Grace Found Me!

Grace to Preach Again

Preachers preach!
Preachers preach to people.
There are all sorts of preachers and all sorts of people.
Preachers are people too.
Maybe people are preachers too?

The simple statements above say a lot more than you might suspect on a cursory view. Preachers do preach, but what does a preacher do when he is in a season when he is not preaching. Let us ask the preacher a question. Why are you not preaching? There can be a lot of reasons, let's ask some preachers who are not preaching why they are not preaching:

The first preacher replies, I am not preaching because no church has called me to be their preacher?
I see, but you do not preach because a church calls you. You preach because God calls you. The waiting world is your audience from the riverbanks to the street corners or maybe your message can be shared through your passionate heart to a stranger over a cup of coffee.
Is it the volume of your voice that determines whether or not you are preaching?
Is it the setting alone that makes it preaching?
Does there have to be pews and rows of people sitting quietly while you wax away?
Or is preaching more about the fire in your heart for others to hear the life changing message?
Is it preaching because of style? Elocution? Homiletic savvy?
If you do not announce and read a text, is it still preaching?
How many people have to hear what you say for it to be preaching?
I am not so sure that it is the people listening, or the place it occurs, or the style of delivery employed that make it preaching. You do not have to be a pastor to be a preacher. You simply have to have a message. God spoke to Baalim through a mule. Hmmmm!

Another says, I am sick and unable to preach during this time.
Rest my friend, heal, allow God to restore your body and it once again will be able to release the beautiful words of the Good News about Jesus' love for us all. Don't feel guilty that you are silent. Allow the season of silence to do its work. God knows your heart and your desire. That is what truly counts before Him.

Yet Another says, I am in prison for three more years.
Yes Dear Brother. Your cell is then your pulpit. The prison bars that keep you in also keep other inmates in. You and them are in together. Share your heart and love with them. Allow God to transform you inside out so that when you get out you will still desire to bring others in---in to the light! Many a preacher has been formed inside prison houses. Let God do His work and do the work God has given you at hand.Paul was imprisoned and yet we still are receiving ministry from his preaching. He preached through a quill (pen). We are still reading what he preached. Preach on prisoner! For those who tell you that you can't preach because of your past, remember your past is not different than theirs in God's sight. We are all sinners in need of the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus. If you repent, he will cleanse. When He cleanses, you are forgiven. When you are forgiven, you are released from the tormentors of your past. Don't worry about those who do not want to receive. the fruit of your ministry will be from those who will receive from you.

The third preacher speaks up, I am not preaching because I chose to sin and now I am discredited.
Ah, dear brother. You have one of two decisions. Continue in sin or stop and turn around. This is called repentance. I highly recommend that you do what the Bible says. Repent, submit yourself to those who are spiritual so they can lead you to restoration. Once restored, you can release your voice again. God will be faithful, He will connect you with those who have a heart to see you restored. They will need to be strong and secure because they will be judged for even associating with you. Remember the pressure placed on Peter by the fire. He denied Christ rather than admit he even knew him. While you are being restored, go ahead and preach. But you should only preach to one person--the man in the mirror. Your season of restoration is a season of healing. Of allowing God to strengthen your areas of weakness. It is a time to be healed and made whole of old wounds and ways of doing things. Once those whom God has led to oversee your restoration give you their blessing, then you can preach again always remembering the grace you have been given.

The last preacher speaks up, I am not sure I am called to preach.
Now here is something to consider. Whom did Jesus command to preach the Good News? Whom did Jesus command to get a credential, attend a seminary, and earn a degree and then preach? I'm not against those things. I have a wall full of them. Maybe we have missed it by separating preachers from the rest of the group. Preachers are people too. As a matter of fact, preachers are just people. Furthermore, maybe, just maybe, every person is a preacher. It may not be to a crowed building whose pews are packed with people. It may not be to a filled stadium. It may not be to a classroom of eager listeners. It may just be at a table at the coffee shop sharing with a hurting soul. But if your lips release the message of the Good News of Jesus great love, then you have preached. We all are releasing one message or the other. What are you preaching?

If you are not preaching, you are either waiting for your body to be restored, your soul to be restored, or you are waiting for no good reason.

I have been one of those whose soul has been being restored. I am the third preacher. Those who are overseeing the process of my  restoration have said, you can now begin to preach again. I admit I am a little nervous. I know I will have to wade through criticism and judgment. I will have to battle my own thoughts of what others may be thinking. Yet, deep down in my bones, there is an ember burning, it is the flickering growing message of the great goodness and grace of God that saved a wretch like me. This is the message I must share and it is very, very, very goooooooood news!

ANNOUNCEMENT--We are beginning a new gathering soon. The link is below that lays out the new ministry that is on our hearts.

