Serving Like Daniel

As he came near to the den where Daniel  was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, "O  Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually,  been able to deliver you from the lions?" Then King Darius wrote to  all the peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: "Peace  be multiplied to you. I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people  are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living  God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion  shall be to the end. He delivers and rescues; he works signs and wonders  in heaven and on earth, he who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions."  Daniel 6:20, 25-27, ESV

Today I wanted to focus on the  phrase "whom you serve continually." In previous posts, I have  mentioned the concept of doing everything as onto the Lord. Whether we  are working, playing, resting, ministering, or whatever else it might be,  our hearts and spirits should always be reaching out to him in an attitude  of reverential and worship fear of him, an attitude that says that "in  him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28)

The passage above refers to the  king of Babylon, whom Daniel was supposed to be working for. However, note  that this king is very aware that Daniel did not serve him. Darius acknowledged  that Daniel served the God of Israel as his ultimate master, through the  service he provided for him. Daniel served God at the place where God had  placed him, by doing everything as onto Him, to bring Him glory, and doing  the best work he could. For Daniel, it was in an advisory position to king  Darius. Where has God placed you to serve Him and bring Him glory?

Today I want to ask you two questions:

Are the people you work with/for  as aware of whom you serve as the king of Babylon was sure of whom  Daniel worked for?

Why or Why not?

Lord, help us to become your servants  in such a way that everyone we come into contact with, everyone we work  with/for, will know that we serve YOU ALONE, not money, ourselves, or anything  else. Use us in such a way that those that do not know you may proclaim  praises to you, just as king Darius did, by witnessing our lives and work.  Let us do everything for your glory. Thank you for your amazing grace,  use us to extend that same grace and love onto the lost that are in our  lives. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Faith

If understanding and experiencing God's loving-kindness yields loving-kindness in ourselves, and the same happens with His wisdom, why would understanding His power not yield power in our lives?

The answer to that question is simple. Faith is power. If you look carefully throughout the gospels, you will notice that a great majority of the miracles performed by Jesus were based on faith. A specific instance comes to mind where Jesus, seemingly, performed a miracle without even meaning to do so. This miracle happened, apparently, based completely on the faith of the recipient. Let's take a look at it.

"And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly, saying, 'My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.'
And he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, 'If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.' And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, 'Who touched my garments?' And his disciples said to him, 'You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, 'Who touched me?'' And he looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. And he said to her, 'Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.' " Mark 5:21-34, ESV

Similarly, where there was no faith, He performed very few, if any, miracles (Matthew 13:53-58). Now, lets clarify that faith is not an absolute necessity to have a miracle. God can perform any miracle anytime He wants, regardless of whether He is asked to or whether there is faith.

The movie "Bruce all Mighty" makes a good point. In this movie God grants Bruce all of His power to do as he wills. Bruce uses this power and, by the end of the movie, manages to make a complete mess of His and everyone else's situation, except maybe his dog. The point is clear, even if God granted man His power, man would not be better off, but probably worse. Along the same lines, Jesus said that whatever we ask for will be granted to us, as long as we ask for it in His name. This is a biblical legal disclaimer. What He was saying is that those things will be granted to us as long as they are in accordance to His will and His nature. God's power, bestowed onto man, would be a terrible curse.

True power, however, is demonstrated in living a life of peace, in loving our enemies, in forgiveness, humility, in a tame and encouraging tongue. All these things stem from our relationship with God, from our intimacy with Him, and from learning to walk by faith, following the leading of the Holy Spirit. Understanding how powerful He is, combined with His wisdom and loving-kindness towards us, will yield greater trust and intimacy with Him. It will lead to a life of true Christian power, which is our faith in Him.

Judgmentalism

"Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." Matthew 7:1-5, ESV

I want to suggest that this scripture does not refer to the final judgment, but to our everyday life. The final judgment will not be based on actions or attitudes, but on our faith on Jesus Christ alone.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." Ephesians 2:8-9, ESV

In my life, I have experienced times of peace and times of strife. I have found that how judgmental I am of others has a direct affect on how judgmental I am towards myself. My struggle with perfectionism has a lot to do with this. My expectation of myself and others is another aspect of this issue.

Over the last several years, I have become more and more judgmental. A trait that, with the help of the Holy Spirit, I am working on eliminating. However, during my younger years I was not this way. It is an interesting coincidence that during my earlier years I was not only a lot more acceptant of people, but I also had a much greater sense of peace and acceptance towards myself. This yielded a much more peaceful life, in terms of my peace of mind and heart. I was much more friendly and easy going. Similarly, as I have grown more judgmental, I have become less friendly, harder to get along with, and angrier.

