‘Tis the season of giving, yet it is more often the season of getting.  It doesn’t have to be that way.

I am reflecting on Jesus’ words about offering a cup of water to his little ones.  Water is so easy to give when we have it available.  In fact, so easy that we don’t really think of offering it.  But in the time when Jesus wrote this and in places all around the world today, water is not so easy to come by.  1.1 Billion people in the world do not have access to clean water.

When I was in Rwanda a few months ago, I had the opportunity to visit one of the completed clean water wells that our church had the opportunity to fund.  It was amazing seeing the faces of the people as they came and pumped fresh, clean water into their jerrycans.  They described the dirty water that they used to gather to drink and wash from.

Today, I got an email from Mark Warren of Global Benefit who told me that Grace Capital Church’s funding has provided for the completion of  another new well in Rwanda.  This one provides water for 4000 people every day!  Jesus said a cup of water just to one of His little ones brings rewards, so I am looking forward to seeing God pour out blessings to our church- to people who give rather than just receive.

In the busy season of Christmas shopping, it’s time for all of us to reflect on those with far less than we have…people that will never have a fraction of the material wealth that we have.  But they can have water if you and I help give it to them.  After all, it’s what Jesus asked us to do.

-Peter

*Thanks to everyone at Grace Capital Church and Impact Youth for being so outward focused.  Your giving continues to bless thousands of people in the continent of Africa.  To date we have raised over $35,000 and completed two new wells in Rwanda as well as rehabbed 6 other wells in the Central African Republic and in Sierra Leone.

There are two schools in life, two teachers that can direct our decisions and our paths- Wisdom or Consequences.

Wisdom comes with a price for you have to be willing to learn and hear from God’s Word and seek out the counsel of others.  Sometimes this is painful, because there may be the need to pull back from what you were planning, or say no to your will.  It is always an intentional thing to pursue wisdom, and a humble thing to admit that you don’t have enough of it on your own.  The school of wisdom is available to anyone, but not many choose it.  Proverbs 1:20 says that “Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares…”  Yet, the simple love their simple ways, the foolish persist in their foolishness.  Why?  Because it’s much easier to keep doing what we’re doing, even if we’re getting lousy results.  Wisdom’s school has a high tuition fee- it’s called obedience.

Consequences on the other hand, has no enrollment fee.  In fact, if you don’t enroll in Wisdom, by default you get consequences.  How many times have you heard someone say that they want to make their own mistakes, they want to learn by experience?  Even I have said that.  The only problem with this way of thinking is that I am learning the hard way and eventually I am paying a price for it in the end.  That’s the deceptiveness of going to the school of consequences.

We recently went through a series at our church http://www.gccnh.com that helped us learn how to make good decisions and minimize mistakes.  We talked about the three legs of a stool being like an analogy to help us in this process: 1- The Word of God, 2- The leading of the Holy Spirit, 3- The godly counsel of others.  All of this is good information, but unless it’s applied truth, we still will go to the school of consequences.

Some people think God will just bail them out of bad choices or rescue them from the wrong path.  In fact, the Bible teaches us that whatever we sow, we will reap.  So, to say that I can do what I want and then “everything will work together for good in the end,” is not only a misinterpretation of the Bible, but it’s remaining simple and foolish in our thinking.  If God is so willing to show us the right way, to give us wisdom, let’s take it.  Not only will we grow and avoid mistakes, but we’ll be able to help others with the wisdom that God gives to us.

Wisdom or Consequences?

One of my least favorite things to do is to pay bills.  It used to be so much harder with paper and stamps and handwritten checks.  Now it’s relatively easy being able to pay on-line, get bills electronically, and balance my account through some amazing software.  But, it’s not the process that’s hard, it’s the idea of releasing what is sitting in my hands and in my account- the idea of paying is hard.

I haven’t always been a giver, but over the last 20 years or so, I’ve learned how to faithfully put God first in my finances.  One thing that I do every week is set aside an amount in keeping with my income and give it to the church that I call home.  This is different than writing out a check for the water bill or to the doctors office.  In those cases, I know I owe the money for the services I’ve received, but still it’s painful.  When a credit card statement comes and I go through the detailed list knowing that I made the charges, it still doesn’t make me feel any better paying them.

Some people look at giving to their church as a bill.  I’ve actually heard people say that they need to “pay God” first, before everything else.  I remember a preacher who didn’t believe that.  He said that giving to God was not a “debt we owe- but a seed we sow.”  He talked about giving to the Lord as something joyful and filled with hope and expectation.  A generous person know the difference between paying bills and being a blessing with the resources we have.  They are focused on how they give and realize that they are not giving because they owe it to someone, but because God can do something greater with what they have then they can.

