Category: Devotional

Fasting Brings Feelings into Focus (Nehemiah 1:4)

On By pastorjonathanIn Devotional, Nehemiah2 Comments

As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. (Nehemiah 1:4 ESV)

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What do you do when you have deep feelings about injustice in the world? How do you move? What is the next step? Is it just emotion or can that emotion be channeled into something productive? Take a look at Nehemiah. We are only four verses into this book and already we see his strength of character to ask the question about how others were doing, to hear and respond with weeping, but then he does…MORE.

First he does more feeling. He adds fasting to the mix. He wants his body to ache because his heart aches. This is a long forgotten discipline in our culture. Fasting is the intentional with drawl from food so you can focus on what you feel. In your body it serves as a detox or a cleanse, kind of like a reboot for your digestive system.  Spiritually speaking it does something similar.  In Nehemiah’s time a fast would mean taking time away from meal preparation which included everything from the purchase at the market to the actual cooking of the meal. This was a big time saver, but more than that it was a way not to focus on the day to day things that can consume our thinking and allow a pure focus on what God might have for Nehemiah. Too often we drown out God’s voice because of all the other voices we fill our lives with. In a modern context fasting might also include setting aside entertainment, social media, and other voices that have a way of consuming out thoughts so that we might be able to hear clearly from God. Fasting brings feelings into focus.

Our feelings alone can lack focus. We have a crush on a person who just looks cute, but when we get to know them we find out they are a jerk… but until your feelings are brought into focus by reality you move and act as if they are a perfect person. Feelings are a helpful response to where we are and how things have been, but they are unreliable guides to our future. This is why we should never just act on our feelings alone.  Just ask anyone who has said or done something stupid in a moment of anger.

Nehemiah feels a deep sadness for his countrymen and especially for Jerusalem being a city without walls, instead of jumping into action though he brings his feelings into focus by fasting and he brings his thoughts to God in prayer.

Now lots of folks think that prayer is where we move God to action, but they have it backwards. We don’t pray to tell God what he should do; we pray to ask God what we should do. The point of prayer isn’t to conform God’s will to ours, but to conform our will to God’s (Matthew 6:9-10).  Nehemiah goes to God to get God’s perspective, as we will see in the coming days and weeks, God sees the need clearer than Nehemiah ever could.

You may be at a crossroads in your life where you feel like God is calling you to do something but you are unclear about what he wants you to do. Fasting may be a very helpful option to bring things into focus. Consider setting aside some of the distractions in your life so that you can hear his voice more clearly. It is wise to get clarity on what God is doing before you act.

Feeling Bad News (Nehemiah 1:3-4)

On By pastorjonathanIn Devotional, NehemiahLeave a comment

And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.” As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. (Nehemiah 1:3-4 ESV)

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We live in a society where people flee from pain and discomfort. Sometimes we would rather not hear news at all than to hear bad news. We burry our head in the latest video game, music album or endless search for funny memes and videos rather than face the reality of the situation in front of us. It would have been easy for Nehemiah to dismiss the discomfort of his countrymen as their problem. After all, he lived in a city with walls.

Something you should understand about city walls. They were like locks on our doors today. They served to keep people inside safe and people with bad intentions out. Imagine moving to a new neighborhood only to find out that the new place you are living in doesn’t have locks. What’s worse is that it doesn’t have doors and there is no police force to call when someone breaks in. That was the situation the people in Nehemiah’s home town were experiencing.

Nehemiah allowed himself to feel a deep empathy for his fellow countrymen who lived in a city that had no protection from its enemies. As we will find out in the rest of this book, he’s not a weak man, but here he sobs like a child. He isn’t running from the issue, he is feeling the full force of it.

Sometimes we can become desensitized to the humanity of people who are suffering. Maybe we’ve seen the images of one too many starving children on the TV screen to care anymore. We have grown callous. In our hearts we think, “That’s somebody else’s problem” or “I can’t do anything about that,” and we move on to the next Pokémon to capture or meme to post. (Not that these things are bad in and of themselves, but when we use them as diversions from what God is pressing on our hearts).

