The Joy Of Giving

October 9, 2023 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

In our series on six important spiritual disciplines, our key phrase is “so that”—

  • I get stronger so that we can get stronger. 
  • For discipline #1: I study my Bible so that I have something to apply to my life. 
  • For discipline #2: I take time for solitude so that I can respond in a God-glorifying way in stressful situations. 

Our third spiritual discipline makes people nervous: Giving. So perhaps if I give you the “so that” up front that will help you stick with me. Here it is: I practice the spiritual discipline of giving so that I can encourage others and experience God’s greater blessings. 

Jesus has a caution about giving: Don’t give to get earthly recognition (Matthew 6:1-4). He states this with two don’ts and one do:

  • do not announce your giving 
  • do not calculate or reckon your reward for giving
  • do expect God’s reward for your giving

The stark contrast is seen between Joseph Barnabas and Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 4:34-5:4. Barnabas gave everything he had received from the sale of a piece of property without expecting anything in return. Ananias and Sapphira pretended to give everything they had received from the sale of a piece of property fully expecting some sort of recognition. The results are just as stark and clear: Barnabas was honored by both the church and God, while Ananias and Sapphira were severely punished by God. 

When Jesus tells us in Matthew 6 that our giving should be in “secret,” He clearly doesn’t mean that no one knows that we have given. Clearly, in our examples in Acts, people knew that Barnabas had given money to the church. 

In two of his public letters, Paul gave public thanks to the church at Philippi for their financial gifts to him, and he called out the church at Corinth for their failure to give as they had promised they were going to (Philippians 4:10; 2 Corinthians 8:11). 

Paul noted that the Philippians gave because they knew there was a need, and Paul praised them for this and told them that they would see God’s reward for their generosity (Philippians 4:10-20). We can see our “so that” idea here: Paul was encouraged, he said that the Philippians would have all their needs met, and God was glorified. 

Paul used this example of the Philippians as an encouragement to the Corinthians (see 2 Corinthians 8:1-12, 9:5-8). Paul encouraged them to make sure they had a “get to” attitude about giving, not a “have to” obligation. He noted that God blesses the cheerful, get-to giver. 

Notice how similar the blessings of God sound to these two churches: 

And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:8) 

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19) 

When the Bible talks about giving, it is never restricted to money, although that is part of it. The Bible talks about giving in three categories. We could call these The three Ts—

  1. Treasure—our tithes and offerings.
  2. Time—giving our service to those in need. 
  3. Talent—using the abilities God has given each believer to build up the Kingdom of God.  

How much of our treasure, time, and talent should we give? We should never look for the bare minimum, but we should be lavish givers. C.S. Lewis said it this way in his book Mere Christianity:

“I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charities expenditure excludes them.”

For myself, I am trying to think of spiritual discipline #3 as this prayerful declaration: 

I will allow the Holy Spirit to show me how much of my time, talent, and treasure I am privileged to invest in the Kingdom of God. I will gladly do this so that God will meet all my needs here, He will reward me in Heaven, and other saints will be encouraged by my giving. 

I hope you will join me in making this your declaration as well. 

If you have missed any of the messages in our series called Saints Together, you can find the full list of messages by clicking here. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials, like a map and an app I just shared to help with your personal Bible study time. ◀︎◀︎

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Shift Your Faith

October 2, 2023 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

When Luke says first that “Jesus grew in wisdom,” that is our indication that a healthy mind is at the foundation for every other aspect of health (Luke 2:52). We don’t see Jesus anxious or worried, we don’t see Him confused in His thinking, or even indecisive of what to say or do. So by studying the life of Jesus—and the Scriptures on which He relied—we, too, can improve our mental health. 

This may sound unbelievable when you first read this, but I believe that at their foundation, anxiety and assurance are remarkably similar. The similarity is that they both have faith. 

The dictionary defines faith as a strong or unshakeable belief in something. The biblical definition of faith is remarkably similar: “Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). 