This is what I believe Jesus was trying to tell us when he said that in the same way we judge other, we will be judged. Not that we would be judged by Him at the final judgment, but that we would judge ourselves in this way during our earthly life, and make it a miserable one.

Today I want to challenge you to look inwardly and be honest with yourself. Once you have done that, ask yourself: Am I judgmental of other? How much?

Father, thank you for opening our eyes and showing us those sins that are keeping us from the life you want us to have. Please help us loose our lives, that we may find it. Help us lead the life that you want us to lead. Help us be your image here on earth. Thank you Jesus for how good you are. Thank you for teaching us. Thank you for wanting what is best for us, even if we don't understand it that way sometimes. Amen.

Wisdom

The word "wisdom" has many definitions. One of them is the ability to use or apply knowledge to life. The key in this definition is in the knowledge part. Not only does God know how to use knowledge correctly (which few of us do, my self excluded), He has an infinite amount of it. His wisdom, therefore, is immeasurably greater than any amount of wisdom a man could ever attain.

Wisdom comes only from God, all wisdom is from God, and no wisdom comes from anywhere outside of God. God gives wisdom to those who ask, but it still belongs and originated from God. Likewise, God also gives wisdom to the world and the lost, as part of his common grace. The wisdom that a Christian can obtain comes from a close an intimate relationship with God. It starts with humility and the reverential fear of God, and it is all about trusting God and His judgment.

When we fully understand that God knows what He is talking about and decide to obey Him, then we would have achieve some marginal level of wisdom. It is then that we can start trusting Him more, knowing that He will not lead us astray.

Loving Him is not enough to trust Him. I love my fifteen month old child, but I would not trust him with my finances because he is not capable in that area. We must believe and understand that God is fully capable to handle all of the different circumstances that may arise in our lives.

Once we truly believe that He is capable and He loves us enough to get involved in our lives in a proactive way, we will start to feel that sense of peace that surpasses all understanding. That peace that comes from really knowing that everything will work out fine in the end.

As a final thought, I wanted to leave you with this question:

Why is it so hard to trust God on our everyday lives?

I would love to hear your answer.

God's Loving-Kindness

What is God's loving-kindness?

The beloved John 3:16 scripture says it clearly. God loved, so He acted, as a matter of fact, He gave, He sacrificed.

There has been an increased focus on God's love lately, not as much as I would like there to be, but definitely an improvement. However, love is not enough. It is not enough to love God and others. Similarly, God does not just love us. That is why we are talking about God's Loving-kindness. God's loving-kindness is God's love expressed to us in his kind thoughts, intentions, and actions towards us. God loves us, and He expresses that love towards us. He expressed that Love for us at the cross, and He continues expressing it to us every day.

It is because of His love towards us that we can trust Him. Though we might not understand why He does what He does sometimes, we need to learn to trust His love towards us and His good intentions. The closer we come to Him, the more we will know and experience His love for us. Time and time again I have to keep my young son from playing with dangerous objects such as the electric outlet, extension cords, sharp objects, bees, and so forth. Sometimes, when my wife or I re-direct his attention to something safer to play with, he throws a complaining and grumbling fit. He does not understand that some things are dangerous to him. The same thing happens between God and us. We do not understand the dangers of those sins we think are harmless, but He does. And we throw a fit when, in His love, He tries to protect us and keep us from harm.

We go through life filling our hearts with everything but God. Looking for Love in all the wrong places. Stuff will never be able to fill that void, nor will people, money, success, or anything else. Only God can satisfy that deep yearning within our hearts that cries to be loved, respected, accepted, to feel important and cherished.

Do you truly understand God's love for you?
Do you truly believe that He loves you and has the best intentions towards you, even though sometimes you may not understand Him?

Foundational Christian Values

In an earlier post I mentioned that there are three main aspects of God's character that are crucial for Christians to understand. I listed them as: Loving-Kindness, Wisdom, and power.

These three aspects of God should be reflected in the Christian's life in a similar way. Understanding these three aspects should yield Loving-kindness, wisdom, and faith in our own hearts and lives. Over time, these should manifest themselves as righteousness, peace, and joy.

It is important to process all of our lives through these filters of Loving-kindness, wisdom, and power. To me, they are the basis of Christ likeness. I consider these (loving kindness, wisdom, and faith) to be three foundational Christian values, specially Love.