I think that feelings are important. We will learn later that they aren’t a good guide, but that they can be a good indicator of where we are. How do you feel about the current state of your school, neighborhood, or workplace? Take time to journal your thoughts today.

For me it was frustration. I saw a huge need, but didn’t know how to address it. Obviously the things we were doing in student ministry were working with churched kids but we were struggling to reach people who hadn’t been to church (which as it turns out was most of the public school population). I also felt sadness, like we were losing a generation. I wondered about what could be done to reach students who had never heard the gospel.

Who Do You Care For?

On By pastorjonathanIn Devotional, NehemiahLeave a comment

When I was sixteen years old I came home drunk late on a Saturday night and was sneaking to my room. I had to go past my parent’s room to get to my room and as I passed by I heard my mom talking. Which I thought was strange because I knew my dad was working overnight as a security guard at the local hospital. I listened in to see who she might be talking too on the phone so late at night.

I soon found out that she wasn’t on the phone, she was praying. And it wasn’t just any prayer it was a deep and raw emotional prayer. She was sobbing, literally crying out to God. Then I heard my name. She was praying for me. She was asking God that I would repent of my sins and believe on Him. She was asking that I would be protected from the things that I couldn’t even see. She was pouring her heart out… for me.

Long story short, my mother’s prayer that night and many nights before and since have brought me to faith in God. They have shaped my life in more ways that you could ever imagine. Today we are going to look in the scriptures at the story of a Nehemiah a man of boldness, compassion, and prayer.

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Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the citadel, that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”  (Nehemiah 1:1-3 ESV)

It was an ordinary day when Nehemiah’s life took on a bold new direction. The sun didn’t shine any brighter, the birds didn’t sing any louder, and there wasn’t a melody hinting that his world was shifting direction. He wasn’t at youth camp, He wasn’t sitting in a conference and he wasn’t out on a mission trip.  It was just a normal day like any other. Yet, it was on this normal day that God did something extraordinary in Nehemiah’s heart.

God can do extraordinary things in our hearts and lives on ordinary days. You don’t need the buzz of fancy lights and loud music to know that God is up to something. You don’t have to hear from professional camp speakers or evangelists for the Holy Spirit to stir your heart. The God of the Universe is able to find you right where you are!

It all began with a simple question. Nehemiah simply asked about how everything was going back in Judah. Now here is the thing, we will find out a bit later that Nehemiah is a little bit of a big shot. He has a demanding job in the government and he sees people from all over the empire. He’s got plenty of stories to tell about all sorts of people and places, but when his brother comes from his rural home town he takes time to ask about how everything was back in Jerusalem.

Nehemiah was concerned about the welfare of his people. They mattered to him. He takes time to ask about home and he listens! The message he hears alters the direction of his life. He finds out that the people back in Jerusalem have no walls for protection and are open to exploitation by those around them.

Who do you care for? If you are a teenager in public school, I want you to ask yourself, “How is everyone at my school doing?” Or if you are home school you might focus on your neighborhood, “How is everyone in my neighborhood doing? If you work, consider your job, “how are people at work doing?” What is life like for these people? Do they have any needs? Odds are you may have never stopped to reflect on this before (we’ll talk about that more in the days ahead) but right now take time to consider how it is going with the people where you live.

I had an ordinary day like Nehemiah where God did something extraordinary in my life. It began with a student I met in Mobile, AL named Steven. Steven had grown up driving by churches all of his life and had never heard about how Jesus had died for his sins. I did some digging to find out how many students might be out there like Steven and I found out that roughly 85-88% of public Middle school and High students don’t attend church and many have not even heard the simplest of bible stories. It reminded me of Romans 10:14 where Paul says, “How can they hear without a preacher?” and it became my Nehemiah moment.

Rescuing the Blessing

On By pastorjonathanIn Devotional, Just Thinking, Prayer, Uncategorized1 Comment

I grew up in a Christian home and so we always had a blessing before our meals. Somewhere along the line I became a bit antagonistic towards the blessing. I thought for sure that it was just a cruel and unusual way for our parents to delay a much anticipated meal for a few more moments. In those days I was hitting growth spurts and consequently was experiencing what I thought was “hunger” in a whole new way.