Using those definitions of faith, let me point out the similarity and the difference between the anxious mind and the assured mind:

  • Anxiety is faith or expectation that something bad is going to happen. 
  • Assurance is faith or expectation that something good is going to happen. 

But the biggest difference of all is seen in the mental health of the one worried and anxious about the bad things that are coming versus the one who is confidently assured of the good things that are coming. 

If we are going to be mentally healthy people, we need to shift our faith from anxiety to assurance every single time we feel the worry building in our hearts. This isn’t just changing our mindset but knowing what we believe and why we believe it. 

Assurance and anxiety both believe in the unseen. The assured person believes in God’s promises to provide all that we need, while the anxious person doubts their own abilities and resources will be able to sustain them. 

As a result, the assured person has an abundance mindset, while the anxious person has a scarcity mindset. 

These feelings can be traced back to our faith about the origins of the universe. The assured person believes that God transcends this universe—that He existed before time began and spoke all created things into existence (Hebrews 11:3). But the anxious person is still trying to find answers in constantly-changing theories about the universe’s beginning. 

Since the anxious person thinks the universe’s beginning was an accident, they can easily wonder if their own life is an accident. But the assured person believes they have been uniquely and purposefully created by God to have eternal purpose (Psalm 139:13, 16; Jeremiah 1:5). 

Finally, the person who sees the universe and their own life as accidental becomes quite anxious and uneasy when they think about death, and what may or may not come on the other side. But the one who trusts God as their Creator is confident that God is their eternal reward (Hebrews 11:6). 

Hebrews 11 is filled with the accounts of assured people who shifted their faith away from anxiety—believing something bad was going to happen—to the assurance that God was bringing about something incredibly good! Hebrews 12 then invites Christians today to remember that cloud of witnesses and keep our eyes on Jesus, who is described as the Author and Perfecter of our faith, so that we don’t lose hope (Hebrews 12:1-3). 

I’ve previously shared seven strategies for a Christian to maintain a strong mental health. Our eighth strategy is a constant shifting of our faith away from anxiety to assurance. Every single time an anxious thought tempts us to believe something bad is coming, we need to make a shift toward the assurance of God’s goodness. 

Really quickly, here is how we can use the first seven strategies to help us make that shift: 

  1. Pray for the Holy Spirit to help you make a new path. 
  2. Notice your fearful or anxious words and pull them out by the root.  
  3. Confront the thought patterns that are causing fear or anxiety. 
  4. Talk back to those fearful thoughts with the truth from God’s Word. 
  5. Check the inputs that may be causing fear (poor diet, not taking time for solitude, anxious friends, etc.). 
  6. Focus on today—I like the words of the song “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow!” 
  7. Don’t look to escape, but take time to de-escalate. 

If you’ve missed any of the messages in this series on mental health, you can find all of them by clicking here. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials, like a 10-minute video I just shared on study tips for the poetic books of the Bible. ◀︎◀︎

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A Proactive Pause

September 25, 2023 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

Let’s keep in mind why we are learning and working on these spiritual disciplines. The key phrase is “so that”—I get stronger so that we can get stronger.

Today we are looking at spiritual discipline #2—Solitude. We will need discipline to abide with Jesus in our time of solitude—removing all distractions—so that we can respond better to our circumstances, and help other saints respond better too. 

Part of the dictionary definition of solitude is “a place absent of human activity.” Note that important word human activity. Solitude is a time for stepping back from all our human striving to get a heavenly perspective. Solitude is a proactive pause in difficult times so that we can respond with a God-honoring reaction. 

Let me give you five ideal situations to discipline ourselves to find solitude. 

(1) After ministry exertion. I’m sure there have been times when an interaction with another person or a group of people has exhausted you. It’s at these times we should find a place of solitude to be refreshed, just as Jesus did (Luke 5:16). 

(2) In stormy times. When everything around us seems to be unstable, proactively pausing in a time of solitude is saying with the psalmist, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble,” and then hearing God say to our anxious hearts, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:1, 10). These are the same words Jesus said to both the stormy seas and the disquieted hearts of His disciples (see Mark 4:35-39). 

