He was heard because of His reverent submission.

As our source of eternal salvation and also our prime example of how to live this earthly life, Jesus shows us that it is in complete abandonment  of our will to the Father’s will that brings about the full and joyful life and reward.

It doesn’t seem as popular to say these days, but our motivation for our pursuit of God must come, at least in part, simply from divine decree and authority (hey, that rhymes!). Jesus has authority over our lives. Everything that was made was made through Him. I’d say that gives Him a say in how we live our lives. Our only real choice then is to submit. To just surrender to Him. And what is so good about that is that we are surrendering to love. For God is love. God is not wrath or judgement, though those may come from Him. But He is love. Surrendering to Him is surrendering to love. (See Surrender to Love by David G. Benner–excellent!)

And the more submitted we are, the more alive we are, for Father knows best.

Jesus is and must be our ultimate inspiration and source of strength from the standpoint that He met every temptation and rode it out to its fullest extent possible because He never gave in. Therefore, He knows just how far every temptation can go and how difficult it is to not give in and what it feels like. We don’t know because we give in so often and, hence, don’t know what it would have felt like to ride it out even further and experience the anguish of it. Nor do we know the reward. Though it’s not like we’re batting .000. Sometimes we do make it through, and I’m sure you do feel the reward of that victory. But if someone’s gonna run a marathon, they best not come to me for advice and training because I can’t tell them what hitting that wall at mile 22 even feels like. Or at mile 20. Or mile 17, or 12…I’m gonna send them to my buddy Todd (Leavell not Fisher!) because he’s run a few of these things. He’s endured to the end and can therefore be a great help to those wanting to run 26.2 miles because he knows what every one of those miles feels like.

In this passage we have an expansion on the anguish Jesus experienced in Gethsemene. He was most likely not sitting proper at a nice boulder, hands folded, gazing peacefully up at the beautiful light in the sky. He was shouting and crying and fighting. It was a true wrestling with what was being asked of Him and not wanting to go through it. (Sometimes it bothers me how many times I read that Jesus was so disturbed at the separation from His Father that was looming, that He wasn’t even that upset about the physical suffering to come. Bull Manure! I’d be so freaked out about the worst kind of death devised by wicked men imaginable at that point! No submission here, I’m telling you. I think He was fighting the physical stuff in addition to the spiritual. He was human and this was gonna suck big time!)

But Jesus submitted His will to the Father’s perfect will. He was submitted to God’s authority, not His own.

Sometimes what’s asked of us is difficult, painful even. But the reward, transformation, metamorphosis in store is beyond what we can probably see or possibly even comprehend right now. Just check out Brother Lawrence, Jean Pierre de Caussade, and Frank Laubach to see what can happen with total submission.

Today you might practice the habit of asking God what He would have you do in every situation before and during. Small prayers like, “Not my will but Yours, Father” or “What would You have me to do/say?” are great little prayers to voice ceaselessly throughout your (His) day.

God is infinitely good and He knows what He’s doing.

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

I think I have new appreciation for these verses. Yesterday, I went to see my kid, Reese, at Pendleton Prison. (For those of you who don’t know, he is a kid I was working closely with while I was at Outreach, Inc. He turned himself in for killing someone in September of 2008, and has been locked up ever since.)

My last visit, as well as this one, my first of 2015, have touched me deeply. Seeing Reese light up as soon as he saw me was just…I don’t know, overwhelming. He is starving for companionship. I am now his only visitor–ever–since his dear grandmother is in such poor health. Because of a fight he got into last year, we have to do the phone visit separated by bars and plexiglass until April. That kinda sucks, but his smile is infectious, even through the thick barrier between us.

“Rob, I missed you so much. I think about you all the time. I look at your pictures everyday.” It’s when he says stuff like that that I am speechless. It touches me so much and at the same time I feel that pain of guilt for not seeing him more often. (Especially after meeting the 80 year old guy in the waiting room who told me he drives 3 1/2 hours every two weeks to see his nephew! Well thank you for that uplifting word, Mr. Perfect! I just made my second 45 minute trek since last fall.) Anyway, I think it’s a healthy guilt because I am guilty. Guilty of not visiting Jesus Himself in prison according to this passage. When I visit Reese, I visit Jesus.

