One More Leap

When I was in high school, I was among a group of teen guys who decided to raise money for our prom by going for the Guinness Book of World Records by leapfrogging twenty miles. We took pledges for our effort – much the same way that people pledge for a walk-a-thon or other fundraisers. However, we added this kicker: if we couldn't finish, then we would pay you the amount you pledged. We raised $900. That meant that if we didn't finish, we owed $900.

The day of the great Leapfrog Team Challenge came. The TV crews were ready. The crowds were at the school stadium. And we started. And I can tell you that I don't think I ever experienced such a painful event in my life. Mind you, I was involved in high school football, baseball and wrestling, so I was in good shape. But this was something else altogether.
At mile 10, the crew was exhausted and complaining. By mile 13 we knew we were in serious trouble. I'd like to tell you that there was some magic resolution to the pain and agony we were going through, but the simple fact is that we kept calling out to one another “jump one more jump.” After a long while we cleared mile 15...then 17...then 19...

That's the way we completed it (and tied the record). We simply leaped one more time…and one more time…and one more time. It was exhausting. It got boring. It was painful. And oh, were we ever sore the days afterward.

But we did it.

I think in our Christian life, we ought to have the same focus. No matter how difficult the trial or how tedious the task, we can get it done by taking small steps and asking the Lord above for help and directions. We don't get frustrated and take our eyes off of the goal. We take one more step and then another as we show complete dependence upon Jesus.

In your prayers today, lean upon Jeus to help you through that trial or disappointment you may be facing right now. Don't take the anxiety upon yourself - you can't bear the load and survive, no way. Right now, just rely upon Christ for strength as you take that next step through the testing time. This hour. Today. This week. This month.

God will see you through.

And I bet it'll be a lot less painful than leapfrogging twenty miles.

Trust me.

Our New Name

"Grace substitutes a full, childlike and delighted acceptance of our Need, a joy in total dependence. We become 'jolly beggars.'" - C. S. Lewis

That will be the name of our Sunday evening Bible Study from now on. In recognition of our weakness and His strength, as well as our delightful dependence on Him, we are dubbing ourselves the "Jolly Beggars."

God Inhabits Praise

Psalms 22:3 give us a curious phrase about God: He inhabits the praises of His people. He inhabits the praise? We know He listens and enjoys the praises, but this word makes the knowledge of our praises much more serious.

Dr. Dale Robbins (victorious.org) says : The Bible says that God inhabits in the praises of His people (Psalms 22:3). In other words, God “dwells” in the atmosphere of His praise. This means that praise is not merely a reaction from coming into His presence - Praise is a vehicle of faith which brings us into the presence and power of God! Praise and worship is the “gate-pass” which allows us to enter the sacredness of His glory.

The AllAbout God devotional says: If we want to see a clear manifestation of God's blessings and grace, all we need to do is to praise Him with all our heart, our mind, and our soul.

"For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods" (Psalm 96:4).

"Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom" (Psalm 145:3).

"I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies" (2 Samuel 22:4).

"You are worthy, our LORD and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being" (Revelation 4:11).

Perhaps my favorite commentary about inhabiting praise is from Pastor Eugene P. Harder of New Hope Community Church in British Columbia:

My Bible tells me that God enjoys warm, lavish, extravagant praise just as much as I enjoy it. It says, "God inhabits the praise of his people."
Have you ever been around these religious freaks who shuffle around mumbling under their breath, "Praise the Lord, praise the Lord?" There is a preacher on Radio KARI who every day says, "Repeat after me ten times; praise the Lord." My reaction is, "man, that's weird."
Let's examine the expression, "Praise the Lord." Praise the Lord is an injunction, a command or an order. It's the same grammatical construction as "Wash the dishes." You don't wash the dishes by saying, "wash the dishes." You could repeat a million times "wash the dishes" and not one dish would get washed. You don't praise the Lord by saying, "Praise the Lord." You praise the Lord by saying words like, "God you're so kind, loving and merciful to me, thank you, thank you, thank you."
Sometimes we'll sing a song like, "Praise the name of Jesus, Praise the name of Jesus." What are we doing when we say those words? We are inviting, exhorting and commanding one another to praise the name of Jesus. Then together we begin to praise the name of Jesus with the following words in the song, "He's my rock, he's my fortress, He's my deliverer in Him will I trust." Those are the words of praise that cause relationships with God to blossom.
It's my prayer that this message will motivate you to Praise God with a lavish bouquet of extravagant words and music." If God is real, He deserves my praise.

http://www.newhope.bc.ca./home.htm

"meditation"

Psa 19:14 - " Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer."

meditation - The Hebrew word pronunced higgayown..."Meditation" is the translation of haghuth, from haghah, "to murmur," "to have a deep tone," hence, "to meditate" (Ps 49:3); of haghigh, "sighing," "moaning" (Ps 5:1; see Ps 5:2); of higgayon, "the murmur" or dull sound of the harp, hence, meditation.

Strong's Concordance places meditation's definition between a "plotting" and a resounding music.

In other words, a repetitive note, or a continual rhythm, whether in thought, action or music.

Note: not a variety. This is the day-to-day thinking of habit. The routine. The everyday. Call it the average thought, the normalcy of your brain action or the cerebral "putting one foot in front of the next."

And that's what the Psalmist wants to be acceptable to God.

Not necessarily the high spirited praise service. Not necessarily the emotional lift of a Biblical retreat or a mountaintop experience.

This is the laundry-day thinking. This is the WalMart and Saturday-chore thinking. You see? God wants the mundane to honor Him as much as the spectacular.

That's the way our thinking should be. All for Him. Not just the thoroughfares of our thoughts, but the alleyways and the backstreets.

Source for higgayown : Nave, Orville James. "Meditation," Nave's Topical Bible. Blue Letter Bible. 1 Apr 2007. 17 Apr 2008.

Great Night of Bible Study and BBQ

I am finding it hard to sleep tonight. I'm feeling real good about the Bible study's great evening.

Incredible night of learning Greek, talking apologetics and having a Q&A session about the things of Jesus. Chris Jones led our study and we watched a segment of Ken Ham's Creation series before Chris led a PowerPoint teaching of the creation vs. evolution concern. Twelve guys piled into our downstairs fireplace room. We had hamburgers on the grill and hermeneutics in the house. What a great time! I am still charged up.

The study is every Sunday night and the young men are serious about learning the Scripture. it's not a sermonizing time; we have a Bible study with an open forum for questions at any time. The Lord is using our house as we had hoped: to be a place of Bible study and learning for college age and college-bound.

"Christ died for men precisely because men are not worth dying for; to make them worth it."
--"The World's Last Night", CS Lewis

A Bit Stunned

I am greatly grieved over the events of the past month. A number - a far too high number - of those college students whom I have met who were raised in strong Christian families with good Bible training have fallen hard. I can understand stumbling and getting back up, but the whole-hearted jump into the trash bin is what perplexes me. A number of them have taken a dive and show no signs of remorse. Others are giving me one story and then living another one (amazing what Facebook and MySpace can reveal about the true nature of a person. Do these kids realize that this stuff is also a testimony, going out to scores of people?) Good, solid young people have totally sold out... I'm thoroughly confused. Did they have a faith in Jesus Christ the first place? Was He, or was He not, their best Friend?