(3) When we’re between a rock and a hard place. This is when we feel like neither option before us is a pleasant one. Like when the Israelites were caught between the onrushing Egyptian army and the uncrossable Red Sea. Listen to how similar the words of Moses sound, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still” (see Exodus 14:1-14). 

(4) When we have a big decision ahead. We may gather all of the information and do our our research and still feel inadequate to make a good decision. Jesus had hundreds of disciples, but He needed to choose just twelve to serve as His apostles. Before making this decision, Jesus spent the night in solitude with His Father (Luke 6:12-13). 

(5) When we get angry. There are other strong emotions that sometimes seem to overwhelm us, but I’ve noticed that anger causes more people to fly off the handle than most of the other emotions. When Jesus saw the shameful way the temple was being used, He got so angry that His disciples recalled the Psalm that said zeal was burning Him up (Psalm 69:9; John 2:17). Instead of reacting in the heat of the moment, Jesus spent all night in solitude with His Father (Mark 11:11, 19).  

Our solitude time could include Bible reading, but it’s probably more of a time for quieting ourselves—taking a break from human activity—so we can hear the Holy Spirit reminding us of what we’ve already studied (John 14:26).  

Then keep in mind that solitude is not retreating and staying away from others, but solitude is so that I can effectively respond to pressing situations. Christian solitude is not me-time, it’s us-time (where the “us” is me + Jesus) so that I’m ready for we-time (where the “we” is me + others). 

This is such an important discipline for Christians so that we don’t respond inappropriately in an intense situation, but we respond in a Christ-like way that brings glory to God. Pay attention to your strong emotions, listen to the Holy Spirit, and proactively find a place of solitude. 

If you have missed any of the other messages in this series called Saints Together, you can find them all by clicking here.

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials, like a 10-minute video I just shared on study tips for the poetic books of the Bible. ◀︎◀︎

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Living Out The Living Word

September 18, 2023 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

Last week I challenged you to free up some time in your schedule so that you could begin to apply these six spiritual disciplines we are going to discuss. 

Let’s keep in mind why we are learning and working on these disciplines. The key phrase is “so that”: I’m going to get stronger so that I have something to give to others, so that they will have something to give to others (and to me), and on and on it goes. Each of us needs all of us, and all of us need each of us!  

I love to read. In fact, I’m usually reading several books at the same time. Without a close second, my favorite book is my Bible. I say “my Bible” because I’ve made it mine—it’s underlined, circled, notated, and marked. It’s the Book I’m in every day, and it’s the Book that helps me glean the best knowledge from all the other books I read. 

G.K. Chesterton, the famous British writer, was once invited to a meeting of the leading intellectuals in England. They were discussing what one book they would want to have with them if they were shipwrecked on an island. Everybody expected Chesterton to say, “My Bible.” But when it came to his turn to speak, Chesterton said, “If I were shipwrecked on a desert island, I’d like to have Thomas’s Guide to Practical Shipbuilding.” 

Chesterton wasn’t saying the Bible wouldn’t have been of benefit to him on that island, but he was saying that those who study the Bible have the most practical insights! The Bible doesn’t just have lofty ideas, but it gives us heavenly wisdom that is highly practical to our everyday lives. 

The first spiritual discipline we are considering in our series Saints Together is: Studying our Bible. Notice I didn’t say just to read the Bible, but to really study the Book of books. 

The apostle Paul wrote, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17). How do we know our faith is growing? It must be tested. Look at what James had to say about growing our faith—“the testing of your faith produces perseverance” (James 1:3). 

Testing really comes down to this: Does what I believe work in my everyday life? Can I truly put what the Bible teaches me into action? James went a little deeper with this in James 2:17-19. 

Allow me to share four indispensable components of our Bible study time. You will notice that for all of these components, I am giving you verses from the 119th chapter of the Psalms. This single chapter mentions God’s Word in every single one of its 176 verses. As an added bonus, this chapter is divided into twenty-two 8-verse sections. Scientists tell us that if you do anything for twenty-one days in a row, you will have gone a long way toward making it a permanent habit. So reading one section of Psalm 119 every day is a great place to start on this spiritual discipline of studying your Bible. 

Here are the four components:

(1) Read the Word. You cannot study something you haven’t read. I would suggest you pray before reading (Psalm 119:18, 33). I’d also suggest you leverage the power of your brain using a well-worn path by setting aside the same time, same place, and same method of study every day. 

(2) Pray the Word. The Bible is not just a Book to study, it’s a Book to pray too (Psalm 119:41-48). So pray for insight before you read, then turn what you have read into a personalized prayer.  

(3) Meditate on the Word. Take time to mull over what you have just read and prayed (Psalm 119:15, 99). This allows the Holy Spirit to bring it back to your mind. 

(4) Live out the Word. Apply it by allowing it to make a change in your life. Notice the action words in Psalm 119:1-4: walk … keep … walk … fully obey…. Or as God said to Joshua—

“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” (Joshua 1:8) 

This is how Jesus lived His life and it’s also how He said the Holy Spirit would help us live our lives in a God-glorifying way (John 12:49-50, 14:26). 

Every day we should be living out the living Word of God! 

I invite you to follow along as we continue learning all six of these important spiritual disciplines. You can find them all by clicking here. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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It Takes All Of Us

September 11, 2023 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

In my book Shepherd Leadership I talk about some strong, godly men who gave into temptation at a moment of weakness—David who behaved so poorly toward Bathsheba and Uriah, Elijah who got depressed and suicidal, and Peter who denied knowing Jesus. 

One common factor for all of these guys is that their moment of giving in came when they were alone. They were isolated from others who may have been able to help them overcome the temptations that tripped them up. 

The principle is clear: Christians are stronger when they are with other Christians.  

Have you ever heard of the law of the weakest link? 

If I have a chain with links that can handle 400, 300, 250, 175, and 500 pounds, how much weight can the chain hold? You don’t really need a calculator for this one because the answer is the capacity of the weakest link: 175 pounds. This is why it’s to my advantage to not only strengthen myself, but to help others grow their strength as well. 

In Galatians 6:2-5, the apostle Paul talks about the strength we need for ourselves and our fellow Christian brothers and sisters. First, he says that each of us should test our own actions. I can only know my breaking point if I’m tested, and the Holy Spirit knows how to do this perfectly. After this testing, Paul says then I can take pride in myself without saying, “Well, at least I’m better than him!” 

Quite simply, Paul tells each of us that we must be able to carry our own loads. Why? Because only a strong Christian can help someone else with their load. We each have to get stronger individually so that we have strength for others! 

This is just like what we’ve been learning in our look at the Songs of Ascent: the goal is for all of the pilgrims to get to Zion together!

In this series, we are going to learn about six spiritual disciplines. Much like a physical workout, the Holy Spirit will start with us where we are. Not everyone will be at the same level nor will everyone progress at the same rate. But all of us will need these four things.

(1) Discipline. This is saying no to the easy thing or the thing that brings only fleeting happiness so that I can say yes to the things that bring eternal joy. 

(2) Stick-to-it-iveness. I have to be committed to this process for a lifetime. 

(3) Grace for yourself. There are going to be moments of struggles, plateaus, and even stumbles. Those are all a part of the journey, so we must extend grace to ourselves to learn, repent, and move forward. 

(4) Patience for others. As I just mentioned, we are all on our own journey and we all progress at different rates. Let’s be patient with each other. 

All of these spiritual disciplines are to strengthen us individually so that we have something to share with other saints (2 Corinthians 1:3-6). 

These spiritual disciplines shouldn’t become legalistic. Don’t make the way you do it the way everyone has to do it. After all, a 175-pound link will be different than a 250-pound link. 

