It’s Going to Be Ok

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Andy Stoddard

I saw a cool thing yesterday about perspective. It talked about how vast the universe is and how truly small we are. It shows the earth in comparison to other planets, then the sun; then the sun compared to other stars. Then our galaxy. Then the knives.

It is truly mind-blowing to see how amazingly big the universe is, and yet how small we are in comparison. It really gives you some perspective than things are different that what we may think that they are.

Today in our reading, we kind of see the same thing with James 4: 13-14. Listen to what it says:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

The thing that you are worried about. That thing. That think that is consuming you. That is robbing your joy; robbing your peace; taking over.

Let me ask you. How important is it really? Stop right now, and ask yourself that question. How important is it really?

Will it be as important tomorrow? Next week? Next month? Next year? A year from now?

It’s going to be ok. Really. It is. No matter what. It is. There is a huge, mighty God that made all of this that we see, all that is going on, all that is around us. Made it all.

And He wants to know you.

Today, remember. This life is just a glimpse in eternity. Don’t be consumed by this moment. Don’t be consumed by this problem. Don’t be consumed by this circumstance.

It’s going to be ok. It is. Remember there’s a God that is bigger than us, stronger than us, mightier than us.

And He loves us.

Trust Him today. Trust Him for eternity. It’s going to be ok.

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So, What Next?

Posted on November 6, 2014 by Andy Stoddard

One of the things that I stress a lot, that I talk about a lot, that I really believe is that we are all sinful. We are all broken. All of us.

And when I talk about that, I’m not talking about it in terms of us being the worst people who have ever lived in the history of the world, but all of us, me, you, each of us, we need Jesus. If we aren’t sinful, if we aren’t in need of saving, then why did Jesus come.

Our own experience tells us our need for Jesus and we all fall down. We just know that. We have all experienced that.

Ok, go it. But here’s the thing that I always come to when it comes to talking about our sin, our mistakes. What next? We get it. We are broken. We are messed up. We make mistakes. Ok, got it. But what next?

I want to know what I can do it about it. I don’t want to be just like I am. I don’t want to stay the same.

Listen to what it says today in Romans 6: 12-14:

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

There’s that last verse – for sin will have no dominion over you. That’s stuck with me since I’ve read it again recently. As many mistakes as we have made, as much as we mess up every day, as long as we fall down, remember.

As powerful as sin is. God is more powerful. Really. He is. As powerful as temptation is, God is more powerful. As powerful as your faults are, God is more powerful.

You can be more faithful today than you were yesterday.

Today is a new day. Yesterday is past. Done. Gone. Today is new.

Today, let’s be faithful. Let’s not let the mistakes of yesterday, the things that happen, the past, the old, the failings.

Today is a new day. I’m not saying that everything is going to be perfect. I’m not saying that you are going to be perfect. I’m not saying that there won’t be mistakes made.

But what I am saying is that it’s a new day. A today, we can be more faithful than yesterday. We can. We really can. If we are believers, then we have the Holy Spirit within us. We have the very power of God within us, pulling us, pushing us, helping us.

Today, you can do it. Really. You can. Or better said, God can do it through you. He can.

Relax

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Andy Stoddard

Today, relax. Just relax. Breathe in deep. Be calm. Relax.

There is a balance that we need in faith. Sometimes, we need faith to be really intense. Really focused. Really looking, seeking, going, just at it hard. That’s a good thing.

Monday, I talked about how Jesus wants to make a choice. Sometimes, we have to just, in that moment and day, make a choice.

But we never need to forget what Psalm 127: 1-2 tells us:

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

Unless it is God that is at work, we labor in vain. Unless God builds the house, it is not worth it. Unless God watches the city, the ones that watch it watch in vain.

We rise early; we go to work, we go, we do, we sweat, we toil, we do all these things. We are anxious. We are stressed. We are worried. We are afraid. We are tired.

And we are told God gives His beloved sleep.

We need to remember that. God has it. He is the one that makes it happen. He has it.

The weight of the entire world does not rest upon you. It doesn’t. It really doesn’t. Relax today. Breathe today.

God has it. He knows what He is doing. You can trust. You don’t have to do everything, be everything, go everywhere. God has it.

Trust. Relax. It’s ok. It really is. It’s ok. Today, no matter what is happening, what’s going on, what you are doing, know that God has it, He has you, and you can trust.

Relax.

When We Can’t Feel His Presence

Posted on October 30, 2014 by Andy Stoddard

One of the things that I believe that truly gives life, that truly changes us and gives us hope, is to be in the presence of God. To know that God is with us, to know that He is there, listening, loving, caring.

In our lives, we have all been there, at some point, knowing that God is with us, God is present, God cares.

Many of us can think of moments, right now, where we felt that way. I can; you can, we all can.

And in just the same way, we can think of moments where we couldn’t feel the presence of God. Where we didn’t know where He was. Where we didn’t think, He was there. Where we felt forsaken. We’ve all been there, too.

So, what do we do? What do we do when we don’t feel God’s presence? Today, in Psalm 105: 4-6 we are offered two suggestions. Listen to what it says.

Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually! Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered, O offspring of Abraham, his servant, children of Jacob, his chosen ones!

First we are told this. Keep seeking. Keep seeking after God. Keep doing the things where you experience God.

Keep reading His word. Keep praying. Keep serving. Keep looking. Keep listening. Keep seeking. And you will find Him. You will. He is there.

And second, remember what He has done. Remember where He has been faithful. Remember where He has shown Himself. Remember how He has loved you, saved you, called you, been there for you. Remember. Remember.

Never forget. Never forget who He is. Never forget what He has done. Never forget how He loves. Never forget.

He hasn’t left. He hasn’t. Even if you can’t feel Him. He is there. Keep seeking Him. He is there. Keep remembering. He is there.

Even if you can’t feel it, don’t quit. Don’t forget. He is there. Hold tight to that.

Who Is Jesus to You?

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Andy Stoddard

Who is Jesus to you? That’s the question that really matters in our lives. Not who is He to our parents or grandparents.

Not who is He to our children or our family or our church.

But who is He to me? Who is He to you? Who is He? Listen to what it says in Mark 8: 27-29:

And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.”

Peter confessed Jesus as Lord. He said, you are the Christ. You are the Messiah. You are the anointed savior of the world.

And that’s what everything comes down to. So, today, starting a new week, that’s my question. It’s not what trials face you.

Or what circumstances stand in your way. Or what worries cloud your mind.

What defeats jog your memories. What successes cloud your eyes.

None of these. Those are not the question. This is the question.

Who is Jesus? Who is Jesus to you?

In this week may He be your friend, your guide, your savior, and your Lord. May He be your entire world.

A Little Crazy

Posted on October 14, 2014 by Andy Stoddard

As a child of the 90s one the songs that always takes me back to Bogue Chitto High School is Crazy by Seal. Some of you may remember it, some of our younger audience may have no idea about the song, or Seal, or even the 90s!

Today as I was reading our text for this morning, that song was running through my head. Listen to what happens to Paul in Acts 26: 24-25:

And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind.” But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words.

Paul is preaching, and the King says – Paul, you’re crazy. You’ve lost it. You’re too smart, and it’s made you crazy!

And Paul says, nope. I’m not. I’m in my right mind. I am speaking true and rational words.

He basically goes on to say; I just love Jesus, and He has changed me. And that makes me, in this world, look and act a little crazy.

And so should we. We should look and act a little crazy. We shouldn’t be like the world. We shouldn’t be like the culture. We should be different. We should act different. We should never become so much like the that we aren’t noticed.

Today, as believers, we have to be different. We do. If there is no difference between us and the world, then something is wrong.

And if they think we are crazy, that’s ok. Really. It’s ok. We don’t live for their approval, we live for God’s approval.

They thought Paul was crazy. Nope, he just loved and was changed by Jesus. Today, I hope they think the same thing about each of us.

Let’s act a little crazy today.

Why Does God Allow Suffering?

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Andy Stoddard

The other night someone text me and asked me, in three sentences, to give my opinion why God allows suffering. Wow, that’s a tough thing to do, especially in just three sentences.

Many folks smarter than I am have written books about suffering and why God allows it. So, what could I possibly have to add to that conversation?

But, I thought about it. Why would God allow suffering? There really aren’t many good or easy answers, because in short, we don’t fully understand the mind of God, we don’t totally understand His power and His control, and the complexity of human free will.

All of these factors come into play on this issue.

I thought it would be interesting to share my answers with you, and do this a little bit different from our normal devotional. What do you think? Do you agree with my thoughts? Do you have a different perspective? A different view? I’d love to hear it, if so comment below, I’d love to hear it.

And I will also say; something I do when thinking through complicated things is do not depart from scripture. I believe that in all things, scripture must be our guide.

Here’s my one bullet point about God’s power and suffering. I believe this as much as I believe anything in life:

The power of God is not that He stops bad things from happening. The power of God is that He can bring good out of anything.

That’s who He is.

Also, remember this. Through the cross, God, through Jesus suffered as we suffered. He knows what it is like feel pain and hurt. Listen to what it says in Hebrews 2:17-18:

Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

God knows our pain. Has suffered as we suffer. Hurt as we hurt. Was abandoned as we are abandoned. We don’t suffer alone. God is with us (Psalm 23).

So, with that said, here are my three sentence on why God allows suffering, along with a biblical foundation and explanation.

1. He uses all things in life; even those we can’t understand at the time, for our good. (Genesis 50:20) God is at work in ways that we can’t understand, working out all things, even ours and other’s choices, for our good. That passage in Genesis says that what man intended for evil, God intended for God. God uses everything, in time, that is key to remember, for good. We man not know or understand it now. But looking backwards, we will see something good come out of everything.

2. He uses suffering to reveal to us who we really are; he knows us, it is we who sometimes need to know ourselves. (Genesis 22 – Abraham sacrificing Isaac). Abraham was tested, but this test and suffering wasn’t for God’s benefit, but for his. He had made mistakes, and this test shows that he was more faithful than he thought he might be. He was more than his mistakes. Testing from God’s perspective isn’t about us. God knows us, knows what we will do, knows our choices. Testing is for us. It is our chance to see who we are. When we suffer, and we hold on fast to Jesus, we see that we are more faithful than we can ever imagine. It is in times of suffering we find our who we really are. God uses those times to let us know ourselves.

