Reason to Praise

“There is reason to praise, reason to sing, reason to give thanks...let the hard stuff remind you.”

Loren Thornburg

Life is full of lots of really hard stuff. But, right there in the midst of that stuff is reason to praise. Let that stuff be the very reason to praise. Let the cold lead you to thanks for the health that you have had, the thing you lost lead you to praise for the time you were blessed with it, the things you can’t do lead you to sing about the things that you can. This is not to ignore the hard parts of what you are going through, but to find reason to praise in the midst of them. It is to recognize that what you face is hard, but still there is reason to praise. Don’t miss an opportunity to do that. Let the hard stuff be a reminder that you have reason to praise!!

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.”

Psalm 118: 1

The Lord is good!! For those who have seen this, we have forever reason to sing and praise. His love is faithful! It endures forever! If I truly believe that then there is more than enough reason to praise. That doesn’t mean that this is always my first reaction, but it can always be my next. Praise is to express ones gratitude toward. It says nothing about having to feel like praising. The hard part can be remembering that praising is an option in the midst of hard stuff that comes our way. So lets ask the Lord to let the hard stuff trigger us to praise, remind us of the things we have to be thankful for, cause us to sing. Not that there shouldn’t be tears in the midst of sorrow, but there can also be praise. There is reason to praise...let the hard stuff remind you. For no matter what...His faithful love endures forever.

New Free

“I gave up what I can’t keep for something I can never lose.”

A Voice in the Wind, Francine Rivers

Independence celebrates freedom from outside control. How blessed we are not to be subject to an oppressive rule and reign over our country that limits our ability to have freedom to choose. Yet are we not still subject to much enslavement?! We don’t have to wear physical chains around our hands or feet but our hearts do. It comes in many different ways less obvious to those arounds us. Things like work, television, approval, fear, pride, insecurities, success, fame, fortune, relationships, drinking, pleasure and on and on. These things hold us captive so that we are dependent on them, we need them, we can’t live without them and we are not free from their outside control. As we celebrate independence let us begin to live a new free...Free from ALL that controls you and Free to really Live!

“And this world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever.”

1 John 2:17 NLT

Christ came that you might be FREE, a new free. Not just free to do as you choose but free from all that keeps you enslaved. Free from all this world has to offer and free from fear. For none of what this world has to offer can you keep. It doesn’t last past this life. But His Free is really Free, forever free. So what is it? What is it that has you by the chains? Invite Jesus in to save you from it’s power for that is why He came. He came to free you. A new freedom that will cost you everything if you miss it!!

Remember Not to Forget

“We forget what we fail to remember; but we remember what we choose not to forget.”

Loren Thornburg

It’s a choice, an action, a purposed resolve. It’s a calling to mind, a bringing to view. It’s keeping, retaining, and holding onto what’s true. Some of us are more blessed with good memories than others. If you’re like me, it’s hard work just to remember the name of the person you met two minutes ago, let alone the things in your life that you have to be thankful for. It takes time, intention, and humility to realize we are prone to forget and slow to remember. With all that is going on and all that is calling for our mind we have to fight to remember, otherwise we are going to forget. Maybe you will not forget forever, but if we are going to live in such a way that honors what is true we much choose to remember not to forget.

“Praise the Lord, I tell myself and never forget the good things he does for me.”

Psalm 103:2 NLT

Worship is remembering. It’s remembering who God is, what He has done and in knowing those then what He will do. Psalm 103 does just that. David recounts all of the reasons He has to praise the Lord based on who God is, all the things the Lord has done for Him and the promises the Lord has to love forever for salvation that extends to many generations. Yet, He doesn’t say how easy it is. In fact he says, ‘I tell myself’ which leads me to believe it wasn’t something that he always felt like doing but that he chose to do. Oh how I can relate to that. Let us join David whether we feel like it or not in worship and remembering who God is, what He has done, and what He will continue to do. Let us also like David record these things that we would not forget. Choose to remember, choose to worship!!

Transcend Circumstance

“What you are as a person is far more important than what you are as a basketball player.”

John Wooden

John Wooden was a legend. There have been few like him. Yet the reason he affected so many lives was not because of basketball, but because he coached to transcend basketball into life. He saw the court as more than winning but as the practice place for life. Basketball became more than a game but an opportunity to teach not just the ways of the game but the ways of life. He knew what was most important and took every opportunity, even sports, especially sports, to share that with others. As a result he has touched thousands of lives. For it is not only the players he coached and interacted with but the lives that those then went on to do the same. His vision was influential and contagious. It was always bigger than basketball and so let us follow in the footsteps of a legend. Wherever you are, whatever you do let us transcend our arena, never letting it become the end, but only the beginning.

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where they can be eaten by moths and get rusty, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven…”
Matthew 6:19-20 NLT

Jesus spoke to a culture so different, yet so the same. We struggle the same temptation to put more of our time, energy and resources into things that don’t last than things that will. Fame, money, possessions, awards, records, and so on will not last. They will all fade. What will last is the Kingdom of God. Now, this doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t spend any time in things of this world. For how else will we further the kingdom if we are not in the midst of these things. However, instead that our primary concern should not stop there. In whatever we are doing it is not so much the thing that we are doing so much as the importance we place on that thing. So let us not see our fame, money and possessions as the end but as the beginning, the means to reach people for His Kingdom for that is treasure that will last forever. We all have treasures. What are you doing with yours?

Something to Give

“You have something to give.

You have much to offer.

You have gifts placed inside you.

You, yes you...we need you.”

