An Unlikely Prayer: the story of Daniel

How committed are you to your habits or disciplines of your faith? If you call yourself a Christian, what is different about your life now that you know Jesus? I’m not talking about “my sins are forgiven and i have a promised home in heaven” Sunday School answers. I’m asking about everyday life Christianity. If I were to ask your classmates, co-workers or neighbors to describe your faith and practices, what would they say? Would they be ready to describe you as a Christian? How?

Some provocative questions this week, right? No, your right, that isn’t easy to answer, although it should be. I began to develop a personal quiet time with Jesus everyday when I was 15 years old on my missions trip to Ireland. I had received Jesus’ free gift of salvation years earlier, but had fallen into ritualistic Christianity...you know, go to church three times a week and pray over meals Christianity. But on my missions trip I was challenged with the developing the personal relational Christianity. Life with Jesus isn’t about ritual, it’s about growing in intimacy with God by spending time learning from Him and talking to Him. It’s about telling others about who He is and celebrating Him with other believers.

I cannot say I have been perfect in spending time with God everyday since then, but that is where it started. Learning to spend time in prayer, more then just over meals. Regular attendance at my local church building relationships with other Christians also became very important to me. Looking for ways to share Jesus with others is also something we should be doing more regularly. What are normal parts of your life?

Now that you have your list of the Christian habits you do regularly, I want to ask you this: What would you do if a new law was issued that says “you cannot read your Bible, pray to your God or attend a church for the next 30 days. If you do, you will spend 3 months in prison.” What is your initial reaction to this thought? Anger, outrage? Come on, you know that when you go on vacation you skip church. When you have a long Saturday you would rather sleep in on Sunday. You don’t actually read your Bible all that often. And prayer? It’s more of a mindless exercise you mumble over your food anyway, so why not just take a mini vaca from it?

I know that scenario sounds radical, but an edict far worse then this was issue to this weeks unlikely character. There was a law put in place specifically because the leaders knew Daniel’s faith in God led him to pray three times daily. Because of their jealousy, the wicked rulers had the king sign into a law a command to not pray to any other god, except the king, for 30 days or be thrown into a fiery furnace.

We know the story from Sunday School, that Daniel was thrown into the lions den, however I want to look at the unlikely faith and prayer of Daniel. He had established a pattern about his faith that was recognized, not just by his neighbors and fellow believers, but by the rulers of the country. He would go out on his balcony and pray three times daily to the God of the Bible.

An Unlikely Hero: the story of Ehud

When you think of a hero, what comes to mind? Big muscles, a red cape and bullet proof? You just thought of Superman! Maybe a rich, smart and courageous man who likes to go spelunking? Yep, that's Batman!

Webster's defines a hero as: a person who is admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities. If we are honest, we look for the traits that we find most attractive in humanity. Bravery, courage, physical strength, physical beauty, as close to perfection as can be humanly attained. Isn't that right? If you disagree with me, when is the last hero movie you saw an ugly hero? Right!

When you think of a hero, how often do you think of an outcast? A physical handicap? Or a social stigma?

This week we are going to look at a story of a man who lived his entire life with a social stigma, an outcast. An yet that did not prevent him from rescuing his entire nation from the oppression of a wicked king (Judges 3:12-30).

In the Ancient Near Eastern culture, and many other cultures, there was a suspicious view of left handed people. If you were left handed, you were considered less of a person. The right hand was the symbol of dominance, of power and of strength. Those born left handed were encouraged all their life to learn to be right handed so as not to offend anyone.

Social stigmas can be very hard and demoralizing. Social stigmas can be part of the larger cultural context or a localized phenomena. For instance, as a child I had very bright red hair and had freckles all over my face. Adults thought I was adorable (who wouldn't, right? haha), yet children were vicious. "Freckled face freak!" they would scream at me! To make matters worse, I got glasses and became the "four eyed freckled face freak!" I hated my red hair, I hated my freckles and glasses. I got in fights. I ran away from this and it was hard to find friends.

Yet as I grew older, the bright red faded. The freckles on my face diminished. And the harshness of childhood faded. I was able to move beyond my earlier struggles, but yet there were times I was so angry and sad. Yet I have to ask myself, what if this wasn't just a season of my childhood, but an every day event for the rest of my life experience?

That is more like what Ehud had to face. And yet God called him to be the deliverer for His people. Israel had fallen back into their cycle of rebellion. The consequence for this was that God raised up Moab to  oppress Israel. Under the oppression the people cried out to God for deliverance. And God answered with Ehud.