Reese craves time with me. And I think Jesus does as well. And I believe He desires it in this form and the others mentioned in this pericope–I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you made me welcome. I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you looked after me; I was in prison and you came to me. 

I can’t tell you the delight in my soul from visiting Reese yesterday. And it’s not because it’s such a fun, great time. You go into this dark place. You get searched for contraband which is…let’s just say the officer got to second base with me. You talk on a phone which might have been disinfected who knows what year You look at your friend through what seems to be frosted plastic. There’s hardly a thing you can offer him. There’s not much to really talk about. And yet. And yet, you are in front of someone with so much desire to be with you, who soaks up every second of your time. Who appreciates you like nothing else. God is there. Oh my is God right there in the most palatable of ways. It is there I feel connection to Him like few other places.

God is showing me more and more clearly that this is where we are to be. It is of cosmic importance to be with those who are suffering and in great need. As Jesus’ Spirit-filled-led followers, we must tend to those who suffer. It is life to them and it is life to you. Followers of Jesus must, on some level, be with the “least significant.” The seismic shift is impossible to describe. It’s not so much that you feel good, but that shalom is created, the healing of the nations is spread even if microscopically, and the universe is put in more order to some unmeasurable, perhaps minute degree.

As our visit drew to its inevitable close and I said goodbye, he put his hand up on the glass for me to put mine up to his. It was like something out of a movie and I almost burst into tears right then and there. I hung up the phone and walking away I looked back to see him staring at me still. I touched my fist to my heart and then held it out toward him (Zakk Wylde style), and then without really thinking, I touched my right index and middle fingers to my lips and then pointed them at him. It was purely a reflex of some kind and he affectionately returned the gesture. Now bear in mind this was the most testosterone-filled way of blowing a kiss imaginable, but I did think for a second, “What did I just do?!?” And then I was like, “Who cares?” I love this kid like he’s my own and I’m not ashamed of it.

If you know anyone who is suffering, if there’s anyone in your life at all in need, please, for the love of God, reach out to them today. They need to hear from you. They need your touch and connection.

You won’t regret it.

Ever.

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

So Monday morning we are about to leave for school when Zayra tells me she can’t find her red folder. Now at Oaks Academy the red folder is very, very important. All homework, assignments, and notifications travel to and from school in the red folder. You take it home everyday, custodian of the vital information, and you take it to school everyday to turn in all your classified documents and get it refilled. If you don’t have it, there’s some sort of consequence that’s along the lines of being attacked by the Horrbius Terrabius (a most wickedly vile creature made up by Zayra).

Therefore, there was a little stress factor going on in the Pallikan home yesterday morning. After some fruitless searching, I told the girls we’re gonna do what we always do, sit and pray. I told them I will ask the Holy Spirit for some help. So I sat down in the living room on the ottoman and asked God for some help thru His Spirit. “If You will, would You please help us to find this red folder? Would you show us where to look, Holy Spirit? We need Your help here.” Very simple and straight forward.

I stood up, looked to my right, then turned all the way around, and there it was, sitting on the chair right behind me that goes with the ottoman I was sitting on to pray. Are you kidding me? It was hiding right there in the wide open.

Same thing happened a month or so ago. I pulled in the driveway with the girls after school, and handed Gabriela the house key to go in while I park the car in the garage. In the 8 inches between getting out of the car and stepping down on to the driveway she lost the key. No joke. It took maybe 2.5 seconds. Honestly, I thought it fell through some sort of wormhole into another dimension. (Probably because I believe that can happen, and I watch Twilight Zone and X-Files most nites, and I think about stuff like that ALL THE TIME.) There was no explanation! I got out and searched everywhere, under the car, in her shoes, nothing. My thought was then to give in to defeat and just drive over to Target to stay warm until Ana got home.

But then I said, no, we’re gonna pray first for help. So we got back in the car, out of the unforgiving twenty degree wind, and I said, “OK girls, let’s pray for help to find these keys.” As soon as I closed my eyes, Gaby yelled, “Found ’em!!!” What??? I didn’t even start praying yet. “They were in my hood!” Apparently, when she got out of the car, she reached back to adjust her scarf or something and the key fell out of her gloved hand right into her coat hood. Weird.

