to come back to the heart of worship. I declare 2015 as the year of praise to our Lord.

In I Chronicles 15, David brings the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. At the end of the chapter we read of David shedding some garments and dancing in the streets because of his jubilation, and while this upsets the daughter of Saul, it set forth a motion of worship that would seemingly be unequal in its day to God and His Glory!

You see, the Israelites worship had become, well, non-existent. David was bringing it back. Can you imagine what your life would be like without worship? The temple was not there, and David set up a sort of “temporary worship place” with the Ark. In I Chronicles 16, the Ark is placed, and David, the original “worship leader”, led the nation in worship to God. After this, David assigned specific tasks to several of the Levite nation, in order to establish an ongoing worship session, as they were to play their instruments before the Lord “regularly”.

What follows is a song of praise, taken from various verses in Psalm 96, 105, and 106. In this song of praise – we find a few things for us to take notice of:

1. If you consider yourself a Christian, you need to be offering praise to God. You can sing, you can tell others about what God has done for you, you can “tell of all His wonderful Acts.” (verses 8, 9)

2. You can rejoice proudly in His name. Be proud to wear the name of God. Look to the Lord for strength. (verses 10, 11)

3. We can remember what He does for people who belong to Him. (verses 12-22)

4. We can know that if we don’t praise Him, the earth certainly will – all the earth will Praise Him. (verses 23-27, 31-33)

5. We can know that whatever the world may dream up, think of, and try to pass of as “true” that the world is firmly established and cannot be moved. There is no good that will come to those who reject the Lord, so we should ascribe to Him. (verses 28-30)

6. Everyone should praise God, and everyone should seek Him as their Savior. (verses 31-36)

After this worship service, David assigns permanent positions to several of the priests. What does that mean for us? When we are done offering worship, perhaps we should not just consider things done for the week. Perhaps you have a permanent place of worship you can find yourself in if you just look. The last few verses of this chapter tell me a few things too. Read verses 37-43, and then consider:

Worship is not ever finished.

We all have talents to use for God.

Make your friends and your family part of your worship (verse 43).

2015 has just begun. Its not even close to being over. You have talents that you can use for God. Find them, use them. And finally, make sure you include those you love in your worship.

May 2015 be the year of praise to our Lord.

Nov 17 2014

Dear Gym Guy Who Just Doesn’t Care,

You’ve been there – right? You’re at the gym, and someone comes in who just doesn’t know how to use the equipment. As they walk from machine to machine, and apparatus to apparatus, they do everything completely wrong. People snicker, point, whisper, laugh…

And I’ve been there. I’ve been streaky with my gym attendance. I never worked out in high school, as I was a chorus and drama nerd, I worked out for the first time in college during the summer while at camp with Nathan Walker, a guy who had a neck thicker than Brock Lesnar. I got into a second time when I got my first job out of college at Westbury Christian, working out alongside Coach Steve Hawley. I fell in love with it, and for about 2 years, worked out consistently. I got into it again after about a 5 year hiatus when my wife and I moved back to Houston. This time, I got really into it. Sadly, after life caught up with me and I had a few shoulder and joint injuries, I stopped. So, I’m not perfect, I get it.

When we moved back to Nashville, for about the first 18 months here, I worked out pretty consistently, got to where I could move a decent amount of weight, and was pretty knowledgeable about how to do all the lifts and use all the equipment in any gym. Recently, I’ve gotten back into working out after taking about 8 months off.

Today, I ran into that guy. You know the guy I’m talking about. The one I mentioned above. The one who uses every single machine completely the wrong way. The guy who works his shoulders out on the leg press machine. He was about 50 years old, and he was wearing an old Hulk Hogan style shirt that was about 20 years old.

He walked into Anytime Fitness today, and I was about done. I was doing a superset with dumbbell curls to finish my workout, combined with some triceps pushdowns. He walked by, stopped, turned around, walked back to me, and watched me finish the set out. He looked right at me, clapped, and told me “Great job, Boss!” and then walked on, to do back rows on a pec deck (also known as a butterfly machine…yup…wrap your head around that one.)

In between sets, you could tell he was listening to a group like ACDC or Metallica, as he was doing full fledged air guitar, spinning around, and at one point doing a jump kick while jamming on his invisible Gibson SG.

And while I judged him, and mocked him in my head – I had a realization. This guy was having a heckuva lot more fun than me.

He didn’t care. He didn’t care if he was using the machine wrong. He didn’t care if he looked silly. He didn’t care who was watching. He didn’t care if he was doing it right. He didn’t care if people were staring. He just didn’t care.

It hit me. I want to be that guy. I want to be the guy. I wish I didn’t care, but I do. I care about what people think about me all the time. I want to look right. I want to act right. I want to do things right. I want follow the rules. But sometimes, we need to be the guy that just doesn’t care.

When I got done with my workout, I walked over to him while he was finishing a set of biceps curls using a leg extender machine, and when he finished a set, I gave him a high five, and said “Great job man! Keep it up!”

May we all have a few days in life when we just don’t care.

