Saint Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. He was born in Britain, but was kidnapped by Irish raiders and sold as a slave in Ireland. He wrote this about that time period in his life, “The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was rosed, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night, nearly the same. I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain.”
He escaped and went back to Britain. Later in his life, he became a Christian missionary and spread the Gospel to those in Ireland, leading to many conversions to Christianity. We often see a four-leaf clover as a symbol of St. Patrick’s Day, but Saint Patrick actually used a three-leaf clover as a teaching symbol to explain the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). Just something to think about this St. Patrick’s Day!
We all want to have more joy in our lives. Build good routines and habits so you have that joy! For example, start each day with daily Bible reading and prayer, focus on the good, and look for God throughout your day.
For more information on the habitus of joy, click here, then head to the last section of this video (this topic starts at 7:44).
Yes! and I’ll give you two good reasons. The G3 Ministries Blog posted an article Biblical Fasting: Is it a Practice for the Church Today? Part 2 I didn’t read part 1 but if it is anything like part 2..talk about complicating something simple and making it hard. The article attempts to make the case that fasting is unnecessary and unprofitable. The author’s bias or bent towards his position seems to make him ignore what the Bible is actually saying. I like common sense and simplicity. So here are two reasons that fasting is relevant, applicable, and profitable today. In Matthew 6:16-18 Jesus tells us to fast in secret so only the Father can tell we are fasting. Then He says “…and thy Father, which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” If Jesus says that the Father will reward thee openly then I believe the Father will reward thee openly. That is in itself a great reason for fasting. Another reason for fasting is Matthew 17:14-21. The disciples could not cure a man who was possessed but Jesus was able to. When they asked why they could not, Jesus said it was because of their unbelief and then said “Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. (Matt. 7:21)”. Just to note, some question the validity of this verse because it is not included in some English translations even though it is included in the King James. My only question would be, if it does not belong in the Bible, why does Mark 9:29 say the same thing? “And He said unto them: This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.” Just something to think about.
There are so many challenges today for Christians in the culture war we live in. Christian authors have an open page of thousands of topics that are relevant and helpful to embattled believers. So I’m not sure I understand why Russel Moore, Editor in Chief for Christianity Today, wrote an article entitled Why Superman Matters. Spoiler alert, turns out Superman doesn’t matter. Moore contends that people like Superman, “Not so much because he is godlike but because he is, underneath it all, so very human.” The main point of Moore’s article is the premise that “What we love about the hero is not his power so much as his vulnerability”. My mind’s wide open but when I was a kid I don’t remember anyone saying, “I want to be Superman because he’s so vulnerable.”
As mind boggling as this article is, I would just like to say to editor in chief, HE’S A COMIC BOOK CHARACTER! Superman was not meant to be taken this seriously. It was written to sell comics. I don’t get the whole religion comparison but hey, you do you. I just want to say that for myself I loved watching Superman because he was “Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings at a single bound—look, up there in the sky, it’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Superman!” As much as I adore Superman, he is not worthy to be included in a serious conversation involving the great God we serve. Perhaps we should let comic books be for entertainment and the Word of God for edification and life changing power. And just perhaps a Christian magazine should print articles that are edifying for believers and glorifying for the God who made us and saves us. Or you could do an article on why Lucy charges five cents for advice? Why doesn’t she give the advice free? Is she engaging in mind control, political activism, social influencing or commercialism? And why does Charlie Brown pay to listen to her? Just something to think about.
One of our favorite trips is to Universal Orlando! Theme parks are filled with thrilling rides, fun times with family, and ice cream! We’ve noticed one surprising thing there, however…people aren’t happy. In fact, they are downright grumpy and sometimes even irate. Now, this isn’t a post criticizing Universal, but rather, focusing on a deeper issue (because, news flash, this happens a lot of places). Why are people so unhappy?
There are a few factors involved, and it’s good to be aware of them so you can be in the smaller group of happy people. This affects you, even if you don’t like theme parks, because these issues affect you in all aspects of life (theme parks just sometimes paint the clearer picture of the issues).