Now the people must have been wondered why Ehud? Because Ehud was left-handed he was the unlikely candidate. Yet God called Ehud specifically because he was left-handed. The social stigma against left-handedness was so strong that the opposing king, Eglon, never assumed anyone was left-handed.

Ehud took tribute to Eglon and affixed his sword to his right leg. When he was admitted to the king's presence, they checked his left leg, for it was custom to draw your sword across your body. They never checked his right leg!

Ehud told the king he had a secret message from God for him. Eglon dismissed everyone from his throne room and Ehud drew his sword and plunged it into Eglon's fat gut! Which, by the way, was so fat large that the fat enveloped the hilt of the sword...gross! Ehud escaped and gathered the armies of Israel and defeated Moab.

I am so thankful that we live in the New Testament Era and not in Old Testament times! Ehud was called to deliverer a people from an oppressive king, and his handicap turned out to be the key to his victory. Ehud didn't take credit for this victory but immediately declared the Lord as the victor!

What appeared to others as weakness, was the vehicle of God's deliverance. What man looks at as weakness, God can use in strength! Each of us have our own insecurities. Some deal with real social stigmas that are unfairly placed upon them, such as Ehud had. This may be due to race, skin color, physical features, past experiences, etc. Yet at some level, everyone of us gets up in the morning, looks in the mirror and sees inadequacies. We see things that we hate, that we think limit us. When we should be seeing opportunities for the strength and glory of God to be revealed!

What's holding you back? What weakness causes you to fear? When we are weak, He is strong! Rely on the strength of God and watch as He does amazing things in your life!

An Unlikely Faith: the story of Rahab

Faith is a hot topic of discussion...or a discussion avoided at all costs. Everyone has an opinion about, though most often that is based on their own definition of faith. We operate in our neutral circles and speak platitudes back and forth as if they are all equally valid and true. 

What is definitely agreed upon is that faith is often the result if upbringing. The truth that faith is not based on nature but on one's nurturing is plainly evident...most of the time. Gas a believer in Jesus Christ, I often take for granted the godly heritage that has been passed down to me. For generations the Christian Gospel has been heralded and proclaimed in an influential way to Europe and America. Every aspect of life has been permeated in so me way with the Christian faith. And I thank God for this! So it comes as no surprise to people that I am a Christian. 

However, the culture in America is quickly changing. We no longer live in a Christian dominated society. Even if there are statistically more "Christians" in America, our voice is one of the quietest in the sphere of influence. We live in a pluralistic society that no longer esteems the Christian faith highly, but often looks down on it with disdain. 

Since the schools kicked prayer and the Bible from it's classrooms, we have seen generation after generation raised with no knowledge of God. Ask around and many people today have no clue who Jesus is, aside from a common swear word. They cannot tell you what the 10 Commandments are, aside from the random news headline pertaining to the courtroom or classroom. 

It used to be that the biggest difference with your neighbors was wether they were Baptist, Methodist or Catholic (no offense to the other denominations, I certainly could've included a longer list). Today however it is more likely that you have atheists, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Jehovah Witnesses or Mormons (to only name a few). 

In our culture today it is becoming less and less likely to assume Christianity and more likely to assume not. It is becoming a climate where unlikely faith will become more apparent. 

When I think if unlikely faith, I think of a faith that sprung out of circumstances that seem so remarkable against God that, in my human wisdom, I would write off. A faith that sprung up in Ninevah, a pagan capital city, because of a sermon delivered by an antagonistic prophet. Or the faith of John Newton, the slave ship captain whose livelihood was dependent on dehumanizing people. Or the harlot Rahab. 

Joshua had just taken the reigns of leadership from Moses and declared his dependence upon the God of his fathers. He was going to lead the conquest into the promised land that he had scouted years earlier. He sent two spies in feel out the defenses of the great city Jericho. 

The word about the conquest of the Israelites was spreading, so the king of Jericho was on high alert. The spies took shelter in the home of a prostitute, Rahab. Little explanation is given in the Bible about why these spies turned to her house, just simply that they went there. 

Some might argue that they were typical, young men who were curious, but the text does not speak to any sexual encounters. And reading the Bible through, I can tell you theBible is not shy about telling the full story, i.e. Ammon and Moab...look it up. 

Some argue that it was more of a hotel and a good place to stop and gather information. Still others believe it was a divine appointment by God to meet a desperate heart full of faith. 