I believe the best way to see God work in our finances is by releasing them to Him.  If I am trying to manage everything I have and there is no room for generosity and giving, then I am being ruled by money. If, on the other hand, I give to God obediently, joyfully, and faithfully then bill paying is not as much a burden as a real part of seeing God move and provide for me.  I think that’s what the prophet Malachi meant when he challenged the people to “test God” in the tithe.  It’s about putting the Lord first in our finances, meaning we aren’t overcome by how much or how little we have.  Seeds that are sown always bring a harvest, while seeds that are eaten only satisfy for a meal or two.

Next time the offering plate comes by, or an opportunity to give generously to a godly cause comes your way- think of it not as a bill, but as a seed you are sowing in the lives of others.  Unlike a check you are writing for something you already used or bought or are making a payment on- this act of giving has no strings attached.  It’s just good, pure, joyful release!

-Peter

I brought my oldest son to college a few weeks ago.  It happens to be where my wife and I graduated from (Oral Roberts University- www.oru.edu).  Quite an experience really-unbelievable really!  The part that got me most was thinking about how fast time has gone by.  I remember my son as an infant and toddler, so to see him now as an undergrad is mind boggling.

We did all the things that new student orientation offered- meetings, moving in the dorm, meeting other parents, and saying goodbye. As an alumni, I also wanted to get a feel for the kind of students that were coming to the school these days.  I was really impressed with their desire to hear from God and their passion to figure out His purpose for their lives.

As I sat around one of the cafeteria tables talking to them and sharing some of my college experiences, one of them asked when I graduated.  That’s when it hit me.  I’m not only an alumni- I’m old.  I stopped myself when I was about to say it.  “I graduated in 1984, that was twenty-five…….!!!” Twenty-five years ago!  That was before any of them were born, that was beyond their comprehension.  Where has the time gone?  Fortunately, these students were very gracious Christian kids.  They didn’t laugh or make comments regarding my age, they just smiled and thought the things they could say.

I am an alumni and I am happy that my son is off to college.  But, I am also coming to grasp with the fact that time flies and youth is not something we can hold onto.  Fortunately, I still feel young (although my kids remind me that it’s not cool to act like I’m younger than I am).  Aging is not a bad thing…really, it isn’t, I keep on telling myself.  In fact God says that there is a blessing of wisdom that is upon those who have aged by following His Word and learning along the way.

So, let life come, let time come, let my kids grow up and my hair fall out (slowly please)…and let me be able to say like the writer of the Psalms- I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread. I pray that you will age gracefully and become an alumnus of God’s school of study.

-Peter

“Elijah was a human being, even as we are.  He prayed earnestly that it would not rain….” (James 5:17) Wow can I relate to this!  In Elijah’s case it had to do with God bringing both blessing and punishment on Israel for their wacky ways under the leadership of King Ahab.  For me, it has to do with “enough rain already!”  Like Elijah, I know the human frailties of my personality, the bouts of feeling down when the clouds are gray, and the desperation of “God, where are you!”

Last week my wife’s family all came out to New England to spend a wonderful week on a lake in Maine.  And, needless to say, we had these expectations of sunny skies and warm weather.  Instead, we got rain nearly every day and cold temps.  My humanness was very disappointed.  I had expectations and God didn’t deliver on them.  Considering this was the first time that the entire family came from the Midwest to spend a well planned out week- a family reunion…couldn’t God stop the rain and send the sun?  What’s up with that?  After all I do for God as a pastor and as a faithful follower, shouldn’t it just work out the way my wife and I want it to?  [Oh, by the way, to make matters seem a little more discouraging, I ended up in the ER with a Kidney stone midweek.  Fun, huh?]

Actually, realistically, looking back- it was one of the best weeks we have had in a long time.  We still enjoyed the lake, the beautiful lake homes we had rented, and mos of all- we enjoyed one another.  It was a blessing to be together and talk and eat and pray together.  The kids and adults hung out and played and rested and laughed.  There was one very special night when we gathered together to talk about mom, who went to be with the Lord about a year ago.  I have a feeling that she made sure we spent lots of time together last week.  It was what she loved.

We made memories- great memories.  The rain could not damper the love that was in that place all week.

