Tag: God

  • Your Commands Are My Delight

    141 Though I am lowly and despised,
    I do not forget your precepts.

    142 Your righteousness is everlasting
    and your law is true.

    143 Trouble and distress have come upon me,
    but your commands are my delight.

    144 Your statutes are forever right;
    give me understanding that I may live.

    – Psalm 119

    What revelation must the Psalmist have in order to tell another Person that the Person’s commands are his delight? How much do you have to love someone to delight in the commands they give you?


  • I Want to Be God’s Friend, But

    It’s hard to believe that that’s what He really wants. This book I’ve been reading by Bill Johnson is threatening to revolutionize how I read Scripture. It’s sad, but I still read most parts of Scripture through the lens of what other people believe. “God’s love” really means (to me) that God puts up with me even though I’m annoying and constantly disappointing. Where did I learn that? It’s not in Scripture. But it’s what I hear in my head when I read of God’s love. Someone somewhere influenced me to believe that.

    I know this is true because it’s the people who live a particular Scriptural truth that now influence the way I understand God. Someone walks in a deeper understanding of grace will influence me to understand what Scripture means about grace. Witnessing was always a scary proposition because I had to go up to someone I didn’t know and attempt to tell them that I know better than they what they need. And once I let the cat out of the bag that I’m a Christian, they’d just knowingly nod in that “now I know exactly what’s wrong with you” kind of way and they feel justified walking away. After all, a Christian who witnesses is really just an overbearing, judgmental prick, right?

    I think it all began with the Spread the Fire Conference held at the DFW International Airport Hyatt Hotel back in 1998 (give or take a year). I heard two people speak who challenged the way I see God: Joseph Garlington and Mike Bickle. Joseph was just plain funny and interesting. I was enraptured by the way he depicted God as a Papa who loves to bounce his kids on his knee and blow on their bellies. The expression of love and joy caught me off guard.

    Then there was Mike Bickle. He talked of romance. Of the beloved. Of the Bride. Of this divine romance between the Son of God and us. Something in the way he went on and on about the beauty and majesty of God hooked into my brain and refused to let go. This was something ENTIRELY NEW. Romance? With God? Love like a sonnet? Love that REALLY motivates me? Passion for a person that I can REALLY know in this life? Do what?

    Along the way there was John Paul Jackson. He wasn’t the same as Bickle, but he brought another piece of the puzzle. John Paul was enthralled by the glory and the mysteries of God. He would speak of the “more than we can ask, think, or imagine” in such a way as to inspire me to dream again of things that seem impossible. He also began for me the process of seeing prophecy as something we should all earnestly desire to use.

    Then a few years went by. The words of these few men haunted me, as I continued my lackluster existence into college. Then one day, some years later, there was Gary Wiens. I have no idea where I heard him speak, but he was in love. Like Mike Bickle, he talked of being ravished with love for the Son of God. It was such a new concept to me, but it struck a deep, primal chord. That feeling you get when somebody says something you know applies to your life but you don’t know how you know or why or what to do with it.

    Of course, then I read Wiens’ book, Come to Papa, which just totally threatened to unravel my understanding of Jesus. When I read of the prodigal son and God’s fatherly love, I felt a quickening and an excitement that told me I was on the right path.

    And then there is Jack Deere. His book, Surprised by the Voice of God spoke volumes into my young Christian life back in 1997-98. It was a pivotal point in my young faith because it helped me to understand how a man approaches things he doesn’t understand but that appear in the Word of God.

    Little did I know that I’d be a member of Jack Deere’s church some ten years later and listening to him revolutionize my understanding of friendship with God. When I hear about how Jack tell of his love for his friends and of his sheer enjoyment of their presence, I glimpse a truth that still makes me wince because it talks of a possible reality I desperately wish to be true but have yet to experience.

    And now there is this book by Bill Johnson called The Supernatural Ways of Royalty. In this book, Johnson whets my appetite for friendship with God yet again. Not some friendship that is summarized by the daily duties I perform. But friendship that comes from a Supreme Being who happens to want to know my opinion on things. He actually wants to consult with me. He wants me to love Him deeply and treasure His friendship, and then He wants to give me things according to my will. Not just His will.

