God Shows Up in Suffering

In December Carol and I will be married for 55 years.  From the beginning Carol has always known how to pray and most of all hear the wisdom God has for the moment. 

One of the first times I truly heard God was in a dream at 25.  Carol had the same dream that night.  I’ve always been so thankful how she willingly seeks our Creator for His plan and purpose for our lives.

She loves going on prayer walks most everyday.  I can hardly wait for her return to hear what she has heard from God.  It is always inspiring and divine.

So the latest walk tops them all.  It happened in the midst of this Quarantine, Pain, Suffering, Riots, and Violence.  

She sets out for her prayer walk Sunday morning.   Walking she prays from Matt. 6:26 and following; “But God how could You allow so much pain and suffering when You said not to worry.  You tell me we are much more valuable than the birds.  That they do not sow, reap or store away in barns, and yet You feed them.   Then You say, worrying can’t add a single hour to my life?”   

Ten minutes into her walk, she looks up at a very tall street light with a bird sitting on it.  Suddenly the bird falls to the ground and hits so hard she hears a thud.  She walks over where the bird is lying on it’s side, and it looks dead.  Carol says, “God, what is this all about? That’s not suppose to happen when I’m reminding You of what You said.”  

She gets no response and continues to walk 45 more minutes, returning to the scene of the fallen bird.  It is still lying there.  She stops and stares at the bird when suddenly it flutters and flies away.  

Then God speaks to her with such emotion addressing her struggles with our own lives through this crisis.  He says, “Carol, there’s Life after a blow!  There’s Life after a Death!”  Her mind is then filled with the reality that this life is temporary, but yet it counts. 

We tend to grieve over how things used to be, or memories of what we called normal.  But God has so much more ahead for us.  There is Life after Death.  

Can you imagine God saying to you during this time, “Seek My Kingdom above all else, live righteously and I will give you everything you need!  This is not a suggestion, but a command.  I divided time into days, nights and seasons so you can have manageable portions of life to handle.”

Be blessed today!  God has a planned future for you filled with Hope!

Paul

Pick a Fight!

The first time I heard someone speak from the story of Jonathan with his Armor Bearer in 1Sam. 14, was my first experience hearing Erwin McManus.  Jonathan says to his Armor Bearer hiding at bottom of a hill of a Philistine Garrison, Let’s go up and pick a fight and Maybe God will be with us!  

It’s a rare story in the Bible about Picking a Fight.  But I’m glad it’s there because there are times to Pick a Fight.

I see people across this country exhausted from isolation without sufficient income let alone with pent up energy of wanting to get back to work!

Watching people willing to risk being jailed, fined, criticized or labeled a rebel is everywhere.  Goes along with our Son’s latest book; “Beautiful Rebellion” where students are saying, “Enough!  I’m only willing to live a life worth dying for!  The life I see in normal people can’t be it!  I’m going to Pick a Fight and Create Change in this Culture!  Maybe God will be With Me!” 

In 1969 God gave us a dream to reach the high school students of America.  Quite our business and started the band thinking, Maybe God will be With Us!  We would sing in 4 to 5 high school assemblies free a day violating every Christian norm thinking Maybe God will be With Us.  Hundreds of students coming to Jesus many days through the 70’s.

By the end of the 70’s we were offered the Job of Entertainment Director at Disney World, but instead, let’s be a Youth Pastor; Maybe God will be With Us!  Carol started a Youth Choir of 75 kids.  Booked tours up and down the east coast during their summer break.  But these students weren’t normal Christians raised in the church.  Bad hair, Bad clothes, with No understanding of Christian behavior or language.  Maybe God will be with Us!  Their first song, many old timers stood up and walked out because they didn’t sound the part or look the part.  Betrayal can stop some, but not these kids.  Let’s keep going!  Maybe God will be With Us!  We switched to singing in Inner City Churches.  Those poor people stood on their feet on the first song, and they are clapping, smiling and finding Jesus.  We finished the concert with hugs, kisses, and people renewed in their faith, not wanting to leave.  Why?  God was With Us!

As Youth Pastors, after a few years we experienced betrayal along with the senior pastor destroying the church.  Through the chaos, we were asked to move into the senior pastor position which scared us to death.  We felt God saying, Come On!  Let’s Pick a Fight.  I’ll Be With You!  Ok!

