Steps in the dark
Steps into the unknown
Which direction? What dangers? What will happen?

But I walk by faith
Knowing You are my guide, my companion, my defender

Uncertainty, but also possibility
The unknown, but hand-in-hand with the One I know

So I walk by faith
Believing you can see what is ahead
Trusting you are leading me to a good and spacious land

The journey is long
I sometimes get weary

But I walk by faith
Believing great days are ahead
Looking for the beauty and blessing in each step

As I sink into Your embrace
And relax in the assurance of Your words and Your presence

May I walk by faith
Not in fear, but in joyful anticipation
And the peace of knowing that all will be well

Comfort my people, says the Lord (Isaiah 40:1)

He desires to comfort us
He longs and yearns and reaches out to comfort us

His name is “Comforter”

He knows we are hurting
He knows we are wind and wave tossed

His comfort is perfect
His comfort can soothe
His comfort can heal and make whole

We want all pain and discomfort removed
That day is coming
It’s not that far off
For all who believe and receive

May we draw near
May we meditate on His holy Word
May we fix our minds on His glory
May we fix our eyes on His beautiful majesty

Let us reject earthly comforts
Let us reject fake soothing and temporary balms

Instead, oh Lord, comfort our souls
Deep within
By your calming, soothing, restoring presence

Comfort my soul, O My Lord!

So many things to do
But not for glory and not for gain

So many opportunities
So many demands

But may I work for Your glory Lord
May I serve for Your honor

May what I do be an offering

What do I have to offer?

Certainly, You don’t need my ‘wisdom’
I have no riches that you do not have
What is my creativity compared to Yours?

But I can offer my heart
Wholehearted service
That all I do may be for You

Not slacking, not procrastinating
Not half-way, not half-hearted

But with complete abandon
Doing it all
For your glory, by Your Spirit

Help me Lord, make my work
An offering of praise

Far too often I worry about what I can do for God
or what I need Him to do for me.

Far too often I think about how hard life is
or how unfair that Christian should have to endure so much.

Far too often I try to demonstrate my worth thru work
and ‘take care’ of my problems with striving.

I strive but do not rest. I strive but do not enjoy
the simple beauty and love of the Lord.

But when I stop and think on the Lord:
All that He has said and all that He has done.
I am amazed. I rejoice.

Striving strips my soul bare,
leaves me empty and dry.
Resting and trusting and especially gazing on His beauty…

…replaces my fear with faith
and brings contentment and joy to my soul.
O how I love the Lord God Almighty.
In You Lord I rejoice!

“Choose you this day whom you will serve”

Many Christians are familiar with this Scripture verse. But we may not spend as much time here as we need to.

In choosing whom we will serve (The Lord or something/someone else) we are choosing how we are going to spend our time, money and energy. We are choosing what we are going to think about and talk about and invest in. We are choosing what type of an attitude we will have and what will be a priority in our lives.

If God is number 1 in our lives then that means we will do the things He does, talk about the things He talks about and invest in the things that He invests in. If we choose God, then that also means we are choosing to say no to a million other things.

If we choose God, then we also choose what is important to Him. We choose the church, the bride of Christ, the body of believers. If we choose God, then we choose prayer, the Word, worship, service. If we choose God we choose to stop running after the things of the world.

Choosing is hard. It comes with beautiful and painful consequences. Who are you going to serve? And if you say it are you really going to do it?

God has given to us the gift of life. He created us and offers to us so many wonderful and beautiful gifts.

Here is just a partial list of the truly countless gifts God has given:

1. Relationships
2. Senses (taste, smell, touch, hear)
3. Emotions (joy, peace, love)
4. Creation
5. Experiences

And on top of this, we were created in His likeness and image, which means we have been given the capacity to create and relate and love.

What God has created is beautiful and the gifts He has given are astounding!

And yet, far too often we find ourselves moaning and complaining while missing the very gifts of beauty and goodness that He has prepared for us.

May we stop today, take a look at all that God has given and continues to offer to those He loves (all of us!!). Then let us thankfully and humbly draw near to Him, receive from Him and walk with Him, entering into His joy and happiness!

Dear pastor,

Will anything ever get better at your church? Will you ever see more attendees, more volunteers and sufficient income? Is the church always going to face declining numbers, passion and interest?

I know, these questions seem blunt and perhaps a bit pessimistic, but reality is that many pastors have considered these questions (maybe many different times) with an uncertainty about what is next.

You and I are the heralds of hope. We remind people EVERY SINGLE TIME, that God is bigger, stronger, wiser, holier, more faithful than anything and everyone else. We remind people EVERY SINGLE TIME, that there is always hope and that God is willing and able to change them and their families. We remind them that God even sometimes changes their circumstances and is capable of changing entire churches, cities and nations.

