Pastor Michael Johnson

I am not afraid

I fear the Lord.

I am in awe of His power and holiness.

I tremble when I realize that He speaks things into existence and at His Word things also will be judged.

But I love the Lord (because He first loved me) and I have joy and peace in His presence, because He has made me His child.

I consider myself a “God-fearer” and hope to live my life in the fear of the Lord and pass this on to others as well.

But I am not afraid.

I am not afraid of the unknown in this life. I am not afraid of abusers, profiteers, fear-mongers, oppressors, bullies, etc. I am not afraid of storms and circumstances. I am not afraid of the devil or darkness. I am not afraid of what I cannot control. I am not afraid of what has been, what is or what might be.

Why?

Because I fear the Lord. And I serve Him as my only God. And He is the victor, the champion, the conqueror, the King over all. And therefore I am not afraid.

Because God is with me and in me, because of His great and precious promises, and because of His eternal wisdom and power, I am not afraid.

If the diagnosis is cancer, if war breaks out, if famine or drought comes, if I don’t have enough or if I don’t have what it takes…I am not afraid. God is my provider, He is my guide, He is my anchor.

And when I am tempted to be afraid or to despair…

I look to the Lord, go to the Lord, call on the Lord and find that He makes His enemies to fear and I can simply rest, at peace in presence, safe in my Father’s arms.

I am not afraid.

The mystery of God’s will

Have you ever wrestled with trying to discover God’s will for your life?

Trying to discover what path to take, what to say, what to do…

The choices seem endless and we don’t want to make the wrong decision and waste our lives.

But let me assure you that it is not as difficult as we make it. And even our slowness to understand what God is revealing or the mistakes we make along the way are not enough to derail God’s plans for our lives.

Let me encourage you to do 5 things:

Draw near to God in faith, prayer and obedience
Ask the Lord to make it plain to you (in His perfect timing)
Love the person in front of you
Tend to the tasks you know God has already given you
Trust God, wait and see, God will make it abundantly obvious what you should do

God will use His Sovereign power to providentially arrange circumstances to reveal His will.

As you dig in deep into His Word, God will reveal knowledge and understanding that will grow you in grace, love and holiness.

The peace of God (which transcends all understanding) will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus as you obediently follow Him.

While you are waiting you will discover many opportunities for prayer, Thanksgiving, worship, service, study, silence, fasting, meditation, witnessing and more.

While you are waiting God will arrange the pieces just precisely so, even as He prepares your heart, mind, soul and body to be ready for the task He will reveal to you.

What is God’s will for your life? Ask Him, live for Him, walk with Him and He will show you!

Pastoring through questions

Dear pastor,

What is God teaching you?
What is God prompting you to do?
Are you enjoying your times with Him (in prayer/Bible reading/worship)?
Who is God telling you to reach out to?
What temptation are you facing and how are you handling it?

Depending on your source the answer may vary but it is said that Jesus asked somewhere between 200 and 300+ questions in the gospels. Jesus shepherded His flock by asking questions. The first great awakening was carried along by the preaching and teaching of the Word but also by accountability and growth questions.

The questions above are questions that I regularly ask myself and many other people. I find that conversation and prayer about these questions serve to truly point me to Christ and help me to find His healing, help, hope and transformation.

Who is asking your family and your parishioners these questions?

If you ask these questions with genuine concern, love, compassion and gentleness, would you be able to help other people look to Jesus and discover His forgiving and transformative grace?

I pray that you will discover someone who will be bold enough and loving enough to ask you questions about the state of your soul.

And I pray that you will do the same for those God places along your path.

(Here is a list of more questions that are deeply impactful for conversation, growth and accountability)

Questions for the journey

Dear fellow seeker,

May I ask a few questions?

You and I are both on our respective journeys. We are each seeking to discover the purpose of our lives, what God is calling us to, and how we can truly bless, serve and impact others with our feeble efforts.

1. Where are you looking for your purpose? Are you making sure to read the life manual that contains all the wisdom you need to understand the meaning of life? Please remember that God has revealed His purpose for you if you will but read His Holy Word.

2. What do you think God is calling you to do and to be? Of course the Bible is a great place to start, but we also must diligently pray about this and listen for the still small whisper of the Lord. He may speak through other people, through the church or by His Providence (the way He arranges circumstances) but trust me, if you pay attention, He will tell you what He is calling you to.

3. What specific things are you doing to bless and serve God and others? Are you practicing generosity? Are you sharing your time and energy? Trust me when I tell you that your purpose and God’s call on your life will always come alive when you are serving others.

I know you and I are both seeking. Let us be sure to seek God, His will and His righteousness. May we avoid the trappings and distractions of this world.