Regardless of why the spies chose this location, they were there and had no reason to expect special treatment. If caught they could expect to be killed. When the suspicious king heard they stopped by Rahab's, he sent an inquisition. Rahab hide them men on the roof and sent the soldiers in another direction. As soon as the guards are gone she runs to the spies and says:

 "I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath." Joshua 2:9-11

What is significant to this phrase is the level of understanding she had developed. In the Ancient Near East, religion was dominated by superstition and polytheism (belief in many gods). Most people believed in local gods, the god of their city was restricted to boundaries of their city or empire. So when war would wage, they would think it was a battle between local gods at stake. 

However, we see Rahab declare that the God of Israel is the God of heaven and the whole earth. As God destroyed Egypt and the Amorites, she connected the dots that the gods of Egypt and the gods of the Amorites were powerless. Even the gods of Jericho were because Israel served the One True God. 

It wasn't the religious leaders, the philosophers or the rulers of the kingdom that came to genuine belief. Not it was a harlot, an immoral woman. We no nothing of her background, but we have learned a lot about her faith. 

The spies agreed that her and her family would be spared if she hung the scarlet cord out the window when they attacked. The same cord she allowed the spies to escape on. When the attack ensued, she gathered her family and hung the cord, a seemingly ridiculous request. 

As the walls crumbled, the trust in God demonstrated through a scarlet cord proved true. Her and her family were saved and ultimately welcomed into the family of Israel. We only later see Rahab in Matthew 1 as a great great grandma to Jesus. And then again she makes it into the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11. 

Little did she know that the scarlet cord would be part of God's redemptive story. Scarlet has carried with it the connotation of sin. Think of the "Scarlet Letter" and other image ties of sin. 

"Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool." Isaiah 1:18

Her faith in God's provision brought life, forgiveness, a new identity and a new home. The provision God has made for the forgiveness of sins is the shed blood of Jesus. 

"Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins" Hebrews 9:22

"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:21

"But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

Just like Rahab had to trust in the scarlet cord, we trust in the blood of Christ. The name of Jesus is our source of hope, forgiveness, a new identity and a new home. 

No matter what background we come from, no matter what sin has kept is down, there's power in the name of Jesus to break every chain and set us free!

Reflections on 9/11

As was my custom, I woke up late, grabbed a hurried coffee and rushed off to class only to find that my prof was sick and had cancelled the early class. I was both mad and happy. Mad because I had to get up and get ready for nothing, but happy because I got to head back to bed.

I laid down and was just about back to sleep when an abrupt knock at the door woke me out of my slumber. As the Resident Assistant at Liberty University, a guy on my hall turned to me for counsel on what he saw on the TV.

"A plane hit the WTC!!"

I was like "not a chance, you had to have  bad dream!"

"No come and see!"

We rushed to the end of the hall where he had his TV tuned in to the News that was keeping a live feed on the tower. We sat there in utter disbelief as we saw the second plane hit.

It was surreal.  America under attack?! Unbelievable and yet undeniable. That’s where I was on September 11, 2001.

I remember the unity and patriotism that followed. I remember the images of the buildings collapsing, the heroic NYPD and NYFD rushing toward the falling buildings. The stories of rescue and loss are as vivid today as they were 12 years ago.

In that time, America had remembered how to put politics aside, how to come together on what we had in common, and unite. This event has forever changed the culture of America. We who once felt invincible and invulnerable were faced with fear. Nothing can be more unsettling then the awareness of fragility.

Prosperity and safety is a distraction from the reality of evil. We hold fast to our finances, our jobs, our cities and look to them for meaning. We become dulled to the inner most cry of our heart that we are in desperate need of more. God “has put eternity into man's heart” and we fill that void with our own wisdom, wealth and thoughts of safety.  But what happens when our false foundation is shaken? Where do we turn?

One of the most profound images that is still burned into my mind is the cross among the rubble of the WTC. In the midst of chaos, destruction and uncertainty was a stark reminder of hope! This life is not the end, just the beginning. God had made provisions for us long before the foundations of this temporary world was established.

Throughout history, as calamity upon calamity happened, God always gave a sign that He was there and He was in control. Turn to Him and find your hope, not just immediately but for all eternity.

I think of the fall of Adam and Eve where God’s sign was the promise of a descendant who would crush the head of the serpent.

I think of the poison in the wilderness, where the people only had to look at the bronze snake on the pole to be saved.