 Could it be that wounds get too deep and the feeling like I can’t take one more blow, not one more betrayal, not one more time?  Have decisions been made causing your passion to feel minimized, beat up, and criticized leaving you all alone?  The Gospel is very simple but very serious, and it must be embraced with your heart.  Once you do, the warmth of God’s embrace will heal, energize you with renewed passion to empower you to pick a fight.

Let’s go to the outcome of Jonathan and his Armor Bearer.  They went up to the Uncircumcised Philistine Garrison and killed all 20 of them.  

Most of the time our fight is not against people.  Erwin later said, “A Warrior fights with all his might for Peace.”  There is a Beautiful Wonder of knowing the reality that God is Good!  He is the Prince of Peace.  Could it be said of you, “I have fought a Good Fight, and laid up for me is a Crown of Righteousness?”

Where's God in My Struggle?

Where’s the last place you experienced Jesus? 

Carol and I are watching The Chosen, which is a series of the life of Jesus.  Last night we watched episode 7 where the Woman who has experienced one tragedy and disappointment after another comes to the well to get water.  To her surprise, Jesus is waiting to not only bring healing and help, but the hope of eternal life in Him.

Complicated and difficult situations can bring such stress and anxiety, which has the potential of stealing our sanity.  It’s possible that we know Faith can reconnect us to the power of change, but the present pain is usually so great we reach for some immediate escape.  

I’m captured by the words of the Angel at the tomb after Jesus’ resurrection.  The obvious loss of their normal drives these women back to the place where they left Jesus!  The Angel asks, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”  I wonder how many times difficulty forces us to run back to the place where we left Jesus?

The truth tells us, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God,” but can seem so distant, slow and not relevant in a crisis.  If you’re like me, you get up early from a restless night of trying to sleep, and spend time in Scripture.  The Holy Spirit in those times always faithfully delivers direction, stability and revelation.  Have you noticed that this place becomes a waiting room?  The cool thing is God turns it into a preparation room.  Faith prepares us to keep on asking, seeking and knocking.  In it we discover for ourselves what the Angel spoke to the women at the tomb, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?  He’s not here!”

God is taking you to a New Place!

Opportunity within Crisis

I’ve tried to imagine what Paul was thinking or going through as far as spiritual access and success in his life when he cried out, “Oh That I might know Him in the power of His resurrection!”  

We talk about Jesus’ dying, the tomb and rising.  But I wonder why Jesus’ prayer to Father was that we would know Him and become One with them?  Picture the disciples running to the tomb because they heard Jesus is risen.  When they arrive, an Angel is waiting to ask them the key question; “Why are you seeking the living among the dead?  

With all of the crisis surrounding us, people presently are needing hope and miracles.  I wonder how often we might be seeking answers and provision from a Living God in dead places?  Are we stuck in a sanitized dead place where our faith is needing a resurrection?

Eph. 2 says, We were born children of disobedience and existed as children of wrath..... but God Rich in Grace and Mercy, even though we were dead in our sins, raised us up and made us Alive in Jesus to sit with Him in heavenly places!  That’s amazing and should confront any area that we find ourselves stuck.  In other words, our position and condition has changed in Jesus!  So, why would we ever seek Jesus in a dead place, or not see within a crisis an opportunity for a miracle?

Eph. 3 says the power and wisdom of heavenly places have been made known to the principalities and powers of this world through us.  The truth is, we are risen, raised up and seated together with Jesus to do mighty things here and now!  This must be what Paul was talking about in living in the power of resurrection.  We are daily walking and living to exercise the power of the Holy Spirit to the crisis and traumas of our culture.  

Possibly we get stuck in our own minds.  Think about this.  We never need to ever again be stuck at the grave of logic and reason!  Our address has changed!  Jesus has moved us from the Grave stage to the Grace stage.  

Many times I must admit that I’ve gone to the grave of logic and reason seeking a real living answer only to feel the darkness of death, loneliness, discouragement, fear and doubt. 

Our prayer must be, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  Our Life by faith transforms a crisis into a heavenly place.   Living out the reality that Father sent the Holy Spirit to take us where the supernatural becomes common place.

Ever get mail forwarded from an old address?  We don’t live there anymore!  We live on earth to turn crisis into heavenly places!!

Seek His face today and bless Him for taking you from the Grave to Grace! 

