Tag Archives: blessing

Becoming a Word Search Whiz

Posted by Steve on

“I waited patiently for the Lord to help me,
and he turned to me and heard my cry.”
Psalm 40:1

My wife has recently discovered that she’s very skilled at word searches.  She has installed and uninstalled countless word search apps to her iPod—some because they’re designed poorly, but most because they’re simply too easy for her.  She solves these puzzles in seconds.  And while I consider myself fairly decent at word searches, I’m nowhere near as talented as she is.  I find myself thinking that there is nothing there, while Rachel is busy finding something on every line and column.

I doubt that Israel had word searches back in David’s time, but I’m certain that they frequently experienced similar feelings of waiting for something and finding nothing.  Yet David makes it clear in Psalm 40:1 that it’s not just about IF you wait, it’s also about HOW you wait.  Waiting is like a spiritual marinade: waiting with a righteous attitude that “tastes good” to the Lord (as opposed to something He’d want to spit out) will result in a favorable reward, but waiting with a wicked attitude only builds up barriers to God’s intervention.

It’s no good waiting on God if your waiting consists of complaints, criticisms, and concerns, because as you wait, they’ll permeate your heart and mind, and you’ll lose the faith needed to receive whatever God gives you when the time comes.  Doubt refuses everything it’s offered, but persistent faith draws out blessing…even if it wasn’t there to begin with.  Sustained faith doesn’t just receive whatever it’s given; it actually fuels the creation of something worth receiving.  Our attitude in the valleys determines our altitude on the mountaintops!

In the physical realm, waiting requires no effort.  But in the spiritual realm, waiting requires a lot of effort.  If you want to work out your spiritual muscles, just try waiting patiently, rooted in faith, fed with hope, bearing joy and thanksgiving.  It’s no easy task!  Yet, as David discovered for himself, waiting patiently works perfectly—it never goes unanswered.

Ironically, most people find themselves “suddenly waiting.”  It is rarely our intention to wait; we don’t often want to work out our spiritual muscles.  But we have a Helper who is committed to making us strong.  And in the meantime, God is hard at work, making even our “nothings” into “somethings.”

Divine Dentistry

Posted by Steve on

“Freely you have received; freely give.”
Matthew 10:8

I am quite convinced that I have the largest sweet tooth of our day and age.  Or at least, I did, before all the cavities ate it down in size.

This also means that I’ve had a terribly hard time learning to share those sweets.  There are many times in my past in which I’ve been reluctant to hand out a few pieces of candy (single-digits, mind you) from the three-pound bag I was eating from.  I’ve repented for my candy-hoarding since then, but that’s how I was: I valued the various combinations of sugar and high fructose corn syrup so much that I was very selective in giving it away.  I knew the end of the bag was coming, and I wanted to make the deliciousness last as long as possible.

I’m afraid this mindset may have infiltrated my faith.  I have been guilty, at times, of being very selective in giving away blessing. And I think it’s because I’ve had a “The end of the bag is coming” approach.  In Christianese, that translates to a “poverty mentality.”  It means that when we don’t truly believe God’s resources are endless, we end up hoarding the blessing, fruit, favor, gifts, and power that come through a relationship with the Father.  But Jesus turns all of that upside down with this statement: “Freely you have received.”

Understanding the abundance of God is vital for our lives to reach their maximum potential in Christ, because we cannot receive more without first giving away what we have.  In this single statement, Jesus teaches the disciples that our eagerness and effectiveness in ministry is directly related to our understanding of how much blessing God is pouring out on us.  If we believe that God only gives a little at a time—that we’re reaching the “bottom of the bag”—we will be very selective when we give it out.  However, if we are aware of God’s overwhelming abundance and infinite nature, we will be eager to give it out at every turn, because we know that our hands can never be emptied of the riches of heaven.

We all have a spiritual sweet tooth that longs for the overflowing riches of a relationship with the Father.  Sometimes, we get “cavities” of fear or hopelessness that diminish the size of our dreams.  Satan might even convince us that we need our hopes pulled out completely.  But as we begin to give out of what we have—whether it’s a giving of love, of faith, of prayer, of service, or of money—the Holy Spirit fills the spaces, and instead puts a crown on the longing of our hearts.