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Part of me wondered why we brought out this tired old ritual three times a day. We thanked God for food that I had seen my mother purchase at the grocery store. We often said the same tired prayers weather rhyming or just very short like, “Thank you God for our food, Amen.” We went for short whenever we could get by with it… After all we didn’t want our food to get cold.

When I was on my own I admit, I let the blessing slide, except for a few occasional pious moments in the college cafeteria, but that was mostly for show or obligation. In my coldness I never could really wrap my head around why we were thanking God for food that I picked up off a shelf or out of a cafeteria canister. And maybe that was part of the problem. Maybe calloused blessings come from those who don’t really know about their food.

In my mid-twenties things began to change. I was awakened to the reality that food doesn’t magically appear on a grocery or pantry shelf. While reading Genesis I came to the realization that God was the inventor of some pretty cool stuff… like taste buds. Not only had he invented taste buds but all the stuff that they can taste. I really enjoy coffee now (an aquired taste I know). Part of me chuckled at God hiding the coffee bean inside of berries like a well hidden Easter egg… can’t wait till they figure this out. Then there are things like tree nuts, peanuts (which aren’t true nuts), strawberries, and other fruit, not to mention bacon, steak, bacon, fish, bacon, etc. (oops almost forgot… bacon).

Not only did God invent all of these flavors that we can mix and match creatively in our dishes, but he also sustains them. Do you know how difficult it is to grow some of these things? I got into gardening back when I thought it would be easy… you almost need a chemistry degree if you want to get your soil PH just right. Then there are bugs you have to worry about and if not bugs, disease (my squash plants were almost wiped out because my neighbor’s squash had a disease… It was a sad year).

Even though fruit literally grows on trees, trees are complex systems in and of themselves that often require diligent provision and maintenance. If the frost hits middle Florida at the wrong time of year the Wall Street Journal will report it and your orange juice will cost you more. When hail falls from the sky, pro-longed droughts occur, and other “acts of nature” we see it reflected on the super market shelves both in cost and volume (supply and demand I guess). You stop eating your sandwich with tomatoes because Wendy’s can no longer sell it to you at a decent price with a tomatoes slice on it. 

But does that register when we pray? Do we see all of these things as in the hands of God? Do we thank him for the taste of bacon (because I don’t know if it’s really that smart to ask him to bless it to your body). Do we thank him for inventing this really weird beast with four stomachs that makes really tasty meals like steak and brisket (sorry if you’re a vegetarian)? Do we thank him for the ability to work and provide for those we love? Do we thank him for those who have provided for us, when we were too young or unable? Do we thank him for the ability to taste?

Recently I read Psalm 104 as part of my devotional reading plan. Part of it stuck out to me and reminded me to rescue the blessing from becoming a hurdle to get past to a divine moment to be savored:

	You cause the grass to grow for the livestock
		and plants for man to cultivate,
	that he may bring forth food from the earth
		and wine to gladden the heart of man,
	oil to make his face shine
		and bread to strengthen man's heart.
(Psalm 104:14-15 ESV)

 

The Good News of the Virgin Birth

On By pastorjonathanIn Christmas, Devotional, UncategorizedLeave a comment

The gospels of Matthew (1:18-25) and Luke (1:26-38) make no apology for mentioning that Jesus was born of a virgin (to be sure John emphasizes it as well in John 3:16,”only begotten son” and Mark goes out of his way stylistically to leave it open). Indeed Luke, whose primary source for his birth narrative was most likely Mary herself (Luke 2:19), records Mary asking the angel Gabriel about how this birth announcement will come to pass, since she is a virgin (Luke 1:34).

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Yet many who read these accounts, struggle to grasp how this could be. Modern science has enlightened our thinking and we know that virgins don’t get pregnant… ahem, well actually modern science has proven it is possible for a virgin TO get pregnant. In fact Mary’s claim to a virgin birth would be more readily believed today than in her own time. Modern sex ed warns young girls, that while very rare, it is possible to get pregnant without loosing your virginity, all it takes is a little highly motivated sperm in the right place at the right time (indeed whole industries have been established around procreation outside of sexual intercourse…. sperm banks, IVF, etc.)