Oct 29 2014

5 Things for Ministers to Consider During Transitions

God never promises that life will be easy. In fact, I would say that God promises the opposite. James 1:2 says “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds” – and by various kinds, that could mean self inflicted, through no fault of your own, random, expected…the list goes on and on.

Job transitions are tough. In my field of ministry, they have a unique challenge though. You see, ministry is not a job. Its a lifestyle. Its a calling. We don’t just “go to work” but rather our life is our work.

Recently my life was faced with this very transition. Its tough. Its challenging. I have woken up every day thinking about people in my congregation who were hurting, struggling, dealing with various trials of their own – and its because while I may have left the ministry at that church, I have not left my ministry. My church family isn’t just made up of the people I work for at a certain time, but rather its made up of ALL the people I’ve ever worked with.

But what do you do when you go through that inevitable transition? I think it begins before it ever happens.

Make sure that in your ministry, you don’t isolate yourself. Network, and network some more. Connect with other ministers, churches, and schools. Find people you can confide in, share your struggles with, and pray with on a regular basis who are outside of your church family. That way, when the transition comes, you won’t find yourself alone.

But when that day comes for you to leave your work – what do you? How do you handle it? Here are 5 ways to handle your transition time in ministry, whether you’ve been let go, you’re leaving on your own, or you’re moving to another church.

Realize that your church will move on, and probably a lot quicker than you will. As ministers, we should aim to leave a church just like our mothers told us to treat places we visited – better than we found it. If we have done our jobs, we have prepared the church for the next step, whatever that may be. Don’t be surprised or upset when they start posting a want ad for a new minister, announcing guest speakers, and move forward.

Remember that the church belongs to God, not to you. This is God’s church. God called you, led you, and put you there for a season. But, it will be just fine without you. God will lead a new person there to continue where you left off.

Remember your family is leaving the church as well. Your spouse has been there for you, supported you, waited up late for you after meetings, gone to events with you, and more than likely dedicated a giant portion of time and energy to the church. This hurts them just as much as it hurts you. I count it a blessing that I have a spouse who supports me wholeheartedly, and is always there for me no matter what the situation.

If you have children, remember that they may not completely understand. Its tough on them. I know people say that kids are resilient, and I believe that to be true, but saying things such as “God has other plans” don’t always work with a 5 year old, or a 15 year old for that matter. Be prepared to deal with lots of tears, questions, confusion, and for those of you with older children – resentment.

Don’t let Satan win. The evil one wants you to feel defeated. He wants you to feel like you’re not good enough, or that you’ve abandoned the best thing you’ve ever done, or that no one ever liked you. He will play so many tricks on you to get you to give up on ministry completely. Remember, he’s pretty good at this. You’ll begin to question your motives, your calling, your ability, and all of this is natural to a certain extent.Remember when Satan tells you these things, he’s just trying to get you blame God, to doubt God, to question God, or to give up on God. And the only way you can make sure these things don’t happen is to…

Immerse yourself in prayer. Pray without ceasing. Pray continually. Pray, and then pray some more. If you left on your own, for whatever reason, pray. If you were relieved of your duties, pray. If you were offered a job elsewhere, pray. Pray alone. Pray with others. Pray with your family. Pray for the church you just left. Pray for the church where you will be going. Pray for the church that has yet to be put in your path. Pray about the bad times. Pray about the good things God used you for. Pray, pray, pray.

Oct 27 2014

Transitions…

On Sunday, October 5, I announced my resignation from the Granny White Church of Christ. For 3 years, I faithfully served as the minister for this fine church. I wish nothing but the best for the Granny White family. The GW congregation loved our family well and we will eternally cherish the relationships we developed in our short time there.

I solicit your prayers as I look to God’s guidance to lead me to my next opportunity to serve in His Kingdom. I ask for prayers for my wife as she continues to support me, love me, and stands by my side. I also ask that you pray for our dear sweet little girl, Josie. She has had a hard time accepting the fact that she will not be with her little church friends each week.

My relationship with Kristen is stronger than it has ever been. We seek to stay in ministry, and have several opportunities that God has already put in front of us. We covet your prayers during this time of transition.

I hope that my time at Granny White honored the Lord and His Kingdom. I hope that it served the people there well, and that I helped them to think, to grow, to stretch, and to draw nearer to God.

I love the family at Granny White so very much. These have been 3 of the best years of my life. May God continue to bless you all. Our hearts are full from all the love you have showered upon us.

Oct 14 2014

The Keys: BACKSPACE

Have you ever heard about someone who has worked hard every day, always on the job, always working. To the point where they end up neglecting their family. And then on their death bed, they say they would take it all back and work less and not worry so much about the money – all for the relationship to be restored as fully as could be.

There is no backspace key in life. You can’t just hit a button and make things disappear and you’re able to start all over. But there are steps you can take to do your best to have a clean slate with other people, and with God.

One thing we have to do is realize the problem. Sometimes that comes with a self realization and a confession to the world – I need a change, I need to do something different.