    My mind is still rushing to catch up to all of it. I’m not painting the picture fully, so don’t brush it aside until you’ve read the book. I’m just showing part of the progression that’s led me from salvation in 1996 to my quest for friendship with the Son of God in 2009. I don’t want to talk about friendship and REALLY be talking about my half hour Bible study. I don’t want to refer to “prayer” as my relationship either. Prayer is such a dated and irrelevant word to me. It makes conversation with God something “other” than just conversation. Prayer, to me, is one-sided. It’s a petition. It’s supplication. Whatever.

    I want to be like Abraham, Moses, and David. I want Jesus to talk to me like a friend. I want Him to ask me what I like. I want Him to share with me what HE enjoys about His own creation. I want to hear His burden for the lost. I want to walk with him like Enoch did. I want Him to confide in me because He trusts me.

    I want it all. I’m not willing to pummel myself in false humility while I pretend to be nothing special. God made me for greatness, and He made me to be His friend. That’s what I hope. That’s what I’m starting to believe. That’s what I need to see grow into a vibrant, larger than life reality.

    That is what I wish for, Father. I want to be Your friend. But I need help getting from here to there. Renew my mind so that I can understand who I am in Christ, so that I may approach You, address You, and listen to You more freely than I do right now.


  • Pursuing What God Made Me For

    If it seems like I own too many websites, it’s because I do. If it seems like I don’t update them often enough, it’s because I don’t. This site isn’t really a blog. It’s more of a home base, from which you can venture out into the world to see what I’m up to.

    If you look to the right and the left, you’ll see links to websites I either own or contribute to. Feel free to catch up on the latest articles or delve deep into the archives. For now, this site will remain largely untouched, because it is the hub from which all the spokes point, and, well, because I haven’t decided what to do with it yet.

    I have found that in life, it’s not a question of whether I have an option. It’s a question of which option to choose.


  • God Is, Part 1 Commentary

    We see throughout the first 50 mentions of “God is” that God is the giver. He promised Abraham a land, and especially throughout Deuteronomy when Moses communicated to the people of Israel what God had said, He says over and over and over “the land that God is giving you.”

    The repetition is significant. If we let him, God will cement this truth in our minds. The promised land, the inheritance, comes from Him. Him alone. No other. Let us never forget that God is giving us the land. Because as we go forth and possess it, we will be tempted to settle in and forget how we got there. We will give ourselves too much credit. We will lose sight of the One we worship. We will not live in the land according to His precepts if we forget that it is His land which He gave to us.

    He loved us enough to prepare us for the land He is giving us. It’s a perfected action. He is giving in the sense that I am breathing. It’s not just future tense where you can wonder whether it will actually come to pass.

    God is also a witness between us,

    With you in everything you do,

    Not a man that he should lie,

    With us,

    Near us when we pray to Him,

    A consuming fire,

    A jealous God,

    A merciful God,

    The faithful God,

    The One that goes ahead of you like a devouring fire,

    God of gods and Lord of lords,

    Testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul,

    The One who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory,

    Your refuge,

    And more. We’ll discuss more after Part Two.