1. Are you hungry or tired?
If you are overly emotional, stop and ask yourself if you are hungry or tired. Go get a snack or take a break. You’ll be surprised to see how much better life looks when you fix those two issues.
2. Have you set strict expectations?
It’s great to plan, but if you’ve come up with a strict itinerary of what you need to do and when, chances are, you are going to be miserable. The plan never goes the way you expect, and when you’ve determined that your day has to go a specific way, you crash when the plans change. It’s better to do your research and get an idea of what you would like to do, but go with the flow as the day brings unexpected changes.
“A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.” – Proverbs 16:9
“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:18
3. Are you having an attitude of gratitude?
The funnest place in the world can feel like the pits…or the dullest thing in the world can be fun. What determines this? Easy, your attitude. You choose to be grateful for the day the Lord has blessed you with, or you choose to be miserable about things that aren’t going your way. Choose to be grateful, count your blessings, and be happy!
“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” – Psalm 118:24
4. Do you have peace with the Lord?
You can fix all the problems in steps 1-3, but if you don’t have peace with the Lord, you won’t find true peace and joy in life. You can try to fill the gaps, and have moments of satisfaction, but you will end up finding that something is empty and missing. When you turn to the Lord and have salvation through his Son, Jesus, you can start to have peace. But it isn’t enough to say a prayer, and put it into your pocket as insurance. You need to learn to walk with the Lord, to turn from your sins, to have His Spirit, to grow in Him. Without this, you won’t have peace or true joy. You can be in the funnest spot in the world, and still be empty. But with the Lord, you can be in a hard spot, and still have peace and His comfort, grace, and joy.
“And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.” – Colossians 3:15
Outside the window of my classroom is a large garbage bin. As with all garbage bins, it must be emptied from time to time. This task is accomplished with a trash truck, and not just your run of the mill, everyday truck, but a shiny, dazzling bright blue trash truck with an automated kid magnet. Watching the trash truck is highly exciting for some of my students, and I can’t say that I blame them. However, there are times when the trash truck comes and the automated kid magnet pulls all the students’ heads to the window and distracts from the lesson and learning.
One day, I asked students to set a goal for their growth on benchmark testing, and to create an action plan on how to achieve that goal. Most actions plans were as expected, “Do my homework,” “Stop talking during class,” “Study for tests,” etc. However, there was one goal that I took a double-take with, “Step 1: Stop focusing on trash truck.” After a second read of the goal, I realized it was ideal. The student thought about what distracting him from learning, and he made a goal to change it.
Now, let’s be honest, we all have trash trucks in our lives. Maybe they are physically trash trucks, or maybe just symbolically. Whatever the case, they are things that distract us from doing what the Lord has for us to do. Colossians 3:2 tells us, “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” To do this, we have to stop focusing on our trash trucks.
The President is using executive orders and making decisions that many support and some oppose, including judges. What you need to know about it is simply three things: YOU DON’T KNOW WHO’S RIGHT, YOU’RE PROBABLY NOT GOING TO KNOW WHO’S RIGHT, BUT GOD DOES KNOW WHO IS RIGHT. The people in the midst of these conflicts can’t agree with who is right, so how are you and I going to know? We only know what we read and hear and most of that information is flawed and biased. It isn’t necessary for us to know the ins and outs and rights and wrongs because God knows exactly what is right and what is according to His will. We are to trust God to bring about the right outcomes and to be faithful to PRAY for God’s intervening power to bring about good. We need to be praying for the President and for the judges. We need to pray for God to give both wisdom and to keep both from temptation. “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;” (1Ti 2:1-3 KJV). The President, the judges, the Congress, the Cabinet, as well as all religious and civil leaders, need our prayers to be able to accomplish the things God has called them to do. God will hold them accountable for their decisions and us accountable for praying or not praying.