Lots of times when people refer to this Scripture in James 5, they take it from the perspective that even though we are only human, we have this incredible authority to use the name of Jesus to get whatever we want.  “We can pray that the rain stops, and it will,”  is the thought.  Maybe not.  Maybe the real point is that like Elijah, we are human beings who serve a God that knows exactly what it is we really need.  They needed famine back then, because God had to get their attention.  Even Elijah needed the course correction of God out on the mountain when He met with him.

Last week, our family needed each other- rain or shine.  And thank God we received this blessing from Him.

There is saying that is not used that much anymore, but perhaps it should be.  “Keep your chin up!”  I don’t know if it’s old fashioned or if it just seems impossible in the face of life’s challenges, and so we just don’t say it anymore.  I like it better than “hang in there” because that sounds kind of desperate- like your barely hanging on and hoping that somehow you don’t let go and end up at the bottom of a canyon somewhere.

There’s also a statement that the prophet Isaiah made thousands of years ago that resembles this encouraging word that we rarely use today.  After realizing that the Lord’s call is upon him, not only to follow God but to be used as a source of encouragement to the people, he reflects on how to sustain himself.  He says,

Because the Sovereign LORD helps me,
I will not be disgraced.
Therefore have I set my face like flint,
and I know I will not be put to shame.

I have set my face like flint. That’s even less likely of a saying to be used today than “keep your chin up,” but it basically means the same thing.  Isaiah was saying that he wouldn’t be moved or discouraged or become weary with the way things were going, the way people may have treated him, or even with his calling.  Do I set my face like flint?  Am I able to have the kind of resolve that is hopeful even when things seem kind of hopeless.

This really speaks to those of us that are not only trying to keep our own chins up but are trying to encourage others to do the same.   It’s the very context of Isaiah’s words that have profound meaning.  You see, he’s been commissioned by God to speak words to “sustain the weary.”  It can truly become wearisome if the ones we are trying to bring hope to just don’t want it.  And yet, we can’t stop.  We have to set our faces like flint and be an encourager no matter what.

I feel compelled to do that for anyone who is reading this.  Stay strong!  Don’t give up! Keep your chin up! Look right into the storm and set your face like flint! It won’t be long until you see the answer to your prayer come to pass and it can be as soon as this moment when you sense the hope of God even during the waiting.

-peter

Depending on where you are in life, waiting is either an inconvenience or an annoyance.  To me, it’s mostly a waste of time.  I was reading somewhere about how many hours and days and months we wait in lines or are on hold on phone calls.  A few weeks ago, we went to a theme park and I think our kids were permanently cured of wanting to go back- the lines were terrible.  90 minutes for a 60 second ride.  If you put that in dollars it would be like paying $90,000 for something worth $1,000.  What a waste!

Yet, all of us know that there are some things that are really worth waiting for.  Our three children are perfect examples.  In addition to the time leading up to their conception, they had another nine months in the womb and then labor.  We waited and it was well worth it!  Some of you ladies out there may question the waiting involved in the labor pains, but I hear that moms usually forget the pain enough to have more children.  So, if this is true, the waiting and the pain were both worth it.

One of the things that I have been thinking a lot about lately is how God tells us to wait.  Through the prophet Isaiah, He says that when we “wait upon the Lord, we renew our strength.”  I think many of us don’t know how to do this.  There’s no ticket line or hold button with God.  It’s not like someone is on a recording saying “your wait time will be between five and ten minutes.”  I’d like that if there were!  Instead, we are encourage to wait and be renewed with His strength.  It’s in the waiting that there is renewal- not in the fulfillment of the waiting.

Jesus told his disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit to come to them.  This was as He was making his great departure after the resurrection.  He gave them instructions to go into an upper room- a waiting room- and wait.  What must that have been like?  I’m sure they thought, “for how long?”  and “how will we know when it’s time?”   Whatever they thought, they obeyed- they waited and the Holy Spirit showed up in a way that was undeniable.  Each of them recieved a touch of God that they had never expereinced before for this was a personal meeting and filling of God’s spirit into them.  The waiting paid off because God never disappoints.

I wonder if we are more willing to wait for a table at a restaruant than we are willing to wait for God’s Spirit to show up?  Could it be that we get less antsy in a waiting room where our car is being fixed (which is exactly where I am as I write these words on my laptop) than when being still and silent before God?  I need to get better at waiting upon the Lord and waiting in His waiting room.

In this season of difficulty and uncertainty in our nation, followers of Christ can truly become a light to the world by learning the secret of waiting with faith and hope and patience.  This kind of waiting brings no sorrow to it and never disappoints us.  Come Holy Spirit!