  • God Is, Part One

    1. Genesis 21:22
      [ The Treaty at Beersheba ] At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his forces said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do.
      Genesis 21:21-23 (in Context) Genesis 21 (Whole Chapter)
    2. Genesis 31:50
      If you mistreat my daughters or if you take any wives besides my daughters, even though no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me.”
      Genesis 31:49-51 (in Context) Genesis 31 (Whole Chapter)
    3. Exodus 20:12
      “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
      Exodus 20:11-13 (in Context) Exodus 20 (Whole Chapter)
    4. Numbers 23:19
      God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?
      Numbers 23:18-20 (in Context) Numbers 23 (Whole Chapter)
    5. Numbers 23:21
      “No misfortune is seen in Jacob, no misery observed in Israel. The LORD their God is with them; the shout of the King is among them.
      Numbers 23:20-22 (in Context) Numbers 23 (Whole Chapter)
    6. Deuteronomy 1:20
      Then I said to you, “You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is giving us.
      Deuteronomy 1:19-21 (in Context) Deuteronomy 1 (Whole Chapter)
    7. Deuteronomy 1:25
      Taking with them some of the fruit of the land, they brought it down to us and reported, “It is a good land that the LORD our God is giving us.”
      Deuteronomy 1:24-26 (in Context) Deuteronomy 1 (Whole Chapter)
    8. Deuteronomy 2:29
      as the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, did for us—until we cross the Jordan into the land the LORD our God is giving us.”
      Deuteronomy 2:28-30 (in Context) Deuteronomy 2 (Whole Chapter)
    9. Deuteronomy 3:20
      until the LORD gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they too have taken over the land that the LORD your God is giving them, across the Jordan. After that, each of you may go back to the possession I have given you.”
    10. Deuteronomy 4:7
      What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him?
    11. Deuteronomy 4:21
      The LORD was angry with me because of you, and he solemnly swore that I would not cross the Jordan and enter the good land the LORD your God is giving you as your inheritance.
      Deuteronomy 4:20-22 (in Context) Deuteronomy 4 (Whole Chapter)
    12. Deuteronomy 4:24
      For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
      Deuteronomy 4:23-25 (in Context) Deuteronomy 4 (Whole Chapter)
    13. Deuteronomy 4:31
      For the LORD your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath.
    14. Deuteronomy 5:16
      “Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
      Deuteronomy 5:15-17 (in Context) Deuteronomy 5 (Whole Chapter)
    15. Deuteronomy 7:9
      Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.
      Deuteronomy 7:8-10 (in Context) Deuteronomy 7 (Whole Chapter)
    16. Deuteronomy 8:7
      For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills;
      Deuteronomy 8:6-8 (in Context) Deuteronomy 8 (Whole Chapter)
    17. Deuteronomy 9:3
      But be assured today that the LORD your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly, as the LORD has promised you.
      Deuteronomy 9:2-4 (in Context) Deuteronomy 9 (Whole Chapter)
    18. Deuteronomy 9:6
      Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.
      Deuteronomy 9:5-7 (in Context) Deuteronomy 9 (Whole Chapter)
    19. Deuteronomy 10:17
      For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.
      Deuteronomy 10:16-18 (in Context) Deuteronomy 10 (Whole Chapter)
    20. Deuteronomy 11:31
      You are about to cross the Jordan to enter and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you. When you have taken it over and are living there,
      Deuteronomy 11:30-32 (in Context) Deuteronomy 11 (Whole Chapter)
    21. Deuteronomy 12:9
      since you have not yet reached the resting place and the inheritance the LORD your God is giving you.
      Deuteronomy 12:8-10 (in Context) Deuteronomy 12 (Whole Chapter)
    22. Deuteronomy 12:10
      But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your enemies around you so that you will live in safety.
      Deuteronomy 12:9-11 (in Context) Deuteronomy 12 (Whole Chapter)
    23. Deuteronomy 13:3
      you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.
      Deuteronomy 13:2-4 (in Context) Deuteronomy 13 (Whole Chapter)
    24. Deuteronomy 13:12
      If you hear it said about one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you to live in
      Deuteronomy 13:11-13 (in Context) Deuteronomy 13 (Whole Chapter)
    25. Deuteronomy 15:4
      However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you,
      Deuteronomy 15:3-5 (in Context) Deuteronomy 15 (Whole Chapter)
    26. Deuteronomy 15:7
      If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother.
      Deuteronomy 15:6-8 (in Context) Deuteronomy 15 (Whole Chapter)