May God shed light and love on your soul!

Grace and peace

Be prepared in season and out of season

This Scripture is found in 2 Timothy 4:2 and is often repeated to pastors at their ordination. It is sound wisdom and we will do well to follow it but we also should remember that this comes from God’s Word and therefore reveals God’s will for each of us as His ministers.

But I wonder if sometimes we misunderstand the full implication here.

Of course, we need to know Jesus, nurture our relationship with Him, be ready for His return, be available to be used. We always need to be ready to share our testimony, pray with people and minister to people in their time of need.

But I would also say, that we should consider these words a reminder that every minute of every day is an opportunity to point to God and help others. In work and play alike we have the privilege of letting our light shine before people.

We need to learn to be prepared. But this isn’t about being the perfect planner or having a polished message. We need to remember that the Scriptures tell us that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are interceding for us and that God will give us the words to speak when we are before people as His witnesses. So it is not per se about being ready with a prepared speech, but instead being present and available, as well as open to God. Being prepared in season and out of season is about always listening to God and always availing oneself as a conduit through whom God can flow.

I have found such peace and freedom and begun to relish the many opportunities God sends my way not because I have memorized a perfect presentation or sermon or sound bites of wisdom but because I know God is with me sourcing me and that as I listen to others and stay open to God, He will simply flow through me.

Be prepared: be present: be available: be open to God: and watch and see how many opportunities you will have to help people connect to God!

So much going on, so much left undone

Dear friend,

I imagine if you are anything like me, then you find that there are so many demands on your time and so many expectations that you are trying to meet that at the end of the day you wonder sometimes if you will ever have time to pursue some of your hopes and dreams or if you will ever have time to tend to that spiritual matter you have been putting off.

So first of all, please know that God is able to give you wisdom and discernment to know which of the myriad of demands, obligations, responsibilities and expectations you actually have to attend to. Trust me, when I tell you that not everything that you or someone else thinks you should be doing, in fact needs to be done.

Secondly, the feeling of never having enough time to pursue your hopes and dreams and leisure activities may be God telling you to slow down, to work less and to spend more time building relationships and making memories with your friends and family. When we never have time to do the things that refill our gas tank, at some point we will run out of fuel. Please make sure that you are not running on empty. Take the time to slow down, counting your blessings and enjoying the moment God places you in.

Finally, it is very possible that you have been putting off some spiritual matter that God has been nudging you about. Whether it is going to church more regularly or really taking the time to read the Bible or talk to God in prayer or whether it is finally reaching out to that other person (to help them, to invite them to church or to talk to them about Jesus), please know that there is in fact enough time. God supplies what we need, when we need it and if He has been urging you to tend to that spiritual matter, you can be assured that He is offering to you the time, energy, boldness, patience, strength, kindness, etc to follow through on it.

So please, this week, if you are feeling overwhelmed with responsibility, feeling like you have no joy in the journey or realizing that you have been neglecting that spiritual matter God has been talking to you about…know that God has enough for you. He is actually offering you everything you need for life and godliness if you will just reach out and receive it. I encourage you, lay down your worry, stress and fear and instead walk into the next moment of your life with the gentle assurance that God is walking with you, offering you all that you need.

To tell the good news you have to tell the bad news

Dear pastor,

I want to share with you a profound reality about ministry and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

You and I have the calling, the privilege and the responsibility of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with people. And what a joy it is to tell people of God’s love for them, and His plans for eternity and an abundant life in Christ. But before we can really get them to to understand and receive this, we must help them understand the bad news of where they are apart from Christ.

Confronting people is a weakness that many people and many pastors face. We want people to know we love them and we know that many people are fragile emotionally. Because of this we try to be careful in what we say so as to not add to the pain and suffering they have already endured at the hands of so many but then end up not confronting people. (And let us not forget that we often fail to confront because of our own insecurities, failings and even a desire for people to like and approve of us.)

But to truly disciple people means that we must learn to confront. With the help of the Holy Spirit we will have to give the bad news of what life without Christ looks like in order that we can tell people (or remind them) what Christ offers those who are fully committed to Him.

I pray that you and I will learn from our humble and gentle Savior how to warn people of the harmful effects of sin. May we learn how to lovingly, patiently and graciously confront people about the trajectory of their lives so that then we can point them to Jesus and the path of righteousness where they can walk in holiness, peace and freedom.

Thank you for being so deeply concerned about the condition of their souls. And because you are, please, make every effort to let God use you to share the full gospel found in the Word of God. Remember that the Word of God is useful for rebuking, exhorting, correcting and training in righteousness. Let the Holy Spirit do the convicting but may you and I still lovingly point out to people the traps, obstacles and blind-spots of temptation and sin so that they can truly receive the good news of the full and free salvation available to us in Christ.