You see, “I’m a virgin, I’m pregnant… and Joseph is the dad” would be palatable given our modern understanding of biology and how things CAN occur. Mary would be the poster child for sex-ed. It’s the claim that GOD is the father that confounds everyone.

This claim is so amazing that many are quick to dismiss it as a legend. After all history is full of “virgin birth’s” associated with the gods right?

Maybe that is good enough for the bar stool or the comment section of a blog somewhere, but let’s adjust our language to be a bit more honest. History is full of “mythical birth legends.” In other words there are several great men throughout history (or mythical men of legend) who have been assigned some sort of deity after their death by claiming that their birth was “special” in some way. It was said of Cesar and it was said of Buddha, to name a few. But in each of those scenarios it could hardly be said that their mother was a “virgin” after conception. They would NOT be considered “virgin births.” So Christianity really does have a unique claim here. 

It is very difficult to really believe in those other miraculous births because it is obvious that they are myths.  Many were written hundreds of years after the birth they are supposed to be recording. Or they were living in a society that almost always ascribed godhood to its king or emperor.

Since most ancient religious history is like this, I see how it would be easy to think the books of the bible and Christianity are the same way, but look into it again. Specifically, Luke wrote his account based on eye witness testimony to verify the information that was going around about Jesus (Luke 1:1-4). He interviewed first person resources like Mary (Luke 2:19). You see the New Testament has an extraordinary track record for being written very close to the events that it describes.

We also have to take into account the witness of early church fathers who were just one generation removed from the events of the New Testament, who hold to the virgin birth as right doctrine. These are second hand sources that are closer to the time of the birth than many other sources for many other miraculous births. Many of the Early Church Fathers also had an established “chain of custody” so to speak, of which apostle/ brother of Jesus, etc. shared this information.

It’s not like the virgin birth of Jesus just popped up out of the blue either.  There is plenty of groundwork for it in the Old Testament.  Indeed the very first book of the Old Testament God speaks right after the Fall (Genesis 3:15) and we see a picture of where the “seed” of a woman (this was generally thought of as the man’s contribution) will crush the head of the serpent (representing Satan). Jeremiah 31:22 also indicated to many Rabbi’s that the messiah’s birth would be miraculous in nature. The gospel of Matthew also points out Isaiah 7:14 that explicitly uses a Hebrew  word for “virgin” (a term that has always been translated virgin by biblical scholars until more recently by liberal scholars).

The virgin birth of Jesus is just not easily dismissed for those who are willing to look into it. As compelling as the evidence is though it’s just the beginning. There is a lot more to the story and it is worth investigating.

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Overcoming Insecurity: How Leah Became a Princess

On By pastorjonathanIn DevotionalLeave a comment

At some time or another we all wrestle with insecurity. Insecurity acts like emptiness. It’s a place where we feel inadequate, like something is missing. Sometimes our insecurity can cause us to cross lines we normally wouldn’t cross. We try and cover over a perceived lack, fill the void in our life, go on a quest for what we perceive to be missing. We can look for fulfillment in things like money. We may or may not have a lot of it. When things go well, we buy something. When they don’t go well, we buy something. Money becomes our fix. We sooth over our hurts with a new stereo, set of sunglasses or even just compulsive shopping spree at check out center at Walmart.

Some of us look for fulfillment in a relationship, we think that if we find the right guy or the right girl that it will fix whatever is broken so deep inside of us. We go from relationship to relationship, or we go on in a doomed relationship because we are scared to face life alone. We make compromises to please the other person, just to stay in the relationship.

