By the way for those who don’t know IKEA, it is a Swedish self-assemble furniture store, not to be missed when visiting Atlanta or LA.

The Bible Says

When he had proved himself faithful, you made a covenant with him to give him and his descendants the land….Nehemiah 9:8And now, our God, the great and mighty and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of unfailing love, do not let all the hardships we have suffered seem insignificant to you… Nehemiah 9:32

My Mind Thinks

Our track record is significant to the Lord. Our history of obedience and the chronicles of our heartaches all have bearing on the choices he makes with our lives.There are job interviews for doing God’s work. These employment interrogations do not take place around long board tables. Instead God examines the resume of our daily activity. Every moment we are under review. When we face the steep grades of life challenge how we perform under pressure makes a difference in what God has us to do next. Abraham went through just such an extensive candidacy to be the father of many nations. The encouragement of his story is that he was human with doubts and setbacks, but he kept moving on. After 25 years of job interviews, a head hunting team of three angels came to visit Abraham and Sarah and within a year Isaac was born.

There are also promotions for pain. No life pain is meaningless if we wrap it with faith. If the Lord puts our tears into a bottle, then our hardships do matter. The hardships mentioned in Nehemiah are actually all the result of the sin of the people and their just punishment. Yet even that matters to the Lord. He does not punish forever but he comes to remember us in mercy. The record of our punishment and the change of heart it brings does cause him to move our lives into better days.

My Heart Responds

I have courage to believe that all of my life matters to God and that all of it counts in what he will do next with me. He has seen my faithfulness mixed with the sawdust of my mistakes. He has seen the hardships of my life and the improvements they have brought to me. I believe God will open a door and it will be somehow connected with the track record of my life.

My Spirit Prays

Father, remember my track record and open a door for me. Amen.

Scripture
The apostles said to the Lord, “Show us how to increase our faith.” The Lord answered, “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it would obey you! Luke 17:5-6

Observation
How do we gain more faith? By using what we do have. Faith is like a seed; to have more we must plant the one that we have. Faith does not grow by whiteboard diagrams or Bible study talkfests. Faith thrives on risk.

The disciples were so much like us. They wanted more faith so that they would not be afraid to walk forward. We sometimes confuse faith and confidence as if faith will cause us to face fearful things without a single stray tummy butterfly. But the fact is faith is scary to use. Nothing can remove the feelings that follow risk like the wake after the speedboat. Faith is not an anesthetic to numb us to fear so we can move forward with confidence. Instead we must wade into cold fear and use what faith we have so we can move through to the tingles of success on the other side.

Application
Fear is often a sign that I am moving in the right direction. I must accept fear as a given and use what faith I do have before I can move into realms of even greater faith. But the reality is no matter how far I journey fear will never disappear. If it does then it is proof that I’m sliding backwards instead of moving forward. There is no escape from fear; I must use my faith.

Prayer
Father today I keep walking forward trusting you. Amen.

This Istockphoto image is entitled, “The Persistence of Light.”

September 28, 2007 Shameless Persistence Luke 11:5-11

Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.

“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 1For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

“You fathers—if your children ask[e] for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! 13 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.” Luke 11:5-11

Persistence pleases God. He loves to see initiative. But why? Why does the Lord invite us to bother him? Because he wants to change us in the process of the asking. God wants prayer to change us as much as it changes him. The determination to ask again and again sharpens our understanding of what we are asking for and causes us to reach down inside our soul until we find the passion behind our prayer.

It isn’t the words of our prayers that move God as much as our heart does. It is better to have prayer without words than to have prayer without heart. The long process of waiting and asking causes us to dig down until we find what we really want. Then we become people toughened for road conditions who can push through the discouragements of life to find an answer.

It is also safe for us to be pushy in our prayers for on the other end is a Father who answers with what is appropriate. God’s invitation to keep pressing the red button does not mean that he is a push over. He filters our requests through wisdom and gives us what is appropriate for our need.

I am finding that with significant burdens of the heart that little prayers like pressure relief values throughout my day maneuver me toward an answer. I am finding in troubled times that it is best for me to have a prayer of faith and whenever the concern overwhelms me to find some quiet place to ask again what I’ve asked before. Some days I’ll pray five or ten times. But what I’m finding is that answers come and my peace level keeps more constant. There is wisdom to the old adage, “Turn your worries into prayer.”

Father, I am not letting go of the confidence you have given to me. Amen.

Here I am with our Aussie sons Nelson and Jon, their wives Amy and Nelson and our grandson Gabe on my visit in August.

Rise during the night and cry out.
Pour out your hearts like water to the Lord. Lamentations 2:14

The pressures of life can build up like an overheating radiator. When those times come for me it seems that about 1 o’clock in the morning my fears poke me awake and torment me in the dark. In those times of inner pressure the Lord calls us to let it boil over in his presence. “Pour out your hearts like water” he counsels us.

Prayer that pours out like water is messy. It gives no thought to structure, wordsmithing, appropriateness or theology. Prayer under pressure hisses out and then lets God bring the clarity that our hearts need.

We must not be afraid of turning our fears into prayers. The blubbering petitions from the babbling torrent of our anxieties may not be fit to print, but they do make a difference our relationship with God.

Prayer brings our fears into the open where they can be accessed by the Lord. Prayer allows God to respond, to adjust our thinking, counsel with wisdom, and implant faith.

Just thinking about my life issues is not enough to change anything, I must speak my worries into the silence and know that the Lord is listening.

Father, get ready because I’m going to open the valve. Amen.