Walking in Faith

The Escape to Egypt.
When I started reading I thought “Wow this is really cool how an angle of the Lord said to Joseph in a dream get up and take your wife and child and escape to Egypt for Herod himself is going to search for the child to kill him.” When I got to the next chapter it was saying how he took his wife and his child and left for Egypt. I was just amazed how Joseph trusted the Lord to keep them safe on there way to Egypt. That is just so cool. When I was done with that chapter I read how they stayed at Egypt until the death of Herod. When I was reading how when Herod figured out that he had been out witted by the Magi he was furious and then gave orders to go an kill every baby boy in Bethlehem and it’s vicinity who where two years old an under, in accordance with the time he had learn from the Magi.

Last night we (me and my mom) read Matthew 2:1-12. I think it was very cool how the three Magi in a dream were told not to go back to Herod but to go a different route. What I thought that God was doing there was not telling them why to go a different route than the way they came but trusting them to do as he commanded them. I think they could have not listened to what the dream said it could have been easy to go the same way they came. But I think God was testing them to see what they would do. Would they do as they were told, or do what was easy?

I am working through a book by Kenneth Boa called “Handbook to Prayer – Praying Back Scripture to God” (Logos link) or also called “Face to Face: Praying the Scriptures for Intimate Worship” (Amazon link).  [NOTE: I have no clue why the title change... I should probably look into that at some point, but that's for another day.]

I came across a prayer today that has really got me thinking.  It’s nothing new, it’s nothing revolutionary, but it is really challenging me in my walk.

Faithfulness as a Steward…

• Of time
• Of talents
• Of treasure
• Of truth
• Of relationships

This got me thinking about myself as a steward of God’s things.  I started thinking about what I did today/tonight.  There were certainly some rewarding times and conversation.. but could I have done more?  It was also interesting to me that I read a blog on ChurchCrunch entitled “The End is Part of the Plan” where John talks about the most valuable thing he has, quantitatively, is time.

I waste so much time on unimportant things that add no value to God, to my family or to those around me — things that are ultimately a “time suck”.  I need to get more organized and intentional around my time committments, especially on days/nights where I don’t have a planned schedule/agenda (such as work days).  I need to get more intentional about who I am spending time with, how much time I am spending with them and what we are talking about.

From an encouragement perspective, today, I have several very good conversations.

1. I met with Johnathan Dodson from Austin City Life and discussed Fight Clubs.  Amazing guy with a vision for reaching people in the Austin central area.  I am definitely better off today having spent time interacting with him.
2. I spent time interacting with a Catholic at work about faith by works versus salvation through Christ alone.  It wasn’t a confrontational discussion, it was just some sharing.  It challenged me to be able to share the gospel in a way that didn’t respect his beliefs, but also demonstrated what I believe and why I believe it.  The Bible is a powerful thing and we can’t take it’s truths for granted.
3. I hung out with my oldest daughter for a few minutes as she laid down for bed and we talked about her day.  She had a tough day but didn’t want to orginally talk about it.  It was very cool that I was able to tell her that she can always tell me anything and I will just listen — not try to fix it.  I gave her a big hug and let it go.  She decided to share with me after a minute or two how her day didn’t go so well at school for a couple of various reasons.  By the time we ended the conversation, she was laughing and smiling as big as she could.  We even talked about how she is always “watching me” to see what I do in every situation.  She told me “you are cool and I want to be just like you.”  There are probably never going to be words coming out of her mouth that are that powerful and impactful to me. That is what it is all about with children.

I am incredibly blessed.  Now, what I need to do is use the talents and giftings God has given me to have a greater impact.  Not an impact on myself but on my family, on my church, on my community, on my co-workers.  All of these people are gifts to me from God.  To view any one of them as something other than that just lessens the real value of the possibilities God has laid before me to have a greater impact for His kingdom.

I wasn’t sure if I was a huge Brandon Heath (Twitter) fan or not but I got his album (“What If We“) for Christmas and I am really enjoying the music. The style is really pleasing and the lyrics have meaning.  I appreciate the fact that every lyric isn’t the same line over and over.  It seems in Christian music, this has become more of a trend in Praise/Worship music. The top hit “Give Me Your Eyes” definitely makes me consider how I see people around me.  I need to listen to the music a bit more to really pick my favorites — there are lots of good songs on this album!

I appreciated the music so much I just went and bought his other album “Don’t Get Comfortable“.

God is good.  It is beyond my understanding how He gave us Isaiah 53 somewhere around 500 years before Christ was ever born.  The text that continues to jump out at me is the one that conveys a message of Jesus carrying my transgressions.  It is personal.

When I read this Scripture, it convicts me of my sins even more.  It makes me think more about the work of Jesus Christ and how in my every day life, it is absolutely critical that I never take this for granted.  People in this world will spit on Jesus because they do not believe what He did for them.  “So then [God] has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.” (Romans 9:18)  That doesn’t excuse me from being a light every single day.  My  typical week will consist of 40-50 hours of work, 5-10 hours of elder stuff, a busy Sunday in corporate worship and the rest either with my family or personal time.  When are the right people seeing Jesus in my life?  Is it during the 40-50 hours at work?  Is it during corporate worship?  There are lost people in this world who need to know what Jesus Christ did for  them.  This text makes it abundantly clear to me that God crushed Jesus Christ for His children.  He crushed Jesus Christ on the cross so that man’s sins will be washed away and accounted righteous.

What am I willing to do tomorrow in order to make sure that others know this truth?  Will I close in prayer and then forget this text until I talk to my other Christian friends or will I get in front of others who need to hear this truth and share with them the good news?  That is really the challenge to me from God today.  I wonder if He is saying the same to you…