I am sure that there were parts of the book that spoke right to you and resonate like it did me. There were other chapters that perhaps didn’t strike a chord. All in all though I think we’d all agree that something was birthed here in the Antelope Valley. We are forever changed by what we have learned.

Our small group is continuing to meet. We have grown to love each other and care for one another in a way that is both exciting and humbling. We have had a chance to get to know one another, pray for each other and begin new relationships that would not have happened if we didn’t have the opportunity to share the 40 Days Of Purpose with each other. The fact is that we need each other, and just as Rick Warren points out in our second of the five purposes, we are “formed for God’s family…”

Speaking of family…

For those of us who have may have a tendency towards being happy lone rangers, and feel that the time commitment is a “hassel” or perhaps we minimize the role of other Christians in our lives, let me encourage you.

Getting on a more intimate level and not distancing ourselves is part of being able to mature in a way that we simply cannot do on our own.

I think that it’s an important reminder that we are not designed to live our lives alone and isolated. It’s just plain unhealthy. As we let down our guard and let other people in, an amazing transformation occurs. We find that though we may feel needy, (and we are), we actually have something to give. The gift that God has placed in us that perhaps we didn’t even know existed, begins to grow, blossom, be shared and recognized by the others that we are in fellowship with. It’s the precious gift of Christ-likeness that is released. We experience our third purpose… we were created to be become like Christ. He who gave Himself for us that we can live…

As we look ahead together and how we can apply what we have learned, let’s remember that God has created you with unique and valuable gift that you can discover and use for His glory. Though you may not see it clearly, and maybe you are even afraid to become vulnerable, it’s important to step out in faith and let your brothers and sisters see who you are. One of the ways to do this is in a small group.

With all of this in mind, this weekend is a very special weekend. We are having the Highlands Annual Ministry Fair where people from various home group fellowships will be available as well as music ministry, dance, exercise, Bible Study groups, Motorcycle groups, and many others will be sharing their passions and talents with you.

The idea is this….

We need you to operate in the gifts and calling that God has put in your life. This will include other people.. so.. take the time to get a sense for what you feel that may be, stop procrastinating and get involved.

Let’s remember what Matthew 12:14-30 says:

“For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey. Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents. In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more. But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.’

His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’

Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’

And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’

But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed.

Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’

For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.

Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Not to good for the worthless slave…but here is the good news as we Look Ahead…

What a tremendous and absolutely incredible opportunity for us to invest our gifts and be pleasing in His sight. After all, as we have studied, our first purpose is that we were “Planned For God’s Pleasure.” Let’s bring Him pleasure!

God is real no matter how you feel…

It really is easy to worship God when things are going ok, you’re basically happy and everything is “in it’s place…” He’s provided food, clothing, friends, health and a place to live. But what happens when things aren’t going so well, and circumstances are uncomfortable, and God seems a million miles away?

As I was reading this chapter and preparing to make todays post, my 16 year old daughter Kathryn said “dad you have to see this…” and showed me the video that I included in todays reading.

Powerful isn’t it?

We are created to be in fellowship with God. We start out that way. Then… things separate us. We are tricked…Distractions, wrong friends, the world, need for friends and love. We go after those things and wonder why we feel distant from God. I was moved to tears as I watched this video. I could see myself in it. What about you? Have you experienced the battle that wages war over your soul that would keep you pulled back and not enjoying the fellowship that you were created for? I have.

But once again… the Good News…

Did your soul resonate with the part of the video that showed Him taking on our foes, fighting and winning the battle on our behalf? Did you identify with the part of the fight that shows that we have to really want it? Inspiring.

Our reading today is one that makes this point. God is real no matter what I feel. Fight through the feelings. God has said “I will never leave you or forsake you, I will never abandon you.” Even if you feel alone right now, reach out with all your heart to Him. He will reach back…

Not part of your life, he wants all your heart, all of you soul, all of your mind and all of your strength. When you worship and how you worship is not as important as why you worship and how much of yourself you offer to God when you worship..