When we understand these three aspects of him, we will be able to trust Him. We will do so because He loves us and all of His intentions towards us are to our benefit.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11, ESV

He knows how to handle our lives because of his wisdom, and He has the power to control whatever circumstances might arise. So, when we are faced with any uncertainty, we can rest and trust in Him. Because He can handle it, He will handle it, and in the end, when everything is said and done, it will be to our advantage to have gone through it (though it might not necessarily be pleasant.) Even when He disciplines us, He loves us and has our best interests in mind.

"And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? 'My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.' " Hebrews 12:5-6, ESV

Today, I encourage you to start pursuing these Christian values, not our of self-righteousness, but out of your love for Him!!

How to Balance Your Life, Part 5

Once my relationship with God and family are established and supported, the relationship with the rest of my family becomes the next priority. By extended family I mean those that do not live in the same household as myself. My mother, father, brother, aunt, and so forth fall in this category.
Ministry and Friends are both very close to each other; they are fighting for last place. Ministry took precedence over friends because, in a sense, friendships are a sort of ministry at times. Furthermore, ministry is also closely related to my relationship with God. Jesus gave us the great commission to go out and make disciples, not friends. So ministry has a slightly higher importance in my life than friendship.

Finally, we all need people to come along side of us, encourage us, build us up. Fiends are a joy and add great value to life. Similarly, they have great potential to help one grow and learn. Carefully selecting your friends is something that I could not stress enough. Good friends will push you up, bad ones will pull you down. I encourage you to look at the friends and people you spend your time with and ask yourself the this question, "Will these relationships help me in achieving my life-long goals?" If you have selected your life-long goals carefully, asking this question is not selfish, it is wise. If your answer is no, then the group of people that you call friends should change. That is not to say that you should completely eliminate those relationship altogether. In some cases that is definitely needed, in other cases these people just need to move from your group of friends to the group of people that you minister to.

Father, help us live lives that are in balance, that are pleasing to you and bring you glory. Guide us and teach us as we make you the centerpiece of our hearts, souls, minds, and strength. Let our relationship with you fill us to overflowing and, from that, spill into all the other areas of life. Let us be givers of live. Let us be an expression of your love to everyone we come in contact with, whether it is wives, sons or daughters, mothers or fathers, brothers, friends, or strangers.

How to Balance Your Life, Part 4

Earlier we discussed that the most important thing in life was our relationship with Jesus. The second most important thing in life, according to Luke 10:27, is our relationship with our neighbors. The priorities that were discussed on the previous section were selected in that order to support these relationships in a healthy and balanced way.

 "And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?" And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." And he said to him, "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live."" Luke 10:25-28, ESV

My relationship with my wife and children is the next more important item in the list. This set of people are the most important in my life and they take precedence over any other individuals. God specifically gave them to me so I may take care of them. After that, other things start to take priority because they support my relation to Christ as well as my family.

The third item on the list is health. Being healthy physically and emotionally is paramount to having a healthy relationship with God and Family. If the physical health of an individual suffers, the mind and spirit suffer as well. If the mental or emotional health of a person is deteriorated, the entire person is out of balance and his/hers relationship with Christ and family suffers as well.

Health was chosen to be in the third place of the list, because it supports the first and second priorities. Following health is finances and work. This priority, like health, is also in support of a previous one. Without a reasonable amount of financial stability, family life will suffer. As a husband and father, it is my responsibility to provide for my family. I believe this is a biblical idea. However, this is also a decision that we have made between my wife and I. We decided that it was more important for my wife to stay at home with the children than for her to have a full time job. She does have a home based business (she is a Mary Kay Beauty.... I mean, beauty consultant) as second priority to raising the kids.

How to balance your life, Part 3

Priorities

How do you keep your day-to-day life balanced? How do you make sure you are accomplishing those goals that are really valuable for your life?

If we are going to keep our lives in balance, we need to have a set of well established priorities to help us in our daily decision making process. Goals and priorities are not necessarily independent from one another.

My wife and I have studied and discussed what the priorities for our lives should be. They apply to our individual lives as well as our marriage and family. I encourage you to study and pray about the priorities in your life. Ask God to lead you and help you come up with a well defined list that you can review when trying to achieve balance in your life, whether it is in your finances, your schedule, your goals, or any other aspect of life. Having a carefully designed set of priorities will guide you and help you structure you life. Here is our list:

1. God
2 . A. Spouse
     B. Children
3. Health: Physical, mental and emotional
4. Finances
5. Extended Family
6. Ministry
7. Friends

Once your priorities have been established, you need to schedule your time in a way that allows all of those priorities to be accomplished. If you find yourself spending a lot of time on things that are not on your priority list, it is time to cut them out. If you find yourself spending more time on the bottom portion of your list rather than on the top, it is time to rearrange your schedule and start saying "not now" to some of those things.

