Everything I Need Is Right Here

June 11, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

God wants to bless people. He wants it so much, that He puts everything we need to receive His blessing right in front of us.

It’s not elusive. It’s not obscure.

I don’t need a Master’s in Divinity to figure this out:

Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. … No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

The New Testament amplifies this:

  • God’s laws are written on my heart, and my conscience tells me if I’m obeying them or not (Romans 2:15).
  • The Holy Spirit teaches and reminds me of everything I need (John 14:26; 16:8; 13).

You don’t need a spiritual pilgrimage to find God. He’s already written on your heart what you need to call out to Him. Don’t delay another day!

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No Crutches

May 28, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

In preparing for the continuation of our Ignite series, I’ve been reviewing some of my notes about the Holy Spirit. This quote from R. Hollis Gause has really been working on me:

“[Jesus] was not a crutch for [the disciples’] immaturity. … Jesus did not encourage a mindless dependency on His physical presence; instead, He expected them to be interpretive of His instructions about their mission.”

Jesus said He wasn’t leaving us orphans, but He would send us the Holy Spirit to be a constant Counselor. When I submit to the Holy Spirit’s counsel, it’s not a mindless giving in, but a mind-full acknowledgment of His role. The Holy Spirit didn’t come to be my crutch, but to be my Liberator.

The Holy Spirit prepares me to be a conduit for God’s blessings.

I cannot touch in love…

I cannot speak with power…

I cannot truly represent Christ…

if I’m operating in my own strength.

The Holy Spirit comes alongside me to

Develop agape love in my heart…

stimulate my mind with the right words…

help me behave more like Jesus…

and live mind-full of His empowerment.

To do things on my own is to live with a crutch—to live a limited life.

To live in the flow of the Holy Spirit is to live a life that is fully engaged.

That’s how I want to live every day.

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What If…

May 11, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

…for just one day you and I only said what God told us to say?

“Everything?” you ask, “Is that even possible?”

Yes! Jesus did it. Look:

I don’t speak on My own authority. The Father who sent Me has commanded Me what to say and how to say it.

Everything Jesus said was directed by His Father. Yes, everything.

Want to try it today? First, we have to spend more time in God’s presence to hear His words. Then here’s a simple gauge to use (as given to us by James). Are my words…

  • true?
  • pure?
  • peace-promoting?
  • considerate?
  • courteous?
  • gentle?
  • sincere?
  • merciful?

Are you ready to give it a try?

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The Point Of The Gospel

March 10, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

While I was preparing for our Spiritual Self-Defense class, Rick Warren tweeted this timely reminder: “If you spend more time defending the truth than actually sharing it, you will have missed the point of the Gospel.”

What is the point of the Gospel? Isn’t it simply that mankind is lost without God, and that only a relationship with Jesus can bring true life? If that’s the point, we can never argue someone into this divine relationship.

Here are some other thoughts I’m trying to keep in mind for this exciting class:

  • Jesus never shouted down those who disagreed with Him. Isaiah’s prophesy about Jesus said, “He will not shout or cry out, or raise His voice in the streets.” And that’s exactly how Jesus conducted Himself.
  • Jesus said, “God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending His Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.” Jesus didn’t come to win an argument, but to win lost people to a relationship with His Father.
  • There are very few exclamation points in Christ’s dialogue in the Gospels, but there are a lot of question marks. He was interested in engaging people in conversation.
  • G. K. Chesterton said, “The principle objection to a quarrel is that it interrupts an argument.” We need to discuss, not argue.

I’m really looking forward to leading this class, but I’m also excited about what I’m learning in the process.

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He Gave His Own Blood

February 9, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I just read an amazing story about a West Michigan doctor working in Haiti. You can read the full article here, but let me highlight one section:

At a small health clinic east of capital city Port-Au-Prince, a teenage boy with a broken pelvis was dying from loss of blood.

West Michigan orthopedic surgeon Gregory Golladay sized up the options, then acted.

“He was the same blood type as me. He had a hemoglobin level of 5. You don’t have that and live long. His heart rate was 150. His blood pressure was 80 and going south. He was going to die.”

“I gave as much as I could into an IV bag and he lived,” recalled Golladay, 39, who is among a rotating group of physicians from Orthopedic Associates of Michigan offering critically needed medical care in Haiti.

“It is indescribable really. To see him survive was a very emotional experience. We said we were brothers and I believe it.”

Sounds just like Jesus, doesn’t it?

We were dying. Crushed by sin. There wasn’t much time left. Then Jesus came to earth to die on a Cross for you and me. He gave us His blood so that we could live:

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son. That whoever would believe on Him should not die but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

And now, when we accept what Jesus did for us, we are His brothers and sisters:

God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure. (Ephesians 1:5)

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Don’t Fight It

January 18, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about some unique insights I gathered from taking a trip with my wife’s TomTom GPS unit. Well, I was taking another trip with TomTom the other day, and I got really annoyed!

I was running late. I grabbed my laptop and my cell phone, fired up the TomTom and hit the road. I got about a mile down the road and realized I forgot something for my meeting. So I turned my car around and quickly headed back home. All of a sudden a voice was reminding me…

  • “At the first possible place, make a legal u-turn.”
  • “Turn right at the next road and turnaround.”
  • “To return to your entered route, make a legal u-turn.”

This voice was still just as sweet and even-keeled as before, but it was really getting on my nerves. I knew I was heading in the wrong direction, but I wanted to get this taken care of quickly, but the voice kept reminding me. I tried to tune the voice out—tried to ignore it—but it didn’t work.

