happy in his work

"Whoever loves money never has money enough" ~ Ecc 5:10

I think this is true for whatever we love more than God. The concept of: If I just have a little more, then I will be happy. If I just get this, then my life will be great.

I see this in my life. I used to think if I could just move out of my parents house and live on my own, then I would be happy. Then I moved out. Then I thought, if I could just get a job, a real job, a career, then I would be happy. Then I got my dream job. Now there are still things I want and think, if I get that, then....

and deep down, I know that will never stop, unless something changes in my heart.

My dad always says, "even when you get what you want, it's not what you really wanted."

God says, "From now on I am the one who answers and satisfies him. I am like a luxuriant fruit tree. Everything you need is to be found in me." ~ Hosea 14:8 (msg)

Why do we chase after what we already have? If our hearts could only really believe how much we have in Jesus. All our desires, hopes, longings are fulfilled in him. It's just a matter of letting that truth overshadow the lie that we still need something more, just a little more.

Thinking on this helps me to stop. Stop asking and stop looking to the next thing. To begin to appreciate the present. the now. where I am at. this season. this job. this age. this day. this morning. this moment.

"Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work - this is the gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart." ~ Ecc 5:19-20

"To accept his lot" is to be content with this season of my life. "To be happy in his work" is to work with all my heart, give it all I got, to enjoy the day to day task of it, to enjoy the people and the purpose behind what I do.

To enjoy my "lot and my work" is a gift from God.

Wanting and loving God (the giver of enjoyment) more than the possessions and more than the next thing, frees me up to enjoy HIM, enjoy my work, and enjoy what he has given me.

This leads to a heart occupied with gladness.

God's training & discipline

I see so many spiritual themes in the show, "The Biggest Loser". I see themes of identity in Christ, sin, sanctification, but the one I want to write about is the theme of God's discipline.

There are three trainers, each trainer gets a team of really overweight people to work with. Those are the people they are responsible for loosing weight and becoming healthy. They push them, they invest in them, they work out with them, they don't let them stop, they yell at them, they kick them out of the gym if they won't stop holding on to the treadmill, they pretty much abuse their people and push them to their limits and then keep them going.

There was this one scene where this huge 450 pound black man was pushed so hard that he was laying on the ground crying and saying I'm not as strong as I thought, I'm the weakest one here. And Bob his trainer got really close to his face and said, "You have to see who I see that you are. I see an athlete, there is a strong athlete inside of you. That is why I am pushing you. You got here and realized you arent as strong as you thought you were, but we are going to get there together. It's about what you believe, do you trust me to get you there?" Then told him to get up.

"Endure hardship as discipline, God is treating you as sons... No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." Hebrews 12:7-11

I see God doing this with us. The things he allows us to go through to train us, he uses to show us our weakness and also to help us discover our need and dependence on him. He sees what we can become, who he can make us, what we have inside of us. But it takes painful experiences to get us there. He pushes us to what feels like our limits. Through it, he is making us like him. He is making us stronger by making us weaker.

The hard part is trusting him when it feels like he's hurting us. That's when we have to hear God say to us, "You have to see who I see that you are." He sees us as he sees his son. He sees Christ in us. He uses the training to make what is true of us inwardly a reality reflected outwardly.

The transformation of their bodies reflects the ability of the trainer and the receptivity of the person being trained.

in the same way..

The transformation of our souls reflects the ability of God and our receptivity to his work in our lives.

"For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come." ~ 1 Timothy 4:8

thoughts on doing ministry

You have to make ministry personal, but you can't take it personal.

By that statement I mean this: You pour your heart, your life, your soul, your very self into ministry and into people but when they walk away or reject you or leave you can NOT take it personally. It's such a paradox.

I've been through lots of ups and downs with people and seen SOOO many people cycle in and out. I've watched people come and love it and leave it just as fast as they came. I've chased after people, I've begged people to stay, I've held on so tightly. I think the challenge is, over time how do you continue to be open to new people, new relationships and not want to close off because, who knows how fast they will leave too?

So I look at how Jesus did ministry, specifically when people left him. "From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. You don't want to leave too, do you? Jesus asked the twelve." ~ john 6:66-67

Jesus did not chase after them. Jesus let them go. Then almost lovingly, he said, yall dont want to leave too? Like I will let you go if you do, but I love you and it would hurt.

But then you read a passage like where Jesus says, "Does he not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he find it." ~ Luke 15:4

The difference here, is that the sheep is lost, the people that turned away had known him and did not choose him. I have heard the saying, "Focus on those youre trying to reach, not those you're trying to keep" I think you must focus on both, but not try to do things a certain way to keep people that would risk finding the lost.

What I am realizing is I feel loved when people love the ministry and rejected when they leave the ministry. Naturally, because it's an extension of myself. But what I am doing is throwing my self in between what God is doing with his people. It is HIS work when he draws them and it's between them when they walk away from him. IT'S NOT ABOUT ME.

But the the selfless way to do ministry is to give it your all, love with all you got, remain open, remain giving of yourself, risk yourself on people and expect nothing back. Some people receive it and others reject it. When people reject that, let it go, don't chase after them, don't hold on. Trust that it's between them and God, not me and them.

I can do this because Jesus on the cross loved me with all he had, he was open, he gave of himself, risked himself on me, he poured out and expected nothing back. He gave me the option to receive it or walk away from it. When I believe that, I can pour out and expect nothing back.