So thankful that Christ is with us and Christ is in us and that He will give us the words to say when we obediently go to share His gospel with people.

When nothing is going right

Have you ever been in that season of life when everything seems to be falling apart? We almost wonder how it is possible that so many different people, situations, relationships, and things can all begin to collide and simultaneously blow up!

I have been there. Seemingly by nothing we do, everything around us starts to go haywire almost like a vast conspiracy bent on destroying any remaining sanity, hope or motivation that we might have.

So what do you do? Should you hide your head in the sand until it passes by? Should you try to put your chin up and your shoulders back and march directly into it?

I believe every single person should ask these 3 questions when chaos erupts and everything conspires to rob our peace and joy:

“Is it possible that everything is going so wrong because of my own choices?” Whether because of ignorance or foolishness or selfishness, am I in this place because of something I did (or didn’t do)? It is so easy to look for someone else to blame. From the Garden of Eden forward, humans have looked for someone they could blame instead of taking responsibility for their own actions. As painful as it is to look within and then consider past words, attitudes, behaviors and even inactivity, it is important to prayerfully discern what part we each have played in self-sabotaging our lives.

“Is it possible that all these things are happening because the devil is prowling around in my life and trying to steal, kill and destroy?” Scripture plainly tells us to be on our guard because of the enemy of our souls. Are the problems that are taking place because of spiritual warfare? Of course spiritual warfare indicates that in some way we pose a threat to the devil either because of something we are currently doing (in agreement with God’s word and plan) or because of a path we are on which will lead us to God. So if we are living a completely reprobate, pagan, selfish and sinful lifestyle, the devil doesn’t have to destroy us, we will do it just fine on our own. But if we are seeking God and His righteousness and His glory, we need to watch out for fiery darts of accusation and condemnation as well as temptation, traps and outright spiritual attacks.

“Is it possible that these things are happening because God is trying to get my attention?” It is crazy how easily it seems that our mind and our focus drift away from God. And yet because of His great love He is willing to do whatever it takes to get us to hear Him, notice Him and return to Him, knowing that when we are united with Him that is the best thing for us. This does not mean that God is the one causing the bad things to happen in our lives but He may simply be withdrawing His hand of mercy, protection and deliverance. He does this at times, in order that we might realize that we have withdrawn from Him or that we have been quenching and grieving His Spirit or taking Him for granted, instead of being open to Him and faithful to Him. So many times throughout the Bible God withdraws His hand of mercy in order that people will realize the futility of their own behavior, the foolishness of their choices and the emptiness of their life without Him.

If your life seems to be falling apart and everything seems to be imploding or exploding around you, prayerfully ask these three questions so that God may show you what you need to know, how you need to grow and where you need to go. It of course is possible that the situations in your life are connected at least partially to more than one reason. But we need to ask the questions and allow God to instruct us.

I hate it when my life is falling apart and it deeply grieves my spirit when I see other people in places of deep pain and agony, but when we discover some of the why it can help and of course asking the Lord “what now” and “what are you teaching me” are fantastic next steps as well.

Let us pray that God will give us wisdom and understanding, even as we seek Him as our Savior, our refuge and our rest. Remember, Jesus told us we could take heart in the midst of all the trouble, because He has already overcome the world!

How can we change what we are living for?

In my last blog post I challenged us to look carefully at our lives (maybe even by looking at our calendars, our credit card statements and our browsing history) in order to discover what we are living for. I asked a number of questions to help us consider what our life is being spent on.

Very often unless we do an inventory of our lives we don’t even realize what we are living for or where the vast majority of our time, energy and resources are going. Much like sand slipping through our fingers, it seems like our lives are just slipping away with not much to show for it.

But once we identify an unhealthy or harmful habit, tendency, or life direction, how can we change it? Of course there are thousands of books, articles and resources available which speak about changing our lives and habits, but let me just mention a few key ideas:

Look at what legacy you would like to leave behind in your life. If you could reduce that down to one “epitaph” that could be placed on a tombstone, what would it say? Then once you have that in mind, begin “working backwards” to consider what small thing(s) you could do each day or week for the rest of your life in order to leave that legacy and offer that influence to the people around you. For example, if you want your life to be a life that inspires others to pray, make sure to daily spend time in prayer (alone and with others). If you want to live a life of encouragement, seek daily to find someone to speak kind and uplifting words to. If you want an epitaph that says “Lived his/her life to the glory of God” then begin daily witnessing for God, serving others in the name of God and exhibiting the patience, kindness and mercy of God.