3. He uses all things, in the end, to bring glory to His name. (Romans 8:28). All things, not only work for our good, but most importantly, all things work for God’s glory. God is glorified through our suffering. How? Well, He may do amazing things in our suffering that give us a testimony, and that may impact someone else. He may give us strength to stand that we didn’t know that we had. He may change some life through what we go through. In the end, even terrible, terrible events, God will ring something good out of it. He will. Perhaps because of what you are going through, you may be able to show grace and mercy to someone that needs it. You may able to understand their pain, and be the hands and feet of Jesus to them. You may be able to to change their life.

I hope these are helpful to you in your walk.

What do you think?

When God Delays

Posted on October 7, 2014 by Andy Stoddard

One of the stories that may be most famous for us in scripture is the story of Golden Calf. This is a story of ideology, of the people of Israel making an idol, and worshiping it, instead of God, while God is literally right above them

And it gets bad. And it causes a lot of trouble, almost ending in their destruction. But how did it all start? What happened? Listen to what the word says in Exodus 32: 1-4:

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”

The people saw that Moses delayed in coming down. They had a schedule and time for everything to happen, and it didn’t happen on that schedule.

Moses delayed. Things did not go according to play. Things didn’t go according to their schedule.

And they turned away from God. They turn from Him and made idols at that time. Because God delayed.

God was late.

God was not when they wanted. God was not where they wanted. God didn’t do it they way that they wanted it done, when they wanted it done.

So they doubted. They turned aside. They looked away. They did their own thing. Instead of trusting in God, they did their own thing.

What about us? What do we do when God delays? What do we do when God’s schedule is not our schedule? What do we do when God’s time is not our time?

Do we turn to other things? Do we put our faith in something else? Do we turn away from God? Do we get angry and storm off?

God delayed. And they people made terrible mistakes. When God didn’t work on their schedule, they turned away.

What about us? What do we do when God delays?

Our Biggest Battle

Posted on October 6, 2014 by Andy Stoddard

Our biggest battle in life is not external. Our biggest battle in life is not them. It’s not their sin. It’s not their mistakes. It’s not their faults. It’s not their stuff.

It’s really not.

Our biggest battle is not them. Our biggest battle is us. Our biggest battle is our stuff, our faults, our mistakes, our sin.

I have no control over “them.” Most times, I have very little control over “me.” But here’s the thing. I still have more control over me than I do over them.

I think that’s one of the reasons why Jesus says things like He says in Matthew 6: 16-18:

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

He says when you fast (by the way, to my detriment, he doesn’t say “if” you fast. But when. I haven’t, and most churches haven’t taught fasting as we should) don’t make a big deal about it. Don’t walk around looking sad. Don’t act like it’s a big deal in front of others.

Don’t do it for them. Don’t do it for them to see. Do it for you. Do it so you can learn. So you can grow. So you can be more faithful and learn.

Do it to fight the battle within you. It’s not about them. It’s about you.

So is your biggest battle. It’s about you, and your daily battle to be faithful and to grow.

So, when you fast, or do any other act of faithfulness, it’s not about them. It’s about you and your own walk. Do it for that reason.

If you do it for your own pride, or your own recognition, that’s it. That’s all that you will receive from it.

But when you do it for your own soul, God will do amazing things in your life. That’s our biggest battle. Not with them, but with us.

Today, may we fight the good fight. May we look within. And may God do amazing things within us.

Help is Coming

Posted on October 1, 2014 by Andy Stoddard

Sometimes in life we just beat up. Sometimes, nothing goes right, something it falls apart, sometimes we know what we should do; what we should believe.

And we just can’t. We can’t do it.

Life is hard. We are tired. It’s not working. We just want to lay in the muck and sadness and just sit there for a while. We are at our wits end; we are just done.

Every felt that way? You may feel that way right now. You don’t know what to do; where to go; how to handle it all. It’s just about as bad as it can be.

You can know this, at least. You are not alone. We’ve all felt that way. All of God’s children have felt that way. I was reading in Exodus recently when I read this passage I forgotten about. Listen to what it says in Exodus 6: 6-9:

Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.’” Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.

God comes to the people through Moses and says, soon, very soon I will save you. Soon I will deliver you. But they could not hear. They were too defeated. They were too broken. They were too defeated.

Even though, their deliverance awaited. Even though, it was soon to be there. Even though it was soon to happen. They just couldn’t believe. The pain, the hurt, the fear of that moment, it clouded their eyes.

They couldn’t see help was coming.

So is it for you today. No matter where you are today, help is coming. Even if you can’t see. Even if you can’t believe. God has not forgotten His promises to you. He has not forgotten you.

He hasn’t. Hold on. Help is coming. Don’t give up. Don’t quit.

Keep going. He doesn’t forget His people. They didn’t believe it at the time, but help was already there.

The same is true for us today. God is with us, even if we can’t believe it. Help is coming. Hold on. It’s coming.

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