So in that case, just the threat of prayer seemed to turn up the lost item.

I wonder how many times when we are fretting, we just need to sit and pray, not for that which we don’t have and think we need, but for that which we already have and just lost or cannot seem to find. Be it courage, strength, the ability to change, or even someone to help…

How many times do we have the answer but simply can’t see it through the cloud of our fears, unbelief, and anxiety?

Settle down.

Ask for help.

Pray.

Believe.

Listen.

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

It seems that once we are touched by God and experience Him in a real way (conversion), that when we sin, we do so mostly out of weakness.We graduate from sinning out of rebellion or ignorance to sinning out of leftover habits, the sin in our members.

Before, we either didn’t know any better or we just didn’t care. There wasn’t much, if any, fight in us.

But after awakening, we are much more aware of our sin and sincerely care about killing it. So we are much more aware of our weakness and, hence, our need for Someone outside of ourselves with greater power and capacity than we possess to fight for us. (The above picture illustrates well what it looks like if we try to fight fallen angels on our own power.)

Of course we can use our weakness as an excuse and just keep on sinning. But that’s stupid. The compassionate Creator of the universe wants to help us. I think He wants to help us more than we want His help.

Do we ask?

Are we confident in His abilities?

I love these lyrics to the chorus of Theocracy’s “Laying The Demon To Rest”:

As the battle rages on and on
I face the things that put my faith to the test
When fallen angels won’t leave me alone
Father, come and lay the demon to rest
When my sword has broken off in my hand
I see the dark futility of the flesh
When I’m about to fall, please help me stand
Father, come and lay the demon to rest

and this bridge:

Where there’s a will there’s a way they say
But sometimes my will seems to get in the way
So You will have to fight for me today

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

We are not judged as if we have no difficulties to work through.

We are not judged as if we have absolutely no weaknesses to overcome.

We are rigid on ourselves. We are rigid with others. Expecting perfection. No, demanding it. As if there is nothing to overcome. As if perfection is our default setting and we always screw up out of straight up, consciously chosen rebellion.

How many times do we screw up out of weakness.

Jesus sympathizes with our weaknesses, understanding we are not perfect creatures and have much to overcome, some more than others. Thank God!

As we become more like Jesus, it seems that we too will be more and more sympathetic to the weaknesses in others…and ourselves! Growing in Christlikeness means growing in understanding and sympathy and in the embracing of others, and ourselves, in weakness.

This does not let us off the hook from challenging one another, but the point of challenging one another is to strengthen each other in our areas of weakness. We lovingly challenge, seeking our ultimate good, rather than demanding perfection and a living up to our own expectations.

We have no idea what someone has to overcome in their life. We just cannot possibly know it all. But God does, so all the more reason to go to Him when desiring to be a help to others. We must be so dependent on Him in prayer if we are really going to point others to Him.

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

• Is it in line with Scripture and its principles? Chances are, God will not ask you to walk up to somebody and punch them in the face. Much of our clarity will come through Scripture, but for times when there is still no clear direction or a difficult point is not settled, the other ways here can be sought out.
• Providential Circumstances–What doors are opening or closing in your life? How does your current situation help or hinder what God may be calling you to do?
• Common Sense–Is the new call something that is within your abilities (though it may stretch you beyond your comfort zones!). Might it be unhelpfully disruptive to existing primary relationships or stage of family life?
• Inner Promptings of the Holy Spirit–How do you sense the Holy Spirit at work? What inner prompts, words, pictures, themes are forming? Is there an inner sense of enthusiasm or peace as the path unfolds?

It is important to look for the harmonization of all of these since we can have inner promptings from somewhere other than the Holy Spirit. Common sense alone is obviously not enough. Open doors alone do not always mean it is God’s path for you. But test each one along with the other three.

Some add a fifth dimension–Other People’s Perception–what do your mature Christian friends have to say about the possibility you are considering?

