service | Revelations From The Road

Testing

June 26, 2021 by Bill 1 Comment

“But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.” (Job 23:10)

Years ago, I was in a singing group and one of the songs we sang was, “I’m Yours Lord” by the Gaither Vocal Band. The chorus went like this: “I’m yours Lord. Everything I’ve got, everything I am, everything I’m not. I’m yours Lord. Try me now and see, see if I can be completely yours.” Recently, I remembered this song and it made me think of our commitment as a Christian. We can say, “I’m yours Lord.”, but what does that mean?

Let’s think of this in a practical way. Say you’ve come out for a sports team and you want to be on the first team. Are you willing to do all that the coach requires of you, to go through the drills and training even though it will be very hard? And on the day before the first game, will you say, “Coach, try me now and see, see if I can be first team material.” Or, let’s say you are at work and there’s a position opened up that you want. You want to be promoted so you tell the boss, “Look at my past performance and test me to see if I can be the best for the job.” It’s sad that some athletes and employees would just be satisfied to not go through the hard testing and just stay where they are. What about us Christians?

Imagine we come to the Lord and say the things that are mentioned in the song: “Here I am Lord; I submit to You. I give You everything I now have, everything I am now and everything I’m not so You can make me into what You’ve got planned for me.” Take me Lord and try me out to see if I can be completely Yours, all of You and none of me.” “…make me willing to obey You.” (Psalm 51:12). If we’re really willing to give ourselves wholly to God, He’s going to accept us, train us and test us in order that we can go, “from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Are we willing to do that?

We can say, “I offer my body a living sacrifice, wholly and acceptable which is my reasonable act of worship.” (Romans 12:1). “Here I am Lord, send me. How can I serve You today?” “Prove me, O Lord, and try me; test my heart and my mind.” (Psalm 26:2). Are we willing to go all the way with God? Or are we satisfied with just being on the team? God has a plan for each of us but we have to be willing to accept it and be tested. Let’s go! “knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” (James 1:3 NASB).

What’s Our Mission?

March 20, 2021 by Bill Leave a Comment

Some of you may remember this phrase from the old TV show, Mission Impossible, “Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is…”. Then the mission would be given to the participants and they would go accomplish it. God might say, “Everyone should know that I have a job for them to do.” God has placed each part in the body just as he wanted it to be. (1 Cor. 12:18), We are the body of Christ, each one of us is a part of it and we each have a job to do. So, what’s our mission and are we going to accept it?

Being a former coach, a lot of the inspirational things that come to me are sports related. I can see a coach at the beginning of the first practice telling the team, “You’re all here to be a part of this team. We all have a job to do. It’s going to be hard, it’s going to hurt, you’re going to be pushed but we will stand together against our opponents and support each other. We are going to be successful! Your mission is to be the best that you can be, work hard, play as a team and, win or lose, always do your best. Do you accept this mission?” Can you also see Jesus standing before a bunch of Christians saying the same things? Have you been or are you now in that crowd and have or will you accept the mission? “And he said to them all, If any one will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me;” (Luke 9:23).

Research has shown that too many on the church team are satisfied with just being on the team, wearing the uniform, coming to practice when they want to, avoiding the hard work and just standing on the sidelines. Our mission, God’s mission requires more.

This also reminds me of when I was a physical education teacher and we would be picking teams for a game in gym. I’d choose two students to come up front to pick teams and they would usually pick the best players first leaving the small or unskilled for last. However, in this Spiritual scenario, I can see Jesus out front picking His team and He looks over the crowd toward the back, and says to the little kid, “You, there in the back, I want you first.” “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” (Matthew 20:16). God will choose anyone if they are willing and He will equip them for the work. It’s your mission if you choose to accept it.

I remember a time when I had accepted God’s mission and wanted to be the best for Him. I was not satisfied with just being on the team. I was driving to work one morning and was praying: “God, I’m going through some difficult times here, what’s going on?” Immediately, in my Spirit, the answer came: “Bill, you signed up for the advanced class, do you want out?” Oh, it hit me! “No, Lord, I want to be the best for You whatever it takes!” It was my mission and I had to choose to accept it or leave it. “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8). Mission accepted!

I’ve Been Down That Road Before

October 16, 2020 by Bill Leave a Comment

I think many of us have heard this phrase before and probably have expressed it to someone. It usually has a negative connotation about something we’ve done or experienced that we don’t want to repeat. But let’s look at it in a different way.

I get a lot of revelations about things that happen “On the Path of Life” and this is one of them. We are always on the Path and are headed to our final destination whether it be Heaven or Hell. We’re either on the narrow path or the wide path, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14). Accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior determines our Path, and He travels with us on our journey. But, along the way, our enemy will do everything he can to get us off the Path and sidetrack us to his path. (I’ve written about The Path many times on this blog, just go to the top and type “path” into the search box if you’re interested.) And, sad to say, I’ve gotten off God’s Path many times and wandered onto a side path that got me in trouble even though Jesus was there warning me, “Don’t go there!”. But hear this, when I realized my mistake and called out to Him, Jesus brought me back on the right Path, dusted me off, sometimes fussed at me but forgave me then gave me a big hug before continuing on the Way. And He would warn me again, “When the enemy tempts you to go down that road, DON’T LISTEN, DON’T GO THERE!”