I want to tell you a story about Leah. Leah had a big insecurity in her life that caused her to make big compromises. She was lonely and the people who were supposed to love and support her, like her dad, didn’t have much confidence in her. Leah just wanted to be loved and one day someone gave her the opportunity to take a short cut to have all of her dreams come true. She just had to cross a line. The kind that once you cross it, you can never come back. I don’t know how Leah felt about crossing the line, but I know that she did it… She wanted to be loved that badly. She would do ANYTHING to fill the void in her life. Continue reading “Overcoming Insecurity: How Leah Became a Princess” →

How Should You Deal With Anger?

On By pastorjonathanIn Devotional1 Comment

angry-womanAnger is one of those difficult emotions to talk about because many people don’t deal with their anger in a productive way. When we talk about anger it’s common for some people to feel shame either because of the way they have acted out when they were angry or because they feel they are responsible for someone’s actions when they were angry. My goal in bringing up anger isn’t to make you feel bad, but to actually help remove that shame.

The truth is, I’ve been an angry person and there are days that I still struggle with how to deal with my anger. Once when I was in college, I was on the phone with my girlfriend, I don’t remember the conversation, but I do I know that my anger caused me to I crossed a line. There was a split second where in my head I thought, “what she has just said makes me very angry” and I had a choice to make, a stupid choice, but a choice. I could end the conversation and hang up the phone or I could hang up the phone and go into an animal rage… for some reason the animal rage thing seemed like it would make me feel better and so I demolished a 55 gallon trash can. I took a rubber made trashcan and bent it inside out. If it were a person they would have gone to the hospital… My roommates had no idea about the phone conversation came out wide eyed and saw what I did to the trashcan and were like, “Wow, what happened?” And all I could mutter was, “Stupid Trashcan.”

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I felt so ashamed. I had crossed a line. In my rage I destroyed a trashcan. (Can I tell you that Rubber-made trashcans don’t always bounce back). That isn’t all that my anger destroyed. It destroyed my reputation with my roommates. Once everything calmed down it became a joke around our cottage. Don’t get Jonathan angry he will dent you like a Rubber-Made. Anger has the capacity to destroy.

But don’t think that anger is just a negative emotion, anger can also cause you to do great things. I think anger is a gift from your Creator. I know that Jesus was angry. Take a look at Mark 3:5, “And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.”
Do you know what made Jesus angry? The hardness of the people’s heart. They had made a rule, a false rule. They had taken God’s rule “to honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy,” and added so many other rules around it that when Jesus, who had the power to heal, walked into town, they forbid him to heal people on the Sabbath! Imagine your sister lying sick on a bed dying of cancer and there is nothing that modern medicine can do for her other than make her a little sicker and hope to give her a few more months to live and Jesus comes to your town on a Sunday. He’s willing to heal, but these guys actually show up at the edge of town and say, “No healing on Sunday’s, we’re watching you mister!”

I’d be angry. Jesus was angry. He was right to be angry. Anger can move you to action faster than compassion. Most people who want to change the world do so not because they are compassionate people, but because they have been angry at injustice. They see the wrong in the world and they feel like they are on a mission to fix it.

The apostle Paul actually tells us to be angry. “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil” (Ephesians 4:26-27, ESV). But we have to be careful about how we are angry. Anger is like handling a loaded weapon. You don’t play games with a loaded gun.

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So anger isn’t wrong, but how we react can be wrong, because let’s face it, not many of us get mad about something and start a charity to provide clean drinking water in Sudan. Usually we get mad about something much more personal and centered on us so we yell, we argue, we punch, we shut down and don’t talk, we glare, we gossip, we tear down, we hurl insults, we cry, we do things we are not proud of and in just a moment we say or do something that we regret. The reason is because we are angry for the wrong reasons.

We feel right in the moment because we have endorphins running through our head. You can say the stupidest things when you are angry and  it will make perfect sense to you. You will feel so right and justified about what you said or did in your mind. You can’t reason with an angry person it’s like they are high on stupid. They just keep repeating the same old stuff like it makes sense… “San Antonio is in California!”

