Hillsong Kids

Mountainous Living

We as believers are called to live in the mountains. God dwells in the mountains. Mountainous living is adventurous, scary, surprising, exhausting, full of excitement…you never know what might be around the bend. There are two sides to every mountain; what we see and what we don’t see. A lot of us would prefer living in the plains where it’s comfortable, you can see everything for miles, no surprises, everything’s laid out, easy. But that’s not reality. When it came time for Abraham and Lot to part ways Lot chose the plains, Abraham lived in Canaan.

Mountainous living requires faith. By the very nature of a hill you realize there is part you cannot see. Living in the mountains means you have to trust Someone. Mountain climbing is work, exercise, realistically strenuous at times…just like life. Life is difficult, but when we understand that life is difficult it somehow becomes less difficult. Life is a test. And attitude is everything.

God tested Abraham. And for every painful step he took up Mount Moriah, there was an invisible God (to the human eye, that is) bringing His plan into play. None of it made sense to Abraham, but he kept moving. Little did he know on the other side of the mountain God was preparing the provision necessary to rescue him from peril.

"O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your Name in all the earth!" (Psalm 8) "How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with You." (Psalm 139)

Keep hiking, my friends! And behold the beauty of the Lord…if it’s not in your eye view at this moment, keep looking…you’ll see it.

Lessons in the Fire

I’ve been asking the Lord to speak to my heart this week concerning His will for my life, my family and our ministry. As I’ve prayed, I’ve had a notebook and pen close by throughout the days and have jotted down thoughts that I believe the Spirit of God has been speaking. When challenges, or difficult seasons, or tests come into our lives sometimes it’s very difficult to know what to do or to understand what’s happening. Whether it’s something going on in your home or on your job or in your church or in some other relationship, when the heat is on it’s even more important to seek the wisdom that only comes from the Lord. James, the brother of Jesus, opened his letter to the church reminding us in chapter 1, verse 5 that if you need wisdom just ask God. But, right before he told us that he also said to count it all joy when you experience trials and tests because God is using them to produce endurance in your life and to make you complete… but, ask for wisdom. So, the context of this asking for wisdom comes when we are in the fire, experiencing trial. I believe it is when the heat is on in our lives that we most need wisdom.

Here are a few of the things the Lord is saying during this season in my life. Maybe He will use them in your present situation.

1. There is more to this than I know. That is always the case! And beware of those who want to try to explain everything that’s happening. God is the only one who knows everything about this season. He calls us to a life of faith. That is not to say that He doesn’t use counselors and/or ministers to help guide us in the truth, but everything doesn’t always make sense. We see that over and over in scripture.
2. Take what you know or perceive AND what you don’t know to the Lord in prayer and extend grace. It is our nature to get angry and want to lash out when we don’t like what someone else is doing or we don’t understand. But just as Jesus shows us grace and mercy (loving-kindness) every day that we don’t deserve, we must extend the same to others.
3. Words are so powerful. Proverbs 18 says, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it [for death or life]." (AMP) Everything we say produces either death or life (like a seed that produces fruit). Choose your words carefully. What we say even affects those listening that may only be bystanders because we are creating an atmosphere of life or death with our words. Let’s build each other up or be silent.
4. Guard against blame. It is our nature when things are not going as we planned to blame someone else or to blame ourselves for everything. Neither is healthy. We don’t always know why things happen like they do but casting blame is never the right thing to do.
5. Passion can turn to pride. In Luke, chapter 9, Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem where He would soon experience His destiny on earth. He would go through Samaria on the way to Jerusalem so He sent messengers ahead of Him to prepare the way. Scripture says the people there were not ready to receive Him, so James and John asked Jesus if He wanted them to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them. They were passionate about what they believed and people were not cooperating or behaving as they thought they should. But what did Jesus say? Verse 55 & 56 say that He turned and rebuked them and said, "You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them." (NASB) Peter’s denial of Christ is another example of passion turning to pride. He said in John 13:37 that he would lay down his life for Christ, but Jesus said, Really? And he predicted Peter would disown Him…and he did in John 18. We have to be willing to lay down our cause (deny ourselves), take up his cross DAILY and follow the Lord (Luke 9:23).
6. There are lessons to learn in the fire that could not be taught any other way. God wants you to see things from a new perspective. He wants to change us from glory to glory and that is a painful process.
7. All things work together for good. Romans 8:28 says, "We KNOW that ALL things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." Know that! This is going to work for good. If you love God and have trusted Him as your Savior as I have…then we are the called. This will work for good!
8. Praise is priority! In the midst of it all, be a Hebrew 13:15 & 16 believer! "Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that confess His name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased." Praise given to the Lord in the fire (when it is most difficult) is the sweetest sound, I believe, to the Savior’s ear. Likewise, giving and sharing with others during your season of pain will bring healing.

God desires to refine us. The refining process is extremely painful but as the dross (impurities) rises to the surface and we skim it off; we come forth as gold. Gold shines and reflects the image of Christ. It is genuine. It is real.

"Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:16)

Hurricanes

My heart and prayers go out to our friends in Houston, Texas tonight. Over 2 million people are without power. Lakewood Church (Joel Osteen) had to cancel all services today due to Hurricane Ike. Living Proof ministries (Beth Moore) is also in Houston. The city has asked that everyone stay in if at all possible until more of the damage is assessed.

Sometimes life feels like a hurricane doesn’t it? I read last night in I Corinthians 13 out of the Message bible, "We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing Him directly just as He knows us!" Especially during the challenges of life, the trials, the trouble that Jesus promised would come in John 16:33, things become foggy. Scripture says it’s like looking through a glass darkly. The New Living Translation says, "Now we see things imperfectly as in a poor mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God knows me now." (vs. 12)

I love how the chapter ends. Verse 13, the last verse of I Corinthians 13 reminds us what's important during those times it seems we're living in a fog..."But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation (of seeing clearly as God sees): Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love."

Let's love today...like Jesus would.

My Forever Love

Sometimes a longing to see Jesus face to face and feel His literal embrace surrounds me. I can only imagine how the eleven apostles who had "been there and done that" must have felt once Jesus was no longer with them. What a beautiful song (not to mention the one in a million voice) by Josh Groban! May Jesus fly you up to where He is...