Yet at times we wonder if we have spoken prematurely, or that perhaps God isn’t working and doing the same miracles today as He has in the past. Sometimes we are tempted to believe that the only churches that are growing are the ones who are “stealing sheep” or entertaining people or watering down the message.

But the reality is that God is moving around the world, RIGHT NOW, and people are being saved and baptized, lives and families are being changed. Furthermore, we know that RIGHT NOW churches are being revived and new churches planted and some communities, cities and nations are seeing the hand of God at work in their midst.

So why not in your church? Why not in your town? What is being done wrong? What is not being done that should be?

The answer is that we don’t know. But God does. We don’t know if it is lack of faith, or outright disobedience and defiance. We don’t know if perhaps God is building our character and patience and perseverance. We don’t know if God is arranging all the pieces of the puzzle until we finally see it come together. We don’t know if people have given up too soon, or if the devil is winning certain battles. We might not even know the areas of victory and the miracles and the stories of transformation that are taking place in our churches and towns. There is a mystery that often shrouds the kingdom work we are part of. 

But this I know (and you do too, if you are honest with yourself): God is still on the throne. God is the One who has called and is equipping and sourcing those who will abide in Him. If you and I will trust and obey Him in all things, He will indeed work things out for His glory and our good. If we persevere, not losing hope, not backing down, not giving up, not compromising…God will do a divine work that has eternal reward.

This doesn’t mean that our ministry will all of a sudden grow numerically. Or that we will see record baptisms or amazing new, creative ministries. What it means is that God will be lifted up and in His own way and time, He will draw people unto Himself.

I want to pastor a church where hundreds, thousands and tens of thousands of people are saved, sanctified and mobilized. (Not that I want to pastor a mega-church) But I am reminded that I am indeed already part of just such a church: the church of Jesus Christ. But alas, I may not pastor a local group that sees exponential growth and effectiveness. 

I will certainly work zealously to be both faithful and fruitful. But may we also remember that we can plant and water, but God gives the growth.

I would love to tell you that if you persevere you will see droves of new people saved, baptized, engaged and serving in your local parish. That may or may not be the case. But if you persevere, there will be an eternal harvest and God will be glorified. Let us keep our eyes fixed above and let us cling to the promises that God will save and sanctify. Let us be joyful and hopeful and faithful. Let us work hard and seek to learn and grow personally and be creative. But at the end of the day, let us keep trusting God who gives the increase.

Dear Christian,

I want to invite you to prayerfully and humbly consider the ways in which God is calling you to participate in His church, His kingdom and His mission.

First of all, God has invited all to come to Him, believe in Him, receive Him into their lives and receive the inheritance of the kingdom. This of course includes forgiveness, salvation and heaven. But it also includes so much more that He reveals and pours into our lives all along the way.

Secondly, God is calling us (as He has from the very beginning) to become “fishers of men”. God desires for us to join Him in His mission to “seek and to save the lost”. Many of us have heard this (perhaps many times) but the question is whether or not we are actually cooperating with Him in this co-mission?

You might ask how exactly you can help God? I want to give you 5 really simple things that each of us as Christians must do:

1. Go to church every chance that you get. Participate in every worship service, Bible study, and ministry that you can. Engage while you are there. Talk to people. Ask people about their lives and what God is doing. Answer questions. Sing with gusto. Listen carefully to the sermon/Bible study. Take notes.
2. Volunteer to serve at church. Not just one time per year. Do it as often as you can. Weekly is best because if you are joining God in His mission weekly, others are being helped and you yourself will be blessed (beyond what you think is possible). Volunteer even when it isn’t convenient. Pitch in and help out even if it challenges you. Go early and stay late and find joy in serving. Ask the pastor what you can do even when the church isn’t asking for volunteers.
3. Give to God, His church and other people. Give money. Give time. Give Bibles. Give tracts. Give out of your surplus. Give out of your lack. Give 10% tithe. Give offerings to missionaries. Donate food and clothing to the food pantry and clothing closet. Set aside some money and a tract to give to panhandlers. Have some extra gift cards in your wallet or purse or glove-box to give to random people, or families with young kids, or people who have been in the hospital, or someone who just lost their job.
4. Pray and read the Bible. Pray with people over the phone. And over text messaging, email and instant messaging. Share Scripture in person and online. Write down and memorize Scripture. Share Scripture cards with people. Encourage them with Scripture when they are down. Pray for them by name. Ask God for big miracles. Ask God to guide and source everything in your life. Realize that prayer and Bible study are so much more important than any other program.
5. Invite, invite, invite. To church. To Sunday School. To prayer meeting. Invite them to your house. Ask them about spiritual matters. Share with them the gospel. Invite them to Jesus. Never stop inviting. Invite as many people in as many ways as possible. Never give up on them. Never stop persevering. God can use your faithful loving invitations.