When I believe that, I can make ministry personal and not take it personal.

news

The Gospel means "good news." This is the only thing that has ever happened in history that is still called "news".

Everything else in history is called "history".

It is still called news because it is still relevant to all our present situations. It will always be transforming us, teaching us, growing us. It always parallels and applies to us and daily circumstances.

The Gospel is ours to look at, observe, meditate on, enjoy and be thrilled by whenever we want.

As we are always moving onto something new, the Gospel stays constant and applicable to all of our newness.

It always makes us new. It always renews.

"New mercies for today..."

Jesus is and always will be our best news.

i wrote this Oct. 6, 2005

movement & kingdom

Lately I have been overcome with a new or re-newed passion to see God's spirit work mightily in our generation. I want to see him do great things, I have high hopes and big visions to see him bring tons of people to him and grow in him. I want to see people's faith be sparked with passion and desire to really give all areas of our lives to him. I want to see deep faith, passionate faith in God stirred up in my generation.

And I get so excited for what he will do and I want to go out and see a great movement of his Spirit like today!

But in my times alone with God, he reminds me that "there is big potential in small beginnings." That the day to day work isn't always big and glorious, it is tedious, repetitive, it is obedient. It is faithful in the now, in the small, with the little.

I remember Jesus' strategy was to invest in 12 men. 12 men, not huge crowds, but 12 men who would reach the masses. Men who hung out with him all the time and even towards the end still didn't get it, still let him down. He still kept investing in them. He started small and continued with it.

Today when I was praying I was telling God how much I desire to see his kingdom come on earth, in Memphis, in my generation. And instantly his words about his kingdom came to my mind.

"The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed seed in his field." ~ Matt 13:24

"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree." ~ Matt 13:31

"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field" ~ Matt 13:44

"The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls."~ Matt 13:45

Small things, small beginnings. Tedious work, continuous looking, sowing, searching, planting. Small steps, continuous investment.

Yet large results, work that was worth all they had, worth selling all they had, worth all the tedious prep work.

Work worth giving our lives to. And so I am reminded to be faithful in what I've been given to do now. Obedient in each step along the way. To not give up or quit because at the proper time we will reap a harvest. (Gal 6:9) We will see his spirit move and his kingdom come... in our generation.

sowing seeds

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." ~ Galatians 6:9

It all began with seeds and suffering.

2008 and 2009 I begged God every day for a job where I could use my passions and live a life of purpose for spreading the Gospel.

Meanwhile, I was living at home. I was working part time at a golf shop and part time filing papers. I used to cry in my cubical while entering numbers into a database. Every day I wondered why? and was this really God's plan? I wanted to do so much more with my life.

July 30, 2009 I started a Bible study on Tuesday Nights for people my age. Two other people that I barely knew came for 6 weeks, then eight people started coming.

I sowed a seed. I took a little step of faith, even though I was going through such hard trials and suffering during that time.

The next day, July 1, 2009 I told God in my prayer how random and uncomfortable it felt to lead a random group of people to study his word together. I sensed him saying to me, "But you're seeking me molly, and so nothing is random."

That Bible study, that seed grew into a full blown ministry. The Young Adult Community. It was not random.

The seeds I sowed in my suffering lead to fruit that I see multiplied in so many lives today. I am in awe of his work and his plan all along.

Especially when I remember how such a small, random action lead to such big, purposeful results.

Especially when I remember how much pain it was all started in and how it is all such a joy to be a part of now.

It really is true what Pastor Steven Furtick says, "You always reap WHAT you sow. You always reap MORE than what you sow. You always reap LATER than when you sow."

So I will just keep on sowing my little seeds...

outstretched arm

When I was 20 I became so enthralled with this concept and studied it so much. Last night at family dinner my dad said something that triggered my memories of this particular time in my life when I studied this theme in the Bible. Today it's helping me again.

First. I recall Jeremiah 32:17 "Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth, by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you."

Second. This verse takes me to Hebrews 1:2-3, "..Through [God's son] he made the universe... and he sustains all things by his powerful word."

I have this fact written next to these verses in Hebrews to help me remember he sustains my problems, my future and my life.

"The earth weighs 660,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons. A million earths can fit inside the sun. The sun is an averaged sized star. There are over 200 billion stars." By His Word he sustains all that. (For more a visual on this click here.) Meditating on this really helps me hear Him say to me about my problems, "Molly chill, I got this. If I can sustain all this, I can sustain you."

Third. The Jeremiah verse then points me in this direction. At the passover meal they drink four cups each representing or remembering four promises from God in Exodus 6:6-7 about the freedom of the Israelites. These four "I will" statements/promises were:

1. I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
2. I will free you from being slaves to them.
3. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm.
4. I will take you as my own people and I will be your God.

Fourth. I then fast-forward hundreds of years to the "Last Supper" in Luke 22, the Passover meal Jesus participated in right before his death. Jesus did not drink the 3rd cup at this meal. The 3rd cup symbolizes the 3rd "I will" statement: I will redeem you with an outstretched arm. Not only would he become the 3rd cup and pour out his life for our redemption, he would do it with outstretched arms on the cross.

Those arms created the universe and sustains our lives. The most humble act, arms that were nailed down was the most powerful act, arms that stretched out in order to redeem us.