So Goes the Captain…so goes the crew!

 

Believe it or not…this is the transcript of an actual radio conversation between a US naval ship and Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October 1995. The Radio conversation was released by the Chief of Naval Operations on Oct. 10, 1995.

US Ship: Please divert your course 0.5 degrees to the south to avoid a collision.

CND reply: Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.

US Ship: This is the Captain of a US Navy Ship. I say again, divert your course.

CND reply: No. I say again, you divert YOUR course!

US Ship: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS CORAL SEA*, WE ARE A LARGE WARSHIP OF THE US NAVY. DIVERT YOUR COURSE NOW!!

CND reply: This is a lighthouse. Your call.

Okay, so that is really an old Navy joke and never really happened.  However, it really is useful as we are starting a new school year here in Texas.  I began to think about this story as I had recently heard it and how to apply it to my life.  I have heard this story many times and wondered why it kept coming back up.  Well, I was in church yesterday and was challenged with a commitment to get into the Word of God on a daily basis.  The challenge was made to not just do it for yourself, but for your family.  As a Husband and a Father, it is my responsibility to be the Priest of my home.  I am responsible for setting the tone for my family, spiritually.  I have to admit, I have done well at this on the personal level.  But in all honesty, I have been very spotty to virtually non-existent in leading my family spiritually, well.  They deserve better.  So, with that moment of transparency and a ‘new’ school year starting, I am making efforts to captaining my family spiritually on the path we need to go.

When I don’t fulfill my role as Priest of my family, there are dangers that can arise that leads to dangerous outcomes.  So goes the captain, so goes the crew…Look at how 2 Chronicles 36:14-16 says it…

2 Chronicles 36:14-16

14 Likewise, all the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful. They followed all the pagan practices of the surrounding nations, desecrating the Temple of the Lord that had been consecrated in Jerusalem. 15 The Lord, the God of their ancestors, repeatedly sent his prophets to warn them, for he had compassion on his people and his Temple. 16 But the people mocked these messengers of God and despised their words. They scoffed at the prophets until the Lord’s anger could no longer be restrained and nothing could be done.

In this passage, we have the leaders of God’s temple and spiritual leadership becoming more unfaithful to the things of the Lord that they are supposed to be leading in.  Instead of doing the things of God that were prescribed in the Law, they began to turn to pagan religions that other surrounding nations followed.  The spiritual leaders desecrated the Temple that had been previously consecrated to the things of God.  The Lord loved his people and offered them prophets that would come to warn them of the path that they were going down.  He did this out of compassion for His people.  However, the people only mocked these messengers and hated the words that God sent to his people through them.  This resulted in the Lord becoming angry and His anger could no longer be restrained and nothing could be done.

As the spiritual leadership of a family, nation, team or church goes, so goes that family, nation, team or church.  When the spiritual leadership turns away from following the things set forth by God in His Holy Word, it sets into action a path that is not a desirable path.  While God loves his people, He also grieves when they turn from His ways.  This grief turns to anger and eventually God will turn those and its spiritual leadership over to their sinful, prideful ways.  Adoption of pagan spiritual practices that originate from people and leadership that do not follow the things of God, leads to a desecrated Temple.  Today, this is played out more frequently in the form of idolatry.  This idolatry is found in tolerance of pagan religions, relaxed morals, justifications for actions and so on.  These are just excuses for behaviors that are contrary to God’s Word.  This applies to you as an individual because you are the Temple of the Holy Spirit.  You have been set apart by God for His service and His plan.  When you turn away from following Him and choose to follow those outside influences of other religions, then you are desecrating what God has set apart.  This turning away and following outside religions in today’s society is called “toleration”.  When you tolerate the practice of other religions, then you have compromised your belief system and ultimately desecrated the Temple of God.  What you tolerate spiritually today, becomes status quo tomorrow.  As followers of Christ we are called to stand out, not blend in.

What is your plan for leading your family spiritually?

What steps can you take personally to prepare to lead?

