The right Time - the right moment.

Sometimes we are confined for growth but it is also possible God has us confined and in a holding pattern for when our growth intersects His timing and plan.



Joseph was unjustly (we know the whole story) in a prison. Even when he was imprisoned he was still productive and fruitful for God. Joseph was placed in the slow cooker for a season for growth but also because God was reserving Him for a particular assignment. He was confined. There was no understanding that God would release him soon. After attempting to gain release through the servants of pharoh he endured two more years of prison. His dreams were dead. He had come to a place of acceptance of God's plan for Him.



But God always has a plan. you and I may be confined for the time being but God is getting us ready to be released for "such a time as this." I am learning to rest in the assurance that God is at work.



Don't wait until God releases you to be used by Him to produce God glorifying work. Be about His business where ever you are and do a thorough job of it.

Resolve

One of the greatest victories in the Kingdom of God is a life that has gone through great difficulty (meant to disarm the Christian) and has emerged victorious having even greater faith, greater trust (in God), greater maturity, and greater resolve to press on and win for God and His Kingdom.

Our difficulties do more to develop a consistant resolve of a soldier than the successes that we enjoy for the short term. They bring our focus on what is most important - service to our King!

The devil Hates it with a passion.

"Dog Gone It!"

Carpentry has a way of bringing out the "worst" in you. I am generally able to keep a decent reign on my tongue but hard physical labor will cause you to mutter some things that you wouldn't normally. Hammers and flesh sometimes meet in a wonderful symphony of melodious tunes and phrases. After resigning from a church plant three years ago I went to work with a home building company - something that I did through my twenties. I remember a guy named Bernie saying to me, "Preacher, you are the one guy I know that can make saying 'Dog Gone it!' sound like a swear word." As he walked off laughing and feeling good about himself I remained with my thoughts about that.

He was right - who was I fooling?

Chuck got me to say S_ _ T! in a confrontation. He wore the badge of getting the preacher to "swear" with a high sense of pride. He reminded me and everybody else of this honor at every company party.

My discovery was this that - yes - I had moments of "failure" (there were many others.) however, the moments did not "galvanize" me from relationship with the guys - it helped open it up. Chuck and I were a great construction team from that moment. Something I was learning was the guys that I worked with could see through religious attempts to be "perfect". The people of this world are very good at seeing through "fake" spirituallity as a means of appearing to have it all together.

I do my best to be the man of goldy character that I can be - we all should. But the way into the hearts and lives of men and women that need to find Christ is through a real relationship with them - to be real - the good and the bad. I do not mean get involved in "sin" so that we are accepted by lost humanity - it simply means be You. It was OK with them to see the "cracks" in Mike's "armor" - it made me approachable and they were willing to hear the good news because I was just like them - a guy needing a savior.

I now recognise that a forgiving God can use me as I am in my process of growth - the good and the bad - in his plan to reach a lost humanity. I am good with that.

It is God's doing

Gen 50:20, "...God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done - the saving of many lives."

This was Joseph speaking to his brothers after Jacob had passed away and assuring them that he was harboring no bitterness or resentment towards them. I can imagine that Joseph had a lot of resentment to deal with while in the prison. I wonder if the greatest resentment was not that against his brothers but against God. There was a moment in time where a realization hit him that it wasn't his brothers that did this to him but it was God.

Like one discovering the truth behind a mystery - that it was someone deeply trusted - I can imagine him crying out to God in disbelief - "It was you?" "You did this to me?". It was a moment where Joseph had to make a choice to accept the truth and yet continue to trust and follow.

I have not seen the pain of Joseph or Job in my life. Each of us walks a different path with seasons of struggle (God knows the levels and limits) and we have caught a glimpse of this realization. Somehow this moment deepens us and makes us firm in our resolve to follow at all cost's. This is a realization found in death - death of dreams - death of assumptions about God. We are faced with reality - that God is far beyond anything that we can imagine, rationalize, or define.

The disciples of Christ were faced with this very same choice after hearing tough teaching from the Lord. Their response was - "to whom would we go? you alone hold the words of Truth".

Like Joseph we to must accept that God is working out his perfectly formed master plan for the salvation of a dying humanity. We are given the invitation to join Him in the plan but it will cost us everything that we have - our dreams - our sanity - our assumptions about how God works. But along with all that have faithfully lived before us we will be able to say "It was God's doing." "...God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."

What a joy it is to know that we can be a part of God's master plan!

Transformation

I was following a car today and noticed that it had a dealer plate. This usually does not interest me however this car was very dirty and grimy and full of junk. The driver was chain smoking one after the other. It was hardly a car that was being sold on a lot. The plate was obviously (from my point of view) being used in order to keep the owner from paying necessary registration fees for the vehicle. This person was being deceptive.

I am not a police officer but have had enough conversation with a few of them to know that the job is amazingly difficult. Not so much when people are obviously violating a law but more so when people are trying to cover it up - to deceive. I would think that it takes a special wisdom in order to see through the lies of people. I would not be very good at it.

I have been fooled by deception. My past post's have been about the slow cooker of life. As I reflect on my past I see modes of operation that have not been the best and I do not know why I do some of them. I think that some of the patterns are laid before we really have any understanding of life - in observation of people closet to us in our very earliest formative years. As we move into adolescence and adult life - the patterns are somewhat set in stone and for the most part we accept them for "who we are".