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Our Other Sites
Grace House (New Ministry Site)
Our First Breath Ministry Site
Mikki's Site
Eddie's Web Design Site
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Eddies Reseller Store

Grace through the Broken Place

We all have that occasion when we had bought a cup of coffee or a soda in a Styrofoam cup only to find out that it was dripping all over us because of a leak. Of course the leak comes through the broken place. This is true of grace as well. Because Christ became broken, grace can flow out to us. If we can position ourselves in the right place and stay there long enough we can become drenched by a shower of grace. That place is at the feet of Jesus at the cross. Following is one of the most beautiful writings I have ever read. My wife, Mikki, wrote it the other morning. Tears came to my eyes as I read it. Some of you may have already seen it on her own site. I hope you enjoy it as much I do.

Embracing Brokenness

 
Life teaches us to despise brokenness.  Broken things are worthless.  Most of us can afford to go buy something new and replace our broken things.  We toss them.  They are not worth the time and energy needed to repair them.

 

Unfortunately, we do the same thing with people.  It just takes too much time and energy to repair them.  Unconsciously, we toss them away.  We are too busy and important to take broken lives into the repair shop of our heart and begin the work of repairing. 

 

I read this morning about the woman who brought the alabaster flask of very costly oil to Jesus.  She broke it and poured out the oil onto Jesus.  I believe that as much as anything, it was a picture of her life.  There was something beautiful and valuable inside her that was so costly.  Jesus was the only one who had ever seen inside her and valued the beautiful oil inside.  She was in many ways as broken and useless as the flask now was.  Her body had been used and wasted on unfaithful lovers.  Yet, Jesus saw past her facade.  He saw into her heart.  He valued her.  He did not reject her sacrifice.  He embraced her brokenness.

 

Jesus was about to be broken himself.  His body was about to  be used and wasted on us all.  The ultimate extravagant wasteful act.  His human flask was about to be broken and his very heart and soul would pour out for us all.  For me.  It is painful to look at.  My heart cries in shame, “I can’t receive that, Lord.  I’m not worth it.”  Yet, he gives me all of himself knowing that all I have to give him is love and most of the time I’m not even sure how to give him my love.  It is totally inadequate as an offering for One so beautiful.  But it is all I have that is valuable.  It is my oil.  So I pour it on his head.  I’d rather be at his feet.  But this gift requires I be close enough to see his eyes.

 

As his eyes meet mine, I want to look away.  But in his eyes, I see that he values my poured out heart.  It is all that will remain at the end of my life.  It will be what releases the fragrance of love for other to smell.  It is what awakens the desire in others to know him.  And I hear his voice saying, “I will value forever your love that you pour upon me.  I will insure that it is never forgotten.”  He embraces my broken heart with all its imperfections and says, “It is enough.”

 

Can you imagine how this woman felt to hear Jesus say that she would be valued forever and spoken of with love and respect throughout the entire world?  Jesus received her and did the ultimate turn around.  Shame exchanged for honor.  Contempt exchanged for value.  Abuse exchanged for healing.  Cheapness exchanged for real beauty.  Service exchanged for relationship.  Death exchanged for life.  Brokenness exchanged for wholeness.

 

Can you see him looking into your eyes?  He is longing to make exchanges with us.  He knows that what we give him is worthless, yet he embraces our brokenness and values it as the place in our heart where we can truly know him.  Where we can be emptied of our own self efforts to be valuable.

 

Give the pieces of your broken life to him.  See him holding them tenderly in his hands, touching the brokenness and putting the pieces back together.  He is the only one who understands what the original picture was to look like before it was broken.  His touch puts it back together in a way that makes your brokenness look like a picture of him.

 

Embracing brokenness.  It offends our intellect.  It offends our religiousness.  It offends our self-efficiency.  We despise having to do it.  But when our life picture is broken enough, we come to the place where we realize exchanging our brokenness for his wholeness is the only real choice we can make.   It is the beginning of really living.

 

So here I am this morning.   Looking into his eyes.  Pouring the oil of my heart and soul onto his head.  Anointing him with my love.  With the most risky sacrifice I can give.  The sacrifice that has been rejected by so many false lovers.  And realizing he has been waiting for me to truly see how broken I am so that he can receive my true love and teach me how to receive his true love.

 

And just as if I were a little girl again, I write a love note which says:  Mikki + Jesus  2-gether 4 ever.
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Our Other Sites
Our First Breath Ministry Site
Mikki's Site
Eddie's Web Design Site
Eddie's Web Products Store
Eddies Reseller Store

Today is a Day of Grace

The Psalmist wrote, "This is the day the LORD has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it." With this in mind, please consider the following.

-This day belongs to God because He made it.
-God's creative touch is already upon this day. He painted the sunrise and He will oversee the sunset.
-This day has a special purpose for us because it was made by God who does nothing randomly.
-Because this day has been made by God, He will release grace in order that His purposes can be fulfilled.
-Therefore there will be grace available for me to fulfill God's purposes in/for everything I face today.
-Because I have access to this grace in order to fulfill whatever purpose God has for today, I can rejoice.
-My general disposition for this day can be gladness right in the middle of every circumstance.
-I can rejoice and be glad because I know I can overcome every obstacle through God's grace.