How can I help you lead?

The Big Ask

October 19, 1990, was a monumental day in my life.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  You see, it was 10 days earlier I went to see Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer’s Night Dream’ with my future wife, Shannon, at Centenary College in Shreveport, LA.  I can’t tell you a whole lot about the play, but I think there was a big mouse in it or maybe it was a donkey…but I can tell you what Shannon was wearing.  I can tell you I was more concerned with impressing her by going to a Shakespearean play than the play itself.  I remember this night so vividly because it was the kick-starter to what our family has become today.

It was just a measly 10 days later I had made up my mind that she was the one!  The one I would spend the rest of my life with.  I was smitten!  I was in love!  I just hoped that she knew the will of God for her life was me.  (Cue the music soundtrack to Ever After) So, one humid Louisiana night, staring at the stars through the pine trees that stretched toward the heavens, I did it!  I made the BIG ASK!  I asked her to marry me…right there on an old wooden bench on her parent’s front porch.  She said, “Yes!”  I was in shock!  I couldn’t believe it.  I said, “No, really, I’m serious.  I’m not kidding!”  She said, “Me too!”  Now, we have been married for 21 years and have 3 children together.  And we stared into the moonlit night through the piney woods of NW Louisiana and lived happily ever after. (fade the music, fade to black)

I learned something that night on the front porch of a house in Louisiana.  If you want something, you have to ask.  Mark 11:24-25 says it this way,

I tell you, you can pray for anything and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.  But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins too.

Asking God in prayer for “anything” encompasses a whole spectrum of possible requests.  Belief in God for what you ask is the key to the whole prayer request.  It is called faith.  Believing in the unseen.  Trusting in the sight of your heart and reconciling that with your mind is not always the easiest thing for one to do.  A pure heart is one of the requirements of making requests known to God.  Why else would forgiveness of others be a stipulation in this passage?  Because forgiveness is the very nature of God.  Forgiveness is paramount to unlocking heaven.  When we insert the key of forgiveness to the lock of sin, it frees us and it frees God to do His work in and through us.

 

Don’t be afraid to pray.  Don’t be afraid to ask in your prayers.  Be afraid NOT to pray.  We can ask God for anything.  We can ask for needs, wants, healing, forgiveness, compassion, etc.  Belief that God will answer those requests need to accompany our prayers.  Then it will be done!  Forgive as God has forgiven.  So, to make my 8th Grade math teacher, Miss Thompson, happy…I will express this in a formula.

ASK + BELIEF = YOURS

When we pray, forgive others and receive forgiveness from God, these elements make up the ability to receive God’s grace and have our sins wiped clean.

Will You make the BIG ASK?

What is your greatest need right now?  What is your greatest desire?

Whom do you need to forgive?  From what or from whom do you need forgiveness?

 

Listen, Trust, Respond

I have read a book!  I know, before you get all “Let’s throw a parade for Tommy” you need to know, I like to read.  Okay…and this book didn’t have pictures.  Now that I have put all of your barbs to rest, the name of this book is “The Divine Mentor” by Wayne Cordeiro.

This is a great book.  I guess I could call it a timely book for me.  It came along at a time for me as I am still in transition from a full-time ministry (pastorate) to a para-church ministry in which I also work a full-time job.  When I was used to doing Bible studies for preaching/teaching purposes, here comes the confession time, I never really did Bible study just for my personal growth and relationship with God.  I would start out to do that, but it quickly transitioned into something I could “preach or teach”.  At that moment, I became disconnected from what God was trying to do in me to the hope and dream of what God could do through me.  This was a wrong turn.

I need to grow, you need to grow, our relationship with Christ through the Holy Spirit needs to be grown and nurtured without any false pretenses.  With that, in Wayne Cordeiro’s Book, he recommends and uses daily the SOAP method of Bible Study. SOAP stands for Scripture, Observations, Application, & Prayer. Here is an example of what mine looks like.