You stand before God as if you were Jesus, because He stood before God as if He were You!  Charles Spurgeon

A NEW NORMAL

I had someone recently ask me, “How is your soul doing?”  Wow!  That’s a hard question.  Kind of like, How’s your heart doing?  I’ve struggled in my life answering those questions in my restless driven state of hurry.  It requires processing deep, where exactly do I go within myself to find that answer?

John Orberg said, “The soul is never satisfied, always yearning and craving satisfaction.”  He described the soul as, “longing or wanting or desiring or striving.”  The Bible describes the soul as being hungry and thirsty, or hollow or empty, and not satisfied.

Ortberg goes on to say, “When the will has become enslaved by its need, when the mind has become obsessed with the object of its desire, when the appetite of the body has become master rather than servant, the soul is disordered.”

Dallas Willard said, “If you want your soul to rest pray that others around you will be more outstanding, more praised, and more used of God than yourself.”  He goes on to say, “When you die to yourself, your soul comes alive.”  

If you ever travel that deep, you will experience death, but then discover a New Normal.  Reminds me of the story in Exodus 2 where a Hebrew baby named Moses, is lifted out of the water and exposed to a Palace.  Educated, shaped and taught a new language through victories, failures and suffering.  God needed to replace his smallness with boldness, so that one day he’d have a voice to say with authority, “Let my people go!”

Maybe you’ve questioned God with the way your life has gone.  If you’re like me, you hate pain and suffering.  Is it possible that your normal needs upgraded?  It’s remembering that God never creates an Eagle to run with the Chickens.  

When God exposes you to any struggle, He’s reaching down inside to draw something great out of you!  In that struggle you discover who you are and slowly begin to understand a New Normal.

Moses kills, but God doesn’t let failure stop him.  People might write you off because you made a mistake.  But the same Grace that picked up Moses will pick you up!  Why?  We serve a God who loves us, has a plan and gives us second chances.  

Ever wonder why God tells Moses to throw his rod down and is surprised when it turns into a snake?  When the water turns to blood?  When his hand comes out of his shirt with leprosy?  But the miracle was the snake becomes his rod again, blood water, and his hand normal.  This Mighty God gave Moses back his strength and empowered him to walk into a New Normal!  What happened to him in private goes Public!

If you relate to this story, then it’s possible that it’s time for you to step out of your normal process of logic and into your Faith and Calling, and learn the miracles of a New Normal!

Time has arrived and our Culture needs to see Miracles!  It’s the very same demonstration of the Holy Spirit and Power the Early Church had to shift the hearts of unbelievers to Jesus.

It’s time!  It’s Your time for Business and Ministry to speak to the demons that have stolen holding this Culture captive, for you to say, “Let My People Go!” 

What to Do When Shit Hits the Fan

There are so many stories in the Bible that reveal the weaknesses of humans.  But there are also inspiring stories that teach us steps we can learn to make better decisions when dropped in the middle of a belittling situation.

One of those stories is when David’s father sends him with lunch to his older brothers.  Anticipating a great reception, he collides with their disgust.  1 Sam. 17 tells us, “Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why did you come? and who did you leave those few sheep with?  I know your pride, and the naughtiness of your heart; for you came just to see the might of the battle.  And David said, What have I done? Is there not a cause?”

Imagine the energy and excitement of this kid only confronted with; Who Put You in Charge?  What are you doing here?  David could have reacted by taking up an offense by saying, You ungrateful pathetic piece of crap!  But after a reaction like that you feel like a piece of crap yourself.  It deepens further when you realize you missed a chance to encourage and rescue the cirisis.

Instead of reacting to the rejection, David follows the cause at hand and volunteers to turn the crisis into an opportunity.

The Real Questions to ask yourself to keep going in the right direction when you hit rock bottom is; What’s my Calling, What’s my Cause or Purpose?  What do I Care Most Deeply About inside?

I recently heard a pastor use three words of how to turn a conflict into an opportunity: Eclipse, Enough and Effort.  I wondered if David used these words to shift his attitude from being rejected by his brothers to allowing the Cause to change the outcome?  

Eclipse means when light from one source is blocked by another.  Reminds me of Jesus when He hit rock bottom.  He couldn’t get to the next dimension of His life until he killed the giant of the cross.  Heb. 12 says, “Jesus despised the shame of the cross but for the Joy set before him, He endured the cross.”  The rock bottom of Fear could have blocked His decision.  But looking down the road and seeing You and I, His Purpose Eclipsed the cross.  Victory for Jesus wasn’t at Calvary, but at Gethsemane.  His decision making shifted from saying, “Take this cup from Me”  to, “Not My Will but Thy will be done!”  