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

What a tremendous liberty there is, and power, in crossing over from being agenda-driven and results-oriented to a state of being agenda-free and God’s glory-oriented.In this second state, there is no worry over what must be done. There is no anxiety about what the outcome must be. There is only trust in the infinite goodness and wisdom of God, who transcends our thinking. We embrace the mystery that is God. He knows what must be done and sees to it, showing us the part we may play in His will. Our task is to tune in to Him then, not to make things happen.

This is the mind boggling simplicity and brilliance of the parable of “The Good Samaritan “as we call it. Do the good that is right in front of you to do to the best of your ability. Do what lies before every day, every hour, each moment, focusing on that and trusting that the good you are doing is being used by God in ways you may not know or even comprehend. Every situation is much larger and grander than you can realize.

My mantra while working at Outreach, Inc. with homeless youth was always, “Don’t do this to feel good. And don’t do this for the results. Do this because it is the right thing to do.” It’s amazing the difference it makes to work with that mindset.

Being agenda-driven and results-oriented just really sucks. But trusting the process by doing what you need to do every day over the long haul is satisfying and when done well, typically brings good results anyway. And it is much less stressful.

Sometimes God allows me to see the ripple effect of something I’ve been a part of. Sometimes I’m paying enough attention to actually notice it. And of course it’s usually some result I did not have in mind, that I wasn’t necessarily shooting for. And so I have to just bow before YHWH in His infinitude, realizing again that I don’t know what the heck I’m doing half the time, quite literally. All I know is to keep listening to Him and obeying the voice, trusting Him and abandoning all outcomes to Him because He is up to way more than I can even imagine. It’s awe inspiring and humbling and freeing.

Just do what God places before you each moment and trust Him in it with the goal of all glory going to Him. Wave that white flag and rest the rest of Hebrews 4 which is a ceasing of your own work and a total dependence on God.

You don’t have to make anything happen. Throughout the Bible, when God called on someone, He told them what was gonna happen. I can’t think of any instances off the top of my head in which He called on someone to go do something in their own power and they better get some results.

So our anxieties may be coming mostly because of our bad listening, half listening, or lack of listening altogether. When you hear from God, there is a clarity and a peace that cannot be touched.

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

It seems the spiritual life and the growth in it is more of a letting go than being an attainment of.

It’s not acquiring, but rather shedding.

Self-transcendence.

Loosening your grip on so much so that nothing holds you.

You need less and less for Life.

Detachment.

The more we’re attached to, the greater chance for temptation, anxiety, and hurt.

But if we prefer nothing to Christ, as the Benedictine monks attempt to live out, what does the evil one have to tempt us with that will work?

Maybe instead of striving for growth and maturity and skill-obtaining, we simply need to let more go and maturity will then precipitate from that weight loss.

I do believe in giving more energy to filling with good than emptying the bad, but is letting go different than emptying? Sounds easier, but not sure it is.

Could this be what Jesus was getting at when He said you have to lose your life in order to find it? When we loosen our kung fu grip on all that we think we need for Life or to be who we are, that’s when we are open to more of God and therefore, closer to who we really are, our True Self, who we were made to be.

For example, when I’ve loosened my grip on my time, gotten over thinking I have to do all these things I want to do or think I need to do, I’ve then been more open and attentive to God’s presence and working and speaking in my life. I am free to soak in His presence because I am no longer preoccupied with all that must be done. Sure I’ve got some things to do, but how many are things I choose? I have to eat, sleep, drink water, feed our children….not much else I guess.

It’s kinda like when people say they got “lost in the music.” Maybe at a concert or something. What happens? You forget where you are, what time it is, maybe even who you are, and become one with the music. A transcendent experience. And it only comes through losing yourself to the music. You simply let go. You are so tuned in, that everything else is tuned out and forgotten for right then only one thing matters. If we can just let go and become one with God, I believe the experience  would be so transforming that there would be no going back unless you suffered some sort of brain damage. Although I have a friend who has suffered brain damage and still clings to God and, miraculously, retains Scripture he memorized before this incident.

Losing our lives, letting go, is the most freeing of “activities” we can participate in, for then we find Life, our life, our True Self.

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria