Healing Is In Your Hands

No mountain, no valley
No gain or loss we know
Could keep us from Your love

No sickness, no secret
No chain is strong enough
To keep us from Your love
To keep us from Your love

How high, how wide
No matter where I am
Healing is in Your hands
How deep, how strong
Now by Your grace I stand
Healing is in Your hands

Our present, our future
Our past is in Your hands
We’re covered by Your blood
We’re covered by Your blood

How high, how wide
No matter where I am
Healing is in Your hands
How deep, how strong
Now by Your grace I stand
Healing is in Your hands

In all things, we know that
We are more than conquerors
You keep us by Your love


We don’t have any say so in the kind of life we are born into. The world tells us that we pretty much have to play the hand we’re dealt and make the best of it. Through Jesus however, life can be everything we dream of.

Think back to the passage in Romans we read yesterday. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Nothing we have ever done or ever will do can change that!

Reflect on the lyrics of “Healing Is In Your Hands” by Christy Nockels. Probably the most amazing aspect of a relationship with God is the healing and freedom that He provides. When we decide to accept and follow Jesus, the bible teaches that at that very moment, we are healed.

Read: Isaiah 53 and carefully reflect on verses 5-6.

This passage is a prophecy about Jesus. It speaks to the truth of what happens to the person that has accepted Jesus as their savior. See, God loves us so much that He sent Jesus, His own son, to die on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. Even more than that, this passage says that by that same act we have been healed, set free, and made new!

Read 2 Corinthians 5:17

We have been made new! We have been set free! Whatever you have done, when you accept Christ, it is washed clean!

Pray and thank God for the gift of Jesus. Thank Him for the healing and freedom that comes from accepting Jesus as your savior. Ask God to give you a deeper understanding of what this means.

How He Loves Us

He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realise just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

Yeah, He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves.

We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
And Heaven meets earth like an unforseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way...

Reflect on the lyrics of “How He loves Us” by The David Crowder Band. Do you always feel like God loves you this much? Yesterday we learned how much God longs to spend quality and intimate time with us each and every day. Still, it is sometimes easy to feel like God is far away and not too concerned with our issues here on earth. When we feel this way, its good to be reminded just how God feels
Continued on next page…

Read: Psalm 139

In this Psalm we learn that God already knows everything about us. He made us and he is “intimately acquainted with our ways.” We also learn that regardless of where we go in life, God is still there seeking and pursuing us. Why does God do this? Because He loves us! The Message translation of the Bible puts it this way.

“I am an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking. You know when I leave and when I get back; I’m never out of your sight. You know everything I’m going to say before I start the first sentence. I look behind me and you’re there, then up ahead and you’re there, too—your reassuring presence, coming and going. This is too much, too wonderful—I can’t take it all in.”

But how great is God’s love for us? Read Romans 8:35-39 and let it assure today of your heavenly Father’s love for you.

Pray and thank God for His love for you. Ask Him to continue to reveal Himself to you along with the great plan He has for you. Ask that as you continue to seek Him, He will continue to make His love more and more real in your life.

Sacred Space

Last week I wrote 5 devotions for our beach retreat. This is the first...

"Sacred Space"

Listen to song here

Where I find a quiet place.
It's where my soul finds sacred space.
It's where my knees touch the ground.
It's where peace is found.

In You, Jesus.

It's where my heart is purified;
the only place I feel alive.
It's where my Father beckons me.
It's where this child is meant to be.

It's where I run.
It's where I hide.
It's where You hold me safe inside.
It's where I live.
It's where I breathe.
It's where I look upon Your beauty.
It's where I fall.
It's where I rest.
It's where I find You loved me best.

It's where I tremble with Holy fear.
It's where my questions disappear.
It's where my feet begin to dance.
When I realize where I am.
I'm in You, Jesus.

What do you do when you need a break? Is there anywhere you go or anyone that you talk to when you are sad, disappointed or angry. Who do you share your deepest secrets and desires with? If something great happens, who is the first person you tell? Who or what is it in life that holds you together?

The bible tells us that this is who God wants to be for us. God wants us to share everything with him. God wants us to talk to him all the time. God wants us to tell him when we’re happy or excited and when we’re sad or angry. God wants to be our friends (see John 14-15)!

Do you have this kind of relationship with God?

When was the last time you spent time alone with God? We’re not talking about Sunday morning or a little prayer before you go to sleep. When was the last time you spent quality time alone with God?

Read: Isaiah 26:7-9

Does your soul yearn for God in the evening? Does your spirit long for God in the morning? Is God’s name and glory the desire of your heart? Why do you think the prophet Isaiah would write such words?

Read: Colossians 1:15-17

Isaiah knew that God had created everything even himself. Isaiah knew that if he was ever going figure life out and make it trough he would have to spend time with the one that hold all things together.

God doesn’t want us to spend time with Him and worship Him because he wants to check up on all our fun. God wants to be our friend and walk through this life with us. God wants to guide us and show us the right paths to take and right choices to make. He loves us and wants to show it! This is why Isaiah could declare that he longed for God and that God was his joy.

Read over the lyrics of Sacred Space by Steve Fee. God wants to be this for us and so much more. Will you let today be the day that you begin spending regular, quality time with God?

Read: Psalm 27 and let it be your prayer this morning. Ask God to forgive you for not spending enough time with Him. Let God remind you how much He loves you. Ask God to give you a desire for His glory.

An Epic Voyage

Last week the students of Piney Grove Baptist Church and myself were on a beach retreat in Garden City, SC. Not only was this trip blast, but it was also an amazing time of worship and renewal. During this week, many students decided to recommit themselves to the life Christ has called them too and two accepted this life for the first time. On Friday morning, I even had to privilege of baptizing one of these students in the Atlantic Ocean. Needless to say, this was a very successful trip and was something that I will never forget.

For the next few days, would like to share a little bit about the week by posting my message notes from the week. Our theme was "An Epic Voyage" and bottom line is that following Christ is the invitation to embark on just that, an epic voyage. Below is the title message.

Why An Epic Voyage?

Epic - a long poem narrating the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures. A grand, romantic, monumental, and adventurous story.

I love stories! Whether they are in books, movies, or told by someone, stories shape the world in which we live. What kind of epic stories have you heard? What are your favorites?

The Odyssey. The Iliad. The Canterbury Tales. The Lord of The Rings. The Chronicles of Narnia. Harry Potter. Dare I say...Twilight...?

Voyage - a long journey involving travel by sea or in space. Traveling in or through the unknown, mysterious, or chaotic. An expedition, pilgrimage, or quest.

Think about the ocean. Its chaotic. Its unknown. Its violent and its beautiful. It draws people. It draws rugged sailors and sunbathers. It calls out to us. We want to be in it while at the same time we’re all a little scared of it.

The thing about a voyage however is that in order to have one, we must embrace and embark into the chaos. In every epic story, the main character is forced to do just this.

When Odysseus left his home little did he know that he was embarking on a chaotic yet heroic journey that would last many years. When Frodo agreed to protect and carry the ring to the fires of Mordor, he was beginning an epic and uncertain voyage. The same can be said of Lucy the first time she traveled through the wardrobe into Narnia and of Harry the first time the boarded the Hogwarts express.

All these characters have one thing is common: when their fate and calling was before them, they said yes regardless of the cost. Their future was unknown, they had no idea what they would be called on to do. They simply embarked on an epic voyage into the unknown, mysterious, and chaotic trusting that they were joining their lives with something much greater than themselves.

I believe that the day we decide to follow Jesus Christ, we decided to embark on the same type of epic voyage. That is what Christianity should be all about. Discovering the God given courage to follow Christ in an epic, romantic, monumental, and adventurous way. This is the type of Christianity that the Bible speaks of and I believe that it is the same that we are called to live today.

The Bible is God’s epic. It’s God’s epic story in and through and to humanity. The Bible is full of stories of people that chose to say yes to something greater than themselves and encounter the greatness of God in their lives.

Do you feel the greatness of God in your life? Do you feel like your commitment to follow Jesus has been an epic voyage? Have you ever even said yes to such a calling?