I meet many people who are driven by a cause, but will it block out the temptation to make small decisions by reacting or go big?  

Next word is Enough meaning fully capable and equipped to meet the demand.  In that place of significance is where decisions are made determined by the fact if you think, I am enough.  David tells Saul, “Here’s your armor back!  What God has place down inside of me is Enough!  I can hear his words right now, I Can Do This!  I don’t think he was impressed that much with his stone.  He may of thought, Maybe this will knock him down, but somehow God will help me kill him!  That’s one of the most critical life altering times we go through.  It comes down to knowing that what God has placed within you, establishes the position that you are enough, which changes everything.  

The next word is Effort meaning a vigorous and determined attempt to make a cause or idea become a reality.  David saw himself as Enough, and believed that God was empowering him to defeat fear and face the giant.   When we believe and take that first step of faith, energy is released and you put forth the Effort needed to get the job done.   

When shit hits the fan, it’s meant to make you feel like a piece of shit.  When David killed the Giant, the King within him took the place of the Kid.  If you have a Purpose that Eclipses your Crisis, and an Attitude that Inspires your thinking; then you’ll be energized to overcome and put forth the effort to do anything and everything to create a future filled with hope by the Glory of God.

Dr. Paul Morgan

WHO ARE YOU?

I Love Russell Wilson’s saying, “Why Not You!”  Is it possible where you live, that You are the one who will be called to be the “Warrior Fighting for Peace” as Erwin McManus suggests!

Just think with me a moment.  How many awkward situations have you found yourself in where being the lover demanded a fight?  Those times when there was that inner fight to forgive.  A fight to repent.  A fight to smile and give a hug.

In this world of division, yelling, accusing, finger pointing and small selfish one sided attitudes I suggest, “Why Not You be the Warrior of Peace!”

Takes a Fighter when slammed in a crisis conflict to think in Godly terms!  An open mind allowing Jesus thoughts to engage your heart and surrender to Listening being empowered to miraculously turn a hateful moment into an opportunity for love and peace?

Always thought of a Fighter as winning which is true.  But a True Fighter is aggressively pursued  by their heart to lay their life down and pay the price for Peace.  

With so many relational failures in all of our lives including mine, it’s time to acknowledge God’s provision and favor.  It’s time to seize moments that are normally destructive by leaning on the Spirit, watching those moments become divine.  

I suggest today with Russell, Why Not You?  You may be asking, Why?  Because it’s very possible that You are truly being called to be as Erwin suggests, The Way of The Warrior!

Paul

The Way of the Warrior

For the last couple months I have spent one evening a week with seven of the most amazing young men who happen to be world changers.  I named "The Young Guns!"
Together we have gone through the book "The Way of the Warrior" by Erwin McManus.
The story is told of the 300 Spartans from Greece who have been sent by the Spartan King to go and hold off the Persian army at the mountain pass of Thermopylae long enough for them to prepare for battle.
At this confrontation, Xerxes, son of Persia yells across to Leonidas, "Throw down their weapons!"  Leonidas yells back, "Come and get them!"  Xerxes yells back, "If I have all of my archers shoot at once, the sun will go out!"  Leonidas yells back, "Well then, we will fight you in the dark!"
Many think of a warrior as one who dominates with strength and power.  But "The Way of the Warrior" has taught us there is a greater quest - to encounter for the first time, true inner peace.  Erwin says, "The battle is fierce.  It rages around us and inside us.  Sometimes the greatest enemies, the greatest challenges we face are within.  By following the Code of the Warrior, freedom awaits, along with your most powerful future."
May Our Heavenly Father's presence come to you today and engage your hearts and minds as we continue to follow the Ways of Jesus.

Paul

Give First!