I turned the voice off.

When I wrote about TomTom earlier, I equated it to the moral GPS of the Holy Spirit. And that analogy still stands:

The Holy Spirit does convict us. He warns if we’re on the wrong path, and He lovingly and persistently keeps reminding us to do a u-turn. Those who listen and respond are fully restored. Those who don’t listen—those who switch off their moral GPS—can have their conscience permanently seared.

Are you listening to the Holy Spirit? Do you hear Him encouraging you? Do you hear Him challenging you? Do you hear Him reminding you to turn around? Stay tuned in—He only has the best in mind for you.

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The Power Of -Ing

January 13, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

Have you ever heard someone say something like:

  • “Wow, look at her. She arrived in style!”
  • “I think I’ve finally arrived.”

This is weird because arriving implies stopping. When I’m driving to the store and I arrive at the store, I don’t keep on driving; I stop at the store. That’s the whole reason I left my house in the first place.

So when we talk about people arriving, do we really mean that they are supposed to stop and park? Correct me on this, but I think the only time we stop in life is when life stops. In other words: We’re dead!

We don’t really want to arrive, do we? We want to hit goals and then keep on going. We want to keep on “ing”ing. Here’s how I’m trying to leverage the power of ing:

I love the words of Abraham Lincoln, who knew the power of ing:

“I do the very best I know how—the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end.”

Don’t arrive. Don’t stop. Keep on “ing”ing the right things—God’s things—and see how God will bless your efforts. There is an incredible power in ing!

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TomTom Directions

January 5, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

My wife is a beautiful, talented woman, but she tends to be, uh, directionally-challenged. That is to say, it’s not hard for her to get on the wrong road, heading the wrong direction. So a wonderful Christmas gift from my folks this year was a TomTom GPS unit.

Yesterday I took a trip and borrowed her TomTom. My first destination was a familiar one, but my second stop was somewhere I hadn’t been before. So I’m driving along when all of a sudden I hear a pleasant female voice tell me, “In two miles, exit to the right.”

Cool!

The Bible tells us that we can have a moral GPS system just like my wife’s TomTom. Check this out:

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a Voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

That Voice is the Holy Spirit. Jesus said the Holy Spirit would guide us in the right ways to go:

But when the Father sends the Advocate as My representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—He will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.

You have this moral GPS system at your disposal. Are you using it? Prayer is the power supply that activates the Voice. Turn Him on and make better decisions, live a better life, and do greater things for God.

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Jesus Tweets

December 22, 2009 — 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 began using 𝕏 (formerly known as Twitter) in 2009. There is something challenging about conveying what I’m doing or thinking or encouraging others in 280 characters or less. I also love the bite-sized flow of comments from others that keep me informed and entertained.

As with anything I commit myself to, it always has to pass the “Would Jesus Do This” test. So, would Jesus use 𝕏? Would we be reading @JesusChrist tweets if He were on earth today?

I think so!

Just a quick survey of the Gospels will show you how many of His profound statements were in the 𝕏-ready 280-characters-or-less format…

In refuting the temptations of satan, all three Old Testament passages Jesus quoted are 𝕏-length.

  • Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
  • Do not put the Lord your God to the test.
  • Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.

In His famous Sermon on the Mount, all of the “blessed are” beatitudes are tweetable.

  • Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
  • Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
  • Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
  • Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
  • Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
  • Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
  • Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
  • Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
  • Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.

Each sentence of Jesus’ model prayer fits in the 𝕏 dialogue box.

  • Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
  • Give us today our daily bread.
  • Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
  • And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

All of Christ’s powerful “I AM” declarations in the Gospel of John are less than 140 characters.

  • I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me will never go hungry, and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty.
  • I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
  • I am the gate; whoever enters through Me will be saved.
  • I am the good shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me.
  • I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies.
  • I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
  • I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener.
  • I am the vine; you are the branches.

Even the most well-known verse of all fits into the 𝕏 dialogue box:

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

The words of Jesus are just as timely and relevant today as they were the day He first spoke them, so let’s use our social media platforms to rebroadcast (or retweet) these life-changing truths.

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Loving Servanthood

November 6, 2009 — Craig T. Owens

Over the past couple of days I’ve been thinking a lot about something: What does it mean to serve? Or more specifically, what does God say about how we should serve?

The typical image that comes to mind when someone says “servant” is a person of lower status—someone who is at the lower end of the organizational chart, someone who is expected to do more with less, someone who doesn’t have many opportunities for advancement (or even a day off), or maybe someone who is expected to be tuned into everyone else’s needs but seldom has his own needs met.

Is being a servant the same thing as being a doormat?

Consider Jesus:

He now showed them the full extent of His love…. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power, and that He had come from God and was returning to God; so He got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around His waist. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around Him.

Jesus was the most important person in the room: Jesus KNEW that the Father had put all things under His power. He was also the most love-filled person in the room. What did He do with all of His love and power? He served others.

When He finished, John writes that He returned to His place, and asked His disciples a question, “Do you understand what I just did?” Then in the only instance of Scripture where Jesus Himself said this, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done.”

Servants are people who use the power they have to lovingly serve others.

Servants don’t serve because someone else forces them to serve. Servants serve because the love of God empowers them to serve.

Do you love your spouse enough to serve him/her? Do you love your family enough to serve them? Do you love your coworkers enough to serve them? The greater the love we have for others, the greater the empowerment to serve. Love empowers us for service.

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