Therefore, today is a day of grace!
Amen.

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If this has been a blessing to you, would you consider emailing it to a friend and spread the word.

Thanks for visiting my blog. If you would like it delivered directly to your email box, just sign-up for the feedblitz on the left side of this page.

Please check out our ministry site www.firstbreathministries.com.

For my wife's journal, visit www.mikkilawrence.com.

I also am giving away some of the books I have written in eBook form. They can be downloaded from the following link: www.firstbreathministries.com/Free_eBooks.php

Jesus Loves You!

Your Creativity Unleashed!

You are a created being and you were created with a god-like endowment called "creativity." This is something about you that reflects the image of God, Who is, of course, the Great Creator. When a human being is brought back into proper relationship with His Creator through the power of the cross, something happens!!!! Grace is unleashed into that person to make all things new--including the use of creativity.

You may not view yourself as a creative person--take another look. The image of God in you is filled with creativity. You have the god-given ability to see how things can be creatively approached and changed in order to fulfill their purpose. Isn't that what God did? The earth was null and void and He worked creatively until the earth reflected His purpose.

The situation you are in can be approached the same way. Realize you have the power to see things differently than they are. You have the ability to imagine how it can be changed and through faith and vision you can see it changed. It may be a slow roast instead of a microwave dinner, but it can still happen.

Think about it!
Before the earth existed, God saw it.
God saw it, then God spoke it.

This is the order for us as well. We start seeing it, then start speaking it. Why is this important? This is one of the ways the creativity God has placed inside you is released. It is like "saying it" begins to make it an actual thing in your reality. It is an announcement of faith that says, "I see something that needs to change and I am partnering with God to see it changed!" Your confession itself brings grace! Isn't that what happened when you confessed Jesus--grace came. Grace comes to the confession you make in order to supply the strength to make the change. You confess your sin so that its power over you can be broken. How does that work? Your honesty and humility about what you see inside you brings the grace of God to effect the change. Grace can come to supply the power to you to stop something that needs to stop or to start something that needs to start.

I believe it works the same way when we confess other things God shows us through our creativity. As we see it, then say it, grace comes to enable us to bring about the change. I am not speaking about a name it and claim it formula you use to pin God down to make Him do what you want Him to do. Hogwash!!!! (I guess this is Christian cussing)

What do I mean by "Seeing it and then speaking it!" I simply mean you begin to voice agreement with the vision God has placed inside of you through His Spirit and His Word. You are announcing that God has recruited you for a project and you and God are partners in the venture. In your heart, you already know that God will supply the capital (the capital to complete the project is grace). The capital is given to you as you need it in order to keep the project on schedule. You know the capital will arrive when you need it because you have already seen it. How did you see it? Through the creativity of your imagination directed by Producer God.

This is one of the operations of grace. Remember that all this is in order for things to brought into alignment with God's purposes. You do not want to use your imagination to operate against the purposes of God. This is destructive rather than constructive. Unfortunately, the enemy knows better than we do, the resource of creativity within us. He will work hard to exploit and capture our imaginations and turn them toward vain, impure and sinful thoughts. You will be fooled by the excitement the thoughts bring and lose sight of God's purpose. This can derail things and cause a train wreck.  But we can be encouraged--God has a long track record of accomplishing His purposes even after the train wreck. Things may be stopped, stalled, or slowed down but God can get it all back on track.  Read the Bible from Genesis 3 onward.

We must use our creative ability to see God's purposes fulfilled. When we do, grace will travel to us to be our partner.

Ever had God speak to you in a dream? How does this work? I am not sure of all the details, but in the mix He works through your imagination to show you something you need to see. It's really amazing when you think about it. It' like a movie being filmed. God is the producer/director. You are sometimes the actor in the middle of the plot -- sometimes you sit in the audience and watch it unfold, but either way, you see and experience it and something is communicated to you. This is your creativity at work.

The counsel of the Holy Spirit is inside you. The written wisdom of God is in your hands when you read the Bible. The creativity of God is within the storehouse of your soul. Let it all come together to see how you can change the world. God's kids should be leading the way in the areas of innovation and technology that will improve our world. Don't shy away from that awesome gift of God inside of you called creativity. May Father fill us with His dreams for change!

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If this has been a blessing to you, would you consider emailing it to a friend and spread the word.

Thanks for visiting my blog. If you would like it delivered directly to your email box, just sign-up for the feedblitz on the left side of this page.

Please check out our ministry site www.firstbreathministries.com.

For my wife's journal, visit www.mikkilawrence.com.

I also am giving away some of the books I have written in eBook form. They can be downloaded from the following link: www.firstbreathministries.com/Free_eBooks.php

Jesus Loves You!