Listen, Trust, Respond

Scripture:  Numbers 9:23

So they camped or traveled at the Lord’s command and they did whatever the Lord told them through Moses.

Observations:  The Israelites placed a huge amount of respect and trust in Moses, their leader.  His position of going back and forth to God for the nation of Israel was something that they held in the highest regard and respect for the position he was in was not questioned.  What Moses heard from God and communicated to the people was the final word.  It was a word from God himself…and they trusted it.  Why?  They knew that Moses would be in the presence of God and hear from Him for their needs, direction and well-being.

Application:  As a follower of Christ, I need to constantly be in the presence of God for the people who I lead and minister to their needs.  As a husband, father and friend, I need to have them know that I am hearing from God and responding to what He speaks to me through His Holy Spirit as well.  I need to continually be in His presence so the people I am responsible for will listen to His words through me, trust His words that I speak, and respond accordingly to His direction through me.  Being in His presence builds my credibility with my words, direction and actions.

Prayer:  God, I pray for financial provision for my family.  I pray that you would bless my wife and kids and you would give them favor with both God and man.  Bless my wife at her job and my kids in school.  Help each of us to obey your commands and have soft hearts toward you and your Holy Spirit. Amen!

This is just an example.  The author encourages you to find a Bible reading plan and ask God to give you one verse to focus on for your SOAP study.  He also encourages you to go back and title your study after you have completed it.  I look forward to my daily devotions now.  In the past, they were work.

What are you using for your daily devotions?

Are they hit or miss?

How are you listening, trusting and responding to God on a daily basis?

Alone with an Audience

I am becoming more of a creature with a routine.  It wasn’t always this way.  When I was younger, I would sleep until who knows when and get up with no agenda for the day except to get out of the house and with friends as quickly as possible.  Usually my long-term planning was only as long as my nose.  I never really liked the mornings when I was younger.  In fact, I used to joke about my life motto being,

Mornings should come around about noon.

I think I read that in a Garfield cartoon.  Anyway, now I have come to embrace the early morning.  Maybe this comes with age.  Maybe it is because I now have three kids and this is the time of day when it is quiet.  Whatever the reason, I am now one of those dreaded morning people.  In fact, I have been known to join my running group at 5 am for a 5 mile run.  Don’t judge me…join me!  The early morning has become a refuge for me to talk with God.  I find that I am more focused, have clarity of thought, plan better, retain more information and am generally more productive the earlier it is.  I have also discovered that I love sunrises!  They are new each day and never quite the same each day.  They bring hope for the day and blessing of getting to share that day with those I love and friends I care for.

This year, I am reading through the Bible.  I have also started doing my devotions a little differently using the S.O.A.P method of study.  It is so simple.  Scripture, Observation, Application and Prayer.  Yes, I have been writing down my prayers.  My dachshund, Floppy, usually gets to hear what I am reading and studying that morning as she stares at me as I am finishing up.  I think I have almost convinced her to become a Christ follower.  She usually becomes my audience.

Mark 1:35 says,

Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.”

What I learned was that Jesus practiced solitude.  While His purpose on this earth was to seek and save the lost, there were times when He needed to be alone with His thoughts, His prayers and His Father in Heaven.  What i find interesting is the time of day Jesus selected.  he went before daybreak.  Before the sun rises is when our world is still at rest.  The hustle and bustle of life has yet to really start for the day and things are generally…quiet.

This passage really challenged me.  I realized that I needed to look for opportunities to practice solitude.  We all need those moments in life to get alone with our thoughts, prayers and our Heavenly Father.  We need to find that place of solitude, that quiet place that is still at rest before the world around us gets going in full motion.  We live in a crowded world.  There seems to always be an audience.

We need to not be like these birds on the wire, we need to seek out the audience of One.

My prayer for today is that we would all find our place of solitude and that we would look forward to spending that time with our thoughts, prayers and heavenly Father just like the anticipation of a new sunrise.

Do you currently have a place of solitude?

What can you do to create more margin in your life for being alone with an audience?