Fine- Let’s Do This, or Work

“When God repeats Himself, that’s means it’s important, right daddy?” she asked.
“That’s right, babe,” I replied.
I may be biased, but I’m pretty sure my kids are geniuses.

When God repeats Himself, it’s usually a good sign that He’s saying something that He wants you to get, and that you’re probably not getting, yet.

Haggai 2:4 (NKJV) “…be strong, all you people of the land,’ says the Lord, ‘and work; for I am with you,’ says the Lord of hosts.”

I mean, didn’t we just read this the other day, and in a completely different book of the Bible? Well, one of us isn’t getting it. It might be me.

What to Do? Be strong. Just a side note: When God speaks, things happen. When He says, ‘Be strong,’ it is both a command and an enabling. The very act of Him saying, ‘Be strong,’ means that you can be strong and that there is strength available to you. Work. There’s a work for you to do. God isn’t finished with you. You have a work to do. Get to work.

Who Should Be Strong and Work? Us. All you people. Even you. Even me. Nobody gets an out on this one. He’s talking to us.

Where? In the land God has placed you. Maybe it’s in a barren land. Maybe it’s a fruitful well watered garden. It’s your home, your marriage, your relationships, your church, your work, your ministry. Be strong in the land God has placed you.

Why? He is with you. When God repeats Himself, that means that it’s important, and it means He wants you to get it. He is with you, and He has a work for you to do.

Bruce Willis Sent Me Off a Cliff Like Wile E. Coyote, or I Got Bruce’d

“Bu..wha…I mean…it…..,” I stammered.
Bruce Willis was a ghost? A ghost? He got me. That rascal got me, and I was speechless.

I’m not a ‘figure out the whole movie five minutes into it’ kind of guy. I don’t put that much effort into it. When I’m watching TV or a movie, I’m there to turn off my brain and see the pretty pictures. I want to be surprised. I fall for plot twists like Wile E. Coyote falls off a cliff. Bruce Willis had sent me off a cliff like I was Wile E. Coyote. You got me, Bruce. (Insert slow clap here) You got me.

You can act cool like Bruce didn’t fool you, but I’m pretty sure he got you, too. It’s in the name of the movie, for goodness sake, and he still got me. My thinking and my perception about what was taking place was all twisted up. I was convinced to believe something that was not in line with reality. I got Bruce’d.

Zephaniah 3:16-17 (NKJV) “…Do not fear; Zion, let not your hands be weak. The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”

It’s not just movies. I do the same thing in everyday real-life. You do, too. We all do. Man, I can be tricked. I can fall for a clever scheme. I can get twisted up even about who I am and what I am in Christ. I can get convinced of things that do not line up with the reality of God’s word. I’ll even Bruce myself.

I can be my own worst enemy and my harshest critic. Our words and our thoughts can be our greatest asset or our greatest hindrance, so, every so often it’s good to revisit what God’s words and thoughts are about you. Every so often, it’s good to stop and ask yourself, “Wait, is this true? What does God say about this?”

God’s word says you don’t have to fear. God’s word actually says ‘do not fear.’ Don’t fear or give fear a place in your heart or your mind. Why? Because God is with us! For goodness sake, if ever there was a people who should be immune to fear, shouldn’t it be us? But we fear. We fear about health, relationships, family or loved ones, and our finances. The same God who conquered death, hell, and the grave put His spirit in you, if you have accepted Him as your savior. Your future is locked up. You are bullet proof. You don’t have to live in fear.

God’s word says you don’t have to feel weak and ineffective. Death defeating strength is yours. You are strong. God is your strength; not only are you strong, but also you are mighty.

You are not alone. God’s word says you are not alone. You’re not in this on your own. He is in your midst. The Shepherd goes before His sheep. Don’t freak out if you’re stepping in mud and it feels like you’re going to get stuck and on your own. If you’re stepping in mud while you’re following Him, He stepped in it first to make a path for you to get through it. You’re not stuck in the mud and on your own. You may not be able to see Him; you may not feel Him nearby, but He is in your midst. He will save. He will lead you out.

And the biggie: God is not angry with you. Honest Sharing Time: In the church I was brought up in, everything was a sin (especially movies like The Sixth Sense) and God was ready to zap you at any moment. Honestly, that kind of messed me up on what God is all about. Now, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, but let me tell you, God’s plan for you is not to destroy you. His plan is not to crush you. God’s plan and will for your life is for Him to rejoice over you, to sing over you, to quiet you with love. His will and plan for you is gladness.

Are you getting Bruce’d? Are you Bruce’ing yourself: fooling yourself into believing something that doesn’t line up with God’s word, something that doesn’t line up with reality? Don’t buy it. You have a bright and a good future.

Pull Ups Require Snake Juice, or I Want to Pump, You UP

“I’m Hanz.”
“And I’m Franz.”
“And we want to pump, You UP!”

Saturday night live. When I was a teenager, I was pretty big on Saturday Night Live. But, now I’m old and who really stays up that late? For real. Who stays up late enough to watch Saturday Night? That’s a young man’s game.

Dana Carvey. Kevin Nealon. Man, there were some hilarious bits on that show. Hanz and Franz. Hanz and Franz was great. The characters were Austrian bodybuilders, a la 1989’s Arnold Schwarzenegger. Caricatures, really. And they wanted to get you big, get strong. Do 5,000 push ups you girlie man. Get pumped up.

In High School, we had to do the Presidential Physical Fitness Test. What I remember most was the pull ups. There was a certain amount of pull ups you had to do, and that seemed to be the one to give folks the most problems. Oddly enough, I could do the pull ups. The run, nah. Running is only for being chased. Pull ups, though? I had that down.

Micah 4:7 (NKJV) “I will make the lame a remnant, and the outcast a strong nation; so the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from now on, even forever.”

I couldn’t do 3 pull ups right now to save my life. Impossible task. Can real people actually do pull ups? I mean grown ups with jobs and kids, not hormone raged-snake juice fueled teenagers. Pull ups, like Saturday Night Live, are a young man’s game.

When I am weak, then I am strong. That’s what Paul said, right? Isn’t that weird? Weakness doesn’t mean the same thing to God as it does to us. God takes those who are weak, or lame, those incapable of demonstrations of strength, and He turns them into the holdouts, the remnant, the special, the chosen. The outcasts, He forms into a strong nation. We’re not talking change. We’re talking transformation.

God’s word says that your weakness isn’t the last word. Your current situation and circumstances aren’t the last word. God gets the last word. If you’ll surrender to Him and work with Him, He can transform.