The Grace Stretch

Ever watched a cat stretch? They are not the lone animals on the planet with a propensity to stretch. Of course, we humans are stretchers by nature and sometimes, among the best in shape among us, stretching is planned and a part of a daily regime to keep in shape. But for most of us, stretching is something we do automatically and somewhat unconsciously.

Upon awaking in the morning while still fighting the urge to dive back into the river of sleep, our body begins to stretch. We stiffen our body out straight until our toes are pointing  like arrow heads jutting out at the bottom of our legs. We can feel the surge of energy flowing through our shocked muscles. Then we twist our torso as if it were a mop being wrung out into a pail. We flex, we quiver, and then relax. This is repeated a few times until finally.............we do it. We roll toward the edge of the bed and go vertical. We get up to start another day.

In a similar way, we do this spiritually after we have been in a lull of sleepiness. Grace comes and our shocked spiritual muscles are reminded they were made to move. Our spiritual torso twists and turns. Our spiritual toes remember they were made for a purpose. We begin to stretch until we go vertical.

I'm beginning to stretch......................................

The Grace to Move On!

The grace to move on is vital to each of us. Sometimes we refer to it as starting over, but in the truest sense, we never really start over. We have to move to the next season with the lessons of the good and bad that life has brought us. Life is a compilation of experiences. The environmental, experiential, as well as the biological all come together in a potpourri called "our life."

Today (Sunday, Aug.19), my heart is percolating with a thousand different emotions. The church I pastored and left 11 weeks ago is voting on a new pastor.   I trust that it will go well. They are moving on and I must admit, it is very hard for me to accept. Though we told them we did not want to be reconsidered under the current circumstances, I suppose we held on to a distant hope that there might have been some way it would have turned around.

It is like a divorce where you hope that things may somehow work out even though the papers have been signed. Yet, you know once your spouse remarries, it's over.

Hence, the need for the grace to let go and move on. I do wish them well. There are so many good and wonderful folks there. I love them dearly and it would not be difficult if there was not a piece of my heart still there. I have to live with the truth that I messed up. I also have to accept the truth that "what could have been" and "what is" are two different things. The reality is centered in "what is."

So, what now? I have an idea of what I am to do. I have been planning and preparing for this. Yet, it is painful. I need Father to download grace into my heart to accept all this change and learn from it. I do not want to just go through it but grow through it. I want to shake off the feeling of finality that seems to haunt me. I have to live with the fact that I created the circumstances that allowed all this to materialize. I accept the responsibility for the wrong choices I have made and need forgiveness, just as I choose to forgive the wrong choices others have made in their responses to the situation.

There are three truths I am clinging to which are helping me to hang on and to begin to move on.

1. God is bigger than all this and can use it to fulfill His purposes in my life. There is treasure to be found in the middle of my pain and failure.

2. My future is not determined by my past but by Jesus' past. The work of the cross has the power to transform every situation.

3. God knows it all and has the final say. The wonderful thing is that these three truths are an encouragement to everyone who has been touched by this whole season of twists and turns.

I personally am clinging to the hope that one more time, God might just use a broken messed up failure to birth something new and miraculous.

The truth is that for us to move forward out of what once was, we have to receive God's grace to move on. As we receive it and use it, we may just discover the place God had called us to all along. His preferred route was not chosen, but in His grace, He got us there just the same. This is the adventure called the grace-life. Whether or not God chooses to use me, I trust Him! He still turns dark "todays" into bright "tomorrows".

5 Indicators of Grace-Based Living

In this post I will cover 5 indicators (and there could be dozens more) of what it means to have a grace-based heart in our daily lives. I may share others later, but try these on for size now. Okay? Let’s go…

1. You only compare yourself to Jesus and not other people. A works-based religious person always sizes his/her self up by comparing his/her self with other people. It’s easy to come out on top by calling attention to someone who has bottomed out. Want to get the true picture? Look at how Jesus reacted and interacted with people and use that as a gauge. What was his attitude toward the person who sinned? We all agree that sin is sin, but we still build our lists that categorize people in a way that we are not on the really bad list. Is it or is it not true that all of us deserve eternal judgment in the lake of fire? If so, what difference does it make what someone else’s sin is? Apart from grace, we would all cook in the same kettle. If it is not true, what are you doing reading a post about grace—you don’t need it.

2. Focuses on the true heart of God toward people. God’s heart is so filled with love and compassion for sinners which means all of us. When we assume He quickly moves in judgment to punish the sinner, we will do the same. The Bible is very clear that He is very longsuffering and patient. By the way, sin carries its own judgment. Wherever and whenever sin is committed, the dynamic of death and separation is at work. The seed in the sin produces the result that has the weight of judgment in it. Yes, God is the judge of all the Earth, but if He was as quick as we often are in judging people, we would all be toast already. You know this is the crusty truth! The greatest truth for us all is that God is love! This is the divine motive that enables all of us to receive His grace through Jesus. If we are grace-based, we will seek the same motive in our attitude toward people in need of it. Yeah, it’s hard to give grace to the folks who are throwing the stones. It takes grace.

The “Father, forgive them…” kind of grace.

The “Lay not this sin to their charge…” kind of grace.

The “He who is without sin, throw the first stone…” kind of grace.

3. You are aware of your true condition apart from God’s grace. This is what Paul had in mind when he wrote to the church in Galatia concerning restoring a fallen brother. “You who are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted.” (Gal.6:1)  Paul knew that if the spiritual leaders forgot their own true condition in the process of restoration—

They would become harsh instead of meek.

They would ostracize instead of restore.

They would mete out judgment instead of mercy and grace.

We do the same when we forget who we are without grace. Jesus taught we are not qualified to remove the speck until we deal with our own log pile. Being aware of this is an indicator that you are living a grace-based life.

4. Your list of rules is growing shorter. I find it interesting that Jesus seemed to reduce things to their true essence. He summed up the entire law with two short and simple statements:

Love God!

Love people!

He exposed the Pharisees who made their many lists in order to achieve holiness. By the way, what does true holiness look like? Correct answer = Jesus. Use all the scripture texts you want, but at the end of the day, it boils down to the fact that God had to come in the form of a man (Jesus) in order to show us what a holy life lived in a human body looks like. Give our religious bent a list of things to do and a list of behaviors to avoid, and we are happy. We can check off the lists and declare we are holy because of what we have done and not done.

God says, “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

He looks at the heart.

Man looks at outward actions.

He looks inside the cup.

Man looks at the outside of the cup.

If the lists of do’s and don’ts would work, Jesus could have stayed in heaven and spared himself a lot of pain. Our goal should be to have the heart of Jesus toward the Father and toward others.

We have become experts at complicating the simple truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It seems that the meek and lowly of Jesus day were the ones who caught on first, while the religious elite argued with him while they tried to figure out how to kill him. Love sums it up.

Love sums it up. When we behave in an unloving way that does not reflect God’s heart toward someone else, we are missing the mark. I have missed the mark far too often. I need grace to love the way Jesus loves.

5. You don’t secretly rejoice when someone messes up. This amounts to being a selfish opportunist. In other words, someone else’s misfortune becomes the means for you to gain something in some way. For example, the second string quarterback that desires the starter to blow out a knee so he will get his chance. The employee who hopes the boss gets fired so he/she can move up.

We can exalt ourselves by showing how other people have done something terrible that we have not done. We create categories and put ourselves on the good side of the equation. A grace-based attitude does not do this but realizes that if it were not for grace it would be “me.” 

Why is this so important?

It is important to me, because of the pain I have experienced by choices I have made that were not based on grace but selfish desires. The result is that a lot of people have been hurt deeply.

It is also important to me because I have been able to view things from the other side of the tracks so to speak and I can tell you that judgmental religiosity is about as ugly as it gets. Having been pummeled by it, I have decided I do not want any more of it in my own heart. It breaks God’s heart when a person falls into sin and creates a mess in their life. He always stands ready to help that person turn everything around. He will even bring good out of the disaster. He will use it for His glory. He will provide tons of grace so that person can be restored and use their life for His purposes. All that the person has to do is ask Him. He requires no long list of religious works before He pours out His grace and love. He only requires a humble heart that knows “I need God, I can’t do this myself!” 

Wow! I’ve got to tell you this. I am typing this post from the balcony of a condo in Destin, Florida. When I typed in the words, “I need God. I can’t do this myself.” A dove flew onto the balcony and landed just a few feet in front of me. I sat in amazement and watched it for a minute or two before it went on its way. What a picture! This is really the way it works. When we get desperate and honest with God and cry out to Him that we need Him in our lives, the dove comes flying in. We can rely on the list or we can rely on Him. By the way, they are not the same thing!

Let’s review:

1. You only compare yourself to Jesus and not other people.

2. Focuses on the true heart of God toward people.

3. You are aware of your true condition apart from God’s grace.

4. Your list of rules is growing shorter.

5. You don’t secretly rejoice when you someone messes up.

How you doing?

I know, I’ve got a ways to go, too! By the grace of God,we’ll grow in that direction. I think God may often allow the thing that needs to be rooted out of us to be confronted by the same thing in someone else. Now that’s a mirror to think about.

More later…..

The Frog in the Hole

Very recently, Nathan (my 12 year old son) and I were in our back yard throwing Frisbee. He has gotten into Frisbee golf (disc golf) and was showing me some of the tosses he had learned. We were having a blast. During this fun time, Nathan walked over to a small sink-hole in the ground he had discovered a while back. The hole is about 5 inches in diameter and about 18 inches deep. Peering into the bottom of the hole, Nathan exclaimed, "The frog is still living in here!" He went on to share that he had seen the frog in the hole about a week earlier. He had concluded that this is where the frog had chosen to live.