When my wife and I are faced with a new project or activity that we would like to get involved with, we always ask several questions. They are, "Where does this fall in our priority list? How will our involvement in this project/activity affect the rest of our priorities? Will we have the appropriate amount of time left for the higher priority items?"

Having a well established set of priorities will help you keep a balance between the different activities that require time and energy from you. In other words, they will help you spend you life wisely.

How to balance your life, Part 2

Life Goals.

It is important to establish what God's goals for your life are. I wrestled with my life goals a few years back and finally came up with the four main goals that I believe God wanted for my life. Every now and then I re-visit them and try to fine-tune them. This is not the final draft, but it is the latest draft.

Life Goals
By His grace, this I will do.

1. To keep Him first at all times and continue developing the intimacy in my relationship with Him, learning to walk by faith, following His leadership even as Jesus did, onto Christ likeness.
2. To discover and fulfill His will for my life in obedience, Christ likeness, worship, love, humility, and unselfishness. Through His grace and power.
3. To become the husband, father, and man that God desires for me to be.
4. To spread the Gospel, make disciples, and share my faith in Jesus Christ with as many people as possible.

It is important to notice the subtitle of this list of life goals, "By His Grace, This I Will do." Accomplishing these goals is not something that I can do on my own. Attempting to achieve these on my own strength would violate the very first goal anyway. These goals can only be accomplished by His grace. No amount of striving will help me achieve any of these outside of His grace.
Having a well defined set of Goals is a very helpful tool when making decisions. They help us keep our focus on the important things and avoid getting distracted by this world.

These are very generic and non-specific goals. They are based on scripture, study, and prayer. Even though these goals could apply to any Christian, I encourage you to embark on the adventure of discovering God's goals for your life instead of adopting these as your own. I would like to recommend "The Purpose Driven Life" as good study to start with when establishing your life-long goals.

Goals aim at answering the question, "Where is my life going?"
What are your goals for you life? Where is your life going?

How To Balance Your Life, Part 1

What is Life?

If we are trying to keep our lives in balance, It is important to answer the question, "What is life?"
This question is a very, very, old question. I can not give you an answer to this; you need to find it on your own, but I can share my opinion with you.

Lets just start by saying that every human being is an immortal being. That is, we have a beginning, but we will never cease to exist. Unlike God, however, we are not eternal. He has no beginning and will have no end. After our bodies seize to function, some of us will go on to live with God forevermore, while some others will continue existing in the place set aside for those under the wrath of God. Since no one can know or understand what things will be on the other side of our physical death, I will limit this article to this side of eternity.

Life is a conglomeration of things that include feelings, relationships, ideas, events, and many, many other things. However, it all comes down to one thing that rules everything else: Time. As far as I understand it, the answer to the question becomes, "Life is my time here on earth and how I use it."
Managing my time wisely is, therefore, a very high priority for me. Wasting my time being angry or frustrated at things that I can not control is a terrible and irreversible loss. Having said that, there is seldom an event in my life that I can not learn from, and that makes those irreversible losses few and far between. Everything else becomes a learning opportunity or an opportunity to practice and strengthen any one of several skills or disciplines such as faith, patience, understanding, perseverance, foresight, time management, planning skill, etc.

We do not know at which point we will be called to move onto the afterlife. Our individual and personal future (on this earth) is a speculation and an uncertainty; it is not promised. Likewise, the past is now behind and we can do nothing about it but reflect and learn from it. Life, then, is reduced to this very exact instant in time, nothing more and nothing less. Everything else is up to God.
We can conclude that making the most out of the time we have here on earth is making the most out of our lives. Using every moment in the wisest way we know is of paramount importance. However, this will hopefully not be my last moment of life. Which produces a problem because I would much rather be at home playing than whatever I am doing right now. Balancing and prioritizing our time and effort is a central key to making the most of it. We have been talking about balance in our lives, this would be the first step towards accomplishing this balance.

As we will see in my next post, my most important life-goals is my relationship and intimacy with God. There is seldom, if ever, a time or event that cannot be use to continue building a deeper, stronger, and more intimate relationship with Him. Unfortunately, I do not take advantage of all those opportunities as I should, but that is part of the growing process.

What do you think life is?