February 19, 2012

“…if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”  (Romans 10:9)

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”  (James 5:16)

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  (1 John 1:9)

Confession is incredibly important. In just the three verses above, it is identified as part of the means to salvation, a key element to emotional and physical healing, and the manner in which we stay in ongoing fellowship with God.

Confession is a source of freedom, strength and healing.

Freedom because I no longer live in bondage to “the secret.” It takes an overwhelming amount of energy and creates so much destructive stress to maintain a hidden life, to guard my every word and action. Confession frees me from my forced commitment to that double life, whether it be a secret sin or a secret relationship with God, and enables me to live in wholeness.

Strength because I no longer live in denial.  I have said it out loud, to both myself and another; there is no taking it back. And the moment I irrevocably acknowledge my weakness and failure, I have access to forgiveness and the strength of God and others; when I unashamedly profess, “Jesus is Lord,” I gain the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

Healing because the wound is no longer hidden and “medicine” can now be applied.

Confession is out loud. Confession is heard by another. Confession is a source of freedom and strength and healing. I think that is why having people come and confess to someone is such a vital part of the ministry we all have.

February 12, 2012

"Where was God? Where was He when this was happening?"

This is one of the most common questions I hear in ministry sessions. It embodies so many painful and limiting beliefs; perhaps biggest amongst those is the belief that a person is so bad or worthless that even God isn't there for them.

Recently I was talking and praying with a woman and this very question and underlying belief came, very emotionally, to the table. It was a moment of great despair and hopelessness. However, as she continued sharing, immense anger emerged, anger at God that He would purport Himself to be a God of love and protection yet He did not show up in a moment of personal crisis.

I asked her if it would be okay for me to ask Jesus if there was anything He wanted to reveal to her about her beliefs and her anger. I assured her she did not have to like what the Lord may reveal or believe what He may reveal; I was simply asking her to be available to Him. She agreed, and in the following minutes the Lord brought scripture to her mind.

The full context of what He shared with her is found in 1 Samuel 13. King Saul and the armies of Israel are battling the Philistines and it is not looking good for the Israelites. In fact, it was so dire, many of the soldiers were hiding in caves and bushes. The prophet Samuel had sent word to King Saul that he would arrive at the scene in seven days to intercede for them. Let me pick up the scripture at this point (verses 7-13):

Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops were quaking with fear. He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul's men began to scatter. So he said, "Bring me the burnt offerings and the fellowship offerings." And Saul offered up the burnt offering. Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him.

"What have you done?" asked Samuel.

Saul replied, "When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Micmash, I thought, 'Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal and I have not sought the Lord's favor.' So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering."

"You acted foolishly," Samuel said.

January 29, 2012

"Why did this happen?"

This is one of the most oft asked questions I hear in ministry sessions. And usually God's name is inserted into the equation so that the sentence reads, "Why did God let [make] this happen?" I always encourage folks to take that question directly to Him and then to be available to whatever He might reveal; but I let folks know that other than something like "That's what happens when you jump off of buildings", my experience has been that the Lord rarely answers that question.  My sense is that He wants us to trust Him now, not get all twisted up trying to figure out why things happened then.  I think, instead, He would rather have us ask this question:

"What do I do now?"

As I think about the life of Paul the Apostle, I can see where he could have easily gotten caught up in the why question. He had a miraculous interaction with Jesus on the road to Damascus and was aggressively executing one of the most effective evangelistic, church planting campaigns the world would ever see….until he ended up in jail. If I were Paul, I can just envision me pacing that cell, fretting over the loss of my ministry, wondering what I had done wrong, crying out to God, "Why did you let this happen?" Thankfully, Paul apparently did not spend a lot of time asking why. Instead, he asked "What do I do now?" and the answer to that question resulted in the letters to the churches that comprise half of the New Testament. 

Sadly, we often spend a lot of time focusing on what we do not have.

I recall a very challenging time early in my marriage when pretty much the only thing I thought about was what I "did not have"; it was such a strong focus that I could think of nothing else and it was crippling to my marriage and my personal life. In fact, it was so debilitating that, in hopeless despair, I asked for a divorce. Thankfully, Debbie did not give up on me and asked me to go with her to speak with a pastor. Quite unexpectedly, that man (empowered and led by the Holy Spirit) made me confront and repent of my sin and selfishness; and once that glaring obstacle was out of the way, my focus shifted from what I did not have to what I did have….and that has made all the difference in our marriage.

Again, it would have been easy for the Apostle Paul, sitting in that jail cell, to get frustrated, even angry about what he did not have (freedom, mobility, large crowds to preach to, new cities in which to plant churches); thankfully, he looked around to see what he did have….and there he found paper and a pen. And yes, it has made all the difference in Christianity.

I have spent thousands of hours over the last decade giving people a safe place to look at the past events of their lives but not primarily with goal of understanding why things happened. The emphasis has always been to uncover and release the power given to those events by the person themselves (by the way they interpreted them or the value they assigned to those situations) so they could be free from the bondage and burdens that hinder them from asking the more important question:  "Jesus, what do You want me to do now?" Additionally, the effort over the years has been to help folks shift their focus from what they do not have (which also becomes a constant and heavy burden) to what they do have; they are often surprised at what and how much is there.

Take a little time this week to intentionally look at what you have (Jesus can shed some light on that if you need help; just ask Him) and then ask, "So what do I do now….today" (Jesus has been known to help with that one, too!)