-peter

What does it mean that most people say they pray?  Do they whisper thoughts to the Lord throughout the day, or do they actually set aside time to hear from Him.  Prayer must include both seeking and finding- it cannot be a one sided conversation.  How often do you pray?  (take the survey below)

I knew someone who could talk for an hour straight and not let you get a word in edgewise.  They were really sweet as a person, but not a good conversation at all.  Often I found myself trying to jump in and make a comment only to be cut off by their ongoing verbiage.  I never want to be like that with others, but I really have been like that with God on many occasions.  Haven’t you?

You know- it’s like we have our list, our one-sided desire list and we send it to God like kids do their Christmas lists to Santa.  I don’t think God has this growing frustration with us if we don’t stop and listen, it’s just that we miss out on what He desires for us.  I think He waits for us to settle down and stop talking long enough to listen.

It says in Revelation that He stands at the door and knocks, if anyone will hear His voice and open the door then He will come in.  So, it makes sense that he’s waiting for us to respond to His voice…and that starts with hearing it first.

So, the next time you hear someone tell you that they “pray everyday” ask them what it means.  Do they hear God speak everyday through His Word?  Do they spew out their list or get in His presence to hear Him.  I’m wanting to hear Him more because I know that as I do the questions and requests and desires I have will either lessen or become less important.

-Peter

If there’s ever a time we need it, it’s now.  Since peace has a Prince, let’s enthrone Him anew and trade our stale version of what it looks like for the real thing.

Lot’s of people talk about peace as the absence of war, but unfortunately war is not always visable and definable.  We are told that wars are waged within us- in places where no one else can see.  They rage and storm and bring unrest.  So we cover up, fill ourselves up, make things up and come away “beat up” by all of our striving.

Can peace come any other way?  Does the Christmas season offer us peace beyond sale prices, holiday lights and yummy food?  There is another way.  Really only one way to true Peace.  I think I am finding the way…or a better way to put it…I think I am releasing myself to that way.

In Ephesians it says that Christ himself is our peace.  That means I don’t get peace when everything is peaceful.  What a new way to let go!  I am not bound by getting everything situated and happy.  I can find peace by letting Christ become what He really is- my peace!

This season, be drawn by the Prince of Peace.  Join with the angels who told us that this is the way to Peace on Earth and Goodwill toward men.  Let’s go after Him…and the Peace comes as a byproduct of that!

-peter

I’m contemplating the last several months of busy and focused activity at our church.  Many people came together to do something that no individual could do on our own.  We served on various teams and made lots of contacts and pulled off a time of commitments together.  Last Sunday, it was all capped off with a combined Sunday Celebration where every family came together in one place at one time for one purpose.

After the service I was a mess.  I just kept on reflecting on how we actually got where we are in such a relatively short time.  The reality of the changed lives and the enormity of the impact we have had hit home in a major way for me.  Part of it was because of the grand scale of the service; finally seeing everyone together instead of in two different services on Sunday.  That was amazing because it reaffirmed the very reason we are moving ahead with a facility expansion.  So many of you said, we should do this more often because there was something significant about that “all together” gathering.  The worship was intense, the atmosphere was Spirit-filled and the fellowship was truly deep.  I agree!

The days leading up to last Sunday were also filled with an incredible amount of prayer and intercession.  We came together for seven straight nights to hear from God and for God to hear us.  And we all did.  What began as a time to focus on the Greater Impact campaign became an opening to the deeper importance of prayer for our church as a whole.  I was reminded of our “all night prayer meetings” and weeks of prayer and fasting from the years gone by.  I was encouraged by our commitment to praying on Friday nights, Sunday mornings and early on Wednesday as we walk the streets of the city of Concord.  In the aftermath of our focused prayer, I think we are re-committed to all of that and more.

This weekend our elders are on a spiritual journey to hear from God for the upcoming days.  What will the Lord say to us?  Where are we being led?  What is the direction for GCC for 2009?  Are there particular messages from His Word that he wants us to focus on?  Are we doing things that have come to the end of their season?  Elders are spiritual leaders that intercede and walk ahead of others, not to be recognized but to uplift and encourage the ones they serve.  Please pray for us as we seek and knock.

Here we are in the aftermath of a great move of God.  Unlike a hurricane or a tornado that leaves destruction and ruin, the aftermath we are experiencing is bringing hope and vision for the future.  It’s as though God is rewarding hard spiritual work and finding us faithful enough to take on a greater impact.

I am grateful for everyone on the journey.  I am praying for those who may still be on the sidelines to get in the game.  I am looking ahead to those yet to come.  This is the aftermath.

-Peter