So, there are two lessons I’ve learned from this revelation. Lesson one: We can help others because of the experiences we’ve had on the Path. “And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” (Hebrews 13:16). If we’ve gotten off the Path and taken the wrong way at some time, but were rescued, we can tell others who are considering it, “Hey, I’ve been down that road before, don’t go there!” Yes, like He did with you, Jesus will bring them back, but you can help them avoid some pain and trouble.

Lesson two: I believe sometimes God will take us down a road of difficulty to teach us something or strengthen us so we can be more prepared to travel His Path and resist the wiles of the devil. “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13). Being a former athlete and coach, I know that to be strengthened and prepared for the game, the coach will put you through it in order to prepare you. The Bible says that God will not tempt us, (James 1:13), but I think He will go with us down a road of difficulty for the purpose of training. The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness, (Matthew 4:1), to be tempted but it was a lesson for us and, I think, to put the devil in his place. We can do that too.

So, if you’ve “been down that road before”, use what you learned to help others and accept Coach’s training so you can be, “strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” (Ephesians 6:10).

H-E-L-P

September 27, 2020 by Bill Leave a Comment

God will speak some good advice to us at different times…if we will listen. As I was leaving the grocery store parking lot recently, I saw an older lady putting her groceries in her car and the thought came to me that I should go help her. But I noticed the cart storage unit was right next to her car, so I decided not to intrude. Then, just as I pulled out of my parking space, the word “help” came into my mind. It was like God was saying, “What could those four letters, H E L P, stand for?” So, on the drive home, I began thinking about it. It didn’t take but a few minutes to come up with something I felt good about; something that might encourage others concerning HELP.

H E L P: Hope for Each Living Person. We all need hope and everyone we see out in public is a living person and I thought, what if someone you encounter had prayed to God, “Show me that You still care for me Lord.” They may be going through a hard time and are discouraged but here you are, coming up to them offering your help with something. That would give them hope and would be an answer to their prayer if they’d prayed that. Even if they had not prayed that prayer, your kindness would be a shining light of Jesus who is in you. We need to look for opportunities to help someone. This reminds me of something that came to me years ago: “If you’re willing, you won’t have to go out of your way to find someone to help, God will put someone IN your way.” Be aware and be on the lookout. “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.” (Hebrews 6:10)

Then, as I got home, I realized there was more to this lesson. The word HOPE kept coming to me and I felt God wanted me to add this to the revelation. So, I thought… H O P E – Help One Person Everyday. Now I know the word, “everyday” is not used here in the proper way but that’s what I got. Help someone every day. Who knows who we may give hope to? Well, God knows, and He will lead us to them if we’ll pay attention. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11). Let’s be the Christ follower who gives someone hope.

Our Mission

June 20, 2020 by Bill Leave a Comment

“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.” (1 Corinthians 12:4-5).

As Christians, we all have at least one Spiritual gift. “There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in EVERYONE it is the same God at work. (V. 6). We have all been given a gift to use in serving each other, the Church and to advance the Kingdom of God. Are we using our gifts? Do we even know what they are? If you have never taken a Spiritual Gifts assessment, here is the link to one: https://gifts.churchgrowth.org/spiritual-gifts-survey/. God gave me a phrase to pray years ago for myself and my family: “Lord, make us aware of Who we are, What we have and What we can do for the Kingdom of God.” I still pray this every day.

As I said, we all have God-given gifts to use in service to Him, it’s part of our mission. Imagine if someone gave you a gift that you could use to, say…help a neighbor with something and you put that gift in the closet and never used it. Would God be pleased? Your neighbor would miss out and you would miss the blessing for using that gift. We’re gifted. I once heard a saying: “You won’t have to go out of your way to find someone to help, God will put someone IN your way if you will watch for them.” Be aware and have your gift ready.

Being a former coach, I see a lot of Spiritual things as they relate to athletics. 1 Corinthians 12 also speaks of the Body of Christ being made up of many parts, all having different abilities, gifts, to help the body be successful. “But in fact, God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.” (V. 18). Now think of a coach talking to his football team. He’s got a bunch of willing players there with different abilities and skills to benefit the team and help them win. He assigns the bigger, stronger players who are gifted to be lineman to block. The smaller, faster players are given the job of carrying, passing and catching the football behind the protection of the linemen. Some of the younger players on the sidelines are still in training to develop their gifts but are still part of the team. Can you imagine if the whole team were big, slow but strong linemen trying to advance the ball or smaller, quick athletes trying to block the big, strong opposition? It wouldn’t work very well. Each player has his own skill to use together with his teammates to help the team win. We are that team; we are the Church. We have the gifts to use to advance our cause, God’s cause. Are we using our gifts? As the director said to the team in the 60s TV show, Mission Impossible, “It’s your mission, should you choose to accept it.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8).