James reminds us though that just because we feel right in our anger doesn’t, it doesn’t make us right. “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:19-20, ESV). Most of our anger is wrong, because we choose to be mad for the wrong reasons. You see it’s easy to see injustice when it is happening to someone else. It is difficult to see when it’s us. We like to take up to our defense too quickly. It’s like calling your own fouls in basketball. It’s way to easy to be they guy fouling the snot out of everyone else and then calling the slightest bump on you. You don’t have the right perspective because human nature has a tendency to cause us to be lenient on ourselves and harsh on others.

I got into a fight at school one time because a guy accidentally bumped into me. I though he did it on purpose. I got angry and took up for myself. I quickly judged his motives as being accusatory.  Had I been patient I would have realized it was an accident, as it was, I punched him in the face and then asked, “Why did you bump me in the hall way?” And as he nearly knocked me out with his return punch, he said, “it was an accident.” After that I learned that it’s always good to ask questions before you throw punches.

Glass of Milk
When it comes to anger you need to deal with it quickly. It’s like  milk. Milk is initially good and good for you, but if you leave it sitting out past it’s expiration date and you get something different. Your anger is the same way. Hold on to it for too long and it will turn into bitterness! Bitterness can sour everything in your life. Paul says, “be angry and do not sin.” Milk is good for you, it’s good for your skin, your bones, etc. but rotten milk… not so good, at least for your stomach. Deal with your anger quickly. (and by deal with it I don’t mean beat up a rubber made trash can).

Jesus had a great strategy for dealing with anger. It involved going to the one who made you angry and seeking reconciliation. See what he said in the Sermon on the Mount:

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. (Matthew 5:21-24 ESV)

What is really cool about Jesus’ words here is that he lived them and went beyond them. We were separated from God, isolated by our rebellion, choosing our own way over the design of our creator. God had every right for his anger and wrath to burn against us (indeed it was stockpiling for the day that it would be unleashed), but he choose to send Jesus to endure the wrath we deserved so that we could have a relationship with God. He didn’t wait for us to apologize or to say we are sorry, the bible says that, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” It’s important to know that even though God was the offended party, he initiated reconciliation. When we turn from our sins and trust Jesus our sins are forgiven because he has already paid the price.

If you are a believer, who are you to hold on to your anger? Don’t you know that Jesus paid for your sins? If he paid for your sins, could it be that he has also paid for the sins against you? On my best days when I am tempted to anger my heart cries out to God and I am reminded of his great love for me and that his wrath was satisfied in Jesus. So I ask Him that I would be satisfied in Jesus in those moments too. My anger becomes a vehicle to appreciate the love of God all over again. No more rubber-made trash cans and I’d like to think that one day my anger will be more like Jesus’ anger than the trash can destroying variety. Indeed I know it will because I’m promised to be conformed to his image (Romans 8:29).

The First Thing You Should Ask When Approaching God

On By pastorjonathanIn Devotional, PrayerLeave a comment

The first petition in the prayer is “Hallowed by your name.” This is not in the language of a statement, but a request. Everyone knows that we pass around petitions when we want folks to sign their name to something that we will be presented to a governing body. It can be a petition to remove the coke machine from the cafeteria lobby or it can be a petition for congress to address an issue. The idea is the same. It is a request. After the introduction the model prayer becomes a list of six petitions. These are the sorts of things that should be at the top of our prayer list. These are the sorts of things that we should ask from God.

The first thing Jesus lists has to do with the name of God. The word “hallowed” simply means holy, set apart, special, revered, honored. Perhaps the best synonym for this word is “glorified.” You could read this petition as, “May your name be glorified.” The implication of this are profound. The very first thing that we are to ask God for is more glory for his name!

I don’t think you can utter this with sincerity without first looking inward and asking, “do I glorify God?” Do my actions point to Him? Earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has already told those in attendance:

Matthew 5:16 ESV In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

There is a contrast here between the deeds of a disciple and the deeds of a hypocrite. Hypocrites perform their works in the hopes that you will give THEM praise. Those who follow Jesus recognize that all Glory, all honor, belong to GOD ALONE!