What I am calling spiritual disciplines, C.S. Lewis called religious practices. In a letter to a friend, he wrote about the safety and beauty that result from these pursuits—

“I think about the practices what a wise old priest said to me about a ‘rule of life’ in general—‘It is not a stair but a bannister’…i.e. it is, not the thing you ascend by but it is a protective against falling off and a help-up. I think thus we ascend. The stair is God’s grace. One’s climb from step to step is obedience. Many different kinds of bannisters exist, all legitimate. It is possible to get up without any bannisters, if need be: but no one would willingly build a staircase without them because it would be less safe, more laborious, and a little lacking in beauty.” (C.S. Lewis)

The New Testament always has the words “saints” in the plural, so these disciplines will help us grow from strong individual saints to a healthy and effective collection of saints. 

Each of us needs all of us, and all of us need each of us! It does, indeed, take all of us.  

If you would like to follow along as we learn about these six spiritual disciplines, you can find all of the messages by clicking here. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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Saints Together

September 6, 2023 — Craig T. Owens

Throughout the New Testament the word “saints” is always in the plural form. This is a clear indication that none of us can develop into the full-fledged Christians we were meant to be on our own. 

We all need each other. More specifically, we all need the most mature version of each other. 

A key component of an individual saint’s development is the time spent alone being forged by the discipline of the Holy Spirit. Maturing saints then come together with each other to continue to strengthen and sharpen everyone in the church. Strong individual saints make a strong church, and a strong church makes strong individual saints! 

Join me for our new series called Saints Together. We will be studying the six spiritual disciplines that each individual saint must put into practice so that they can use their newly developed strengths to help other saints in their own development. 

Check out all of these messages here:

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Flatten The Rollercoaster

September 4, 2023 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

I’m not a fan of rollercoasters, but I know a lot of people who really like them. Some even travel all over the world to experience unique rollercoasters. The anticipation as the cars climb slowly up the big hill, knowing that there’s no stopping this thing now! Then the rush of emotions, a deep breath and a laugh at the end (usually laughing at our friends’ responses while on the ride), and then we just walk away. The moment of anticipation leading up to the big drop was usually longer and more intense than the ride itself. 

Not only do people travel all over to find rollercoasters, some people seem to have their emotions perpetually on rollercoasters. 

One of the telltale signs of someone with an immature mental health is the way every situation gets blown out of proportion before anything even happens. Then as an event unfolds, their exaggerations continue: the molehills are mountains, every valley is the valley of the shadow of death, the night is a nightmare, the “crisis” is lasting forever, no one has ever gone through what they’re going through, and the list goes on. 

To break out of this habit requires us developing emotional capacity. John Maxwell describes it like this: “Emotional capacity is the ability to handle adversity, failure, criticism, change, and pressure in a positive way.” Just as athletes have to develop lung capacity or muscle capacity, developing emotional capacity takes time, patience, and diligence. 

Increased emotional capacity is not escaping from our problems or even learning coping skill. Escapism never allows us to confront the things that are keeping our emotional capacity immature. On the other hand, maturing emotional capacity is learning to pause to get perspective so that we can avoid turning every mountain into a molehill, and every challenge into a do-or-die battle.  

Mentally healthy people don’t try to escape, but they learn how to de-escalate by getting a new perspective. Or to use the language of our first mental health strategy, they get off their old, well-worn paths. 

Let me illustrate this by looking at two emotions which seem to be the most rollercoaster-ish. 

(1) The first rollercoaster emotion is anger 

Out-of-proportion anger can either burn everyone around us when we explode, or it can eat away inside us if we hold it in. Neither of these are healthy emotional responses. Jesus got angry at the religious crowd that was keeping people away from God’s kingdom, but He didn’t ride the rollercoaster that led to a sinful expression of His anger. 

God asked Jonah a very helpful question: Have you any right to be angry? (Jonah 4:4). When we feel the Holy Spirit asking us this question, our defiant first response is almost always, “Yes! I didn’t do anything wrong! It was all him!” Solomon would counsel us to cross-examine that thought (Proverbs 18:17). 