I think of the conquest of Rome and the Son of God lifted up on the cross! Only three days later to conquer sin and death!

It is this truth that brings hope at the image of the cross amongst the rubble. It is in this imagery, that our broken and desperate lives can be healed because of a resurrected Lord!

To honor those fallen 9/11/2001, don’t turn your hope to America, to wealth, or to safety. Turn to Jesus, trust the one who gave it all that we might live. Allow the image of the cross to draw you into a relationship with a loving God who gives signs of who He is and has revealed Himself in the pages of the Bible. This is where true peace, security and hope come from.

As we say weekly in youth group: “Life with Jesus starts now and lasts forever!”

An Unlikely Voice: the story of Amos

In the era of the divided kingdom, the 10 northern tribes, known as Israel, were enjoying a time of peace and prosperity. The surrounding oppressors have been pushed back and kept at bay for some time. The economy was booming and the nation had settled into a false sense of security. One might think the nation would be grateful to God for their prosperity; instead they began to turn away from God to their own devices.

 Israel began to turn their religious pursuits away from the true God of their fathers and pursue the gods and practices of the surrounding religions. The pagans that God had commanded them to destroy and drive completely out of the land had begun to infect Israel with their idolatry and pagan worship. Israel began to do the once unthinkable acts of worship, even to the point of sacrificing their own children to false gods.

Prosperity had dulled their hearts to God’s Words and His warnings. They began to feel indestructible and pleasure began to be their primary drive. Holiness became a thing of the past. Even those who were charged with the religious leadership of the nation had become calloused to God’s Word.

An Immense Call

It was at this point that God called Amos from the rural hills of Tekoa, Judah, south of Jerusalem, to go north and be His voice to the nation of Israel. God called Amos to be His mouthpiece to the rebellious king of a decadent kingdom; a people who had largely rejected the notion of the One True God.

Amos was charged to challenge the hearts of kings and leaders. He was to confront the political machine that was moving farther and farther from the truth. He was to confront a religious system that had long lost its true mission, to be a light in this dark world. He was to bring to light how the people of God had become worse then the pagan cultures they replaced in the promised land. Amos’s call was going to meet much opposition.

A Hard Message

“Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” Amos 3:1-2 (ESV)

Israel’s view of God probably was not much different than today, where people only want to hear about the love and compassion of God for the whole world. They gathered religious leaders that would allow them to do what they wanted and not confront them on their sins.

Amos was called to declare the sinfulness of the nation and the impending judgment from God. God hates sin! God is a God of wrath! Judgment is real and coming quickly! The people of Israel had amassed a great deal of sins: empty ritualism, oppression of the poor, idolatry, deceit, self-righteousness, arrogance, greed, materialism and callousness, to name a few. Judgment will come to them unless they repent of their sins and turn back to God. The people rejected Amos and the gracious offer of God.

It is very similar to today’s culture. People like the fluff, but hate the truth. Our culture needs to reminded of the same message, even as one pastor posted this on Facebook today: “The basic message of Jesus: "I'm God. You're in sin. Repent to me, or you will go to hell." No wonder they killed him. Today we'd have killed him too.”

A Humble Beginning

As Amos speaks the word of the Lord, he comes under opposition and attack. The religious leader Amaziah tells Amos to go home and leave them alone. Basically telling him he is a busybody who has just come to be a nuisance to the himself and the king of Israel. Amos responds with:

“I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ Now therefore hear the word of the Lord.” Amos 7:14-16 (ESV)

It’s as if Amos is saying, “Hey I know I am an unlikely choice to be God’s voice! I didn’t attend the local Prophet University. My dad wasn’t a prophet. As a matter of fact I was pretty content taking care of my flocks at home and taking care of my fig trees. Yet God called me to tell you this message. Now listen to what God says!”

As I consider the situation I remember a time in youth group where a question about a specific demonstration of sin was asked of the students. One students response was “Um, I’m from Cloverleaf…we don’t know about such things.” Interpretation: I’m from the country and we do not allow behavior like that, so we are basically ignorant of it.

I could see Amos coming from a wholesome, sheltered up bringing, where he never encountered the gross sins that the nation of Israel faced. He wasn’t experienced in these matters. He wasn’t the intellectual giant. He wasn’t a military general. He had no pedigree for what he was doing. He had the call of God. And that was enough for him!

He didn’t allow his humble beginnings to prevent him from sharing the message God had given him. No, instead he boldly proclaimed the truth to the religious leaders and to the king himself!