You might say, that’s too big for me, give me something smaller and less intimidating. Okay, ask yourself these questions: “What activity in my life gives me joy, hope and makes me think I am doing something worthwhile with my life?” You might discover that you feel the most alive when you are causing someone to laugh or smile. It might be that you find joy when you go out of your way to serve someone or offer a helping hand. It might be that sense that you are fulfilling the purpose for which you were created when you produce something with excellence in your life that helps another with their life. Make a list of the things that give you hope and joy while also making you feel like you are doing something meaningful and then start doing that at least 1x per day. Examples might include, opening the door for people, helping someone carry their groceries, calling someone to see how they are doing, giving away money or gifts to people, or even just doing your home chores and vocational work with excellence and diligence.

Remember that a life is made up not just of one or two big things here or there but rather 1000s of different events, choices, and activities. And behaviors that add up to the most significance and the most impact are the ones that are done repetitively. So for instance if you start putting $25 per week in a retirement fund when you are 20 years old, by the time you retire that fund could be worth about one million dollars. Another example, if you write 600 words daily, it would only take you about 4-5 months to write a book, and if you continue this for life you could write as many as 100 books in a lifetime! One more example. If you call, text, email, visit 1 person per day (only on weekdays!) for the sake of helping them, serving them or encouraging them you could touch 250 people in a year and perhaps as many as 12,500 people in a lifetime.

How can we change what we are living for? In a phrase: “Be intentional.” But beyond that consider what you want your life to accomplish and give thought to when you feel most alive. Let the fulfillment of God’s call on your life lead you away from wasted time and into deliberate choices for His glory and for the help of your fellow man. Remember, whatever is worth doing is worth doing with excellence and of course doing repetitively. Change what you are living for by investing your life in something of significance. Do it over the long haul. And even when it doesn’t seem in the short term that you are gaining any traction, remember that the compounding effect of your life choices can bring a great reward, not only to yourself, but most especially to the one(s) you are helping.

Finally, stop time, energy and resource wasting activities. Many people lose their way simply because they squander away what they have on meaningless things. So instead of spending 3 hours per day on a screen, spend 30 minutes on the screen and the remaining 2.5 hours with people. Instead of spending $5 per day on coffee, spend $5 per week on coffee and the remaining $30 per week on giving to others or saving for the future. And instead of spending 3 hours per day sitting on a couch or in a recliner, spend 1 hour per day resting like that and the other 2 hours per day walking the neighborhood, doing some chores, getting some exercise or developing a hobby. Many times we squander our lives away by not being intentional and by wasting the resources we have been given.

I hope and pray that some of these words will inspire you to make some changes and live a meaningful and excellent life.

What do you live for?

I have always been something of a people watcher. When I am in crowded places like an airport or a busy mall I find it fun to play “detective” or “Sherlock Holmes” and try to deduce what I can about a person based on certain clues that I see in their appearance, hear in their conversation or notice in their choices.

One thing I have noticed is that if you watch someone long enough (or watch your life in a mirror) you will begin to notice that people seem to live for certain things. We might not actually say that we are living for those things, and yet consistently the choices reveal a priority and a focus that is undeniable. (Shoes/clothes, jewelry, sports, cars, entertainment, laughter, etc) That is not to say that every person is fully aware of what they are living for but patterns emerge and a careful analysis can show what we are at least attempting to live for.

So, let me offer you 10 possible things that your life is being spent on:

Are you living for self?
Are you living for pleasure?
Are you living for the weekend?
Are you living to make money? (And spend it?)
Are you living to try and be happy? (Have a good time?)
Are you living in order to try as many experiences as possible?
Are you living for success? Fame? Power?
Are you living for the next moment of what is fun?
Are you living for your desires/your appetite?
Are you simply trying to survive?

I believe that many people are very likely living in more than one of these 10 places simultaneously or else vacillating between some of them, and yet if we look objectively at these 10 we can also see a gaping hole. What about relationships? What about health? What about wholeness? What about spirituality? What about eternity? What about God?

The Bible tells us that we cannot serve two masters, we will either serve one or the other and in fact when we try to have two foci in our lives we end up catching neither one and may end up loathing one (or both, or ourselves) because of our divided focus/heart/life.

In my next blog post I will talk about how to change what we are living for, but for now, I simply wanted to challenge you to look at the decisions you are making and the possible behind-the-scenes reasons that you make those choices.

If you and I will turn away from the empty things that so many end up living for and instead focus on relationships, health, wholeness, spiritual and eternal life and above all the good and gracious God of the universe, our life will be so much better and we will finally discover purpose, meaning and fulfillment along the way.