Sometimes God will bring someone else across our path to help us pause to get perspective—to flatten the rollercoaster. For instance, God used Abigail to help David (see the story in 1 Samuel 25). However the Holy Spirit cross-examines us, we need to learn to truly listen. James told us: 

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. (James 1:19-20)

(2) The second rollercoaster emotion is fear 

Fear usually causes us to fight or flight. Those are the natural responses, but the supernatural response is to pause to evaluate. I love the reminder that F.E.A.R. means false evidence appearing real. 

As with anger, our first pause to get perspective on this potential rollercoaster that can plunge us into a deep, dark valley should be to cross-examine the false evidence of fear. 

When the group of ladies came to the tomb of Jesus on the Sunday following His crucifixion, they were already battered and bruised in their emotions. Finding an empty tomb brought even more fear in their hearts. But there is a keyword in this account that will help us: 

In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men [angels] said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He has risen! Remember how He told you, while He was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” Then they remembered His words. (Luke 24:5-8)

The Holy Spirit can help us remember the truth in God’s Word to counteract the fear-inducing false evidence (2 Timothy 1:7; John 14:26), but we must pause to listen to this evidence before this rollercoaster emotion picks up speed. 

The bottom line: Don’t try to escape your strong emotions. Pause. Cross-examine the evidence with the help of God’s Word, the Holy Spirit, and a friend to get a healthy perspective. This can help you flatten the rollercoaster before your emotions run away with you. 

If you’ve missed any of the other mental health strategies we’ve already covered in this series, you can find the full list by clicking here. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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The Wait Of Parenting

August 28, 2023 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

I’ve been called to some challenging leadership roles in my life—many of which made me feel like I was in way over my head! But without a close second, the heaviest mantle I’ve ever felt is the one called “Father.” Holding my firstborn son in my arms was indescribable, and it didn’t feel any lighter or less daunting when our other children arrived.  

The rabbis saw something significant in the Ten Commandments. Some people have noted that the first four Commandments are about our vertical relationship with God, while the next six are about our horizontal relationships with people. But the rabbis saw the Fifth Commandment as the linchpin—with parents in a creator-like role and as the first leader our children will be exposed to, and parents taking on the role as the first and most significant instructor for our children to know God for themselves. 

God gives us the example to follow: He instructs us gently but firmly, anticipating our needs, and giving us exactly what we need (Psalm 103:13-14; Luke 6:36, 12:32; Matthew 6:8).  

And then Jesus tells us to follow this example: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Yikes, talk about a heavy weight! 

In the only song of ascent attributed to King Solomon (Psalm 127) we read both a longing for our families to be with us at the end of our journey to Zion, but also a hint of the difficulty of this. 

In the middle verse of this song, we are assured that our children are given to specific parents by God on purpose. He knew what He was doing in giving them into our care. That means each parent is uniquely equipped for each child’s unique personality, temperament, and gift package. 

Twice in the opening verse, Solomon uses the word “unless.” Unless we seek God’s help in building our children and watching over them, our efforts on their own will be “in vain.” That phrase (“in vain”) is used three times in the opening two verses. Solomon wrote a lot about vanity in the Book of Ecclesiastes. But it’s important to note that Solomon always uses this word in association with the phrase “under the sun.” Unless we get help from God—unless we lift our eyes up higher than this earth—our efforts alone will be frustrating and anxiety-inducing. 

Remember that parents are the linchpin in the Ten Commandments? Those first four Commandments tell us to put God first, don’t create any idols to rival Him, don’t misuse His name, and trust Him enough to rest from your labors (Exodus 20:1-11). That means that we parents cannot put our kids ahead of God (Luke 14:26). Unless God is our first priority, we won’t have the spiritual, emotional, or mental stamina to parent well. Or, as C.S. Lewis noted,  “When I have learned to love God better than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now.” 

In his collection of proverbs, Solomon told us, “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it” (Proverbs 22:6). Jesus said there is only one sure foundation, and that is knowledge and obedience of God’s Word (Matthew 7:24-27). 

The final two verses of Psalm 127 assure parents that when we commit our children to God’s hands, He blesses them and uses them as His weapons, His leaders, and His culture changers. 