That's when it happened. I felt a wash go over me from the tip of my head to the bottom of my feet. I was smitten by a deep compassion. I knew the frog had not chosen to live in that hole. I remembered as a child the times we had dug holes to catch an old toad frog. I walked over to the hole and peered down in there for my own look. Sure enough, there he sat--an old brown toad. I explained to Nathan that the frog was in the hole and couldn't get out. I shared that the ole toad may have deliberately gone in the hole after something he wanted, but once there, he discovered he couldn't get out. The conversation continued:

"We've got to get him out!" I said.
Nathan replied, "You get him out; I'm not touching him."
"I will get him out," I quickly responded.
"Why?" Nathan asked.
I answered, "He can't get out on his own, and I'm not leaving him in that hole. I know how it feels!"

I had connected with that old toad. Of course, the toad didn't have a clue, but I had been infused with a new mission. I would do whatever it took to get him out of that hole. It did not matter in the least to me how he had gotten there. He could have accidentally fallen in. He could have chosen to hop off in the hole in the hope of finding a goodie to enjoy. He could have ran and hid there trying to escape something chasing him. He could have been placed there by a mischievous youngster. I didn't know, and I didn't care. I just wanted to liberate him.

I knelt down on the ground and reached my hand into the hole. I must admit that I thought about the possibility of something else being in the hole that might bite me, but I reached down anyway. I had thought I would simply reach down,pick up the frog, get him out, let him go, and watch him hop off into the land of frog freedom. It did not prove to be that easy.

As I ran my hand down into the hole, the toad jumped to the side to avoid being captured. There was a root that ran across the bottom of the hole and he would move from one side to the other of the root and I couldn't get him in my grasp. The first time I touched him, he startled and jumped really hard. It also startled me, and I quickly withdrew my hand. This "cat and mouse" game or I should say "man and toad" game continued for a little while. Interestingly, there was one place that ole frog could get in that hole that I could not touch him. Of course, he found that place. He jumped, turned around and backed into a little cave-like scooped out place underneath the root in the bottom of the hole. I reached and could not get to him. I thought, "Mister Frog I am trying to help you escape, but you are working against me. If you only knew that I have no intention of hurting you. I just want to set you free." He was so afraid, so he was doing everything he could to avoid me and my rescue efforts.

It was really hot in the yard. Nathan suggested that maybe the frog wanted to stay in the hole. I let him know quickly that the frog did not want to stay in the hole. In the present circumstance, the frog probably felt that it was safer in the hole than allowing something so big to get a hold of him. I knew how he felt. Imagine looking up and seeing something so big. The very shadow of me had filled the hole with darkness. The frog had no way of knowing my intentions. We did not have the ability to communicate. Because I was bigger and more powerful, I had taken control of the situation and determined that I would get him out of there. I hated that he was so scared but I knew that the end result would be worth whatever terrifying experience he had to go through in order to be set free. By this time, I had decided that the frog was coming out of that hole if I had to go rent a backhoe and dig the whole back yard up.

I can't explain it fully, but one thing that has happened to me in this season is I have discovered a compassion for anyone or anything that is hurting. My heart melts at the thought of the pain a wounded animal or person experiences. My own pain has made me aware of another world that had always been there but I now feel like I have my own membership in it. Like the frog in the hole, it is easy to walk by and not even realize the trauma that is going on right next to you in another's world. Even worse is a wrong attitude about it.

That frog got in the hole; let him figure a way out!
He shouldn't have jumped off in there in the first place! (Implied, let him die in the hole.)
Let someone else get him out!
I can't believe he jumped in that hole!
I'm not touching that dirty frog!
I'm not going to darken myself by going in a hole after a dirty frog!
Hey everybody! Come look at this frog in the hole!

Knowing why or how the frog got into the hole does not determine whether or not the frog should be helped out. When an ambulance pulls up to the emergency room at your local hospital with a person who has been in a car wreck, they do not evaluate whether it was his fault or not before they elect to treat him. The goal is to help him survive and get back on his feet. To refuse to help the person because they chose to run a red light is unthinkable. "But what if they might run another red light in the future?" Or "What if other people were hurt because they ran a red light?" All those things are addressed later when the person is back on their feet. It is not a consideration during the time when emergency care is needed. One of the most painful things for our family during this season has been dealing with people's responses who felt as if we should not be given care during the time we were trying to get back on our feet again. Sometimes it was not spoken but seen in their faces when they looked away when there was eye contact, or when they sent cards that basically stated, "Go away!" Or "God will help you through this and you will have a happy future somewhere else."

I devised another plan to free the frog. I would reach on the opposite end of the root, run my fingers underneath, moving the dirt out of the way, and poke the frog from behind and scare him out of the hole. So I put "Operation Surprise" into action. Sure enough, once I broke through the barriers in the way and touched that ole toad, he jumped out into the middle of the hole and I was ready--I NABBED HIM!

In a flash, the frog was free!

He began jumping around. I do not understand frog talk, but it sure seemed he was happy to be hopping again. He had a whole big yard with all kinds of bugs. Life was good again!