If you and I were to do these 5 things with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength…what might the outcome be? What if every person at church came every time the doors were open, gave sacrificially, invited all of their friends and neighbors and coworkers? What if every one of us read our Bible and prayed daily? What if every time we went to church we volunteered to do something that week for God’s church and mission?

Here is the harsh reality. Most of the time, we just aren’t really “all in” on joining God and His mission. I hope and pray that this serves as a catalyst for you and me to realize, there is a lot more I can be doing to go and make disciples.

I have a few tough questions for pastors. 

Are you present in the lives of your people? Do they have to go looking for you or do you just show up in their lives? Are you kind of like the “out of sight, out of mind” part of their life? You know: do they see you so infrequently that they kind of forget about you and therefore maybe also forget about the church, gospel and God that you represent?

These are really tough questions. I ask myself these questions.

I think about my flock, my parishioners on a weekly if not daily basis. Some of them take a little more time in my thought and prayer life than others. But I am also a list-maker so that helps.  I try to think about and pray for all who are connected to my parish by physically looking over the responsibility list on a semi-regular basis. (I know I should do this more than I do!) 

But I also know this: when I am busy, lonely, stressed, the list of names and faces stays in my Bible and not on my mind. When I am up to my eyeballs in appointments, I may indeed remember and stay connected to the few I am meeting with or calling on but then I neglect the vast majority of the rest of them. Sometimes even when I have meetings with people, I may not slow down enough to see them, hear them and help them.

And we know that many, many people don’t have a list, aren’t disciplined to pray over that list and very few reach out and connect with the people they don’t regularly rub elbows with or accidentally bump into.

If that is the case, if you also are not pursuing relationships with people, is everyone in your sphere of influence living in a perpetual state of loneliness? Are we all surrounded by people online, on the street and the marketplace, yet strangely finding ourselves not connected, not encouraged and not edified?

Let these few words be a challenge to you to make a list, pray for those people and let the Lord Himself direct you to those whom you should call, email, text, visit etc. He might challenge you to buy a gift for them. Or write them a letter. Or volunteer to help them by lending an extra hand. 

May you and I be a part of modeling the ministry of presence and the development of friendships whilst simultaneously fighting the depressing loneliness people face every day. I know there is someone you can bless with the simple act of prayer and reaching out.

Praying that you will encourage someone today!

Mike J

Have you ever felt alone?

I know the better question is: when was the most recent time you felt all alone?

Was it last week? Yesterday? This morning?

It is miserable to feel all alone. And maybe it hurts just as much or even more to be with and around people and still feel unheard, unseen, invaluable and all alone.

Christians are not immune to this. And neither are pastors. In fact some might contend that pastors feel the weight of loneliness more than many.

Unless someone has been a pastor, it is hard for them to understand the burden that pastors carry. Pastors face the difficulty of the assignment, compounded by circumstances, the attacks of the devil, the complexity of the people and of course their own humanness.

It is overwhelming sometimes to even think about how impossible the task before us and how even if some people kind of understand what we are going through, we still feel the weight of having to face the difficult things more or less alone:

No one else can do the praying, preaching, shepherding, conflict management, administration that God has called us to do. Even though we can and must delegate, there are still certain things that God has placed before us, and there is a measure of fatigue and loneliness at times when fulfilling these tasks.

But of course the good news is that which we share with our people all the time: we are never alone. God is with us. God is for us. God is in the hearts of those who are born again. But sometimes we just want another believer, another pastor to stand with us, or sit with us, or cry with us. Sometimes we just want to know that someone cares more about us than the other distractions and duties in their lives.

I know I blow it more often than not in this category. The opportunities abound for me to listen to others, comfort them, share their burden. But far too often I hurry along. Lord have mercy on me!

And may the Lord be gracious and merciful to each of His under-shepherds. May God help us pastors know we are not alone because of His presence and because of fellow ministers who understand, who are praying and who are with us (in spirit and hopefully in body as well).

I pray that the loneliness you feel will be dispelled by a God-sent person who is willing to sit with you and share God’s hope and Spirit with you as well!

We’re not alone
Here within His love
Emmanuel
He is still with us

Lyrics from “Here in the Presence” by Elevation Worship

Please feel free to message me at pastorencouragement@gmail.com if I can be a listening ear and someone who helps you dispel the loneliness.