Be Still--and Breathe!

It had been a week on an emotional roller coaster. First the people’s hopes were lifted, and then they were dashed. They were trying to follow God, but it didn’t look like they had always dreamed it would. The political machinery of the day looked as if it were going to swallow them once again and relegate them to the bowels of society. They had been there long enough. They knew what that was like and they didn’t want to go back!

And now the Lord had finally freed them. They had put blood on the doorposts—not the typical way of finding relief from oppression, but it had worked. The command came to leave and they instantly obeyed before Pharaoh changed his mind. He always did. It was just a matter of time. So they left Egypt both rejoicing and looking back to see if they were being followed.

And about the time they started relaxing, someone sees a dust cloud on the horizon behind them. Looking ahead at where the giant pillar of cloud was leading, all they could see was water. They were trapped, and they knew the outcome of dealing with Pharaoh’s army. Many of them would die. Most would be re-captured and re-bound into the very slavery they had just escaped. Let’s pick up the story in Exodus chapter 14. Beginning with verse 10.

Ex 14:10-14 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” 13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

Some things never change, do they? At the first sign or even sometimes, at the first hint of trouble, we grow terrified. And we start complaining and even believing that the very things we are being rescued from would now be preferable to what we are now facing. Look at vs. 11, 12 again.

Ex 14:11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”

Why do we do that? Why do we, at the first sign of anything remotely threatening to our security and well-being, start complaining and crying out in fear? To be sure, because we are human. But might it also be that we haven’t developed the ability to be still and trust that God is still in control? Could it be that we feel like we have to rescue ourselves and we don’t see how it’s going to work out? Look, once again at Moses’ command in vs. 13 and 14.

Ex 14:13-14 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

And you probably remember the story, don't you. God provided a path through the sea and when Pharaoh and his armies tried to follow them, the walls of water came crashing down on them. The Lord had done their fighting for them. They only had to stand firm and watch the Lord's deliverance.

Either we never knew, or we have already forgotten that the Lord will fight for us, we only need to be still. That’s harder than it sounds. Be still. Ok…and do what? Ponder the problem? Seek solutions? Wring your hands in anxiety? No. Psalm 46:10 says:

Psa. 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

That’s what Moses was trying to get the Israelites to see in the middle of their crisis. They didn’t have much choice, did they? The sea on one side, the army on the other…they had to be still…physically. But not all who are still physically are calm emotionally and spiritually. Have you noticed that? But they have no where else to go. So they wait on the Lord to do something. And He does.

What solved their problem? Did they solve their problem? Did they form a giant think-tank to discuss, deliberate and vote? No. How was their problem solved? They waited on God. They had to be still. Was that all? No. They also had to obey God and walk the direction He led. If they hadn’t done the walking, they would have stayed on the other side of the sea. They had to be still. Then they had to obey. Inhale, exhale. Be still, inhale, obey, exhale. We have to learn to breathe spiritually.

We talk a lot about our need for prayer, about how good prayer is, about how necessary it is to our spiritual walk, yet we seldom seem to take the time to pray. It has been said that prayer is the breath of the soul. If this is so, then perhaps the reason we so often feel anxious or overwhelmed in life is because we are not breathing!

In order to do away with the anxiety and panic in our lives, we must allow our souls to breathe deeply. And one of the primary reasons we are not breathing deeply enough is because we are not still long enough to do so. “Be still”, God says. Being still is the first requisite to breathing well.

When difficulties come; breathe. When it feels like life is going to run you over; breathe. When you feel uncertain or scared or anxious; breathe.

Ellen White, in her book Desire of Ages, page 667, says, “The path of sincerity and integrity is not a path free from obstruction, but in every difficulty we are to see a call to prayer. There is no one living who has any power that he has not received from God, and the source whence it comes is open to the weakest human being. {DA 667.4}

In every difficulty we are to see a call to prayer. A call to breathe. A call to Be still. Why? So we can

gain perspective. So we can live life without having to panic. So we can know that He is God. Being still allows God the chance to work in our lives before we go out and do something stupid in our typical reactionary mode. Being still allows us to realize Who is fighting for us. Being still will allow us to remain at peace. Isaiah tells us that.

Is. 26:3 You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.

Phil 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Do you want peace in the midst of life’s storms? Learn to breathe. Be still. Seek God. Keep your mind fixed on Him. Allow Him to bring you peace.