It seems today you find pastors, teachers and professors write articles and preach sermons on the gospel, evangelism, and the love of Jesus but they seem to forget something very important and that is God. An article on christianity.com titled The 4 Loves of a Healthy Church by Dr. Josh Moody is a good example of how popular phrases and ideology has replaced sound doctrine which gives understanding of the God we seem to forget. Dr. Moody contends that the four loves of a healthy church are: love of Jesus, love of Jesus’ word, love of Jesus’ people, and love of Jesus’ mission. Those are all good things but I find it somewhat troubling that neither God or the Holy Spirit made it into the top four loves of a church. After all, a healthy church should display a love and a desire for both God the Father and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Some may say that Dr. Moody didn’t forget about God because Jesus is God. The problem with that viewpoint is it is based on a lazy and improper approach to the teaching of the trinity. Jesus did say that “I am in the Father and the Father in Me” and “before Abraham was, I am.” However, Jesus also made a very clear distinction between himself and God the Father. Jesus did not intend for people to view himself and God the Father interchangeably as the same person. A good example of the importance of acknowledging both God and Jesus is the definition of eternal life given in John 17:3 KJV “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” To understand the person and work of each member of the trinity is fundamental. Dr. Moody only mentions God once in his article and that is to state that in healthy churches Jesus is their God and the love of their lives. The article itself is at odds with Jesus’ own words who clearly taught that the greatest commandment is “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Mat 22:37). In order for us to grow healthy in our church we need to understand each person of the trinity, their roles, and their works.
The issue I have with the four loves listed in the article is not merely that the love for God was omitted. The issue is that the love of God was omitted. There is a big difference between our love for God and the love of God. The love of God is a love that is beyond our capability. We as Christians are to let the love of God dwell within us. A good application of this is seen in 1 John 3:16-17, “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?” The love of God dwells richly in those who love Him and keep His commandments. But those who oppose God do not have the love of God in them. Jesus told the Jews who sought to kill him, “But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you” (John 5:42). If there is one love that is an indicator of the health of a church it is evidence of the love of God and the love of God does not make the top four loves in this article. So let me ask you a question. Did the author forgot something very important?
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The Cambridge Dictionary defines essence as the basic or most important idea or quality of something. What is the essence or the most important quality of our prayers? Is it what we ask for, how we ask, our ability to believe, our persistence, or is it how we live our lives? Each of these are a part of our prayer life and come out of our faith. They combine to create an image and fragrance before God, When the Lord looks from Heaven He sees our lives, the things we do and don’t do. He discerns our thoughts and the intents of our hearts. We can say we love Him with all our hearts but He knows if we love Him a little or a lot. We can say we trust Him but He knows if we truly trust in Him or something or someone else. All these factors play a role in whether our lives are a sweet fragrance unto the Lord or a stench in His nostrils.
There is a Spanish worship song titled Perfume a Tus Pies. The words of the chorus are:
Yo quiero enamorarme más de Ti.
Enséñame a amarte y a vivir conforme a tu justicia y a tu verdad.
Con mi vida quiero adorar. Con todo lo que tengo y lo que soy,
todo lo que he sido te lo doy. Que mi vida sea para Ti como un perfume a tus pies.
An English translation would be something like this:
I want to be more in love with you. Teach my soul to love you and to live conforming to your justice and your truth. I want adore and praise you with my life. With everything that I have and I am, everything that I have been, I give to you. Let my life be to you just like a perfume at your feet.
Our lives have the capability to be a sweet fragrance like a perfume unto the Lord or a sour smell or stench in His nostrils. What changes would we have to make to become a sweet fragrance. The chorus of Perfume a Tus Pies takes that thought one step further. The chorus expresses the desire that one’s life may be an offering of perfume at the feet of the Lord. This is something that must be in our hearts to do and something we do willing. Paul said in Romans 12:1, “I beseech ye therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service.” A good starting place would be to pray, as the chorus says, for God to teach our souls to love Him, to live according to His ways and truth, and to praise Him with our lives. One might find it encouraging to look up the lyrics to this song. Here is a link to the song if you would like to listen to it :