There is not only a weight in parenting, but there is also a wait in parenting. In the last song of ascent we studied, we learned that we have a promise two times that we will (not “might”) reap a harvest, even if we have to sow seeds in tears (Psalm 126:5-6). 

In the Bible, waiting is never passive. It’s an active watching to see how God will move. We see this in the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) where the father waited expectantly for his wayward son to return. This Dad had given his son a firm foundation at the start of his life, and then he waited in prayer until his son “came to his senses”—until he realized that all other ways of living away from God were vanity. 

In the midst of her prayers for her own prodigal son, Monica shared her concerns with Ambrose, bishop of Milan, and he said, “It cannot be that the son of those tears be lost.” Monica continued to wait for her son Augustine, sowing her seeds in tears but fully expecting the song of joy that would come with the harvest. 

Years later, in his autobiography called Confessions, Augustine wrote of his mother, “My mother, Your faithful servant, wept to You for me, shedding more tears for my spiritual death than others shed for the bodily death of a son. You heard her.” 

Parents, as you call out to God on behalf of your children, shed those tears in the joy of the anticipated harvest, knowing that God hears you! 

If you’ve missed any of the other messages in our series looking at these songs of ascent in the Book of Psalms, you can find them all here.  

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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Our Musical Testimony

August 21, 2023 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.  

As these songs of ascent are reminding us, we’re trying to ascend into God’s presence. But it seems like the forces pulling us back downward are so strong! The lyrics in the most popular songs are getting more and more raunchy, the blockbuster movies routinely celebrate sin, TV shows increasingly push a decidedly unbiblical agenda, government leaders are caught in scandals, and church leaders are “de-transitioning” from their Christian testimony. 

It doesn’t seem like there is much to celebrate. 

Just like the Jews who found themselves defeated and living in a foreign land, or fighting opposition to rebuild their way of life, or contending with occupying forces that were hostile to their religion, we, too, find ourselves in a very similar place—even in a country that was supposedly built on godly principles. 

The worldly-minded and irreligious have always tried to pull down the godly. When they do, it makes it hard to even worship God (Psalm 137:1-4). 

I’ve been reminding you that in Hebrew literature we can usually get our perspective from the middle of the story. So before we look at this next song of ascent, let’s look at the middle of the Jewish story—the middle of their time of exile, when things seemed darkest. 

Jeremiah wrote a book of Lamentations which was in the middle of the exile. In the middle of his tears and gall and bitterness he wrote this—

I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.” … I called on Your name, Lord, from the depths of the pit. You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears to my cry for relief.” You came near when I called You, and You said, “Do not fear.” (Lamentations 3:19-24, 55-57) 

Jeremiah said when he called God, He came near. He’s not saying that God had left him, but instead, Jeremiah is saying that he got his eyes off the ever-present God. As soon as he put his eyes back on God, he could feel His nearness. 

Our next song of ascent (Psalm 126) opens with the word “when.” This is a celebration of how God kept His word that the exiles would be released from Babylon and return to Jerusalem. As the Jews praised God for keeping His Word, then the surrounding nations saw and heard the testimony in the songs of joy that were being sung. 

God’s people were both singing for joy for God’s deliverance AND they were singing in joyful anticipation of what was still to come. 

They make a request in prayer for God to “restore our fortunes” (v. 4). This phrase always means that God is going to bring back everything that was taken away and then some. 

We have a promise two times in the next two verses that God will (not might) bring in these restored fortunes. In the midst of darkness or drought, it may seem hopeless to keep sowing seed. God sees your tears, and He will use your tears to water that seed and He will bring a harvest. 

The New Testament assures us of the same promise: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9). 

We show our faith in God’s eternal victory by lifting up our voices in song today. That song is a testimony to the nations around us and an encouragement to other saints who may be struggling with weariness (see Ephesians 5:18-20). We keep on singing these songs of joy in anticipation of the final and eternal song we will sing in Heaven. 

God is near. He hears your sighs. He sees your tears. He is watering the seeds you are sowing, and He will bring a harvest. As you sow in tears, sow also with songs of joy! 