I think it is easy to keep our Christian lives pretty safe and calm. We go to church, go to small group, go on a mission trip, and we think that means we’ve got it all together. Sadly, this is the case with most of Christianity. This goes on while God is calling each and every one of us to lay down our comfortable lives, take up our own cross, and follow him at all cost. Each and every day God stands at the foot of our beds calling for us to journey with Him on an epic voyage of life in and through him.

We need to recapture what it means live an epic Christianity.

Before we can do this, we have to make a serious and courageous decision. We have to let ourselves go. We have to allow ourselves to be vulnerable. We have to lay down our own ideas about life, and God, and following Jesus and allow God to truly reveal Himself to us.

This can be scary, but its the first step in truly following God. Let the image of the ocean and a boat be your guide. We are the boat, and God is ocean and the wind and anything else that can have an impact on a vessel. If you want to embark on an epic voyage, you must first cut the cords that bind your boat to the dock.

“If you yourself do not cut the lines that tie you to the dock, God will have to use a storm to sever them and to send you out to sea. Put everything in your life afloat upon God, going out to sea on the great swelling tide of His purpose, and your eyes will be opened. If you believe in Jesus, you are not to spend all your time in the calm waters just inside the harbor, full of joy, but always tied to the dock. You have to get out past the harbor into the great depths of God, and begin to know things for yourself— begin to have spiritual discernment.” -Oswald Chambers

The lines that bind us to the dock can be a lot of things. Maybe its sin. It could be our plans, how we want our lives to go. It could be money, a relationship, and job. It could be our attitudes or bad feelings towards others. It could be fear. Whatever it is that keeps us tied to the dock, we must untie it if we are truly going to experience the greatness of God in our lives.

God loves us and has amazing plans for each of us. But we can’t get there if we’re still tied to the dock.

May you be brave enough to cut the cords that bind you to the dock, allow yourself to float out into the vastness of God’s grace and for the first time become serious about simply saying yes when Jesus says “Follow Me.”

Will you yourself to embark on an epic voyage?

Waka Waka

After fours years of waiting, the World Cup has returned. I love this event and everything that it stands for. Sportsmanship, Unity, Peace. For me, there is something amazing about the fact that competing in the same tournament is North Korea, South Korea, and the United States. There is something special about watching countries from the third world run with (and often beat) the wealthy, civilized empires of the West. What I love about the World Cup is that for one month all that matters is sport and the spirit of competition. As the tournament progresses I plan to offer a greater summary of why I believe in events such as the World Cup along with how I think they could contribute to global peace and how the Church should follow suit. For now, lets just enjoy the game and the festivities of the beginning. Lets also pray that the Yanks come marching in and beat the Brits tomorrow! Ole!

These are my projected winners of the group stage with the 1 seeds listed first:

Group A: France , Uruguay // nothing too surprising here

Group B: Argentina , Greece // this might be the group from hell and the hardest to advance out of. I pick Argentina as the favorite and would like to see Greece give their people something to take their minds of the current economical and political instability

Group C: England , USA // After upsetting (via tie) the Brits this Saturday, the Americans move on.

Group D: Australia, Germany // I do believe that both Germany and Australia will advance from this group. Placing Australia in the higher seed might be a stretch...

Group E: Netherlands, Cameroon // Netherlands are a given, Cameroon wins a couple nail bitters and squeaks in.

Group F: Italy, Slovakia // Predictable.

Group G: Brazil, Ivory Coast // Would love to see Portugal and Ivory Coast advance however its difficult to bet against the best team in the World. IC is my long shot Cinderella in this and injuries might prevent their advancement however what a great story that would be!

Group H: Spain, Switzerland // Spain is sick and the Swiss are as efficient and organized as ever. What more could we expect from the country that made Calvinism legit...?

So what are your picks? Who will advance from the group stage? Who will win the 2010 World Cup?

Out of Chaos

I think it is only human to try and avoid chaos. We are all, in some way control freaks. We tend to like things if they are nice and neat and have a clear ending or at least a clear path to take in order to reach an ending. We consider such things that are certain to be good and those that are uncertain or messy to be bad and to be avoid at all cost. I think this is probably why self help books are such a big hit. It would seem appropriate the give most self help books a sub title something like “how to avoid chaos” or “how to beat chaos” or “how to emerge out of chaos”

The reality is that no matter how much we try to avoid chaos in this life, we fail. Chaos is all around us. How often do we hear stories of those who eat right and workout everyday only to get cancer anyway. Or maybe that couple that are great stewards of their money and save responsibly only to get hit with heavy medical cost when the baby is born, have the car breakdown and the basement flood all in the same month. Even the noble efforts of humanitarian organizations often seem to be in vain as injustice in this world continues to rage and every battle won marks the beginning thousands more. How are we to live in such a world? How do we reconcile the chaos that is a fact in this life with the idea of a loving God that we read about in the bible?

