May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus — Romans 15:5

Above all, love one another deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins — 1 Peter 4:8

The Lord’s Prayer

Do you ever wonder how you should pray, the disciples did. When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray He spoke these familiar words. Do not let the familiarity of these words make you numb to their power. Speak these words to our God as if for the first time (for some it will be the first time). 

‘Our Father in heaven, 
hallowed be your name, 
¹⁰ your kingdom come, 
your will be done, 
   on earth as it is in heaven. 
¹¹ Give us today our daily bread. 
¹² And forgive us our debts, 
   as we also have forgiven our debtors. 
¹³ And lead us not into temptation,
   but deliver us from the evil one.’

Got a minute?

The following is a list of 10 things that you can do in under a minute. Make a choice to do at least one of these today. You could do one 10 times. You could choose to do a few of them. You could go crazy and try to do all ten. The point is to do something. Here they are . . .

Forgiveness

I’m excited to tell you about two big things coming up for the TD community. First is that Danny and I will be releasing another series to kick of the year in 2011.  It’s called unSEEN and hopefully you’ve already seen the promotional material for that series. As we both work on getting this together I can tell you that It’s going to be a fantastic way to kick off 2011!

Secondly I’m also very excited about publishing my first book, this one about the life of Joseph. This book got its start through "Progress", a series Danny and I used to kick off 2010 and one in which many of you gave us a lot of encouragement to keep this ministry going!  I also hope that it will be available in e-book and regular book formats on January 1st. Both of these resources could have a huge impact on what the New Year looks like for you. So today I want to share one part of my book on a chapter dealing with forgiveness. I hope this whets your appetite to pursue healing from your past pains according to God’s plan. Thanks for letting me share this sneak peek with you! It’s a little long but hopefully it will challenge you to look hard to your own heart of forgiveness.

God forgives every time we confess.  That’s an amazing promise, one that is crystal clear in 1 John 1:9.  Let’s look at it, idea by idea and then do two things:

1. Praise God because in His infinite mercy and grace, He offers us the gift of forgiveness after already offering us so much

2. Seek His forgiveness for anything in our lives that remains unsettled between us and Him

Zechariah, 38 of 66

This is what the Lord Almighty says:  “Return to me”, declares the Lord Almighty, “and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty — Zechariah 1:3

Today is day 4, of our “Vantage Point” Tenthdots from John 8:1-11.  Imagine for a moment that you are this woman caught in the act of adultery. You have been living a life far from God. You have been using your body to pay the bills. You know it’s illegal. You know the consequence of getting caught is death. You have seen other women stoned to death because of their choices. Today, the man who has come to see you again seems like he is hiding something. He is offering you more money than usual. He has come to you in the morning instead of the evening. You know something isn’t right, but you accept the money. The next thing you know, in the middle of your business, the door flies open–you are caught. Before you know it you are being hauled off.

“This slut’s going to pay for this” they laugh. Tears are rolling down your face. A couple of men pick up stones and ask, “How do you think this one’s going to feel. Cover yourself you whore.”

Your heart is racing as you think about your family and all your regrets. You wish you had a chance to change things but this time you have no excuses, no chance to explain yourself. For a moment fear rushes through your body. You burst in to tears again as you think about the stones hitting your body. Suddenly you realize they are taking you to the Temple. Of all the places! You know God will strike you for what you have done. You have avoided this place for years. As a girl you remember coming to the Temple but not now. A crowd is gathered around a man teaching. You are put into the center of it all. Your heart pounding so hard in your chest you can hardly breath.

  ”Teacher, this woman was caught sleeping with a man who isn’t her husband. The Law of Moses teaches that a woman like this should be stoned to death! What do you say?”

All of our Tenthdots for this week come from John 8:1-11.  Read the story below before moving on to the next page!

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.  At dawn He appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.  The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.  In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?"  They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing Him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with His finger.  When they kept on questioning him, He straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."  Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.  Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

"No one, sir," she said.  "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

Sin is a total relationship killer.  Not just your relationship with God (we’ll talk about that more in a second) but all relationships are affected by sin.  Try being connected to your wife — body, heart and mind — after you’ve given in to the sexual temptation of the internet:  Been there done that and it doesn’t work!  Try enjoying the company of your boss or a co-worker after you’ve backstabbed them in front of others or done something wrong that you’re trying to hide:  Been there done that, it doesn’t work!  Try being ‘normal’ around your parents when you’ve totally violated their trust and they just haven’t found out yet:  Been there done that, it just doesn’t work!