There really is a right way and a wrong way to worship. The bible says ” Let us be grateful and worship God in a way that pleases him.” Heb 12:28

Today’s reading reminds us that there are four characteristics of worship that pleases God.

1. God is pleased when our worship is accurate
2. God is pleased when our worship is authentic
3. God is pleased when our worship is thoughtful
4. God is pleased when our worship is practical.

Worship that is accurate means that we don’t create an image of God that is one that conforms to our politically correct ideas,  adjusted for the kind of God we like to see. Any image of God that we worship that is inaccurate actually is an idol. What is your image of God?  Jesus told the Samaritan woman that “True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and  in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers that the Father seeks.” Worship in truth means to worship as God is revealed in the Bible.

Worship that is authentic is worship that comes from our spirit. God looks past our words and sees our heart. Our goal is to worship with our heart and our minds. It must be genuine and heartfelt. Not just saying the right words, but meaning what we say. Have you ever felt disingenuous before God? Your heart in one place and your mind in another? It pleases God when our heart with all of it’s emotions and feelings are in line with our thoughts. God does not want showmanship, pretense, phoniness and hypocrisy but honest real love. We can worship imperfectly but not insincerely.

There is no “one size fits all” way to worship God. He created us all differently. One way is not right and one way wrong. You can worship God in nature, with music, certain rituals, simplicity and solitude, confronting evil, making the world a better place, loving God by loving and caring for others, celebration, dance, adoration,  studying and actively using your unique gifts. God wants you to be yourself!

Thoughtful worship  simply means using your mind to worship. Not thoughtless “vain repetitions” of songs, prayers and devotions. Think about what you really want to say to him and say it.

Worship that is practical is worship that incorporates your  whole body and being a “living sacrifice.”  Worshiping him when you don’t feel like it, when he doesn’t feel close to you and distant, you are tired, had a long day or are experiencing hardships and frustrations, this is a time that practically worshiping him in an unselfish and sacrificial way bring him great pleasure.

The heart of the matter is a matter of the heart..

Worship that is

Today’s reading reminds us that we can be as close to God as we choose to be. It doesn’t happen by accident. Like any relationship it takes time, desire and energy. If you want a deeper, intimate and closer connection with God, you must learn to honestly share your feelings with him, trust him and of course if (when) he asks something of you, you obey him. (Because you love him…)

Another secret to learn to developing your friendship with God is to be absolutely honest with him. This really is the first building block to build a deep friendship with God. We find this at work in our relationships here on earth don’t we? We cannot build a deep lasting friendship with people we do not trust, or we can be completely honest with. In the same way we should be able to be completely honest and trusting with God.

The interesting thing is that the emphasis is on an expectation of honesty from us, not perfection. If perfection were the key, well, none of us would be able to stand before him. What is expected is that we honestly share our feelings, frustrations, complaints, fears, reservations, hopes, dreams and anything else that comes to mind with him. That is what friends do.

The bible is full of the people that God considered friends that show this side of honesty.

Look at King David, who after committing adultery and then killing Bathsheba’s husband Uriah, he feel to his knees, admitted his sin and God heard him, had mercy, and then said that “David is a man after my own heart…” How can this be? He was honest about his failure. He didn’t try and justify his sin blaming his circumstances.

Genuine friendship is built on disclosure. God listens to the passionate words of his friends. To be God’s friend, you must be honest with him and share what is really going on with you. He longs to hear it and it brings him pleasure.

Another area that can be difficult to offer up honestly is past hurts that may have turned to bitterness. Bitterness, anger resentment and disappointments are huge blockages to experience friendship. Think about this for a moment. Most of us have experienced something that we can either be mad about, or hold on to that instead of lifting to God, we are mad at God. Are you even honest about being mad at him? After all you didn’t deserve that disappointment, hurt, divorce, loss, etc, etc…

There are people that are hurt by past church experiences. Are you one of them? Can you be honest before your Friend and admit that you are just plain mad about the hypocrisy, pain and things that have even been done by people that say they are “Christians?” Do you have what William Bakus refers to as the “hidden rift with God?”