I have been fascinated with what we can learn about God in just the first few verses of Genesis. We have already discuss that “in the beginning there was God.” God was before all things and is the source of everything that we see. What blows me away is the next thing we learn. “God created.” Isn’t that amazing!?

What blows me away about the image of God creating the heavens and the earth is that until this moment in history, everything was chaos. It is out of the chaos that God decided to open his month and create everything that we see. God is in the business of bringing order out of chaos. When things seem out of control and life seems to be “formless and void,” I think that it is in that same moment that God is diligently working to bring about a new creation out of the chaos.

As leaders we are often looked at as those with all the answers or those that have risen above chaos. I think that while we have often been entrusted with a great deal of vision or direction, we should lead in a way that reveals God is continually taking the chaos of all our lives or the lives of our organizations and bringing his perfect order. Anytime we think we have risen above the chaos we should watch out, because it is often in the midst of chaos that God is speaking and guiding us down the right path.

“Out of the wreck I will rise.” This declaration given by Oswald Chambers should serve as a reminder to all of us that regardless of how crazy and chaotic our lives may get, we will always rise with our lives and visions renewed when we trust that in that very moment God is at work. Now I’m not advocating that we lead recklessly and intentionally place those in our care into chaos or even that we seek out chaos. I’m not suggesting that we stop attending our leadership seminars or sell our personal development books (I enjoy and actively participate in both of these activities). What I am suggesting is that we recklessly abandon ourselves to God and maintain a relationship with him that acknowledges chaos as one of the means in which he does his work.

A potter uses cold, sloppy, messy clay to create her masterpiece. Sometimes, if we are to find our way, vision, or direction in this live, we must first become lost. We must embrace the chaos trusting that where chaos is present, God will bring his order.


“The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving on the surface of the waters. Then God said...” - Genesis 1:2-3

“Whoever looses his life for my sake will find it” -Jesus (Matthew 16:25b)

“Every now and then I get a little lost
My strings all get tangled, my wires all get crossed
Every now and then I'm right up on the edge
Dangling my toes out over the ledge
I just thank God you're here
'Cause when I'm a bullet shot out of a gun
'Cause when I'm a firecracker comin' undone
Or when I'm a fugitive ready to run, all wild-eyed and crazy
No matter where my reckless soul takes me
Jesus you save me”
-Kenny Chesney (Jesus added)

image: "Chaos at the Heart of Orion" www.nasa.gov images of the day.


ACG

1:1:1a

“In the beginning God...”

In the beginning, there was God. This is a fact that I tend to overlook a lot however I believe whole heartedly that it should be the first thing we think about before we try to do anything. It is so crucial before we begin any new task, attempt to tell any great story or establish any personal ethos that we understand that everything has a beginning and that it is always preceded by the existence of God. In the beginning there was God...Period!

God is before all things. He is before our successes and he is before our failures. When life was formless a void, he was there and while very few of us live life like this, he is still here today in the midst of our own chaos and uncertainty.

Everything finds its being in and through him. This too is a crucial fact that must be understood if we are to truly understand ourselves and our place in this world. There is a God, and everything that is comes from him. If we are to understand our own being, our origins, our nature, and our future, we must first begin with the source and beginning of it all, God.

Wow! This message comes to us from just the first four words in the Bible. It almost seems that when the author of Genesis became caught up in the presence of holy spirit, the first thing that came to mind was the first thing itself, God. Nothing about feelings, or theology, or church government, just God. What if we were all willing to put everything else on the shelf for a little while each day and focus on our own beginnings? What if we were constantly reminded that while we are writing our our story, we all share a common beginning and history, God. His story is our story. His history is our history. God then, God now, God tomorrow. God.