We should honor God with all that we do in His name. There has been much done in his name that does not bring Glory and Honor to him. Folks have picketed funerals, held up signs that “God hates fags.” Armies have waged wars in the name of God. We should be careful what we say and do in the name of God. Just because we use his name, it doesn’t guarantee that God is with us. Many people who have done things in his name will find themselves kicked out of the kingdom because they never really knew the king (Matthew 7:21)

One of my favorite phrases is, “I don’t have the answers, but I know who does.” This simple response to a friend in crisis has a way of pointing them back to the truth. This was what Joseph said to Pharaoh when he had a dream that needed an interpretation. This is what Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar when he had a vision that needed interpreted. Both men put the glory back on the father and said, “We are powerless, but we know the one who has the power.” This was a way of bringing both kings to glorify God.

By the way, there is something in our hearts that rebels against this notion. Apart from the wonderful work of Jesus in our lives we are very self-centered individuals. We want the glory. Often we make ourselves the center of prayer. The first petition out of our mouth is for something we want. It’s not even for something we need. We beg God for a raise, a promotion, peace to cover over the anxiety in our hearts, we come upset over how we’ve sinned against him again. We offer prayers to him like he is a genie and he has to grant us wishes. I think a large part of our population miss God because they have this preconceived notion that God is like a generous grandpa who is supposed to give us what we wish for without asking too many questions. And so those kind of prayers go unanswered they give up and assume God isn’t real because he didn’t clean up the mess they made. It’s not a prayer aimed at Heaven, it’s not a prayer centered on God’s glory rather it’s focused and motivated on an exchange. “I pray, you give.” It’s how a consumer mindset hijacks prayer. It’s also arrogant because we assume that this is how God operates. We don’t consult him. We don’t go to his book. We don’t seek him out. We simply make demands. We’re like children accusing our parents of unusual cruelty because we’ve been ordered to eat our green beans or even worse we’ve taken a gun and blown a hole in our leg and complain to the surgeon that it’s his fault that we are in so much pain.

Isaiah lived in a society that had experienced decent economic growth for its time. Then when the king died he saw a vision of God in the temple and all he could utter in his presence was:

Isaiah 6:5 ESV “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

The first thing he could utter from his mouth wasn’t, “Man this is awesome!” but a very real prophet of God all he could think was that his mouth had not done justice to the holiness, the glory, the worthiness of God. I wonder if we were to truly grasp the glory of God if we would not have the same utterance. It’s not like Isaiah cussed. He was a prophet and he had treated the name of God casually and when we saw a very real manifestation of the presence of God he couldn’t help but utter a curse on his own head.

Does it surprise you that God cares so much about his name? I mean you care about your name right? I’m fortunate to have one of those simple names that almost anyone can say, but I remember this one time when my wife and I had started dating we went to go see her grandmother. And for the life of me, she could not get my name right. She kept calling me “Jeremy.” At this point a little back story is helpful. Jeremy was the name of one of her’s Ex-boyfriends. Every time this sweet lady said Jeremy part of me was very offended. I had to take a moment to calculate whether or not she was doing it on purpose or if she was truly a forgetful woman. (Now that I know her, there is a very good chance that she did it on purpose).

If you and I can get that way over our name being misrepresented, pronounced wrong, or forgotten, how do you suppose God ought to be over his name that is to be the most highly respected name in the whole universe? Do you think he’s glorified when we let his name slide like a curse word? Is he honored when we use his name to mock others? Especially the name of Jesus when the bible says that at His name every knee will bow and that there is no salvation in any other name.

One of the joys of my job is that I get to coach students on how to impact their campus with the gospel. I’m at three or four schools each week. One week I was at one of our local schools and a student was in the club and he was saying things like, “Oh my G___” and using Jesus’ name as a cuss word. We quickly jumped into a conversation about what it means to “Not use the Lord’s name in vain.” Which is also one of the ten commandments. This particular day was a leadership meeting and we were meeting to establish which students would lead in prayer, and the other various aspects of the club. This student wanted to pray. And we quickly got caught up on the Model Prayer. I said, “Man you can pray, but only if you are repent of how you use have used God’s name. When Jesus teaches us to pray the very first thing we are supposed to ask God for is that his name would be glorified and I don’t see how you can do that while using his name as a cuss word.”