Worry? Who Me?

Most of us spend our lives worrying, don’t we?  We worry about how people will accept us.  We worry about our clothes—are they nice enough or with it enough?. We worry about acne.  We worry about our bodies—are we too fat or too skinny or too tall or too short or too ugly or somehow not acceptable.  We worry about our social status.  Will someone find us attractive or will they shun us? We worry about what the guy or girl on the other side of the classroom is thinking about us. We worry about school work—are we smart enough to handle it or will we come out failing?  We worry about projects and papers and quizzes and tests.  We worry about whether we can stay in school and pay the bill.  We worry about our jobs—at least some of us do.  Others haven’t gotten there yet as they joy ride around on the golf cart of life.

As we get older, we worry about our careers, and our income—will we make enough to pay the bills and survive in the lifestyle we’ve grown accustomed to?  We worry about who we will marry, or if we will marry.  We worry about whether we will be able to have kids, and once we have them, that gives us something totally new to worry about.  How will we feed them and clothe them?  How will we educate them?  How can we get them through childhood in one piece when they continue to fall down and break bones or stick screwdrivers into electrical outlets, or jump off of swings when they are at their highest point?  And how can we pay for the rising cost of Dr. bills when they do those things?

We worry that they won’t do good enough in school or that they get into too many fights or that they won’t be accepted or that they might fail and not only make themselves look bad, but make us as parents look bad too.

We worry about the perpetual cough that we can’t seem to stop or the fever of one of the kids or about our aging parents.  We worry about the doctor’s report that says we have a tumor and we worry about cancer or strokes or high cholesterol and heart attacks.    We worry about tornadoes and earthquakes and hurricanes and fires.  We worry about our kids driving the highways at much too high a speed.  We worry about the other people on the roads with our kids.  Some of them we worry about because they might be drunk and could possibly hit one of our loved ones…and some we worry about because they happen to be on the road at the same time as our kid who just learned to drive—and they don’t yet know the lack of experience that our kid has.  And so we worry, not only for our kid, but for the people our kid might hit.

We worry about divorce and our future.  We worry about death and how to face it.  We worry about hell and heaven.  We worry about our family members that don’t know Jesus.  We worry that we don’t know Jesus well enough.  And we hate the question put to  us—If you were to die right now, do you know where you would spend eternity?  That worries us.  In fact, have you noticed?  We worry about just about everything.

And right in the middle of all of our worry, Jesus speaks.

Matt. 6:25 ¶  “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

Matt. 6:28 ¶  “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying,  ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

That’s all well and good Jesus, but what do I do instead of worrying?  I mean, my life is eaten up with it.

And Jesus says, “I’m glad you asked!” Look at verse 33.

33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its’ own.

Do you hear God speaking to you this morning?  Don’t worry.  But Lord, I’m afraid that…and we continue our litany of worry.  And yet, over 200 times in the Scriptures, Jesus admonishes us to not be afraid.  And He adds His promises to help us realize why we don’t need to be afraid.  Ponder this.

John 14:1 ¶  “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

John 14:25 ¶  “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Over and over God seeks to calm our fears.  Over and over He wants us to learn to rest our worries in the strength of His love for us.  Time and again, God calls us to stop worrying, start trusting and enjoy life.

Ask Anything?

I want to take a look at the role of prayer in the Christian's life, and there is too much to put into one post, so I'm going to spread it out a bit.

The question always comes, if God knows everything already, then why should I pray?  Or put another way, does prayer really work?  I’ve prayed and nothing happened—therefore, I’ve concluded that prayer doesn’t actually work and furthermore, there must not be any God.

Part of our problem with prayer comes perhaps, from a misunderstanding of prayer.  We read verses that seem to tell us that God will give us anything if we just ask. Matt. 7:7-11   “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
Matt. 7:9     “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Or Mark 11:24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Or John 15:16  You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

John 16:23 In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

1John 5:14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.


We see all those “whatever you ask” verses and we say ok…I’m asking…but I’m not receiving.  And we wrongly conclude that God isn’t there because He didn’t do anything.

Ever asked your parents for something and were told no?  You didn’t conclude that since you didn’t get it, they must not exist.  They simply said no.  You might not have been happy with the answer, but you never questioned their existence.