    27. Deuteronomy 16:18
      [ Judges ] Appoint judges and officials for each of your tribes in every town the LORD your God is giving you, and they shall judge the people fairly.
      Deuteronomy 16:17-19 (in Context) Deuteronomy 16 (Whole Chapter)
    28. Deuteronomy 16:20
      Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the LORD your God is giving you.
      Deuteronomy 16:19-21 (in Context) Deuteronomy 16 (Whole Chapter)
    29. Deuteronomy 17:14
      [ The King ] When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,”
      Deuteronomy 17:13-15 (in Context) Deuteronomy 17 (Whole Chapter)
    30. Deuteronomy 18:9
      [ Detestable Practices ] When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there.
      Deuteronomy 18:8-10 (in Context) Deuteronomy 18 (Whole Chapter)
    31. Deuteronomy 19:2
      then set aside for yourselves three cities centrally located in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess.
      Deuteronomy 19:1-3 (in Context) Deuteronomy 19 (Whole Chapter)
    32. Deuteronomy 19:3
      Build roads to them and divide into three parts the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that anyone who kills a man may flee there.
      Deuteronomy 19:2-4 (in Context) Deuteronomy 19 (Whole Chapter)
    33. Deuteronomy 19:10
      Do this so that innocent blood will not be shed in your land, which the LORD your God is giving you as your inheritance, and so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed.
      Deuteronomy 19:9-11 (in Context) Deuteronomy 19 (Whole Chapter)
    34. Deuteronomy 19:14
      Do not move your neighbor’s boundary stone set up by your predecessors in the inheritance you receive in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess.
      Deuteronomy 19:13-15 (in Context) Deuteronomy 19 (Whole Chapter)
    35. Deuteronomy 20:4
      For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”
      Deuteronomy 20:3-5 (in Context) Deuteronomy 20 (Whole Chapter)
    36. Deuteronomy 20:16
      However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes.
      Deuteronomy 20:15-17 (in Context) Deuteronomy 20 (Whole Chapter)
    37. Deuteronomy 21:1
      [ Atonement for an Unsolved Murder ] If a man is found slain, lying in a field in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him,
      Deuteronomy 21:1-3 (in Context) Deuteronomy 21 (Whole Chapter)
    38. Deuteronomy 21:23
      you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not desecrate the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
      Deuteronomy 21:22-23 (in Context) Deuteronomy 21 (Whole Chapter)
    39. Deuteronomy 24:4
      then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the LORD. Do not bring sin upon the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
      Deuteronomy 24:3-5 (in Context) Deuteronomy 24 (Whole Chapter)
    40. Deuteronomy 25:15
      You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
      Deuteronomy 25:14-16 (in Context) Deuteronomy 25 (Whole Chapter)
    41. Deuteronomy 26:1
      [ Firstfruits and Tithes ] When you have entered the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it,
      Deuteronomy 26:1-3 (in Context) Deuteronomy 26 (Whole Chapter)
    42. Deuteronomy 26:2
      take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the LORD your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name
      Deuteronomy 26:1-3 (in Context) Deuteronomy 26 (Whole Chapter)
    43. Deuteronomy 27:2
      When you have crossed the Jordan into the land the LORD your God is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster.
      Deuteronomy 27:1-3 (in Context) Deuteronomy 27 (Whole Chapter)
    44. Deuteronomy 27:3
      Write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over to enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you.
      Deuteronomy 27:2-4 (in Context) Deuteronomy 27 (Whole Chapter)
    45. Deuteronomy 28:52
      They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the LORD your God is giving you.
      Deuteronomy 28:51-53 (in Context) Deuteronomy 28 (Whole Chapter)
    46. Deuteronomy 31:17
      On that day I will become angry with them and forsake them; I will hide my face from them, and they will be destroyed. Many disasters and difficulties will come upon them, and on that day they will ask, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is not with us?’
      Deuteronomy 31:16-18 (in Context) Deuteronomy 31 (Whole Chapter)
    47. Deuteronomy 33:27
      The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out your enemy before you, saying, ‘Destroy him!’
      Deuteronomy 33:26-28 (in Context) Deuteronomy 33 (Whole Chapter)
    48. Joshua 1:11
      “Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get your supplies ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you for your own.’ ”
      Joshua 1:10-12 (in Context) Joshua 1 (Whole Chapter)