This stewing season of my life has been beneficial in many ways. But one of the best is that God has been peeling layers of the onion off of my life to get to the core of who Mike really is - to uncover the old patterns that need to be changed. The crock pot's heat and time are God's means of doing this. The heat has softened me and somehow made me able to confront my deepest hurts and "closets" way back in my past. God is showing me the places where the devil has placed deception - ways of operating that I have accepted as "normal" however do not line up with scripture. I (and I am sure you are too) am a person that deeply desires to be and accomplish all that God has for me in this pre-eternal stage of living. However, I am naive to a lot of the deception of my enemy unless a faithful God helps expose it.

This is all a part of the Transformation process that Paul talks about in Romans 12:2. "Do not conform any longer to the patterns of the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Looking back - I am grateful for God's trustworthy hand - for His concern and process. I would not trade a moment of my life for the world. I would dare bet that those of you that have discovered true treasure in going through God's "crock Pot" would say the same thing.

James 1:4 says, "Perseverance must finish it's work so that we may be mature and complete not lacking anything." I encourage you and myself to let God be God with our lives and allow Him to complete His process.

"Stewing"

OK - stay with me here. One of my favorite hobbies is cooking – so bear with me. When I place a roast in the slow cooker, its only job is to yield and submit itself to the heat and the time of the cooker. In time the product is a well seasoned and prepared “meal” ready to please and satisfy a hungry person. So also a person that dares to breathe the prayer, “God use me – I am totally yours” will be placed in the slow cooker to endure heat for a time in order to truly yield and submit to the hand of God. The end result is a “product” fully seasoned, tender, and ready to bring satisfaction to a “hungry” human race.

I am amazed at the fact that God produces such great fare with such simple ingredients – a willing heart, heat and time. As I write this I am sitting in the slow cooker of life. I have been here for a while. The unusual thing is that I am finally at peace. This is unusual for me. It has never been this way before. I am stubborn – inwardly standing – and I fight. I have been an emotional person and have learned how to whine and fuss about my situation. But no more – for some reason I am at peace. I think it has to do with the act of finally yielding to God’s choices for me. I think it is because the heat tenderizes. From the middle of the crock I can see how what God is doing is looking “not so bad”. God knows what he is doing.

If you find yourself in the crock pot right now – it is because God has nothing but the best planned for you. He is everything the Word tells us that He is – faithful, patient, loving, thorough. He wants the best out of all of us because there is a “hungry” generation that needs well prepared “food”. This is where God is at His best.

The Crock Pot

I'm up late or very early, depending on your point of view, nursing a headache. I've been thinking about the great stories of the Bible. Incredible men and women that have done outstanding feats with overcoming faith. They are legend of the past - the day's when God moved in the hearts of incredible people. I wonder if we miss out on the deepest applications of the Word by creating overly "beautiful" or flowery pictures of our favorite characters. I think one of the most encouraging benefits of God's Word to us is that the men and women of renown were simply men and women dealing with the same issues that we do today. They were emotional, made mistakes, lacked judgement, had deep character issues just like us today. I'm glad because this makes them "approachable". I can identify with idiots because I am one. (My wife say's this is true)

My favorite Biblical character is Joseph. Please do not be offended but I believe he was a real pain in the butt (stronger words come to mind). I cannot imagine a young teen being able to grow straight arrow with the disfunction of his family. I cannot imagine a young man not being warped in character by a father that publicly placed him in a higher "love" bracket than the rest of the son's. This takes nothing away from the power of His legacy. This actually increases the stock value of Joseph. It tells me of the incredible nature of God to be able to take a broken person and grow him in just the right way to be the vessel He needs at the time He need's it.

Joseph was in a prison. Yes it had bars and brick walls - but even beyond that - God himself confined Him. God's purpose was two fold Growth and positioning. Deepest growth comes through deepest pain. God knows just how to surgically cut in order to achieve the desired "health" in a life. I believe a time came in Josephs life where he had to admit that he was clueless with how God works - that God's way's truly are unsearchable - that He could not figure a way out. I think this moment for Joseph came after he requested to be remembered by two men of Pharoh's court and yet was forgotten for another 2 years. I can imagine his frustration. He had to become satisfied with God's choices for his life.

The story of Joseph is comforting to me because I have been going through a wilderness - a season of confinement - the "Crock Pot". I wonder how many of you are there also? Like Joseph I have done everything that I can to change my circumstance - to be released from the "prison". I have come to a place where with every disappointment of life is a challenge - "will you yet trust me?". "Mike - will you be satisfied with the choices I have made for your life?" "Will you Yield to my will?"

"For the eye's of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those who's hearts are fully committed to Him." 2 Chronicles 16:9

We need to let God do His thorough work in us. God will not fail to be faithful during confinement. He has a plan far beyond our understanding. This brings unusual peace because it reminds us that there is a God, that He is great and wise, and that He is ours. God continues to move in the hearts of incredible men and women and just like in the "crock pot" - it alway's comes out right.

"We may be wise and correct in our assessments of others however the manner in which thoughts are delivered will affect wether they are accepted or rejected by a person."

We need to speak to others with respect especially when given opportunity to guide them.

Daily "drills"

I marvel at the drills, passion and effort that rocket football coaches and players put into preparing for Saturday morning "battle". I wonder what the body of Christ would be like if we (me) did our drills (daily time with our Creator) with the passion and effort of a football team? The real game is the battle between good and evil all around us. How will we win - much less compete - against a real enemy if we do not prepare?