Did you know that sometimes God says no.  Look a little more closely and notice something else.  Jesus actually taught that there were some conditions on prayer.  Go back to 1 John 5:14 "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us."

Do you see the first one? If we ask anything according to HIS will.  Too often, we are asking according to ours.  He's not a vending machine...He is the God of the universe who wants RELATIONSHIP...with YOU!  More to come.

Making Your Theology Your Biography- Lifestyles of the Humble and Holy

There used to be a show on TV called, "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous."  People loved to watch it because it showed off all of the things the wealthy have that everyone else wanted.  We've fallen for this same ideology in the church as well.  We seek to have a lifestyle of the Rich and Famous rather than what Jesus called us to: Lifestyles of the Humble and Holy.

I received an e-mail last week that I think may sum up what we are talking about.  It was titled “The way we might sing some well-known hymns if we were being honest.

I surrender Some.   There shall be sprinkles of blessings.  Fill my...spoon, Lord.   Oh, how I like Jesus.   He’s quite a bit to me.   I love to talk about telling the story.   Take my life and let me be!   It is my   secret what God can do.   There is scattered cloudiness in my soul today.   Onward, Christian Reserves.   Where He leads me, I will consider following.   Just as I ...pretend to be.   When the Saints go Sneaking in.

When will the church get honest about its intentions?  When will we get honest about our individual intentions?   There comes a time when we must stop playing church and start praying, church!   When we must stop kidding ourselves into thinking that we are praying saints when we have never really stopped being selfish.   We still want what we want, when we want it, how we want it, why we want it, and who gives two full-blown hoots about what God is asking of us.   In short, we like the idea of being God too much to relinquish the throne.    He asks for our time...we’re too busy.  He asks for our money... can’t afford it, don’t want to give it, and  don’t agree with what they want to do with it anyway.   He asks for our talents...I can’t be bothered with that, I have to use mine in making sure that I have enough in my house.  Someone else can work on filling His house.

If your time, talents and money aren’t spent on leading others to the kingdom, you just wasted your time, talents and money.   If you can’t see past meeting your own wants to a see a world that is dying, you are more philosophically aligned with the Rich and Famous than with the Humble and Holy.   Can you not lift your sights above the here and now?  Is there no recognition that all of this stuff will burn? 

Many of us have a proper theology, but it has not yet become our biography.  Many of us know the texts, but we hold too tightly to the things of this earth for the texts to mean much to us.   Many of us know what we should be doing, but we have gotten good at holding on to wordly policy plans.  Think about this though: It isn’t a huge outbreaking of sin in our lives, but rather, the selfish, greedy spirit that takes possession of us, which will finally lead us, like Judas,  to sell out our Master.  How much are you willing to sell Him for?  Unfortunately, I have often sold Him out for far less than Judas.

So how do we turn our Theology into our Biography?  How do we take what we say we believe and live it out?  Well, there’s good news and bad news.  

First the bad news...We can’t.  There is no way that we can live out our theology. You may be able to accomplish a few things on the list by yourself, but Jesus said that apart from Him  we can do nothing.   So put away your how-to notebooks and forget about trying to be good.  You won’t be able to do it.   Bury the idea that you have a strong will and can do anything you put your mind to.  Sink the ship of self-sufficiency and recognize that you, nor I, have what it takes to make it across the ocean of life.   Try as hard as you will, you cannot  live out your theology.  You are doomed to failure!   Your theology is too demanding.  It is too formidable.  Too hard.  Anyone seeking to make it on their own will find themselves sinking into a sea of discouragement and hoplessness.   They will grow bitter over the disappointments in life.  Eventually, they will seek any other way, and end up selling their Master out.  So the bad news  is....you can’t live your theology.   So if we can’t do it, then why talk about it....

Because our theology must be lived!

But wait...remember, there's also good news!  Here it is.   While I can’t do it, Jesus already did.   And He has promised to ascribe His life to me if I will just accept it.  He has promised that He will come in and change me if I will let Him.   He has promised that He will work His theology into my biography.  Not because of what I do...but because of what He does in and through me.  

Jesus said in John 15:5    “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.

