Heir of All Things!

If we say, Frank owned him in that debate, we mean not only that Frank won and the other guy lost, but we imply that Frank dominated and the other guy was humiliated. Same with “she owned the former champion on the tennis court today.” The former champion didn’t just lose a close match. She was beaten like a drum.

So to start off this reflection by saying, Christ owns us may provoke unpleasant feelings. And of course saying you own someone could remind people of the ugliness of human slavery.With those disclaimers aside, it is still true: you and I belong to Jesus even if we don’t follow Him. He owns us. And for that matter He owns all of creation.

Through the Flood and the Fire: Three Triumphant Truths - Part 1

Sometimes Bible passages become more than good advice or practical principles. In times of heartache and trouble, God’s word can be a foundation on which to stand when everything else starts crumbling. So let me begin by telling you why Isaiah 43 means so much to me.

In 1998 a tornado nearly destroyed our home. We were trying to sell our house, but in one afternoon the storm did so much damage that we thought no one would ever want it. Both our house and garage were smashed up and our acre property was strewn with the destroyed remains of a dozen trees that had been snapped off in the wind.

In the middle of the night God led my wife to Isaiah 43:1-3. It was incredibly comforting to us both. And the next day, despite the devastation, we sold our house.

God used the same passage in our lives in 2006. Dionne’s “simple out-patient procedure” became a health catastrophe that nearly took her life. In the middle of great pain, she asked me to quote Isaiah 43:1-3. The Lord used His promises to enable to hang on. 

But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior (Isaiah 43:1-3a; my highlights).

The Lord taught us three very simple, but quite wonderful, lessons from this passage. They gave us strength to walk through “the flood and the fire.” In the next few posts, I’d like to share them with you.

The Prayer of Relinquishment

Dionne wrote the following for a daily devotional book for church planters. We read the book together every morning, and the June 30 entry seemed prophetic in light of her health challenges. (If you'd like to check out the book, it's available at Amazon. Click here.)

After we read it Sunday morning, I asked her, "Is there anything we need to relinquish?" She said, "No, we're not demanding anything of the Lord. Just asking for His timing and way."

Within hours we were back for another long night in the ER. She was diagnosed with a serious kidney infection, and by midnight she was having a stent put in to deal with kidney infection.

“Abba, Father,” He said, “everything is possible for You. Take this cup from Me. Yet not what I will,

but what You will.” Mark 14:36

READING:  Genesis 22:1 – 14

I had the timing all figured out when we transitioned from our second church plant to the third. We prayed like crazy to sell our house by June 30, calculating the sale would be completed in time for us to move by the start of our son’s schools in September.

But no buyer came. I fumed all through July. God, how could You fail us like this? By late July, I surrendered the timing of our move to God – dejected but yielded. 

We all come to periodic crossroads in our Christian walk. Something suddenly takes center stage: something we dearly love, something we’ve assumed, or maybe something we’ve been praying for with all our might. God gives us an unmistakable choice: Will you lay this down? Will you trust even this to Me, to do with as I will? This crossroad moment always addresses an issue that, left unchecked, could poison, divert or dilute our single-hearted devotion to Christ. Whatever the details, praying the prayer of relinquishment leaves the taste of death on our tongue because, of course, it always is a kind of death. 

Sometimes God removes what we surrender, and because He has kindly allowed us the dignity to choose, we find peace. But often He returns to us, in purified form, the thing we gave to Him. Our buyer showed up two weeks after my surrender.

I thought the deadline was June 30. I was wrong. God used that painful delay to teach me to trust His perfect timing, then sent us buyers whose terms gave us plenty of time to move into our new house just in time for the first day of school.

Dear Father, Help me to walk at Your pace. Amen.

Written for church planters, this is really for all of us who are trying to follow Christ. Relinquish means to voluntarily cease to keep or claim; give up. We cease claiming our "rights," our timing, our outcomes, and give everything up to Jesus. Is there anything you need to relinquish to Him? Putting everything in His hands in always best, because He knows best and has the best planned. Really, because He is the best.

By the way, I brought Dionne home today. We have lots of challenges ahead, but we're trying to relinquish each of them to our Savior.

The Path to Peace and Patience

You know how it is.

• You rush through the airport, dragging your carry-ons and your kids, only to find your flight has been moved to a different gate.
• You have your day planned, with enough time to accomplish all the tasks on your list, and a friend calls and needs to talk.
• Your tire goes flat on the way to work and when you drag out the spare, you discover it’s also flat.
• You find a note in your child’s backpack, reminding you of a parent-teacher conference tomorrow morning.
• The freeway slows to a crawl, and your one-hour commute turns into the entire morning.
• One of your co-workers drops by your office and launches into a story that involves people you don’t know and situations you don’t care about. Twenty minutes goes by and it feels like twenty days.

 How do you handle delays and interruptions and distractions?

I’m not a patient person. It’s a weakness, and any of the above examples could wreck my concentration and my mood. I get stressed and edgy. Even worse, I may become abrupt or unkind.

The contrast with my Savior is very stark. In the gospels Jesus was always being interrupted, obstructed, and delayed. Right in the middle of His sermon, a demon spouts off (Lk. 4:31ff). During a home group meeting, four men lower their paralyzed friend through a hole in the roof as Jesus is teaching (Lk. 5:17-26). A former prostitute crashes a banquet where Jesus is an invited guest, and begins weeping, washing His feet with her tears (Lk. 7:36ff).