It’s an adventure to discover if the promise is true; Whatever you lost serving Me, I will give back 100 fold!
In walking out each step of our journey, it’s hard not to get caught up choosing between following your fears or your faith.
If faith, it requires removing some roadblocks.  Coming to a place of forgiving someone might be one of the roadblocks to escape the trap of becoming a victim.  Another could be repenting of any bitterness and asking forgiveness for any misunderstanding you may have caused or insensitive actions hurting someone out of ignorance or malice.  For sure there are many other keys to unlock any opportunity hidden within any one of our crisis.
Choosing to walk out our faith might not always prove to be the quickest resolution especially if there is times of waiting that seem way to long.  But eventually a Word will come from heaven, Be It Done Unto You!
Remembering and accepting the fact that the heart of the king is in the hands of God brings hope.  Have you ever experienced God causing people to bless you that didn’t even like you?  In looking into the rear view mirror, experience tells us that the Lord always remembers us!
I used to think the hardest test of faith was to give up something I don’t have.  But I think the real test is giving up something You have.
Remember Hannah’s prayer, If You give me a Son I will give him back to You.  But later when she returns back home after giving up her son, she realizes she’s right back where she started.  But not really.  A broader perspective has enlarged her understanding.
It’s easy to miss what the story is about.  Hannah’s was about God opening up her womb and entering a new realm of existence in unlocking the secret of giving first.
Samuel wasn’t the blessing but the test!  God says first things first!  First give the then it will be given back to you pressed down and running over.
The hope is that one-day we really learn that our faith is taking us through a test to form a new habit or behavior pattern to always first give back what has been given.  Then the fullness of a miracle comes with overflow!
Truth teaches us that we have nothing that God hasn’t given first.
Imagine entering a contest with God to see who will out give the other?
So keep giving and God will give back to You 100 fold.

Paul

What If

What If it didn’t take a lifetime to stop putting an opinion upon a pedestal of small thinking?  What If you discovered that if you’re not careful, who you are becoming is killing who you are?  

Gregory Boyle stated, If you read the Acts of the Apostles, it doesn’t say that people “prayed in tongues” but were suddenly able to hear those around them speaking “in their own native language.”  It is, as Marcus Borg points out, “the reversal of Babel,” when languages get confused and division, rivalries, and misunderstanding become commonplace: it’s the polar opposite of kinship, but it’s also the beginning of something: an amazing possibility of reunification.  Somehow the highest praise of God is not in speaking unintelligibly but, rather, in speaking a language of inclusion where barriers are dismantled, circles are widened, and no one is left outside.

I grew up in a very opinionated conservative home with comments and judgments at every dinner table.  Opposing any of those common attitudes was considered rebellious and condemned.  I never felt I was rebellious or determined to resist and create havoc.  I always strived to listen and learn.  But I did have an inner fight that grew and developed everyday of my life to create connection.  Through observing people I respected and loved to be around, I began to imagine what I’d dream of being.  Through those times I definitely discovered more things I never wanted to repeat.  I don’t know if I came up with the saying or heard it somewhere, but this statement became a driving force in my life: “You’ll turn out to be what you hate if you don’t commit your whole self to becoming what you dream of.”

I then discovered that it took just as much energy not being something as becoming.  This is when Jesus began to engage my thinking with creative imaginative inspiration.  I realized He didn’t waste time telling people what not to be, but what to become. I could easily follow that.  In this discovery I became aware of the question of how do I know what someone could become.

I had a best friend in high school that had a very abusive father who told me everyday how much he hated him.  Seven years following graduation, I saw him with his wife and two children.  I watched him interact with his wife and children the exact same way his father interacted and treated him in high school.  I was shocked for him, but more importantly realized I was being called to step into the light of becoming rather than repeating.

Is it possible to measure all that has been stolen through our smallness of opinions, prejudice, or the influence of neglect, hurt or ignorance? It’s hard to be Big when Little has you by the throat!

I believe we are all created to dream, imagine and pave the way of greatness for each other to discover peace, grace, love, joy, and wholeness.  There is a lot of hope left to tap!  As grace expands our existence, we can seize opportunity out of the mud of smallness!

Take a moment to look away from your ideas and opinions long enough to discover what is being stolen.  What If you pursue one another with the thought of what could be!  What If you were created with the capacity to know what someone could become mainly because of the transformation of your own story?

How many sides of any given subject is really worthy of broken relationships, and lonely empty holidays?

What If you could put your finger on one thing that has been stolen from you while protecting and defending an ideology?  Could you believe change is even possible?  I’m not sure repenting and asking for forgiveness is enough? Is there any space you must travel where value is placed upon one another more than the notions that divide you?

What If, your Christ-like self became the bridge to a surprising future of connection, understanding, and the capacity to dream big enough to cause God to smile?

Have any traits of your past that you hated become the blindness stealing away the future you have dreamed of?  Feel invited today to step into the light of Jesus that makes you bigger than self.

Paul