So what is my part?  I must let go of the world and allow myself to be grafted into the Vine.  Then his Spirit will flow through my branches and produce fruit.  Not because of me...but because I’m living in Him.  It is a natural progression.  I’m grafted in, the fresh sap of the Vine begins to give me nourishment.  I grow and change and produce fruit.   If your not growing, check out your connection to the Vine.   If you have a connection, your time, talents, money and everything else will be freely given to Him.   You can’t help it.   Jesus inspires us to grow outward, giving of what we have to help His kingdom grow.

If you find yourself struggling with selfishness, greed and gain in the material world with little thought of the eternal,  stop and check your connection to the Vine.   Recognize that all of this is just going to burn.  It won’t last.  When Jesus comes, all that you worked for in the material world will be gone.  You can’t take it with you.   Check out your connection to the Vine.  Make sure that you are grafted in.  Which brings me to my last point.

In order for the church to stay a part of the Vine, we must daily feed on Jesus.  Daily draw our source of life from Him.   This is vital if we are to survive.  How do we do that?  Through prayer and the ministry of the Word.   We must once again go back to His Word and find our nourishment there.  We must hold each other up in prayer as the devil attacks and tries to rip us away from the Vine.  We must become intercessors, not only for ourselves and our families, but for each other in the church family as well.   We must fight against our natural instinct to put self first, and instead, let Jesus replace us on the throne of our hearts. 

Prayer and the Word.  Imperative to the spiritual battle.  If we recognize that we must have a lifestyle of the Humble and Holy, we must also recognize that it must start with us.  No one else can make that choice for you or me.   If we remain in the Vine, and the Vine in us, we will find that, by and by, our Theology has grown very naturally, into our Biography.   Not because of what we do, but because we have fed from the True Vine.  We have lived in Him and allowed Him to live and work in us.

May you allow Him to live in you today.

Breathe!!!

Have you noticed that not being able to breathe stirs up panic feelings in us? I’m a lifelong asthmatic and I know what it feels like not to breathe.  It’s scary.  It can create a lot of anxiety.  But the worst and most frantic time I remember was the swim meet my Senior year of academy. 

I was entered in the long-distance race.  The year before, since no one else had signed up for it, I had volunteered and much to everyone’s surprise, including my own, I had won it by almost a pool length.   So this year, I was favored to win.  It was 4 laps or 8 lengths of the pool.  The whistle blew and we all dove in.  I took the lead very early, and continued to hold the lead through the first three laps.  I made the turn to start my last lap and pushed off of the wall, and was over halfway down the pool,  when suddenly my whole body seized up.  Just froze in mid-stroke.  One arm was locked above my head and the other was down at my waist and nothing would move.  I remember looking up at my classmates lining the pool and hearing them scream, “Swim.  Swim!” 

But I couldn’t move.  And then, I began to sink.  I couldn’t even breathe in or scream out.  Just quietly began to sink with my muscles rigid and locked.  I remember my feet going down, then my head just silently slipping under the water.  My eyes wouldn’t even close as the pool water stung them.  I felt myself going farther and farther down in the deep end of the pool and could do absolutely nothing to help myself. I felt both anxious and overwhelmed.  I desperately wanted to breathe, but could not get back to the surface to save my own life.

Finally, after what seem like minutes, though I’m sure it was only seconds, one of my classmates dove in, came to the bottom and pulled me up to the surface.  As I broke the surface, my lungs inhaled sharply and it broke the muscle spasm which had gripped my whole body.  They pulled me out of the pool, and I just lay there on the sidewalk and gasped for air.  Let me tell you, not breathing creates a lot of anxiety.

We talk a lot about our need for prayer, about how good prayer is, about how necessary it is to our spiritual walk, yet we seldom seem to take the time to pray.  It has been said that prayer is the breath of the soul.  If this is so, then perhaps the reason we so often feel anxious or overwhelmed in life is because we are not breathing! 

In order to do away with the anxiety and panic in our lives, we must allow our souls to breathe deeply.  And one of the primary reasons we are not breathing deeply enough is because we are not still long enough to do so.  “Be still”, God says.  Being still is the first requisite to breathing well. 

When difficulties come; breathe.  When it feels like life is going to run you over; breathe.  When you feel uncertain or scared or anxious; breathe.

Ellen White, in her book Desire of Ages, page 667, says,  “The path of sincerity and integrity is not a path free from obstruction, but in every difficulty we are to see a call to prayer. There is no one living who has any power that he has not received from God, and the source whence it comes is open to the weakest human being. {DA 667.4}