If you’ve missed any of the other messages in our Ascending series, you can find them all here. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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Don’t Fight Fire With Fire

August 14, 2023 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

The events in the Bible are rooted in history. These are actual events in which real people lived in a moment in recorded history. The songs of ascent were sung both pre-exile and post-exile. The post-exile pilgrims were returning to Jerusalem after the edict of King Cyrus (2 Chronicles 36:22-23). 

The first pilgrims to go up to Jerusalem after the exile were the rebuilders of both Jerusalem and the temple, and they faced heavy opposition (Ezra 4:1-5; Nehemiah 4:1-3, 7-8). In light of these events, I think the song of ascent in Psalm 125 is especially pertinent to this situation. 

The middle verse of Psalm 125 contains a warning to godly people. God’s followers may be tempted to grab earthly political power to try to make things right—to “fight fire with fire.” The phrase “the scepter of the wicked” symbolizes the royal authority of a foreign conqueror. In other words, we might justify using the scepter of the wicked because we think “the ends justify the means.” But notice the warning if we do: “the righteous might use their hands to do evil.” 

You can see this in a couple of other biblical translations. The Amplified Bible says, “lest the righteous (God’s people) stretch forth their hands to iniquity and apostasy,” and the New Living Translation says, “the godly might be tempted to do wrong.” 

Instead, we are called to look to God for our security. Psalm 125:1-2 sounds like an echo of Psalm 121, in which we are reminded that our God is unshakable, unrivaled, and eternal. Political parties come and go, even evil dictators and tyrannical regimes come and go, but the Sovereign God remains forever. All of History is His story! 

Chuck Colson used to frequently remind his audiences, “Salvation does not arrive on Air Force One!” 

The motto on our US currency is still accurate: In God we trust! Psalm 125:4 says the same thing: God does good to those who trust Him. 

Earlier I mentioned the opposition that Ezra and Nehemiah recorded. Let me also share with you how these God-fearing men instructed the Jewish people to respond. Ezra says that the prophets called them to remember “the name of the God of Israel, who was over them,” and three times Nehemiah records that their response was prayer to God (Ezra 5:1; Nehemiah 4:4, 9; 6:9). 

In God we trust, not in political power. On the flip side, Psalm 125:5 warns us that God treats as evildoers those who look to the worldly scepter to try to get ahead. 

So when opposition and even persecution come, we should pray to God and ask for Him to remove the scepter of the wicked. Let’s pray for God to put His favor in the hearts of even ungodly leaders. Ezra recognized this when he said—

Praise be to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, who has put it into the king’s heart to bring honor to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem in this way and who has extended His good favor to me before the king and his advisers and all the king’s powerful officials. Because the hand of the Lord my God was on me, I took courage and gathered leaders from Israel to go up with me. (Ezra 7:27-28)

The New Testament calls on Christians to pray for those in governmental leadership over us (1 Timothy 2:1-2). But perhpas you ask, “What exactly are we to pray for these leaders?” Solomon wrote, “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes” (Proverbs 21:1). So perhaps a God-honoring prayer is to ask for our leaders’ hearts to be moved as King Cyrus’ heart was. 

Commenting on this verse from Proverbs 21, Dick Brogden wrote:

“God is King of kings and ultimately always wins, always gets His way. Even when it seems that earthly authorities continually rebel against the Lord and His Anointed, the reality is that even their most heinous acts are turned against them. It must be very frustrating to be the devil and to constantly see how God turns situations to gospel good and God’s unique glory. God is so wise that He turns the hearts of authorities without them knowing it. Smug on their decaying thrones, the power brokers of this world revel in their supposed autonomy and imagined resistance, never realizing how foolish they look to the angel hosts who are privy to God’s unmatched strategic dominance.”

Let’s never try to fight fire with fire, but let’s turn repeatedly to God in prayer whenever opposition arises against God-fearing people anywhere. 

If you’ve missed any of the messages in our Ascending series, you can find all of the previous messages here. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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