Loren Thornburg

The key to a gift is using it. A gift is a tool to be used to help others. A tool is something we hold to carry out a particular function. We use scissors to help us cut things, we put on glasses to help us read, and use a pen to help us write. The scissors don’t do any good if we just hold them, glasses don’t help us read sitting on top of our head, and a pen doesn’t write if we don’t put it to the paper. Have you ever worked really hard to do something only to find that a tool to make it much easier was with you the whole time. Like having scissors on your desk and trying to tear with your hands a straight line on your paper. It is not enough to simply hold these tools and not use them in their appropriate place and way, nor is it enough for us to simply hold the tools and gifts we have been given and not use them. First, we must know that we each hold gifts that we have been given specifically to help. You have something to give and something to offer! We need you!

“Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people!”

1 Corinthians 12:7 MSG

We are promised gifts! It says, ‘everyone gets in on it.’ Everyone...that means even you.

That means whether you see it or not you have been given, by the Holy Spirit, something that you can do that will show others who God is. Often I find myself simply holding my gift instead of using it because I don’t know that what I am holding was given for a purpose, was given for more than me. I forget that I don’t just have something, but I have something to give. I am the one holding the pen wondering why no one is writing or writing and sharing with no one. Lets don’t just hold our tools, lets use them, knowing that whatever our tool is it has a purpose and a need for more than just you. Others will find more of who God is when you find you have something to give.

Truth ISN'T Relative

“Don’t believe everything you think”

Thomas Kida

“Don’t believe everything you think.” I saw this on a bumper sticker and found that it is a whole book by Thomas Kida. The premise of the book is that we are so easily mislead and therefore mistaken in our thinking. We can misperceive things that happen, we can want to believe something that is not true, and our memories can be inaccurate. How true I find this is when I think about how many times I have found something that I thought was true to no longer be true, but rather that I was mistaken in my thinking. We have all had many things like this. The rumor you heard that you found wasn’t true, the first impression you had of someone that as you got to know them wasn’t true of them, even the way that you see yourself to be so different than what others see. I’m sure you can think of many things that you how changed your mind on how you see them or think about them. This is not to say that we shouldn’t think because it can’t be trusted but rather that we should not take our thoughts as TRUTH, knowing that we can be mislead by them. For truth isn’t what you think, what someone says, or what culture believes, but rather what actually is true.

“You judge me with your human limitations, but I am not judging anyone. And if I did, my judgment would be correct in every respect because I am not alone--I have with me the Father who sent me.”

John 8:15-16 NLT

There is an emphasis on the search for truth and correct knowledge. It is understanding what is actually true and not just relatively true. Here in John Jesus is telling the people about what is true. He reminds them that their thinking has limitations. As does ours. We believe lies about ourselves, we believe gossip about others, we believe things that are not based on correct knowledge. Even the brightest person on earth has limitations and faulty tendencies to comprehend and interpret truth. Yet, God is true, as Jesus claims in verse 26, meaning He loves the truth, speaks the truth and is the truth. And Jesus has the Father in Him and has come to be Truth. Not relative truth, but the truth. The Truth that sets us free from having to rely on our human limitations, but allows us to partner with Him who is true and have access to this truth, to Him. So we no longer have to rely on ourselves or our thinking, but can depend on Him, on the Holy Spirit that is given to us to lead us into all truth. So, don’t believe everything you think, but everything that you hear from God.

In Your Custody

“Let nothing prevent you, let nothing keep you, let nothing deter you from that which you’ve been given to care for.”

Loren Thornburg

We have each been given someone(s) or something(s) to care for. We’ve been given custody in the general sense of the word, which is protective care or guardianship of someone or thing. For some this may be in the more common use of this term in that you have been given custody of children to care for, but for many this includes our family, our friends, our work, our dreams, our callings, our ministries, and ourselves. So it is up to us to guard, protect, keep, and care for these things that we have been given. The problem is that it’s never easy. There will be difficulties and challenges big and small that often take us past the point that we think we can or want to persevere. It can be so easy to lose sight of that which we have been called to care for with the amount of care with which we have been called to care for it. We forget it is a gift, we forget we have been called specifically, we forget we have been given custody. In looking back at the common use of this term as parents fight to be able to care for their kids so we need to fight for the things we have been given in our custody and in our care. What’s in your custody?

“This is the Message I’ve been set apart to proclaim as preacher, emissary, and teacher. It’s also the cause of all this trouble I’m in. But, I have no regrets. I couldn’t be more sure of my ground—the One I’ve trusted in can take care of what he’s trusted me to do right to the end. So keep at your work, this faith and love rooted in Christ, exactly as I set it out for you. It’s as sound as the day you first heard it from me. Guard this precious thing placed in your custody by the Holy Spirit who works in us.” 2 Timothy 1: 11-14 MSG

Paul is reminding Timothy of the great call he has been given though he finds himself facing trouble. Often I find that in the midst of trouble I am ready to abandon my call, doubting that I am adequate, believing that the challenges I face must mean I’ve gone the wrong way. The Message is the reason Paul has a call but it’s also the reason that he finds trouble. Sometimes I think we forget that God’s calling doesn’t mean easy sailing. Often when we follow as we believe He has called us to we come to a road block and immediately question God and that which He has called us to. Instead let us follow the encouragement and example of Paul. Let’s keep at our work which is faith and love rooted in Christ. Guard this work! It’s been given to you! It’s in your custody! So next time you face a road block rather than throwing your hands in the air in doubt throw them to the Spirit in surrender who works in you!!!