Let’s look at some really great news…

Honestly releasing your resentment, bitterness, fears, pain and disappointments to God is the first step to healing. Just open the Bible to just about any Psalm, and you will see how honesty expressed is met with God’s compassion, mercy and healing. What a relief to know that rejection we may have felt from others, God can use to draw us nearer to himself…

Our reading today goes on to share another key of developing our friendship with God.

I must choose to obey God in faith.

Even when we really don’t understand or see the whole picture, our obedience to what God is saying to us, deepens and strengthens our relationship and friendship with him. Jesus said in John 15:14 that “You are my friends if you do whatsoever I command.”

We get this pretty twisted though. We stand back and resist the idea of anyone “commanding” us to do anything. Even if what we are being instructed to do is to love the Lord with all of our heart, soul and strength and love our neighbor as ourselves. We don’t obey out of duty and fear (although that can be a motivator) we obey out of our love of God understanding that though we don’t know everything, we trust him that he really does know what is best for us.

This is the exciting part!

Our obedience produces great joy! Jesus said, ” I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey me you remain in my love, just as I obey the Father and remain in his love. I have told you this so that you will be filled with my joy, yes your joy will overflow.” John 15:9-11.

Isn’t it strange how we can passionately justify our disobedience, even be miserable with a deep longing for love and acceptance, and miss out on the fact that true joy, love and friendship with God is a ball that is in our court.

Two other key factors in growing in our friendship with God are also pointed out.

• I must choose to value what God values
  
• I must desire friendship with God more than anything else.

What does God value? What does God care about most?

He cares about his people. He cares about you…

God is not mad at you. He’s mad about you, he will do whatever he must do to bring YOU back into fellowship with him. If your passion and desire for God has dwindled over the years, just ask your friend to give it back to you! Just pray “Dear Jesus, more than anything else, I want to get to know you…”

Remember, it’s your choice.

For those of us who have felt that God is a distant task master, one to be feared, that expects total and complete obedience, strict with a bunch of rules, and isn’t intimate…this may be a bit of a stretch…

Before the fall of man, God had intimate and personal relationship with Adam and Eve. He walked in the Garden with them, and took care of every detail and need. We were made to live in God’s continual presence. Unhindered by fear or guilt. After the fall, all of that changed.

Throughout the Old Testament and up until the time of Jesus, there were only a few people that were recognized as “friends of God..”. Moses, Abraham, King David, Job, Enoch and Noah all had intimate friendships with God. The fear of God was more common than “friendship.”

Jesus changed all of that.

His “complete surrender” to the cross, took away the barriers of sin and judgment, and gave us back the birthright and free access to enjoy friendship with God once again.

Jesus told us, ” I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father, I have made known to you.” Jn. 15:15

We have been invited to share in a close, intimate and trusted friendship with God. Knowing and loving God is our greatest privilege, and being known and loved is God’s greatest pleasure.

It is really difficult to get our minds around this concept isn’t it? It’s easier to imagine God in a master-servant role, or as Creator relating to his creation, or even as Father-child relationship. But what does it mean to be a “friend of God and how do we deepen our understanding and experience?

The first key is simply spending time in conversation with God. Just like any relationship, getting to know someone takes time and talking. You don’t grow close to God by occasional church visits, praying a bed time prayer or crying out for help only in the middle of a crisis. God wants to be involved in your everyday affairs all day long… Spending time with God is not just “away” with him, alone or in that special place. It’s like the breath we take… in with his love and acceptance, out with thanksgiving and communion with him and an awareness of his presence.

A 17th century monk named Brother Lawrence wrote in his book, “Practicing The Presence of God,” that the key to friendship with God is not changing what we do, but changing the attitude toward what we do, whether it’s eating, bathing, working, playing or mundane tasks we have to do everyday.

The attitude we have can be changed through constant prayer. “Praying without ceasing” is our encouragement to lift up little “breath” prayers like “You are with me.” “I receive your grace.” “You are my God.” “You are God and I am not.” “Open my eyes to see you” “I want to know you” You get the idea.