A Source of Hope

Though his message was harsh and firm about the impending judgment, it was also laced with grace. On a number of occasions he shared that if the people would just repent and follow God then they would not reap the judgment.

“For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: Seek me and live.” Amos 5:4 (ESV)

Life is found in God and God alone. He tells them to stop pursuing the false gods and false religions and they will find life. This is the same message that Jesus brought to us when He says that He has “come to give you life, life to the full!”

“I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them…I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,” says the Lord your God.” Amos 9:14-15 (ESV)

Amos concludes his message with great message of hope! God has not forgotten His promises! He will keep His covenant with the people, even though they have broken theirs with Him. One day He will restore all things and do away with sin forever. In that day, His people will realize that holiness is not about being robbed of fun, but is removing everything that steals true joy from us. They will finally know God and be known by Him as He always intended.

Conclusion

Amos was just a farm boy, one who was content being in the country and enjoying the “good life.” He had no family history, no formal education that would cause one to think he should be a prophet. But what he did have was a love for God and a desire to be faithful to Him. God took him from the field and placed him in the palace with a hard message.

This message was supposed to wake the king and his people up to their sins and lead to their repentance. If that would have happened they would have been rescued from judgment. Amos pointed to true hope when God would restore all things.

Amos didn’t realize at that time, that God was going to send His own Son to be a prophet to declare the truth to these stubborn, rebellious people. At that time, they would not only reject His message, but they would kill Him. But that was part of God’s plan, for on the third day He rose again, conquering sin and death! It is on the basis of Jesus’ finished work that the true fulfillment of Amos 9:11-15 can be experienced.

Just like Amos cried out to the people then, today we can experience the life giving love of God as we repent of our sinful rebellious ways and follow Jesus! We are like Amos, a very unlikely choice, but God wants to use us to be His voice to this dark and dying world!

An Unlikely Series

This post contains my thoughts about the upcoming series for Loft youth group:

Recently I was in a young adult Bible Study at Lakeside Christian Church while we were completing our study on the book of Amos when I began to think of this series. I was struck by Amos’ explanation of how he got to be where he was as a prophet in chapter 7. As I thought about his words, which we will deal with in lesson 1, it was laughable. His basic argument was “I am the most unlikely candidate for this job and yet God told me to do this!” So that was my inspiration for this series.

However, Amos is not alone in this characterization. I began to think about the characters in the Bible and realized that most of the people God used were, by human standard, the most unlikely people. Amos the farmer, David the shepherd boy, Rahab the harlot, Moses the stutterer, and the list goes on. As a matter of fact, it is unlikely that you will come up with a long list of likely candidates. Sure, there is the curve buster in Daniel and Solomon, but they are really few and far between.

These stories fascinate me because of how human they really are. If we strip away the cutesy Sunday School version of the stories, then we begin to see the raw humanity rise to the surface. We see that these “saints of old” were not as “saintly” as we once supposed. In fact, many of these characters would find a hard time being accepted in to membership of our churches, let alone leadership.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9 (ESV)

That is why I am so thankful that God sees things differently then we do! That He has different plans and goals for our lives then we could ever imagine. As I study these characters, their flaws, their bad decisions, their circumstances I begin to have such hope that God can, in fact, use me if He so chooses. That God doesn’t care what family I am born into, or what grades I got in school, or how much money I have, or what car I drive, or what brand of shoes I wear, or what sins I committed in the past, or what fears I have, or what struggles I have. What He cares about is my heart! He cares so much that He sent His Son Jesus to redeem you and me! So that we can truly say that we love Him because He first loved us!

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7 (ESV)

When I consider the teens in our church, I see amazing young men and women whom God wants to do great things through. I see young men and women who struggle to understand how much God loves them and how much more of God they can have if they so desire. I see fears and worries prevent them from fully allowing God to take over their lives. I see some who think they are unworthy, unwanted and unlikely. Yet that is exactly where God calls us from.

As Sam Preston and I were talking, she shared a great quote, “God does not call the equipped, He equips the called!” It’s not about who we are, what we’ve done or what we have, it is about Jesus Christ in us! As we look at this Unlikely Series, I hope that we find great freedom and joy in the realization that we are unlikely candidates, and yet that God loves us the way we are. However, He loves us too much to leave us where we are. Just like the Bible characters we look at, God will call us from our humble beginnings and do great things in and through us as we learn to trust Christ with all of our life!