  • Can You Hear Me, God?

    Father, I am crying out to you. I may not utter a sound any man can hear, but my heart is desperate for you. I am desperate for the experience I have not yet had. The moment I first experience your presence and your still small voice at the same time. I want the weight of your glory. I want to know you in such a way that sears my heart and curls my toes.

    I want you. Really. Truly. I don’t want to play mind games with myself. I want you to talk to me in such a way as to make it clear to my silly little mind.

    Be with me. Abide in me. Help me abide in you. Let’s abide together.


  • The Challenge to Spend Time with God

    I thought it was hard to choose time with God 12 years ago. That was nothing. I was bored and undisciplined and had no idea what time with God could really result in.

    That’s nothing like today. Look at all the convenient distractions I have at my fingertips: reading blogs, writing blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Hulu, Digg, Mixx, iPhone, wife, baby, clients, bills, etc.

    Eventually, all the distractions drain our souls, and we have to step away to recharge. We know in these moments that we were not truly made to replenish our souls through media and entertainment. We were meant to experience something infinitely more restful and life-giving. Something that would charge us up with a positivity and a lightness of being that could only come from the God of all creation.

    Some of you may want a little help getting quiet before the Lord. It is an art form to quiet the chatter of this world. Start here:

    • take a few deep breaths and close your eyes
    • begin to think of God’s mysterious and amazing attributes
    • thank him for being God, and for being good and pure and holy
    • focus on the wonder He inspires in you
    • tell him you love Him and want to know Him more
    • continue to think of Him
    • breathe slowly
    • let your mind wander on thoughts of God
    • see where it takes you

    This isn’t a formula for you to adhere to. It is an illustration of how to calm yourself and lead yourself into His presence. Your mind is most likely lazy like every other American’s. If we are to find Him, we must truly seek Him. If we are to seek Him, we must lay aside our discomforts and do what we must to put ourselves in His path.


  • House versus God

    This week’s episode of House MD pitted Dr. House against God or, to be more precise, the idea that God speaks and interacts with people. It is a topic very near and dear to my heart, and kept me on pins and needles, waiting to see how they would make the Christian look. As expected, the Christian is discounted as a liar and a fake. The Christian is Boyd, a fifteen year old boy who hears from God and heals people by laying his hands on them.

    During the middle of a church service (did anyone else notice how ugly and backwoods most of the church members looked?), Boyd’s hands clench, he doubles over, and falls down. His father rushes him to the hospital. House’s staff diagnose the boy with Tubular Sclerosis. Several small tumors in his brain are credited with causing the symptoms mistaken for spirituality. Chase is the only one on House’s staff who thinks there is even the slightest possibility that the boy isn’t lying or delusional. But it is House himself who throws a childish tantrum when the boy’s revelations from God continually hit the mark.

    The final straw is when Boyd lays his hands on a female cancer patient in the hospital, tells her that God has heard every prayer, and claims that she is healed. House goes on the warpath to prove that the woman isn’t healed in order to discredit the teenage faith healer. Funny what can set him off into such an angry mood, isn’t it? Though the plots for this show are decidedly secular, the writers leave room in this episode for at least the unlikely possibility that God speaks to people. Of course, this is as far as they are willing to go. So we are left with a non-committal declaration by Dr. Wilson, who tells House that a belief isn’t disproved simply because a person cannot live up to it. I am left wondering if this is a positive statement or not.

    The boy has a virus that attacks cancer cells, which he manages to spread to the girl he had laid hands on in the hospital. She had experienced at least brief remission due to the virus she had caught from the believer. Note the comment made about the chances of the boy having just the right virus to attack just the right type of cancer cells. The odds were ridiculously small. House finds it difficult to believe that God would use one disease or illness to deal with another. The boy responds by saying that God does not violate the laws of His universe – that it is not so strange that He would use various existing biological elements to carry out what otherwise would be impossible. It is an interesting thought.

    I read something similar in The Elijah Task by John and Paula Sandford. In discussing the miraculous/supernatural, the Sandfords state their personal belief that God does not violate the natural laws He created. To violate something good and pure could be equated to fraud or violating the innocence of a child – unthinkable. God loves everything He created. Regardless of the fine details which we struggle in vain to understand, I can see how the supernatural is only supernatural in that God acted in a natural way which we cannot presently understand. We did not write the laws of nature. We do not fully understand them all, either. Imagine: not too long ago, we thought that the molecule was the smallest measurable unit. Then came the atom, with protons, electrons, and neutrons. Then came quarks. Scientists may have found something even smaller by now.

    One thing we have learned is that everything, including solids, liquids, and gases, is made up of energy. If even the most solid looking surface known to man is truly made up of energy, moving mountains isn’t such a stretch of the imagination. We see the manifestation of a LOT of energy particles, but to move any amount of already moving parts from one place to another is not really so unthinkable if one only knows how. Food for thought…