This helps us to focus our attention, get perspective, remind us that He is in control, and develop a closer intimate relationship. Relationship, not religion.

Another key to becoming best friends with God, is through continual meditation.

Meditation is often misunderstood as some mystical practice that is done in a quiet place. Though meditation can be in a quiet place, the practice of meditation can be done anywhere at any time.

Meditation is focused thought. When you think about a problem over and over, that is called worry. When you think about God’s word over and over, that is meditation.

God’s word to us is something that we need to think about, internalize and allow to work in us. The more we spend time in  communion with God through prayer and meditation, the closer we grow in our relationship with him. Our friendship grows daily…

Our reading today focuses on the concept of worship being a form of surrender. Unfortunately for many of us surrender falls into a visual of the white flag going up, admitting defeat, giving in to a stronger opponent, and like a captured criminal, having to give up our freedom. Surrender is something we see mainly in a negative light…As our reading points out today, we tend to resist surrender because in our competitive environment that we live in today, we are taught from a very early age, never give up and never give in.  Our supreme goal is winning, succeeding, overcoming and conquering rather than submitting, surrendering, yielding, or obeying. But surrender to God is true worship.

We find ourselves giving ourselves to Him, not out of duty or fear but in a simple response to his amazing love because “he first loved us…”

True worship, (bringing pleasure to God) happens when you give (offer) yourself freely to God.

What keeps us from total surrender? Think about it just for a minute and ask yourself this question. What is holding me back from total surrender?

As someone who is trying to keep these blog posts much to a “reporting” style of writing, talking about the readings and not adding a lot of personal “spin” to them, I find that this area has always been the hardest area for me. For whatever reason, I have always been a person that has not wanted to totally surrender because I was afraid that God would turn me into some sort of Jesus Freak. I would lose my friends. Have to do things that are embarrassing and live a life of no fun, with a ton of rules.

I lived my life for many years knowing in my head that God loved me, sent his Son to die for me, and went to church.

It’s only been recently that I have experienced a renewal of God’s love and mercy in my life and found a newfound trust that He is actually for me, given me a personality and gifts that he’s happy with and I can trust him with my future!

I can really see how in todays reading there are three major areas that may have a grip on our lives and hold us back.

• Fear
• Pride
• Confusion

Can I trust God? There are so many examples of why God deserves our trust. This is crucial to surrender isn’t it. Our experiences in relationships that we have had can be pretty disappointing. If one person on earth has let us down, misunderstood us, hurt us, tried to control us, and perhaps even abused us, we can find it very difficult to trust anyone, even God. How can we surrender our lives if we don’t have trust? Our trust displaces and replaces fear.

Admitting our limitations. One of the greatest obstacles to  total surrender is our pride. Boy this is a big one. We just don’t want to admit that we are not in control of everything. The desire to be in complete control has always been the greatest temptation.  As with Adam and Eve in the garden… “take this fruit, you will be like God…”

Being the ground to air commander of our own lives leaves us open to a lot of stress. Life can be a struggle, but it’s even harder when our struggle is with God, and we aren’t going to win this one. As someone once said, “our arms are too short to box with God…”

A.W. Tozer said, “The reason why many are still troubled, still seeking, still making little forward progress is because they haven’t yet come to the end of themselves. We’re still trying to give the orders, and interfering with God’s work in us.”

Our reactions to our limitations can be pretty revealing.  We can get irritated, mad and resentful. We want to be all and do all and get upset when it doesn’t go our way. Other people have what we want producing envy and jealousy in us or even self pity.

But wait…there’s more…. there some really good news!!

Having the weight of all that control (pride) on your shoulders can be lifted right off of you if you understand what surrender is.

It’s not passive resignation,  fatalism, or excepting the status quo. It’s not repressing your personality. Like C.S. Lewis says “The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become – because he made us. He invented all the different people that you and I were intended to be… It’s when I turn to Christ, when I give up myself to His personality, that I begin to have a real personality of my own.”

Surrender says “yes” to God, and “yes” puts us in a place of humble submission and obedience. Surrendered people rely on God, admit their inability to control things, and obey God’s word.