I wonder how many frogs are in a hole close to you. Maybe you are a frog in the hole. It has only been recently that I feel I got out of the hole I had jumped into. I will be forever grateful to the Lord and the people He has used who were determined to reach down into my hole and help me out. For a season, I did not want out. Though it was confining and barren, it felt safer than the outside world. Most of us have had our "Cave of Audullam" experiences. Regardless of how a person ends up in the hole, they need help. Sometimes, they will even tell you they don't want help. Thank God for the people who "know better" and keep persevering until the frog is out of the hole.

This is God's true grace in action. Grace comes to us and sets us free. It is costly to the person giving it, but it is free to the person who becomes its beneficiary. In order for us to receive everything, Jesus had to give everything. By the way, remember, he didn't do what he did to extend grace to us because we deserved it. He did it because he truly loved us. Enough to bear our shame, carry our sin, and participate in our sorrow. He suffered in order to get all us frogs out of the holes we had chosen to jump into.

Dear Reader, be encouraged! When the dark clouds overwhelm you as you are tucked away in the hole of darkness, scared out of your wits wondering where God is, His hand of grace has a way of finding you and bringing you up and out of the deepest darkness you've ever seen. It may frighten you. You may even fight it. But rest in the fact, that God knows better for you than you do yourself. He can be trusted!

I am so happy to be out of the hole! You know, I didn't have to help that ole frog out of the hole. I just wanted to and it was the right thing to do.

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Please check out our ministry site www.firstbreathministries.com.

For my wife's journal, visit www.mikkilawrence.com.

I also am giving away some of the books I have written in eBook form. They can be downloaded from the following link: www.firstbreathministries.com/Free_eBooks.php

Jesus Loves You!

The Freedom of Grace Living (Pt.2)

(If you have not read the last post, The Freedom of Grace Living Pt. 1, please do so because it contains the first part of this topic and lays the groundwork for this posting.)

The Devil does not "make" us do wrong things. He tempts us. Yet, he knows he has a powerful ally in the bosom of each and every one of us. My nature by birth and your nature by birth has a strong bent toward sin. Like the magnetic north of a compass, our fallen hearts point toward sin, selfishness, and immorality.

The nature of freedom has within its core the ability to act contrary to what is best and what is God. This is the only kind of true freedom. Case in point--Adam and Eve. They were created in perfection to enjoy fellowship with God, yet there was the ability to make choices that would lead them in a contrary direction. Through subtle deception the serpent offered them what seemed a better option, a better way of living, a way to be promoted more quickly. You know the rest of the story....

If such tactics could work on the first perfect pair, where does that place the rest of us who arrive here with a nature steeped in generations of family failures? It places us in need of a force and power to overcome our own fallenness and bent toward evil. This is where grace comes in. God has chosen to release grace to us in our sin to liberate us.

Imagine what must be going on in the spiritual realm when a person humbles their heart before God in their sin and failure. Angelic SWAT teams are sent to the scene and begin to war against the criminal holding someone hostage. Heaven's Emergency Services are sent to help the hostage recover. Constant follow up care is then given to make sure that the trauma of the event does not immobilize them in life. These are just ways of thinking about what grace does when it arrives. The good news for each of us is that God's heart is to send His grace to us in our time of need. You cannot reach any other sane conclusion from reading your Bible other than God is a God of Grace to those who turn toward Him. For those who resist grace is refused. God releases great grace to the humble but resists the proud. Why? The proud think they need no grace. They can do it on their own. Isn't that where Adam and Eve went off on a terrible tangent? They decided they could do it on their own. They were deceived into believing that there was a better way than what God had planned for them. This is the same ole bait the Devil still puts on his hooks and he keeps reeling in the same ole fish day after day. I know, my mouth is still sore from one of them.

It is knowing and applying the truth that leads us to freedom (John 8:31-32). As long as we refuse to own up to our sin, we are bowing to the Tyrant inside us. This self-protecting choice will ultimately lead us to the feet of the Tyrant of Tyrants. Refusing to be truthful about the condition of our own hearts is the most dangerous choices we can make. In our Bible-Belt Christian culture, we have become experts at covering our sin by using our religious cliches and focusing on the "good"things we have done. We can convince our minds that because we have helped some people, we can mistreat others, and there is really no damage done.

Our fallen nature is adept at analyzing situations. If we are dealing with a person whom we can use to promote our own causes, we will purposely be nice. Our culture calls this "kissing up." If it someone who really has no power or influence to help us in our personal causes, then it is easier to just let them ride off into the sunset and not worry about the results. If each of us would be brutally honest, we have all behaved this way to some degree. But let us not compare one another. Let's look at Jesus.