Sin is a relationship killer.

Yesterday we looked at Nathan confronting David. Today we look at David’s repentance. This is what true repentance looks like. This Psalm is written after Nathan confronted David for sleeping with Bathsheba and killing her husband.

Romans 4:2 

Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?

The more sinful and guilty a person tends to feel, the less chance there is that he will be a happy, healthy, or law-abiding citizen. He will become a compulsive wrong-doer — Dr. Albert Ellis

Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hate. It is a power that breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness — William Arthur Ward

Sometimes I’m a bit a dense.  I think that’s why I love that God tells me the same thing so many different ways in His Word.  I need to keep hearing these things over and over and over again so that I’ll take them from my mind to my heart and live out what He commands.

I sure am glad God is patient.

PROGRESS:  Living for today, planning for tomorrow

Day 11 of 28 (start at day 1 by clicking HERE)

The Joseph Mindset:  Day 4

I hope your not tired of the story of Joseph yet, because I can’t get enough of it right now!  As we continue to surrender our pain to God to let Him do what only He can do with it, let’s take one more look at Joseph during the 13 years of his slavery/prison term.

PROGRESS:  Living for today, planning for tomorrow

Day 8 of 28 (start at day 1 by clicking HERE)

The Joseph Mindset:  Day 1

In The House of Seven Gables Nathaniel Hawthorne writes these words:  “The past lies upon the present like a giant’s dead body.”

Many of us can relate to the feeling that our past is hovering above us, crashing down around us, lurking in the dark shadows waiting to pounce us, or just attaching itself to our legs and dragging us down each and every day.  Mignon McLaughlin — in The Neurotic’s Notebook — said it like this:  “The past is strapped to our backs.  We do not have to see it; we can always feel it.”  Indeed, we do always feel the past and naturally, it has an incredibly profound impact on how we live in the present and what we’ll do for God in the future.  As we continue in this 28 day journey of becoming the people God wants us to be, dealing with our past is an important subject.

Sometimes the Bible is hard to understand.  Even the Apostle Peter made note that when Paul spoke Peter sometimes had a tough time trying to understand Paul’s message.  If you have ever come across passages like that and wrestled, you know what I’m talking about.

Other times however, God’s Word is pretty simple.  You read it, you get it, now you have the joy of living it out in your life.  John 14:15 is one of those passages.

"The spiritual life is not hidden inside us. It’s practical–it affects everything we say and do. Living in the presence of God, being in touch with God’s Spirit, being fine-tuned to God’s sensitivities involves us in reflecting God’s concerns for all people, resonating God’s moral tone for the world, embodying God’s will through our living. In fact, the Old and New Testaments indicate that you can tell a person’s relationship with God by looking at his or her relationship with other people." 

-Don Postema, Space for God, 156.

The mind never thinks without a picture.

-Aristotle

We are an image driven culture. There are thousands upon thousands of images that we are drowning in everyday. I believe this is why God continues to reveal Himself in tangible and visual ways. 

 We live in a day and age where we rarely see real bloodshed. TV and movies are full of violence, but we don’t often see real blood taken from a man or an animal. I think it is hard to imagine the significance of Jesus really shedding His blood for us. Really giving us His all. I could show you pictures and movies, but I thought it would be better for you to wrestle with the Scriptures. They are full of blood filled stories that seem rather gruesome, but when we understand their importance, they are profound.

 Jesus never said one negative thing about Himself. This is a pattern we should begin to develop in our lives. There is a verse that I think will help us with this. It says this, 

Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

- Philippians 3:16

The past does not define who we are! We need to live up to what we have already attained in Christ. What has God already attained for us? –Blessing, hope, forgiveness, future, redemption, and the list goes on and on. These are the things that need to define our present. Once we start living up to the things that have already been attained for us, we will experience the life God designed to be lived in and through us. Read that last sentence again. So the question is: What has God already attained for us that reveals who we are in Him?