Many of us come to a place in our lives where we may even say to God, “I’ll go wherever you want me to go, do whatever you want me to do, just show me what your will is and I will do it…”

Sounds good on the outside, but inside you still want to know what He’s up to before you do it and it doesn’t work that way.  He says, “Commit all your ways to me and I’ll direct your path.” Commit first. Direction next…

Jesus was our example of complete surrender… he laid it all down didn’t he? “Father, not my will, but yours..”  We are the benefactors of this divine loving and trusting surrender, and there are many examples of the blessing that comes from a bending knee, in humble surrender, for our lives.

Peace that passes understanding, joy unspeakable, and being able to be used by God for His purposes in other peoples lives to give hope and the good news.. You cannot even see what other people need if you are so focused on yourself.

Give it all to God…past wounds, hurts, failures, weaknesses, fear, pride, confusion, disappointments, resentments, anger and your future. Don’t argue any more with him. What better place to lay aside all of these things than at the feet of the One who truly loves us, has grace to fill our lives with and wisdom to teach us. As the song says, ” I surrender all, I surrender all, all to Jesus, my precious Saviour, I surrender all… “

If pleasing God is our first purpose, it stands to reason that we figure out just how to do that!

One of the first people that we read about pleasing God is Noah. It may just be a good idea to focus a little bit on someone has been recognized and is a great example of making God smile.

Most of us know the story…The entire world was morally bankrupt and corrupt with everyone living for their own pleasures and not God’s. This of course was unacceptable and unfortunately it was an unredeemable situation. Before we look at what makes God smile and how we can bring him pleasure, perhaps it may be wise to see what does not make God smile and learn a very valuable lesson what not to do… focusing on living for our own pleasure may not be the best idea…

Anyway…according to the bible “Noah was a pleasure to the Lord…

How did he become a “pleasure to the Lord?” What was it about Noah that made him so special?
When we look at Noah’s life, we see an example of five different areas where God smiled on him. We won’t go into much detail with each point since the book addresses it, but here they are:

• God smiles when we love Him supremely
• God smiles when trust Him completely
• God smiles when we obey him wholeheartedly
• God smiles when we praise and thank him continually
• God smiles when we use our abilities

Noah had the entire world probably mocking him, scoffing at the crazy old man who was building a boat hundreds of miles away from the nearest place you could launch it. The one thing that Noah had that the mockers had lost, was his relationship with God. When God said, “build the boat get the animals and wait for the flood to come…” Noah said ok, let’s do this…

When God put his calling on our lives, do we dispute and justify what we believe we should be doing, or out of simple pure love and trust, we obey his calling thanking him and using our talents and gifts for his glory?  This is what Noah did and it made God smile. As a matter of fact we are the benefactors of Noah’s love, trust and obedience today.

The first purpose that we read about in todays reading is the fact that the minute we were born, God was an “unseen witness” smiling at our birth… what a comforting thought to know that our arrival has given Him great joy! God created us for his own enjoyment, for his benefit, purpose, glory and delight…

Bringing enjoyment to God and living for his pleasure is our first purpose in life.

How do you feel about that? Do you believe it? Does it give you a sense of significance, or does it seem like some far off religious idea that doesn’t apply to you?

One of the greatest gifts God has given to us it the ability to enjoy pleasure. He’s wired us this way. He wants us to enjoy life, not endure it.

Bringing pleasure to God is called “worship.” Anything that we do that brings pleasure to God is an act of worship. As todays reading points out, for many of us the word “worship” means different things… it can be going to church, singing, music, different types of ceremonies, candles, communion, lifting of hands, healing and maybe even ecstatic experiences. These are all part of worship…

The true worship we have to offer though is our very lives. Worship is not a part of our lives, it is our life. The secret to a lifestyle of worship is doing everything as if you were doing it for Jesus. As The Message Paraphrase in Romans 6:13 says ” Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating going-to-work, and walking around life – and place it before God as an offering.” What a tremendous thought that our work, the abilities God has given us, our very lives can bring God pleasure!