Jesus reached out to the people who had the least influence to help him.
Jesus, to his own hurt, was truthful to the religious leaders of his day.
Jesus chose to live a truth centered life.
Jesus was never submitted to the Devil or sin.
Jesus lived with a "What can I give?" philosophy instead of a "What can I get?" motivation.
Jesus dealt with grace to the repentant and humble.
Jesus never denied the evil of sin, but was always ready to give grace to the sinner.
Jesus did not bow to the fear of man or live a "mock" life.
Jesus valued honestly in people's assessment of their own lives.
Jesus commanded people to repent for their wrong living.
Jesus helped repentant people on their new journey.
Jesus was truly free.

Because Jesus lived a "freedom" life, you and I can too. His grace is free. His heart is big. Let's all be honest about the Tyrant inside us. Let's humble ourselves before the One who is the only One who ever lived a life completely bondage free. Let's receive his grace into our repentant hearts and live lives that are more Christ-centered and less self-centered. The proof is in the pudding. How often do you and I make choices to protect or promote ourselves at the expense of someone else's well being?

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Please check out our ministry site www.firstbreathministries.com.

For my wife's journal, visit www.mikkilawrence.com.

I also am giving away some of the books I have written in eBook form. They can be downloaded from the following link: www.firstbreathministries.com/Free_eBooks.php

The Freedom of Grace Living (Pt.1)

I have the belief that the desire to be free is inherent in all of us at some level. Humanity was originally created to live in freedom. Adam and Eve were free to love each other and free to love God. The loss of freedom is inevitably tied to some kind of tyranny. Where there is bondage, there is a tyrant in the house.

The Tyrant is the slave master.
The Tyrant calls the shots-gives the orders.
The Tyrant gains control of our thinking.
The Tyrant thrives on conflict and torture.
The Tyrant revels in our misery and mental imprisonment.

Who is the Tyrant?

The quick answer most often out our mouths is "Satan is the Tyrant!" True, he is a Tyrant and he is the Tyrant of Tyrants. Yet, there is another Tyrant that always delivers slaves to Satan. This is the most dangerous Tyrant in each of our lives. This Tyrant lives very close to each of us.

Who is the Tyrant that presses his claims on each of of us? Our own nature--our flesh.

The portal of our own flesh provides the access that Satan needs to get into our lives and our thinking. The Devil does not "make" us do things. This is the easy route out for us when we want to relieve ourselves of accountability for our actions. If we can just blame the Devil, then that leaves us clear and free--right? No! Wrong! Very Wrong!

A person can become totally enslaved by Satan to the point of having little inward resistance to any thought the Devil sows in the mind. But such a state, for the most part, comes after the will has been handed over through a person's own sinful nature and repeated wrong choices. Cut it anyway you want-- but we are accountable for our choices. We reap what we sow. Our choices determine our harvest.

If we sow anger, we reap anger.
If we sow betrayal, we reap betrayal.
If we sow rejection, we reap rejection.
If we sow lies, we reap lies and on and on....

This becomes a vicious repeating cycle until we are surrounded by weeds and have difficulty finding the good fruit. We even begin to think the weeds are edible and don't look so badly after all. This leads to living with tares instead of wheat. Because in our fear of being rejected, we are able to fool people and we settle for that instead of being honest with ourselves. We think, "As long as we appear as wheat, we will not lose our value before men." The problem is the Lord of the Harvest is the One Who can tell the difference, even if men cannot. When He steps in and puts the sickle to the heart, it can be very painful. He will cut things off at the root, cultivate the soil of the heart, and turn things right side up. He sprays a heavy dose of spiritual "Roundup" on us and everything dies for a season. But eventually, fruit can begin to grow again because the weeds have been dealt with. I call this the season of "deadness."

I am just beginning to emerge from my own season of "deadness." I still smell of "Roundup." It is not fun living in Groundhog City. You get hungry for a little daylight but know its too dangerous to come up at the wrong time. It is ICU time where your life is strapped to a gurney and you are not able to live at a normal pace. The goal, however, is to survive and to regain good health. This is the motive of all the caregivers at every hospital.

For this reason, every church should be a hospital for the hurting. I cannot imagine a hospital rolling an ICU patient out into the parking lot and wishing them well before they are better. This would be considered criminal. Every church should be an ICU for hurting people to be healed and made whole. Surgeries and treatment can be painful, but wounds left untreated develop infection. Infection spreads until it breeds and births death. As a result of my own experience and failure, I will never look at hurting people the same way. I believe that every city has numbers of untreated hurting people. I also believe that on any given Sunday church pews are filled with people who know how they are to live but really struggle in doing it. They are hungry for grace to come and liberate them. Rules and regs will not do the job or it would have already been done. It takes grace that flows out of relationship with Jesus Christ--the freedom giver.

My next post will contain pt.2 of this topic.

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Thanks for visiting my blog. If you would like it delivered directly to your email box, just sign-up for the feedblitz on the left side of this page.

Please check out our ministry site www.firstbreathministries.com.

For my wife's journal, visit www.mikkilawrence.com.

I also am giving away some of the books I have written in eBook form. They can be downloaded from the following link: www.firstbreathministries.com/Free_eBooks.php