We work and play so very hard, but we look back and see we have neglected our relationship with Christ and have put it on the back burner. This is one of the many relationships that we need to make sure, at the end of our life we don’t find ourselves saying “How I wish I could have drawn closer to God, closer to Him. How I wish we hadn’t neglected our relationship.

In fact, Sometimes we need to be shown the bad decisions we have made in our relationship with God. And that’s what God is doing in Isaiah 43.

God shows all the things that He has done for Israel. In the first 13 verses – God talks about how much He has done for them. How he created them, formed them, redeemed them. How he has protected them from enemies. How he loves them. How He is with them. How he has rescued them.

He then goes on to say How as Creator, the wild animals honor HIM, the jackals, the owls, because He provides for them. BUT then in verse 22 – He pulls out the hard words to read.

He says “You didn’t call on me…I was there for you, I helped you, I saved you, but you didn’t call.” In fact, look close at verse 22 – He tells the Israelites – “YOU HAVE BEEN WEARY OF ME.”

Instead of seeing God as a deliverer…they have grown weary of Him.

Its as if they’re saying – “You’re wearing me out with this, God!! – stop being there for me – stop trying to help me. We’re exhausted with all this.”

In verse 23 – He talks about the sacrifices, but the people don’t want to bring them. They did not want to bring sacrifices to God, or honor Him. They did not want to give their money, or their gifts to God.

Their worship was not centered on praising or honoring God. Instead they thought it was rather tiring. It was such a burden. It made them weary.

And God has a legitimate question – have i really been that big of a burden? The only true and living God, who has loved them through all sorts of messes, says “I’m the only true God…i’ll help you, i’ll protect you, I’ll carry you…

But they’re Not interested God.

SO God goes on in verse 24 and says if anyone is burdened, its not you…its ME!!

God had done so much for them, and He says “You burden me with all your sins..I’m the one carrying the load…”

Have you ever stopped and thought – “This whole God thing, its getting wearisome, its a burden, its hard, I just want to live my life, SURE i’ll go through those motions, I’ll bring a song to Him at worship, I’ll close my eyes during prayer, I’ll bring my 12 pack of soft drinks for the next event – but let me tell you what, if we go over time on Sunday morning, and if we don’t start singing the songs I like, and if they run out of food at the fellowship…”

But then you stop and hear this message from God: –

“You think its weary to serve me? – its a burden for me to carry your sins…”

Why is this a beautiful message? What does this have to do with the backspace key?? Well here’s what God says –

“Fine – I’ll leave you alone…that’s fine…I’m done with you…you don’t want to put a little more time into our relationship? You don’t want to bring gifts to me cheerfully? You don’t want to be wrapped up in my love? I’ll just find someone who does.”

NO – he doesn’t say that. In fact – He keeps doing, keeps trying.

Here’s why I like God, the one true God. Other gods, you do for them, you do for them, you do for them…but GOD – the one true God – keeps trying to win us over.

God says in verse 25 “Even though you are the way you are…I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”

He had just finished saying “YOU HAVE BURDENED ME.” But in verse 25 – he says i’ll deal with it.. I’ll take care of it.

WHY is he saying that? Why is He dealing with it? He didn’t make the mistake. He didn’t mess up!!

HE says “for my own sake” – its not for us, its for HIM. He’s doing it because of who He is. He is goodness, He is loving, He is merciful. IN FACT we really have nothing to offer God that causes HIM to say “I’m going to do this for you”. He just says “You are wicked, you are evil, you are filled with sin, you keep messing up – but I love you – and I’m going to do this for you.”

He says I’m going to forgive you for my own sake and I’m not even going to remember them. We serve a God who says “I won’t remember your sins”. They’re gone.

Yes, there are consequences, called Babylonian captivity. But if you look at 44:1, God says “but listen up – i’ll help you. YOU Deal with the consequences – BUT I’M STILL… going….to… help you. Don’t fear, don’t be afraid.”

And then in verse 3 – HE SAYS “i’ll pour water out on the dry ground, I’ll pour my spirit on your offspring, and they will spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams.” Now if you’re not understanding what Isaiah is saying here – HE’s saying A COMPLETE RENEWAL will occur. When God says I’m going to send rain or water – its usually a sign for renewal.

He is going to cause a radical renewal.

And notice VERSE 5 – They’ll be saying “I am the Lord’s” They’ll be a group that says they belong to God. That they are proud to belong to God. Maybe that’s what we should pray today. God will you change my heart to make me want to desire you more and more?

Ever wish there was a backspace key in your life? Where you can just start over? Clean slate? Its already there. Its called Jesus. He can bring about this fresh start, this cleansing.

Are you weary of service to God? Have you been through this charade too many times, and it means very little to you? God can change your heart. He can take you back to where you first fell in love with Him. Start over today.

God, help us to know you forgive us, you love us, and want to pick up right where we left off. Help us to forget our sins, because we know you do. Amen.

Being Changed from the Inside Out

A blog written by Lane Widick about ministry, Kingdom living, family, and life.